Remembered

What do you want to be remembered for?

Do you ever think about it?

Yesterday and today, this has been the burning question in my mind.

I'll start with what I do NOT want to be remembered for. I don't want to be remembered for yelling too much at my children, or not showing my love enough to my husband, children and family. I certainly do not want to be remembered for not allowing my faith to grow in all possible ways. I don't want to be remembered for not taking time to just STOP and enjoy life and the time I have with the ones I love so dearly. I don't want people to think I didn't try hard enough or make a difference in a person's life. I would never want my children to think I didn't make enough time for them to teach them, spend time with them and be an active part of their amazing lives. However, as a human, I tend to struggle with these very things daily.

I certainly want to be remembered for loving my family on the outside as much as I do on the inside, caring for my children to the best of my ability and spending time with them, loving them and being everything they need from a mom. I want to be remembered for being an honorable, upstanding Christian, being a good friend, being a strong advocate for individuals with special needs and for helping people. I want people to speak highly of me and know that I meant well in everything I did during my time on earth. It is so important to be good examples for our children so they will lead their lives in the same way. I want to make a difference and be remembered for the good things.

I encourage you to think of ways you would like to be remembered and then give yourself a little evaluation to make sure you are living your life in the way you want others to remember you by. Sometimes it is easier said than done but you can do it!

Pictures, pictures, pictures!!!

Well as promised I have pictures to share and lots of em'. We had a great weekend with the opening day of baseball for both Drew and Emma on Saturday.

First it was off to The Miracle League Opening Day for Emma:

After that, the North Wake opening day at The Factory for Drew:

They announced all the teams but parents werent allowed on the field which is why I don't have one up close of Drew.

On Sunday, my friend Leslie, graciously took some family photos of us at Joyner Park in Wake Forest. Emma wasn't very cooperative but you wouldn't know it from the pictures:

What a great time we had!!!! Sunday March 21st was World Down Syndrome Day. 3/21 which represents the 3 #21 chromosomes that my dear daughter has. I love a day that celebrates who she is and what it means to our family. My life is forever changed because of both of my children and I have learned so many valuable life lessons from both Drew and Emma.

Saturday

Well my great weekend was followed by a not so good week but I won't bore you with all the details. I'm glad the week is almost over though!

Tommorrow both Emma and Drew have opening day ceremonies for their respective baseball leagues. Emma will be playing in the Miracle League and Drew in North Wake. We have a whirlwind day and I'm still figuring out to get everyone here and there without leaving them!! It will be a great kick off to a fun season for both of them.

Saturday evening is going to mark a monumental event for myself. I am SO excited to share this, although it will mean a lot less to you than it does to me. After 11 years, ahem....yes I said ELEVEN years.... of working weekends, Saturday night will be my last night to do this!!!! I am giving up my weekends at Rex!!!! This has been a long time coming and I am so, so happy to be able to spend EVERY weekend with my family. A huge burden has been lifted off my chest. Now, I just have to pray for the Lord to provide since the income from Rex will not be there. I will still be considered "casual" status at Rex and will try to pick up shifts when I can, but we will see how that plays out since I already work 4 days during the week.

I hope to post some pictures of the kids later in the weekend. On a side note, please pray for me as I am still struggling daily with upcoming school decisions for Emma. I am at a major crossroads and I am praying for some major guidance and direction.

Weekend

Well, the weekend was WONDERFUL!! I haven't had an entire weekend break at home like that in, well, I'm not exactly sure if I ever have in my 12 years of motherhood and actually....before motherhood, I was only 18 years old (blog for another time:) so nope, never really had a weekend I could appreciate so much. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE being with my children but everyone needs a break every 12 years don't you think? Yes, I've had "weekend breaks" but what made this one neat is that I got to stay right at home and didn't have to travel anywhere but my kids did! That was really neat. Thanks to my amazing parents for making this weekend happen for us and for taking my kids to the beach. They had a blast and made memories that will be cherished for many years to come.

Saturday I had an amazing day! Went out to lunch, to the mall (hadn't been to the mall in a really long time) and look out world- I got a pedicure and my eyebrows waxed!!! Now this was quite comical because I apparently had some sort of reaction to the wax and the top half of my face was swollen and very red. I know it's totally normal to have redness after having that done, but this was drawing some serious attention in the salon. They sat me back out under the dryer (for my toes) after they peeled half my face off and even the ladies around me were so concerned, they were pulling out their compact mirrors, digging for lotion in their pocketbooks and asking me if I was okay. I said "Wow, it must be pretty bad" to which the 80 year old woman sitting next to me leaned over and said "Yep, it is!" Lol! I told them (my new, concerned variety of friends) that what we should all really be worrying about, was that it was 4:45pm and I had to leave home at 5:30pm for the gala and I was sitting under a dryer at the nail place with a massively swollen face that had caught everyone's attention. Boy did they think I was crazy! Luckily Jill was brave enough to swipe some aloe for me and put it on my face. Then they all wanted to know about my dress, how I was doing my hair, my shoes etc. It was a weird but funny time at the nail place to say the least. Jill and I thought one of the ladies was going to actually try and follow us home to help me get ready! I must have looked completely pathetic to draw all the attention I did. I don't get out much....and clearly I didn't plan this accurately but how was I to know?!? I called my mom who told me to put Balmex on my face for 5 mins and then wash it off. okay, I really didn't want to smell like a baby's hiney for my night out but I was willing to try anything! I raced home and by 5:15pm was walking around with hiney cream smeared all over my face. Jon looked frightened but we (Jill- my personal fashion assitant) told him to stay out of the way because we had some serious work to accomplish. The balmex trick worked!! Jon wasn't too happy for our pictures because State had literally just lost the game in the ACC tournament seconds before we said "smile." Ha!

