Peace, Love and Pixels

Support AMAZING Kids & Have a Chance to Win $5K!

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 01:16:00 +0000

Logan & Grandma Lou on his First Holy Communion at JB May 2011

Well, it's that time of year again and I am waaaaay behind the fundraising 8-Ball for The Julie Billiart School annual Oktoberfest event.

Julie Billiart is Logan's school and literally was the answer to our prayers when he started there three years ago in the 1st Grade. Most of you know that Logan was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (a type of autism) when he was three years old. Julie Billiart School is a private school that specializes in the education of kids with learning differences like Logan. They offer a small student/teacher ratio, specialized therapeutic classes and stellar technology that helps our special kids learn in the way that is best for them.

Julie Billiart School, it's teachers and the amazing education they provide to my son is my passion. Most students attend JB thanks to the generous donations of family and friends like YOU.

Our Beautiful Julie Billiart was once a mansion that was sold to the Sisters of Notre Dame

Please consider purchasing a ticket which benefits our amazing kiddos AND gives you a chance to win $5000! The best part is that you have the "Luck 'O the Santilli's" on your side because last year we sold the winning ticket!!!

Tickets are $10 per ticket and a book of 6 tickets is $50 (such a deal!!). I've made it super simple for everyone by including the Paypal "Buy it Now" button right here on the page. Select the number of tickets you want from the drop down box and click the "Buy It Now" button. I've included the small fee that Paypal charges because last year we were the top sellers and the fees really added up :)

Light It Up Blue Just Like the Jellies Do!

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 19:53:00 +0000

Light It Up Blue Just Like the Jellies Do! a photo by CurlysGirly on Flickr.

It's autism awareness month! Light it up BLUE!

Another AWESOME Giveaway!

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 05:45:00 +0000

I just entered and you should too! Florabella Actions is giving away (1) $200 GC and (1) gorgeous THEIT camera bag!

Amazing Contest from MCP Actions!

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 20:49:00 +0000

MCP Actions, the BEST blog featuring tons of photography tips, is having a contest for the Tamron 18-270mm Di II VC PZD Lens for Nikon, Canon or Sony dSLR Cameras! Check it out and try to win it yourself....but if you win you have to promise to share with me :)

Win $5k & Help Kids with Learning Differences THRIVE in an AMAZING School!

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 20:15:00 +0000

There is an amazing little school tucked away in the suburbs of Lyndhurst, OH called Julie Billiart School. Named after St. Julie Billiart, JB is a Catholic school sponsored by the Sisters of Notre Dame, accepting students of ALL faiths in grades K-8 with special learning needs. Their unique teaching methods allow for students with Leaning Disabilities, ADHD, Asperger's Syndrome and other Autism Spectrum Disorders to thrive in a peaceful, safe environment.

My little sunshine, Logan, is in the 2nd grade at Julie Billiart School. This is second year at this amazing school. Many of you know that Logan is on the Autism Spectrum (maybe getting a diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome in the alphabet soup of diagnosis names since his original diagnosis at 2-years-old.) Logan thrives in the small teacher to student ratio of two master's level teachers with 11 other classmates. He receives Art Therapy, Music Therapy, Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy (both traditional and sensory), Social Skills Therapy and modified ABA as part of his regular daily curriculum. It's a dream come true. The school also offers students full access to emerging technologies with Smart Boards in every room and the use of Mac Books, where each student after grade 3 has their own to use during the school day.

Such amenities do come at a pricey tuition cost. Most students, including Logan, are able to afford this wonderful opportunity through scholarships. One of Julie Billiart's largest fundraising events takes place on October 2nd and is the Oktoberfest. Tickets for the event can be purchased through the Oktoberfest link.

The greatest way that YOU can help Logan's school is buy purchasing a raffle ticket! The winner of the drawing receives $5000! The seller (our family) receives $500 for selling the winning ticket! What could YOU do with an extra $5000? Being the winning seller and winning $500 would mean soooo much to our family after going through so much financial hardship over the last 5 years of privately funding Logan's therapy.

I will make it super duper easy for you to buy a ticket! I will take Paypal as payment for tickets. Tickets are priced at $10/each or $50 for a book of 6. Simply use the Paypal link below to order raffle tickets and I will happily fill them out for you and mail the stubs to you free of charge! Of course, there are fees involved by using Paypal so a dollar or two would be appreciated to help offset the costs.....not necessary but it would be delightful. Please include your full name, address, phone number and email address with your order.

