"Should Ellie be walking home from school?"

At about 12:00pm I get a phone call from my sweet neighbor Jamie asking
"Should Ellie be walking home from school?"
Me:  "Um, No?!?" 
Jamie:  "Well she is walking up Clark Lane (the busy street our school is one) and she has already crossed the crosswalk" 
Me:  "Ohmygoodness, are you serious?  Ohmygoodness!"
Jamie"Yes, should I take her home or back to school?"
Me:  "Please bring her home, I can't believe this."

There was more said, but you get the idea.  I never thought in a million years that I would get a phone call like that.  I about died.  I was so angry.  I didn't know if I should cry, scream, call the police, call the school, call Jeron...I was just so confused.  How in the world does this happen?   My neighbor brought Ellie and she was just as confused and upset as I was. She asked me what I was going to do and I really didn't know.  After I tried to talk to Ellie about what happened she just kept telling me she got hit.  I looked at her face and sure enough there was a mark.  Now I am really upset.  I call Jeron and tell him everything.  I told him that I didn't want to call the school, that I wanted to see how long it took them to call me.  We both wanted to do this but then our level heads prevailed and we decided they needed to know she was home and SAFE. (No thanks to them)

I still was upset so I called my mom to see what she would do.  I told her about everything and that Ellie communicated that she was hit.  She too was just as upset as Jeron and I.  She decided to call my dad.  After a little while she called me back and told me my dad was contacting an attorney.  She told me that she told him about Ellie being hit.  That is when I took a closer look at her face and wiped it with a rag and "the mark" wiped right off.  That was a relief.  At least if she got hit it wasn't a bruise.  I then told her I probably should call the school since it had been 35 minutes since she had been home and they still had not called me.  She was already saying I should call the school so that I wouldn't get in trouble. 

I called the school at 12:35pm.  The secretary answers the phone with a nervous tone.  Yes, I could tell that she knew it was me and that they had a problem.  I asked to speak to the principal.  I was immediately connected with her.  She got on and said :"Mrs. Meads"
Me:  "No, this is Mrs. Snow?!?"
P:  "Im sorry, I know that...it's just on caller ID your number is...well Mrs. Snow, I know it is you.  We have a problem."
Me:  "Yes, you do. but first off Ellie is home."
P:  Not to me but to others with her. "She is home, she is home, Ellie is home."
Other people "Oh good, oh good, she is home. Oh good."
P:  Mrs. Snow she has been missing for about 10 minutes and we were just about to call you."
Me:  "No she has not been missing for 10 minutes.  I have had her at my home for the past 35 min."
P:  "Oh"
Me:  "How does this happen?"
P:  "Well, Mrs, Snow, I was just informed about this let me have you talk to my aide."
Aide:  "Im so sorry, I am glad she is home."
Me:  Yes, but how did this happen?!?"

This in when I am informed about Ellie's schedule and that they have started letting her walk to things on her own.  I am told that she goes to lunch for 25 minutes unsupervised.  I am told that she walks out to her portable by herself.  Do these people understand that my daughter has Down Syndrome?  I am dying at all
this NEW information.

It turns out that Ellie goes to lunch at 11:05 with her regular class.  Then Emma gets in the lunch room around 11:20.  She then eats with Emma.  The special needs teachers get there at 11:25.  Ellie usually will go to them after Emma leaves for recess.  Today she didn't.  And they didn't notice.  Ellie came home with her coat, a picture book of hers, her backpack, and lunch box.  That means she walked to her classroom on the other end of the school from the lunch room, collected her things and walked out of the school, crossed the crosswalk, and got picked up by my neighbor without a single adult noticing.  Who knows what else she did in the minutes that are unaccounted for.  Emma says she eats for only about 10-15 minutes meaning that Ellie could have been alone for 20 minutes in the school without anyone thinking this was odd.

The aide told me that she didn't know she was missing until 12:25.  She had already been home for 25 minutes.  She said that she searched the playground, looking in all the tunnels and slides, while the other aide searched the lunch room. They then met up and switched.  She decided to check the classroom first and noticed Ellie's backpack missing and that is when panic sunk in.  She saw a first grade girl in the hall that told her Ellie was on the playground.  This relieved her a bit.  She met up with the aide again and no Ellie.  They then decided to come and call me and that is why they were in the office when I called.

I just can't believe that this happened.  I keep thinking about it and it bothers me so much.  They were very VERY apologetic which they should be.  They told me they would no longer let her go anywhere by herself..  DUH!!!  Until Ellie can communicate fully and we know she is willing to follow direction NEVER would I have agreed to her going anywhere by herself.  Props to Ellie for only wandering off this one time.  Apparently She was give free rein to do whatever she wanted. 


