Good Intentions...

I always have good intentions for keeping up this blog, but alas those intentions come and go! So forgive me for my inconsistency.

Since July, I have a senior, a fourth grader and a kindergartener! So let's start with my senior...Craig and I made the decision to transfer Kayleigh from PC North to Bethany High School. These high school years have been very tough on her and Craig and I, for that matter. North has about 1900 students Bethany has 450- 500 students. We're hoping a smaller school with different kids will help motivate Kayleigh, you know peer pressure, but GOOD peer pressure! She seems to be enjoying it and she's making new friends. Kayleigh will take the ACT for the first time this Saturday. She has every opportunity to go to college, if she'll take it seriously. She has a couple of places she wants to go to college but that's all pending on her ACT scores. I took Kayleigh to have her senior picture made for the yearbook last week, but at the end of October we'll go downtown and take her senior pictures with our family photographer, Sherry Lynch! We're very excited about that! She is so photogenic I can only imagine how hard it is going to be to choose the ones we like best! We're also getting ready to order her cap and gown and graduation announcements! WOW! This senior year is going by fast and it's going to be expensive! But she's worth it!

First day of 12th grade...

Maddie is doing really well academically in 4th grade. She's loving her gifted and talented class, she also really likes her homeroom teacher, Mrs. Harris. Since Maddie is in the 4th grade she has the opportunity to be in the orchestra. She is playing the viola and has her first concert tomorrow night. She LOVES it and she seems to be catching on easily. This has also brought out her desire to learn to play the piano so she's teaching herself to play! Also, 4th graders can join the Art Club, it meets once a month and she really likes it. But I have sad news. Maddie decided not to take dance this year. After 5 years she wanted to call it quits. She really wasn't enjoying it and it was a chore making her go every week. I'm sad to say she hasn't missed it one bit! I miss it and I miss having a dancer, but it's not about me and she obviously made the right choice since she hasn't mentioned it one time!

First day of 4th grade...

Fletcher is doing well in kindergarten and we're trying to go 5 days a week. We're going in the afternoons for a couple of hours. It seems we're not accomplishing anything academic, though. They've put Fletcher in an all day Kindergarten class and since we go at the end of the day he's there in time for 1 center, snack time (he doesn't eat by mouth), recess, (seriously?) and specials which include, library, PE (again, seriously?) and music (he LOVES this class). Fletcher has one of the best kindergarten teachers in the building, too bad we don't get to take advantage of her amazing talent. We'll have a meeting with the special education department soon and hopefully we can rectify this situation. Don't get me wrong, I love his school and I love that he gets to be apart of such an amazing school! The social aspect is fantastic and I love all his little friends. I just don't know that we need to go 5 days a week for friend time!

First day of kindergarten...

On a more serious note, on September 20, 2011 my older sister, Sharla passed away. She fought a long battle with drugs and alcohol. It's all very sad and she will be greatly missed. Her two daughters, Samantha and Chevaun took a hot air balloon ride and spread Sharla's ashes. This was one of her final requests. It was very sweet.



Rest in peace, Sharla Ann...

Getting ready...

Today I took Kayleigh to OSUOKC, it's a small community college here in Oklahoma City and I have a dear friend who is the Director of Student Services. Kayleigh will be a high school senior this fall, but I felt like we needed to get some advice so we'd know what to be working toward. My girl is growing up. Today was bitter sweet. My friend talked mostly to Kayleigh and I tried not to interrupt and give my thoughts and opinions. It's part of the very hard process of letting her go and giving her control of her future. SCARY! Part of me wishes I could just make all her decisions and set up her life and just place her gently on the path to adulthood. The other part of me knows that's completely unrealistic and I'm going to have to let Kayleigh choose these things for herself, even if they don't look like what I think they should look like. I'm believing Jeremiah 29:11 for her...For the Lord knows the plans he has for her...

The Long Journey Home...

I can hardly believe I haven't blogged since Thanksgiving! Boy, do I have a lot of ground to cover to catch you all up!

I really don't even know where to start! Well, we've been really busy. Kayleigh is officially a SENIOR!!! Next week she and I will make a trip to OSU OKC to get an idea of what we need to be doing to get her ready for college. Kayleigh's still not sure what she wants to do career wise so it's time for us to get busy! Kayleigh is also looking forward to spending a few weeks in Mississippi with her maternal grandparents. Maddie finished up third grade and had a great year academically. She is enjoying summer! This year Maddie is attending a little day camp called Summer Spectacular. It is three weeks long and each week she took a different class of her choice. The first week was Math Mania, which she loved! The second week she chose a reading class and thoroughly enjoyed it. This is the last week and she's taking a French class and I'm pretty sure it's her favorite of all three classes! Next month she is going to summer school with Fletcher to volunteer with the special needs kids. Then hopefully a break before school starts!

