Our Everyday

13 Days of Prayer for Anna Cate

noreply@blogger.com (E Rabke) — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 16:08:00 +0000

13 Days of Prayer for

Anna Cate

Friends and Family,

In honor of Anna Cate’s 13th year we will be celebrating with 13 events, with an overall theme called Lucky 13 for Her (Help End Rett). In coming up with all the fun events to host in the next year, I was having a difficult time trying to find something for the month of November. Nothing was grabbing my attention. Nothing excited me. However, what has been grabbing my attention (and not in an exciting way) is all the changes coming into Anna Cate’s life in the next six months.

Rett Syndrome has progressed health wise in regards to her physical mobility. Luckily, everything Anna Cate is dealing with is “fixable”. So there is hope and I always hold onto hope. With the new challenges and her future recovery, her education is also going to be affected. As my head has been spinning and many tears have been shed, it was during this time I realized what the Lucky 13 event for November needed to be. It needs to be 13 days of Prayer for Anna Cate.

We have never formally asked anyone other than a few friends to pray for Anna Cate. During the times I have asked one or two friends to pray for specific things for her, it was incredible to see the power of prayer work. I know prayer works.

I would like to invite you and your friends to join us in 13 Days of Prayer. The kick off day will be this Sunday, November 16th. Each day we ask you to pray for the specific prayer request for that day. I have also included verses from the Bible for you to read for her as well. If you have a favorite Bible verse for a specific prayer day that is not listed, please share it with me and others.

This is for you to print for your review, to keep in your Bible, to carry with you, to make extra copies to give to friends...however, you see it to work for you, all I ask is for you to join us in 13 Days of Prayer.

I wanted to share a page from Beth Moore's Devotional which was shared with me this week at Thrive. I felt as though the words were being spoken directly to me and the timing was too perfect knowing I would be writing this email today. I hope you enjoy Beth's words too and find them to be inspiring to you as you begin to pray for Anna Cate.

We always pray for you that our God will...fulfill every desire for your goodness and the work of faith.

2 Thessalonians 1:11

God can deliver anyone from anything at any time. He doesn't need any help.

Yet He invites us to be part of His great work through prayer.

Never underestimate the effects of intercessory prayer lifted for our deliverance.

Never underestimate the effect of prayer for others. If we don't intercede for one

another, we miss opportunities to see His deliverance and to thank Him for His

faithfulness.

I call this God's profit-sharing plan. When we pray for one another, we share the blessings when

His deliverance comes because we've been personally involved.

Day One: Sunday, November 16th

Gods Love and Purpose for Anna Cate

Psalm 139:13-17

Colossians 1:9

Day Two: Monday, November 17th

Gods Plans for Anna Cate

Jeremiah 29:11

Day Three: Tuesday, November 18th

Wisdom for Anna Cate

James 1:5

1 Corinthians 1:30

Day Four: Wednesday, November 19th

Health and Healing for Anna Cate

Numbers 12:13

2 Kings 20:5

Matthew 4:23

Matthew 14:36

Malachi 4:2

Day Five: Thursday, November 20th

Prayers Anna Cate is not Fearful

Isaiah 41:10

Psalm 34:4

Day Six: Friday, November 21st

Pray for Patience not only for Anna Cate but her family

Psalm 40:1

Romans 12:12

Colossians 1:11-12

Philippians 1:6

Proverbs 14:29

Proverbs 19:11

Day Seven: Saturday, November 22nd

Anna Cate's Friendships

Proverbs 17:17; 18:24

Day Eight: Sunday, November 23rd

Anna Cate always has Joy in her life

James 1:2-4

Nehemiah 8:10

Psalm 16:11

Day Nine: Monday, November 24th

Peace for Anna Cate

Philippians 4:7

Psalm 29:11

Psalm 37:37

Romans 5:1-5

Galatians 5:22

James 3:17

Day Ten: Tuesday, November 25th

Protection for Anna Cate

Psalm 5:11

Psalm 40:11

Psalm 91

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Day Eleven: Wednesday, November 26th

Prayers for Anna Cate’s Family (mother, father, siblings, grandparents and those who have become family due to their relationship with her)

Luke 12:34

Joshua 24:15

Acts 10:2

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Day Twelve: Thursday, November 27th

Prayers of Thanksgiving

Psalm 92

Day Thirteen: Friday, November 28th

Prayers for Anna Cate to Grow in her Faith

Mark 5:36

Mark 11:24

Matthew 17:20

I Corinthians 13:13

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for taking the time to pray for Anna Cate.

With Much Love,

Emilie, Will, Betsie and Eli.....who love Anna Cate so much!

"That" Word….the one that makes me cringe

noreply@blogger.com (E Rabke) — Tue, 16 Sep 2014 00:22:00 +0000

I certainly was not going to be writing about this, but I have heard this word one too many times lately and think it warrants a post.

Do you know what word I am talking about? It's the "R" word.

Retarded. Used in a sentence stating "I feel so retarded" or "I felt so retarded".

Every time I hear this word I cringe inside. I really do. Why, probably due to the fact I have a child with special needs.

People use this word all the time, so often you don't even realize it. You do! You use it to describe how you feel when you can't get something to work (i.e. a new iPhone). You use it to describe how you felt when you injured yourself doing something silly. You use it to describe people you don't know. You use it when you do something you feel silly about. You use it.

What is the definition of retarded?

I am not disagreeing with the definition, but I do think we should use a different word as the word retarded is hardly ever used correctly anymore. What I am disagreeing with is the misuse of the word.

For the person who can't figure out how to work a new iPhone or when you push the door that says pull, then you say you feel "retarded" because you can not figure out how to make something work, I don't think you consider yourself "slow in intellectual or emotional development or academic progress". Or the person who injured themselves in a silly way, do you feel "limited" in your development or academic progress. Rather for all instances you probably just felt ABSURD or SILLY or CHILDLIKE?!?!

You never know who may be in your company when you use this word. They may be a parent, grandparent, sibling, teacher, etc., of a child who is truly a little bit slower in their development intellectually or with their academic progress. How does that make them feel? They certainly would not characterize what you are describing with the struggles they see their loved one face every single day.

When you use the word retarded can you honestly tell me that is how you truly felt? Do you know what it feels like to work ten times harder than your classmates just to type your name? I say type because for my daughter she can not hold a pen/pencil to write words. Do you know what it feels like to get so frustrated emotionally because you can not use your words to tell the world what is wrong, because your brain is wired in such a way you are considered non-verbal? Do you know what it feels like to be 13 and have someone help you eat, because it is hard for you to eat with utensils…by yourself?

I don't think you do. And I do not know either. However, I live with my daughter who has Rett Syndrome and I watch her work her ass off daily in everything she does to be stronger so she can do all she can do for herself.

When I look at her I don't see her limitations, I see her accomplishments. I see someone who I look up to and respect. I see someone who would love to operate an iPhone to call her friends. I see someone who would love to open the back door and go run free. I see someone who would love to have injured herself from doing something funny and not have to wear a brace to keep her foot on the ground…so she can not walk on her toes. I see someone brave.

Next time you say this word, the word that falls so freely from so many people's mouths, think before you speak. Think if you would want your child to start using this word to describe a friend. Think if you would want your child to use this word to describe how they feel. Think if you had a child with extra challenges, would you want to hear "I feel so retarded" when someone is talking to you.

When the time comes and you feel the need to say the "R-Word" I ask you to please try and Replace it with something different. There are so many other words to express how you truly feel during these times. And trust me, there are more appropriate adjectives for you to use!

Chippewa

noreply@blogger.com (E Rabke) — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 16:20:00 +0000

It is hard to believe our family was at the beach three weeks ago still enjoying summer vacation! We had a great summer and there is so much I want to write about….which feels great!

This summer Betsie was blessed to have enjoyed two sleep away camps. We started to entertain the idea after summer ended last year. I asked friends what camps their children went to and we looked into every single one. I am almost certain I was given close to ten different camp names between West Virginia and North Carolina. I had no idea there were so many sleep away camps available so close! At times I felt like it was a glimpse into my future of looking at colleges with her.

In the beginning the two main requirements for me was it had to be close to home and a single sex camp. Betsie attends a coed public school and I thought for the summer it would be nice for her to enjoy just being with girls. Right now the single sex option isn't as big of a deal as it will be when she gets older, but I also wanted her to pick one camp she can grow with and enjoy for years to come.

Betsie was so excited with the possibility of going to sleep away camp. I think the timing was perfect for her too as we seemed to be exhausting out many of our local day camps. She was so excited she even had a "glamping" theme birthday party (last October)! Everything was camp, camp, camp to the point I was sick of thinking about camp.

Watched Parent Trap outside….

slept in the tent on the screened in porch

Betsie and her BFF since she was TWO!

I have to say, Betsie is a very independent child. She has no problem going and doing and meeting new people. She actually prefers sometimes to go where she will not know anyone and make new friends. The fact she was going to go to sleep away camp and potentially not know anyone was fine to her. But hearing that there was a chance her BFF could spend camp with her was exciting and probably somewhere inside comforting to her too!

After looking over the camps we narrowed it down to two…one really close to come and one about six hours away.

She was so excited to be able to attend camp, though as the time got closer she was getting a little nervous (she will not admit it, but her body language spoke volumes!). The first camp was the week after school ended and was the one close to home. This camp was a coed camp, so while her cabin was all girls, her day activity group was coed. Her first camp experience was a great introduction to being away from home. She enjoyed herself and met some new friends who also happen to live in the same town.

Camp #1

Betsie and her BFF

Betsie's bed

Bunks all lined up….

Her Hogan (cabin)

Bath House

showers….

water trampoline

lake

Zip line

From a parents perspective the main drawback on her first camp experience was the fact I had no idea how she was….was she having fun, was she happy, was she homesick, etc. They did not post any pictures on their Facebook or Twitter accounts or send pictures to the families. I would check every day in hopes there would be one….but no. I completely understand the kids are technology free while at camp and I think this is fantastic! Technology detox I am all for it! If she wants to write home, she has to do just that….write to us. But in today's day and age I feel the camp could upload pictures of the campers to give the parents a piece of mind. All the pictures I have of this camp are the ones I took on the day of drop off above!

The week seemed long without her being home, but before we knew it we were picking her up! She was all smiles (and really tired!) and enjoyed telling us about her week.

Her second camp was in the mountains of North Carolina and involved a weekend get-away to take her there. It was a fun weekend taking her to camp as we got to explore Asheville before dropping her off. Not knowing what the camp process was going to entail and if the grounds would be handicap accessible, we decide to let Anna Cate stay at home with Mimi and Poppy to enjoy some quality time with them. While it is always a hard decision to divide up the family, it was the correct decision.

Betsie and Eli with Lauren (BFF) and her little sister Kiersten

Exploring downtown Asheville

"Before I die…." wall

Can you see what Betsie wrote? It's the middle one!

I had high expectations for this camp just from their emails and level of contact with us before she arrived. So the bar was already set in my head. To say they blew the bar out of the water is an understatement! Wow…they set a new bar!!

The level of organization was incredible. The minute we pulled up to the gate two bubbly young ladies walked over to the car to ask the name of the camper who was arriving. Upon giving her name they told us the cabin number she was in, handed us some papers to review and placed a sticker on our back light with the number of the cabin she was staying in. They said the gates would not open till 10:00 (of course we got there early!), but as soon as they did to pull through and stop at the top of the hill where they will remove her trunk to deliver to her cabin. Stop right here….yes….they deliver that huge trunk to the cabin for us! This is huge by itself as that thing is extremely heavy to carry, especially if I am ever to take her or pick her up from camp without Will!

As we waited for the gates to open we started to look at the papers they had handed to us. One was a map of the grounds and the other three were letters written to the parents from the two counselors in her cabin, as well as, the village director for Betsie's village (Chippewa). We even had pictures attached so we would know what they looked like before arriving to the cabin!!! The letters were the most heart felt letters and left me a little teary eyed…I am not going to lie. Knowing my daughter was going to be spending a week with these young ladies helped relieve any anxiety I was having. Knowing these girls were praying for my child before they even met her really touched my heart.

Right on the nose at 10:00 the gates opened and we were driving through the camp. As soon as the car started approaching the top of the hill all the counselors were yelling and jumping up and down and music was playing….talk about a warm welcome! We pulled up, they took the trunk out of the car and placed the sticker on her trunk so they would know which cabin to deliver her trunk to later for her. Betsie and I got out of the car and the boys (Will and Eli) parked and then went to the cabin to grab her a bed! At the first camp we were one of the last ones in the cabin and Betsie didn't like feeling rushed (who could blame her) so we tried things differently this time. However, the level of organization was so top notch that our arrival time would not have mattered here….honestly.

Betsie and I then went to check in, get a lice check (yes they even check for lice!!!), see the nurse to get her temperature taken and then headed to the camp store to pick up her items we ordered. We were in and out of all these places in 15 minutes! Then off to Chippewa Hill we went!

These cabins were really nice!!! They had two toilets, two sinks and two showers. This was a bonus as the first camp had a bath house which was shared with everyone. Betsie was very excited about this change! And there were no more than 10 campers per cabin versus 16 at the other camp. After she was all settled we were able to take some pictures and walk around the camp before it was time for a parent meeting. It was really nice of them to have a meeting for the parents so we could be informed of their week and also ask any last minute questions. Before we headed to the meeting at noon, we gave our last hugs and kisses for the week! The second time around was a little harder for me, but I knew she was going to have the time of her life….and I would be able to see her smile every day!

Girls being checked at the Infirmary

Camp Store

Betsie's Village

Will and Eli walking up to her cabin

So many in her age group for Starter Camp they had to take over a cabin

in another village!

