Happy Thanksgiving...

Happy Thanksgiving, friends! We will bring Fletcher home today to spend the day with us! Also Craig's mom and his sister and her family will joy us! And I'm hoping to have a few extra friends drop by. Kayleigh's grandparents and her aunt should be here Friday. Busy, busy time for all of us.

Sorry I've been so bad at blogging lately, but like I always say Facebook is so much easier and I get instant gratification with comments! Selfish I know, but these days I'm going for easy!

Things are going pretty well around here. Kayleigh is busy with school, work and babysitting. And her social life! She's a busy bee and we really don't see her a lot. I'm guessing this is the Lord's way of easing us into her going off to college. Kayleigh's really a great kid and I'm so grateful for her!

Maddie's doing really well. She's gearing up for the church Christmas play, where she has the lead role and gets to sing a solo. Albeit it's a small Christmas pageant but she is taking her role very seriously! She is one of the older kids in Grace Kids so she thinks she's hot stuff! School is going very well for Maddie as well. She's a natural when it comes to learning and she loves it.

Fletcher is doing extremely well these days! I am so thankful for all he's doing and how 'healthy' he's been. Kindergarten is going particularly well and he has lots of sweet, new friends. Fletcher has been invited to the birthday party of one his friends at school! So he's going to his first friend party! We also have begun the potty training phase in his life! What an interesting process!

Craig and I are doing well. He's working and providing for our family and I'm just busy with the kids and life. I'm ready to start Christmas shopping and getting the holidays started! Well, that's it for now!

Just for fun...

I just realized I haven't posted any videos in quite awhile so here's a little 'it's not the end of the month time for me to blog' treat!

September...

We brought Fletcher home for Labor day. We invited several friends and family over to eat and just hang out. What a great day we had. My sister Kim brought her little long haired chichuahua, Jonas over to hang out with us. My girls fell in love and now ask everyday if they can have a puppy. UGH! Thanks Kim! Fletcher wasn't really thrilled upon meeting Jonas even though Aunt Kimmie tried her hardest!

Aunt Kimmie and Jonas...

at first Fletcher was alright with Jonas...

at this point Fletcher just kept signing ' no'...

Football season is upon us and Craig is raising his son right! Fletcher can say O and U. The picture below is of Fletcher's O. How cute is that?

O U!!!!

The Children's Center had their first annual Circus! How fun is that? Fletcher and I had a great time. They gave him some tickets...still don't know what we were supposed to do with them, but Fletcher enjoyed holding on to them!

happy to be learning about the circus...

the coolest kid ever!

me and my muscle man...

Kayleigh is in the Women's Advanced Choir had the first of their two Dessert Revues. It was so faun! It was called 'The Awesome Eighties'! You know Craig and I loved that! The 80's were totally our generation and we LOVED our music!! Kayleigh did great and learned just how important the 80's were to the music world! :)

Kayleigh and Kelsey...

We brought Fletcher home to help celebrate Craig's 44th birthday! We invited Craig's mom, Trudie and his sister, Kristi and her family over for dinner. Trudie made her amazing lasagna at Craig's request. We enjoyed a great day with our sweet family all under one roof! Craig had a terrific day. He got an iPhone 4 and a movie and PS3 game that he really wanted. What a treat to be a blessing to such a wonderful man!

Fletcher, Maddie and the birthday boy, Craig...

Another great thing that happens in September is the Buddy Walk! The Buddy Walk is an annual fundraiser and they are walks held all across the nation in the months of September and October. The Buddy Walk was established in 1995 by the National Down Syndrome Society to promote acceptance and inclusion of people with Down syndrome. as many of you know I have niece, Kylie and she had Down Syndrome. Kylie is 17 and the she is so much fun! We love just being with her. She loves music, all shows on Disney and her family! My sister Kim is very involved in the Down Syndrome Association of Oklahoma. She volunteers her time every year and helps anyway she can at the Buddy Walk. Kim is an amazing mom and I'm so proud of her!

The cousins at the Buddy Walk...

Kaleb, Fletcher, Kylie and Kim...

the whole gang...

Hope TV...

The Children's Center recently put together a video to show to Fletcher's classmates before he started kindergarten, it was a BIG hit and so well done. They decided they wanted to share Fletcher's story on their website section, Hope TV. They interviewed me and squished me into the middle of the video in order to give the viewers a little bit more information about our boy. If you'd like to click on the link to see the interview...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUcNA0L30dw

Bittersweet...

