A family of 5 saving one day at a time!
Love this! Our daughter has her annual IEP tomorrow morning and keeping our fingers crossed for positive results. We have had wonderful experiences in the past, but this year Taylor was moved to a new classroom. Along with the new changes come even bigger ones for the next school year. I will let y’all know how it goes!
Sam’s Club Members make sure you stop by your local Sam’s Club on Saturday April 13, 2013 for your FREE Health Screening. The screening will include: Blood Pressure, Body Mass Index, Total Cholesterol, Glucose, Dental Tabs, and Vision. Check out the entire Health Screening Schedule offered at Sam’s here.
*Health Screenings are only offered at Sam’s Clubs with a Pharmacy
My friend Heather is Hosting her own Tastefully Simple Mystery Hostess Party Online where you have a chance to earn FREE products when you shop with her. This event ends tonight so hurry over and place your order. Check out Heather’s Facebook Party for this event and let her know you are ready to place your order. I placed mine already!
Thanks, Heather!
This past week our family had a huge joy. We didn’t win the lotto or anything like that, but it was for sure amazing! I recently really started using my blog’s Twitter page to try to search and find someone in the United States that has or had a child with Trisomy 15. Our daughter Taylor is 10 and since her birth we have found one other family, in Germany who has a daughter with this same rare chromosome disorder. Although we were happy to have found her and her family, communication is sparse due to the language barrier.
Well last week a Tweet was posted by a hospital in Ohio telling the story of a family who has a little girl with a rare disorder called Trisomy 15. I was so excited that I Tweeted back and within 2 days they had the other family contact me. My heart was clapping and my mind was racing just hoping they wanted to talk to us as much as we wanted to talk to them. We got lucky because they live the same life we do with their own daughter.
Fast forward to this week and many emails have been exchanged and plans for future meetings are taking place. I literally could cry right now because finally someone else knows what it feels like to have doctors tell you what your child will never be. They know how it feels to hold your breath, hoping and praying your baby girl will live a long and wonderful life. I am so happy and Sweet Tay is so excited. I told her we found someone who is just as special as she is. Tay’s response was, “My new best friend forever!” :)
As I was cooking dinner tonight Taylor was helping me by setting the table and I noticed she kept grabbing one of her fingers like it was hurting her. However when I asked her what was wrong with it she kept telling me nothing so I went about finishing dinner. After she was done setting the table she came and stood beside me and began this conversation-
Tay: Awwww Mom I so tired of these hands!
Me:What? What are you talking about?
Tay:They are so freakin’ fat!
Me: No they aren’t why are you saying that?
Tay: I do not, not know. I gotta see a tornado.
At this point I was stumped and just as I am about to ask her again she breaks out singing, “I GONNA POP SOME TABS BECAUSE $20 IN MY POCKET!” For those who don’t know this is a new song playing of the radio called Thrift Shop and after yelling the first sentence she actually finished singing the entire song, with a few new phrases she added on her own.
This might not be the best song for her to be singing, but I don’t mind because you have no idea how HUGE it is that she can hear a song and almost completely sing it word for word just on her own, no music playing to help her out. I don’t care what she sings as long as I can hear her sing forever. I love my Sweet Tay! 
We will be homeschooling our son Clay in the Fall and we are set with our classroom curriculum, but we want to find other ways for him to learn and explore. So I am super excited about the Field Trip Factory! The Field Trip Factory offers FREE educational field trips in your community and we don’t have to do any of the planning, they handle everything. All you have to do is enter your zip code and see what field trips are available in your area and follow the registration steps. This is for families who homeschool or elementary, middle, and high schools.
(image credit: Field Trip Factory)
Today 02/28/13 is Rare Disease Day, where you can rock your favorite blue outfit to show your support for People with Rare Diseases. We are excited about this day and what is means for special people like our Sweet Tay. Taylor was born with a chromosome disorder that is listed as a rare disease. Being diagnosed with Trisomy 15 was both heartbreaking and exciting. We waited for some time to find out why our baby girl was different and once we had the answer, and cried a bit we picked ourselves up and kept on moving. Share this event will all you know and spread the word so everyone in our world will be aware of Trisomy 15 and other Rare Diseases.
