Every Step He Takes....

This was Sport's first tournament. He competed in the obstacle course and ladders course. The obstacle course pictured above is a timed event. He was the last to go in his division. He, for obvious reasons, got his own helper.

This course was pretty easy for most kids. For Sport it took considerable effort. Because he was the last to go, and it took him some time to complete, the entire crowd was cheering for him and the closer he got to the finish line the louder they cheered.

This picture is fuzzy because between his smile and the cheering of the crowd I was balling my eyes out.

Why is that? Why would a crowd who doesn't know my son, has no idea what he's been through, together cheer louder for him than any other kid? Obviously they can see he has Down syndrome but why do they cheer for the Downy kid who finishes last? From a parents view, I am just as proud of Master as I am of Sport.

The only thing I could come up with is... Each of us has difficult things to over-come in our lives. Times we have tried and failed. We all want to win. We all want to cross the finish line, in spite of our difficulties, whatever they may be. We live in a very competitive world. Being the BEST or FIRST is sometimes prized above all. But sometimes when we realize it's not about being FIRST or the BEST, but dealing with, and over-coming, that which we've been given is the greater victory. And that Victory becomes that much sweeter as we cheer each other on in the process.

Karate Tournament

Getting ready

The Good

The not so good

The supportive crowd

Weapons Division - Broad Sword

Love this kick

Nice job Master you've worked hard and it paid off!

Brothers

This was Sport's second event and Master was allowed to help him. Being the big brother to Sport is not always the easiest and Master is AWESOME at it!

Junior Black Belt

This has been 3 years in the making.

Nice job Master, we are so proud of you!

And the winner is...

The winner is none of the choices below. This is what happens when you take your husband shopping with you. He thought this was the 'coolest' of everything we saw. I have the bedding, now comes the tough part, pulling the knick nacks and the rest of the room together. If you see any great sail boats or toy beach cruisers give me a shout.

I can't decide...please vote

Ob visit today. Good news: she moved my due date up! Instead of June 19th it is June 13th and she always takes me a week early and she's leaving town....so Baby Noah will be here between June 6th and June 9th. I am kind of hoping for the 8th 6-8-10 would be a cool birthday.

Bad news: I've gained too much weight and she's not happy about that (nor am I). I've got 6 weeks to turn that around (whatever! I'm not going to worry about weight right now, I have the rest of my life to do that)

Indy moved the crib into the babies bedroom today I put together the crib bedding from pottery barn that I bought on sale that I thought was sooo cute...NOT I hate it. So here are some other choices...please vote I cannot decide! Keep in mind my crib, dresser, and rocking chair are white.

Junior All-star

Jake bedding

Mosaic transport

Max bedding

Night of Authors

When Sport does something big, he knows it, and shows it with a big "MOM I DID IT!"

Sport got to read his book with the rest of his reg-ed 1st grade class. He did great. If you watch the video I was a little bugged because his teacher read most of it, but he CAN actually do the whole thing himself. Great job Sport! Can you tell from his grin he was proud? Ya, I think he felt good about it and that's what counts.

Fashion hat field trip

I'm not sure if this field trip was more about the fashion hats or the Ogden Nature Center.

Princess Pie's BFF

They are only 4 watch out!

Pink Silky Things

Princess Pie and doll Natalie in their pink silkie pj's

I hope she never outgrows this phase, but I know she will... so I had to take a picture. The blanket behind her is THE pink silky with the good corners. According to Princess good silkies have good corners to rub between your fingers. Who knew?

The crazy thing about April in Utah

You go from this to>>>

This (grass below)

within a matter of a few days.

Yes this is my grass.

First mow of the season.

I love the smell and the green on my bare feet.

I do have a funny story about Sport and this day.

I should call it the Downy kid vs. the Tatted man.

One of the trade-offs in my personal book of rationalizations, is that if I have to spend time away from my kids working, then when I get home it would be really great to spend time with them, and not cleaning toilets or mowing the grass. Don't assume I'm off the hook or deprived...I get plenty of grass to mow and toilets to clean at the cabin. We take care of the grass but do hire a crew to come and mow. One member of this crew is kind of a 'rough looking' very tattooed guy. He had to move the tramp to mow and Sport was jumping. He came over in a very nervous fashion and nicely asked Sport to get off the tramp so he could move it. Sport just looked at him and yelled NO! The poor guy was a little at a loss. After asking twice and Sport refusing to get down, my good neighbor came to the tatted man's rescue and got Sport off the trampoline.

Pondering Prayer

My lesson this coming Sunday is on Prayer. Here are some of the questions I've been pondering....Any thoughts, COMMENTS you have would be highly valued.

How do we tell the difference between our mind and heart's desires and answers to prayers?

What does it mean when the answer to a prayer does not have a positive outcome? Or the answer to that prayer led to a wrong decision?

How much time should you take in waiting/ listening for answer? Ten minutes of silently trying to listen is a long time. Heck 2 minutes is a long time. Sometimes I am guilty of leaving a voicemail prayer and figuring the Lord will get back to me on His schedule.

What does it mean when you don't get an answer? Not a stupor of thought. But times when there is not an answer to your specific question.

What if you and another person are praying for an answer to the same question and you get different answers?

How good are we at really listening?

Easter Prep and Craft Time

The last time I did this craft I was 12. Lucky for me the Internet refreshed my memory and the kids had a great time making these string eggs. Once they dry over-night you pop the balloons and wa-la you have this cool hollowed out egg.

The craft project for the mommy (me) involved finally getting pictures on my magnet board. The board was made by the ever talented Uncle Matt and it's huge! I think it's about 4x5 feet. I'm still working on my clustering and getting some cabinish magnets to hang between pictures, but at least the pics are up and mounted.

And last but not least coloring the eggs!

Martha made it to the cabin

I really tried (in vain) to tell my mom that paper plates would be fine... because you know we are at the cabin. NOPE! She not only brought the table decor but the plates and bowls as well. Now for those of you who think, UGG that's over the top and too much work, I have to tell you this... It's kind of cool when you're all grown up, and you're supposed to be the one in charge, but still get to wake up to this....it's kind of like magic!

(all was done after I crashed at mid-night)

Note I did do my kids baskets but Martha (mom) attached the bows and tags

Not just one bow, I think there are about three layers of ribbon attached to that name tag.