Email me at tarasantilli@gmail.com for my address.

Please help me make this event a success for Logan's school and help him and the other special kids that Julie Billiart School serves. Please share this link with friends, family, colleagues, in-laws, out-laws or anyone that you might think would like to make a difference in the life of a child that needs a little extra TLC in the classroom.

Thank you for considering to donate!! Hugs and love from our family to yours!

Top 20 Reasons Moms of Kids With Special Needs ROCK

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Thu, 06 May 2010 16:30:00 +0000

Top 20 Reasons Moms of Kids With Special Needs ROCK

From Ellen's blog.....I HAD to repost this. Happy Mother's Day to all of the special mother's who fight by my side and teach me strength and courage each and every day!

1. Because we never thought that “doing it all” would mean doing this much. But we do it all, and then some.
2. Because we’ve discovered patience we never knew we had.
3. Because we are willing to do something 10 times, 100 times, 1,000 times if that’s what it takes for our kids to learn something new.
4. Because we have heard doctors tell us the worst, and we've refused to believe them. TAKE THAT, nay-saying doctors of the world.
5. Because we have bad days and breakdowns and bawl-fests, and then we pick ourselves up and keep right on going.
6. Because we gracefully handle the stares, the comments, the rude remarks. Well, mostly gracefully.
7. Because we manage to get ourselves together and get out the door looking pretty damn good. Heck, we even make sweatpants look good.
8. Because we are strong. Man, are we strong. Who knew we could be this strong?
9. Because we aren’t just moms, wives, cooks, cleaners, chauffeurs, women who work. We are moms, wives, cooks, cleaners, chauffeurs, women who work, physical therapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, teachers, researchers, nurses, coaches, and cheerleaders. Whew.
10. Because we work overtime every single day.
11. Because we also worry overtime, but we work it through. Or we eat chocolate or Pirate's Booty or gourmet cheese, which aren't reimbursable by insurance as mental-health necessities but should be.
12. Because we are more selfless than other moms. Our kids need us more.
13. Because we give our kids with special needs endless love, and then we still have so much love left for our other kids, our husbands, our family. And our hairstylist, of course.
14. Because we inspire one another in this crazy blogosphere every single day.
15. Because we understand our kids better than anyone else—even if they can’t talk, even if they can’t gesture, even if they can't look us in the eye. We know. We just know.
16. Because we never stop pushing for our kids.
17. Because we never stop hoping for them, either.
18. Because just when it seems like things are going OK, they're suddenly not OK, but we deal. Somehow, we always deal, even when it seems like our heads or hearts might explode.
19. Because when we look at our kids we just see great kids. Not "kids with cerebral palsy/autism/Down syndrome/developmental delays/whatever label."
20. Because, well, you tell me.

Imported a REALLY Old Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 18:14:00 +0000

I am really kicking it old school! I just imported my super, duper old blog called "Tiaras Make You Taller" that spanned 2007-2009. I just might get caught up today with a box of tissues looking at my babies when they were so teeny tiny. My gosh, they have grown! I saw a post where I blogged about Devon learning to crawl. My goodness, right now she rips up the driveway on her Barbie scooter and digs through my purse for lip glosses (hey, she takes after her mamma....a girl needs her gloss!). And Logan! It was the days before he became the Wii Zen Master.

Keep me away from ANY and ALL adoption agencies at this minute because I just might start a homestudy and get fingerprinted or something wild like that. Oh wait, I'd have to clean in order to have a Social Worker come over....that might be a deal breaker...lol!

Mistress of the Iframe Gallery Embed!

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 06:23:00 +0000

(If you don't know what I am talking about....just high five me and say "good job". You can roll your eyes at me after I turn around....lol).

OK, so I have been fiddling like heck to get a GINORMOUS gallery installed. Everywhere I turned, I would get the same blah, blah, blah "guy" talk. I mean doesn't anyone talk "normal person" anymore (I realize at this point me talking about iframes isn't normal people talk, so roll the eyes again....lol).

FINALLY the amazing team at my hosting company, Merchant Moms (shout out, props and all of that good stuff) gave me a simple solution....embed it with an iframe. So I did, and it flippin' worked! Book after book always poo-poo'd the iframe but in this case, it was the perfect solution.

