Advocacy of the Midland's conference & Randomness

Randomness.

We have been blessed with lots of randomness these past couple weeks.  Here are a few snippets of our Harnisch randomness.

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This past Saturday Joe and I attended the Advocacy of the Midland's Conference put on by the Down Syndrome Alliance of the Midlands.  It was wonderful and jam-packed full of great information as well as emotions.  All of the speakers were fabulous and very insightful...in fact, I think I may just link to a couple fellow blogger friends posts if you'd like to get an idea of what we learned.  (perhaps sometime later I will revisit my notes and make a specific post myself, but to tell you the truth I am too overwhelmed, and lazy, to narrow my thoughts down at this moment)

Here's Casie's review DSA Conference

Here's Amy's review Learning in the Wait

Thanks ladies for your recaps ladies :-)
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DINNER PARTY with College friends.

 It's always a good time getting together and catching up with all these guys!!  After dinner, we played Apples to Apples.  We had WAY too much fun :-)

 

Both Alex & Heather are "with child"...so it was fun to see their little baby bumps...we are all getting pretty excited to meet their new (and first) additions!

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TD AMERITRADE BALLPARK!!

We got to check out the brand new TD Ameritrade downtown stadium...new home to the NCAA Baseball College World Series.  It is SWEET!  Sure, it is lacking much of the tradition and charm that good old Rosenblatt had, but it certainly marks the beginning to a new and exciting future and many new traditions to be made.

 Macy takes us on a little tour of the stadium - we are standing on the 3rd baseline side (luckily I had my handy iPhone to snap a few pics)

 Macy's view from the outfield

 We met up with the Witt's at the game...here's Danielle, Kenzie, Dylan, Dalton & Chad.

Thanks Heather for the free tickets!!  :-)

 Tried to get a family pic before the game...this was the best we were gonna get.

 Another view from the outfield.

Our little poser.
I am excited about the new downtown views from inside the stadium.  The Omaha skyline looks impressive - and now you don't have to be in Iowa to see it!

Very cool.  I am super excited for the 2011 CWS to get under way.  Now if only I can get my hands on some tickets...anyone?  Anyone?  :-)

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 Our New York (er now Chicago) visitor!

 Mommy's nearest, dearest and oldest friend, Erin, came home to visit her family and stopped by the house for lunch and to play with the girls.

 Macy shows Erin how to make a "really cool" cupcake on her iPod.

Yes, McKenzie has her own iPod Touch...and she LOVES it!  There are SOOO many awesome educational games and apps.  She really is learning so much.  Like how to write, count, read, problem solve, etc...

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Baby Shower photo album!!

 I finally got around to finishing a photo album for my sister-in-law.  I compiled all the photos from her baby showers last summer and printed them out in book form.  It turned out cute.  Sorry for the delay in getting to you guys!  :-(

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EARLY INTERVENTION THERAPY

Macy's weekly PT, OT & Speech home visits continue to go well.  She has an awesome team and she continues to blow their socks off with her skills & abilities.

This is Macy and her OT Lucy.  Here, they are working on signing eat.

Lucy being tough on a whiny Little Miss Macy.  "Come on Macy, sign MILK...tell me what you want".  She's a lot more persistent than I am  :-)

Lucy explaining a few things to me...and Macy happy as a lamb drinking her milk in the background.  Now she successfully signed for it  :-)  She is a rock star with the signs lately...plus she is doing GREAT (knock on wood) with the sippy cup too.

Lucy has donned a few looks these past few visits - throwing Macy off a bit in the beginning.  She's had a couple different hair colors and here she came with a stylish new hat the other day.   Lucy is undergoing Chemotherapy as a result of recently being diagnosed with Breast Cancer.  She is doing well and is a fighter, what an amazing woman!!  Please keep her in your prayers as she battles this cancer.

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CANDY LAND!!!!

 

McKenzie and cousin Anna (before gymnastics) played Candy Land for the first time last week.  What a PERFECT and age-appropriate game.  They LOVED it!  And played really well for about 45 minutes or so.  I'd say that's a good amount of time to keep any 3 & 4 year old's attention.

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AIRPLANE!!

playing airplane with the girls in the front office.

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BUBBLES!!!!

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Vollen's Two Year B-Day Party!!

This is the little card I made for him  :-)  Is he a CUTIE or what!?!

Here you see Fransesca behind Macy, going in to give Kenzie a big hug.

McKenzie and the sweet, SWEET Fransesca.

Macy and the birthday boy Vollen  :-)

Macy says "here, you do it like this"

Vollen replies "I knew that silly"

As you can see by the expression on her face, she is quite smitten by Vollen.

The party was a barn-yard theme.  His mom, Casie, did a great job with all the fun decorations and yummy food!  :-)

 

Thanks for inviting us to the fun party!

Vollen, all decked out in his farmer gear play with his good buddy Brady  :-)

Brady is such a cutie and such a lover...in fact, his mommy & daddy have been really working with him lately.  Trying to get him to lay off the hugs.  He just has sooo much love to give...so many hugs, so little time.  I understand where they are coming from, everyone always says kiddos with DS are so "loving"...I am beginning to see that now, but it is important to address it, even at the ripe old age of two :-)
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