Easter Weekend Part 1

We had a very long and very busy Easter weekend. I had so many pictures that I could not put them all on this one post. It will have to be another day! On Saturday night we started the Easter fun by going to Grandma's house and hunting eggs and eating dinner.

I think that E hunted eggs a few times that night.

Cousin A helping L get an egg out of the birdhouse.

L having to take a sausage break in between finding eggs!

E running up the hill to find more eggs.

Getting a picture of my boys is getting harder and harder these days. They want to say silly things before the picture is taken and that just makes them act more silly!

Getting a picture with some of the cousins.

Family picture out at the farm. Not sure what L was doing in this picture!

On Sunday morning we went to the egg hunt at our church. L was so excited about actually having something in the eggs! He would pick up one egg, shake it, open it up and want to eat the candy before he would move on to find another egg!!

E knew just what to do!

Family picture at church before Sunday School.

My boys!

After church we hurried home to change clothes and then we went to the Razorback baseball game. They were playing Kentucky and they won!! This was L's first game and E's second game. Needless to say, L was not able to sit still for very long, so I took him on a walk. We stopped and got his face painted.

Cale and E came up and we got a picture with the Razorback.

One of the ushers gave E one of the team balls.

Me with my boys!

Happy Easter!!

My Wish

I usually dont like to write long paragraphs on my blog. My thoughts are usually all over the place and I have trouble sitting down and getting them to make sense to anyone but myself. So I use alot of pictures and very few words. Today is no different. I have so much on my mind right now. So please just bear with me or just look at the pictures of my handsome first born and just ignore my ramblings.

We got these new knee splints for E recently. He has to wear them for four hours a day. They are supposed to help stretch his knees. His therapist, Ms. Christy, says that he needs the extra stretching because right now he only gets a few minutes every week. This week we also received the news for the first time that E's range of motion in his knees has not improved over last year. He has always improved every year, so this is hard news for me to hear. He has held steady with where he was last year and has not lost any range so that is a good thing. But it does make me wonder what did I not do for him this year? We did cut his therapy down because he was starting school and it was going to be an exhausting schedule to do the school requirements and the therapy requirements. So maybe that was it. I dont know.
I remember when E was just a baby. We really didnt know much about his diagnosis, and to be honest we dont know a whole lot now. But at that time, we just knew that stretching and therapy might be the way to go. So we did it. He started physical therapy at 2 months old. I also massaged and stretched his little arms and legs every day, three times a day. He got little casts for his legs that we wrapped with ace bandages because his feet were to small to have braces made. I have precious video of him smiling some of his first smiles with those little casts on. He was always such a happy and content little baby.

I think that the hardest thing about this is that E is getting older. He notices the difference in himself and other children. He does not want to play games at AWANA because he knows that he cannot run fast enough to compete. ( and he got his mother's competitive gene!!) And it bothers him at the playground when he cannot do certain things that the other kids are doing. (climbing rock walls and ladders) It bothers me when I see his little brother doing these things so easily and I know that E cannot do them.

I know that E will get through this. He will adapt like he has always done and we will all move on to the next thing. Life and all of its distractions will happen. I also know that there are alot of children out there with problems worse that his. The most important thing that I try to remember is that we are not made for this world. God is molding us into the people that He wants us to be, and our lives and our problems are to bring Him glory and honor. When I pray for E my prayer is not that God will heal his legs and that he will have a "normal" life. I pray that he will come to know the Lord, the All-Powerful Creator of the universe, and to call him Father and Friend.

But my wish, my wish is that kids would be allowed to just be kids. To not have problems and worries and appointments and therapy. That is not the life that E will have in this world. But maybe someday in heaven I will see E running at full speed and kneeling at the Fathers throne and what a day of rejoicing that will be.

My Soapbox

There is one thing that really drives me crazy and so today I am going to use my blog as my soapbox and tell you about it. It is ADULTS PLAYING ON PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT!!! Now I understand when there are NO kids around that it is tempting to race down the slides or do the monkey bars, but come on, YOU ARE AN ADULT!!! But when there ARE kids playing on the playground and you, the adult, come over and begin playing, I think that it insane!!

