Soooo Proud!

Last Saturday, Alexis was so excited to get to go with her mommy, Kendra, to St. Paul's UMC to speak to a Women's Conference. She was a real star and loved the attention!

After Kendra spoke, people were greeted and Lexi checked everyone out. It was a great day.

Ms. Millie Ferro was responsible for putting the conference together and had asked Kendra to speak 1 1/2 years ago. What a woman!!! Now that's called...planning ahead!

I got to show off my daughter and my granddaughter! Doesn't get better than that!

Aren't they adorable???

Lexi looked so cute in her diva outfit which included black boots!

"Thanks Mommy for saying such sweet things about me," says Lexi.

Besides Kendra, the speakers included Rev. Vicki VanNeval and Magistrate Deborah Domini. Good women!

Brittany Gableman and her mom, Claudia Phipps were a hit when we sang  "Fly Away Medley" as a trio. What a fun experience that was!!!

Leaves! Leaves! Leaves!

Knowing the rain would be coming in soon, Tom spent a couple of days raking and blowing, raking and blowing! With woods on two sides and 30 trees on our relatively small plot, he tries to keep up with the process to keep it from getting out of hand. It is a never ending job to be sure. There is a very bright side to it all though..........Layla and Marley LOVE it!!!

"Hey you guys! Have you seen PopPop???

(I wonder if she can find Tom. Can you?)

"I see you PopPop. Here...let me help you."

"Oh never mind. I need to get the leaves out of my socks."

"Hey girls!!! Get me out of here!"

"In a minute  PopPop. Maybe JoJo will take our picture first."

"I'll help you PopPop" says Layla.

"Ohhhh, I LOVE jumping in the leaves."

"PopPop will haul them into the woods tomorrow. He doesn't care."

"Noooo. He doesn't care" mimicks Marley. "This is fun!"

A Piece of Heaven... right in our own backyard!

Tom has enjoyed walking the path beside our house since we moved her 18 years ago. It is his little piece of heaven. He has also been trying to capture sunsets. I just grabbed his camera card and decided that some of his photos were worth sharing. Good job Tom!

Love this!!!

We love living by the river! We love that we can take a "field trip" any time we want down the path. This is just our little piece of heaven...our big gift from God.

Buddy Walk 2011

So many family members and friends were supporters of the Buddy Walk for Down Syndrome Indiana, here is a "walk" through our day.

"I'm soooo happy that today is the Buddy Walk, PopPop. I think it's time to get ready to go."

"What a gorgeous day!!! I can't wait to see everyone!"

"Look at all the people! Let's go get checked in and find a place for the Lexi Lou's Whos to gather."

"I am so excited that it's finally Buddy Walk day!"

"This is my daddy. Some people call him Jason. I love my daddy sooooo much. He loves me right back. I hear my mommy call me 'daddy's girl'. I think she's right."

"This is my big brother, Nicholas. He will be 8 on Oct. 30. Everyone should have a big brother as wonderful as mine."

"This is my brother  Blake. He is 6. Blake is soooo funny. He makes me laugh. Blake gave up playing with Legos today to come with me to the Buddy walk. I love my Blakie."

"Daddy and Nicholas are making sure I'm ready for the walk. They are so good to me."

"I'm all warmed up Daddy!"

"This is my mommy. Some people call her Kendra. I loooove my mommy! She worked so hard to get ready for today. Thank you mommy!"

"Ok Lexi Lou's Whos!!! Let's go!"

"Oh my! Can you see us? See those red shirts waaay over there? We are waiting for our turn to begin the walk. Aren't we lucky that it was such a perfect day....second year in a row!"

"We are on our way! We walk 2.5 miles along the canal in Indianapolis."

"Not only was the weather perfect but the leaves were magnificent!"

"Nicholas led our team and carried our sign."

"We have a long way to go before we can cross the bridge and come back along the other side but we can do this!!!"

"I'm having so much fun! I do miss my Aunt Paula and Uncle Ron though. I know they wanted to come but just couldn't. I love them very, very much."

"I am cheering our team on. The money that our team raised will be put with the other money for Down Syndrome Indiana and it will help so many families. I'm proud them."

"This is Amy and her daughter. Amy went to Concord High School with my mommy. They came to walk with us. What good friends they are!"

"We did it!!! Now you can see my Aunt Conya and Uncle Mark on the left with their 4 kids. All of those cousins names begin with "C" so I get them mixed up but I sure love to play with them. Behind Amy and her daughter are PopPop Jim and Gramma Connie. Daddy is holding silly Blake. On the right (with Mommy) are our friends Melissa and Scott Ewing and Joslyn. Their older daughter was on a weekend visit with grandparents and we missed her.) I know that in these group pictures, I am looking backwards but I just had so much to look at and I wanted to be sure that everyone was doing the right thing."

"PopPop Tom and JoJo are in one of the group pictures because Scott took turns taking the pictures. Thanks Scott.

"The day is nearly over. We came back to the house for lots of goodies. Mommy decided that we needed one more picture before bedtime. I'm really, really sleepy but my brothers still made me laugh. It was a wonderful day. When our team put our money together, we raised nearly $4,000! Thanks to all of our wonderful family and friends for all of your support!!!"