New Year, finally a new post!

So, instead of fervent apologies and excuses, I'm just going hope for blogger amnesty and jump back into the fray!

All has been well, just busy, busy and more busy.    The holidays were great--Christmas calm and quiet, New Year's spent with my parents and wonderful friends.

Hannah's ornament this year was a firetruck.  She wants to be a firefighter when she's older.

We Skyped with Kate on Christmas morning!  This is the closest as I could come to getting a picture of all my kids at one time! (Good news is that I'll get the real thing in 10 days!!)

We had a white Christmas! 

Yesterday was our local Bone Marrow Drive!  Lois made an appearance to the joy of many.  

Lois received a SuperLois cape!  Look, she used her amazing powers to make her Daddy disappear before our very eyes!

We raised $2,500 and registered 53 new people to the registry in honor of Lois.    If you haven't joined the registry yet, go here to find out how easy and painless it is.  There are about 5,000 bone marrow transplants in the US each year, however, there are 10,000 people who need them.   You could save a life.  

After the fun and excitement at the marrow drive, we were up to more Shenanigans at our house.    We hosted the Funquest group for a mystery dinner last night!  Twenty teens/young adults with Down syndrome spent the evening socializing, playing games and having a mysterious dinner.  It was lots of fun, and they all did pretty well navigating the menu.  Everyone got a menu with items like "Moo Juice", "Oink Oink" and "Don't Stab Me With That!".   The wrote down their orders which were filled in the kitchen and brought to them in the dining room.  Some were surprised to have ordered a knife ("Slice and dice") and a cube of Jello Jiggler ("Wiggly Butt") and some carrots ("Bugs Bunny's Favorite").    Fortunately, we had 6 courses, so everyone eventually got a fork and a napkin.   It was messy and fun chaos, but everyone had a good time.

 (some crazy dancin'!)

It was great fun.  I asked Hannah what part she liked the best and she said, "Hanging out with my friends!".  I thought for sure it would have been the "You're such a sweetheart" (cupcake).

I'll be back soon--I promise!  Hannah's starting in a new research study and I'd like to share it with you.