Thank you for listening to me ramble. To appease the masses, I will now leave you with a silly picture of us on St. Patrick's Day. It's not going to be very edited because I am in the middle of ftp'ing over 3000 images and code. (Insert rock concert fingers here) Why do my children not look nearly as excited to be wearing beeble-boppers on their heads as Curly and I do??

Playing with Watermarks

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 04:42:00 +0000

Just a quickie here and then I better go to bed.

I purchased The Coffeeshop Blog's Premium Watermarking Kit today and am just now getting around to playing with it. (Probably reading the instructions would be the FIRST place to start, but nooooo). I am testing it out here with the same picture of Devon that I posted earlier. Let's see how it looks......

Ohhhh! Cute! I will fool around with it more tomorrow. It has some really awesome batch processing options which will make life MUCH easier here....cuz you know....I have it rough :) I'm not really going to bed. I'm going to do the dishes.

I Heart Faces Entry -- Laughter!

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 02:20:00 +0000

I submitted my 1st photo to I ♥ Faces today! I submited a pic of Devon from Easter afternoon after she had one too many peeps. I call it Drunk on Peeps :)

She is my happy, happy girl :)

Whoops! I didn't make it in time because I can't figure out McLinky....lol. I tried :)

Making Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 05:13:00 +0000

I finally started to give my website a little TLC and am soon going to be re-opening it with a shopping cart (because you all know how good I am at shopping, right??). Take a peek at it at www.peaceloveandpixels.com

I also imported all of my blog posts from my old blog if anyone would like to read along at their leisure :) So my randomness from 2009 and prior is all here.

Hey, why doesn't anyone in my castle rinse off their plates? I'm just saying.....

Hard at Work

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 10:27:00 +0000

I have been keeping myself busy with the re-launch of Stitches So Sweet. We have completely redesigned the entire site and have added a shopping cart feature. It is looking sooo cute! Of course we have oodles and oodles of product to add which is quite "busy" :) I am hoping to have it all in this week and set to launch after the weekend. I cannot wait for you all to see it!

Better run....there are dishes to be done!

Siggy check :)

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 07:49:00 +0000

Testing to see if my signature looks superfly......CHECK!

Back at the Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 06:08:00 +0000

Giving Blogger another whirl-ski :)

PLEA for Adoption Grant Info

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:20:00 +0000

PLEA for adoption grant information! I fell in love with a sweet 10 year old boy while I was in Ethiopia with Kelly. He's been at the orphange for over a year and still does not have a family to call his own. Curly and I would LOVE to be his parents but it is not financially possible at this time. PLEASE let us know about any legit grant resources. We are a very spiritual family but have no specific religious affliation.....we are commited to being a family of the World.

Thoughts of a Mom -- For My Friends with Children with Special Needs

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:34:00 +0000

Thoughts of a Mom
By Maureen K. Higgins

Many of you I have never even met face to face, but I've searched you out every day. I've looked for you on the Internet, on playgrounds and in grocery stores. I've become an expert at identifying you. You are well worn. You are stronger than you ever wanted to be. Your words ring experience, experience you culled with your very heart and soul. You are compassionate beyond the expectations of this world. You are my "sisters." Yes, you and I, my friend, are sisters in a sorority. A very elite sorority.

We are special. Just like any other sorority, we were chosen to be members. Some of us were invited to join immediately, some not for months or even years. Some of us even tried to refuse membership, but to no avail. We were initiated in neurologist's offices and NICU units, in obstetrician's offices, in emergency rooms, and during ultrasounds. We were initiated with somber telephone calls, consultations, evaluations, blood tests, x-rays, MRI films, and heart surgeries. All of us have one thing in common. One day things were fine. We were pregnant, or we had just given birth, or we were nursing our newborn, or we were playing with our toddler. Yes, one minute everything was fine. Then, whether it happened in an instant, as it often does, or over the course of a few weeks or months, our entire lives changed. Something wasn't quite right. Then we found ourselves mothers of children with special needs. We are united, we sisters, regardless of the diversity of our children's special needs. Some of our children undergo chemotherapy. Some need respirators and ventilators. Some are unable to talk, some are unable to walk.