She got "toilets" first to clean, but thankfully it was the first day so they couldn't have

been that dirty!

Clean showers!

And toilets!

Betsie and her BFF

The lake…look at that slide!

The lake from another angle…can see zip line and the blob!

The Chapel

the inside

Sign pointing to the prayer garden

Eli is up at the top and you had to cross this cute little creek to get to it

Betsie talking to her counselor Taylor and showing

her what she got at the camp store.

The Pavilion with an outdoor fireplace

Every day I could email her (and I did) and they would print out the emails and give them to her at Mail Call. She had to write to us…you know pen to paper….but she could still hear from us every day. And the camp uploaded pictures to a parent site THREE times at day!!!! Betsie had over 100 pictures with her in them from one week there!!!! This was a huge plus for me!!!! I loved being able to see what she was doing and seeing her beautiful smile! Below are some pictures….

There are 80 girls under all these papers!!!

Paint wars!

Betsie and her counselor Taylor

Betsie LOVED the blob!

Council of Progress

Before Betsie left for camp (both of them), I gave her a journal. I had pre-written a note to her every day she would be gone and asked her to write to me every day. I wanted her to know I was thinking about her and missed her dearly! I wanted her to know if she got homesick all she had to do was open the book and read my words to her and it would be like I was with her. I loved reading her responses when she returned and it will be something fun to save and look back on in the future. This way she was able to write things down immediately too in case she forgot something while she was telling us stories of camp in person.

I don't know who the week went by faster for her or me. Before I knew it I was back in the car with my mom driving to North Carolina to get her! The day we picked up Betsie and her BFF it was raining cats and dogs and then some! However, I should have known that camp would have been so organized I would not even have to get out of my car (I think they spoil the parents a little too…not complaining!!!). Seeing as it was nasty weather and we had a long drive home, I wanted to make sure we got to the camp early….and we did. First car in line. Which made it possible for the picture below!

My mom and I the night before we picked up the girls

Waiting for the gates to open and to see Betsie!!!

Fifteen minutes before the gates opened two "still" bubbly and drenched young ladies came to the car to give us a DVD of the week (yes a movie from the week!!!) and to tell us about check out procedures. When the gates open I was to proceed to the luggage pick up area (it was very obvious) and tell them the cabin number and child's name. They put all luggage in the car and then as I was driving up to the dining hall they were radioing up to them which campers to get ready by the door. As soon as I pulled up Betsie and her BFF came running out…we said good bye and on our way we were. In and out in 5 minutes!

Locating our trunks…

I love efficiency!!! I love organization!!! I love this camp!!!

But the one who really has to love it is Betsie and she did. For the first three hours the girls did not stop talking about camp. They didn't stop singing all their camp songs and the camp songs for the village they will be in next year. When they started singing next year's songs I asked if they wanted to go back and it was the loudest "yes" possible! I think it is safe to say she had the time of her life!

I loved hearing all the new friends she made from North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. I loved hearing all the games they played. I loved hearing about chapel and devotional time. I loved hearing about their daily jobs and responsibilities. I loved hearing her say how she enjoyed down time…we all need that. I loved hearing every last detail and living camp through her eyes. I loved being able to know what she was talking about as I had seen the pictures.

Betsie is a pretty amazing child and one who has had to grow up a little faster due to her role of being a big sister to her big sister. She has learned independence starting at a very young age, as she heard, "one more minute" or "I'll be right there" many times as we were helping or tending to her sister. With independence came responsibility. As she became more and more independent we started putting more and more responsibilities on her. Right or wrong, helpful or not, we did. And we still do. I constantly have to take that step back and see things from a different perspective and remember she is a kid and wants to be a kid.

The number one driving factor for me to want to send Betsie to sleep away camp was I wanted her to go and enjoy a week or two where she was "just Betsie". I wanted her to be herself with no other cares or worries. It's hard being a parent to a child with special needs. It's also hard to be a sibling to one. And I don't want to forget this. So while she was at camp being Betsie, still growing in her level of independence and responsibility, she was also growing in her self confidence. But most importantly she was able to just be herself!

And probably my favorite thing I heard from the backseat of the car was her and her best friend still talking. I was a little worried about her and her BFF going to two of the same camps together, but this one they did everything together….day and night. I was a little worried when I picked them up they might be sick of each other….but nope! These girls have an amazing friendship. They can meet new friends but know they always have each other. I even complimented them on this in the car. It is a true test of their friendship and I hope it always stays like this!

I know this post was long, but I just had to share from a parent's perspective how pleased I was with this camp. When you go by word of mouth and know nothing it can be scary sometimes. That is what I did. I was sold from the their video online, the conversations I had with the director and from the words shared by a friend.

Will she be going back? Yes she will…for two weeks next summer. And Eli will be doing the Starter Camp for a week on the boy's side! Now I just have to find a camp for Anna Cate, Will and I!!!

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Our Everyday

A, B and E…..as in Eli!

noreply@blogger.com (E Rabke) — Wed, 27 Aug 2014 21:03:00 +0000

How many of you have more than one child? More than two? Do you feel like sometimes you don't write down everything for the baby book or take as many pictures as you did with the first one or two?

For me, pictures isn't the issue. I love to take pictures! It's documenting the events or writing things down before I forget them. I was so good when I had one child. Baby book was up to date and the first year scrapbook was done shortly after her first birthday. The photo album was a work of love. I remember spending hours on it while she napped and even worked on it with friends. I believe this was around the time of the Creative Memories craze!

Second child, baby book is little more complete and her first year photo album was also a scrapbooking masterpiece (ok, it really isn't that great, but I still took lots of time on it!), though it was finished closer to her 2nd birthday.

Third child…well... his baby book is more of a baby scrap book in that there are scraps of paper in a box with things written down I don't want to forget. And his one year photo album was complete by his 4th birthday with the help of a digital photo site….oh my how time has changed! I don't know what I would do without Shutterfly! At the same time I don't know what I did before Shutterfly.

Luckily for my kids the one thing that hasn't changed is my love for taking pictures!!!! They don't like it one bit. Taking pictures of them often involves bribes of some sort, especially when on vacation! It may have something to do with the overkill on the number of pictures I take. However, in my defense, in order for me to get one decent…not great….but decent, picture of all three it takes on average 8 pictures. I am not joking. You would think my kids would realize that if they just smiled their "nice" smile it would be over in two to three pictures. Especially since my younger two children know it could take longer for their sister with special needs to look at the camera and smile. If they are always ready when she looks, I can point, shoot and move on. Needless to say with the images below, they prefer to complain about the many attempts instead! Lucky for us, there were not many people out on the marsh walk the evening these were taken!

Eli wasn't in the "mood"…but now Anna Cate is looking and smiling a little!

Still wouldn't smile….and now she is starting to look away….and I may have started to blink….

Now she is looking away and he is still not cooperating….

Anna Cate is coming back, Betsie has EARNED her ice cream and Eli is lucky if he will get breakfast in the morning!

What is with this kid….come on Eli!!

And she looks spot on and he looks down…..

She is looking….and Betsie, bless her heart blinks…I will let it pass…and Eli is realizing he

could be missing lunch the next day!!! And my eyes may be open and may not…

Anna Cate thought that was funny….Eli is cracking a smile….

#10

….and then does this on our LAST attempt…so he thought!!!

#11

Changing it up…Betsie blinks…Eli smiles and AC is looking straight on…..

once more…..

And this is the decent picture I get!!!! Attempt #12

I love taking pictures. Truly. I wish a part of me had enough time to take a photography course as I love it that much. Ever since I was old enough to hold a book, I have loved flipping through old photographs and looking at slides on a projector.

What I love about pictures is you do not need words. They speak for themselves. When I look at a picture it brings up so many memories of the moment that was captured. I especially love looking at pictures with my children and hearing them narrate about the memories in their own words. What do they remember? What was a highlight for them? Seeing the memory through their eyes is a memory in itself.

When I started my first blog, Her Climb, it was for Anna Cate and her journey with Rett Syndrome. Then I wrote a blog for one year, 365 Gifts from My Non-Verbal Daughter, which I loved writing. Actually it was this blog that made me realize how much I truly enjoyed writing, about as much as I enjoy taking pictures. However, it also made me realize I hardly write about my other two children unless it has to do with my oldest daughter or our family. And this made me sad, as my other two children are pretty fantastic kids too!

And so Our Everyday, Finding Color Amidst the Grey, was born. I wish I wrote more…like every day. But now I need to "feel" what I am writing. I want there to be purpose to each entry. I want to make you come back to read more.

As school is about to being I find myself looking over at my children when they do not realize it and staring at them. I honestly can't believe my baby is going to be in first grade. He just turned SEVEN and in only SEVEN short years he will be two years away from driving! I know we hear everyone say, time flies; they grow up so fast, etc. But when you stop and look at your child with no interruptions and watch them it truly is scary how fast time does go by! I want to bottle them all up and keep them little just a little bit longer.

Looking at my baby the other day hit me harder when I realized he is it…there are no babies after him but my grandchildren (and I CAN WAIT FOR THEM FOR SURE!!!!). I need to do a better job of keeping up with writing about all my children…that was the reason for this new name of my blog. Even though we have this grey area (Rett Syndrome) in our lives, there is still plenty of color.

In honor of my third child, Eli, I would like to share pictures of his 7th Minecraft Birthday Party. While he has been seven now for 6 weeks, its better late than never to share pictures. He truly completed our family seven years ago in more ways than one. He always has a smile on his face, is the most empathetic child, very inquisitive, funny, kind, loving, smart, still lets me give him kisses, still wants me to tuck him in and will still sit on my lap. He is a mama's boy and his future wife is going to have big shoes to fill…..just sayin'! He is my baby and always will be. Happy Birthday Eli!

Eli and big sister Anna Cate

Eli and big sister Betsie

The whole family

Steve (aka Eli) and Creeper (aka Betsie)

Bricks for Kidz came to do his lego party!

Creeper (aka Eli) and Steve (one of his friends)

Playing a lego relay game

I hope you made a big wish buddy!

Always smiling, always laughing!!!

This school year I am going to try and "get organized" with all the kids (most importantly Eli's) baby stuff and hopefully by his 8th birthday I will be all caught up!!! This is also the year for taking it all in…one day at a time…enjoying every moment of every day.

Summer Road Trip 2014

noreply@blogger.com (E Rabke) — Fri, 11 Jul 2014 20:12:00 +0000

We are a family who loves to travel and see new places. We are also a family who has a daughter with Rett Syndrome which makes certain types of transportation easier than others. As a family, the car is our preferred method of traveling right now for various reasons.

Last summer we loaded up the Yukon XL and left the sticky summer heat in Richmond to head to hot and humid Houston. We were going from bad to worse in the heat category. However, believe it or not we had incredible weather when we were there and even felt a breeze…every day! I think they were having cooler weather than normal for them….we didn't complain….at all!

This year we headed in the opposite direction….NORTH! We did what many "wiser" (and by wiser I mean older) folks do in the summa'….head North where it is coola. Yes, I am trying to talk like I am a Yankee…well, I am by birth, but luckily my mom moved to the South as soon as she could…thanks mom!

First, I have to say, my husband would never go North on a vacation unless he had to. He prefers to head South on 95 whenever possible. Since we had a family wedding to attend….he had to drive North. And I was happy he didn't have a choice, because it is hard to describe to someone who has his blinders on how nice the New England Coast really is. He will agree now, it was beautiful….but I don't think he is going back anytime soon.

The week before we left for our trip it was a very hot and humid week. I didn't complain…well, maybe once….because I will take hot and humid any day after all the snow we had this winter!!!! I don't like snow…at all! 11 snow days is ridiculous!!!!!

This trip was also the first time that I packed our whole family the day before we left. Yes, the day before! I don't know how that happened…well, I do (another post for another day), and I will be honest and say it was a breath of fresh air. I just threw clothes in the kids bags and zipped them up. Of course I made sure we had everything we needed as I checked off my list as I packed, but didn't stress about it like I normally do. And surprisingly I didn't forget ONE thing!!!

As I was packing I was thinking how nice it is going to be to have cooler temperatures. How nice it will be to have the perfect 75 degree day…every day for almost a week. And it was….just perfect!

Usually we get up at the crack of dawn to start our journey as we can get in a good number of hours before its time to feed the kids breakfast. This time we decided to leave in the afternoon and stop part of the way to sight see before heading further North. Bad. Idea! I am truly convinced there is only one word why my husband really doesn't like driving North and that is…….

TRAFFIC!!!!!!!!!

It was supposed to take us 4 hours to get to our stopping point for the night, instead it took us 6 1/2!!!! And the majority of our drive was spent sitting on 95. It just reminded us why we do things the way we do.

We stopped over in Philadelphia. We asked Betsie to look at a map and see where she wanted to stop along the way. She picked Philly as she wanted to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Remember…she picked this stop…she wanted to see these things.

The next morning everyone woke up rather early so we were out sight seeing by 8:30! This was huge as it meant we could be on our way to Maine by ten hopefully. We parked the car two blocks from the main sights and we were very lucky there were not many people out and about yet. It had to of been only 10 minutes of walking around when Betsie started turning into Judy Moody (this is what we call her when she gets moody!). We asked her what was wrong and she said "this is boring". We quickly reminded her the only reason we were walking around Philly and waiting for our tour of Independence Hall was because she wanted to. Then the light bulb went off and her mood turned around rather quickly. Thank goodness for her sake!

