Friday, October 31, 2008

Halloween Tigger and Pooh!!!

Happy Halloween everybody! Originally Mary was going to be a monkey for Halloween, but she wanted to be Tigger, so it just came naturally that Jackson would be Pooh Bear.

Here is Mary after mommy painted her face, she loved it!!

Here are tigger and pooh getting ready to go trick-or-treating. . .

Pooh bear!!

Mary had a great time!!


Mary and her friend Anna. . .

The whole family, on the lawn at UVA.

Mommy and the kiddos . . .

Someone is worn out!!!


Mary's 20 Month Birthday and Pumpkin Carving










Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Fall is here!!!

The weather has been just beautiful here that past few weeks. Very cool at night and in the mornings, just above freezing. Copper loves it and spends most of his days outside. The afternoons are very comfortable and Kate and I and the kids have been taking nice walks and runs with the stroller. On Sunday we took some "leaf" pictures that we wanted to share with all of you. Here are the pictures:



Also, Jackson has been getting more and more personality every day. Mary just adores him!! (Although she did get a little jealous this morning when mommy was showing Jackson some of Mary's flashcards!!!) Here are some pictures of Jackson rolling over and playing with Big Sis:



Enjoy and have a great week!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Mary's EagleEyes Fundraiser Challenge!!!

We recently came across an amazing technology that helps people with severe physical disabilities have full access to computers. It is called EagleEyes and it was first developed by Boston College almost 10 years ago.

The Opportunity Foundation of America (www.ofoa.net) is a non-profit organization that was developed to improve the quality of life for children and adults with severe physical challenges. They are an amazing organization who are dedicated to building EagleEyes systems and providing them to children around the country who need them.


Mary and EagleEyes, how did this come about?
Mary loves using the computer and it is a great learning tool for her, but we've had a hard time trying to figure out an interface that is right for her. She can move a standard mouse, but she does not have very good control and she is not able to "click" the mouse buttons. A touch pad doesn't really work for Mary either. We've also tried Camera Mouse, which would work great in theory, but Mary doesn't have enough head movement to control that mouse either. So we stumbled upon EagleEyes and it seems to be the perfect solution for children with SMA, and other severe physical disabilities (and even visual disibilities).


We are trying to raise money for the Opportunity Foundation so that they can continue to manufacture these EagleEyes systems and provide them to families at low (or no) cost. Our minumum goal is $1200, but I think we can raise much more than that. There are two ways you can make a tax deductable donation:

1. Go directly to the Opportunity Foundation Of America website (www.ofoa.net) and click on donate now! PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOU SELECT "Sponsor and EagleEyes System" AND PUT "For the Benefit of Mary N. (miracleformary.com)" IN THE COMMENTS BLOCK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE DONATION PAGE.

2. Mail Donations to: (again put "For the Benefit of Mary N_____." on the check.)
OFOA\EagleEyes
atten: Debbie Inkley
7166 Villandrie Lane
Salt Lake City, Utah 84121

Tax ID# 87-0626778

Thanks to everyone for your continued support of Mary and our family and thank you for supporting this great cause. God Bless you all!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Carter Mountain Apple Festival

Yeah! Fall is in the air! Its time for pumpkins and hot apple cider! We all ventured out this weekend and enjoyed the beautiful weather. We went to the Carter Mountain Orchard for their fall apple harvest festival. We all had a great time.
The orchard overlooks Charlottesville and the views are quite spectacular. I'm just waiting for the trees to start changing color, then we'll know fall is really here. They say it will be late October before leaves start to change around here. We can't wait.



Well, that is all we know for now, just wanted to share these pictures.