Busy Little Bee

Today Sophie was invited over to play with her best friend from school, Anjuli. They spent the whole day with her grandma. They went to the Jewish Community Center to go swimming and spent over 2 hours in the pool! They had so much fun!!!! Then they came back to the house and had lunch and a tea party and made cookies and some fun Valentines. Sophie had so much fun. Then she ended up going with Michaela and Vollen on their 'date' to go see Frozen. Sophie enjoyed seeing it again and Vollen loved it! Sophie is one tired girl. She went straight up to bed. 

 Love, Love, LOVE this picture. They are so serious and in deep conversation.

 Adorable!

 Fancy smanchy

Gawgous Dawling

Snuggles with daddy

 All the children wanted to snuggle with daddy while we watched the American Idol the was filmed in a Omaha. 

Cheese

 Trying to do dance moves like Sissy.

Star Student

Guess who was the star student this week at dance?

 This girl! 

 It meant she has been doing really good to have gotten chosen. 

 She got to go up to the front and lead stretches with the assistant teacher. 

 RoRo is proud of her too! 

 Showing me she can do the splits.

Bye Mr. Dave

 Ronan and I went up to Vollen's class today to celebrate Mr. Dave's retirement. Tomorrow is his last day. :( Vollen and Ronan really like him. They will miss seeing him every day. 

 Ice cream to celebrate.

 No it's not Vegan, no we don't make a big deal, it's only once in a GREAT while that they have something like that. I just hoped it wouldn't upset their bellies. It didn't seem to. 

Bath Time!

 I just loved the lighting in the tub today. I wish I could have sat there for an hour snapping hundreds of photos. 

 Mom, I have an owie on my finger. 

 Let me wash your hair Ronan.

Dad's day at school

Vernon went up to Vollen's school. They were supposed to play out in the snow, but there was no snow, so they played in the gym. 

 Someone is excited that daddy is up at school!

Down Syndrome Education Conference

I went down to Kansas City for a Down Syndrome Education Conference. This was actually my very first Down Syndrome Conference of any kind. It was great. Very overwhelming, but very informative. I learned a lot of things that I should be doing with Vollen. I think this was very good to hear and very motivating. 

 There were quite a few people who came down from Omaha. I rode down with the two ladies on the left. Jen and Gina. We had a great time and wonderful conversation. 

 More of our Omaha Parents. I didn't get picture of all of them. It was fun to spend some more time talking to them all. 

 One of the presenters was Sue Buckley. Both of the speakers are from the UK. Their accents were fun! She is a psychologist with 40 years of experience. She is widely published in the Down syndrome community and is a high demand speaker.

 Becky Baxter is a speech and language therapist in the UK. She was funny and had lots and lots of practical ideas to use for teaching speech and developing Vollen's language. 

 After the conference we stopped for dinner at Cafe Gratitude (Vernon and I's favorite restaurant). The ladies LOVED it. They were so glad we went there!!! I am glad they got to experience it too.

 Everything they serve in the restaurant is Vegan and Raw. Gina's salad. "I am Humble"

 My salad. 

Flatbread. 

Lentil Soup 

 Maple glazed brussel sprouts. So, so good.

Banana Cream Pie. Completely Vegan and Raw and delicious.