Thursday, August 28, 2008

Please Vote for Reece's Rainbow!!


Grab This Button


Please take a moment to go and vote for the very important project. If the idea is chosen, it has the chance to receive 2.5 MILLION dollars in funding from American Express. Can you imagine how many orphans could find their forever families?
Reece's Rainbow continues to be a very near and dear cause to me. Please help if you can! Voting ends August 30th and you do not need to be an Am-Ex cardholder!!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

A Beautiful Colorado Evening!




We took advantage of the beautiful weather tonight....

BUDDY WALK 2008!
































This past Saturday, we all had a big, beautiful sunshiney day- a perfect day for the 2008 Buddy Walk! This year was another big success. We seemed to have alot more people in attendance than last year, but I haven't heard the final tallies yet. Thank you to all of our dear family and friends who supported Cadence by either walking, donating money or volunteering (or all the above). It was a very fun (and exhausting) day. I did not get to walk with the family as I was busy helping at the event, but I got to watch everyone come across the finish line- my favorite part! Hope you enjoy the pictures from our day!

Saturday, August 16, 2008

In the News!

A few days ago, I wrote about the movie TROPIC THUNDER. If you're tuned into the news and the papers, there have been countless articles regarding the unfavorable views of people who are upset at how loosely the "r-word" is used in this movie, not to mention the way it protrays people with mental disabilities. Our friends Carmen and Judah, who are parents to Jaemen were interviewed by a local news station and made it on the news last night! Click here to read the article and watch the video clip from the news! Good job, guys! Can I have your autograph?!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Coca~Cola & The Olympics

I saw this commercial for the first time the other day during the Olympics. It also features the Special Olympics. It is such a wonderful, heartwarming commerical. Thank you, Coca~Cola! I will be loyally drinking my Diet Coke today!!

Monday, August 11, 2008

A Birthday Tribute to Cadence

Five years ago today, at 10:20pm, Cadence Thomas-Lee DeYoung came into this world. Little did we know that he would be such a blessing to us and to many others. He has changed hearts and brought out the best in most people who have had the pleasure of meeting him. His 1000 watt smile lights up the room and he makes quite the impression everywhere he goes. We love you little man!
Love, Mommy, Daddy & Skyler

PS- Turn up your speakers!


In the months after Cadence's birth, this poem helped me to realize all the wonderful things about him, what he could do instead of couldn't and the new world that we were about to be introduced to:
WELCOME TO HOLLAND
by Emily Perl Kingsley
©©1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley.
All rights reserved
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disabilityto try to help people who have not sharedthat unique experience to understand it,to imagine how it would feel.It's like this......When you're going to have a baby,it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy.You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans.The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice.You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives.You pack your bags and off you go.Several hours later, the plane lands.The stewardess comes in and says,"Welcome to Holland.""Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."But there's been a change in the flight plan.They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.The important thing is that they haven't taken youto a horrible, disgusting, filthy place,full ofpestilence, famine and disease.It's just a different place.So you must go out and buy new guide books.And you must learn a whole new language.And you will meet a whole new group of peopleyou would never have met.It's just a different place.It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy.But after you've been there for a whileand you catch your breath, you look around....and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips.Holland even has Rembrandts.But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy...and they're all bragging aboutwhat a wonderful time they had there.And for the rest of your life, you will say"Yes, that's where I was supposed to go.That's what I had planned."And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.But... if you spend your lifemourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy,you may never be free toenjoy the very special, the very lovely things ...about Holland.******

HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY, CADENCE!!






Yesterday, we celebrated Cadence's 5th birthday with a pool party! Everyone had so much fun! The weather had been rainy and overcast all day, but during the party, it was nice enough and the sun came out so everyone could swim. Just as we were about to leave, it started raining. We sure lucked out! Cadence enjoyed the day with about 30 friends and family. Thank you everyone for coming and honoring Cade- it means so much to us that you are a part of his life. Thank you also for all the wonderful gifts, cards, etc. He received so many nice things as well as a few donations in his honor. A few people had asked me what he needed/wanted- Cadence's closet is full and his toy box is overflowing! So I asked them to consider a donation to Reece's Rainbow, a Down syndrome adoption ministry that is close to our hearts, and also contributed to The Balsis Family's adoption of a little girl with Down syndrome in his honor. (Bethany is one of my friend Carmen's friends). The people who received these gifts were very touched and grateful! What a GREAT gift to give someone! (hint, hint...my birthday is in September, LOL)
Happy 5th Birthday, Cadence!!!