The gala was wonderful as it is every year. As a parent, you feel so honored to sit there and take it all in. I was beaming on the inside saying "That's right, I have a child with Down Syndrome. It's the most amazing experience and only a selected number of us are hand picked for this purpose." Emma was included in the video presentation which was so fun to watch. Dr. Priya Kishnani from Duke, spoke on the research currently happening on certain aspects of Down Syndrome such as the link to leukemia, alzheimers etc. She also spoke on the biobank that is now up and running. It was hard to hear some of it, as it always is, BUT rewarding to know that steps are being made in the right direction for individuals with disabilities. A great evening!

In addition to these fun things, we were also able to take in a movie, catch up on sleep, watch tv, go for a walk and end the weekend with a birthday party for Jon's sisters at Outback. It was truly a great weekend and I feel revived and you won't hear any complaints out of me for at least a day or two!! :)

Excited!!!!

I'm SO excited for the weekend. I don't remember the last time I was this excited...which shows just how long it has been since I've had anything resembling a break.

Drew has his Upwards awards ceremony tonight. My boy has killed it this season! Their last game, he scored all 20 of the 20 points for his team. They were down by one point in the last minute and Drew stole the ball, ran it down the court and made a sucessful layup to help his team win the game by one point! What a proud mama I was! I was yelling the entire way down the court!! Go Drew!!! So, lots to celebrate tonight as we close a wonderful season.

We'll head home to cheer on NC State after the awards program. Go State!

The excitement continues tomorrow....my parents are taking Drew and Emma to their place in Morehead City Sat-Sun because Jon and I are attending the Anna's Angels Gala tomorrow night. Anna's Angels is a non-profit founded by one of my friends, Michelle and they raise money for Down Syndrome research partnered with Duke Hospital. In just six years, they have raised over $540,000 for Down Syndrome research. The gala's are amazing and I am honored to be attending with Jon as we celebrate the lives of individuals with Down Syndrome. I celebrate my daughter's life every day and consider it a precious gift to be her mommy.

Hopefully, some great pics to follow after the weekend!

Joyful

Yesterday was a good day. A great day. It was my ususal Wednesday off work. I live for Wednesdays! If only every day was Wednesday....

The kids had early release at 12pm. We had Cameron over to play with Emma while his mommy worked. We ran by a drive thru on the way home to grab lunch for Drew and myself and a snack for Emma and Cameron. We all sat at the table eating and Cameron and Emma were sooooo cute together laughing and laughing and laughing. Did I mention laughing???? They had the BEST time and it warmed my heart to see two children with special needs who just donn't have a care in the world and love each other for who they are. It was so simple but yet so beautiful. What a huge life lesson we can take from that moment. To be in their world with their big hearts and non jaded view of life...it's almost too much to comprehend. It was an impacting moment for sure. I'm so thankful I was there to witness the beauty of it. So, thank you Jennifer for allowing us to have your precious one over to play!!!

The fun continued as the afternoon went on and by 4pm we had a house full of kids! What a fun time for Drew and Emma. I'm so thankful for good friends and that my children have constant friends in their lives to grow up with. It is so important to have meaningful friendships and I'm blessed for each one that I have.

Joyful...the perfect word for the feeling I had all day yesterday.

Happy

I feel good. Really good. My B-12 has been pretty low and I finally restarted my injections Sunday and I can't believe how much better I feel already. I am kicking myself for not restarting them months ago like I was suppose to!! I had no idea...

I had a great afternoon with the kids yesterday. We made icee's and jumped on the trampoline for a long time. Beautiful weather, took some pics and had a nice time with my two babies. I'm so thankful for precious time with my family. I really mean that.

Today I am beginning a 3 week adventure to help out my friend Jennifer. Her son Cameron is in Emma's class at school (4th year in a row!!) and she needs some carpool help for a bit. Both Emma and Drew are super excited about this. He will only be with us for a short amount of time on Tues/Thurs afternoons but it will be fun! He is also coming to play tomorrow afternoon because the kids have early release. I hope I don't forget him...just kidding! I won't. As long as it's written in my calendar, it happens. Let me check...yep it says "Cameron-carpool" so we are good!

So the word for today is happy. Things are good. The weather helps a good mood so much. Life is always crazy and busy...but good. I am so blessed.

Mondays

I find that I have so much to write about all the time and it's hard to condense it into one post. I really want to blog but my thoughts are always so scattered when I start writing, so an idea has surfaced! Look out world....or the 12 people who are registered to actually follow my nonsense :)

I'm going to try to post a little bit every day or two. It may be plain and boring but some days there may be a spice in the flavor :) Maybe this will be a better solution for me and allow me to hold myself accountable for something I actually WANT to do.

Mondays....why are Mondays so hard? I was dragging this am! Maybe because I worked at Rex last night and didn't get to bed until after midnight and 6am came early. Stay tuned for what I pray is a massive revealing regarding Rex!

I am so exicted about the beautiful weather this week. I am praying Emma and Drew have had good day at school. I plan on picking them up and playing outside when we get home this afternoon. It's just too beautiful to sit inside. Maybe I can get some good pictures of them in the beautiful sunlight. Hmm, wishful thinking....that would require Emma to comply!! We'll see...