A Rally at the State Capital !!!

Due to our states' budget shortfall, DES has canceled DDD services for children birth to age 3 who are not eligible for long term care.This means that these children will no longer receive services such as developmental specialists, occupational therapy, physical therapy, or speech therapy.WE NEED TO ACT NOW TO SUPPORT THIS CRITICAL PROGRAM. Please contact your legislators and Gov. Brewer to voice your opinion. Gov. Brewers # 602-542-4331. Also find your legislator on the link and let them know your concerns. Please help me fight for the rights of my daughter. These are the only services Emily receives. She is growing and learning so much thanks to her wonderful therapists. This will affect, not just my family, but thousands of others who also have a child with special needs. www. azleg.gov

There will be a Rally at the State Capital on Thursday, Feb. 26 at 10:30 am. I will be going. I would like anyone who is able to come too. I have never felt like this before. I need to do something . I can't just sit here an complain while being told my daughter isn't worth anything until age three. I know Emily is special and I want others to see it too! I can't imagine where we would be right now without her therapists. This is wrong. There are other places to save money. There are laws in place to protect our children in school but none to protect them before then. There has been a Bill in the works since 2004 to protect children under 5 but has yet to pass. We need to show all those making these decisions about what is and is not important that our KIDS are definitely IMPORTANT. Please come and show them OUR KIDS matter!!!

Two Sisters One Heart 5k (3.29 Miles)

We heard about this race two weeks ago at London's Run. This was a fundraiser to help a couple of girls that are joined at the heart. They weren't supposed to live for more than a few hours, but now they're two. From the website: "Emma and Taylor are our 2 year old twins that are also conjoined, sharing one common heart and liver. They are face to face, from the breast bone down to the belly button. They have their own arms and legs, and certainly their own personalities. Taylor has a twinkle in her eye and always being silly. Emma is more reserved and loves to be cuddled. At age two, they have beaten the odds at survival and we hope to have many, many more years with them."

Burt, Mary, and AJ all ran the 5k. There were over 200 runners. Burt came in 6th overall, but 1st in his age division! AJ did really well coming in 56th overall and 3rd in his AD. Mary came in at 113th and 2nd in her AD. This was the first time Mary has run a 5k and she did an amazing job. The race was alot of fun. Since they got a first place, second place, and third place in their respective age divisions, they got one of each color flower. The local elementary kids made these ceramic flowers, and that's what was used as awards. Pretty cool.

This was taken during London'sRun. There was a DJ there and some really good music. We would be sitting there and all of the sudden Abby would just break into dance. It was so funny. We video'd it twice but it happened the whole day. People would stop and watch her like she was a performer or something. She would keep dancing until she got too embarrassed.

Emily's Birthday!!!

WooHoo! Emily will officially be 2 on Wednesday, but we had her party on Saturday night. She had a lot of fun. She loved all her presents, especially those that make noise! While she liked the way her cake looked she wasn't interested in eating it at all.

Londons Run

"The first London’s Run was a benefit event for London’s family in 2006 made possible by the caring support of the Queen Creek residents. London Solomon was a courageous six year old girl who fought a brave and cheerful fight against an aggressive type of leukemia (AML). Her grace still inspires all of us to take advantage of each new day without fear of doing hard things and cherishing our relationships with each other." (directly from the website). This year's London's Run entry and donations went to another family who has been impacted by cancer. "Lorin Merkley, 18 was diagnosed with an unidentified form of Sarcoma in August. His treatment at Phoenix Children's Hospital was intense and aggressive. The cancer was not friendly to Lorin, but he kept a hopeful heart throughout his sufferings. The cancer continued to grow inspite of treatment and took Lorin's life in November."

Burt, AJ, and Mary all took part in the race this year. AJ and Mary ran the 2 mile Fun Run and Burt did the 10K. They all did a fabulous job!! AJ ran his in about 16 minutes. Mary was at 19 minutes. Burt did his at just under 50 minutes. All these times are approximates because the official times haven't been posted yet. I will update when they are.

The first pic is Burt starting his race. Then we have a group shot before any races started. Then a pic of AJ finishing strong. And then one of Mary passing a lady right at the end. And another group shot( considerably more stinky than the first).