Even Closer!

I always thought that I wouldn't do a post about Colin standing and walking until he was really walking. Like, no question, walking.

However, I never knew I would be THIS excited over each of the little steps that are leading up to the day he is just going to take off. When I got to school to pick up Colin, his one teacher (who has been working hard with him too) excitedly told me that while she was walking with Colin today he let go, and took 5 steps independently!

He is standing up in the middle of the floor (only when HE wants to) and I just feel that we are so close.

We have literally been waiting a solid year and a half for this and the feeling of getting closer is amazing...

We just might have the best Christmas gift ever this year!

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So Very Close!

We have been waiting so very long to see Colin stand and walk. Lately, he has been more comfortable walking only holding one hand and then today he stood up repeatedly in the center of the floor and then took 3 itty bitty independent steps into my waiting arms. I was screaming like a mad woman because I am so very, very proud of him! I forgot my camera at my friend's house, but I happened to catch this picture on my cell phone to send to Chris. This will have to do for now.

Could I potentially be getting the best Christmas present ever?!

What I am Most Thankful For

This is a big time for people to announce every year what they are most thankful for. My blog post today is dedicated to that same topic, however, I can honestly tell you that I am thankful every single day for my family. I feel a twinge of sadness every morning when I leave my family after only briefly seeing them awake, and extreme excitement those first few moments when I see them again. I am thankful for smiles that show the same excitement on Colin and Kailey's face when I get to school to pick them up and on their faces when their Daddy walks into a room. I am thankful.

I am so thankful for my family and could.not.imagine. my life to be any different. They fill my heart with so much love...

I am thankful for my family, my friends and for all of my friends from blogland, most of whom I have never met, but I feel like are my old friends.

I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving...

A SIMPLE PRAYER OF THANKFULNESS

What is my prayer of thankfulness?

I thank You, Lord . . .

For having a warm place to stay.

For having enough food to eat.

For having an abundance of clothing.

For giving me friends.

For giving me kind words to say.

For peace in the knowledge I belong to you.

For loving me unconditionally.

For your patience with me.

For the assurance that I'm going to heaven.

For the courage to not look at things as they are, but instead to look at things from God's perspective.

For your assurance that I can give all my cares and burdens to you.

For always being there to hear my prayers.

For answering some I haven't even said yet.

For making my cup to runneth over with joy when there's absolutely no natural reason for it.

Thank you.

Special Olympics of NJ Awards Dinner

A couple of weeks ago, we were invited to the Special Olympics of NJ awards dinner. We were so excited to receive the invitation and really looked forward to going. We have been starting to get more involved with the Young Athlete Program and have really started to get to know some of the staff members of the SONJ.

Last June I posted here about volunteering at the 2011 Summer Games and how rewarding of an experience it was. Being a part of these events gives you this feeling that is hard to describe and makes you feel like you a part of something big.

My friend at the Special Olympics sent me an email this week suggesting that I bring tissues to the dinner. I could see why. As soon as I walked in the door and saw the NJ members of Team USA walking around with their medals that they won at the National games I was tearing up. I knew it was going to be a great night.

We were excited because Colin made a quick appearance in the opening video of the night. Before dinner there were awards for the sponsors of the Special Olympics and then after dinner we were privileged to have Eric LeGrand as the guest speaker for the evening. If you are unaware of who he is, he was a football player at Rutgers University who was paralyzed last football season during a game. Since his injury, he is well known for his heart and determination to improve and one day walk again. He was incredibly inspiring and we were able to go up to tell him and his mom at the end of the evening. The one really neat thing about Eric was that he has been involved in volunteering with the Special Olympics long before his injury.

However, for Chris and I, the highlight of the evening after a very inspirational, amazing and heart warming awards dinner, was to see our little boy, up on the big screen to end the closing video of the night. Now, Chris and I were already crying through the entire video because it was that great, but then when you think the video is ending, Colin appeared on the screen! Needless to say, I was balling.

