Summer Sunday!

The heat is out of control here, over 100 most days, so my brain is fried. But thought I would share some photos of the last few days and hopefully will blog soon about our Summer Fun.

 Back Porch swimming

 Bedtime smiles

 Meeting Tinkerbell

 Papa Earl and Taylor playing

 Emma talking To Spiderman

 Running fast

 Cookie Break

 Dancing with the dance team at the party

 The fourth!

 Heading to the party up the street

 silly boy!

meeting Gnash the hockey mascot in our town!

Happy 92nd Birthday to my Grandmother!

This Saturday, despite the over 100 degree weather, we celebrated my Grandmother's 92nd birthday with a Red, White and Blue picnic at my awesome Aunt Linda's house.  She has the coolest covered deck with tons of seating and fans built in.  For an added bonus since there is somewhere around 20 small kiddos as part of the great big Clark Clan, she rented a water slide to play in to cool them all off.  They all had a blast, but more about that in a minute.

I just adore my amazing Grandmother!  I have so many memories of hanging out with her as a young child.  She loved to read and no matter how many times I brought her the books "Harry the Dirty Dog" and "Ms. Suzy" she would stop and set me beside her on the couch or better yet the porch swing and read them to me.  I actually have the Ms. Suzy book she read to me now, and need to pull it out and read it to Emma now.  She also use to take us to the local park with a swimming lake and we would eat sandwhiches under a large shady tree and play in the water for hours.  I really remember the dreaded hike up and down the large hill to get there:)  I remember delivering Meals on Wheels with her sometimes too and the smell of the food in the backseat with me as we went house to house.  I also remember that she loved to travel.  Both my grandparents did, and they took bus tours all over the US till my grandfather decided he was too old.  She then, took me on two trips with another lady friend of her's.  We went to Washington D.C. when I was like in fourth grade and it was amazing but cold from what I recall.  Then I was maybe in eight or ninth grade maybe I went to Memphis with her as well.  That was a fun trip, I loved the ducks at the Peabody hotel. 

I have so many more memories with this lady but those are some that really stick out in my mind.  She loved to cook fresh food from the garden, she loved to read, she loved any body of water since she grew up in Florida, she loves anything sweet and really likes when I deliver her some baked goods with the kiddos in tow, and she loves to sit on the front porch surrounded by family and friends.  I hope she has many more years to live, as now Emma loves to go and visit with her and play with the cool toys she has tucked away by her bookshelf full of photos of all the grandkids and some of her many many great grandkids and her now vintage golden book collection.  Happy Birthday Grandmother may God bless you this year!!

Back to the waterslide!  Emma had a blast, well after she decided to finally come down it.  She sat at the top about ten minutes before sliding down and then would only do it, if the rope to help you climb up the stairs was thrown to the front and she could use it to slowly slide down the slide and land in the bottom full of water.  But she loved it!  And had so much fun, she spent well over and hour doing it.  Taylor splashed around in the small baby pool we took over for him to stay safely out of the way of the older great grandkids running around.

 All dressed up!

 Mommy and the kiddos

 Taylor and Aunt Nay

 My sweet grandmother and her sister

 Yumminess!

 Peaking over the rail

 Hudson has no fear!

 Gathering to pray, no this is not all of us yet

 Still more of us not in this shot!

 The family that prays together stays together!  Thre generations right here!

 A few of the great grandkids on the slide, Emma is the second from the right

 Splish Splash Taylor is having a blast!

 he gives me heart failure

All in all a fun day!

Last Saturday

Did not mean to leave you hanging all week, but life is basically crazy right now, with summer fun happening everyday:)

Anyway, Saturday we were given four tickets and an amazing parking pass to Elmo Live by the amazing special needs camp we attend.  This was such a blessing, since the money for these types of actvities is just not there.  So, after some thought we decided Taylor was a little young and we would take a special friend of Emma's with us.  The two girls had so much fun together and the show was super cute.  Parking in the attached garage to the arena was a life saver for us trying to get Emma in and out and allow her to walk (she still cant do far distances and this arena is huge).  We walked right in and went into a elevator to the area for the show.  AMAZING!  The girls were super good and listened the whole time.  Emma got nervous at first but then really got into watching Elmo and his friends dance.  I loved watching her dance and try to sing along.  We took the two girls to lunch at Emma's favorite place McD's for happy meals and they enjoyed the treat.

