10-7-12

Hi I`m Grace and I have a family you might describe as fun, wild, and awesome! I have a mom who is wild, a dad who is fun, and a sister who is the awesome and crazy! I`m 7. I'm in 2nd grade.  I LOVE having fun! I like singing. I have a dream to be a famous singer! Some of my favorite singers are One Direction, Taylor Swift, and Demi Lovato. I'm excited that Halloween is coming up. I want to be a Monster High Girl.  Last year I went Trick or Treating with my mom, my babysitter, and my sister.  I like to decorate the house for Halloween and for other holidays too.  I better go for now. I have a playdate with another girl named Grace today.  I will write more later...

October 16, 2011

Things are rolling along in the Nelson house.  Grace is loving first grade.  She's reading third grade-level books and really likes reading.  She really likes her teacher and classmates.  We had parent teacher conferences last week, and Mrs. Church (her teacher) had many wondreful things to say about Grace.  She loves learning and is pretty independend and unafraid to speak up for herself.  We were pretty proud of our little girl after the conference.

Grace is going to be Rapunzel for Halloween--her Grandma Colleen is hand-making her a dress.  She's been on that kick ever since we went to see Tangled in the theater last winter.  And she already has plans for next Halloween--she's going to be Luigi from Super Mario Brothers.  Grace has recently gotten in to playing Super Mario World on our Wii--and it's amazing how much better at it she's gotten.  The game fits her imagination well.

September 18, 2011

We had the Beaverdash in Des Moines yesterday.  The Beaverdash is a 5K run and 1 mile walk that is the main fundraiser for the Iowa chapter of Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy.  Always good to see the other Iowa SMA families, and most all of them were there.  We hadn't seen most of them since last September.  Grace enjoys being around other kids in wheelchairs--because she doesn't get that experience too often.  Grace took 2nd in the wheelchair race--I guess I'll have to look at getting her a better motor!

Otherwise things are busy with the start of the new school year.  In addition to her school schedule, Grace has swimming on Tuesdays after school, religious education on Wednesday nights, and Girls Scouts every other Thursday night.  She loves all three, but hopefully they don't drive her mom crazy getting to her to all her activities. 

August 30, 2011

First grade continues to go very well for Grace.  We're extremely happy with her teacher, and it seems like she has a good bunch of classmates.  There are already a number of girls who she wants to have over for play dates.  She wakes up every morning excited to go.  Tomorrow night she starts her weekly religious education class.  Those go for an hour and fifteen minutes every Wednesday night during the school year.  We changed churches when we moved this summer, but we assume she'll like it as much as she did last year.

Our next project in the house will be to re-model one of the mainfloor bathrooms for Grace.  We'll get a walk in shower that we can wheel a shower chair right into, and we'll get a sink with nothing underneath so she can wheel her chair right up to that.  A handicap bathroom will be a nice improvement, hopefully in the same way that the wheelchair ramps have been!

August 20, 2011

Two days of first grade underway, and things are going great for Grace.  She is back at Leeds Elementary, which is where she attended preschool.  She had no problems changing schools--probably helps that she was already familiar with the school.  She was so excited for school on Wednesday night that she couldn't sleep.

Her teacher's name is Mrs. Church, and we're really going to like her.  Grace even told her that she loved her yesterday.  Pretty funny.  Grace has the same aide this year, and that really helps as far as knowing what Grace's needs are.  We can't say enough about the kind of job that the school district has done accommodating Grace's needs. 

Grace is a new promotional video for Camp High Hopes.  Here is the link:  http://camphighhopes.com/.  It's the third video down on the right side of the page, and Grace is the third person to speak in the video.  She talks 3-4 times during the video.  Pretty cute.

July 29, 2011

Wow it's been way too long since we've posted, and a lot has happened.  We'll go in reverse chronological order.

The 5th annual Race 4 Grace has been a big success, and we continue to take in donations.  The RAGBRAI team did the Monday stretch, which ran from Atlantic to Carroll.  It was a fairly tough day with quite a few hills and a lot of sun.  The uphill climb into the small town of Willey almost killed me, but I'm still here to write about it.  As always it was an absolutely great time, and we'll work hard to recruit even more riders for next year.  Most people don't realize what RAGBRAI is until they experience it once, but once you do experience it it's hard not to want to do it again.

Our family has spent a decent amount of time this summer at Okoboji, taking advantage of my parents' home and boat.  The girls love the water, none more than Grace.  The last time we were there she swam the entire length of the pool, even though it took her forever.  Her determination is absolutey incredible sometimes.  Both Claire and Grace love to tube, as long as Daddy holds on to them tightly!

We moved to a new home at the end of June, and so far that's been absolutely great.  It's a wonderful neighborhood, a perfect yard, and a nice house.  Last weekend my brother Luke built us a ramp in the garage and a ramp off the deck in the backyard, so Grace can get anywhere anytime.  It's been amazing how much of a difference this has made even in just a week's time.  Our next project in the house will be to remodel one of the bathrooms to install a handicap accessible shower and sink for Grace.  This could be a pretty lengthy process, but it'll definitely be worth it for her in the long run!

RAGBRAI Overnight Stay in Atlantic & Into Carroll

The Roecker's are excited to see you all on Sunday, July 24. 

From our host: "Our address is 1704 Redwood Dr.  Atlantic and we live on the southeast side of Atlantic and east of the high school which is a popular spot for Ragbari campers. If you find the high school, you are close!  Todd will be riding from Glenwood that day with our daughter, Kelly and her husband Shawn along with his 2 brother's and family.  I will be their support vehicle, please come on into the A/C and help yourself with anything.  There will be some cold beverages of your choice.  Please make yourself at home.  I will arrive as fast as I can.  Have fun in the meantime. 

If you have any questions or need certain accommodations please give us a call at home 712-243-3043 or my cell is 712-249-7700.  Hope this heat lifts for all you riders.  Looking forward to seeing everyone."

VERY BIG THANK YOU TO THE ROECKERS FOR HOSTING OUR TEAM!