Hey, What's Going On Around Here??? =)

Hmnnnnn, apparently I am having some technical difficulties with my blog background and signature, so I 've sent an email to the gal who created it for me...so hopefully we'll be back up and running without the crazy messaging on the sides...don't know what that is all about. Orrrrr maybe it is time for me to go "Christmasy" like some of my favorite blogs have done. We'll see.

Benefit Dinner...for the Newest Special K!

In my last post I mentioned that we were going to see a documentary called I-Heart Revolution. It dealt with highlighting social injustice in this world and definitely stirred emotions to move a person to action. I think one thing I walked away with was a more heightened realization how young girls, particularly in India are trafficked for prostitution, it just broke my heart. Then the very next day I was reading a blog I love to follow of a family who are in the process of adopting several children internationally when it came to their attention that it is very possible these children's biological parents do not know what is happening, they do not realize they are being adopted out. So the adoption is at a stand still obviously....and now a new fight is on their hands to protect these children, but how? And how does one do anything to help when the social issues are all so much bigger than ourselves?
As a family we decided that we would all do "something"...even if in the scheme of things it is a small something, it is still "something" and for that we feel good to be apart of a tiny sliver of hope. For each of us it looks a little different but after having Reid... and learning about Reece's Rainbow and the many, many children with Down syndrome cast aside with a grim future... that has became our passion. A person cannot help but be pained when perusing the site, knowing these little ones are without a family....all because they have an extra chromosome.
A while back I mentioned on my blog about a benefit dinner we were trying to help organize for Reece's Rainbow, but was postponed. Well, it was rescheduled to last Saturday and it went so beautifully!!! I am so grateful for the heart and generosity of our friends who a year ago began hosting benefit dinners every other month where the proceeds would go toward a different cause. We had mentioned Reece's Rainbow once as a possible charity and they were on board from the start... They left it up to us how we wanted the funds to be used and we decided more than anything we just want these little ones home with their "Forever Families" as soon as possible and so we decided we wanted to help a very special family, The Garcia's, get closer to their fundraising goal. We are so excited to say that we were able to raise $2,o51 for their family and their newest Special K. Many of you who follow this blog are also very familiar with Renee and Life with my Special K's....if not you can click here to find your way over to their adoption blog and follow the beautiful unfolding story for yourself as they are right smack dab in the middle of the process of getting their little girl.
Our hosts Mike and Nancy were so generous to open their beautiful home and Steve who is our favorite IT guy by day and favorite "chef" by night created the meal from scratch.....and as you can see from the pictures it was not just a meal...it was truly art, the most delicious art ever! :) It was simply... elegantly delicious! Can you see from the pictures the pumpkins he used for serving dishes?! So creative and fun! (BTW, Steve and his beautiful wife Meghan are expecting their first baby....and they found out just today they are having a little boy!)
As part of the benefit dinner it is suggested that each person donate $35 toward the cause at hand. However, to raise additional funds for the Garcia's, Nancy mentioned having a raffle of items....and it was so fun!! Below you can see several people adorn with oodles of tickets! Nancy provided beautiful gift baskets, a tower of toys (see pictured below that the children were all putting their raffle tickets toward), wine, ....and we even had a beautiful blanket donated by Heather, Zoey's mom, that was a hit amongst the girls in the group! (Thank you Heather!) You can click here to read about the incredible heart behind these blankets. But wait that's not all.....it was also casino night, so lots of chips were being traded....and guess who raked in the most chips at the roulette table??? Luke! :)
I am sorry this post is long...but so much to share! I wanted to point out that in the pictures below Nancy and her two daughters are wearing Reece's Rainbow shirts! Adoption is something very dear to their hearts, as both of their daughters were adopted from Russia....and can you see that the youngest's shirt is written in Russian?! How cool is that?!!
To open the evening Toby and I shared a bit of our hearts and shared the newest Reece's Rainbow ministry video with the group. Afterwards we had many people, including men, share with us that seeing these orphaned children brought tears to their eyes. I love that we also had an opportunity to share this cause with those unfamiliar with it! Mike, Nancy, Steve, and Meghan...............THANK YOU, from the bottom of our hearts for making this beautiful evening possible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Toby and I had the opportunity to share about Reece's Rainbow and our precious ones with Down syndrome....and share via the TV the newest Reece's Rainbow video

Our amazing chef for the evening

..and his beautiful wife Meghan

...and we can't forget Mason! :)

What a little flirt Reid is!!!!!!

We've created a new gambler I am afraid! :)

Gifts baskets, blanket, and "Tower of Toys" for the raffle

A few of our ticket purchasers :)

and Vanna....oops I mean Danielle!

I was so excited that this sweet young lady won Zoey's blanket!

Little Reid at the end of the evening...absolutely konked out!

...and poor Steve was absolutely WIPED out by the end of the evening, and understandably so!