It was the perfect timing for the kids to see Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell as the 4th of July was just around the corner. We even saw Betsy Ross's house! You all remember who she was….right?!?!? Side note here….another reason we had to visit Betsy Ross's house was because when Betsie was in first grade a classmate of her's went home and told his parents he met the nicest girl and her name was Betsy Ross. She is still friend's with the young man and we often chuckle over this story! So of course we had to take this picture of her and send it to them!!

Everything went as smoothly as we had liked and we were back in the car headed to Maine by 10:00. We were extremely fortunate that Google Maps took us on some back roads as we didn't hit much traffic at all. Broke the bank in tolls, but no traffic! Seriously….every road up there is pretty much a toll road….and let's not even talk about their driving!

When we started our drive it was 90 degrees and by the time we arrived in Maine at 6:30 pm it was 71!!! Much coola!!!

Maine is beautiful….it truly is. At least the areas we visited were…Ogunquit, Perkins Cove and Kennebunkport. Very picturesque!

Our first day we walked the Marginal Way along the water from Ogunquit to Perkins Cove which is just about a mile and a half. It was beautiful looking out at the water from the mini cliffs. I say mini as Will and I were saying how it reminded us of Cinque Terre; however, those cliffs were much bigger! You could walk down the rocks to little areas of private beach. It was cute, but definitely not my cup of tea when it comes to the beach. I prefer an easy walk, lots of sand and warm water! There was a main beach in Ogunquit; however, it was packed….and I mean packed! I think we are spoiled where we go in South Carolina and I am happy about that! When I go to the beach I like to spread out and be in my own little world with my family. I don't want to hear other families conversations or smell them….and here that is exactly what happens!

Main Ogunquit Beach….and this was at 11:00am

and parking was $25 for the day!!!

Main Ogunquit Beach

Little hidden beach after walking down mini cliff

And the next three pictures are what we are used to when

we go to the beach….

Nice …..

empty…..

beach in South Carolina!!!!!

Sorry, I got talking about the beaches and off track…..the Marginal Way. The walk to Perkins Cove was perfect! The weather was incredible, the breeze was amazing and we were all together! Perkins Cove is a quaint little town. I loved it!!!! You know what they say, a picture is worth a thousand words….don't you think so?!?!

Kennebunkport

The Bush Compound!

The whole reason we were visiting Maine was because my aunt was getting married!!! We are beyond thrilled for her!!!! We love Fred and welcome him and his daughters into our family. Fred and Betsie had a special bond from day one as they share the same birthday.

Me and Will

My grandmother (Nanny), great family friend-like an aunt (Shel)

and Anna Cate

Me and the bride to be…my aunt Pam

Me and Betsie

Betsie and her GREAT-aunt Pam

Will and Eli

My aunt Pam (on the left) and my mom…aka Mimi (on the right)

Me and my dad (aka Poppy)

The 5 of us

Me and the Bride

Bride and Groom

Me and my mom

Eli

Anna Cate and Mimi

Betsie

My dad and Will

The rest of the weekend was spent with family and visiting cousins we don't see often. Even though my kids may see them once a year, they pick up right where they leave off every time! Now, we have to get them to drive South to us!!!

Eli in the middle of his twin cousins (they are all 7!)

Me and Jen, my cousin Dale's wife…first time we really

got to hang out. Can you tell which one of us lives in the North?!?!

I am always cold!!!

Will, Dale and Anna Cate

Dale and the kids walking along the rocks

All the cousins

The whole weekend was very special in so many ways. I love how we checked off many more states we have visited as a family, how we helped my aunt and Fred celebrate their special day, how we spent time with family we don't see very often, how we had safe travels, how we were blessed with being able to go on a family vacation, and how it truly was a wonderful vacation full of lasting memories and perfect weather. There was one very special memory made at the actual wedding, but I would like to share this in its own post, so you will have to wait.

Next road trip….the beach….in the South…..where everything is fine and dandy!

Talk to y'all soon!

© copyright 2012-2014 – All rights reserved
Our Everyday

Off to Middle School!

noreply@blogger.com (E Rabke) — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 19:54:00 +0000

I can't believe I typed the title of this post.

I can't believe Anna Cate's elementary school years are over.

Kindergarten, first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade and fifth grade. Puff! Gone!

Anna Cate when she started 1st grade at REES!

Three years ago it seemed like this day was still far away, but now the time has come. We say goodbye to the school that welcomed us with open arms five years ago. We say goodbye to our comfort zone. And we say goodbye to a dear friend of Anna Cate's who is moving this summer.

Last week was filled with many fifth grade festivities and I was at the school every day….but Friday (except for pick up from half day!). Fifth grade talent show, State Fair, Fifth Grade Awards and Market Day for Betsie's class. It was a very busy week. It was also a week where I was filled with worry and anxiety for Anna Cate. It was a week I prayed a lot and let my faith and strength in the Lord get me through. And He did!

It was a week full of smiles and laughs and this is what I prayed for. I wanted Anna Cate to have the time of her life during her last week of not only school, but her last week in elementary school. I wanted her to end her fifth grade year with a bang!

When Anna Cate started at her elementary school in first grade, I remember stating in our first IEP meeting that it didn't matter to me if she learned anything educational. All I wanted was for her to be well liked by her peers, for her to be respected by her peers, for her to have friendships and be included. If she learned along the way, then that was icing on the cake! To say she knocked it out of the park is an understatement!!!!

Honor Roll all 4 marking periods this year!!! (This is a picture from the last day of school of Anna Cate's and Betsie's certificates!)

Looking back on the last five years brings both joy and sadness to my heart, I am not going to lie. I often think "what could have been" if Rett hadn't taken over my little girl. I used to have these thoughts a lot more before my relationship with God changed (post on this topic coming soon). While a part of me will always be sad for Anna Cate and what could have been, I have learned to focus on who she is and where she is going. And in doing so, I see the amazing young lady she is becoming and how far she has come. The little girl who in kindergarten could not sit still for more than FIVE minutes at a time (if that!!!), sat through a two hour talent show, a one hour State class presentation AND a two hour award assembly this week!!!!

For her fifth grade talent show her three best friends wanted her to be a part of their dance to the song Happy. I was a bit nervous as Rett has taken over Anna Cate's mobility and her balance is a bit off some days. I didn't know how she would respond to the dance. The girls really wanted her to be a part of the dance so they incorporated Anna Cate in her cruiser in the routine! Up until days before my anxiety set it, but I just prayed and let God take over my worry and let him carry her through the talent show. There is just one word to describe how I felt watching her on stage…in front of the WHOLE student body….HAPPY!

Start of the dance! AC in the middle!

The next day was the State Fair for the fifth grade and Anna Cate's State was Maine. She had to pick a person from Maine to do a report on and dress like and Anna Cate chose Anna Kendrick (she sang the song "Cups" from Pitch Perfect). Anna Cate was a perfect Anna Kendrick and enjoyed sharing her project with her peers. She equally enjoyed watching and listening to her peers share their presentations too!

Anna Cate looking like Anna Kendrick from "Cups" Video for the State Fair Parade. (that is flour on her shirt like Anna K had on in the video)

Anna Kendrick from "Cups" Video.

Waiting patiently listening to peers!

Anna Cate's turn….

Wednesday was my day to cheer on Betsie and her two friends, Lauren and Jenna as they sold Lip Balm at Market Day. These girls had the top selling product in the two classes that participated and they worked really hard!

Eli didn't have any activities this week where parents were asked to be in attendance, so luckily it gave me extra time to be other places!

Just because he is cute and silly, here is a picture of him on the last day of school…off to first grade!

Thursday was a big day….not only was it Fifth Grade Awards, it was also Will's 40th Birthday! When I got up at my normal time of 4:30am, after I spent time in prayer, I decorated the kitchen with about 20 big (40 signs) to surprise Will when he came down for breakfast. He also had some yummy Dixie Donuts waiting for him…just 4, not 40!

Looking good for a 40 year old!

He had a scavenger hunt around the house in the afternoon to look for 40 gifts!

Presents #11-23!!

Funny and practical gifts…we had fun!

When I dropped the kids off at school, I just stayed to get seats for the awards ceremony. It wasn't long before the gym was full and the kids were walking in by class. Anna Cate's class was the first to walk in and yes, Anna Cate did too! This is where I see Rett taking a toll on my little girl. This is where I see it the most. As the class walked in there was a big gap in the middle and that is when I realized it was Anna Cate and Amy walking in. The kids stayed in their line and didn't walk around her, but let her have her time to walk in too….just like them. This made me very proud of our school and the children my kids go to school with! It took almost the full two hours to give out all the awards. Anna Cate was a proud recipient of three awards! And proud she was and should be of herself! She worked very hard this year!!!!

Right after walking in….someone is really excited!

Receiving her first award

All smiles!

After the awards ceremony!

D, came to see her graduate…Amy's husband. This smile says it all!

Anna Cate and one of her favorite teachers!!!

"We're outta here!!!"

Me and my middle schooler!!!

Thursday evening the fifth grade had their graduation party at school. Awesome Amy took Anna Cate so she could celebrate with her peers!

Friends with their principal (can you spot Anna Cate)

Her friends make her so happy!

Next year is going to be a year of transitions for sure. A year of getting a new group of teachers and therapists used to Anna Cate and Anna Cate used to them. Another school to show how with patience and confidence Anna Cate will excel. Luckily for us, but more importantly for Anna Cate, Amy is going to middle school with her. Amy is to Anna Cate, like Anne Sullivan was to Helen Keller. It is a bond. A friendship. Built on trust and believing.

On the last day of school I took Anna Cate and two of her bffs out to lunch, a little shopping and to get frozen yogurt before hanging out at our house. To say it was an amazing afternoon is an understatement! I had the BEST time! These girls love Anna Cate and understand her! They know how to help her. They want to help her!

At lunch they asked if she could sit in between them leaving me to have the whole other side of the booth to myself! They took turns and wanted to help her eat. How many 11 year old girls do you know who would not only want to do this for a friend, but have the comfort level and confidence to do this? And not worry about what ANYONE thinks! This is huge especially since we are approaching the middle school years. I pray every day these amazing ladies stay true to themselves like they are today. They saw friends walk in from others schools and introduced them to Anna Cate….and their friends already knew Anna Cate from them talking about her! This made me feel so happy as a parent and I know it made Anna Cate feel special too!

Maddie, Anna Cate and Kyla…..Kyla is the one who is moving :((((

After lunch we went to look for matching picture frames for the girls. I took this picture below of them at the awards ceremony and wanted to get frames for everyone.

Maddie, Anna Cate and Kyla

They had fun picking out a matching color and then we decided to go to Target too to finish digesting lunch before we headed to get fro-yo! I love how the girls will use any opportunity to make Anna Cate laugh!

I just love this picture of Anna Cate, Kyla and Maddie. I think why I love it so much is that you can not tell that Anna Cate has a neurological disorder…she looks like a typical 5th grader. What this picture didn't capture was moments before, the girls were truly showing the amazing friendship they have. Kyla was helping Anna Cate eat her fro-yo and Maddie was giving Kyla spoonfuls of her fro-yo! It was the cutest thing….it was heartfelt….it truly was a sweet treat!

(left to right….Anna Cate, Maddie and Kyla)

Did we end 5th grade on a good note? Absolutely!

Can I look back on Anna Cate's elementary school years and say they were happy times? Absolutely!

Am I nervous for the start of middle school? Absolutely!

But I know I will put my trust in the Lord and give him all my worries And He will carry me through it. He was there for me the last five years, He was there for me last week and He will be there for me during middle school.

"A comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there"- Anonymous

"Do small things with great love"- Mother Theresa

"Friendship isn't about who you've known the longest. It's about who walked into your life, said "I'm here for you", and proved it. "- Anonymous

"Let your faith be bigger than your fear"

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or troubled. The Lord your God is with you wherever you go- Joshua 1:9

I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears- Psalm 34:4

© copyright 2012-2014 – All rights reserved
Our Everyday

Christmas in February

noreply@blogger.com (E Rabke) — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 12:24:00 +0000

Christmas was three months ago; however, on some levels it feels like it was just yesterday. It must have to do with the fact my children have missed ELEVEN days of school this year due to snow days and as I type this, there is an 80% chance of a slushy mix tomorrow. Seriously?!?!? It is March 24th! (yes I started this post…that long ago….however, it is only April 4th and to think we had snow 11 days ago is crazy!)

One plus to the winter we have had this year is the fact that when we took the kids away to enjoy their Christmas present from us, it truly felt like Christmas.

I am sure many of you are like us and every year you look under the tree on Christmas morning and can't believe how many presents are staring at you. You ask yourself where did these come from?!?! Is ALL this necessary?!?!?!

Quickly the room looks like a tornado came through as wrapping paper is all over the place leaving you with memories of love and joy from seeing the sheer happiness on your child's face. They are playing with the toy they asked for and had to have. They are so excited Santa listened to their wishes! However, months later, while the memories still remain, the novelty of the "must have" toy has vanished. You find many of the items they had to have are no longer important and just sit on the shelf or floor.

Christmas 2013 was an eye opener for me…for us.

Every year, Will and my dad get upset when they see that "under the tree" is not technically, under the tree, but rather under the tree and spreading into another room. I quickly remind them it wasn't all us, but Santa too! But the fact still remains…they are correct. The kids get too much.

This past Christmas we made some changes within our family. We sat them down right after Thanksgiving when we knew they would be making their lists to let them know some of the new changes. They would be allowed to ask Santa for three smaller presents OR two larger ones and then besides stocking stuffers, they would not be getting any presents from us (Mom & Dad) under the tree. Instead, we were going to start a tradition of taking them away for a long weekend every year. It would not be during the Christmas holiday per se, but sometime within two months after Christmas. Where they would be going would be revealed to them on Christmas morning.

