Help Bring Dariya Home

Before I tell you a bit about Dariya, I would like to tell you just a little bit about one amazing family. The Cannons were one of the first families we met at Kaw Prairie Community Church, when we began attending there last year. They are truly warm and welcoming people who absolutely adore their children! The love they have for God and their family pours out from them.

Rochelle and Jason have a son, Aidan and a daughter, Alayna, who was born with Down Syndrome. It was through Alayna, that their eyes were opened to the beauty of Down Syndrome. I have met a few families that have children with Down Syndrome, and I can say that each child is so sweet, and full of joy and will truly melt your heart.

It was recently when Rochelle and Jason decided to answer God's call for them to add to their family, and adopt Dariya. They are in the beginning stages of adopting Dariya from an orphanage in Eastern Europe.

It was through their blog where I learned that children in Eastern Europe that are born with Down Syndrome often end up in an orphanage. The sad part of the story is that if they are not adopted by the age of 4 or 5, they are sent to live in an institution for the remainder of their lives.

Please help the Cannon's bring Dariya home to a family that has already fallen in love with her. You can click here to follow their blog and give a donation to help offset the cost of the adoption....estimates of about $25,000 to bring her home.

You can also help by praying for them as they go through the adoption process. Please share their story with everyone you know, and help them bring their daughter home.

Why You Shouldn't Leave Your 2-Year Old Unattended

For just a few minutes.


At home.


Thinking they're nice and occupied by Diego.


Until you realize you haven't heard a noise in a while...





--Matt

All things Kylie

Daddy's helper

Sometime last week, I asked Matt if he could hang something up on the wall for me. Of course, his favorite little helper needed to assist in this task. Below is Kylie in just her shirt and undies...she ran away before I could get her pants on her. Not sure why, but Kylie running away when she is half naked is always a fun game for her.

Helping daddy get the right measurements.

Isn't she just the cutest little helper :)

Dressing Up

Kylie absolutely loves putting on our shoes...always has. She was trying on my boots the other day, and I just thought it was cute, because aside from having her jammies on....my boots are nearly up to her thighs.

Kylie and I were upstairs playing in her room...she was sitting in her closet, while I read her some books. It was cute, because this is a fun spot for her to go lately. When she first realized it was a new place to getaway to....she would even close the door part way and try to hide, then she would say where's Kylie so I would come and try to find her. I love when I find her and she gets that big, silly smile :)

Anyhow, Kylie then decided she wanted to play dress up. We went through all sorts of things, and she came downstairs with this on to show Matt:

I mentioned that she was a princess, and she corrected me to say that she was a ballerina. Lately she has been saying that she is a ballerina and I asked her if she wanted to take classes to dance like a ballerina and she said yes with a big smile. Now whenever anything ballerina related comes up, she says Kylie take ballerina classes.






Below is a video of Kylie demonstrating her ballerina dancing. One of the cutest things I have ever seen :)

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The look

I'm not sure what this is all about, but Kylie's latest thing...like in the last few days...has been giving me this look like all the time. Perhaps it is because I was attempting to take a pic of her crazy static-y hair, and she was not in the mood for pictures.

No words needed with a look like that huh...its' like the infamous mom look. Wonder where she could have gotten that from :)

Miss independent

Kylie has always been independent and wanting to do things herself. Recently she has stepped it up a notch. She does not want us in the bathroom with her when she goes potty...she will say momma/dadda out. So I told her that she has to tell us when she is all done and to say wipe. She just loves yelling wipe as loud as she can, and has that big goofy smile when we come in.

In addition to the independent side, is the sneaky side. I was coming in from letting Annie outside, and I went to see what Kylie was up to. She was in her room, with her step stool from the bathroom trying to get some things off the top of her dresser. Crafty for sure, but oh so sneaky too :)

She will also move the stools in the kitchen around to try and get some things too. When I catch her...often I will watch her and then when she is close to getting her target, I will ask her what she is doing. Her response is usually something like this: momma go downstairs, momma out, momma outside. Pretty much anything that can remove me from where she is, so she can execute her sneaky plans.

Singing sensation

When we got home from the store a few days ago, Kylie had gone upstairs to her room...coat still on, and said her doll, Willow, was sick. I will let the video tell the rest of the story.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Now to give a bit of behind the scenes info on why she chose to sing Willow a Michael Jackson song to make her feel better. When we were on our way home from the store, Kylie was upset and often singing to her, dancing, or playing some music she likes will calm her down and make her feel better. Matt has a Michael Jackson CD in his truck, and she has started to like listening to it. That is what she wanted to hear to make her happy, so I guess she thought it would do the trick to make Willow all better too.

Kylie gets creative

I felt like I have been slacking in the sensory therapy activities, so I decided to see how Kylie would do with a shaving cream project. We often do this during bath time, but I thought I would try it on dry land, to see how she would respond without being able to immediately rinse it off of her hand.

You will notice that she has a paper towel in hand...ready for a quick clean-up if needed.

She just loved sticking her little Elmo toy in the shaving cream.

Dipping more little toys into the shaving cream

I think she likes it!

Hmm...what should I do next?

Trying to share it with me :)













Yep...she definitely likes this!











So apparently Kylie thought it would be more fun to make her toys hop around on the table, rather than on the wax paper....she also thought it was funny, when I asked her what she was doing :)

Annie watching close by...I swear, they are bestest of friends!

It's beginning to get even more exciting here.

Putting shaving cream on the toys heads makes for lots of giggles and a beautiful smile!

The little artist deep in thought

The finishing touches

Overall, Kylie did great and I was really proud of her for being such a willing participant. She wasn't a fan when she got shaving cream on her hands, but all and all she did wonderful and had lots of fun too!

Everything from here on is what inspired this recent blog post. Since the shaving cream was such a hit, I thought we would try paint. The last few days we have been painting, and Kylie keeps saying that she wants to paint.

The other night's painting session took a different turn.

Kylie got a bit of paint on her thumb, so I held her hand and wiped it onto the wood that she was painting. She stared at her hand and the wood for a couple seconds, and then she did the unthinkable, the unexpected, the thing I would never do.....she stuck her hand in the paint and started to smear it around!

I could not believe my eyes! I ran upstairs as fast as I could to get some paper for her to leave her mark on. I met Matt at the top of the stairs and told him what Kylie was doing. He came in to watch and encourage her, and then got the camera.

I love how she is looking at me all proud and smiling about what she is doing...I can't believe it!

Just look at those hands in the paint!

Showing off her latest way to paint...so proud of herself too!

Making a few masterpieces that we will forever keep.

I think that is the most beautiful little hand I have ever seen :)

Love this pic!

Below are pics of her creations

The heart below is actually the first painting project that I set for Kylie to do. I wanted to save it for last, because it is so very beautiful and such a great representation of our little family.

When it comes to pretty much everything, I like to be able to control the flow of things and want everything to remain within the lines, but life just doesn't really happen that way. It's best to just let some things happen as they are, and find the beauty in what we have. Yes, it may be a bit messy and not how we would imagined it to be, but it really is the most precious thing we've got.

And this heart that Kylie painted is exactly that...a beautiful creation just as it came to her...life as it happens.