Pioneer Woman Cooks Giveaway

Just wanted to let you all know that my new site is hosting a giveaway I thought some of you might be interested in.


I was recently able to attend a signing of The Pioneer Woman and get an extra copy of her new book to give to one lucky reader of my new site There's A Book.

You have until the end of the year and I'll ship anywhere in the world.
So head on over and sign up! You may be the new owner of one fabulous signed cookbook!

Pioneer Woman Cooks Giveaway

There's A Book

So, I know, many of you have been wondering...where's Danielle? Well, things have been crazy with moving and a new job (for Alan) and many other things I'm just not going to go into here. But one of the biggest reasons for no posting here is that I'm actually picking up and moving our blog. Blogger has done us well for the last few years, but with a new life I want a clean slate. So, I have two (yes, two) new blogs! One just started up yesterday and our family blog will be up and going shortly.

As many of you know, I love love love to read and so do my kids. This led me to what has now become my new site There's A Book. I remember when Jace was first born and I had the hardest time trying to figure out just what books to get for him. We've all been there, right? You're standing in the book store staring at countless board books and multiple displays, but what to get? It's difficult and every kid is so different. What one child likes another won't touch (as I'm now truly finding out, since our little Eden is also a reader).

Thus, There's A Book was born! I want to help! No more trying to decipher whether a book is appropriate, what age or any of the other countless questions you ask yourself. Each of the reviews will feature a different viewpoint, either Jace (The Turkeybird) or Eden (Littlebug) as well as my two cents about each book they review. I'm also going to be featuring Middle Grade and Young Adult fiction because those can be murky waters as well...I mean when exactly do I feel my little Eden is ready to read The Twilight Series? We'll also have interviews with authors and illustrators and also explanations about all those book awards given to Children's books. I'm excited for it all and I hope you will be too! So, what are you waiting for? Go, take a look and make sure to tell me what you think!

There's A Book

Much Love, the1stdaughter

Turkey Bird and Little Bug

Well, without further ado here are the pictures of my bird and little bug everyone has been clamoring for:


The two mischief makers together hangin' out.




Jace in his first "real" attempt at swimming, he had a blast!


My little bug is getting so big. She's now over 5 months old and rolls all over the place, she's trying hard to crawl, but hasn't quite figured it out yet. The first of these two pictures isn't my favorite, but it really shows just how big she's gotten, it's just crazy!

The Book Bundle

As some of you may or may not have noticed, in my side bar I now have another site I am contributing to, 'The Book Bundle'. I will be reading and reviewing various books and posting my reviews to the site. Please take a look and let me know what you think.

Today was my first posted review for Momma Zen by Karen Mazen Miller. It's beautiful, but you'll have to check out The Book Bundle to find out how I really feel about it!

Also, we have a competition going on that you can get in on and possibly win a signed book by Rosy Thornton, but you only have until tomorrow to sign up for it. Check it out!

It Finally Happened

So, I've been a bit behind on the posting, but that is mostly due to a lack of camera cable that has been conveniently packed away in storage. Ugh. So, thanks again to my dear friend Abbie I have some pictures of the highly anticipated graduation! Thanks Abbie!

Everytime I take a look at these pictures I tear up and can't help but be joyous over the accomplishment that has occurred. The day was wonderful, even with it being moved to the gym because of bad weather the night before, it was great. Alan worked so hard to get to this day and I am so proud of all that he has accomplished.



Now on to the bar exam!
Keep posted for more pictures to come!

Who Decided???

Hyperlexia, its a word that has recently been added to our family's vocabulary. As I have mentioned in the past, during the last few months we were in Lexington Jace began seeing a speech therapist and a behavioral coach. He started about a month before Eden was born and continued until a couple of weeks before we left. I can't discount it, but I'm not 100% sure it was the cause of Jace's marked improvement. Within a month of Jace beginning he increased his vocabulary from nearly zero to more than 20 words. He began communicating outside of just dragging us to various locations and pointing to what he wanted. This also coincided with the birth of Eden and I have a tendency to believe he finally figured out that he now needed to communicate to get what he wanted.

Soon after his marked improvement the speech therapist began to notice something different about Jace. The behaviorist had already made comments eluding to the fact that she believed Jace to be mildly Autistic. And now the speech therapist believed Jace had a "disorder" called Hyperlexia. We had all noticed that Jace would open books and begin "reading". I say this, because it was surprising and hard to believe. It was always only one word at a time, but it was always a word he said without prompting. In addition to this I might add that Jace already knows his entire alphabet and can count to ten now. He is only a couple of months past two years old now and it's the only explanation I could believe at the time the therapist told us. He was socially awkward but intellectually more advanced than that of the other kids his age.

Now I bring this up because I recently read a post on a fellow parent of a Hyperlexic child, Ben. She says:

"I simply want to acknowledge the murkiness and complexity of having - or not having - a diagnosis, a label, or the status of "disability" attached to one's differences."