They didn't blink twice! Not only did they not blink twice they had a hard time this year thinking of TWO things to ask Santa for! Case in point….THEY.HAVE. TOO. MUCH! And they loved the idea of going away!

Our family truly loves spending time with each other. The memories we make spending time together are the memories we will never forget. They will forget all about a certain toy they received and after time they will stop playing with that toy. However, giving our children memories of a lifetime are priceless.

Whenever we plan a vacation whether a week away or a weekend we need to make sure there are activities for everyone…Anna Cate, Betsie and Eli. We want to make sure everyone will have the same amount of fun. On Christmas morning after all their presents were opened we gave them each an envelope. And in the envelope was a piece to the puzzle of where we were going to be taking them. They had to use each other's clues to figure out the destination. And the destination was The Greenbrier.

The kids were looking it up on the internet and planning every minute of our time there….two months before we went! To say they were excited is putting it lightly.

We had planned to take them over Presidents Weekend, as they had that Monday off from school, however with all the snow days they lost the day. However, we decided to still take the kids away and have them miss two days of school. At this point…after eleven, what is two more…right!?!?

The moment we arrived the kids were having a blast. They couldn't decide what they wanted to do first. And I love a place that greets me with a glass of bubbly, so I was also happy from the moment we arrived too!

The weekend was filled with memory after memory after memory!

We swam (ok, everyone else did but me…I was "on call" in case anyone needed anything…oh and I was the photographer…lol!), we bowled, we shared a banana split, we went to the movies, we shopped and we went ice skating….ALL of us (except dad as he was then the "photographer"). I think my favorite memory was the fact all my kids tried ice skating for the first time…together!

Betsie and Eli wanted to try ice skating the moment they saw it was offered. Seeing as neither one of them had been on the ice, we thought it would be wise if they learned properly with a private lesson. I made the reservation before we arrived and while on the phone, I also asked if it would be possible to be able to take Anna Cate out on the ice in her "cruiser". They checked and said "yes". Little did I know what I thought the yes meant and what it actually turned out to be.

Betsie and Eli loved being on the ice…who knew?!?!?! I could not believe it. Will and I prefer warmer weather; however, we have a son who prefers the cold. We should have known Eli was going to really like it as he is the child who always throws us for a loop with his interests…like BPS…(Bass Pro Shops for those who are like us and don't know what BPS stands for!) No hunting or fishing genes in his blood, but this is his favorite place!

After their lesson, their instructor, Tyler, told me he would be the one to take Anna Cate out on the ice. I was surprised as I assumed I would be lacing up ice skates and pushing her around. Oh no…he wanted to give her the time of her life! Tyler has a friend in a wheelchair who he has pushed around on the ice and he loves bringing that kind of joy to other people. While we were talking and said we would be in touch the next day, the Director of Activities introduced himself, gave me his card and told me to text him with the time we would like to bring Anna Cate back and he would make sure everything is taken care of! I was blown away at how accommodating they were….for us….for Anna Cate. This was the perfect start to an amazing family weekend.

They are all the way in the back with the Tyler in the white shirt.

A little hesitant at first to let go…but now you would NEVER know!

Anything is worth doing for hot chocolate!

And they did not disappoint. It was a beautiful blue sky kind of day with just enough chill in the air to make the whole experience a gift in itself. Watching all three of my children experience ice skating together was a memory I will never forget. It was definitely a memory I never thought I would have. All three of them had smiles on their face from ear to ear as they took to the ice.

Yes…I even ventured out…a little!

Went back nightly for more ice skating!

"Look mom, I'm not holding on!"

Little did we know, that this one weekend on the ice has turned into ice skating lessons and the purchase of a hockey stick and puck! Eli hasn't come off the ice since!!!! I love it! I love how his interests are truly unique to him and what makes him tick…not what I or we think he should be doing. We have gone that route and if he isn't interested…he truly isn't interested. However, watching him you can tell he genuinely loves it! He always has loved penguins…maybe he thinks he is one!

Ice skate lessons at Skate Nation…he has on the shark helmet!

playing "ice street hockey" on the last icing day home from school!

When it was nearing time to leave no one wanted to go. They wanted to stay, they wanted to move in, we even heard they liked the Greenbrier more than the beach! Wow…that is saying a lot as my kids LOVE the beach. It was beyond a successful trip.

It was a a gift to our children. It was a gift full of memories we will all remember forever. It was a gift to us to remember to always appreciate each other and to stop and enjoy true quality time with one another. It was a gift that will keep on giving as they relive the trip through their stories or from looking at pictures.

Sadly, this is the best picture of us all as I was always taking pictures of everyone and this was caught with our phone….oh well….we have the memories!

The best present is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.

© copyright 2012-2014 – All rights reserved
Our Everyday

My One and Only Love

noreply@blogger.com (E Rabke) — Fri, 14 Feb 2014 15:42:00 +0000

Happy Valentine's Day!

I thought it would be a great time to write a post about our 15th Anniversary trip we took in October. I have been enjoying looking at our pictures over and over again especially on these snowy days.

But first, here's our love story…..how cupid struck love with his arrow…..17 years ago!

We met Super Bowl weekend 1997 through mutual friends. Growing up in the same small town we found it hard to believe we had never met before; however, we were able to make some connections. The weekend ended with a win for the Green Bay Packers (yes, I had to look that up!!!), but little did we both know the true winners of that weekend were us.

After meeting for the first time, we went on our first "real" date FOUR days later. It was the date which would change my life forever, as it was my last "first" date. Twenty days after we met, we celebrated our first Valentine's Day together (this is our 17th!!!). Love was in the air! So much in fact we were riding on cloud nine and couldn't believe we found each other. We were inseparable.

I was a junior in college and Will had graduated nine months earlier. Young, wild and crazy….and in love. Through our early stages of dating I wasn't even 21 yet! Four months after Valentine's Day I celebrated my 21st birthday! Finally! I was the last of my friends to enter the world of being "legal". My parents threw me a party with friends and family and it was a fun night….a little too fun!

I will not share the details of the late night part of the evening with everyone, as I don't want to embarrass myself (if you want all the details you will have to ask Will!), but let's just say when someone offers you a shot of Prairie Fire…don't take it! Young, crazy, wild…..and stupid! That was me. After that shot, I thought I was going to die….literally. We went home and I just wanted the night to end. Will was taking me away the next morning for my birthday and I just wanted to wake up feeling my best.

That. Didn't. Happen.

Little did I know my stupidity was also throwing a monkey wrench into his plans. This should have been a sign for him….of the future with me…lol!

The next day came and we did leave for our weekend away….just a little later than we were hoping….ok a lot later! We checked into our B&B on the coast of North Carolina well after the sun went down. While I slept like a baby that night, Will was up tossing and turning….but I didn't notice. He had the weekend all planned out, but of course I messed up his plans. However, he didn't skip a beat and had Plan B in place.

Our breakfast the next morning consisted of French Toast with Ice Cream and fresh fruit….it looked so incredible and I couldn't wait to devour mine, as I was starving from the lack of eating the day before. I lifted my cover off my plate to find a little box in place of French Toast. Suddenly my hunger pains vanished….I was so nervous.

And then he popped the question, "Will you marry me?" FIVE months from Super Bowl Weekend!

As you can probably guess, I said "yes"….and when my plate finally came up to the room….I barely touched it…as I was so excited and a little nervous…butterflies were swimming in my stomach. I was engaged! I was getting married!

Ok…fast forward….

May 1998 I graduated from College
September 1998 we were married and then left for the Fiji Islands on our honeymoon….paradise!

September 2001 we welcomed our first little bundle of joy into our lives….Anna Cate
October 2004 we welcomed our second little bundle of joy into our lives…Betsie
May 2005 we moved to RVA so Will could pursue a new career and went to law school
November 2006 Anna Cate was diagnosed with Rett Syndrome AND a week later I found out I was pregnant with Eli
July 2007 we welcomed our third bundle of joy into our lives….Eli
May 2008 Will graduated from law school
October 2008 Will found out he passed the bar!
…..Present life….

When Will and I got married we promised each other we would celebrate every anniversary in a special way…especially the big ones. Little did we know in 1998 how important these celebrations would be….and by celebrating I mean….taking time away from our busy schedules for each other.

September 1999 (1st anniversary) we played like little kids at Walt Disney World and Universal Studios….even braved Hurricane Floyd!

Dinner at the chef's table at Victoria and Albert's

September 2003 (5th anniversary) we headed to San Diego and La Jolla….and left town hours before Hurricane Isabel!

September 2008 (10th anniversary) we celebrated early in July and August as Will was started his new job as an attorney in September….we spent four weeks at the beach with the kids as we knew it would be a long time before we would be able to spend four consecutive weeks anywhere! And there were NO storms!!!

September 2013 (15th anniversary) we celebrated a month late….two weeks in Europe. Amazing…and just what we needed! (Pictures at the end)

Will and I have always been good about making time for ourselves to spend time together. We are also very fortunate to have my parents who are willing to watch the kids overnight or longer. This time together is especially important after Anna Cate was diagnosed with Rett Syndrome 8 years ago. However, as our schedules get busier and the kids get older, this becomes harder and harder, yet we make it a priority….you have to! I can honestly say, it is because of our date nights and weekends away we are able to make it through the tough times.

Trying to have a conversation with Will at night doesn't even happen until 9:00pm. When he comes home, he has three other little bodies who want his attention just as much as I do. We used to try and have a conversation and talk about the day only to find ourselves being interrupted ten times and getting upset with the kids every time. But I get it….they want Daddy too. So we finally learned to not even try to discuss anything until they are in bed. It's a win win for everyone.

When our trip to Europe was approaching we were getting very excited! And nervous….well, I was…secretly. We were leaving the kids home for 2 weeks!!! I knew they were in fantastic hands, it was all the worrying of the unknowns I was most concerned about….like what if we don't come back. I hate to fly and this was giving me severe anxiety! A dear friend sent me this verse,

and I kept reading it and repeating it in my head before and during our trip.

I would joke with friends and say, what are we going to talk about for 2 weeks?!?! I will have Will's attention 100% for TWO WHOLE weeks….wow! What is it going to be like?

It was wonderful. It was rewarding. It made me reflect on my life and how lucky I am.

When I met Will at the young age of 20 and then married him at 21, I loved him. I truly did. But I can say I love him more today than I did then. What I thought love was then, is nothing to what I know love is today. God had plans for me and I didn't realize then the true gift he was giving to me when he gave me Will.

I can not imagine my life without him. I can not imagine my journey with Rett Syndrome without him by my side. He is the most incredible husband, father and best friend.

He let's me sleep in every weekend and on snow days; he enjoys playing with the kids in the snow as he knows I am not a snow bunny and will go into work late so he can play with them; he understands the importance of my friendships with my girlfriends and encourages me to have time with them…even weekends away; he supports me in everything I do…even if he is a little uncertain, but knows it is important to me; he is so amazing with our children and has special dates with each one…every weekend; he works incredibly hard for our family; he makes me laugh and his jokes are often timed perfectly; he still surprises me throughout the year; and this is just a taste of all the wonderful things he does…

And he loves me with all my quirks and all….with all his heart! Don't get me wrong we still have disagreements and can annoy each other…who doesn't. But at the end of the day, love wins.

Two weeks together with no interruptions…no kids…no work….was refreshing. It was like we were in our 20's all over again. We relived the past, talked about the present and planned for the future. We appreciated the time together and enjoyed every second. The trip helped us to realize we were on this journey together for a reason. In areas I fail, he picks up and vice versa. We are not perfect, but we understand each other and grow with each other every day.

While I would love to share all 1000+ pictures from our trip, I will share some of my favorites from each place we visited. I hope you enjoy them.

First Stop….Rome

Second Stop, Cinque Terre

Third Stop, Lake Como

Yes….this is all I had for TWO weeks!

Our room with a view

Fourth Stop….Luzern

Our view from the train traveling to Luzern….

On the our third day we had an adventure to Jungfrau….total travel time 8 hours!

Fifth and final stop…Zurich…it rained our one day here :(

Happy Valentine's to my one and only love….

The very thought of you makes my heart sing
Like an April breeze on the wings of spring
And you appear in all your splendor
My one and only love

The shadow's fall and spreads their mystique charms
In the hush of night while you're in my arms
I feel your lips, so warm and tender, yes
My one and only love

The touch of your hand is like heaven
A heaven that I've never known
The blush on your cheek whenever I speak
Tell me that you in are my own, baby

You fill my eager heart with such desire
Every kiss you give sets my soul on fire
I give myself in sweet surrender, baby
My one and only love

Baby, you fill my eager heart with such desire
Every kiss you give sets my soul on fire
I give myself in sweet surrender, baby
My one and only love, yes
My one and, my only love

**Lyrics from Louis Armstrong's My One and Only Love**

Will I love you with all my heart! Happy Valentine's Day!

The "S" Word!

noreply@blogger.com (E Rabke) — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 03:06:00 +0000

Anyone else feeling the winter blahs? Every year I get them, but this year I think it is worse due to the "s" word which has kept my kids home from school more times than I would like to mention. And another storm is approaching….well at the time of me posting this, the storm has arrived and school is cancelled…again.

The winter blahs have also made it hard for me to write... actually hard for me to think about something to write about. I have sat in front of my computer and started posts, many different times. And then I hit delete and start over. I just wasn't feeling it.

All these snow days have helped me "focus" on different aspects of my life. In the past I would have complained on and on about my kids being home, driving me crazy and not having enough caffeine and wine to get through it all. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I didn't complain about all the past snow days...I did, but for the first time it really truly wasn't about the kids being home. Of course having my kids home for 11 days (including weekends!) got to me….and I to them, as we all craved our routine...our schedules....our sanity. But something inside me changed.

