AwEsOmE VACATION

Me and Deets on a ride that he was terrified of going on, but after lots if convincing, he went and loved it!

CBugs and Deets even got their divers licenses!

Grandma Tina with the witch. Striking resemblance, don't you think!?!
My sister-in-law, Courtney, with her boyfriend

Skater on the horsey ride that he HAD to go on(He fibbed about his age to get on!) He has not stopped talking about it since we got back. It was the highlight of his trip!

Cobesters fighting the darkside! And YES, All of these things are made completely out of
Legos!

This was the moment the boys have been waiting for all their lives!

Sunny California!

Skater snuck in to see Lighnig McQueen. You had to pay to get your picture with him, but when I turned around to find Skater, he had made it in across the barracade, so I snapped the shot. The lady behind in the pink shirt behind him was TICKED off!! She paid for her picture. I'm pretty sure Skater was in it!

Me and the boys at bugs life ride. NOT recommended for children under age 9. This picture was taken BEFORE they had the bajeezees scared out of them!

My sister got sealed in the San Diego Temple in May, so we decided to make a vacation out of it. It was so much fun. We went to California Adventure, Disneyland and Legoland. We liked everything, but my favorite was Legoland. Not because I loved it , but because the boys loved it! They were in heaven!! It was so fun to watch them!

My Baby is 1!

Oh, I cannot believe that Cobee is one!! Where does the time go?!? He is cuter than ever! He is getting so grabby and mobile!! Before Cobee, I would have been thinking "Great! He is going to be into everything! Let's slow him down!!!" But with Cobee, I am all for him getting into everything! That is how he will learn! (Yeah, give me another few months and we will see how I feel about this last statement!) In all seriousness, it is a celebration with each bit of progress that he makes. We just got him sitting up from his side to his bum. We have been working on this for a couple of months now, and he is finally doing it! He is getting on his hands and knees and rocking. YEAAA Cobee! It won't be long before he starts to crawl. He is soooooo cute and fun!! Who would have ever known? He is digging into his first birthday cake and loving every minute of it! It was funny because he would lunge into it and grab fist-fulls of CHOCOLATE cake and frosting and then look around until he found me to see if he was going to get in trouble, but when he saw me laughing, he knew it was okay and so he went in for more!

A Great Email

I got this email from the Special Olymics of Idaho. I wanted to share it. I love SCRUBS. This message is from the actor who plays Dr. Cox. He has a 10 year old (I think he is 10) named Max, who has Down syndrome. Who could look at Cobester's sweet little face and not feel bad about using the word "Retard" in a derogatory way and not feel bad?

Spread the Word to End the Word: A personal message from John C. McGinley
Hi, I'm John C. McGinley. I'm an ambassador for the National Down Syndrome Society, and today I'm teaming up with Special Olympics to bring you a message that's important to me.So many times in life you are asked to change...Change your clothes. Change lanes. Change jobs. Change the sheets. Change flights. Change your tune. Change horses midstream. Change your latitudes and your attitudes!Change, and the ability to adapt, is to the human condition as air is to the lungs. We change, and in the doing, we thrive!In fact, we just elected a president who promised, above all else, to "change."What if, on March 31, you elected to change the way you use the words "retard" and "retarded"?Hardly seems like the largest of sacrifices. Not when you consider the changes in language that you have, so willingly, already elected to integrate into your vernacular. You no longer use the words nigger, or kike, or faggot, or jap, or kraut, or mick, or wop.Why would you? Why on earth would you? Those are all words that hurt. Those are all racial and ethnic slurs and epithets that perpetuate negative stigmas. They are painful! And that is not okay. It is wrong to pain people with your language. Especially, when you have already been made aware of your oral transgression's impact.Make no mistake about it: WORDS DO HURT! And when you pepper your speak with "retard" and "retarded," you are spreading hurt. So stop it. Stop saying "retard" and "retarded." Those words suck! You are better than that and you definitely do not need to be "that guy."There is no longer any acceptable occasion to lace your dialogue with the words "retard" and "retarded." Without fail, those words are the stuff of hurt. They, straight up, are. So, stop it! Stop using the "R-word."The 7 million people with intellectual disabilities (around the planet) who are on the receiving end of this hate speak are genetically designed to love unconditionally. These "retards" are NEVER going to return your vitriol. Ever! So what could possibly be the up-side of continuing to use the "R-word" in your daily discourse?We love you. We do!And, just in case you missed it and you need an extra hug? We love you!You do not need to love us in any kind of reciprocal fashion. You don't. (It's not that kind of bargain.)But, how about on March 31, you elect to change? A word? Two stinkin' syllables?On March 31, join us and "Spread the Word to End the Word." And the word is "retard!" It HURTS! So help us to cut it out.Thank you! We do love you!John C. McGinley

Happy Birthday Deets!