I am still just so confused but most of all scared.  I trust that she will be safe at school.  I trust that I will find her there when I go to pick her up.  Now that trust is broken.  This is not an easy feeling.  I keeping thinking "What if... my neighbor hadn't seen her, or a creep did see her, or she walked the wrong way on a very COLD day, or she fell in the creek, or, or, or.


I am just so frustrated.  Jeron and I both don't know what to think.  It turns out when JJ got home from school he said "Mom, I was really worried about Ellie because they paged her on the intercom throughout the school"  He then tells me that they have done this before.  We then put two and two together and realize that between the two of us we know of three times now that she has gone missing.  again I ask  HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN?!? 


They will now inform me of any decisions they make that changes her schedule.  They were very willing to do anything I wanted, including calling me every time she went to any other activity.  A bit of an overkill.  The attorney told my dad that if they were not apologetic and willing to do things we should seek legal action.  They have been overly apologetic and willing to help so I guess that is good.  The only problem is that now I WONDER will she be okay today.  That is a long time for a child to go unaccounted for.  It just scares me a lot that they just might forget to watch her again.  SIGH!!!!  I'll just keep saying my prayers and hope those angels that have saved her so many other times will continue to protect my angel. 

Oh Christmas Tree

Tonight we put up the Christmas tree. This is the start to our traditions.  We usually get them out and put them up by year.  This is a fun tradition.  Jeron and I go first with our first ornament and then we proceed to the current year.  This year, well I have been feeling a bit off so we just reached in the box and pulled out whoever I grabbed.  The kids didn't seem to mind. In fact Elsie got a lot more this way because Jeron and I let her hang ours up. 

Elsie always wanted to put hers up high.

Yes, Ellie has no pants on.  

We like to WT things in our home. 

Having so much fun.

After the kids were so excited that it finally felt like Christmas at our house.

Movie and the unexpected Santa visit

Recently a new movie theater has gone in by our house. It has been nice having something so close. We took the kids to see Hugo today. It was a cute show. JJ and Emma had both read the book so they were very excited to see the movie. When we left we were able to stop at the Santa village they have set up there. He just happened to be in so the kids got to meet him real quick. We weren't suppose to take pics but I didn't know so I did get one. They have a beautiful tree set up right by the ice skating rink.  It really is going to be a great shopping center when it is all done. 

Elsie isn't crying this year.

All the girls gave him a hug and JJ opted for a high five. 

Gobble Gobble Gobble, Eat Until You Wobble

 This year was a bit different for the Meads family.  No one came home so it was just us and Mama and Papa.  Everything we ate was divine.  The turkey was amazing, the bran rolls were delish, all of the side dishes were spectacular, all because my mom hosts one mean Thanksgiving dinner, but the family was soooo missed.  I really wish that my family lived closer.  Smitty, Ashlee, Maren, Ryan, and the kids all were together so we did skype with them. Not the same but better than nothing.  David was a no show and no one knows where he was. Michael is in France.  It is nothing like my Thanksgivings growing up.  I have so many cousins on both sides that it was always a packed house.  I hope my kids don't feel they are missing out.  I guess this is all they know.   We had a great time though.  We stuffed our faces...okay everyone else did and I ate what I could.  Then once the food had settled a bit we played games.  The guys watch football.  It was a great afternoon...evening.  Next time I hope more people can come.  Thanks Mama and Papa for an amazing dinner and night.

A time for Giving Thanks

This year a lot about my religion has been brought up in the media.  A lot of things being said are not true.  Most of all is that I am not a follower of Jesus Christ.  I would hope that anyone who knows me knows that I believe in Jesus Christ.  He is the center of our home.  He is the only reason that I am able to return to my Father in Heaven.  I love Jesus.  I have been blessed to know that he knows and loves me.  My greatest desire is that my children will have this same knowledge.  I am so thankful for my Savior.  When I am facing a trial I know that He will understand me perfectly.  He is perfect in his love.  He lives, my great Redeemer lives.  Through the atonement I can be saved. I couldn't be more grateful for anything than I am for this. We all have short comings, and make mistakes.  We are not meant to be perfect in this life.  We are only meant to improve and keep going.  Because of Christ I can achieve my highest exaltation.  I am so grateful for the Savior. 

I am so grateful to be married to such a great man.  This past few months have been trying for our family.  I have been so sick with the pregnancy and Jeron has stepped up beyond measure.  He has pulled the weight of the mom and the dad.  He takes such great care of us.  He loves his children so much.  He is a great dad.  He is a wonderful husband.  I love who I am with him.  We are m.f.e.o.  Plus, he is stinkin' hot.  Can't complain about that.  I feel very blessed that we are going to be together forever.  I love you Jeron!

