Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas!

Attempt at Christmas photo shoot


curtsy











Festival of Trees





Evan loves his Santa hat




Santa #2- School Christmas Party


This is Skylar, the little boy who loves Amelia and follows her everywhere


Great Wolf Lodge giant tree (fake :) )
(Great Wolf is a lodge/indoor water park, but I didn't take any pics of them in the water because I didn't want my camera wet or stolen :( )


Christmas morning





Thursday, December 23, 2010

Two Elbows!

I have a very exciting update on Evan's left arm. As you know, or if you don't, we thought that most likely Evan would never be able to use his left elbow (the arm with the missing radius). Since birth, he never actively bent it by himself, only passively when using his other arm to help bend it or if he leaned on something. The anatomy of his left elbow is definitely different, so we didn't know if he ever would be able to.

Well..... Guess what??

Evan has been very observant of how his body works. He has been staring at his fingers and his toes and moving them around. So a couple of weeks ago I asked him where his elbow was on that arm. He looked and I showed him how both arms bent at the same part on the arm. I asked him to move it and low and behold I saw little elbow movements!! He got such a kick out of it, he has been doing it all the time now. He does his "exercises" and he can move it much more already.

I'm not sure if he'll ever have full elbow movement, but I think if he keeps at it, he will get even more bend out of it. We are just so proud of him and he is very proud of himself. He is just such a joy.

Here is a video he made for you.


Thursday, November 25, 2010

What A Special Turkey

We did the hand turkeys that every mom makes their kid do in November. Amelia's turkey is on the left (who is also special because of the loss of his beak), Evan's is on the right.

How fantastic is that turkey on the right?! Can you believe that the turkeys head and neck used to be Evan's finger? What an amazing turkey.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

La Nina!! (Happy Thanksgiving)

Here is a little story of the first La Nina storm of this La Nina winter. It was a horrible nightmare, but we'll look back on it as a nice story of Thanksgiving 2010.

In case you don't know, Western Washington and the Seattle area rarely get snow. In fact, we got NONE last year. There are, so I've heard, about three plows for our entire county. Our county, across the sound from Seattle, as well as Seattle and the entire area do no salt or sand roads.

On Sunday, the forecast was for some snow flurries into Monday morning. So I got the kids all bundled up (it was to be freezing the next few days, another rare thing) and we went out to play with what snow we could before it stopped.






The snow started to get heavier, so I checked the news in the late morning. An additional 1/4 to 1/2 inch was expected. The people in this area were freaking out about this little amount and now I know why. Imagine living in an area of rolling hills, many bordering on the size of small mountains. Now SUBTRACT salt or sand or plows from a snow. OK, now ADD three inches of snow because the weather forecast was wrong. 

John got off of work early, so around 4:30 we went out with the kids again to pull them in their sleds. The wind was just terrible and the temperature had dropped considerably. Evan screamed to go in, so I went around in some circles with Amelia again and managed to get a picture.



Unbeknownst to us, the entire area was in absolute chaos. First it was the snow. During the commute, vehicles couldn't get up the hills and slid down the hills. I later listened to the AM radio Monday night and listened to everyone calling in, still in their cars from 3pm. Many were forced to abandon, picked up by someone, that car was abandoned, and so on. This was both in Seattle, where I heard 12 hours, and around here, 6+ (we are talking a 5 mile commute).

But that wasn't our nightmare. A terrible windstorm began around the time we took the kids out and it got worse and worse. Our county was the worst hit with these winds and trees began to fall. These aren't the kind of trees back east. These are giant 100ft plus evergreens. And they took down our power lines. So at 6:30pm our power was gone and temperatures were to be at least zero with the wind chill. We bundled up and went to bed, having no idea the real cause of the power outage. We figured the power would come back any minute. Sooooo, morning comes and it's freezing. We sat in the car to eat breakfast and our neighbors had a fireplace going (more for decoration, but with a tiny vent) and were nice enough to invite us in for a few hours. Well, our next step was to find someplace to stay. Everyone we know lost power. Turns out 60,000 homes in the county are without power. That's like almost everybody. All these children and elderly. It was just terrible. The only area with power by us was the shopping/hotel area, so we jumped on one of the last rooms. There were shelters for people who needed them, but here is the other problem:

People can't get out of their neighborhoods! John tried both cars and got only three houses away (up) from us. In the right place at the right time, John managed to get pulled up the street by a giant white Ford 4X4 truck. (I used to hate white trucks because road raged rednecks in New Orleans always drove them, but this one was our redneck angel. I won't continue the grudge. Until like next week.) They came back down for us and drove the kids and I to the car. A neighbor with another large truck got the family with a baby out at the same time. In general, though, there is no way everyone with kids could've gotten out. I've heard stories of a guy boiling water on his grill and having his family huddle around the bucket. We haven't heard any of the bad personal stories. Yet.

Anyway, I know this happens to a lot of people. I just can't believe this wasn't on the national news. Thanks to utility workers from British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington (75 crews), most of us got power 48 hours later. These amazing people wanted us all to have Thanksgiving. The trucks couldn't get to the downed trees and power lines because of the snow/ice issue, so it was this giant battle of road crews and utility crews. And guys with chainsaws.

We were planning on going to a really nice buffet for Thanksgiving Dinner, but because of the roads we stopped at Safeway along with everyone else.  What a long and tiring day today. Here is Amelia sleeping in the shopping cart holding a rack of pre-cooked ribs. 