That night we returned to Emma's friends house for a Sweety Slumber party with a few friends.  I will say we did not spend the night for a few reasons but we had so much fun!  The girls and mom's ate pizza, danced, painted nails, painted pillow cases, played dolls, decorated cookies and caught lightening bugs!  Then curled up to watch a movie!  It was so fun to have a few of her friends together and enjoy them interacting together.  Emma's favorite part was the bugs:)  She got in charge of the cage to put them in, since she was having a hard time running in the grass.  She talked the whole way home about how much fun she had.  It was just a special night and day all together.  Thanks Jessica for a fun night.

Here are some photos of the day!

I love these special days and soak them up like a sponge.  I love watchnig her gain confidence and close friends as they learn to accept her as she is and love her!  I am so grateful for family and friends who love on my sweet Rose!

Days like this....

Days like today I forget the last two weeks of fighting with specialist and then given in and taking her to our PCP to be told I was right all along, she had another UTI.  Days like today I forget the long nights, the long hours at the doctors, the long drives to therapies, the stress and hard talks.  Days like today make it all fade away....it was a rare day full of so much fun and memories. 

I will share more tomorrow as right now I am tired and ready to just relax and reflect on how wonderful the day was and how much fun my sweet little Rose had with all the new experiences she had today.  I am thankful for fun, friends and family and for those who love my sweet girl for who she is and how far she has come.  I have felt safe and loved all day and so has Emma and she has blossomed and bloomed under the safety she felt today.  I am blessed and happy tonight as my head hits the pillow.

The Wonderful Father of My Children!

Happy Father's day to all the wonderful dad's out there!

I want to dedicate this post to the wonderful father to my two children, Daniel. He is amazing, and I am so lucky to have him to partner with me to raise our beautiful children.  I am so lucky that he is such a hands on dad and loves nothing more then playing and caring for his kids.  He especially showed that this week, as we switched rolls for me to attend a three day work conference that had me leaving the house at 7 and getting home around 5.  He took two of those days off to be the stay at home parent and did it with no complaints or without trashing the house too much:)  I honestly think the kids had more fun with daddy home, since it was so different then mommy being home.  However, when I left for Summer Reading Program that I also work, on Thursday Emma said "working again mommy? No you stay home!"  Four days of mommy gone was too much for her. 

I loved being around adults for three days and learning new things, even though it took a little bit to get my brain switched from motherhood to working.  I just loved that he supports me enough in my part time work to give up his own vacation time to allow me to grow more in my job and care for our kiddos!  Thanks Honey!  It was a different week and as much fun as it was for me to be a working mom again, I was sad to be away from my babies.  However, I did not worry about them since he does an amazing job caring for them.

Taylor decided to give daddy a special present by starting to walk more then a few steps today!  He walked all over church and at my parents house today.  Yikes I am about to have a full time walker!  I am trying to not be upset that he waited to father's day to do it since he was over a year old at mother's day too, but it does sting a tiny bit.  Daddy however, was so proud that he was the one who got him to let go finally.  Oh well, daddy might have got him to walk, but I carried him for 9 months and one week and have nursed him since birth so ha:)  Just joking honey, so excited about this big milestone for Taylor, look out Emma Taylor will now be able to catch you when you take his ball!

Below is a clip of him walking last night!

Today has been a great day of not only celebrating my wonderful hubby and father to my kiddos, but celebrating the wonderful man who gave me life and supported me throughout that life my Dad!  Love you Daddy and I would not be who I am today without the love and support you have given me my whole life.  I have always been a daddy's girl and always will!  I am so blessed!!

Complex Child Article

Check out my latest article written for Complex Child, about my sweet Emma Rose!

Ballet is for Everyone

Hoping you had a blessed and relaxing weekend!  Looking forward to Summer Week two at our house.  This week Emma will be attending the three day Vacation Bible School type adventure at our church, and yes I am one of her teachers.  So it should be a busy but fun week.  Praying her recent UTI does not slow us down and that Taylor's cold does not get worse.

Prayers for a blessed upcoming week
Rachel

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