Fletcher turned six last December and right after his birthday they started slowly weaning his ventilator settings. By the end of February, Fletcher was on CPAP settings, meaning he was initiating all the breaths by himself! On May 24th I got a phone call from his nurse practitioner, Julie telling me they had just 'sprinted' Fletcher off the ventilator for 15 minutes! He was completely OFF the ventilator, breathing on his own for 15 minutes!!! So the process has begun to get him off the ventilator completely! Each week since, Julie has added 30 minutes at a time of him being off the ventilator. He's off the ventilator twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. Tonight he will go for 2 hours!!! He's tolerating it well. He's still a bit anxious about the whole thing but there is always someone near when he's off so they can help him if he gets in any trouble. If Fletcher can come off that ventilator completely he can come home and live with us! I don't know how long it will take but, there is an exit plan in place, kind of! We, of course, have always said we would bring him home when he got off the ventilator but I'm not sure 'other people' really thought he'd ever leave The Children's Center. It's very exciting and scary all at the same time. Exciting, because we'll all finally be under one roof. Scary, because he's still a kid with some pretty intense special needs and we'll be taking care of him by ourselves. Financially, it will probably be a stretch for us and I can't in my feeble brain see how the Lord will work that all out, but I'll let the Lord think on that one and work it out for us! I'm standing on Philippians 1:6 "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." The Lord is faithful and finishes what He starts. Our children belong to Him and He will take care of them. A good friend, reminded me that the Lord is not only preparing Fletcher, He's preparing ME for this new adventure of having Fletcher at home full time. I'd appreciate your continued prayers as we travel this Long Journey Home!

Such a happy boy...

Doing one of his favorite things...

At the OKC Zoo...

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...

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...

Okay so this is May...

So it's June 17th and I'm posting for May. We'll start with Mother's Day. The Saturday before Mother's Day my sweet sister ,Dawn had a luncheon in her home to honor our mom. It was very nice and we had a lot of fun being together. My niece Amber was there as well. So much fun! On Mother's Day one thing that I wanted was to take Fletcher to church with us and then home to spend the day. It was fabulous as always to have my little family under one roof.

Kim, me, Mom, Paula and Dawn

Kayleigh, me, Fletcher and Maddie

Just my kiddos

On May 16th we had a huge hail storm here in Oklahoma City. We had minimal damage to our home, but Craig's car was totalled in the storm. We decided to keep his car and fix the damage done to it and have another car paid in full. Wahoo! We also got a new roof at no cost to us. Another wahoo! And added about $10,ooo value to Casa Burns!

Casa Burns after the storm

Another event that happened in May was my 45th birthday. WOW! It's really hard to believe I'm approaching the big 5-0, but I am. It was a great day filled with love, flowers, sweet phone calls and dinner at one of my favorite places, Outback.

one of my favorite birthday gifts...

One of the BIGGEST events in May was my Maddie turned 8! She had her first slumber party which went pretty well. Who knew 8 year olds would have drama! We endured some crying and pouting and the occasional 'I'm bored' but all in all it was a great party. Another thing Maddie really wanted for her birthday, since it was on a Sunday was for Fletcher to go to church and come home. We totally accommodated her in that wish! We invited our families over as well and enjoyed ice cream and cake and lots of presents!

Maddie age 8

the slumber party girls

Lastly, we celebrated another fabulous milestone in the Burns family. Kayleigh now has her very own car! We went to a few car lots and looked at some cars for our sweet Kayleigh. She is now the proud owner of a 1998 Pontiac Grand Prix! I think this is super neat seeing how my first car was a 1976 Pontiac Grand Prix! She loves it and is having lots of fun in her car owning, driving around independence!

signing the paper work


Kayleigh and her first car

I'll leave you with a few videos of the boy! Enjoy! He's 'talking' so much these days and really doing so well in physical therapy!

Woooooo...

So I didn’t blog in February and I’m barely making it for March!!! Things are going well around Casa Burns just busy! Seems as if every aspect of our lives are busy kids, school, church, dance, Girl Scouts, TCC etc.

Kayleigh’s finishing up her sophomore year and it’s been a good year for her. She’ll also take her driver’s test at the end of April and will be driving!!! Kayleigh tried out for Choral in January and made it! She’ll have about 4 performances in the next two months. We’re looking forward to watching her perform. Kayleigh spent spring break in Mississippi with her grandparents and came home to SNOW! Yes, it snowed the first day of spring in Oklahoma City. We have had some crazy weather this winter.

Madeline is keeping me busy as well. She’s finishing up 2nd grade and will be 8 in May! This is has been a great year for her, too. At her last conference her teacher said she’s ready for 3rd grade! ‘We’ sold 474 boxes of Girl Scout cookies in January until the middle of March. And by ‘we’ I mean me! Our main cookie buyers were at TCC and our church! Maddie is getting ready for her dance recital. This year she’s in ballet and jazz so she’ll have two numbers to perform and two costumes! She’s very excited about both costumes!