We have a lot to be thankful for. Neighbors, guys with chainsaws, safety, warmth. Everyone was just so nice. I heard that customers at IHOP started to help serve breakfast because some staff couldn't make it in. 

We also learned that we need to go get some things from Lowe's. Seriously.

Friday, November 12, 2010

The Today Show

I have a hard time explaining what the kids are doing now. I have a harder time finding time to explain what the kids are doing now. I decided to do a morning interview while they were contained in their chairs. Maybe I will make this a series.







Here is the video for Auntie Kari, which I screwed up earlier:

Monday, November 1, 2010

Our 3rd Halloween!





How cute is this. Amelia was uspset that I forgot my Winnie-the-Pooh ears, which she insisted I wear tonight.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The Good, The Bad, and The Irritated (Me)

Well, last week was just sucky. But now that I look back on it, it was just one thing that was really sucky, but it destroyed any good mood that may have crept into my psyche.

Last week was evaluation week for Evan. Three of them done by his OT, his PT, and the Infant Toddler Program case managers, which is a developmental evaluation.  Can Evan do everything a toddler with two perfect arms can do at 3 years? Yes! Fine and Gross motor skills. He is awesome!!!

But as for the developmental aspect, well, he completed every skill test with flying colors. EXCEPT: he was supposed to stack blocks of the same color together. He stacked the yellow, then the red, then just started building a tower with the rest of the blocks, completely ignoring the lady. I giggled. The lady did not. She told me this was troublesome and that she would have to report it to the state. Everyone I tell this story to literally LOLs. But I was steaming!! Don't worry, I have written a letter... Apparently, according to his PT, the test is mandatory and they have to report everything and cannot take your word that they do something at home. She told me that they test until they can't do something, even if the test skill is for 48 months. She also said that the person doing the test should never have used that language with me. Don't worry, I have written a letter...

Also, recent events at school (aggressive behavioral issues don't mix with a kid with physical issues) have made me realize that I don't want to accept any help from the state regarding pre-school for kids with delays. We are parting ways.

The Good News:

1) Evan's heart is great! There is still a residual VSD of 2mm, which should close over the next few years. We don't go back to the cardiologist for two years.

2) Evan is 25lbs and Amelia is 22lbs! Still less than 3 percentile, but they are growing, and quite a bit lately. The doc said they should have a growth spurt soon. We'll see!

3) The kids are both talking away like mini-adults. Amelia is now using "phrases with 'tude", such as: "Yeah, Momma, that's right", "whatever you want", and "I'm pretty sure __" ("I'm pretty sure I'm right", "I'm pretty sure Evan needs to keep his hands to himself", etc.)

Here is a Flip video I took last night. It's supposed to be HD, but it doesn't look that great to me. I haven't been able to upload any because of our crappy internet, but now we have unlimited!

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Loooong Week- Vacay in Mass

We are back from vacation so we can get back to normal again, whatever that is. Here are some pics from our fun with cousins. We went a lot of places, it was just so beautiful out the entire week. It would be so nice to live near them. At least on the same coast would be nice!


Frerich Farms, Warren, Rhode Island



Edaville USA (steam train and amusement rides), Cranberry Fest, Carver, MA



Public Gardens, Boston, MA



Buttonwood Park, New Bedford, MA


Thursday, September 30, 2010

Dealing

I'm not sure if I don't have the time write, or if blogging is just low on my list right now. I don't have much to say. I have been dealing with staying at school to protect Evan from "the new kid". I have been dealing with people who insist on teaching my kids manners instead of letting them speak for themselves or having me do it. I have been dealing with tantrums. I have been dealing with the military health care system. I have been dealing with poop for 32 months and I'd like it to stop.

I have NOT been dealing with vacation preparations or cleaning the house. I sure would rather type this right now than do that, though!

Here is a funny video someone made that I wanted to share. I have dealt with almost all of the crazy things the blond mom is saying. I am going to make my own when I have a minute!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

There Are No Playgounds At Nat'l Parks. Waa, waa...

Last week we took my dad and the kids on a short overnight road trip to different areas of the Olympic National Park. It was beautiful. We got amazing pictures. But it was not without whining, tears, and headaches.

The worst part of the trip was the overnight part. For some reason, this time at a hotel was a nightmare. A living nightmare since there was no sleep involved. Amelia would not sleep and John ended up in the van with her to not disturb others in the hotel. He figured she would fall asleep while driving around Forks for three hours. He was wrong. I have no idea how she kept going through the next day, but she did.

Somehow we made it through the second day, to the beach and up a 17 mile road to the top of the mountains.  This day was the hardest because the kids didn't understand that there are no playgrounds at national parks. The whole day they were saying, "Where's the playgound? I want to go to the park!"

It really was worth it for the pictures, though:
(Can you tell Evan didn't want to pose for pictures?)

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Busy, Busy

Two weeks since I've posted?! We must have been busy... though I don't quite remember. One of the side effects of having twins. I do remember having issues with trying to get out of here next year. I do remember going to some parks. I had some friends visit. Yep, I think we were busy. Here is a recap of what the kids have been doing:


The Kitsap County Fair- Evan's Dopplebunny.



Painting Modern Art for the living room wall.



New school clothes shopping.



Playing dress-up.



Having Afternoon Tea at the Empress Hotel in Victoria, BC
(Oh wait, that was just me- without kids!!).



Exploring new parks (this is Gasworks Park in Seattle).



Running around giant silos that used to contain gas in the early 1900's.



Only Evan could pull off looking this cute while hugging a giant metal container. 
(Does he think it's a tree? They do hug those...)