Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving this year was a bit nontraditional for us: we went camping! Since Joel and I have been together we have not been gone one time during a holiday. With both of our families here in town it makes it easy to stay home. So it was a little different being gone over Thanksgiving. The last time we went camping was over 3 years ago and Kate was barely 3 months old. (I know, what was I thinking?!?)
The best part about camping this time was to see Grant and Kate enjoy camping. They loved playing in the tent and being outside all day. We got flashlights for them before we left and they loved playing with those, too. They still play with them everyday and Kate's sleeping bag is still in her room next to her bed. I'm not sure if it will ever make it back to the garage! I guess you could say that she is somewhat possessive over her "stuff"!
Grant rode his bike the whole time when he was not eating or sleeping. Kate rode her bike some, too, but also played on the swings and ran around chasing the ducks.
We went with a couple of our family friends from church and also Daniel and Christina, my brother and sister. We've been camping with my brother and sister before and it's always fun when they go with us. I didn't take very many pictures, though, so this is mostly all of them:

Kate and Jack

Within minutes of getting our tent set up, Kate was inside getting all of her "stuff" just how she wanted it. She played in the tent for over an hour just having fun with everything you see in the picture. I only brought a few toys but she just loved being inside the tent.

"tent time" before bed on the 2nd night

Christina and I bundled up around the campfire, trying to stay warm!

It's not everyday that one gets to go camping with her piano student! ;-)

Turkey Trot '09!

The kids and I walked the Turkey Trot this year with my older sister, Jennifer, and two of my brothers, David and Daniel. Although it was pretty chilly when we first woke up, it made for a great day by the time we started walking. We bundled the kids up and they had a great time. At one point Grant was getting restless so we switched strollers and then had him walk with us for a little bit. He loved that and it was great for him to use up some of his energy! He was running to keep up with us since Jen and I were walking at a quick pace. This is my 3rd time to participate in the Trot and it is always so much fun! Hopefully next year I will be in better shape and will be able to jog the 5k like I did last year!

My Big Girl!

I took Kate to get her first "real" haircut a couple of weeks ago. I say real because this is her first haircut at a salon. I've cut her hair a handful of times but I have had a hard time getting it cut straight because surprisingly so she won't sit still long enough! Also, cutting curly hair can be tricky when it comes to layers. I have tried but I was ready to step aside and let the professional take over! So I took her to my hair lady, Rosa, who is amazing. She was able to even it up and put in some long layers. I love how it turned out and I love even more how still Kate was the whole time. She was like a statue and looked very sleepy. I kept asking her if she was sleepy and she said seriously, "No."
Every now and then she would look at me and say, "Mommy?"

so sleepy!

Can you see how serious she looks?? This is how she was the whole time!

Family Fun at the Park

After Grant and Kate's last baseball game we went to the park and had a really sweet time with the kids. The weather was overcast and slightly cool which left the park pretty much to ourselves. We didn't have too much going on that day and so we didn't worry about the time and just had some good old fashioned fun! I wish we had more days and times like this. I'm finding that sometimes times like this just need to be planned and that it is ok!

Buddy League!

It's been two weeks since Grant's last baseball game with Buddy League. He only had 3 games because the other 3 were rained out. Kate got to play in the last two because a lot of kids didn't show up. She absolutely loved playing baseball and it was so fun to watch the two of them "playing" baseball! Thank you to our sweet friends and family who came out to watch them with us! It really meant a lot to Joel and I and to Grant and Kate. I can't wait until the Spring when baseball starts back up again. For now, here are some pictures from this season:

Thank you, Aunt Jenni for taking the group shot!

Nana with Grant and Kate, who is apparently enjoying her snack. ;-)

Grant is getting his trophy at the end of the last game.

Uncle Daniel was Grant's buddy.

Aunt Christina was Kate's buddy.

Country Carnival!

On Halloween we went to our church's carnival from 5:30-8:30 and we had so much fun! The weather was perfect and the kids behaved themselves for the most part. We were there almost the whole time, which I did not anticipate the kids to make it that long. This was really the first year that both of them had any interest in playing all of the different games. Grant has always liked the fire truck and bounce houses but everything else he could care less for! So Joel took Grant to the bounce houses and I took Kate around to play games. After each game, she got a piece or two of candy and ate it by the time she got to the next game. It seemed like she always had a piece of candy in her mouth the whole night! Towards the end of the evening, I did tell her that she had had enough and needed to stop eating it. She just kind of looked at me like, "Huh? Why should I stop eating my candy?" But she was being so cute that I didn't mind too much. This night only comes once a year so it's not too bad, right? ;-)

Romo, dog owner, Dalmatian, and a BumbleBee

Nana stopped by on her way home from work to see the kids in their costumes.

trying to play and game while eating candy. 8-)

Kate really liked getting a bumble bee painted on her cheek!

still eating candy!

Grant, so happy in his Dalmatian costume. He loves it so much!