August was truly a hard month for us, filled with sadness and joy and new adventures. The second week of August Craig's dad, David was in the hospital. I received a phone call from my niece, Devon asking me if it was possible to bring Fletcher to the hospital to see Papaw. 'Of course' was my answer. So Craig and I checked Fletcher out of TCC and took him to see his Papaw. David had no idea Fletcher was coming so it was a very nice surprise for him to see his only grandson. Six days later David passed away, Craig and I were so happy that we made that visit happen. It's comforting for us to know that they got to see each other one last time.

David and Fletcher...

Our sweet little church has been through a lot in the last nine months. So it was quite refreshing to have VBS for our kids. There were more volunteers than there were kids! It was great and the kids and adults had a lot of fun. Our VBS curriculum had a rain forest theme and one night we had a company bring out extreme animals for the kids to see and touch!

Maddie and a baby alligator...

Maddie holding a baby kangaroo...

The girls started school on August 19th. We started our day with a good breakfast I took Maddie to school and for the first time in ten years I didn't take Kayleigh to her first day of school! She drove herself, of course! WOW! The milestones that are happening around here are a bit overwhelming, they're good and I'm grateful for them, but they just make me shake my head in disbelief! Where has the time gone? How did it go by so quickly? It's so hard to believe I have a Kindergartner, a third grader and a JUNIOR!! They've been in school now for three full weeks and things are going well for both my girls. Kayleigh's had block scheduling since she started high school and really liked it. Well, this year they changed it to seven periods, she's not a big fan of the shorter class periods, but she's getting used to it. Maddie has really enjoyed third grade and her teacher, Ms. Tate. Also, Maddie was tested last year and has been accepted into the gifted program at her school. It's called PEAK and on Mondays she spends the entire day with her PEAK teacher, Mrs. James and the other PEAK kids learning cool stuff. Maddie now wishes everyday was Monday. It's such a blessing seeing her excited to learn!

Maddie's first day of third grade...

Kayleigh first day of her Junior year...

Maddie and Kayleigh...

Maddie out in front of her school...

Maddie and Ms. Tate...

On August 30th Fletcher started Kindergarten at Bethany Elementary! He goes to school on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for two and a half hours. Fletcher is in a 'regular' class with 'regular' kids and so far it's been a great experience. His teacher, Miss Metcalf is young, cute and fun. Fletcher has an aide, Mrs. Karlene and I'm in the classroom as well, just incase an emergency should arise. The kids in his class have been delightful and are treating Fletcher with lots of love and respect. I'll be honest, I was very hesitant about putting Fletcher in public school. I was worried about the kids being mean and about the parents being upset that there was a kid with extreme special needs in their kids class. Craig has been my rock. He's pointed only to the positive and the future for Fletcher. I never in a million years thought this could be a reality. We're doing something quasi normal...kindergarten!

waiting his turn to get on the bus to go to school...

Fletcher and Miss Metcalf...

a picture one of Fletcher's new friend, Reid drew for him...

David Lee Burns...

On August 15, 2010 my father-in-law David, went to be with Jesus after a 7 week battle with lung cancer. David was a wonderful husband, a great dad, an even better papaw and a loving father-in-law. David lived out his faith and he was very involved in the Kairos prison ministry, Good Shepherd hospice, church and VERY involved with his family. He will be greatly missed by all of us.

July - it's been hot and it's been busy...

We brought Fletcher home for the 4th. It dawned on me that the 4th of July is the only holiday that he's been home every time. It's a tradition I'll do anything to keep going. Craig's dad, David was in the hospital so we decided that since we had Fletcher out that we would swing by the hospital and surprise him and hopefully brighten his day. The look on his face when we wheeled Fletcher into his hospital room was precious. He loved getting to see Fletcher! Later in the afternoon Craig cooked hamburgers and hot dogs and we enjoyed having his family here as well of some dear friends who have made being at our house on the 4th their tradition! I love being apart of someone else's traditions. We ended the evening by going downtown to watch fireworks. It did make for a long day but it was a blessing to be together.

our traditional picture in our old navy flag shirts...

sweet friends...

the Hess family...

the Jarvis family...

getting ready to watch fireworks...

The Children's Center had their annual Olympics and Fletcher participating in them like usual. He was kind of cranky that day and really only wanted to be in constant motion, meaning he wanted me to keep that wheelchair moving. We had fun anyway. The girls and I would walk him around between each event that he participated in. I loved being with all three of my kids at the same time.

Fletcher didn't want these medals around his neck so Mommy 'got' to wear them...

Marathon event...

killing time and comparing shoe size...

Pipe Wars event...

Demolition event...

