Cuddling with Daddy

Daddy makes a really good pillow :)

Smooches for Mommy

If you have ever had the pleasure of giving this little monkey lovins or have been blessed with receiving them from her, then you know that this baby gives lovins wide mouthed with a lot of tongue!  It's not everyone's cup of tea, but for this Mama, I LOVE her lovins, any way she'll give them to me!  (PS: All photos were taken by Jayden; not to bad eh?)



I added this picture just because of the face Sophia is giving, cracks me up for some reason :)



Planning for the Future

I feel like a huge weight is beginning to be lifted off my shoulders.  Usually I don't like to think too far into the future, the unknown can always seem a little scary.  So I try to focus all of my energy on today, which is usually all the energy I have, for ONE day at a time.  But planning for our future, and more importantly Jayden and Sophia's future, is something we have be thinking a lot about for a while now.  A few months ago we attended a seminar that was held at ISU about "Planning for your Dependent with Special Needs. "  It obviously sparked even more interest, and lots more questions, about what could happen if we didn't have a plan in place for our girls, especially Sophia, should the unexpected happen.  So because we attented the seminar, we were given a free 90 minute consultation with the financial planner and Saturday was our appointment up in Indianapolis.  He is very knowledgable in what he does, and having a son with special needs himself, he is very compassionate and understanding of families like us.  So we've started the process of planning for our families future, and that is a great feeling.  Of course I hate to think that I may not be here forever for my girls, but unfortunately I don't know what the future holds and I need to know in my heart that they will both be taken care of.

I don't know what is in store for either of my girls, but I feel pretty confident in saying that Jayden will be able to hold down a full time job, live on her own, and provide a future for herself.  But right now, especially at only the age of 2, I have no idea what Sophia's future will be like.  I've learned gradually over the past two years that when you have a child with special needs, it can be very harmful to their future should you leave anything to that child in his or her name specifically.  So along with some other financial planning, we are setting up a special needs trust fund for Sophia, which will ensure should something happen now, or more importantly after Sophia turns 18, any money left to her will in no way affect her eligibilty for goverment assistance in the future.  It's crazy, but if Sophia has more than $1500.00 in her name, all goverment benefits could be taken away from her!  $1500.00 wouldn't even put a dent in annual doctor bills!  Anyway, we have set up a financial plan for our children and with all of the love and support that we have from our family, I know that our girls would be loved and well taken care, both emotionally and now financially.  I just pray that none of this will have come into play, at least not for a VERY, VERY, VERY long time!

Fireworks

We bought some kiddie fireworks on Sunday and set them off at home with some good friends.  Jayden wasn't really into the fireworks, they were loud and the sparklers scared her.  This was the only sparkler that Jayden did that night.

Jayden and IndiAnn with their sparklers.  IndiAnn loved the fireworks, so our kidde display didn't go wasted!

Jayden and another one of her BFF's, IndiAnn, at the BIG fireworks show.

Monday night at Fairbanks park.  I wasn't sure how Jayden would like the BIG fireworks, since our small display the night before wasn't a big hit, but she ended up loving the fireworks and once again the company we were with, was GREAT!

Happy 4th of July!

WISHING EVERYONE A SAFE AND HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

4th of July pool party

A fun day of swimming with good friends

"swimming makes me so tired"

Jayden and her BFF

Get Inspired

Check out these inspiring stories here of how these people have taken their own life experiences and decided to make a difference in the lives of others.