The main reason being that you scare the kids away. They dont want to play on the playground with adults and they are to small to challenge you about this. So what do they do? They STOP playing and get off of the playground. I know that you are not trying to scare little children, but please realize that you are doing just that. And you are not making friends of the parents either! Please remember who the playground is designated for.....the children!!

And yes, I was to chicken to get a picture of these people actually playing on the the play ground equipment, but trust me, they did.

****I will say this does not apply to parents and grandparents that are playing with their children or grandchildren. Sometimes kids need help and I understand that.****

Spring Break

This is how Spring Break started for us this year. SNOW!!

Lots of snow in a very short period of time.

It was at 8 inches when I took this picture.

Of course, I didn't get any more pictures with the ruler because of this guy.

He jumped up on top of the table and tore the ruler to shreds.

Oliver loves the snow!!

And then as quickly as it came, the snow melted. And we had warm, but windy weather.

The boys loved getting outside......

and playing in the MUD!!!

They had a bowl and a couple of spoons and they just dug in the mud.

They LOVED it.

I, on the other hand, did not love the clean up.

These shoes had to be rinsed in the sink and then washed in the washer.

All of their clothes also had mud caked on them too.

It was really fun cleaning all of that up!

Obviously baths had to follow this playtime.

Happy Spring Break.

Now it is back to the routine of school.

Happy Easter

The other day I did a post about E getting his braces made at therapy. I thought that I would do a post about the Occupational Therapy that E gets too. He only goes one day a week, but he always has plans when he gets there. E has always loved doing crafts and Ms. Kati lets him do something every week. Most of the time Ms. Kati does the crafts that I dont like to do at home, you know, the messy ones. I will be forever grateful to her for this!!

On this particular day she decided that they would color eggs for Easter. This is another thing that I have attempted ONCE in the six years of E's life.

E helping Ms. Kati pour the vinegar into the cups to make the colors. This smelled up the entire room. I am sure the other therapists in the room were loving us at this point.

Then E used this pen to color designs on the egg. Ms. Kati is so sneaky!! Working therapy in to a fun craft idea!!

Then they put the eggs in to the dye.

And like magic the dye didn't color the spots that E had used the pen on.

While they are letting the eggs get darker in color, Ms Kati gets sneaky again.

"E, lets do a little exercise while we are waiting on the eggs."

This is Ms. Kati putting weights on E's arms.

She just LOVES having her picture taken 5,000 times in one day!!

E doing his exercises.

The eggs are now done being colored. They put them in the box and Ms. Kati gets her picture taken AGAIN with the colored eggs!! Not sure why E is leaning back so much for this picture. by the way.

Ms. Kati is sneaky again and convinces E to go do another excercise while they let the eggs dry. Here he is pulling himself to her using the rope.

Then they decide to work on catching and throwing the ball.

I love how E's eyes are closed when he is catching the ball.

And then he does the swing. I am sure that there is some therapy involved here, but I think E has alot of fun doing this too.

Now they go back and finish the eggs by putting stickers on them.

Again, this is a sneaky way to get in some therapy!!

This egg was my favorite. They cut out colored foil and glued them on to the egg.
Thank you Ms. Kati for making therapy fun!!

Happy Easter a little bit early.

I love my husband!

I have the best husband in the world! There are so many days that I dont feel like I can do one more "mommy" chore. I dont want to wipe another nose, make ANOTHER meal, clean up the kitchen AGAIN, do ANOTHER load of laundry or read ANOTHER book. And that is where my husband comes in. He does not complain about was does/does not get done. He just jumps in there and helps me with whatever needs doing. He is wonderful.

I also love that he gave me this little munchkin.

And this little guy is just like his daddy!

Hubby cooking dinner.

Thank you so much to my wonderful husband! You are a joy! (most of the time!) :-)