Ellie and Darby

Just Horsin' around!

A new adventure! A horse costume contest! Ellie dressed Francesca the horse up as a beautiful pink poodle! It was quite fun making a costume for a horse! :) Ellie dressed like a 1950's girl to walk alongside her horse for the costume parade. Fun times!

First place!

Ellie has been taking riding lessons for a couple of months and loving it! She was so excited to participate in her first horse show! She showed Zydeco the pony in the halter class, and one First place! Yay, Ellie!!!

Eleven!

Ellie turned ELEVEN!

It's hard to believe I have an ELEVEN year old, but it's true! We celebrated with a super fun friend and family party at the pool (indoor!) a few days after her birthday. Ellie had a wonderful day on her birthday too, with birthday/Valentine doughnuts at home, and a great day at school complete with a Valentine party where her class sang to her. I was thrilled to go hang out in her class during the party, and just loved seeing how big and grown-up these 5th graders are, and read all the sweet messages written to her on the "Birthday Board". After school we had went for ice cream with Grammie, the siblings, and our friends Richie and William. I believe that's where the sugar consumption reached an all time high. Whew! Finally, needing some real food, we picked up daddy and went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner, feasting on lots of yummy crab legs, followed by home for some present time! We loved celebrating our girl who has come so far, and won so many battles, and who continues to work everyday. We love you Ellie!

Take Two

My brave girl got her ears pierced again! After her holes grew back overnight a year and a half ago, she was terrified to get them pierced again. For a year she swore she'd never do it again, then about six months ago she wavered a little, saying maybe "someday". She really wanted pierced ears, she was just terrified to go through it again.

Today after school she suddenly announced she was ready. So off we went to the mall, and soon she was bravely sitting in the ear piercing chair. She was nervous, but very brave! And I'm so proud of her for overcoming this! Yay Ellie!


Shelley

It's our normal.

Evening homework/OT session at home. This time Rainbow joined in. Guess she didn't think the beanbag was heavy enough. :)


Shelley

Honor Choir!

Ellie was SO thrilled to make Honor Choir this year! She's had a great time singing with a great group of kids, and it's been so good for her.

The big concert...


Ellie and Elaina!


It's dark, but she's there singing at Big Cedar Lodge! Grammie, Grandaddy's and Gma came!





And at the school assembly...


Soooo proud of my girl!

Shelley

Christmas Dance '12

The Christmas dance show was extra good this year! Both girls danced and did a wonderful job!

Ellie with her clogging class...






Annie's ballet class...








Annie...so beautiful.






Shelley

Amazing

This girl is Amazing.


She has come so far. So incredibly far.

4 short/long years ago, Ellie was a first grader getting ready for her spring concert. She cried through the practices, couldn't stand on the risers for long, and agonized over finding a "comfortable" white tee shirt to decorate in art class for the show.

We were in the midst of testing and diagnosing her sensory processing problems at the time. We were novices, and knew so very little about this huge burden our daughter lived with.

We learned though, and now there's so much I understand as I look back. I know that singing in a group overwhelmed her auditory senses. I see that standing amongst a group of kids overwhelmed her visual senses. I know that trying to do the simple arm motions was not-so-simple for my girl who had very little body awareness. And wearing a new tee shirt felt like sand paper to my tactile-sensitive daughter.

Four years later. Four years of countless Occupation Therapy sessions, an Autism diagnosis, Autism therapy, Language therapy, social skills groups, and many prayers led to...

Tonight.

When my fifth grade daughter stood happily on risers. Sang beautifully in a choir she chose to audition for. Wore a shirt issued by the school without complaint. And did all the motions beautifully as she sang.

I fought back tears as I watched her tonight. I know all the parents in the audience were proud of their kids, but I was suddenly overwhelmed by amazement at how far Ellie has come.

One step at a time. One hour at a time. One day, one week, one month, one season...one year... Finally. I see the results we have been working so hard for.

Thank you God, for that blessing.

Shelley

First Day!!!

Does my title sound excited? Because IT SHOULD! It's the first day of school!!! We have a Kindergartner, a 2nd grader, and a 5th grader! Wow!

Ellie moved to the Intermediate school this year!

Annie moved to Elementary East with Mrs. B!

And Austin moved upstairs to Kindergarten!

And Mama is enjoying the peace and quiet! (and maybe missing the kids just a little. :)

Hands on Clay!

This year both girls participated in the Hands on Clay class through the Branson Arts Council. They loved creating their masterpieces!

We heart the Olympics!

It's opening ceremonies tonight for the Summer Olympics! Ellie and I were so excited we had to make some commemorative cookies to celebrate!


Fun and Yum!

Shelley

Ellie

Playing her keyboard, practicing for piano lessons in her beautiful, peaceful room.  And she has a great audiance.  :)

My heart.

Love these two...


Shelley

Recital 2012!

I love a good dance recital! The girls worked so hard all year, and I love getting to see them show their great results and dress up in their beautiful costumes!

They were in separate clogging classes, but for the recital the girls classes came together for one bigger dance number! It was so fun that they were both on stage together!

Annie's class stage front, Ellie's stage back!

Annie clogging!

Ellie clogging!

Sisters! With Grammie and Grandaddy and their beautiful flowers! And The girls with friend Langley and cousin Elaina!

Annie in her ballet and tap numbers!

Post recital pic with the cousins and friends.

The crazy brothers.

All the dancers did a wonderful job!

A Sporting Chance

Ellie participated in a track meet today.

That's a sentence I honestly never thought I'd say. I mean, to be realistic, the girl hates being hot, and tends to avoid physical activity. The whole "coordinating my body" thing is pretty difficult at times for her, and sports have never been her forté. A few weeks ago though, she brought home a form to sign up for the "A Sporting Chance" track meet, and said she wanted to try it out.

Today was the day, and she excitedly stepped onto the field at 9:30am to compete in her first event, the standing long jump.




And she took first place.

First Place!




The grin on her face made me cry.

She participated in two more events; the 50m run, and the softball throw. She received two more medals for those, one first place and one third.




Here's what surprised me. This is a special needs track meet. It was quite a mixture of different levels of special needs. They did a great job of organizing the kids according to age and ability level, but I still wondered if Ellie would really feel proud of herself. I worried she would discount her achievements.

Boy was I wrong.

After her meet she excitedly called her daddy to tell him the news. Her smile was huge, the pride she had for herself was contagious. She needed this. She needed to win. More than even I knew.

So to the wonderful people who made this happen; her teachers, the staff from Branson, the A Sporting Chance organization...I sincerely thank you. You made my girl feel like a winner, which is priceless. We will never forget this and Ellie can't wait to participate next year!

Shelley

Red Carpet Worthy!

Ellie was excited to participate in her school's Red Carpet Assembly for the third year in a row! She wore my junior prom dress and she looked beautiful!