I bought a dog toy.......for my twins!!!

I have been searching and searching for the right kind of "chewy" for the boys and nothing ever seemed right. They both love chewing on squishy rubbery stuff. Those rubber bracelets that everyone's wearing these days with advertisements or words or encouragement on them...they LOVE chewing on those. I have allowed this but they get lost so easily and we've run out of what we have. So I went to the Amish Bent n Dent store the other day and low and behold, I found exactly the consistency they would chew on, and it was a dog toy. I bought it for a whooping $.50

So here is my Isaac enjoying his new chewy:







Now the problem we face is that our dog is always on the lookout for when the twins are not playing with it. I have taken it off our Auggie Doggie twice now. Here was Elijah playing doggy with the toy and you see the watchful eyes upon him:

5 Little Monkeys All in the Bed

I HAD to post this photo from tonight. Each night the older kids head off to bed around 9. Tom and I then sit and watch a show together and chat about our day and rock the twins to sleep. When we went to lay the twins down, for some reason, the girls decided to fall asleep in the boys bed with Elijah. So here we have all five kids (plus Carl the cat) in the bed together. How cute it that!!!

Tristin fell asleep in her clothes and Camille is sleeping with her diary right next to her head. I'm still giggling over these silly bugs. These are the moments to remember and remind them of when they don't get along :0)

An apple made my day today

Yup that's right, an apple made my whole day today. There are times when being a mother to a child with special needs I find myself pondering happiness and today it was in an apple. I'll explain...

Caleb and Isaac both have Sensory Integration Dysfunction. There are some foods they just cannot eat. I can't decide if its because they don't like the taste of them, or if its because they don't like the way they feel in their mouth, but realize its mostly texture issues. The big thing I am dealing with right now is absolutely no fruit is going into these kids. No fruit juice, no applesauce, no canned peaches, no pears, no fruit cocktail, nothing. They are 3 1/2 years old and never have had fruit. Occasionally they will eat a banana in cereal or perhaps plain chunks of banana and somedays they will eat yogurt with fruit, but most often that too it only plain vanilla.

Today for lunch they shared a hot dog, common lunch for them. Then I got out the bag of pretzels and was about to give them their dose of crunchy when I thought "Its been awhile since I've tried an apple" I got one out and started singing rather loud and silly the song 'I like to eat eat eat apples and bananas....' They started to giggle. Ok, lets go with this. Then I started signing apple to them and saying I like apples. Still getting lots of giggles out of the little guys.. I decided it was time to try it AND walaaa they both ate two apple slices today!

Do you hear the angels singing like I do???????? I am so happy to have shared this moment with them...heehehhee and I hope to be able to share many many more of these moments with them from here on out :)

Here's proof:

Isaac looking at his apple slice, he did then take a bite...missed that with the camera




Caleb signing apple



OH HAPPY DAY :)

Toe nails and Chocolate Fountains and Corn bags...OH MY

Today was our bi-weekly MOPS meeting. It was a spa day and I have to say that this year is my second year in MOPS and I've developed a few more relationships than I did last year and its so nice to be able to share two hours with other christian Mom's of Preschoolers. We have a great coordinator Daria who always plans really fun things for us to do. Today it was nice to have a foot and hand massage. We got a pedicure kit and gave ourselves a pedicure and painted our toes. I only usually do that during the summer months so it was a real treat to see pretty toes. And we made home made corn bags. Heat 'em up, put them on a sore neck and relax..AHHHHH Oh, did I mention we had the chocolate fountain going too! Strawberries, pretzels, marshmallows, bananas, angel food cake, and potato chips. I had to try one of each :) And my favorite treat of the day was the cucumber and lemon water. That might sound gross, but you just gotta try it.

While I'm at the MOPS meeting the twin are in Moppetts getting a bible story read to them, they make a craft and play with other kids their age. Its a really great thing for them and as of right now its the only socialization they are receiving outside the home. They are assisted by their TSS and I've been informed that for the most part they do participate in the activities but if any child is having a bad day and crying for any reason it really throws the boys off and they withdraw from the kids. I can understand that, they don't know what to think of it so they decide to withdraw. Another thing about my Caleb is we are thinking he may have Pica. Its a disorder where one might crave or eat unusual things. We often find Caleb eating a crayon, sponges, toilet paper, or dirt. But when he goes to Moppetts they are in the basement of the church building and he licks the brick walls...EWWWW that is just strange to me.

But as a proud mama I always try to display a few crafts each week from my kids when they bring them home from school. Well today, Caleb and Isaac brought me a craft that they colored themselves and with help glued on some cotton balls. I have to share as I'm very excited to see their work and the fine motor skills they're showing off these days:



And of course, I have to share a cutie pie photo of Caleb from today. I have seen others use a free photo editing website called Picnik and I decided to play around with the photo a little bit on there. I thought it turned out cute :)

Something to consider.....

I saw this today on an online support group I follow and thought it was appropriate to post on my blog for family, friends, and strangers consideration.... Please watch:



Honestly, I'm guilty of using the word too at one point in my life and now being on the other end with having beautiful, smart, funny identical twins both with Down Syndrome.... I'm ashamed.... and hope to help others not feel that way someday

Thankful Thursdays

I am thankful for crackers. Yes crackers. My twins love love love crackers so much. I don't know how I would get through a day without crackers. Tom and I are sitting down for the evening, all kids are in bed but the twins and Isaac goes out to the kitchen and brings in a pack of crackers and throws them at daddy's head and sits on the floor in front of him to wait until he unwraps his nightly snack. I was talking with a friend the other day about the crackers we buy, I seriously think we spend $20 a month on crackers.. YIKES!! Many days that is all I can get them to eat. I like to mix it up a little for them. Graham crackers for breakfast, peanut butter on wheat for lunch and cheese on cheese for dinner and a few Ritz for snack. Can you tell I know my crackers alot better than I did three years ago..LOL

I'm thankful for my mother and father in law. When we need them they are there to help us watch the twins. Tonight was board game night for the older kids' PTA monthly meeting. My in-laws watched the twins so that I could go with the other kids and participate. We had a lot of fun, we played several different games and then at the end they held a drawing to give away all the games the kids played that night. All three of my youngins came home with a new game. We had to come home and play with daddy then, so this ended up being a really fun family night. And I can give all the credit to my inlaws for watching the boys for me. Thank You :)

I'm thankful for the ladies bible study I host each week. I enjoy my weekly encouragement and study of God's word. I am thankful for my choices God has given me and for all the blessing that have come about since becoming a Christian. All Glory to God for the wonderful family and friends I have.

I'll end on that good note.. God Bless

Wordless Wednesday

This was a year ago, but still one of my favorites!!