Her assessment of a situation her son was in is like many I have seen even in Jace's two short years of life. And I have often wondered about this since receiving Jace's "diagnosis". I wonder why it is that we as a generation of parents feel the need to label everything thing our children do or do not do?

Recently, Eden has been having difficulty sleeping through the night. Granted, moving has disrupted our schedule and hasn't helped, but it shouldn't be this bad. One thing it could be is teeth. Jace and I both got teeth at a very early age. The other is that she is just plain too hungry. We have made the decision to start feeding her cereal and then start with solids a couple weeks later. She will only be four months old in a couple of weeks and we know this is a little early according to the "charts", but I don't care.

When did we as parents start to care what others say and what others have deemed "normal"? Why is it that everyone needs to be put into a cookie cutter shape molded by someone we never met or who has ever even met our child. And I'm not talking about the therapists they see, I mean the people who invented the names themselves. These labels were researched and thought through I am sure by some very intelligent people, but lets be honest...do they know our children personally? No, and yes it's nice to have somewhere to start and say, "okay, this approach may help my child", but why must we judge our children based on a label that may or may not be accurate? Why is it that our schools have to be so overrun that a child can't be given the attention that is needed to help them thrive, regardless of their individual "label"?

I really want to know who made these decisions and then makes us feel inadequate in our roles as parents? Because in my expereince when I make the decisions I feel are best for my children after prayer, study and discussion with Alan they are generally the choices that help them the best. Anyone else out there feel the same or different for that matter?

The 10 Things We Won't Forget

So, this week is a big week for us. We are moving and, drum roll please......Alan is graduating from Washington and Lee Law School! I can hardly believe it's already over, I never knew three years could pass so quickly. During that time we've had so much to be grateful for including the birth of our two children. But I couldn't mention Alan graduating without mentioning how proud I am of him for this great accomplishment. Completing law school was such a tremendous task for him and I am so happy he was able to get through it and even enjoy some of it.

That being said I thought this would be a great time to mention the top ten things we will miss after we have left Lexington. I know many times I have grumbled about how small and trapped I've felt at times, but truly this has been a fabulous experience and one I won't soon forget. So without further ado, The Top Ten of Lexington:

#1. All of the fabulous and wonderful friends we have made here. I can honestly say that there are so many of you I want to keep in touch with through the coming years. We've all gone through so much together and I will treasure our memories forever. (PS...If I didn't link to you, it's because you need to get a blog! Haha. Not because you aren't a friend.)

#2. My time at Southern Virginia University. While Alan had the privilege of going to W&L, I had some of the best experiences playing in the flute choir at SVU. I met Launa Whitehead, the flute professor there who taught me to love playing my flute again and became a dear friend. I will miss my weekly escape with music, but hope to find it again elsewhere thanks to the inspiration I found here.



#3. The law professors at W&L. One of the reasons we chose to come to W&L were the law professors. At a visit to the school the year prior to coming we met many of Alan's now favorite teachers. Alan knew he wanted something more than just a rote lecture on a daily basis, he wanted professors who cared not only for their subjects, but the students as well. One of our favorites has been Professor Murchison, who was the acting Dean when we came to the school. He was amazing and not only was concerned for Alan, but asked about my well being on a regular basis. You just don't get that at a school where each class has over 100 to 200 people in it.



#4. The Law Families organization. I know I mentioned friends before, but some of these friends I would have never made if it wasn't for this wonderful organization at W&L. We were all in the same situation and the Law Families group made it possible for us to find enjoyment in our times of struggle and people to commiserate with when we needed a shoulder to lean on.

#5. The beauty that is Virginia...just take a look. How could you pass this up?



#6. Jace's playgroup buddies. I can't type this without getting teared up. Alan and I have had our share of worries about Jace and his socialization skills. Well, the playgroup has done wonders for Jace and now he looks forward to seeing his friends whenever he can. He'll run up to them and call them by name some times. It's wonderful and I know he will miss them.



#7. Lexington, the city. Yes, I know I've said it's too small or there isn't much to do here at times, but there's something about the quaintness that is Lexington. To be able to walk down the street and have people say hello or the occasional VMI cadet bow his head while saying "hello ladies". You just don't get that in a big city and I will miss it.

#8. Being so close to DC. It's been so great to take the occasional trip to our nations capitol. This was another reason we came to Virginia, we wanted something different from what we've had. We wanted to be able to experience the East Coast. I can say there are still a few things we'd like to visit, but now we have friends to come visit here as well. So, we'll be back for sure.





#9. My doctors in Staunton. I've already mentioned what a blessing the doctor was who delivered both Jace and Eden, but I'll say it again. I think he saved my life and in addition to that added a little humor to the situation.

#10. Last but not least...the experiences we've had that have drawn Alan and I closer together. It's been great for us to be away from family, I'm not saying we've enjoyed being miles from family who love and care about us, but it was great for our marraige. We are stronger together and have some great experiences that will stregthen us for this rest of our lives. Thanks Alan for getting through this with me.

Now I think I'll go off in a room by myself and cry a little for all the fun times we've had and will never forget.