Some eat through feeding tubes. Some live in a different world. We do not discriminate against those mothers whose children's needs are not as "special" as our child's. We have mutual respect and empathy for all the women who walk in our shoes. We are knowledgeable. We have educated ourselves with whatever materials we could find. We know "the" specialists in the field. We know "the" neurologists, "the" hospitals, "the" wonder drugs, "the" treatments. We know "the" tests that need to be done, we know "the" degenerative and progressive diseases and we hold our breath while our children are tested for them. Without formal education, we could become board certified in neurology, endocrinology, and psychiatry.

We have taken on our insurance companies and school boards to get what our children need to survive, and to flourish. We have prevailed upon the State to include augmentative communication devices in special education classes and mainstream schools for our children with cerebral palsy. We have labored to prove to insurance companies the medical necessity of gait trainers and other adaptive equipment for our children with spinal cord defects. We have sued municipalities to have our children properly classified so they could receive education and evaluation commensurate with their diagnosis.

We have learned to deal with the rest of the world, even if that means walking away from it. We have tolerated scorn in supermarkets during "tantrums" and gritted our teeth while discipline was advocated by the person behind us on line. We have tolerated inane suggestions and home remedies from well-meaning strangers. We have tolerated mothers of children without special needs complaining about chicken pox and ear infections

We have learned that many of our closest friends can't understand what it's like to be in our sorority, and don't even want to try. We have our own personal copies of Emily Perl Kingsley's "A Trip To Holland" and Erma Bombeck's "The Special Mother." We keep them by our bedside and read and reread them during our toughest hours. We have coped with holidays

We have found ways to get our physically handicapped children to the neighbors' front doors on Halloween, and we have found ways to help our deaf children form the words, "trick or treat." We have accepted that our children with sensory dysfunction will never wear velvet or lace on Christmas. We have painted a canvas of lights and a blazing Yule log with our words for our blind children. We have pureed turkey on Thanksgiving. We have bought white chocolate bunnies for Easter. And all the while, we have tried to create a festive atmosphere for the rest of our family. We've gotten up every morning since our journey began wondering how we'd make it through another day, and gone to bed every evening not sure how we did it. We've mourned the fact that we never got to relax and sip red wine in Italy.

We've mourned the fact that our trip to Holland has required much more baggage than we ever imagined when we first visited the travel agent. And we've mourned because we left for the airport without most of the things we needed for the trip. But we, sisters, we keep the faith always. We never stop believing.

Our love for our special children and our belief in all that they will achieve in life knows no bounds. We dream of them scoring touchdowns and extra points and home runs. We visualize them running sprints and marathons.. We dream of them planting vegetable seeds, riding horses and chopping down trees. We hear their angelic voices singing Christmas carols. We see their palettes smeared with watercolors, and their fingers flying over ivory keys in a concert hall. We are amazed at the grace of their pirouettes. We never, never stop believing in all they will accomplish as they pass through this world.

But in the meantime, my sisters, the most important thing we do, is hold tight to their little hands as together, we special mothers and our special children, reach for the stars.

By Maureen K. Higgins

Back from Africa

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:26:00 +0000

Adoption is a beautiful and life changing event in and of itself. Having the opportunity to witness the love of uniting a family is something so special. Having the chance to see the world with a new set of eyes is something that I will never forget.

I had the privilege of traveling with my dear friend Kelly to pick up her beautiful son from Ethiopia. It was more than I could have ever imagined even though I've read, researched and heard from others.

We met up last Saturday morning in NYC. We were greeted by our friends Natalie and Sheri and spent the day enjoying NY (and its awesome food!) with our friends during our day long layover. Natalie drove us back to the airport around 8pm for our 11pm flight on Emirates Air bound for Ethiopia with a stop over in Dubai in the UAE.

The plane was beyond cool! It was a double decker with insane food! We had movies, video games and TV shows to watch during the 12 1/2 flight to Dubai. We landed in Dubai and spent the night at the airport hotel. Talk about futuristic and cool. The guy that processed my Visa looked like Ryan from The Office dressed in traditional UAE dress. We learned after the fact that it is improper to smile at men in Dubai because it is seen as flirting. You all know me, I'm a smiling machine. I bet that I had quite the rep!

We slept a few hours and showered (one of the few for the week!) and then boarded our plane to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We flew over the dessert and landed in the middle of gorgeous mountains. It was breathtaking! We got to Ethiopia on Monday morning (we left on Sat. am for those of you tracking time).