If you ”Rocked Your Blue” today share your photo with us so we can show the world you care!
“CARE ABOUT RARE”
Since making the decision to homeschool our youngest child beginning in the Fall, I have been on the hunt for curriculum and great freebies. Thankfully the Internet is full of great websites and resources! Check out some of the pages below and grab these freebies for yourself before they are all gone. Even if you aren’t a homeschooling family these would still be great resources for your kids. Thanks to FREE Homeschool Deals for these great freebies!
Homeschool Creations has free Calendar Notebook Binder Printables
FREE full year of calendar numbers and headers
Head over to Enchanted Homeschooling Mom and download a FREE Knight Unit Study
Rocket Life is offering FREE 20-page Personal Photo Books with FREE shipping to any military member stationed abroad. I can’t wait to mail one of these freebies to my brother, he will love to see pictures from the people he loves!
(Thanks, MoneySavingMom)
Week 5 and 6 are down in the books and I only got 1 more pound down. Not complaining because I know I have built some extra muscle this week too. My hubby keeps on kickin’ my tail in the workout department. Good for him! My nutrition plan is the same, trying to keep it as clean as possible. Our entire family was sick last week so there were some days that keeping up with my meal plan just didn’t happen. I had to focus more on just keeping food in!
I wanted to let y’all know I signed back up with my old trainer last week too. She and her husband have an awesome fitness center called M.A.D. Fitness. They are up and coming and I promise they will kick you butts into shape. They run six week cycles that deliver results so if you are interested check out their Facebook Page.
Box Tops 4 Education Members hurry over and sign up for a free Fiber One Protein Bar sample. Only 10,000 are being given away!
(Thanks, MoneySavingMom)
Darn it! We are into week 4 and I am only 1 more pound down making it 7 total, but 5 inches too. While I feel like I struggle to follow my nutrition plan and get my exercise in my hubby just gets it done. He is skating through making it happen and I am proud of him, but I have been a total slacker. Please don’t judge! On to finishing week 5 and I will let y’all know how it goes. Keep workin’ it out for those who are workin’ on their own body transformations!
Taking my kids to the movies is a special treat, but it is also a stressful experience at times for our daughter. Although Taylor is not Autistic she does has Sensory issues that make going to the movies hard. She loves to go, but she either talks through the entire movie or gets upset when there are loud scenes. This makes other movie goers upset, which I totally get. However my daughter has the same right as everyone else to go see a movie and thankfully AMC Theatres agree with me.
AMC offers Sensory Friendly Films for families like ours. The program provides a special opportunity for families to enjoy their favorite films in a safe and accepting environment. The auditoriums dedicated to the program have their lights up, the sound turned down and audience members are invited to get up and dance, walk, shout or sing!
This awesome program is offered nationwide so go HERE to find your local theatre and take your kids to the movies!
Upcoming Screenings
February 23, 2013 - ESCAPE FROM PLANET EARTH
March 30, 2013 - THE CROODS 2-D
April 13, 2013 - JURASSIC PARK 2-D
June 1, 2013 - EPIC 2-D
June 29, 2013 - MONSTERS UNIVERSITY
July 13, 2013 - DESPICABLE ME 2
August 10, 2013 - THE SMURFS 2
September 21, 2013 - THE LITTLE MERMAID
October 5, 2013 - CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2
November 9, 2013 - MR. PEABODY AND SHERMAN
November 27, 2013 – FROZEN 2-D
December 21, 2013 - WALKING WITH DINOSAURS 2-D
All shows are at 10:00 am local time. Dates and films are subject to change.
On February 5, 2013, make your way to your local IHOP and celebrate National Pancake Day by enjoying a FREE short stack of buttermilk pancakes. In return for the free pancakes, you will be asked to consider leaving a donation for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals or other designated local charities. Sounds like a win-win to me!
*Limit 1 FREE Stack per person