 I am so grateful for each of my children.  Each one of them brings a unique quality to this family.  JJ is so smart and caring.  He can do anything he sets his mind to.  He is gifted in so many ways.  Emma is tenderhearted and compassionate.  She is our child that we always say is the easy one.  She is quick as a whip too.  Ellie is sunshine.  She can turn any sky from grey to blue.  She is such a beautiful girl.  She cares with her who heart.  Elsie is spunk and charm.  She can wrap you around her finger in a matter of seconds.  Her twinkle in her eye is intoxication.  I feel so incredibly blessed that they are ours.  We re excited to see what this little bundle will bring to our family.

I am so grateful for my family.  I was blessed to have been born to such wonderful parents.  They mean the world to me.  Their advice and opinions matter to me.  They have taught me so much about how to be a good person, wife, mother... They are wonderful grandparents and my kids love them so much.  I love them so much.  I love my siblings and their spouses.  They each mean so much to me.  I am so grateful for the new little ones that are entering the family.  Lucy and Ben are darling and I love them as much as I love my own kids.

I am grateful for Jeron's family.  They are always willing to help if we need them.  The kids adore their grandparents. Even though we are not always close we love each of them very much.  It has been fun spending time with my new nephew this year.  Mac is darling and he reminds me of JJ in so many ways.  Elsie loves to help out with her Macky Macky. 

 I still totally love lotion.  I have tried to curb my need for it and I think I have done this but it still brings a smile to my face when I rub it on my hands.

 About 2 months ago this picture would have been diet coke.  But recently this has been my go to drink.  I can't get enough of my milk.  In fact we are going through about eight gallons a week compared to three two months ago. 

I love going to the lake.  The lake I love more than any other is Pineview.  My kids and I go here in the summer and we have magical moments.  It seriously is the best place to spend time with my kids.  We just have a ton of fun.  Love it.

I am so grateful for those unexpected packages that come in the mail. I don't know why but it still feels like Christmas as child when one of them comes.  This package in particular brought a real smile to my face and the face of my kids.  A act of kindness from someone who has never met us before.  So kind.

I am so grateful for my girlfriends.  I don't show it enough but they all mean so much to me.  There are the ones I have know forever that understand me perfectly, and the newer ones that I am having a great time getting to know.  Each one of the ladies in my life have taught me very valuable lessons and made me laugh along the way.  Love my ladies.  You know who you are.

I am grateful for those moments when I catch my child sleeping.  No matter what the day has been like in these tender moments I am able to see the innocence of a child.  I think for me it is a glimpse and just how perfect they are.  I love my kids but man, when they sleep I could just eat them up. 

I have found a new website called Family Volley.  I LOVE IT!  I am grateful that she takes the time to give me ideas of how to be a better mom, how to love my children better, and how to have a happier family.

 I love the beauty of the temple.  I love that when we drive down state street and my kids see the temple, they always sing "I Love to See the Temple.".  I love that this building stands out in the world.  It is a place of peace and love.  I love that there is a place we can go and feel the presence of our Father in Heaven and the Savior.

 I am grateful for all the hard work people (especially my dad and mom) have put in at the cabin.  Next year it will be such a neat place to go.  I almost can't wait.

 I love my girls room.  The PBK quilts just bring a smile to my face.  I could hang out in here all day long.  I could even decorate my own room this way if I didn't share with a boy.


I am very grateful for these little messages that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has bee putting out. It seems that every time I see one it is the message I needed to hear. This one is the one that hit close to home most recently.

I am so grateful for blogging.   I love my blog.  I love your blog.  I feel connected to people that normally I would lose contact with.  My favorite thing about it is that I now have a journal of my family going on five years.  I love it. I see my sister and brothers families and feel they don't live so far away.   I keep in contact with my cousins and feel so close to them through it.    Love my blog!

I am still grateful for my camera.  It is the best thing ever.  With the help of a cute friend that I pester often I am learning to shoot in manual.  It is slow going for me seeing that all I do lately is throw up and lay on my couch but someday I will KNOW how to use it.

I am grateful for my phone.  I didn't think I would put this this year but with how sick I am feeling it has been nice to have some games on here that I can play to take my mind off of it.  Even my own daughter last night told Jeron "The reason mom is on her phone so much is because she feels sick and she plays games to take her mind off of it. normally she is not on the phone that much."  (my poor family)

I am grateful that I have learned what a home is.  It is not the house that we reside in but where my family is.  No matter where we live we will have each other.  I am so grateful that I have my house too.  We love the neighborhood, schools, and the life we have here.

