Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Happy birthday to Spenser!

Today is my oldest sons 17th birthday! Spenser is such a good kid, awesome son and brother.  He loves his little sisters who both have Down syndrome so much.  Since Anna has come home to us from Rus$ia he loves to tote her around and show her off. :)  He takes both of the girls on rides through the neighborhood and takes Anna to the store with him every chance he gets :)  He would take Ashlyn more, but she is too difficult to deal with in the store and doesn't listen to authority worth a hoot!!! Yep she is my stubborn one.  Here are a few pics of the kiddos today after we went out to dinner for Spenser's birthday.  Aren't all my children so photogenic? LOL- NONE of them would cooperate except Anna and once in a while Spenser would when he wasn't tending to Ashlyn who was misbehaving!!  So here ya go....the crazy Williams clan......


Misbehavin'





Mason looks thrilled......



Spenser and his sweet lil' Anna :)



Monday, October 3, 2011

October is Down syndrome awareness month!

So I am TWO days late! OH well I'll start the month off by showing two off two punkins at the punkin patch!!




Looking at the barn animals






Too many to choose from!!





Here's a pumpkin for you.....


Getting ready to stuff a scarecrow



The tractor ride







The End!!!!




Monday, September 12, 2011

Bringing our family blog back to life.....

So our adoption is finally over! We have sweet pea in our arms, in our home, in our family and life couldn't be any better. Seriously. Anna is doing so well in our family and our family loves this gal to pieces! I haven't blogged on this blog in almost a year because my life was consumed with our family, our adoption and life in general. I concentrated on our adoption blog as we were busy, busy, busy doing fundraisers to help bring Anna home and I totally neglected this blog :( Now that Anna is home I want to bring our family blog back to life! Another year has gone by and I am posting pictures from Ashlyn's birthday and of course you get to see her sweet, new sister too!!!

Ashlyn is a big ol' 12 years old this year and I am still having a hard time believing it! It seems like she has just grown up overnight and we will have a teenager before we know it...YIKES!!!!


Big Girl blowing out her birthday candles!!



Sisters - FINALLY!!!!!!!


Somebody missed her nap, and actually fell asleep trying to eat her cake and ice cream!




Saturday, October 2, 2010

I really deserve the mother of the year award. Ask me why….

Ashlyn’s birthday was August 31. And I have yet to blog about it. My girly turned 11 years old. ELEVEN years old…wow, how did that happen? It only seems like yesterday she started kindergarten and I was scared out of my mind. This fall she started middle school and again, I was scared out of my mind. Still am some days if you wanna know the truth. Although she is still very delayed in a lot of areas she is growing up in several other areas.

Mike took the kids to the fair with a couple of his family members the other night. I would have loved to go but I had to work that night. Being the good daddy that he is, he sent me a couple of photos on my cell to show me what a good time she was having. He said that she wanted to ride all of the big rides and squealed with laughter and laughed so hard she could barely breathe! Oh how I wish I could have been there too! But wait, I was there just the day before and she acted nothing like that with me. You see we have a little Mama drama going on and have so for several years. On Thursday I went with her class to the fair to participate with the local FFA students from a local high school. They had a special day set up where FFA students would work with the exceptional children’s class and teach them how to “show” a sheep. Each of the FFA students have experience showing sheep at the fair and one of the seniors from the high school used this as her “senior project”. It was really fun for most of the kids, but of course Ashlyn had to break out the drama on us. She got mad at us because she wanted to ride the sheep. Forget showing this sheep, I wanna ride it! She ran around whining and fussing so I ended up bringing her over to the bleachers to watch all of her classmates and then she FINALLY calmed down. After the sheep showing was over we walked around the fair for a bit to let the kids ride a few rides. Do you think Ashlyn rode any rides?? NO!! She was too busy displaying her Mama drama. Whiney, crying, sitting down on the ground, being totally uncooperative! I tried to take her to the bathroom and all I could find was porta potties…..ewwwwww. I thought well, it’s worth trying. But obviously Ashlyn was not thinking like me. She took off running and screaming Nooooooooooo! Which by the looks of it, I wouldn’t have wanted to use it either. She is totally FREAKED out by small spaces and there was no way she was going to climb in that potty. So then we finally sat down to eat lunch and this made her very happy, surprised? Ha! Needless to say this was a very stressful day as I still had to run to a doctors appointment after the fair and was not looking forward to the procedure I would be having that day.