We were greeted by Kelly's facilitator and taken to the Addis Guest House. It was quite comfortable and set up like a one bedroom apartment. We had our own bathroom! Abebe, the agency rep, took us immediately to Behailu's orphanage called Hope so Kelly could get him. We were not in the director's office but a few minutes when a sweet little boy came into the room and hugged Kelly. Behailu is gorgeous! He had kept a photobook of his new family by his side since Christmas and knew immediately when he saw Kelly that she was Mom. Seeing him with his forever Mommy was so amazing. We met his friends and had our 1st of many delicious coffee ceremonies. We brought Behailu back with us to the Guest House and got to know him. He was excited by all of his new clothes (he loved folding them and trying them on), foods to try and the TV remote control. There were many 1st's for him. At 6 years old, it was something to see.

We spent our time in Ethiopia visiting several different orphanages and meeting the children. They were all so remarkable! In effort to protect their privacy, I cannot post any pictures of children waiting for their Forever Families.

The weather was warm and sunny during the day with a great breeze to keep you cool. Nights were chilly because our altitude. The people of Ethiopia were so kind and happy. They welcomed us everywhere with smiles. I can't even explain the level of poverty that we witnessed. It truly was like nothing I have ever seen. People were poor but they still had the strength to smile. I loved that. It taught me so much about what is REALLY important in life.

We enjoyed awesome food throughout the trip and had many laughs.

Our journey home started on Friday night. We left Addis Ababa at 7:30pm. We were fortunate to get upgraded to business class on the flight to Dubai. WOW! Complete luxury! Filet and champagne and HUGE reclining leather chairs. We had a quick plane change in Dubai and we were back to real life and Economy class on the long ride back to NYC. Because of bad weather over the Atlantic, our flight increased to about 14 hours and we flew directly over Baghdad (!), Iceland and Greenland. We came in to NYC via Canada.

Behailu officially became an American on April 25th :)

He is a beautiful boy from a beautiful country with a beautiful family. I am thrilled for Kelly and eternally grateful for her for giving me the opportunity to share this experience with her! I will never forget what I learned on this trip and now consider myself a better world citizen thanks to the people of Ethiopia.

In New York with Sheri and Natalie

The video monitor on the plane showing our route to Dubai

Starbucks in Dubai -- I could still speak Venti :)

Downtown Dubai from the plane

Dubai to Ethiopia

Love at 1st site

Kelly and her son

Beautiful Behailu on the balcony at our guest house

Views from the guest house balcony

Traditional Coffee Ceremony Behailu fast asleep with the remote and jellybeans on the 1st night. This was the 1st time he wore jammies and undies and used a remote and flushed a toilet!Our friends at The Addis Guest House -- Awesome hospitality!

Pretty trees and flowers outside Sele Anat orphanage

Living large in Business Class :)

Ethiopia Bound!

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 20:11:00 +0000

A very dear friend of mine, Kelly, is adopting a beautiful 5 year old boy from Ethiopia. She has been waiting MONTHS upon MONTHS to bring him to her loving home. She finally got the call with her travel dates and asked me to be her travel companion. I am beyond thrilled to be there as they meet for the 1st time! Just thinking of that moment fills my eyes with tears of happiness. He is so loved already before making his way home to TN. This is just so amazing and my heart is so happy for her and their family.

My wonderful Curly is taking a week off from work to take care of my Mommy duties so I can travel with Kelly. He is so awesome. His friends, however, are wondering how they can ship their wives off to Africa.....lol. Right now we are working on travel arrangements but we plan to leave on 4/18. I will post pictures of sweet B as soon as I am able to :) He will melt your heart!

There is room in my suitcase (gasp! I have room in my suitcase?!?! LOL) so if anyone would like to make a donation to the orphanage, there is still time to get them to me. Leave me a comment and I will email you my address.

We will be spending time with the kids at the orphange and plan to take lots of photos for Mommies and Dadddies that are waiting on their children to come home. I remember how precious those photos were to me as we waited for Devon to make her way home.