Another wonderful thing that happened in July was a visit from one of my oldest and dearest friends, Christian. We went to elementary school, Jr High and High School together. But it was in high school that we became best friends. We walked together at our graduation. He's always been a great friend to me and I treasure our relationship. Christian now lives in New York City so when he comes to town he let's me know and we always try to get together. This particular visit he wanted to meet Fletcher so it was my pleasure to introduce them!

Christian, Fletcher and me...

We had Fletcher's Patient Care Conference (PCC) in July. We meet every 90 days and Fletcher's doctor, nurse practitioner, teachers and therapists get together for a round table discussion where everyone reports on Fletcher's progress over the past 90 days. What an amazing meeting we had! Fletcher has gained two years in his comprehension and is almost age appropriate. They consider him to be around 4 1/2 years of age cognatively! He's doing so well in school and in all his therapies. We're so excited for him. By the end of the meeting Fletcher's nurse practitioner asked what the possiblities were for Fletcher to attend public school. It seems that the possiblities were endless! They believe Fletcher will thrive educationally being mainstreamed into a regular Pre-K class. So, this fall Fletcher will be enrolled in Pre-K at Bethany Public Schools. He's going to attend class three days a week. At this point the plan is for me to go to school with him since I'm medically trained to take care of him. But TCC is looking at every option such as a nurse or RT to go with him. So we'll see how it all works out. I'll be honest with you...this scares me to death! But I know it will be so good for Fletcher and the kids at Bethany. I think everyone there will fall in love with him just like they have at TCC. It's scary to me because he's safe at TCC from kids being mean to him and teasing him. We went to the Bethany Library one day last week for a toddler time sing a long and the kids turned around and just stared at him. Fletcher didn't even notice, but I did and it was hard for me. But I know once they get to know him it will be okay. One of my friends said she would pray that I would have peace in the release...I need to let him go so he can reach his potiental and with as great as TCC and his teachers are he doesn't really have peers at TCC. He's very smart and social and he needs that interaction with 'regular' kids. So pray for us as we step into this next phase. It's going to be great, but at the same time it's going be hard on this mommy.

Hello? Is this thing on...

okay so no one is commenting on my blog...is anyone reading this thing?

So this is June...

June was a busy month. Fletcher got his summer haircut so he's good to go! TCC had a land run/western days event which was a lot of fun. We spent a Saturday on Route 66 and went to Pop's and the Round Barn that was a nice day trip that same evening we went to a drive in movie! Maddie's recital was in June as well. This year she was in two classes therefore she had two routines and two costumes. She did very well and we were very proud of her. Fletcher's teacher came up with a great idea of inviting some of his peers outside of the TCC to come and go to school with him so we invited some kids from church. I'll be honest and say the experience was a new one for our church kids and Fletcher. But it was a great way to expose them to each other and see Fletcher in his element. It was a great success! Maddie has wanted to cut her hair and donate it to Locks of Love. So we waited until after her recital and off we went to Magnolia Salon and our sweet friend Jill cut off about 14 inches! She looks precious and she loves it! We brought Fletcher home for Father's Day. It was a very low key day and we enjoyed it immensely! So low key I only took one picture! Not happy about that but it is what it is. Craig's best friend, John's daughter Jordan got married and we had a great time at the wedding! Lots of dancing and lots of laughing! Great night! Craig had knee surgery and is healing up quite nicely. TCC had a their annual Treble Makers concert with a patriotic theme. Fletcher's little group did 'You're a Grand Old Flag' where they used their 'voices' on the word 'flag' too cute! Maddie did a dance with the little girls from church who came to school with Fletcher. That was awesome! Last weekend my nephew Kyle got married at The Dominion House in Guthrie. It was a beautiful ceremony with an absolutely fun reception. Something about being with my sisters dancing and laughing our heads off that was truly good for my heart! Well there you have that was our June! Hope you enjoyed it!

Fletcher's summer cut...

Western Days store where Maddie took over the cash register and was really good at it!

the land run where Maddie & Fletcher were 'sooners' they copped a nice spot with a shade tree and handicapped parking!

The Round Barn...

Maddie's recital...

we went to see the boy after the recital...

our friends come to school...

before...

before...

after!

Father's Day...

Maddie, Jordan & Kayleigh...

chocolate fountain at the wedding...

me and Craig at the wedding...

best friends...

Burns granddaughters...

my patient...

Treble Makers concert...

sweet friends...

Kylie & Kaleb at Kyle's wedding...

my sister Kim & me...

me & Craig...

my niece Amber and me...