Snow days are going to happen whether or not I want them to. If I didn't want snow days, then I could entertain the idea of homeschooling my children. But we all know that would lead to them learning the other "s" word! Instead of complaining about it I decided to find the silver lining. While it was hard to find after almost two weeks off...I found it.

I realized everything doesn't have to be perfect and run smoothly. In my already "different" life, I try to have some things run as smoothly and perfectly as I can….the things I can control. However, I realized if I want the kids to help me around the house I need to let them do it their way...even if it takes longer. I realized when we are helping each other we all learn from the experience. I learn to be less controlling and not have "it has to be done this way" attitude...and they learn independence and life skills. If I don't take a step back so they can step forward, how will they learn?

My kids love to help around the house...always have, but I often give them the easier tasks as it takes as longer time for them and I just want to "get it done". Not any more. If they want to help...they can take all the time they need.

Betsie, my nine year old, showed interest over the Christmas holiday in wanting to learn how to do the laundry. Sorting, washing (settings and all), drying (learning what goes in and what air dries), folding and putting away. I was blown away! Maybe a little bit of guilt was setting in as she likes to change her clothes a couple of times a day! Did the laundry take longer to do? At first, yes! But guess what? I loved seeing her independence and her willingness to help so much, that I didn't care how long it took! She was doing the laundry for ME...and I could enjoy my coffee…the same cup I have been trying to drink all morning. You know, the one you keep putting in the microwave to heat up.

After Christmas break my kids were in school for TWO weeks before they had an unexpected mid winter break for another TWO weeks due to a four letter word! Over the snow days Eli, my six year old, decided he wanted to start cooking with me. Usually I would have given him the easy things to do just to speed up the process, but since we had all the time in the world and no school days were in sight, I decided to let him make dinner. On. His. Own. Of course I was there to help assist with the stove and oven, as well as, the sharp knives as I didn't want any burns or missing fingers to happen on my watch. The last thing I needed was to explain to my husband that our son has burns as he was cooking dinner because I was on Pinterest pinning our monthly menu!

So he rolled up his sleeves, threw his apron on and got to work! He read the instructions, grabbed all the ingredients and started mixing. I was so impressed! And it was so much fun sharing this with him. He had a blast and was equally as impressed with himself. Talk about a confidence builder…not that he needs it, but still who doesn't like a little boost of self esteem?!?!

I mentioned Pinterest above. When I think of Pinterest one word comes to my mind, addicted! I love Pinterest. Don't you just love all the folders you can create. I have every house I can dream of designed and outfitted down to what we will be eating for the next year. And with the help of Pinterest I can plan a party on a whim! But let's get back to the real world….and the folders I use the most….recipes. I don't mind cooking. I have to do it if we want to eat, right, but its not something I love. However, Pinterest has really helped changed this…I enjoy cooking now. I enjoy trying new foods and getting out of the rut of the same recipes in the weekly rotation.

Not only do I love trying new recipes, but it helps to have options for my kids to chose from too. This is just what I did with Eli when he wanted to cook. I let him pick the recipe from the options I was already planning for the week. He is a picky eater, so a part of me was hoping if he prepared and cooked it, he will want to eat it….this was part of the plan anyway.

So he picked Meatloaf Muffins topped with Mashed Potatoes sprinkled with bacon.

And it was a hit! A huge success!!!! He loved them!! And he enjoyed eating them just as much as he did cooking the meatloaf. I was so happy my plan worked. The next two days were no different. Our menu the next two nights consisted of Italian Sausage with Peppers and Onions over Rice and One Pot Pasta with corn noodles, spinach, diced tomatoes in vegetable broth with seasoning.

I was one happy mom….that is for sure! And to be honest, it really didn't take that much longer to prepare than if I had done it myself. Seeing the joy in his face when we all raved about dinner and watching him talk in detail about what he prepared for us and how he prepared it was worth every second.

So I am thinking with this new snow storm a lesson on cleaning the bathrooms will be perfect! I just don't know how I will be able to motivate the kids to see the excitement in a clean bathroom. It's not the same for them as it is with me. Since my plan A probably will not work, I do have plan B…..new recipes to try! I can't wait for all the kids to get their hands messy as we have fun cooking over the next two days (even though school has only cancelled one day, I know by looking out my window school is out for the rest of the week). I know my kids don't appreciate what they are learning in the kitchen now, but one day they will. And my son's future wife will thank me one day…and I will look back on the snow days that could have driven me completely crazy but instead they turned into days of teaching my children skills they will use….forever.

When I start to lose my mind in the next two days, I will take a deep breathe and remember the silver lining……this is of course after I grab a calendar and count down the days till spring or at least a girls weekend….whichever is closer!

And just for fun….

What is Normal?

noreply@blogger.com (E Rabke) — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 18:29:00 +0000

I never really think about what a word means, in truth depth, until "that" word takes on a new meaning in my life.

Lately for me, I have been thinking about the word "normal".

I love those wood signs you see everywhere now….they are funny, beautiful, witty, cute…I love them all. I have a few around my house and I love how each one truly speaks to me. I love how when I read them they make my mind wander to some other place.

Over the holidays my husband and I were at a party and we saw this sign hanging on the wall of a friend's home.

We looked at each other and said, "we need that!". My children (with the help from my husband of course) gave me the new sign for Christmas. And I love it!

Every day I see it and re-read it, so I have been thinking more and more about the word "normal".

What is normal?

Normal as defined in the dictionary is usual or ordinary, not strange.

Do you consider yourself normal? Do you fall within this definition?

I do. My whole family does. What isn't normal or ordinary is the fact our daughter lives with Rett Syndrome. She has Rett, Rett doesn't have her. She is still a "normal" girl who has the same feelings as her peers. She cries when she is upset, she laughs when something is funny, she smiles when she is happy, she flirts when there is a cute boy, she picks on her siblings…..she does all the "normal" things we all do.

However, when a stranger looks at our family ….they probably don’t see a "normal" family. We are not the "usual or ordinary" family through that stranger’s eyes.

We are more.

This is our "normal" I have had to learn over the years. "Usual and ordinary" was not going to be for us.

My "normal" is different. Not just being normal, I mean the word "normal" to me is different.

Just because we have extra challenges and things are not "usual or ordinary" all the time around our house….does that really mean we are not "normal"? Would you say we are strange? As the definition says, "not strange", is normal.

I chuckle to myself every time I read that sign. Why? Because we are a nice, "normal" family.

Our children learn from example…correct?!? Our children are the future of tomorrow….correct?!? Why not teach our children…all of our children it is okay to be different. Our children learn from example and we are their role models. And believe me they are watching you closer than you realize.

When my children do something that surprises me, I think to myself….did I say that in front of them, did I do that in front of them….and usually when I think back….I did. Having a child with special needs has been an adjustment in so many ways for our entire family, but one of the biggest impacts it has had on all of us is….we do not judge. Every person we meet is a person first and foremost. Our younger two children do not look twice at a person if they are not like them…a stranger is a person….with a story. Of course they notice if a person has a disability or if their skin is a different color or they wear a hijab, but they don't judge a person on those characteristics.

Just yesterday my son who is in kindergarten was telling me how he learned about Martin Luther King Jr in school. You could tell he was really processing what he was told about MLK, Jr. He then looked at me and said, "mom, if the laws were never changed, then I would not be able to play with some of my friends and that makes me really sad". I told him he was absolutely correct and how lucky we are to be able to embrace all people from all walks of life.

I love how my children live in a neighborhood and go to school with such a diverse group of children. This is our world today. These children are the future of tomorrow. I love how our "normal" has changed our view of the world and the people in it.

Raising children….all children is not easy. We live in a society were everyone wants to be accepted and be like everyone else, when it is okay to be different. It is important to teach this to our children. To let them know they do not have to be ordinary.

It is okay to not like what your best friend likes. It is okay not to play a sport just because every one else is. It is okay not to have something someone else has. It is okay to learn differently from your friend. It is okay if you are a slower or faster reader than your sibling or friend. It is okay if you take longer to learn a skill. It is okay if your skin is a different color. It is okay if your family celebrates different holidays. It is okay if you use a wheelchair to get around. It is okay if you have to wear a leg brace to help you walk. It is okay if you wear glasses. It is okay if you have to use a speech device to help you communicate to the world or if you need hearing aids to hear the world around you. It is okay to be different.

It is okay to be unique, to be you. It is okay to be unusual and not ordinary. It is okay to not be "normal" by societal standards. Who set those anyway?!?!?

Children are innocent. Children are free. We can learn a lot from them….if we stop to truly watch and listen. They are a breath of fresh air. They don't know what is "normal" until we define it for them.

Next time you see someone who is not "usual or ordinary"….embrace their differences….teach your children how we are all children of God. He made us all and use this as a learning and bonding time to explore differences in the world. Let's not label it. Let's celebrate the beauty in every person's story. I think you will be surprised by how much we all have in common.

And yes….remember, as far as everyone knows we are a nice normal family. Except, our "normal" has extra challenges which makes us extraordinary!

Spootacular Halloween!

noreply@blogger.com (E Rabke) — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 16:40:00 +0000

I don't know what to say, other than I think I have been close to being on cloud nine for a long time...and didn't realize it! It wasn't until I was sitting in church two Sundays ago that it hit me. The "it" being, Anna Cate has been in a fantastic....I mean....fantastic mood since the first day of school!!!!

That is just about for the past two months! Happy dance!

I have been praying nonstop for many things for Anna Cate and was so wrapped up in the every day prayers I completely overlooked the fact one of them was answered.

I can not tell you how incredible it feels to have a prayer answered. I can not begin to tell you how incredible it is to have Anna Cate be in this fantastic mood....all day! I feel like a different person!

It doesn't stop there! She also seems more engaged lately. She wants to be more in the action than she has in a while. And I love seeing it!

This Halloween season was probably the BEST one in a really really long time. Starting with selecting our pumpkins one early fall afternoon. Anna Cate picked out her own and was so happy about it! After picking out our pumpkins we went to get the kids their costumes. Again, Anna Cate picked out her own costume and was adamant about being a 70's groovy girl!

Then we carved our pumpkins the weekend right before Halloween. It has been a long time since she has wanted any part of the cleaning out the pumpkin; however, this year, she dived right in! As you can watch in the video below she makes the same face as her siblings....not quite sure what to think, but hey this is kinda fun. And right after the video ends, she throws a big chunk right at Eli! You see the start of it in the video!

But it didn't stop there.

Halloween....she was all smiles! She remembered her Halloween costume she picked out and enjoyed every second of wearing it. It has been years since I was able to get pictures like these on Halloween of her....and all three!

Costume even has a GP2C flower on it!!!

Betsie as Harry Potter

Eli is Iron Man

My smiley groovy girl!

See what I was talking about! Look at that smile!!!

She selected candy from the bowls at neighbors houses and placed them in her pumpkin....on...her...own! This is huge for her! Huge! She enjoyed every second of being out with her family and seeing her friends. She was enjoying Halloween....just like she should! And I couldn't have been happier and more proud of her!

Every time I look at our pictures, I can't help but smile. Knowing how far we have come and where we are today is incredibly refreshing. Seeing the smile every day on Anna Cate's face is worth the wait and all the prayers. Now this prayer for her, has turned into a daily thank you to God.

© copyright 2012 – All rights reserved
Our Everyday

Batteries Recharged...Part One!

noreply@blogger.com (E Rabke) — Fri, 25 Oct 2013 15:45:00 +0000

A year ago this blog took a little holiday as I completed a challenge I took...a challenge to myself. I started another blog, 365 Days of Gift from My Nonverbal Daughter

And I did it! But now it is time to start blogging again....

It feels like a year since I last opened my blogger account...to write. However, on Wednesday, October 30th it will be only THREE months!

When you do something....anything....every single day it just becomes a routine. The norm. And sometimes you have to take a step back to see what others see. To see your life and every thing around you from a different perspective. For one day or ten days or months....do not do the norm.

A break. A hiatus. A holiday. A vacation. Whatever you call it....take it.

That is exactly what I did. What I needed to do.

Challenging myself to blog for 365 days...in a row...about my daughter with special needs was not easy. Finding the gift she gives to me daily...was challenging. Some days it was blatantly obvious, while others I was still searching well into the night.

Blogging about my true feelings and opening up to friends, family and complete strangers was hard for me. However, I knew keeping everything bottled up inside would only make me feel worse. I knew getting it out would not only help others who try to understand our world get a better picture...a better understanding, I knew there was probably another parent out there who was struggling with the same feelings I had and I hoped my words gave them strength and encouragement. For everyone I hope my gifts from my nonverbal daughter, was a chance for everyone to reflect on their own gifts...in their own families.

Since I have completed my challenge...to myself, I have made many changes in my own life. For the better. I have truly seen what is important and what matters. I feel energized and ready for the next challenge. Right now, I do not know what that is, but I am sure it is not too far away.

My blog, 365 Days of Gifts from My Nonverbal Daughter has come to an end. However, the gifts do not. The gifts my daughter has given to me....to you....will continue to give every time someone reads them.

If you shared the past year with me and 365, thank you. If not, please take the time to read it (link above).

Cheers!
Emilie and Anna Cate.....my amazing daughter who keeps on giving....every.single.day!

© copyright 2012 – All rights reserved
Our Everyday

Tooth Fairy

noreply@blogger.com (E Rabke) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 03:28:00 +0000

I have been trying to write this post FOREVER. However, it is harder than I thought to manage two blogs! News flash for myself!!! So I am hoping to post on this blog at least once a month.

Ok...the post....