***EDITED TO ADD THAT THE ORPHANAGE COULD USE THE FOLLOWING***
*Good diaper rash cream
*cloth diapers
*plastic diaper covers, smaller sizes
*toys for kids of all ages
*twin sheets
*crib sheets

Objects in the Box are not as Large as They Appear

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 21:13:00 +0000

So to say that I've gotten a little chubbier since losing my mom is an understatement. I've done my share of emotional eating since she was in the hospital and it's all caught up to me. I've decided to grab the big old bull by the horns and I started Weight Watchers online this week. So far, so good. I'm allowed to eat a certain amount of points per day so obviously I try to maximize those points. Yesterday at the grocery store, I stumbled upon these little gemstones that are only 1 point. After I opened the box and pulled one out, I darn near pee'd my pants laughing at the minute size. And get this, they aren't even filled with cream! LOL They literally are the size of my pinkie (see image #2). Total bait and switch!

I Love My Daddy!

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:45:00 +0000

Daddy came to my rescue and bought me a fabulous new laptop for my birthdy because my goofy Acer kicked the bucket. I now present to you the Gateway (and link to all of my friends and life!!!):

Logan's 6th Birthday Party

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 01:28:00 +0000

We had sooooo much fun today! Logan turns 6 on Tuesday (how can he be 6 already???) and we had his birthday party at My Gym. We invited Logan's entire Kindergarten class and some friends and nearly everyone came. My goodness, there was a ton of 5 and 6 year old energy in that room! I think the kids all really enjoyed themselves and Logan had a BLAST! The played games, did freeze dance, played hide and seek and then did Space Flight on the zip line. We had Mario cake and the kids went home with Mario goodie bags. I bet they are all sleeping good tonight :)

Do You Believe in Signs? I Do.

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 05:33:00 +0000

Today is 2 weeks since my mom passed and some days are harder than others. Today was rough. I've been missing her so much. My mom and I didn't see eye to eye on everything but we did talk about 5 times a day and when you talk to someone that much you don't always see eye to eye. I am thankful for the time I had with her at the end. I got plenty of chances to tell her that I love her and that I would take care of things after she left.

Well, here comes the "signs" part. Stuck inside my mom's will was a letter that my foster mother wrote to my parents as they were bringing me home. I was with a foster mother before my parents adopted me. I cherish all of the correspondence that we have with Devon's foster mom and we talk about her and look at pictures often. She is an important part of Devon's life just like my foster mom (although I do not know her) played an important role in my life.

Curly and I have gone back and forth and have talked about adopting again and we've faced some roadblocks. Now I think I know why. We are meant to be foster parents because we understand the important role that a foster parent plays in a child's life. We know it just isn't the fear of letting them go when it is time but was is important is the impact we can make while they are with us.

So we are signed up to take an insane amount of classes through the county starting at the beginning of March. I'm excited. I am really excited.

Celebration of My Mom's Life

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 04:25:00 +0000

Today was a rough day but it I was able to get a little more closure. My mom always made me promise that I wouldn't throw a "lavish" funeral for her. We granted her wish and had a "Celebration of Life" at my brother's restaurant with friends and family today. It was nice. I'm still numb and feel like this is a dream/nightmare but it was nice being with all of the people who have given us such strength through this rough time. We all took time to look at her happy pictures and talk about fun times. And of course, we listened to reggae as our background music :)

The memorial cards were designed by http://www.littleladybugdesigns.com/ She is so awesome to work with and I reccommend her highly!Isn't this a precious picture of Logan?

All of us after a long afternoon

Valentine Fun & Chuck

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 21:53:00 +0000

So far we've had 2 Valentine's Day parties. One was at Logan's class and the 2nd was at Chuck E. Cheese's with our Guatemalan group. Both were super fun.

I think Devon is ready for pre-school. Look at her in the middle of all those Kindergarteners!
My happy boy

Playing Mario Karts

This was the ONLY time that she didn't slide down head 1st.....sweet little daredevil!

"Play Freebird!!" Devon thinking that Chuck takes requests....lol.

Here favorite "games" were these free button. A-OK with me :)

Reggae Dancing in Heaven

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 05:17:00 +0000

Last Thursday my mom died in my dad's arms at home. She left us quietly and is no longer in pain. I miss her like crazy and each day is a new struggle to get past the tears and sadness. Tonight I am going through pictures for her Celebration of Life and scanned in a few of my favorites. Even though my mom isn't here with me, I know exactly where she is. She is up in heaven, dancing in the sand at a Bob Marley concert and I know that she has the best tan there :)

Thanks to all of my friends for their love, support and prayers. Your strength has pulled me through these rough times.