I Heart Revolution...We're All in This Together

Tomorrow night, Wednesday November 4th we will be at the movie theatres.....we know someone who has worked the last few years on this documentary, I Heart Revolution, and it is being shown in the United States and Canada one night only, November 4th. We are thrilled to be able to honor her and her efforts along with everyone else involved in putting this documentary together by finding ourselves among those in the USA sitting in a theatre waiting for the 8:00 show. It looks like the show times in the USA are all 8:00. Go here if you are interested to see if it is playing near you. It will be shown across Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa on November 18th. Below is a trailer...if you click to watch, please be sure to pause my music on the bottom of the blog first.

More Halloween Fun (Parade + Party)

The first set of pictures was taken during Reid's parade at school. In some shots you can see he had had enough and used his dino costume as a pillow.... The others are from a party we had in our yard which spilled out onto the yards of my two neighbors....we had close to...gulp... 75 people, but it was so much fun. The teacher in me had to have "stations" to rotate through with varying festive activities. BTW, if anyone needs a huge tub of orange icing and sprinkle shakers...I have lots left over, lol!

The reluctant parade walker....

Wow, all this marching around and singing is tiring me out!

Seriously guys....I'm getting really tired!

Party time.....

Craft station

Pumpkin bowling...we went through 3 pumpkins...the kids loved it when a pumpkin cracked in half and as it rolled the seeds came flying out all over...lots of squeals and giggles!

Twister

M & M graphing

Guess the Guts! :)

Stencil fun

Cookie decorating

Donut eating contest

Tattoos

A few of the friends....

Good friends

Dad and dino

Our little gangstas for the day

We Have A Winner!!!!...and Halloween Pictures Too

We have a blog give-away winner!!! Monica from Monkey Musings was picked by Reid to receive a $100 American Express gift card...yeah Monica!! After trick or treating tonight we dumped out "Elmo" of all the loot Reid received from neighbors and used it as our "bowl" to pick the names from. Monica, he picked your name and I realized later that you actually commented on my last post about missing the "comment cut off" for the give-away...you must have forgotten that you commented earlier in the month, lol, and good thing...because you won! Monica Email me at tlcforeman@verizon.net and I will get the gift card in the mail to you.
...and for everyone else, I hope you had a fun Halloween!!! Here are a few pictures from our evening.

Poor Reid refused to nap all day and then fell asleep right on the floor before all the festivities began, we actually had to wake him up so he could go trick or treating to at least a few houses. This kiddo can sleep anywhere!

Luke decided to be Albert Einstein for Halloween. This totally fits him, he has been saying he wants to be a scientist when he grows up for several years now. As I was buying the costume for Luke I saw they had it in an adult size, so he and his dad were my scientists for the evening. As you can see Albert Einstein Sr. was rooting for the Yankees amidst handing out candy! :)

Waiting for the last few trick or treaters.

Last Day to Comment for Blog Give Away-$100 Gift Card

Oh my poor, poor neglected blog....I have had so many things I've wanted to blog about in the name of Down syndrome awareness but life has been so full lately that it has been a challenge to get my fingers on the computer keys lately...or before I pass out from exhaustion. Tonight however I had to overcome my exhaustion and press on for my little ones as Luke needed 60 cookies for his Halloween party in a few hours and needed his pants hemmed for his Albert Einstein costume, and...and....and, the list goes on so I am now finding myself still up at 2:45 am. Oh the joys of motherhood...! :)
So......since I am up and am realizing it is now October 30th I wanted to send out a reminder that today is the last day to leave a comment on my blog give away post, in order to be added to the drawing for a $100 American Express card. If you haven't commented yet, please do I would love to have you included in the drawing...but would also love to hear from you! Scroll to find the Give-Away post or click here.
Happy Friday! ...off to bed, hopefully I can sleep as soundly as the little guy pictured above. :)

Foam Yoga Blocks...for Our Little Ones with Down syndrome

In the effort of Down syndrome awareness I wanted to share something that our fabulous occupational therapist, Karen, introduced us to that has helped Reid tremendously with his sitting posture both during therapy but also at preschool. As we all know low muscle tone is something to contend with for our little ones with Down syndrome and it is not rare for me to find Reid sitting on the floor with his back hunched over, looking up at Sesame Street with his chin down but eyes turned up and tongue out or head way back resting on his shoulders with tongue out. Karen started using a foam yoga block with Reid during therapy about a year ago and explained that this helps tilt his pelvis forward and realigns his shoulders, neck, and head. This in turn changes his visual perception of things, seeing them at a different level and helping him to be more alert and engaged. It totally works... and I have noticed less open mouth and drooling from him. Below are pictures during therapy and the last one is Reid and his backpack....about a week into preschool I noticed that familiar floppy posture of his while sitting during circle time. I asked his teachers if it would be okay to try the block with him at school, which we did...and they noticed a HUGE difference in him. Plus, they also commented that it helped him to stay in one place on the floor LOL :). So Reid takes his block with him to school and knows to get it out first thing and takes it to the floor to sit with the other kids. We bought our yoga block at Target but you can also find it at any sporting good store.