 I am grateful for brownies.  Really is there anything in this world better than a brownie...I think not.  I love how hot and gooey, that when you put it in your mouth it just makes me smile.  Mmmmmm

I am so grateful for football season.  Ha, isn't that funny.  I literally get butterflies in my stomach when I know a game is coming.  It is sad that it is over soon, but good because then I can dedicate my life to something else on Saturdays. I love the taunting I do with people on Facebook. I just love everything about being a fan and watching a game.  Pure fun!...unless we lose of course.

I am so grateful for the changing seasons.  I am most grateful for Autumn.  I love the smell in the air that comes that time of year.  I always say it smell like Halloween.  It is one of my most favorite smells next to my hubby of course.

 I am thankful for airplanes that make travel to see my sister and her family so much easier.  Surely it seems like a pain to fly to DC for 5 hours+  but when I think of the alternative this is heaven compared. 

I am thankful...so thankful for this little gummy bear that is growing inside of me.  I wondered if it would ever really happen.  I have know for a while that #5 was there.  I just didn't know if the big man (meaning Jeron) knew this as well.  I decided that I didn't want to fight for this one.  I wanted Jeron to want this as much as I do.  After waiting patiently...which is not easy for me he finally came around.  It is crazy to think we will have 5 kids but it is so right.  I am excited to meet him or her...(but we prefer HIM hahahaha.)  Love this gummy bear.  LOVE!

I hope that you know how grateful I am for you.  My family and friends mean everything to me.  I hope each of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and thank you for giving me much to be grateful for. 

Love these two BFF's

Paige and Elsie make me giggle.  They love to get dressed up, play dolls, and jump on the furniture. Every once in a while they will bring me my camera and ask me to take pictures.  They always make silly faces and then say "Show me the picture...again"  They are so cute when they play and I love that anything can make them happy. 

Glad that was all it was.

Ellie had a great weekend. She was very independent. Usually I have to get her clothes out, help her put them on, and do her hair. This weekend she did all of this by herself. Then she made herself lunch. Yes, LUNCH! That was a first. It was really cute to watch her try to do it herself. Tonight after church we were playing games as a family while we waited on dinner to cook. The timer on the over went off. I knew I had a few minutes before I had to jump and grab it. Well, Ellie didn't know this and being Miss Independent she jumped up and got out two oven mitts, put them on her hands, opened the oven. She must have touched the side of the oven with her arm because the next thing we know, the oven is slamming shut and she is saying "Hot Hot Hot". We run over to find her holding her arm. The arm looked red from heat but it wasn't until about 5 minutes that we noticed a nice line on her arm that was definitely a second degree burn. I am just glad that she got burned when she did. Had she lifted the pan I am sure that it would have spilled all over her body.

Moving on...

Today is a sad day for Emma.

Her BFF since she was three is moving.

To top it off this is the first year they have had the same teacher since Kindergarten.

These two are so cute together and just love each other.

It will be hard for Emma to let her go.

We had Baylee over for one last playdate.

They were so cute.

They would run in the kitchen and look at the time.

..."only 2 more hours."

over and over.

After everytime that they looked they would say "NO! It is ending too fast."

Emma got Baylee a letter writing box to take with her to Idaho.

That way they can keep in contact.

Baylee was really cute when she opened it.

She was so grateful.

Then we went and had frozen yogurt at Orange Leaf

Then it was time to take her home.

They hugged each other goodbye.

My heart broke for them.

We will all miss Baylee

Emma is going to need some TLC for the next little bit.

Personal Yearbooks with Ellie's Class

Today I get to go into Ellie's class to take pictures for the personal yearbooks we are doing.

They consist of a picture a month and journaling about a theme for  the month.

This month is of course Thanksgiving.

Before I went to take pictures Boo helped me make this sign.

I haven't scrapbooked much with her and holy cow, she loves it.

Plus, she is a great help.  Who knew.  maybe I should pick that hobby back up.

 Once we got the sign made it was time to head to Ellie's class to take pictures of her classmates and her.

Here is Ellie's cute picture. 

This has been a lot of fun to do with her class.

They seem to really enjoy it as well.

I can't wait to see what they are Thankful for. 

Where did they get it from...

I just have to brag for a minute.

Recently we had parent teacher conference.

My kids are exceptional students.

It is one of those days that I get to go and hear about how AWESOME my kids are.

Neither Jeron or I were all that into school.

SHOCKING!!

So when we have very driven, focused kids it can only come from one place

THEMSELVES!!!

Both Emma and JJ work so hard.

They do their own homework without us asking.

They read everyday without us asking...sometimes too much.

I would like to take the credit but it really is all them.

I hope this continues into the scary Jr high, high school years.

Right now I will just take it in. 

Thanks Kids for being so great...IN SCHOOL!!!