Loosing teeth is one of those childhood memories we all remember. You loose a tooth, tell all your friends, put the tooth under your pillow and then in the morning the tooth fairy left you money. Who wouldn't be excited over this? I even tried putting my puppies teeth under my pillow when I was little to see if it would work....to no avail!

Unfortunately, loosing teeth is not like this for Anna Cate. Most of her teeth she has lost she has swallowed. She eats something, we see a little blood, see there is a missing tooth and have a huge feeling of guilt.

We never knew it was loose, we never knew if it was causing her any pain, we never knew anything until it was too late.

Now we have started to pay close attention to different reactions when we brush her teeth. It worked the last time two times she lost teeth in the last 3 months! She let me feel around in her mouth to figure out which one was loose and we kept an eye on it. She will still swallow them unless we watch her carefully while she is eating. The last one she actually spit out herself onto the kitchen table!

I don't think she really cares too much about the tooth fairy. When we talk about it, she doesn't "light up" like when we talk about Santa. She almost looks at me with this face as if she were saying, "Mom, come on....really a tooth fairy?" We still go through the motions, but I know she was on to us a long time ago!

Speaking of being on to us....right around the time Anna Cate lost her most recent tooth, Betsie asked me in front of her brother (mind you he is 5 and hasn't lost ONE tooth yet) if the Tooth Fairy was real. This is the THIRD time she has asked me this question. Of course, I said, "yes, the tooth fairy is real", with a certain look on my face. A look she knows all too well.

I always want me children to feel comfortable enough to come talk to me about anything in life. I felt at this time, having been asked the same question about the Tooth Fairy THREE times in 6 months, it was probably time to go ahead and share the news about the Tooth Fairy.

Later on in the day when Will go home, I went upstairs to Betsie's room and asked her if we could talk. I started by saying "you asked me a question downstairs and it was the third time you asked me, and I thought it was time to talk about it". She then looked right at me and said, "Mom, your the Tooth Fairy aren't you?" "Yes, honey I am". To which she replied, "I knew it. And the Easter Bunny isn't real either is he?" "No, honey the Easter Bunny is not real either". No tears, nothing. Just a matter of fact conversation with no disappointments as she knows she will still get treats! Smart kid!

I was praying the questions of all questions would not come up as I was not ready to let go of this yet, she said to me, " I know Santa is real!". And I said, "I believe too!"

I am so glad I had this conversation with her first and foremost as I mentioned above, I always want her to be able to ask me anything. I wanted to be the person to talk to her about this, not some kid at school. I also know kids at school talk and this is about the time they start talking. And she is on the internet, so if she wanted to google tooth fairy I am sure she would be able to figure it out! Plus, who knows what would come up if she did google Tooth Fairy...I may have a bigger issues on my hands!

She was not upset at all. I think more than anything she was happy to know I told her the truth. She did make a promise to me she would not talk to anyone about this as many of her friends still believe and I do not want it coming from her. And most importantly she is not to tell her brother at all! Not even when she is mad at him...never! She knows no one ruined the Tooth Fairy experience for her and we would not want to ruin it for her brother.

I was a little sad telling her about the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny as it means she is growing up, but I was very proud of our first "big girl" conversation. I think she knows she can come to be with any question and know I am always here for her.

10 years of "stuff" saved between 3 children!

noreply@blogger.com (E Rabke) — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 03:01:00 +0000

Do you save everything your child brings home from school? Do you save everything they make for you? I did until it started taking over my attic!

Six months ago my husband and I cleaned out our attic....It was a mess! What we found was an 8 x10 area of bags and bins filled with all things saved from my children starting when Anna Cate was 2! It was out of control to say the least!

Of course I had to wait for the right time to purge through everything as I did not want my children to think I didn't care about the things they made. I actually got "busted" once from Betsie last year for throwing something away of hers....her exact words were "Mom, I spent a lot of time I that"....I felt horrible! So I just started to save everything....knowing one day I would "organize" it all.

Well, the day came.....I organized everything when the kids were home from school for two days from Hurricane Sandy...or what we "thought" was going to be a Hurricane in our neck of the woods. I wanted my children to help me with this project, so they would understand we can not keep everything and I did not want them to get upset in the future if they saw me throw something away.

We had fun! The best part for all of us was going down memory lane. Wow! Looking back at old pictures, seeing when they first started to paint and write their name...all of it was wonderful to see...again. My kids helped me make piles of things to "keep"and "things to throw away". I was amazed at how much "stuff" I saved. If a piece of paper had one pencil, pen or marker mark on it...saved. If they colored a page out of a coloring book...saved. I think I even found old Valentine's Day candy attached to an old Valentine!

Go ahead....guess how many bags of trash we had? ( I did take them to the recycling bin too). ELEVEN!!!!!

Now each child has a small bin for all their preschool years. While Eli will finish filling his preschool bin up this year, the girls have started on their elementary bins. Everything is so nice and organized!

Next stop for organization....cards....as in I think I could open a Hallmark Store in my house! What do you do with all the cards you get over the years....Birthdays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Just Because, etc..? Do you save them?

Picky Eaters

noreply@blogger.com (E Rabke) — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 02:09:00 +0000

Do you have a picky eater or eaters in your house?

I feel like this is always a constant battle in our house. All my kids used to be GREAT eaters....then one day my middle daughter, Betsie, decided she didn't want to eat anything healthy. Of course, this was right around the time her little brother was playing "monkey see monkey do" and he decided to follow suit!

Lucky for me, Anna Cate, who has special needs, has always had an incredible appetite.

In the last year, Betsie has started to come around and she pretty much eats anything...as she really wants dessert. My rule is, no dinner, no dessert. If you get hungry after dinner, I will heat your dinner up, but after a certain time...still no dessert. Eli, has gone to bed many nights hungry.....I will not cook more than one dinner.

I find I sometimes get into ruts with cooking, as I care more about the kids eating than anything else. And not hearing them complain about dinner is also a factor! However, I like to try new dishes.

So one day, I decided to "try" and make our "kitchen" clean...and the kids had wake up call as to what foods they would be allowed to eat. I was surprised they didn't give me much complaining at all. I should have done this sooner!

Slowly, I introduced new foods into their diets and didn't bring the old foods back in. It was not until Monday night where....for the first time...my son tried something new and LOVED it. No fuss, no muss, ate the whole thing. I was so proud of him!

We had Aidells Chicken and Apple Sausage sautéd with onions in coconut oil (the onion were sliced in big piece as I know the kids do not like them and it is easier to pick out), Harvest Blend from Trader Joe's and a salad. This will be a keeper in our rotation for sure!

However, it didn't end there. Today, on our day home from school I tried two new items with them. For lunch we had Roasted Red Pepper Bisque from Trader Joe's with a couple of crackers on the side. Another hit! At snack time I tried something I had seen recently and I can not remember where...maybe pinterest....anyway...it was sliced bananas drizzled with honey and then sprinkled with cinnamon....yum...yum...yum!

Getting my youngest to eat vegetables has been a challenge. Fruit he loves..veggies...not so much. This summer we got a juicer and it changed my world in getting vegetables into his diet. He will not eat many vegetables; however, if he drinks them it is a different story! I think it is the whole idea of him helping me make the juice which he likes. Whatever it takes...I'm game!

Last week a friend mentioned she made apple cider with her kids using their juicer. My kids LOVE apple cider, so today I thought would be the perfect day to try and make some with them. Anna Cate didn't want to get too close to the juicer when I offered for her put an apple in, she preferred to stay back and watch. I wasn't going to push her, as we were having a fun day together. Betsie and Eli took turns making apple cider for us. It turned out pretty good!

While Hurricane Sandy was trying to wash out our day, we were cookin' it up in the kitchen! And it was a huge success!

What are your children/grandchildren's favorite foods? What do they like to help you do in the kitchen?

Cha-Ryot

noreply@blogger.com (E Rabke) — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 02:49:00 +0000

Anyone know what Cha-Ryot means?

ATTENTION....in Korean!

Yes, attention everyone....Eli passed his test tonight in Tae Kwon Do and received his Yellow Belt!

He was so proud of himself!!! I love seeing his expressions on his face which shows how excited his is of his hard work and dedication. Especially since at the beginning of our Tae Kwon Do journey he was not "loving" it. Honestly, it was torture to watch!

However, as time went on he started liking it more and more and then one day something "clicked" and now he loves it!

I love how he is not only learning Tae Kwon Do, but also some Korean!

Eli right before he gets his Yellow Belt....

Here is a video of him getting his belt....

And Eli with his new belt....

Congratulations Buddy....we are so proud of your hard work, dedication and focusing!

Little Surprises

noreply@blogger.com (E Rabke) — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 11:39:00 +0000

Every morning when I ask my 8 year old daughter, Betsie, to make her bed, I also ask Eli, my 5 year old....only to hear "I don't know how". All I say, is "you can try".

Well, this morning...he tried...and succeeded!!! While it is not perfect....he still tried and this I am so thankful for....in so many ways! Four beds in the house....three I have been making....hopefully I am only down to two!!!

Not too bad for a 5 year old, is it......

Happy Tuesday to me!

Have your children surprised you today???

New Title....

noreply@blogger.com (E Rabke) — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 02:38:00 +0000

As you can see my blog has not only a new look, but a new title. Her Climb has been replaced by Our Everyday.

Having a child with special needs is a whole family effort...and I wanted to start blogging about my other two children too. They are also incredible kids I would like to share with you.

Some days I will have long posts, some short. Some days I will only post pictures and quotes which remind me of my family and how I am feeling on a particular day....or every day. I hope to post more laughs than tears, but I will not make any promises.

Having a child with special needs does add some grey to your life, but amidst the grey there is lots of color to share!

Just to end the the post with a little humor....who doesn't like someecards??? This one reminds me so much of my children....always pointing the finger at someone else....

Until next time....

-E

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

noreply@blogger.com (E Rabke) — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 11:34:00 +0000

I have been wanting to write this post since this special day happened, but as usual, life happens and I had to get through two weeks of camp at my house. (If you haven't read about Camp Amica visit my other blog at www.campamica.blogspot.com).

What does every mom want for her daughter? To be loved, to be liked by her friends, to have friends, to enjoy life to the fullest, to explore, to enjoy every year as time goes by so fast, to have lots of memories, and the list can go on and on.

Before Anna Cate was diagnosed with Rett syndrome the list of hopes, wants and dreams for her was endless.....and it still is. However, all the hopes, wants and dreams have changed a little. I still want her to be loved, I still want her to have friends and friendships (yes there is a difference), I still want her to enjoy life to the fullest that she can, to explore the best that she can, to enjoy every year and to have lots of memories. In order for Anna Cate to have memories and explore we are involved with every aspect of these moments too!

Amy, Anna Cate's teacher and friend, does the BEST job of making Anna Cate feel just like any other 10 year old girl. From the way she talks TO her, to the way she gets other kids her age engaged, the way she helps US to do things differently (and better!) for Anna Cate, you name it....Amy is AWESOME!

Amy's dedication to Anna Cate is amazing to see! And I am not the only one who sees this connection the two of them have, but so does our school, the teachers, our friends, Anna Cate's friends, strangers....anyone! One area where Amy has paved the road for me, is with Anna Cate's friends. She has helped Anna Cate's peers realize that Anna Cate is just like them, but she is trapped inside her own body and sometimes things are difficult for her and sometimes things are easier.....depends on the day and her mood (kinda sounds like me too....lol!).

I love hearing Anna Cate's friends tell me that THEY want to come over to see Anna Cate. Noticed, I didn't call it a "play date"...I think now at this age, it is "having friends come over"....I need to get the lingo down! Anna Cate has had friends come over to hang out many times. We have taken her and her friends bowling, to a favorite frozen yogurt shop, to the pool, and they have just come to our house to be with Anna Cate and enjoy doing things that she likes to do here like play connect four, play ball, watch movies and listen to music. I love that Anna Cate can have these special times with HER friends just like her peers can and just like her sister, Betsie does with her friends. And she has two friends that really "get" her, where I feel comfortable enough to take a BIG step back to give them the age appropriate "girl time" that they need. I am sure that Anna Cate wants me to leave them alone too!

I often wondered to myself if Anna Cate would ever be able to enjoy one of life's biggest milestones--a sleepover! I am not talking about a sleepover at Mimi and Poppy's house...that doesn't really count, but a sleepover here with her friends or vice versa. There are so many unknowns and I didn't know if I wanted to go down this road. And I know that Will had some reservations too. We try to protect Anna Cate all the time, and we don't want her friends to see the "dark" side of Anna Cate when she is unhappy and frustrated and many times it is late night, in the middle of the night, or first thing in the morning, when these times are most prominent! But then, my voice of reason, or in this case Amy, tells me that it is ok, Anna Cate's true friends HAVE seen her upset and they get upset too, because they do not like to see her like this AND Anna Cate's true friends are just that, HER TRUE friends, and they KNOW she can not help situations like this. Amy is exactly right, and we have to realize that her true friends are genuine, understanding and patient with her and this is what is so beautiful to see. So why hold Anna Cate back on something that EVERY girl should experience.

Two weeks ago Anna Cate had her FIRST friend sleepover! It was a sleepover by chance and I think that it couldn't of happened any better (and that it was meant to be!). During my first session of Camp Amica, one of Anna Cate's friend's mom emailed me to ask if her daughter could spend one night as she needed to be out of town for work. This friend is AMAZING with Anna Cate and is one of Anna Cate's friends where I feel 100% comfortable leaving the room and I know Anna Cate is going to be ok! When I told Anna Cate that her friend was going to spend the night, Anna Cate got a huge smile on her face. Wow, she was really excited and I am sure in her head, she was probably saying...FINALLY mom!