Saturday, August 9, 2008

BOYCOTTING TROPIC THUNDER

One word: DISAPPOINTED. I am very saddended that Hollywood has decided that it is okay to yet again line it's pockets with millions of dollars at the expense of people like Cadence. When I first saw the trailer for the upcoming movie "Tropic Thunder", I was excited because it had two of our favorite actors in it- Ben Stiller & Jack Black. Excited that is, until I learned more about the story line and some of the lines in the movie.

Mr. Stiller, you should be ashamed of yourself. As co-writer of the movie, I believe Ben Stiller had the option to take the high road on this subject. THIS HAS GONE TOO FAR. I also believe ALL of those actors in that movie had an opportunity to say something and opt not to use those lines. I am sure the movie would still have been funny & entertaining and NOT at the expense of our children.

I will be joining in the thousands boycotting this movie any way and shape possible. I hope you will too.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Say Cheese!



















Tuesday night, Brandon and I took the kids to Kiddie Kandids for some much needed picture updating! Cadence got really mad when he had to get down. He really enjoyed having his picture taken. Of course, we treated the kids to ice cream because they did so well. Skyler even managed to talk me into getting another Webkins, her current hobby. (But she paid for it herself! Way to go, Skyler!)


Catching Up & Starting School


I really do not know how people do this blogging thing every day. It's all I can do to post about once a week right now. Yesterday, Skyler had her first day of school. She is now officially a fourth grader! Initially, she was not too happy about starting school (and neither was I- I think they start WAY too early) but when I picked her up yesterday, she said she had an "awesome" day. She really liked her teacher and some of her friends from her third grade class are in her fourth grade class this year.
Cadence will continue in preschool this year and will turn 5 this weekend! We will be having a pool party for him with of course, a Finding Nemo theme. He is obsessed with Nemo. So today, after he visits the doctor, we will go shopping for party supplies and most importantly, balloons!

Happy Birthday Brandon!!

Crockett & Tubbs (aka Brandon & Judah)

On Saturday, we celebrated my wonderful husband's 32nd birthday with what we thought would be a BBQ with ping pong and bocce. But NOOOO, Brandon decided he wanted an 80's themed party and requested that our guests dress up as 80's icons! Everyone really got into the spirit of things and had a great time. In true DeYoung party fashion, it was a crazy, fun night.
Unfortunately (!) I was behind the camera all night, so you will not get to see me dressed as Punky Brewster. We had fun Googling all the 80's icons and doing our homework! Thanks to our awesome family & friends for making Brandon's birthday a memorable one!

More Pictures from the Party!

















Sonny Crockett & Indiana Jones
(aka Brandon & Michael)


Cyndi Lauper & Caddyshack Guy
(aka Ardelle & Carlos)

















She's a MANIAC! Flashdance Girl
(aka Carmen)


















Deb (best we could come up with-from Napoleon Dynamite)
(aka Stacy)
Any guesses??
(aka Dwight & Patty)

Friday, August 1, 2008

Best "Buddies"

I LOVE this picture! This is Cadence with his best "buddy" Jaemen. They play together often and love each other very much! Just like last year, we have formed our Buddy Walk team with Jaemen's family. Our team is called "Cadence and Jaemen's Friends". Our goal is to have the most walkers and raise the most money. I usually hate asking for people to donating money, whatever the cause, but for this particular cause, I don't mind! The Colorado Springs Down Syndrome Association has been a blessing to our family as well as many others here in the Springs. Every year, each family is alotted $2100 to use in several different areas- Education, Recreation & Medical. They also have scholarships for graduates and adults. We have taken advantage of these and appreciate them very much. In fact, the Down Syndrome Association just paid for several months worth of Cadence's private preschool at Hope Montessori, where he is currently attending! In the past, they have also paid for Kindermusik, My Gym, therapy aides and more! It is so awesome to have this and it's nice to actually see where your money goes. The CSDSA also put on wonderful Christmas parties, Halloween parties, Picnics, luncheons and offers so much support to its families. All of this is made possible from the money raised from the Buddy Walk. So come and join our team! Or, if you would like to help volunteer at the event, I am also the Volunteer Coordinator for the second year in a row and can set you up with a fullfilling job!
The Buddy Walk is THE BEST walk in the Springs (no bias here, I swear). Lots of food, music, prizes and sun in beautiful Manitou Springs! Hope to see you there!

A Special Child
by Sharon Harris
You weren't like other children,
And God was well aware,
You'd need a caring family,
With love enough to share.
And so He sent you to us,
And much to our surprise,
You haven't been a challenge,
But a blessing in disguise.
Your winning smiles and laughter,
The pleasures you impart,
Far outweigh your special needs,
And melt the coldest heart.
We're proud that we've been chosen,
To help you learn and grow,
The job that you have brought us,
Is more than you can know.
A precious gift from Heaven,
A treasure from above,
A child who's taught us many things,
But most of all-"Real Love”