What an emotional and amazing night. While I was sitting there crying through the video, all I could think was wow...I am so lucky to be a part of this. I am so Thankful for Colin.

special thanks to the special olympics of nj for sharing the video...what an amazing night. Thank you!

Say Good Morning...

I have a post I am so excited to share about our experience at the Special Olympics of NJ awards dinner the other night, but I am waiting until there is a video put up on youtube that I can share with all of you. Just as a preview though, one of the best experiences...can't wait to share!

Colin's new favorite song lately is one that they sing at school every day during circle time. He asks for us to sing it by starting to pat his knees the way they do during the song. He really loves it and I got this video yesterday morning when him and Chris were singing it. The first time around pre-video was much better, but I love how the overemphasize certain syllables of the names. He gets really into it...

Brother and Sister

Chris has been traveling a lot for work lately (unfortunately), so although I have had some help (so happy my sister moved to the area!), it's really, really, really hard to do everything myself. I really appreciate all of the things that Chris does when he is home and I really notice it when he isn't here because I am doing all of my jobs plus the ones he normally does. It's been hard to sit with the kids and play as much as I try to do on a normal day because there is always something I have had to get done. Yesterday while I was trying to get dinner ready (Chris was coming home...yay!), both of the kids were in the living room. Everyone once in awhile I would peek in there to make sure that nothing bad was going on and they seemed to be just playing parallel to each other, but not really interacting.

After a little bit, Kailey started giggling, so I peeked around the corner and found the cutest scene...my kids were actually playing with each other!

In this picture, I walked in and Colin was very gently rubbing Kailey's head!

...and then Daddy was finally home!!!!

I love seeing glimpses of the future of Colin and Kailey really playing with each other. I can't wait to get more of those glimpses!

The School Day

I am so thankful that I am not the one that has to drive Colin and Kailey to school every day because it really tears on my heart strings. Even worse, I had to wake the kids up today and Colin was still groggy when we got in the car. When we got to the traffic light at the end of the road, Colin looked at me with a pouty face and said "home" over and over again. On top of that? He cried pretty hard when we got to school. Thankfully, I know they do ok during the day and are really happy where they are...

Our Weekend Recap

We really had a fantastic weekend together this weekend and it was really extra nice because it was 11-11-11 AND I had off from school on Thursday and Friday. There are so many little things to update you on and I am excited to share because there was a whole lot of cuteness going on...

Saturday we had Colin's Special Olympics of NJ Young Athlete program. When we got there, Colin got into the gym and said "oooohhhh woooowwww"! The young volunteers were still setting up, so we sat in the stands and waited and Colin just kept clapping for everyone.

Early on, Colin went around to the different stations and seemed to enjoy what he was doing. He especially loved playing basketball with Daddy.

...then he was off to the tunnels.

...I can tell that Kailey will always be Colin's biggest supporter. She was so good and happy watching what was going on.

He tossed the ball back and forth...

...again with Daddy.

The group got together and did the parachute which Colin enjoyed.

...I was able to get him to throw bean bags through the hoops,

but for the rest of the 40 minutes of the session (of 45), Colin was doing this...crawling EVERYWHERE. While the previous pictures show he was participating in the different activities, he was literally at each of those for about 30 seconds, and then he was off crawling again.
However, at the end, we got together in the circle again to do this activity which Colin loved participating in (it was kind of like a song with clapping and other activities)...

...and slowly but surely, Colin made it to the center of the circle where he was EXTREMELY happy to be.

If I tried to pull him back, he just scooted his body back to the center again. Here is stretching like a big boy...

For the rest of the weekend, we were mostly around at home enjoying being together. Kailey's new favorite toy is the farm and she seems like she is talking while she plays with the animals.

These next few pictures are from this morning...

...and then from raking leaves and cleaning up the yard this afternoon.

And one more thing...Kailey PERFECTED her "cheeeeeese" face this weekend. As soon as she sees the camera on her, she cheeses it up for the camera.

Hope you all had a great weekend!