After camp we had a normal afternoon around the house, then dinner and bath/shower time. While the girls were hanging out while I was cooking dinner, Anna Cate's friend Face Timed one of their other friends so Anna Cate could see her too! Wow!!! What a way to connect Anna Cate to what her peers are doing and age appropriate! Anna Cate loved it!!!

When it came time for bed, I explained to Anna Cate's friend all the scenarios that could happen...Anna Cate could sleep all night with no problem; Anna Cate could get up in the middle of the night and be mad; Anna Cate could get up really early (4-5AM) and be up for the remainder of the day; Anna Cate could, Anna Cate could, Anna Cate could....I can keep going on and on. NONE of this worried Anna Cate's friend and she looked right at me and said, " I would like to sleep in Anna Cate's room right next to her bed." Just writing that again, I have tears in my eyes. This young lady truly is a gift! Then Betsie came running in and asked if she could sleep in her sleeping bag next to Anna Cate's bed too! Yes, you can!!!

We did our normal bedtime routine of reading Anna Cate a couple of stories (she usually falls asleep as we read to her), but I knew that this night getting her to sleep was going to be a little bit more difficult as she was excited and the girls on the floor were whispering and Anna Cate could hear them. As I was reading to Anna Cate, she would lean over the side of the bed and look at the girls and then pop back up. She did this about 5 times! So after the first book, I thought to myself....Emilie....take a deep breath, relax and let Anna Cate enjoy the moment. I told the girls that they could watch a movie in Anna Cate's room and I was going to go downstairs. I was hoping that Anna Cate would stay in bed and fall asleep watching tv like she sometimes does when she gets up with the birds!

As soon as I walked downstairs and turned on the tv to Anna Cate's room (all the kids have cameras in their rooms so I can see them at night), Anna Cate was already out of bed and Will was hinting to me that this was going to be a long night. I walked back upstairs to put Anna Cate in bed, but as I approached her door (it was cracked so I could peek in), I saw one of the most precious things in a long time. Anna Cate's friend was putting her back in bed! This melted my heart!

I went back downstairs to tell Will, but he had watched the whole thing on tv and we both said at the same time, "DID YOU SEE THAT!!!!" I didn't know at that moment (as we had our eyes glued to the tv watching what was to us one of the most amazing shows we have seen in a long time) who had the BIGGEST smile on their face...me, Will or Anna Cate. Anna Cate's smile was so big and she was doing the covers over the face trick which mean she is really happy. She would watch her movie and then get out of bed....watch her movie, then get out of bed.....then Anna Cate's friend and Betsie got in her bed with her for a little while....then they got back down on the floor....this went on and on for about an hour and a half, when I finally went upstairs as I didn't want Anna Cate to get her second wind and we also all had camp at the house in the morning and I didn't want tomorrow to be a day with three tired kids on my end!

I thanked Anna Cate's friend for being so loving and patient with her, but said I was going to get her to sleep and then she and Betsie could sneak into their sleeping bags when Anna Cate was finally asleep. As I crawled into bed with Anna Cate, Anna Cate looked up at me and said "Mommmmmmyyyyyy, Mommmmmyyyy", Mommy really long and drawn out, and says this when she is really happy! I said, Anna Cate I know you are happy tonight and I am so happy for you. I snuggled with her and read one last book and before I got to the 5th page, she was out like a light. I am sure she was dreaming about her first sleepover! The girls came back in and got into their sleeping bags!

And then the big thunderstorm started!!!!! The only one who slept through the whole thing was ANNA CATE! After about 30 minutes Anna Cate's friend and Betsie finally went back to bed and were out instantly, as I know they were so tired.

This is the picture I took to remember this special night by!

The next morning Anna Cate woke up as happy as could be and was so excited to see her friend first thing in the morning!

We survived the first sleepover and it truly was one of the best memories I will remember for a long time! Anna Cate's friend and Amy taught me that it IS ok, relax and let Anna Cate enjoy what others her age are enjoying and what happens, happens.

Anna Cate had so much fun and she was so happy, that Anna Cate is going to have her SECOND sleepover as part of her birthday celebration in September, but this time with more friends AND Amy!!!! I know that I will be a little nervous as the day approaches, but I know this is what I have to do for Anna Cate. After all, what makes Anna Cate's friends so special, is that they like her for exactly who she is and I couldn't be happier for Anna Cate!

P.S. I named this blog in honor of my one of my favorite sleepover songs growing up and one of my favorite movies!!!

To bring back your GIRLFRIEND memories, click this link for some Cyndi Lauper!!!!

A great school year!

noreply@blogger.com (E Rabke) — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 02:33:00 +0000

As I put Anna Cate to bed tonight and watched her after she fell asleep, I can't believe that tonight was the last night she will go to bed as a 3rd grader! Where has the time gone?

While I was looking down at her I also started to think about what would Anna Cate be like and what would she be into if she didn't have Rett Syndrome. Looking at all the kids run off the bus asking their friends to sign their yearbooks, talking about the summer camps that they are going to, how they are doing swim team, where they are going on vacation always makes me sad for Anna Cate. I wish so badly that she could be like her friends and run off the bus laughing and giggling with no cares in the world! I have these thoughts just about every day.

But then I thought, Anna Cate has friends running up to HER to want to sign HER yearbook, Anna Cate has a camp at HER house where HER friends come to be with HER (this summer Camp Amica is FULL all three sessions with a total of 31 girls over three weeks!), Anna Cate doesn't participate in swim team, but she will be at the pool all summer, and Anna Cate is going on vacation to the beach TWICE this summer! In a way she is just like them, or she is just like them as much as she can be with Rett Syndrome and that is all I have wanted!

The quote, "Enjoy the little things in life...for one day you'l look back and realize they were the big things", really hit me tonight and what prompted me to write.

I replayed in my head the year we just had and what a GREAT year it was! To me a great school year for Anna Cate isn't about the academics, but about her having the most typical school experiences she can have like her peers.

I remember when we first started at her school in first grade with her initial IEP meeting, I told her team, teaching her academics wasn't important to me, that was a bonus. What was important to me for Anna Cate was that I wanted to her to not only have friends, but friendships. I didn't want her growing up and going to school without friends by her side. If the academics come, awesome, but creating friendships was a top priority to me.

In first and second grade Anna Cate definitely had friends, lots of them. And a couple in second grade turned into true friendships. But third grade, I can honestly say friendships were made! It was so beautiful to see! Anna Cate had two great friends at the beginning of the year and these two girls really bonded with Anna Cate. The rest of the girls in the class over time watched how they interacted with Anna Cate and wanted to learn from their friends. Anna Cate was teaching them about her and her friends were teaching other students about Anna Cate!

Today was Anna Cate's end of the year party for her typical 3rd grade class and it was so touching to see the girls surround her with love. You can tell that they truly care for her and want to be her friend. And the smile on Anna Cate's face that she gets from them can light up a room! I hope that Anna Cate will be in the same class as many of these sweet girls next year! They truly made 3rd grade extra special for Anna Cate!

As I was leaving today, I thanked her teacher for believing in Anna Cate and for a wonderful year. She told me that it was wonderful having Anna Cate in the class and how the kids learned so much from her. She also said she has to often tell the girls to give Anna Cate space as they fight over her! Right after she said this, we looked over and there were 5 girls all around Anna Cate....and she said, you see what I mean....she is one popular little girl!

Of course Anna Cate rocked the academics this year too! She started to learn how to read and spell words independently by typing them out on her computer! And this was the first year she had to take standardized tests and rocked ALL of them!

Here's to Anna Cate having a fantastic 3rd grade year one that I will remember forever. The year Anna Cate found true friends who believed in her and helped others to believe in her too! Kyla, Maddie, Alexis, Ellie, and Susie thank you for bringing so much joy to Anna Cate's life!

HOPE

noreply@blogger.com (E Rabke) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 18:18:00 +0000

Sometimes when I sit down to blog, I find it hard to write. And other times, things flow easily. Lately, my challenge hasn’t been what to blog about, but to take that jump and blog about something deeper, which are often the hardest for me.

As you know Anna Cate had tendon lengthening surgery at the end of September. Where we are now with her recovery, I would have never thought that we would be in these shoes. The shoes that so many other families wear every day. The shoes where your daughter’s mobility is truly an issue and now needs your help in another aspect of her daily care--walking. This has been extremely hard for me to see and deal with as this is not my daughter. My daughter is swiper, Mia Hamm, the energizer bunny, the little girl who will not sit down but is constantly under foot.

Anna Cate wants to go and do just like before, but her body’s recovery time is prohibiting her from going and doing like before surgery. Sure we have great days when I think we are rounding the corner and coming out of this rut, but then we go back to the “new” walking since surgery.

About a month ago, something inside told me to call a new therapy center and see if they can do an evaluation on Anna Cate and if their technique could indeed help her. I called, Richmond HOPE Therapy Center, had an evaluation the next week and we have been doing therapy here now for one month. Anna Cate is also being treated by her current PT at Children’s Hospital and both therapy centers talk and exchange notes on how to best help Anna Cate. I love this. But what I love most, is that Anna Cate’s new therapy center is pushing her to her limit with stretching exercises like you would not believe, but the therapists do it with a smile and love. And the fact that Anna Cate has a smile on her face too is amazing! The HOPE that they are giving her and us is that her walking will come back with the correct amount of input that her body needs right now, is priceless.

I have sent her therapists at HOPE pictures of Anna Cate running down the beach and kicking the water in the ocean as inspiration to them. This is the little girl that I miss.

You know the old saying, “you don’t know what you have till its gone”...this could not be more true for me than it is right now. For all the times that I would get frustrated with Anna Cate for throwing things or being on the go non stop where I couldn’t get a thing done around the house, as I had to be watching her every second, I would take all that back in a heartbeat to have THAT Anna Cate right now.

The “after surgery” Anna Cate wants to be pushed in her Wike Trailer instead of walking when we go outside. The “after surgery” Anna Cate will stand up to try and walk and then just sit down after shaking and bending over at the waist as she is unsure of herself. The “after surgery” Anna Cate is confused and wants to go, but doesn’t know how.

Richmond HOPE Therapy has given us a new HOPE and I saw it yesterday!!!! Anna Cate had therapy in the morning and they taped her muscle on the front of her surgery leg (the anterior tib) to help that muscle do what it is supposed to do when we walk. Well, when she came home from school yesterday, she did not want to sit still!!! She was walking all over the place. About 80% of the time when she was walking she was mostly upright and not walking bent over! I was so excited, that I was taking pictures and videos left and right. I didn’t want her to sit down, I wanted her to walk all night. I wanted her to sleep standing up to not lose this....ok....maybe not this, but you get my point how excited I was!

I think that I was equally excited, because I have been praying at night for this very sign. A sign that she still has the skill and that she can still walk, but needs the guidance and training to get back to where she was prior to surgery. I needed a sign of HOPE from above.

Before Anna Cate’s diagnosis of Rett Syndrome our family went to church rather regularly, but right after her diagnosis and the birth of Eli we found it more and more difficult to go to church as we wanted someone to be there with Anna Cate in Sunday School so we could go to the Sermons. I will be honest, we didn’t try hard enough and often let this aspect of our lives slip way. Every New Year we would say this was going to be a priority, as we truly believe that this is something important and that we want our children to grow up in a church, but there was always something holding us back.

Betsie started going to church with one of her friend’s when she would spend the night at her house and then came home talking about how much she truly enjoyed it and wanted to know when she could go back to church with her friend’s family. Seeing the joy in her face made us realize that we could not wait any longer and we needed to stop and make it happen.

Last Sunday the kids went to Mimi and Poppy’s for the weekend (my mom and dad’s) and Will and I went to a new church on Sunday. This is the same church were Betsie has been going with her friend. This church is HOPE Church. When we sat down at the start of the service I had a feeling come over me that I can honestly say that I have never experienced before in my life. At that moment, when the music started I started to get teary eyed. I was shocked at myself as I am not the type of person who is super religious and cries in church (unless Amazing Grace is being sung as that always reminds me of my great grandmother’s funeral and it gets me every time). But at that moment on Sunday I knew deep down that this void of not going to church was much deeper than I thought. I knew at that moment that another of sign of HOPE was being given to me, to our family, that we were in the right place. That HOPE Church was going to fill a void in our family that has been missing for far too long.

Not only does Betsie have friends who are members at HOPE Church, but Anna Cate does as well. This is a huge bonus for me as we all know how much I want Anna Cate being around her typical peers that are not only her age, but that she actual knows. And this will make the transition into a church family so much easier for her. Eli also has a friend from the neighborhood that he knows so everyone will have a “buddy” and not be jumping into a new church alone.

What does HOPE mean? HOPE is a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. My (and our) HOPE for Anna Cate in the short term is that she will gain back the mobility that she had before her surgery. The long term HOPE for Anna Cate is a cure. My HOPE for my family is that we can find a place where we can turn and build on our experiences and relationships with others and with God. I know that all this will happen as I was given the direction of calling Richmond HOPE Therapy by my own prayers and we were encouraged by close friends to join them at HOPE one Sunday morning.

Now I have to have FAITH and be PATIENT and know that with everything worth waiting for takes TIME. But in the waiting phase, I am beyond thrilled to know that we have found two places that will continue to give us HOPE.

Team Oatmeal

noreply@blogger.com (E Rabke) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 01:40:00 +0000

If an adult needed to talk to someone about a concern or something that bothered them, they would typically know who they could turn to, to talk about these issues. But what if you were seven and had some questions about your sister who has special needs and didn’t want to necessarily talk to your mom and dad about something that was on your mind in case it would hurt their feelings?