Deets wanted a LEGO party. It was really fun. I got the boxes of GM Cereals that featured the LEGO race cars in them and everyone at the party got to build their own race car and then w had a LEGO race car derby. The boys loved it! Then we played drop the lego in the bucket and "Hot LEGO". It was fun. I can't believe how big he is getting. They grow up waaaay too fast!

On to horrible 3's

Here's hoping for a better year!! Skater just turned 3!!!! One of my friends mentioned on the last blog about him that I should give him a different nickname, but I just can't seem to find one that isn't inappropriate! Poor Skater! He really can be sweet sometimes! I have gone thru and Skater proofed everything in the house. I will take some pix and post them. We had to get pretty creative. The "normal" baby-proofing wasn't enough to stop the Skates. He wanted a football party for his birthday. I don't know if it is because we just had a superbowl party or what, but a football party is what he got!

BBall Season!

CBugs making a shot in the game(he has on the warm-up pants!)

CBugs and Deets are right in the heat of basketball season. It has been so fun to watch them and see them develope physically and socially. Deets got his metal last week an was so proud of himself! When we got home, he said "Mom, aren't you proud of me?" He was super pumpd that he got to play. This is the first sport that he has got to play instead of watching CBugs from the side-lines. It was exciting for him!

Deets is making a shot in this pic.

Surviving Terrible Two's

Okay, now that we have shared the lipstick story, I have to share the other events that have transpired over the last couple of weeks. On Sunday, (2 weeks ago), Skater climbed up on the shelf that I keep my fingernail polish on and got down my DARK brown fingernail polish. He decided to paint my toilet seat, the white molding around the doors in my bathroom and closets, and finally, he painted my shoes. And not just any inexpensive shoes. He got my new Naughty Monkey "Double Dare" Sara Palin shoes! Along with several others. Since then, I have found traces of fingernail polish in places that I don't know how he could even reach! The next day, I was on the phone with the hospital, trying to pay some bills, and Skater was nippin' at my heels (ya know how kids do the second you get on the phone) and I couldn't hear, so I locked him out of my room. (What was I thinking!?!?!?) He crawled up on the counter and took two huge chunks,with his hands, out of the wedding cake that I had spent 4 whole days making for my brother's wedding! The kid is lucky to be alive right now. Needless to say, that side of the cake faced the back! And then a few days later, we were at the parking lot of the bank, and I put my purse in the front seat, buckled Skater in the back car seat, and took Cobester around to buckle him in. By the time that I had buckeled in Cobes, Skater had weaseled his way out of the car seat, went to the front seat and locked the door. I shut Cobster's door before I realized that he had locked the doors. So I panicked, and started banging on the window to tell Skater to unlock the door. Then, of course, it became a game! He unlocked it quickly and then relocked it before I could get the door opened. Then he went to the back of the Denali and hid, face-down, on the seat and played peek-a-boo. Then he decided that now was a good time to search through my purse and find a piece of gum, which he did, and he smiled at me as he threw the wrapper on the ground. (He knows how big of a no-no that is!) All the while I am screaming in rage for him to unlock the door. Even thrugh my furry, I couldn't help but turn my head and laugh a little at the thought of what an idiot I must have looked like! Believe it or not, no one even stopped to help or make sure everything was alright. I had no way to call anyone or anything because my purse with everything in it was in the front seat. I was afraid to leave the scene in case he decided to unlock the door and come running after me. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place! Finally, a guy that pulled up saw my dilemma and let me use his phone to call 911. I offered to let the policeman take him home, but that did not go over very well. Just kidding. Yeah, I am terrified for what is to come as this kid enters his teenage years!