Yo Gabba Gabba Fix

Caleb and Isaac are into Yo Gabba Gabba this year. Non stop about four or five shows per day they watch and they even made up a sign for the show. They wave their hands in the air above their head like the green monster Brobee does. Its so darned cute!!! Anyway we went to a Christmas party with the kids on Sunday put on by a fantastic organization here called Caring and Sharing for Kids. This organization has helped us out so much with the many trips to Pittsburgh we have had over the past four years. They are currently serving 215 area children and all of this began with the dream of one woman named Sally. Sally and her husband have been such a blessing to so many and I pray that God blesses her as much as she has us..

Here are photos from the party. We submitted our letters to Santa in November and he brought all their presents to the party. We say lots of smiling faces that day!!

Isaac got Brobee


Caleb got Plex:


Camille was excited to get the Apples to Apples Junior game:


Elijah and his webkinz:


And Tristin was pleased with her gift certificate to Wal-Mart!!

Photos with Santa....not so good!!

I never win!!!!

But I did today!!!! I am so excited. I usually don't bother to enter give-a-ways because I never win anything. This time I entered because it was something that I was VERY intrigued by but didn't know if I wanted to shell out the money for it. I know that we will put this to good use and I'm hoping that it will pull some speech out of the twins. If nothing else it will increase their signing skills.

I won the Teach your Baby to Read series. I entered the contest on a great site for give-a-ways called Pink Nothings and they notified me today that I was the winner!!! Hip Hip Hooray, that totally made my Christmas!! Even Tom is excited about it.

So I will be able to review this for you in a couple weeks after we use the program with the boys. The one benefit that I see with this is that we have a staff of TSS's come in home three times a week and do work with the boys. Some of their work includes doing drills with the boys. This has been very effective in teaching them their colors and shapes. I will be sure to add the Teach your Baby to Read DVD's into the daily work schedule.

You can learn more about this program at http://www.yourbabycanread.com

The twins TV Debut

We were asked back in September if we would allow Isaac to be a model in our local American Red Cross winter campaign. Of course we thought that was such an honor to be asked. Not to mention we love to show off our beautiful children, even under such circumstances. When the initial contact took place I assumed they would just photograph Isaac and use his beautiful face all over. Then they called to set everything up and said we all had to wear matching pants. "We All??" Yes Mrs. Hanzely, you will need to tell Isaac's story for him since he is unable to right now.. Oh Great, now I have to show off my mug....LOL

Off the subject, but this little episode motivated me to lose the weight I've been losing over the past three months. To bad I didn't do it before the photo shoot :)

I went and donated blood today and got to talk to Beth. She is the person who made the first phone call asking if I would allow Isaac to be their model. It was so nice to see her and for her to see the twins and how well they are doing. They were the hit of the 45 minutes we were there. Accompanied by their TSS, they sat very nicely and watched their portable DVD player and just glanced up every once in awhile to make sure mommy was still there in the same room. I couldn't have been more proud of them today. They really are good boys!!

I was glad to see Beth, because I received a DVD of all the photos, tv commercial and webcast they filmed and wanted to know if I could share this on my blog. She made a phone call... and Here It Is....

TV Commercial:

Webcast:


I will get some of the photos up later. There were some really cute ones!

Who's teaching their baby to read?

So who has seen this infomercial? I honestly have not. My older three kids have and they often tell me Mmom get this for the boys", but when I see that I think.. that ain't gonna happen with my twins.

I follow another blog called Pink Nothings who is giving this away as a free Christmas Giveaway. I love following this site because the one sister has two BEAUTIFUL girls both with Down Syndrome. They are not twins, there is a two year age difference. The parents were shocked (as everyone would be) when the second daughter came along blessed with an extra chromosome like her big sister. Obviously, parents experiencing the same road as have a dear spot in my heart.

Anyway, if you follow the link to Pink Nothings above you will be able to witness first hand seeing a four year old girl with Down Syndrome reading. It truly brought a tear to my eye, that was amazing! My boys are still at a disadvantage because they are completely non-verbal, BUT they do sign and we could just teach them the sign along with the words. My guys amaze me everyday. They are very smart. They are very interested in learning. They get bored very easily so they MUST be engaged in something every single day. Things from watching Signing times and enforcing new signs, to doing fine motor skills playing with toys, to running around and wrestling with the older siblings. They really are normal kids and I always love finding new techniques to help them learn. They are both very visual guys, so this Teach your Baby to Learn intrigues me.

If you have used it, or know of anyone who has. Give me some feedback.

Quote for today...

Lost time is NEVER found again
-Benjamin Franklin

Where did November go????

Really! I can't believe how busy that month ended up for me and doing what you may ask?? I don't know....

I have been training to run my first 5k, which I DID on Thanksgiving morning... thank you thank you very much :)

The twins and I have been going through a bit of a transition with getting a new TSS worker in the house and replacing our favorite TSS ever Colleen. She had to move onto bigger and better positions within her company and I wish her Good Luck in all that she does. I am struggling a bit getting used to someone else coming in and working with the boys when we had the Best there was.. and now this new girl doesn't even SING??? What??? She's young and I think it embarrasses her to sign in front of other people. One piece of advice for anyone who comes in contact with my boys. They are so motivated by music and signing that if you even just sung the ABC's or the Wheels on the Bus or Five Little Monkies Jumping on the Bed, you would INSTANTLY be the boys favorite person in the whole wide world..LOL

I went and got the boys sized for an adaptive stroller last month. They are getting so big and I cannot handle them out in the community alone by myself so for safety we went ahead with ordering them a "wheelchair" stroller to use. The weight goes upto 110 pounds each so its something we can use for a long long time to come.

I observed the twin at preschool one day last month and it brought tears to my eyes seeing how far they've come and just how involved they are in the classroom. They were signing songs and the boys were making the gestures before the words even came out. They anticipated what was coming next for like four songs. I was so tickled!!!

Another thing that happened last month was that we got word that BOTH boys were approved for a wish from Make-A-Wish. We don't know what they are going to do yet, but we're excited for them.

Tristin got to go deer hunting for the first time Monday, she did not get anything but is still hopeful to go out this weekend and give it another try.

Camille has been getting a better attitude about things lately. A couple times this month she cranked up her MP3 player and helped around the house so much I almost felt like paying her a housekeeper fee!! When she wants to do something she sure does a great job at it.

Elijah has become the Wii master all the sudden. He gets on that system everyday. I think its a boy thing? LOL but he can't even read all the words in some of the games that give hints or advice and he still masters the game. Oh and another great point to make about him, I went out for a jog one day and he asked if he could come. I didn't think it would hurt to try and see what he had in him, he jogged a mile with me and his pace was faster than mine!! I was so proud of him and I think he may be my training buddy come spring :)

Tom and I have kept busy with everyday life. But the most noteable thing for November was that we both got to attend the Arc's National Convention in Pittsburgh November 12 - 14. This was so beneficial for us both, being that we both just got involved with the organization this year. I am the Executive Director and he is the Vice President of our branch. I am excited and hopeful that we will be able to use some of the knowledge gained at the convention to bring more services to our area. As a matter of fact, I met with a grant writer today to see about getting a grant for integrated sports in the area and field trips for the families of our parent support group. Let's hope :O)