God's promise to me!

Two days after thanksgiving, my Nana Betty had a massive stoke on the right side of her brain caused by a clot.  I had called her that morning and no answer.  It wasn't until later that day that Grammy and Pop pop found her.  Clots run in the family but I always hoped she would go peacefully in her sleep than have to suffer what she did.  And I wished I would of called her thanksgiving :( so I could of had one last conversation,  I miss her already.  She was Jen and I's 2nd Mom growing up as she lived with us when we moved out to St.Louis.  She was one if the strongest people I know as she put up with many ailments late in her life,  I thought she would live forever knowing she wouldn't of course i have never been able to imagine life without her spirit. 

A day and a half before she passed into peace, I saw the most the most beautiful rainbow circling around the moon and I knew that was God's promise to me of peace.  I wept and asked everyone come and look at it.

It's hard to photograph the moon but you can see it.  It was way more brilliant that night of the 6th. 6 months previously, Ava, Syd and I had witnessed a rainbow circled around the sun on the day that my Uncle Bob passed.  Two weeks and 1 day later we saw another rainbow around the sun and that was the last day I saw our beloved  cat PJ, that Steve and I adopted as a kitten in 1999.  We miss you PJ.  He was so warm and loving that day, a disposition I had not seen from him in years.  I knew he was saying goodbye. 

Thank you God for your signs that help give me peace and know your presence more than ever in our physical lives. I know my grandma always wanted to come out to Seattle but never felt comfortable enough to make that big trip.  I do know that she will be be so happy to be joining us for Ava's big shindig on Saturday in spirit.  I told Ava that and I knew she understood,  the look on her sweet face said it all.  

I will miss you my sweet, nurturing, warm, independent, strong, methodical, patient, poised, and eternally beautiful Nana Betty! I am so fortunate to have had you in my life for so long and that my children knew you in person and not just from my stories.

January 2,1919- December 8, 2014

Ava's first recipe

Ava made her own recipe today.  Here it is in her words.  We are bringing it to Pea's house to share with our friends. We are not quite sure how it tastes. 

The 1st day of Christmas

The kids and I are celebrating Christmas every day of the month with our advent calendars.  They have lego calendars but I am also using a special book I bought that tells 24 stories that lead up to Christmas tying in the celebrations and icons we celebrate to Jesus.  

Dec 1st celebrates the star.  The shooting star is bright light of Jesus we are supposed to follow.  On top of our tree, it points up to heaven to remind us of god. 

The kids found a star cookie cutter in their 3rd advent calendar and we made bright star powdered sugar cookies.

The many expressions of my passionate girly...

The sun has been beaming through the frosty windows for the past week so I figured I would take advantage of it for our christmas pictures.  I love the photo shoots I have these days.... I trained the kids well and both Luke and Ava are very cooperative for me!  Ava models away and I eat it right up!  Sydney, on the other hand.... it is hit or miss.  Huge smile, then a second later, screaming at me.  She cracks me up.  I happened to get some funny pics of her!  

Happy 14th Anniversary to us!

How blessed are we to still love each other and have 3 beautiful children as a result of our love?  It isn't always peaches and cream but we have grown up together and we are growing in the same direction.  We have been through all of it together and we treasure every moment!  I love you Steve! Thank you for being the amazing person you are!  My wish for m kids is that they too can be happy in love someday!

Our visit to Mississippi 2014

I am still sad to think about leaving Mississippi a couple weeks ago.  We had such a great time visiting our cousins, Nana and the Uncle's and Aunts.  It was really hard leaving :(. 

We helped Abbey get ready for homecoming!  What a beautiful girl and a personality to match!  

Love love love! I miss my nieces! 

We had a great time playing on the playground together!

Chris's wedding at the Royal Sonesta

What a great mini reunion for my family!  My Aunts, Uncles and cousins finally met the kids!  We had such a blast at the wedding!  

New Orleans

What a great time we had at my cousin's wedding in New Orleans!  The kids were able to see the culture on Bourbon Street as we arrived at 11pm at night.  Our most interesting sight... A red guy in a red kilt holding a chicken and roaming the street like that is what he does every day! And a naked  lady painted silver.  We let them choose some beads and Sydney wanted the "booby" beads.  She was sad we made her get the pink flamingo beads! 

Doodling!

Sydney is the doodler in the family, I love it.  She has been doodling on every paper in site since she could hold a pencil.  She drew this picture in the kids club today.  I love the detail! Eyelashes, eyebrows, and earrings.  Even a side part!

Ballet, Tap and other things...

The girls have been enrolled in ballet and tap for the past month.  They are in the same class at the Washington school of dance.  They love it!  Sydney really enjoys dancing and gymnastics  more than anything right now.  It is very hard for her to put up with the seams on her tights and having her hair in a bun due to her sensory processing disorder.  Today, she has had an exceptional day with no emotional outbursts or tantrums.  I have been working so hard with her on controlling her emotions by letting her now that she has the decision to choose if she wants to be happy or sad.  Empowering her with the ability to make the decision has worked for us.  I have been megadosing her, Luke and Ava on vitamin C.  Her immunoglobulin IgM is deficient and she was getting recurrent thrush infections and cankersores daily in her mouth.  We have been megadosing about 3000 or 4000 my of vitamin C for 6 weeks now and it has all disappeared!  I also have them on a multivitamin 3 times a day, calcium, extra vitamin d, probiotics, and DHA.  The idea is that her and Luke's neurological disorders (high functioning Autism) are made worse from the toxins in their body... Hence all of the immune problems (HSP, asthma, thrush, constipation.) Their diet has no dyes and I limit foods in the pantry and as many GMO ingredients or products with preservatives.  They are eating gluten and dairy and doing fine.  We work on behaviors and impulse control all day everyday.  I eliminate as many sources of anxiety I can. So far, this is working better than anything else I have tried!

Anyway, the girls are at tap/ballet and they are enjoying it!  

P.S. I have not had any asthma or allergy problems since I started taking a lot of vitamin c as well.  Luke's asthma has disappeared as well and no more inhalers for him.  No more asthma coughs either!  

Blast from the past

Taking a trip down memory lane tonight.  Here are some old photos of my beloved grandparents and Jen!

Nakeybuns!

Cheerleading Camp

Ava was apprehensive about going to cheerleading camp but after I explained "the unknown" she showed no hesitation.  She went with Lexi and Pea and had a good time!  She was teaching her moves to Sydney at night.  So proud of our little girl for cheering with the big girls in front of all of the parents! 

Favorite quotes

The real world is what you make it. 

Autism Speaks Walk!

We had our first annual Autism Speaks walk at the Seattle Center!  The kids did great and we will be supporting this event every year!  

Sydney's School Pictures- Fall 2014

My sweet and TALL little girl!