Well, this has been a subject that has been on my mind ever since Anna Cate had her diagnosis of Rett Syndrome. Right now Betsie is an AMAZING sister to Anna Cate and she doesn’t let Rett Syndrome bother her. She tells everyone all about Anna Cate and isn’t afraid to speak her mind. Right now. And I hope this is how it will always be. But what if something changes? What if she was afraid to ask someone in our family a question for fear she would hurt our feelings OR we would judge her for asking that question?

Early in the fall I was talking to a friend who has three children as well and her daughter also has special needs. We started talking about siblings and how we wish there was a place to take them so they could talk to others who are experiencing the life of having a sibling with special needs too. Our local Children’s Hospital used to offer this service, but hasn’t for years. My friend mentioned she had a friend who has said in passing that she would do this if there was interest!

After a couple of phone calls our first meeting for children who have a sibling with special needs was formed! There are two boys (both second graders) and three girls (one first grader, one third grader and one fourth grader). They came up with a name for their group and they called themselves “Team Oatmeal” (we have no idea why…but that is okay…this is their group). These five children met for six weeks and formed a special bond that only they understand. During the sessions they were able to talk about their siblings and learn that it is okay to have questions and concerns. But they also learned how to talk to someone about them and that they now have four friends they can share a concern with (five if you include the teacher too!).

The kids had so much fun with each other that the moms decided to still have them meet once a month. We meet at a local restaurant and we let them get their own table to be able to have their own conversation. While they may not talk about their siblings or something on their mind pertaining to their sibling with special needs, they know now that they have someone who they could talk to who would understands and will not judge. These five children have already learned some of life’s hardest lessons and are incredibly strong and have huge hearts, but I know as they continue to grow, they are going to be amazing adults and ones we could all learn from.

I also wanted to share a story from our first monthly dinner (post 6 week class) that I shared with Girl Power 2 Cure and is now the Story of the Week.

Last Tuesday was the last class and Betsie brought in (GP2C) flower tattoos for everyone with her piece of paper from the half marathon (image above). Everyone, including the two boys put them on! The boys put them on their "muscles"!
Last night we met with the group for dinner and one of the mom's whose son is in the group told me the cutest story. He is the second of two children and his 10-year-old sister has Angelman's. He is in second grade. He went to school the day after he got the tattoo and took his long sleeve shirt off, which then revealed his tattoo. His friends started teasing him that he had a flower tattoo and he looked at them and said, "Let me tell you something, this flower is special because it stands for a syndrome my friends sister has, and I'm spreading awareness by wearing it!"
And that was the end of the teasing!
Love him!

As I said, these kids are amazing! I am so happy that not only has Betsie found four new friends, but I also have four new friends….the moms! It is always refreshing to find someone who understands and just “gets it”! I think I look forward to our monthly dinners just as much as Betsie does. And this summer I can not wait to get all the families together. I know these friendships are going to be lasting ones. Thank you Britt for spending these six weeks with our children and being there for them!

Friendship to Cure

noreply@blogger.com (E Rabke) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 03:20:00 +0000

Aren’t playdates wonderful for our kids? Either a friend comes to your house and your child is entertained by their friend until it is time to leave. Or your child goes to their friend’s house and you have some quiet time, or one less child for the afternoon. Either way, it is pretty nice to have this time to yourself!. Well, what about when your special needs child wants a playdate with her friends, but can not tell you? Or you know she wants her friends to come over, but how will the play date work out? This is what happens in our house very often.

Anna Cate sees Betsie and Eli’s friends running in and out our front, back, and side doors like we are a fast food restaurant. And so often when I look at her smiling at them I know it is because she wants to go with the kids and be one of them! I know her friends bring her so much joy and she eats up the attention from them, like a bear likes honey! However, when Anna Cate has a playdate, it immediately also becomes my playdate.

Last summer I started Camp Amica for Anna Cate, so she could attend a camp and be around her typically developing peers she goes to school with and who live in our neighborhood (and yes Camp Amica will be back this summer!). Every school year, I hope and pray there will be “friends” for Anna Cate to invite over for playdates and girls (or boys) who truly are interested in her.

Third grade has been amazing for Anna Cate both educationally and socially. Once I realized that there was a good amount of “interest” in Anna Cate and friends truly wanted to be her “friend”, I was ready to start the having playdates for her.

Anna Cate’s friends are truly genuine girls! As I mentioned in an earlier post about them, they truly care for her. One Sunday, Anna Cate invited her friend Kyla to come to the pool with us for the afternoon. The smile on Anna Cate’s face lasted for hours! Kyla brought such joy to Anna Cate that afternoon and it was one of those beautiful moments you want to remember forever.

Two weekends ago, Anna Cate had a play date with FIVE friends from her class…yes FIVE! We had so much fun!!! Alexis, Ellie, Kyla, Madison and Susie arrived at 11:00am and stayed until 1:30. Betsie wanted to stay and play too and Anna Cate said it was ok!

First the girls made a video about their friendship with Anna Cate. They called it, Friendship to Cure. Did I mention these girls are amazing? They wanted to film it in Anna Cate’s room….why not, that is where girls hang out when they get together anyway, right! I loved hearing all their responses and what they love about Anna Cate. They wanted to show everyone that Anna Cate is just like them--she has a favorite color, a favorite movie, etc. It truly melted my heart!!!

Then we played spin the bottle….ok, not that bottle….the nail polish bottle! This is the second time Anna Cate has played this game with friends. I love it because it is EASY, FUN and Anna Cate can participate!!! Everyone sits in a circle and then at one end we have all the nail polish colors lined up. The person who is picked to go first (you can pick this person however you like), will pick a color and then spin the bottle in the middle of the circle. Whoever it lands on, THAT person has to paint one nail the color that was spun. And then this person goes next. And so on and so on, until ten toes or ten fingers are all painted!
The girls had so much fun helping Anna Cate pick which color she was going to chose by holding up two options and letting her point to one. And they LOVED painting her toes. Honestly, I don’t know who enjoyed it more, them or Anna Cate!

For lunch I made the girls one of the popular lunches we made at Camp Amica, ham and turkey kebobs with fruit. They were a hit again! Madison’s mom LOVES to bake, so she made a special treat for all the kiddos (and I was so happy there were leftovers!). Cupcakes with frosting and then a chocolate cookie on top…yummy!!!

After lunch the girls wanted to take turns playing Just Dance on Wii. Anna Cate loved watching her friends be all silly and this is one of her favorite games to watch because she enjoys the music. While Anna Cate’s friends waited for their turn to play, they all sat next to Anna Cate and talked to her. It was so cute!

While the playdate was work for me as I had to “play” too, there were definitely times when I took a step back and let Anna Cate be alone with them. I wanted her to feel like she was a ten year old typical girl without her mom around. I hope as she gets older, I will be able to take more steps back when her friends come over and they or Betsie can help her a little more. Maybe one day I can be in the background the whole time! But until that day, I will try to be a “cool” mom and help her to have fun playdates with her friends. Nothing makes me happier than seeing a smile on Anna Cate’s face and knowing that she is truly happy!

I was able to sneak downstairs and catch them on the camera in Anna Cate's room having "girl time"

13.1 miles for love

noreply@blogger.com (E Rabke) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 03:00:00 +0000

If you had told me a year ago that I was going to run my first half marathon in February 2012, I would have said you are crazy! I could not even run to the stop sign without getting a shin splint, let alone 13.1 miles!

Well, sometime around the end of the summer someone affiliated with Girl Power 2 Cure got this great idea (yes there is some sarcasm here!) to get a Girl Power team together to run the Disney Princess Half Marathon. I kept looking and looking and looking at the posts on Facebook every week. Then one day after seeing a post I started thinking about this run. Thinking, that I am crazy, this is 13.1 miles and you hate running!

Then I thought, Emilie, do you think you can actually do this? Do you think you can run a half marathon? Maybe was the answer I told myself, maybe if I had some friends to laugh and cry with every step of the way! So I asked one friend and then another friend and before I knew it, I had four friends who said YES! And then three more jumped on board! SEVEN friends running a HALF MARATHON for Anna Cate….there was no turning back now! Will was a little skeptical, as he didn’t think that I would “stick with it” as I tend to start and not finish some activities. If I was smart I would have made a bet with him for something!!!

Luckily for me, many of the runners on the Girl Power 2 Cure team were first time runners too, so Girl Power 2 Cure was fortunate enough to have Chris Twiggs from Jeff Galloway put together a training program for us. This was music to not only my ears, but my legs and feet too! For those of you who are not familiar with the Jeff Galloway Method, it is a run/walk combo.

After five months of training, half marathon weekend was here! I can not begin to tell you how moved I was to have seven wonderful friends join me in Disney to run a half marathon for Anna Cate. Despite my crazy life of sleepless nights (which got better during the training….THANK YOU ANNA CATE!), doctor and therapy visits and chasing my other two munchkins around with their daily needs (and wants!), I still found time to train for this race. While, my friends who ran with me do not have the “special needs mom” title and all that comes with it, they still have their families, a job and all the every day things that come with being a wife and mother….and they still found time to train for the race too! Thank you to all of Anna Cate’s Fairy Godmothers for taking time away from the important people in your life to help someone special in mine.

Here I thought we would go to Disney and have a relaxing girl’s weekend away before race day on Sunday. I not only came home exhausted, but sick as a dog! We left here Friday morning at 7AM (got up at 3AM, left for the airport at 5AM) and we were on the Disney property by 10:00am! After picking up our race packets we headed to Epcot before dinner. By the time we ate dinner at 8:30PM, I had hit the wall! Wow!! I was exhausted, but then again I was up for 17 ½ hours!!! And here my dad and step mom flew in from Texas to cheer me on and spend time with me and I was falling asleep at dinner! I felt awful, but there was nothing that I could do, except maybe I could have tried to keep my eyes open with toothpicks!

On Saturday surprisingly we slept in till 7AM (sad when sleeping in is 7am). And then headed to Magic Kingdom, which is always so magical!!! Disney is fun for me with and without kids, but your perspective changes once you see Disney in the eyes of your children. It was fun to go on rides with my friends and act like children ourselves! After a fun filled afternoon we went to our Girl Power 2 Cure team dinner, where we officially meet Chris Twiggs himself! He gave us a motivational speech, we meet our team members who we have been talking to on Facebook for about five months, and we got to meet three special ladies who would continue to be our inspiration for the next morning’s run!

After dinner we headed back to the hotel to try to get to bed early as 3:00AM was going to come real fast. Yes, that is right; 3:00AM is the time that we had to be up, as we needed to be transported by Disney to the race area by 4:00AM! We did it and we looked like it was 3:00AM too!!! A couple of us even wore our pajama bottoms under our running skirts to keep warm until it was our time to run. Yes, I was one who donated my pj bottoms and an old sweatshirt to charity! I can not stand to be cold!!!

By the time that my corral started the race it was 6:15AM. I had my good friend from high school, Sally, run with me every step of the way. By the time we got to mile 3, we looked over to the left and saw the girl who would be the “winner” of the half marathon on her way back to the finish line! We had 10 more miles to go and she had 3!!! It was unreal!

Disney did an OUTSTANDING job of having something for you to look at all along the way to help take your mind off the race. Characters, bands, the actual parks, cheering crowds, looking at the outfits people dressed in (some wore full on costumes!), you name it! People actually stood in lines to wait to get their picture taken with a character! We did not, but we did get our picture taken after we ran through the castle in Magic Kingdom, as we couldn’t resist!

Thinking back on the race now, I don’t know if it was the fact that there was so much to look at all along the way or that I had an incredible friend to talk to the whole time or a combination of both, but the run wasn’t bad! It was actually great! Crossing the finish line and getting that medal was a feeling you can’t imagine, you have to experience it for yourself! And if you are running the race for someone or for a cause, it makes the feeling even more emotional.

Will I do the Disney Princess Half Marathon next year? You bet! Without a doubt! And instead of having a team of eight on Anna Cate’s Fairy Godmothers, I would like to double it and have a Sweet 16! Where else can you go and be treated like a Princess and be a Fairy Godmother?

“You will feel fulfilled when you do the impossible for someone else”

Will you be my Valentine?

noreply@blogger.com (E Rabke) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:41:00 +0000

What did you and your special Valentine do for valentines this year? I always try to find something fun to do with Anna Cate for her classmates, but more importantly I want the valentines and treats to come from her. Of course, I could buy valentines, sign them with her name and be done with it. It would be a lot easier and quicker, but then she didn't have a say in them like every other child.

Like many people, I am addicted to Pinterest and found some really neat tags for Anna Cate to give to her friends. Once I found the ones that I thought she would like, I had to think how she was going to be able to help me do them. We picked two different ideas, one for the boys and one for the girls.

Anna Cate requires help with all aspects of her valentines. Not only does she need help making them, but I also wanted to make sure they were age appropriate for her peers. My creative side, wanted them to be fun too!

I want her to be involved with the process as much as she could, after all they are HER valentines not mine. So Betsie opened each bag and we counted out the number of candies per bag as she dropped them in. When we were finished with each bag, I would call out a classmates name and then ask her to point to which tag she would like to put on their bag. Before attaching it to the bag, I had her stamp her name on the back, as she can not sign her name. This was a fun activity for Anna Cate and Betsie to share together too!

If I didn’t take the time to help Anna Cate, then her peers would know that I did them for her and I don’t think it would mean as much to them. Now, they will see that she stamped her approval on all of them and know that she did her Valentine’s Day treats just like them! We turned a fun activity into a learning experience, but she didn’t see it that way! Anna Cate worked on her counting, colors, names of her peers, fine motor skills and everything in between! But to her, she was doing her valentines and having a taste test with the candy!