Day 126

Dominic has been the star of the 365 pics lately, hasn't he? This afternoon I took the kids to the library. What is it about little boys and dinosaurs? Dominic picked out 6 books all about dinosaurs. He is an incredible reader (he read the word "psychology" earlier today!) and going to the library is such a treat. Though I had to resort to using the flash, I adore his pose here and this picture really captured his love of books.



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Day 125

Anna has lots and lots of baby dolls but two of them are very special... George (named after George Washington) and Audrey (named after a neighbor child that lives up the street). I thought it would be fun to have a birthday party for George and Audrey and we initially had it scheduled for last Saturday but Anna got sick and we had to reschedule it. Since today was an early-release day from school, we had the party this afternoon. We even sent out invitations to the neighborhood kids! (Any excuse for cupcake, eh?) What a fun day! I'm going to post more pictures on Elusive Tranquility later but had to share this one of Dominic... so cute!



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Day 124

It was hot hot hot today! So I suggested we get out the water guns and throw on some bathing suits. Dominic was all over that noise. He loves playing with water guns which you can plainly see by the big silly grin on his face.



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Day 123

Dominic cracks me up! He rolled this big exercise ball out from the garage this afternoon to use as a makeshift chair. He's allowed 30 mintues of Nintendo-DS time on school days and didn't want to put it down for even one of those minutes today. I loved this little scene and I'm so glad I was able to get a photo of it.



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Day 122

To make up for the bad picture I took of Anna yesterday, I got this beautiful picture of her today. It was picture perfect here and we went for a walk around the pond before lunch. I got some amazing shots of the water, a duck, and a goose (ha ha, that sounds like a nursery rhyme!) but this one of Anna got my heart. I love her so much!



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Day 121

I know, I know... this is a terrible picture (but rescued by My4HensPhotography free little honey bee action)! Anna wasn't feeling well today and we had this huge party planned (we've rescheduled it so you can look forward to finding out all about it later in the week) and since we had to cancel it today, she was very disappointed in addition to being clingy. So we decided to go ahead with part of the party with just family and she was so happy! I got this shot as quickly as I could but still managed to cut off her head. Oh well! You can see the joy and that's what I want to remember.



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Day 120

Sorry I didn't get this posted last night, I'm actually really busy with paid projects, woot!

Jenny and Chris are the most wonderful couple. They treat each other with respect, kindness, and silliness. I love watching them together! They are both so lucky to have found this kind of love and level of comfortableness so early in their lives.



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Day 119

I took Charlie for a quick walk this afternoon and brought along my camera. Though it was windy and Charlie was tugging at my arm, I did manage to get a picture of this pretty butterfly in a neighbor's garden. Capturing little moments like this is a good reminder to me of life's beauty.



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Day 118

Playing outside today, one of the neighborhood kids yells for me to come quickly. I rush over only to discover a baby bird has fallen out of the nest before it could fly. The mama bird was keeping a close eye on her baby, coming down to bring it morsels to eat, and chattering away at us. I dashed home to get my zoom lens and got some great pictures.



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Day 117

Today Anna had a hearing test followed by an appointment with an ENT specialist. The hearing test indicated moderate hearing loss due to middle ear fluid. She had a similar problem when she was two years old and had PE tubes placed then which have since fallen out. The ENT wants to try a two-week course of antibiotics then check her in three weeks to see if there is any improvement. If not, she'll get another set of PE tubes and her adenoids removed. She was such a good girl at these appointments. Can you believe that we had the same audiologist we had seven years ago? She was very patient and kind with Anna, and of course, Anna had to show her all of the things her new baby doll, Shirley, could do.



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Day 116

Just a gorgeous shot of Jenny... I love the lighting in this one.



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Day 115

Curtis is very committed to volunteering his time to help others. Recently, he reconnected with a friend on Facebook. He was devastated to learn that his friend has lost his young son, Colin, in an accidental drowning. Now this boy's parents have started an organization to raise awareness about water safety. Today was their first annual Water Safety Walk and Curtis took Dominic to hand out safety packets to area neighborhoods. Dominic was happy to get a new t-shirt and we are happy to share information about Colin's Hope. Please take a moment and visit their website: Colin's Hope.



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Day 114

Because the Abilify is allowing Anna to regain impulse control, she was able to earn "prize" for a good week at school (minus Monday and Tuesday which we aren't holding against her). She worked so hard to turn her attitude around and stopped herself numerous times from acting out negative behaviors. So she got a new baby doll today which is the creme-de-la-creme of prizes for her. She named this baby, Shirley, after her Nana (my mom is so tickled!). I thought it was so interesting that even with an inanimate object, Anna doesn't make eye contact!



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Day 113

Today I volunteered as a chaperone for a walking field trip that the kindergarten classes got to take to a pond that is near the school. Dominic was so very excited that I got to come along and was able to sustain such good behavior all day that he earned a 1-1 dinner at Chuck E. Cheese with me this evening. We had a really good time! I love this picture of him sitting between his friends. Just a perfect moment of childhood captured.



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Day 112

If you have never tried a double-stuffed Oreo... well, you simply must. You will never go back to the regular Oreos again! These are the kids' nightly treat after dinner, only now Anna has to have the sugar-free kind. I like to have one mashed up in a bowl of vanilla ice cream. Yummm... go indulge yourself!



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Day 111

We had a rare family afternoon and evening together. Curtis, me, Dominic, Anna, Jenny, her boyfriend, Chris, and even my mom played outside and went to dinner. I got this picture of Dominic and Jenny together while we were outside... I didn't realize just how brilliantly blue both sets of their eyes are together. It takes my breath away!

I'm going to blog more about this in detail on Elusive Tranquility, but today was a much better day for Anna today. YAY!



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Day 110

Yesterday was a horrific day for Anna at school. The medication she's been on for the last four years is not working anymore and is causing her health problems. She has little impulse control... and many behavior problems have ensued. I just did not have the energy or emotional bandwidth to take a picture yesterday.

Today is a new day though. I found a child psychiatrist who will take her case and her neurologist is changing her medication. School today was almost as bad as yesterday though I did not receive a call from the principal nor get a pink "discipline referral" slip today. After school, I focused my energy on trying to make it a pleasant afternoon. We got two of the sweetest, older neighborhood girls to come over to play. They set up a tea party at my mom's house and invited Dominic. I got this shot of them at the table having tea. Do you know that I used to play with these very same cups and plates when I was a little girl visiting my grandmother? How cool is that!



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Day 109

No photo today.

Day 108

Just hanging outside late this afternoon with the kids and I caught Jenny looking so pretty after an afternoon nap (she wasn't feeling well earlier, but you can't tell, can you?).



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Day 107

I took Anna and Dominic to our local zoo today. It's just a small, rescue-type of zoo with a few exotic animals. We have an annual membership and go quite frequently when the weather permits. Today this peacock was everywhere, showing off his feathers. This shot, though, was so vivid and colorful, that I had to share it.



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