So fast forward to Friday, Ashlyn is having the time of her life at the fair with her daddy and cousins. It was at night and I am sure it was a lot cooler than it was when we went during the day. She had so much fun that she cried her little heart out when it was time to leave. The longer they were there the more impatient she became in waiting in the lines to get on a ride. Ashlyn does not understand about waiting her turn…when she wants something she wants it NOW!!! So out of the fair they go, kicking and screaming. It’s great that she is finally growing up some and actually riding the rides at the fair. It wasn’t so long ago that she would have torn her fingernails off to keep from getting on a ride.

Okay here’s where I should get the mother of the year award. Ashlyn’s teacher called me from school this week to tell me that Ashlyn had a blowout in her pants that went up her back……YIKES. I found out later it happened 3 times that day! Poor teacher! Ashlyn hasn’t been pooping her pants so I was confused as to why this was happening. I told her teacher that it could possibly be a side effect of her seizure medicine. Later that afternoon Rhonda was at our house (she works with Ashlyn after school on her goals.) I was telling her about what happened at school and I told her that it could be the meds or possibly she might have a milk allergy. Rhonda then tells me, Traci, look at what you are feeding her. I look down and it’s yogurt, yeah so what? You are giving her the Activa yogurt that is for people who need bowel movement stimulation!!! OH-MY-GOSH!!! Trust me when I say, Ashlyn needs no help whatsoever in the bowel movement department! The poor girl had 2 cups of it the night before her blow out and had just downed about ¾ of another cup!!! Oooooppppps!!! I don’t typically buy that brand of yogurt but I had a coupon for it and it was free with the coupon so I thought I would grab it because Ashlyn LOVES yogurt! I think we will be sticking with Trix yogurt from now on!!!

Ask me about taking poor poopsie to the doctor today :( That's another post but let me tell you, I have beat myself up all day over it :(


Tuesday, August 3, 2010

It's been a reeeeaaaaaly busy summer!  I am a slacker and I know it.  It seems like I am running 90mph on my days off and boy am I tired!  Here are a few pictures to show what we have been doing!


Sweet girl, being sweet



The wild ones running through the sprinkler, or rather Ashlyn
trying to be the "control personnel" of the sprinkler!





Spenser has been playing a whole LOT of this!





Mason is such a trip!  He loves playing pranks, especially on Spenser.
Here he is putting dog treats on Spenser and then luring
Howard up onto Spenser while he is trying to sleep.
ahhhh it is so stinking funny...Howard licking all over Spenser's ears and neck, he he he!




And last but not least, fundraising for our Princess Anastasia!!!





Tuesday, July 13, 2010

SWAGGER WAGON

OH my gosh....this is hilarious!!


Wednesday, June 16, 2010

See little Anastasia below?  Our family is planning to adopt her!  God is so good!  She just turned 5 years old and we are praying that we can rescue her before she is transferred to an institution in Eastern Europe.  You can follow our new adoption blog at  Saving Anastasia .  Come by and visit!



Sunday, May 23, 2010

Happy Birthday Anastasia

This sweet, sweet girl turns 5 years old today.
There will be no party for her or anyone celebrating her birth.
Anastasia lives in an orphanage in Eastern Europe
where children with disabilities are hidden away
from society at birth or shortly after.

It is my hopes and dreams that you never
spend another birthday alone after your
fifth birthday Anastasia.  I pray that by this time
next year you are loved by a family who
accepts you for who you are no matter your disability.
Hold tight Anastasia, God will not leave you as an orphan.
Your forever family will hopefully scoop you up soon and
you will never know your days as an orphan anymore.
May God bless you today and always Anastasia!
Happy Birthday beautiful Princess!!








Sunday, April 25, 2010

Oh Happy Day!!!

If this song doesn't make you want to get up and dance, well...... do it anyway!!! Oh how I love it!!





Saturday, April 17, 2010

World Down syndrome day 2010

World DS day has come and gone, but I came across this video last night and I just had to share!! It is beautiful and made me cry... so beware!! Hope you love it too!