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Our Lydia graduated from college this past Sunday.
We are so proud of all her hardwork and determination. We are excited to see where life takes her.
For the next few months, she will be a ranger at one of the state parks- congrats on that also!
Lydia doesn't like photos of her on this blog, but this one is safe because you can hardly see her. But it's proof she crossed the stage- haha!
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The boys had their spring choir concert. Because of scheduling difficulties, the school could not provide an aide for them. Other years, they've had a school aide help them get on/off the stage and even stand with them up on the risers during the performance.
I volunteered to sit in the row behind them in case an emergency came up, but the plan was their fellow choir students would assist them on/off the stage.
It worked perfectly! Ben needed no assistance at all. Jonah needed a prompt when it was time to leave the stage. And during one song, he started to struggle with staying standing. Jonah gets very scared when he is "up high"- being on stage looking down at the crowd. He started to get scared. I was thinking I would have to go up on stage to help him when his classmate told him to just sit down on the riser. Jonah followed this direction and finished the song sitting down.
How great it is to watch the boys' peers come around and support our guys without giving it a second thought!
That is Down Syndrome awareness in practice, not just in theory. The kids at school are learning and aware of the boys differences, but then also learning that inclusion can happen despite those differences. That's beautiful to watch!
It was proud evening to watch our boys and their fellow choir members!
And shout out to the school staff who have created this environment. We greatly appreciate it.
Unknown to us, Jonah took the Ipad into our camper to record a video tour of our camper. If you watch the video of a real tour of a camper, you can see he closely copies the real one. I think a camper company would be wise to hire our guy! He's awfully cute :)
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These are some of my most treasured photos!
This choir won a first place at STATE Solo and Ensemble this weekend!
What a joy to watch the boys participate with their peers. It is so encouraging to see their fellow choir members include the guys and help and guide them without even a second thought.
We are so thankful for the choir director making an environment where this could happen.
It was a fun and proud moment to see our boys on a college campus and then singing their way to first place with the choir!
Today, 3-21-26, we celebrated World Down Syndrome Day! Actually the boys wore their Tshirts to school yesterday to help promote Down Syndrome awareness so it's been a 2 day celebration.
Helping the general public understand and feel comfortable around individuals with Down syndrome is a win-win. It brings joys to our kiddos to feel included and accepted, and we believe others are blessed when they interact with individuals who have an extra zest for life!
Here are some great photos showing what our boys have been doing at school this week.
Jonah and Ben went shopping at our village supermarket for classroom snacks. Here Jonah is comparing produce prices.
Definition of Funcle: like a regular uncle only more fun.
Doesn't that sound like our dynamic duo?
Seriously, the boys are really good uncles to their nephew, especially Ben. Ben knows how to talk and play with Baby J. He is very appropriate with his volume level and is very gentle and careful with the baby.
Jonah struggles in these areas, but his love for the baby is still strong! This past week, Jonah really enjoyed Baby J because we were able to have the baby on my lap at the piano and Jonah playing his guitar. Jonah's dream of Baby J being a member of our family band is coming true!
I love these photos. Baby J is army-crawling now so he is getting into people's space. The boys were watching their after school show, and the little guy came over to visit them. I love how Ben interacts with him so sweetly. A side of Ben we don't always see.
In regards to looking forward to the spring, we have some cool things happening.
1. Water park hotel night as our spring break! The boys are so excited to spend the night away. My hope is to relax in the lazy river...
2. Job Olympics: the boys will be participating for the first time both for themselves, and I believe the first time for our school district. We are very excited for them to be able to have this opportunity. Our school district is amazing!!!!