Easter 2013

 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, 

for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.   

He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. 

Come and see the place where he lay.   

Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 

‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. 

There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

Matthew 28:5-7  

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Today is Easter.   We took a quick family picture after we got home from church this morning.  It's impossible to get Ben to look straight at the camera when we use the timer.  He's always so distracted when Dad hurries over to get in the picture.  :)

Here are the three kids hanging out.  They are so fun.
 

One of the traditions in our corner of the world is to dye and hunt for confetti eggs (cascarones).  I cheated this year and didn't make any myself - I just bought a couple dozen at the grocery store.  

We dyed hard-boiled eggs just like we did when I was growing up - I think we'll be having deviled eggs and chicken salad this week.  :)

Did you notice that we mixed up the green and orange dye in the colored cups? 

I also had cookie dough left over from my
cookie-baking extravaganza last week, so we made Easter egg cookies.  Yummy!

 We celebrated Easter with an egg hunt and dinner with a family from our church.  

The confetti eggs are always a big hit with the kids.  Ben was a favorite target, since he was so close to the ground - all the little kids could reach him.  Notice the many egg fragments and confetti pieces surrounding him.  

I was also a target since I hung out with him for most of the egg hunt.

Evan and Corrie were the biggest kids there, so they had to wait a while before they got a turn to find eggs.  Fortunately, there were TONS of eggs out there to find.

Corrie found lots and lots of eggs and shared them with all the other kids. 
 

Evan enjoyed his older kid status and cracked eggs on everyone else until ... I got a hold of him!  Then the little kids attacked!

Meanwhile, Ben sat amidst the shells and tasted the plastic eggs.  Yum. It was a sweet day together.  

Happy Easter!

What I Did for WDSD 2013

World Down Syndrome Day was a busy day for the Tomai family.  The craziness started a few days beforehand, when I got busy baking cookies.  I'm not a gourmet baker or elite cookie-decorator or anything like that, but I got it into my head that I wanted to make cookies ... so I did.

 In case you didn't know, the colors for Down syndrome awareness are blue and yellow.  

I made blue and yellow ribbons, plus cookies that are supposed to look like ribbons.  :)

On the morning of March 21st, I took lots of cookies and ribbons to my MOPS meeting.  The moms there are great - they have encouraged me and supported my family through assorted ups and downs over the past three years, and they all love Ben.

After MOPS, a sweet friend took Corrie to the park to play, so I could take Ben home for a nap.  I had to wake him up a little early so we could get to our next gig: a Down syndrome awareness presentation at Evan's school.  I was nervous about this one.

I started by reading "We'll Paint the Octopus Red," then did a modified version of this Powerpoint presentation - only with pictures of Ben and other kids that I know in real life.  It was great.  The kids in Evan's class already know and like Ben because we've visited Evan at school before.  They get a kick out of having a toddler in their classroom.

One of the points in the presentation is that Ben isn't sick and Down syndrome isn't catching.  He has 47 chromosomes in each cell and he will always have 47 chromosomes.  One of the boys raised his hand and asked, "Will he always be so cute?"  Sweet kid!

The students listened well and had lots of comments about how we are all different.  Emmett had challenged me to consider how I talk about bullying with the kids.  He said that instead of focusing on what not to say (i.e. the r-word), I could challenge them to be brave, to be kind, to be the kind of people who include others and stand up for kids who are being mistreated.

And then that night, a party!  But I will save that story for another post.  

Let me leave you with a picture of Ben after I woke him up from his nap.  He wasn't thrilled to be awake, but he turned it around when we got to the school.  He signed, he smiled, he scooted all around the room.  He's quite the performer.
 

Sad to be awake!  

I don't know if you can tell, but his shirt says 3*21.  It was handmade by one of the moms in our local parent support group.