Too many topics to title!

This post is full of a potpourri of information. This has been a busy and tough week. Addy missed school and therapy all week due to her pneumonia. She is finally feeling a bit better. She slept until 10:30 am yesterday morning and until after 9 this morning. She definitely has needed the extra sleep. She's still coughing a little bit but it's much better. Her bottom on the other hand is awful. She's had this weird loose still since last Thursday and the cultures were all normal so we don't know what it's about. It's not the antibiotic since it started before she was on it. Her bottom is raw and bloody, it's so sad, I know it hurts :(

On Wednesday my baby turned 10 years old. I'm not sure how that is possible! My boy who will always be Avery to me, is now growing up to be a full blown Jake. He got some video games that he wanted, some new shorts, and of course money. He's still waiting on his money from his grandmama, she gives the big money! He wants to save up for an Ipod touch, he needs about $80 more dollars. We just couldn't afford to get him video games, clothes and an Ipod so we had to choose what to give him! He hasn't had a bday part yet so maybe he will get a little more money and be able to buy his Ipod, I know he'll love it. He's really excited for school tomorrow. He tested into the Gifted program at school!

I'm hoping that this will help him with his behavior. He's not a bad kid by any means, he's just busy and argumentative and argumentative and argumentative. Can you tell one behavior is really making me crazy? When I was meeting with the Gifted Ed teacher, I cried. Not because I'm so proud of Jake, but because of this:

Yes, this is Leasha's signature on the paper. All of the principals have to sign the paperwork. The last principal signed on 4/4/11 so that's the day it's dated. The day Leasha passed away.

This child amazes me though. He has such a huge heart. There was an article in the paper this week about some fundraisers we are doing for our Step Up for Down Syndrome walk coming up in June. He couldn't wait to read it to his class. He's so proud of his sister! I've been watching Glee on Netflix and Addy LOVES to sing along. She really loves to sing. Can you get what she's saying? Not very often, but she gets the melody and knows the words! Jake said "I hope when Addy's in fourth grade and she wants to try out for Junior Jays, that Mrs. Burch and Mrs. Kicker don't let her not get in because she has Down syndrome. She loves to sing. I hope they are nice and give her a chance." What a sweet, sweet boy! These women would NEVER be anything but nice and loving towards Addy, however, they run a "honor" choir and we just have to face facts, she may not be honor choir material, no matter how much she loves to sing :(

Thursday night we worked at McDonald's for a Pancake Supper to benefit our locals DSGO. We made over $440! Scott even helped make the pancakes! I'm so proud of him I'm sure he was out of his comfort zone! His good geocaching buddies even came from Spfld to support the cause! It's amazing to have such wonderful friends! Several of my students showed up with their families too. Thank you to everyone that came and supported us! I was exhausted by the time I got home! I haven't worked on my feet constantly for 3 straight hours in a long time! If you want to donate to Addy's team or even join us click here! It's always disappointing to see that Addy only has her immediate family on her team :( there are huge teams there every year, we can't even get everyone to join Addy!

On Thursday we had a special assembly. Our students were challenged to raise money to support Pennies for Patients to support those with Leukemia. Mrs. DeCamp challenged to kids to raise a certain amount of money and if they did she would kiss a goat. Our kids blew the challenge out of the water and raised over $2000! Leasha would have LOVED this celebration. However, she wasn't here to see it. Her husband, mother and daughter gladly stepped up to the plate in her honor. I was trying to hold back the tears but I couldn't, Leasha should be here. I think I'm hitting the angry stage of grieving. I have a very short fuse right now and I'm waking up with headaches, I know it's stress related. I'm eating constantly and have totally blown my healthy eating and exercise regime. I've got to get back on track. This time of year is tough and losing Leasha definitely has made things much worse.

These are pictures of Leasha that the children made in Art. You gotta love the jewelry!

Friday night we had huge storms blow through. This is some of the hail that fell! It sounded like our roof was caving in! Fortunately there wasn't any damage and things are good. Our cat, Purrpants, had kittens through the night on Tuesday and I haven't seen the kittens anywhere :( we've had so much rain and storms I'm afraid that they've drowned or something. Purrpants has been staying away but she showed up again yesterday but refuses to let me know how her babies are :(

Last night we dyed Easter eggs. Addy loved throwing them so all of hers are cracked. Big surprise huh? Jarika didn't come home :( I miss her, things aren't the same without her here. I'm hoping to see her today but I don't know if she's coming home or not, she hasn't decided!



We missed Easter service this morning, we overslept and I woke up with another headache, it's raining like crazy and Addy's darling little outfit was too little, I guess we were meant to just celebrate our risen Lord at home today.