About Me

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After being told I would never be able to have children, I am now a stay-at-home Mommy to Maddie who happens to have Down Syndrome. I've been married 16 years to my best friend, having the time of my life. Thanks for stopping by and sharing in our little journey through life.

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Valentine's Day 2017

We kept things really simple for Valentine's Day this year.
It was simple but special.

For us, it was just dinner and a movie at home.
We had filet mignon with horseradish cream sauce, cheesy-herbed mashed potatoes, spinach strawberry salad, and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert.

To make things a little special, we had sparkling cider, flowers, and balloons!

Maddie made her Valentine's for Daddy.

She's' been working really hard on writing her "M's"!


She helped clean house before Daddy got home!

And she was in charge of making the chocolate-covered strawberries for dessert!



She had to taste the chocolate for quality control, of course!


Maddie's Valentine's gift was the Trolls movie and she was SO excited! 
We finished up our evening watching the movie in our pajamas!

Hope you guys had a great Valentine's Day too!

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Unintended Consequences Change Brings On!

Restructuring our homeschool schedule and curriculum has had so many ups and downs!
Each day I'm learning more about myself, Maddie, and the two of us together.
 Maddie has discovered the THING that just gets under my skin and uses it what feels like 75% of the day!!
Whoo, this is not for the faint of heart...the power struggle is real! 😣
I think the overall decision to change to more structure has been extremely beneficial, but at the same time, it's totally cramping her style!
No more hours droning on and on endlessly with electronics!
No more making up a third option when given two choices!
You expect me to put my own shoes on now...by myself?!
Yep, and we call those life skills!





We are working on a consistent schedule with the same things happening in the same order each day.
They don't necessarily happen at the same TIME every day, but I do try and at least make sure they are in the same order.

We begin the day with Maddie's chores.
Right now that is feeding and watering Belle, and going potty.
She was extra generous this particular day! :)


Then she gets a few minutes with her iPad while Mommy has quiet time to read.


Then, we have breakfast.


Our attempt at Mickey pancakes!

After breakfast it's baths and getting ready for the day.


Next, we take Belle on a walk and work on obedience training with her.

Then, we take a few minutes to play with Belle outside.

After all this we head to the homeschool room and begin the curriculum's lessons for the day.
Our visual schedule.  Definitely one of the best changes we have made.  Maddie LOVES it. And when she's in a particularly feisty mood, she wants to be in control of the order of things! That's a battle I can concede as long as we get everything done!



After work in the homeschool room, it's time for snuggles on the couch with books (my favorite part of the day!)

We are generally finished up around noon, give or take an hour.

On Wednesdays and Fridays we go to speech or occupational therapy.


Then, the afternoons are more relaxed with games, outside play, art, etc.





I found myself struggling against the curriculum, My Father's World- Kindergarten.  There's so much I really like about it, but there's enough that I felt the need to adjust down to her level that I found it was causing unnecessary stress.
I ordered the preschool level from the same company and I think that will be the perfect fit for us right now.

We both are experiencing some growing pains, but I know it's all for the best.