Much ado about nothing.....

I have been a very bad girl! We have been so busy, I have not had time to sit down and update our blog. Since I last posted, we celebrated St Patty's day, brendan started hockey, josie started ice skating lessons and SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

Our kids love getting dressed up and in the spirit of St patty's day.

Mommy and Daddy also have some fun on st patricks day!

we take the paddy wagon (a.k.a. uncle pats bus) on a tour

of downtown detroit! It is an all day afair, and lots of fun!

We start in corktown at nemos and walk to a few bars around there and then end up

at Malarkys in westland!

Brendan got a palate expander in february to help with the crowding in his mouth. Since he is mostly a mouth breather and a FORMER thumb sucker (way to go brendan!) his mouth is very small. On a good note, when they did xrays they noticed that as of now he has no wisdom teeth! His mouth has gotten so BIG!

He has been a good sport about it, the first few days were a little hairy, but he quickly adjusted!

The kids have been getting so silly and a bit sassy! They both love music, and sing along to all songs on the radio (even if they are not quite kids songs...lol). brendan started timbits hockey classes and ice skating classes and is doing great. He is now on a spring team "The mustangs" . Daddy is in heaven!

It is now easter weekend and the weather is beautiful! The kids are loving not wearing coats. In fact josie informed me she is not wearing a coat anymore!

We are looking forward to going to grandma sue's for easter dinner and an Egg Hunt!

Happy Birthday Josie!!

Hard to believe it has been 4 years since Josie has cane into our lives. In her short time here on earth she has taught us so many invaluable lessons, and given us so much love. She has endured 9 surgeries and all the while been (for the most part) happy and cheerful. If you would have told me 4 years ago how much she would change my life, I wouldn't even of begun to understand what you were talking about.

She made me cherish each day with her, the relish in every tiny accomplishment and every HUGE achievement. She taught me how to stand up for what is right, and realize that will trust and faith all things are possible. I have had people tell me that I would have to accomadate josie and when she grows up, she may not go to college or have a career....those people used to bother me, now I pity them. I pity their closemindedness, the fact that they do not see beyond the face. Because hear me now and hear my loud and clear, I HAVE NO DOUBT JOSIE WILL DO GREAT THINGS.

She is the smartest little girl, not too mention the bravest. She is driven to do whatever she wants, and will figure out a way to to do, not matter what! Of course she has the loudest cheerleaders at her side. Most of all her brother Brendan.

So on the eve of her fourth birthday I will continue to educate people on craniofacial syndromes and I vow to (try) not to let other peoples opinion of Josie dampen my spirits. Because in my heart of hearts I know that josie is here on earth to do great things.

Sneak peek

I am about 99% finished with my scrapbook room and have even started to scrap in it! amazing huh? Especially since I got the basic cupboards/counter in last winter?? Better late than never right? Gotta say, I love it! The first day I scrapped in it, my fabulous husband came up (after about 3-4 hours of scrapping) to ask if I was making dinner....hmmmm Guess you can guess we had take out that night!

I put my mp3 player and speakers in my new digs, even a couple of candles and I was ready to roll. You see, I can barely hear the phone or TV or kids (unless they come and try to *help me). Mark thinks I need a corded phone up there for *emergencies, like making dinner, bathing kids, putting kids to bed, and on and on an on..... I think he is forgetting that all spring & summer he fishes (sometimes well into the late fall and winter). I have always said the winter is mine. Once summer comes I am sure my scrapbooking dime will dwindle, who wants to be inside when it is so nice out, unless we get a screaching hot humid stretch of course!

Wanna peek....

The SCRAPTUARY

I will officially name my room once i order the vinyl from the wall to cut out with my very own CRICUT! This is a new to me possession! It is the orginal smaller version, but great for cutting letters and small things out with. And who needs the big one or a lot of cartridges when your sister in law (who happens to live next doors) has it and LOTS of cartridges!

Our little budding....MckMama??

Josie has always loved taking pictures, ever since mommy starting taking them almost non-stop when she was born! We officially have more pictures that I can scrapbook!

Over the holidays, she has become obsessed with our tripod! We let her use our old sony camera, and she has begun to flash away! She learned to use the timer, and even set up self portraits. Her favorite things to photograph are her new dollhouse, family & randomness....Hmmmmm wonder if she will grow up to be a great photographer like Mckmama? A girl can only hope!

You can click Here to see some of her recent work. This will link you to snapfish. Here are a few sneak peaks!

setting up her shot

Her doll house

(thanks santa)

close up of the living room for her dollhouse

Not sure what are artistic edge was here, any insight mckmama?

family portraits

catching daddy in the act of napping...

All this and only 1 month shy of 4 years old? and to think when she was born her fingers were all fused together? and now, she has 10 beautiful fingers and enough dexterity to use them to shoot these awesome photos! I hope she has as much confidence when she is a teenager that she has now!

What do you think?

The stockings were hung....

by the tree with care in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there....

Merry Christmas!!

Oh christmas time....

The countdown is on, it is official, christmas is a mere few days away! Presents are wrapped, shopping is done, baking is done (not that i do much baking) and Josie is sick, YEP folks, we got some viral cold bug. It all started thursday evening. She got home from daycare and complained of a belly ache. She did not eat dinner (that was sign enough, if you know josie, she LOVES food), and had a mild clear runny nose, no fever. She threw up in Brendan's room, and seemed ok after, went to bed and woke with fever & hoarse cough. My morning, there were boogers everywhere!

Luckily friday was a grandma Diane day, so mommy & daddy did not have to take a sick day. She was mellow all day friday and by friday night was a bit back to crazy. Still have boogers everywhere. clear to yellow, and I mean EVERYWHERE. She is back to crazy, silly, food eating self, so we must be on the mend. In the mean time it is EMERGEN-C for everyone else in the house, hope nobody else gets it!

BTW, hop on over to Mckmamas site for an AWESOME giveaway! Lightroom & photoshop! YIKES.

Find out how : Here

Merry Chrismtas!

It's beginning to look a lot like HO HO...

Josie has taken to call christmas and anything associated with it "HO HO" even our tree is a "HO HO" tree. So HO HO it is this year. The tree and the kids trees are up, now for the rest of the house. That is more of a chore but will hopefully be done soon.

The Dowd household has been very busy! Not sure where all the time has gone, but since I last blogged about it, we have had conferences for both kids. Josie's conference was great! Her teachers say she is ahead of her goals, so that is great. Brendan is doing well, just a few areas to focus in on, but second grade brings a lot of new things for him to learn. They are writing stories, so he has to get the sentence structure of paragraphs and story theme mastered. They are also working more with money, double digit adding and subtracting. And of course reading, which is always an area of struggle. But he is NOT a trouble maker, so that is good!

Turkey day was good. We celebrated as usual with Mark's family (we do easter with my family). And now the race to christmas....Started out with a little Black Friday shopping (never go to walmart! unorganized chaos).

*brendan reading josie the night before christmas*

I guess we are just settling in to a normal life. It has been 9 months since a surgery, and with no surgery on the near horizon, we are living day to day being THANKFUL at how far Josie has come and just how "NORMAL" she is. As I type I am watching her secure a bib on her baby and feed her a bottle. Most definently in a few minutes after she burps her, she will change her diaper because she will be "poopy" and then we may repeat that a few hundred more times until I tell her time for bed and she throws a major FIT! You see when you have a child born with a "rare syndrome" your future of normacly in unsure. So we are going to settle into our normal little life and enjoy us some HO HO time, heck maybe we will even get daddy to not be a scrooge this year....