Gobble! Gobble! Gobble!

I hope that everyone had a nice holiday!
In preparation for Thanksgiving, Isabella and I made sugar cookies.

We wore our matching aprons.  I think I'm going to have to make Isabella a new apron because this one is getting a little small.

 

We used food coloring and made the cookie dough different colors then rolled them together.

 

We cut out turkeys, acorns and leaves.

 

 

Isabella was excited for Thanksgiving.  She was happy that Mommy, Daddy and Grammy would all be home together for the day.  I made raspberry & cheese danishes for breakfast.  They are yummy!

 

 

On Friday, I took Isabella to a tea house for her birthday.  It was so much fun!  She and I both really enjoyed ourselves.

 

 

The ladies that work there gave Isabella a fancy hat to wear.  She, of coarse, loved it. 

 

I wasn't sure if Isabella would drink tea or not.  She ordered mint tea (yuck!!!) and had one cup.  I had the house blend and it was very good.  Isabella has found a new appreciation for sugar cubes.

 

 

 

 

When our main plates were brought out, all the ladies there, including the other customers, all sang happy birthday to Isabella.  She was thrilled to tell them all she was 6.

 

 

We will definitely be going back.  It was wonderful!

When we got home, Isabella was allowed to open her gifts from Grammy a day early.

 

 

 

Lily helped.

 

On Tuesday we went to Longwood Gardens.  They now have the Christmas lights up.

 

 

This year's theme is stars.  Last year it was gingerbread.

 

My Sweet Babies!!!

 

 

Isabella and I likes the red lily's.

 

Lily thought this big Christmas tree was amazing!

 

We are so busy next week!  We have 4 appointments, Raymond's regular 5 therapy sessions and Lily's 1 therapy session.  Also, Monday night I will be the Barnes & Noble in Lancaster at the gift wrapping table.  I am volunteering for the group Celebrate Down Syndrome.  Hopefully it brings a lot of awareness to them.  The following Monday is Raymond's surgery.  They've added tubes, ear cleaning and tissue removal from his ears to Raymond's surgery that day.  Busy!  Busy!  Busy!

 

I'm not going to put up any therapy updates from this week.  Truthfully, I just don't feel like it.  Raymond had good sessions with everyone except his physical therapist.  I think he just needs to get to know her a little better.  I'll make sure I put something specific up next week.  

 

Until Next Time!

Lots of Love, 

Longwood Gardens with Family

With the passing of my grandmother, my brother and his family came to stay with us for the funeral.  On Thursday we decided to go to Longwood Gardens.  This was their first time there.

Alexander & Isabella

Hugs for Lily!

My sweet boy

Aunt Lori, Alexander, Uncle Bobby and Isabella

Alexander enjoyed the children's area.

The lady on the bench was explaining to Isabella and Alexander that this cat (I can't remember his name) lives at the gardens.  We've never seen him before.  He sure was a big cat!

My grandmother's funeral went well but was emotionally draining.  My brother and Chris, along with some of my male cousins, were pallbearers.  The service was a lovely reflection of her life.  Thank you to everyone for the emails, phone calls and text messages.  I received all of them even if I didn't reply yet.  It's been a little chaotic around here.

Until Next Time!

Lots of Love,

Light: Installations by Bruce Munro

Last Thursday we went to Longwood Gardens for a members only preview of Light: Installations by Bruce Munro.  We were all really looking forward to it.  We've seen people setting up for it the last few times we were there.

In anticipation, Isabella wanted to paint her nails.  Lily also wanted her toe nails painted.  She was so thrilled.  When Daddy got home, Lily screeched and pointed to her toes.  What a little cutie!

It wasn't quite dark when we arrived.  We walked around a while and discovered some very cool things.

Daddy spotted a lot of bullfrog tadpoles in this water.  We quickly found out why.  He and Isabella counted 15 bullfrogs under and around the tall grass and water plants.  They both thought that was very cool. 

Raymond took this picture of Lily.

Raymond walked around for a while but once it got dark he had a really hard time walking.  I'll explain.  Several things affect the body's equilibrium.  Joints, ear's, vision, and temperature are a few examples.  Those examples are all things that specifically play a factor into Raymond's balance.  Raymond has hearing loss, "floppy" joints and is very sensitive to heat.  He relies heavily on his vision for his balance.  Once it got dark, and Raymond was unable to see as well, his main source for balance was thrown off.

I'm posting this picture because it cracks me up.  NOT at all flattering of either of us...but funny. 

Glowing rain drops

These displays kept changing colors.

The lily exhibit is open Grandma!

Isabella really likes the carnivorous plants.  She and Daddy enjoy looking at them together.

I'm glad Lily didn't notice these banana's in the conservatory.  She would have wanted one!

Raymond was so exhausted by the end of the night.

I wasn't really able to play around with my camera settings while we were at Longwood Gardens to try and get better pictures of the displays.  I don't have a fancy camera by any means, but it does have a lot of different settings, most of which I've never used.  Here are two pictures I took from the Longwood Gardens website to show you the lite displays a little better.

We had a great time and hope to get back again before the exhibit is over.

On a side note, the weather has been pretty nice for a while now.  Sadie has been terribly anti-social because all she wants to do is sunbath out back and patrol the yard.

In my next life, I want to come back as a dog!

Until Next Time!

Lots of Love,