Fletcher is one busy boy, too! He’s excelling in all his therapies especially physical therapy! Here are a few things his working on, sit to stand, gait training (basically a fancy walker) standing in a stander, power mobility and scooting in a sitting position. He’s truly getting some independence! In February Fletcher had a dysphagiagram and was cleared to start taking food by mouth! So in speech therapy he’s making tiny attempts at eating things like apple sauce, peaches and suckers to name a few. Fletcher’s not really a fan of the whole eating thing so that’s been a little tough. We’re praying that he’ll learn to love food like the rest of the Burns family! Fletcher’s also very vocal these days! He’s really using his voice! He says blue, purple, ma ma, bye, hi and now Fletcher Burns! What a blessing this boy is to me!! The next best thing that’s happening is Fletcher is on room air everyday during the day! Meaning, he’s not requiring any oxygen other than his own! The VERY best thing is he’s grown another ¾ of an inch in the past three months! I need to do some research but I believe that makes 3 inches in a year!!! You might remember that for 3 years Fletcher did not grow at all, not even a tiny bit. The Padmidronate infusions are working!!! Thank you Jesus!

Kayleigh turns 16...

Wednesday, January 6th Kayleigh turned 16 years old! Craig and I are so proud of the young lady she is turning in to. What a gift Kayleigh is to us. Exciting things are happening with her she has her permit and is driving but won't get her licence until April. On Wednesday night we took Kayleigh to Outback Steakhouse for her birthday dinner and tomorrow afternoon she'll have her party at Laser Quest where we'll play laser tag. I'm making a big pot of tortilla soup and having everyone over after the party. It should be lots of fun!

I know, I know...

where have you been? Guys, I'm on Facebook and it's so much easier to update and I get instant gratification and feedback...though I know blogging is important too so here goes...


The girls went back to school today. It's official we have a sophomore and a second grader! Today has been an emotional day for me. This morning I realized that if Fletcher lived at home he would've started Pre-K at Will Rogers with Maddie. Please know I'm so grateful for everything Fletcher is doing and I'm loving all the milestones he's reaching, it was just sad not to drop off another Burns kid at WRE today. How neat it would be for Maddie and Fletcher to go to school together, see each other in the halls, her to be protective of him...blah blah blah cry cry cry! It's been a hard day but I am happy for my girls and I know it's going to
be a great school year for them.

Our sweet sophomore!

Our sweet second grader!

Mrs. Pingleton, Maddie's 2nd grade teacher

In other news, Fletcher is doing fabulous! We had a Patient Care Conference (PCC) in July with all of his caregivers, it went extremely well. The best news of that PCC was Fletcher Burns has grown ONE FULL INCH since the his last PCC. Who cares, right? Listen to this...Fletcher literally has not grown since he's been at TCC. He's been 27 and 1/4 inches the entire time we've been there! The Lord is up to something with that boy! Fletcher's also starting to scoot around. His PT, Darcey is working with him to perfect his scoot so, he can use it to get around. It's really pretty hilarious and he has lots of fun scooting around on the mat in the gym. He's also sitting up unassisted for about 30 minutes at a time! Fletcher is getting stronger with each passing day. I feel like I'm witnessing a miracle and I feel hopeful for his future. Maybe he will come home and live with us one day? Maybe he will walk? Maybe he will talk? Maybe he will get off that darn ventilator? Only the Lord knows for sure, but it feels good to have hope for my boy!

My boys! Oh how I love them!

Sitting up all by himself and quite proud!!

Playing on the mat with mommy!

Legos!!

Maddie is doing well, too. She's probably going to have the toughest time out of all of us, with getting into the whole school routine. That girl really enjoyed sleeping in everyday! Maddie started dance last Monday. She's taking ballet and jazz. Two separate classes taught by two separate teachers this is a first for her. She's very excited about changing classes. Her ballet teacher is the daughter of the owner of the studio. Her name is Savannah and she's probably 18 years old, well Maddie thinks it's so cool to have a teenage teacher. I think Maddie will really enjoy jazz. It's so up her alley!


Kayleigh has had a very active summer. We drove her to Mississippi to visit her maternal grandparents and she stayed for four weeks! Craig, Maddie and I only stayed for a few days. We had a great time seeing family and friends. Her grandparents also took Kayleigh and one of her friends Marley to Gulf Shores and they had a blast! Laying on the beach and shopping what more could two teenage girls want? Kayleigh is now 15 and 1/2 years old so you know what that means? We're about to have a driver on our hands! UGH! How can it be that she's old enough to drive? It seems like yesterday that I was taking her to her first day of school and snapping pictures with teachers and new backpacks and lunch boxes! She's really a delightful young lady and we're so proud of her! We're praying that this year is great and that she enjoys learning!

Maddie and Kayleigh one last hug!

Craig and I are doing great! He's just working away and I'm so grateful to have a husband who goes to work each day without complaining to provide for his family!! God is good to the Burns family! Craig was invited to his college football 20 year reunion in Mississippi. We had a great time meeting all these football players we have heard about for years!

Craig and his linemen buddies! Go Choctaws!

On our quick trip to Mississippi