LPA Halloween party.

Friday was our chapter's Halloween party. We had crafts for the kids, face painting, cookie decorating, games and food. The kids wore their costumes and everybody looked great.
Here is the little ladybug crawling all over the place:
Sam and Eva:

Anaïs ate pretty well that night.

Face painting...even Jeff got his face painted but I didn't get a picture of that because I had camera issues which explains why I don't have a lot of pictures of that night.

Sam showing off the cookie she decorated:

Some of the kids at the end of the evening. I couldn't take a picture of all the kids together because of my camera issue...oh well. :(

Fall Festival at Sam's school!

Tonight was the Fall Festival at Sam's school. They do it every year and it's always a lot of fun but I must say that this year was even better than the last three years. They really did a fantastic job. The kids got to wear their Halloween costumes for the first time of the year. This year Sam wanted to be a witch and Anaïs is a ladybug.

Anaïs actually did really good tonight. I thought she was going to be fussy and would be annoyed with her costume but she surprised me, my little ladybug did great!

Sam got to do lots of fun things: jump in a bouncy house, get a tattoo, decorate a pumpkin, do a Halloween craft, play bingo etc...she was busy all night long.

We are so lucky to be able to have Sam go to such a wonderful school. I can't say enough good things about it!

The little bakers!

Yesterday we went to this place called Little Pastry Chefs with our LPA chapter. It's a place where kids can bake and decorate cakes and make pizza.
As you can see Anaïs made herself comfortable right away by hanging out on the table.

Sam chose to make a pizza and decorate two cupcakes. I think everybody else decorated a cake.

Anaïs had fun tasting the frosting.

Here is Sam posing with the pizza and cupcakes she made. I think she had more fun making them than actually eating them. When we left, I decided to undress Anaïs and have her just in her diaper in the car because she was so hot. She thought it was so funny to have her onesie stuck on her head and she just looked so funny!

When we got home they were both pretty tired and went to bed early...of course they were up at 6:00 today, as usual. ;)

Last minute picnic

We decided to have a picnic at the park today. It was kind of last minute so we all threw something together but it turned out to be so great! We went to the park right behind our house which made it extra easy for us. Sam and her friend Addy play so well together, they love playing girly games and making faces for me when I take pictures.

The kids got lucky because the ice cream truck came. They were SO excited to get a special treat!

Don't bother me, I'm eating! lol

It was such a relaxing evening. :)

First pumpkin patch of the year.

Friday evening my girlfriends and I took the kids to their first pumpkin patch of the year. It was fun to finally get to do some fall activities although I must say it was pretty hot! lol
The kids got to go on a couple rides.

They also had a petting zoo. Sam enjoyed feeding the goats although one of them was pretty aggressive and kept and chasing Sam for more food.

I told Sam she could get a pumpkin and she picked out a "baby one".

Anaïs was there too but her eyes were closed in every picture.

The M word

October is dwarfism awareness month. I thought I would write a post about the infamous "M" word, "midget"".

I understand that most people who have never met a little person are simply not aware that the word "midget" is offensive to little people, their family and friends. Well, I am writing this in an attempt to make it crystal clear to everybody, whether they know a little person or not.
The word midget is highly offensive so please do not use it. You could compare the "M" word to the "N" word that some people use towards African American people. Those are words that are never acceptable. If you want to talk about a little person, you could say "little person", "dwarf" or a "person of short stature". I personally don't understand why we can't just call them by their name, it is not because someone is shorter than the average that we should automatically label them or put them in a category.

See, my daughter does have achondroplasia but that doesn't define who she is as a person. She is just short, that's it...nothing else. She is just like any 17 months old baby...short or not.
The thing that bothers me about dwarfism is that as a society, people think it's somewhat ok to laugh at little people, people think it's ok to think they "look funny", people think it's ok to stare at them...

Well I say NO, it is not ok.

They are people with a genetic condition, there is nothing funny about that. They can do anything, just in a different way. They lead the same exact life as average height people do. They have jobs, get married, have kids etc... They are people and like all of us they want to be respected for who they are.

So please, let's all try to make this world a better place for our kids and spread the awareness.

This is my daughter, her name is Anaïs and I love her for who she is. When I look at her I see HER, not her dwarfism.

Please, appreciate people for who they are because if you don't you will be the one missing out.

LPA regionals.

This week end we went to Sacramento to attend the regionals. We had a great time hanging out with our LPA friends and making new friends. Jeff's mom and step father joined us and I think Jeff's mom really enjoyed it as this was her very first LPA event. Our friend Brian was also there with us.
We flew because the drive would have been way too long for the girls (and for us too!). They did really good on the plane.

The first night there we went to the welcome reception and got a chance to hang out with our friends and meet some new people, which is always nice. It's very easy to talk to people at LPA events because you automatically have a bond.

On the second day, we attended the medical forum and the parents discussion group. I think the parents dicussion group is my favorite part of every conference! Then we went to lunch with all the people from the POLP (Parents Of Little People) message board.

On Saturday night, the kids got to enjoy a magic show.

When the magic show ended we headed to the BBQ for some food, games and friends.

On Sunday, we went to the old down town in Sacramento. There were lots of cute candy stores so of course we had to hit one! Sam had fun picking out some candy.

Another great week end with our wonderful LPA friends, I don't know what we would do without them!!