Early in October I talked to Grant and Kate about what they wanted to dress up as and each of them looked through the Party City catalog. Grant didn't take too long until he saw the Dalmatian costume and declared that was what he wanted. Kate took her time and looked intently at each costume. When she saw the bumble bee, she said, "Bubble bee!!!"
So that was that and I they really surprised me because anytime we talked about it from that point on, they not one time changed their minds! Kate's costume was easy: bought it at Party City as a set with all of the pieces. Grant's, on the other hand, wasn't. The Dalmatian costume was too small for him and I couldn't find one that was big enough. So I decided to make his costume. At first I was going to do something simple that involved white shirt and pants and felt circles sewn on, but I could not find white pants anywhere! So I went to Hobby Lobby to buy material to make white pants and low and behold, I found Dalmatian print fabric! So then I decided to make pajama top and bottoms for his costume. This was he could wear them for more than just Saturday night. It was a tad bit stressful making it, as it wasn't until Friday evening that I found the material and decided to make it. And then I didn't get finished until 4pm Saturday, an hour and a half before the carnival started!

The best part of it all was on Saturday morning. During breakfast I showed Grant the Dalmatian print fabric and I said, "Grant, what does this look like?" He looked at it, smiled, and said "Ne ma neigh!" (That is how he says Dalmatian.) Of course, I was so excited and happy that he knew exactly what it was. I showed him his pants that I made the night before and the pieces that I was going to use for his shirt and he payed attention to me. Throughout the morning, he looked at me and said, "Thank you, Mama!" So sweet and definitely made it all worth it!!! He loved wearing it Saturday night and was very proud to tell everyone what he was. He's worn it several times since then and I love seeing him running around it in. Makes my heart smile! :-)

Grandma's Visit

4 Generation picture: My Grandma Bev, my mom, me, and Kate! (and my two sisters, Jen and Christina!)

My Grandma Bev came to visit all the way from Seattle and these are pictures from our lunch at the Chocolate Angel. We had a nice time and it was really great to see my grandma. I haven't seen in her over 5 years and she got to meet Kate for the first time!

Fun at the Farm!

A few weeks ago, Grant had a school field trip to Owen's Farm. I was able to go with him and it was fun hanging out with him and his class. We started with feeding the goats, which Grant thought was pretty cool. Then we went on a hay ride, which Grant really liked. In this picture he was signing and saying "eat!" as we saw the horses eating grass. Then we saw some horses, ate lunch, took pictures in the pumpkin patch and then picked out a pumpkin to take home. All in all it was a great day and it wasn't until the end that Grant was wearing out and getting really whiney. But soon enough he was back on the bus and couldn't be happier. He LOVES riding on the bus and smiled all the way to the farm and back. The last picture says it all by his smile!

Late night phone calls...

Every night Grant goes to bed with his dog, phone, blanket, bear, Woody, Baa, and Flops. The only time he doesn't go to bed with any one of these is when he his behavior has been really bad at school or home. One night when I checked on Grant before going to bed, this is how I found him, except his eyes weren't squinting. I had to turn the light on to get a good picture and the light made him squint his eyes. If you look closely, you'll see his phone in the "talking" position. 8-)

After 9 months of doing NACD....

.....this is what we get from Grant: (in the most whiniest little kid voice ever, btw)

"Idonwannawork"

"buIdonwanto"

"Idonwannagotobed"

He just started saying these phrases over the last couple of weeks and today he said, - for the 1st time ever - "butidonwannagotobed." I just looked at him shaking my head and chuckling. I really am just shocked sometimes at what comes out of his mouth. Yesterday when Joel and I were working with him, he said to us, "butIdonwantowork" and we just looked at each other and said, "Did he really just say that???"
These sentences are called "chunks" which means several words said as one word, not as separate, or individual words. But I am thinking we are not going to work on "de-chunking" these sentences! 8-)
He's going to have to be a little more creative if he thinks saying these things to us is going to get him out of working with me or out of going to bed!

Grant, you are a silly boy and I love you so much!

Day at the Fair!

A week ago Monday Joel and I made a last minute decision to take the kids to the Texas State Fair. We have briefly talked about it but didn't really decide one way or the other until 9am that morning. Joel was already planning on taking half day of vacation that afternoon and Grant was off of school Monday and Tuesday so if we were going to go, Monday was going to be the best day to do so. Joel and I have been several times before, actually on our 3rd date we went to the fair! But we haven't taken the kids before. Maybe Grant when he was a baby but honestly I can't remember. It's one of those "did we take Grant? ..."

So the kids and I got ready while Joel was on his way home from work and when he came home, we all left. We started out at the Midway and Grant and Kate rode a few rides. Grant and Joel went down the big slide first thing and Grant was really upset that we wouldn't let him go again. Once he realized that there were more rides to go on and that he was going to get to ride on some of them, he was fine. Poor guy, life is rough sometimes, huh? ;-)

Their favorite ride was the "choo choo". They kept talking about it throughout the rest of the day and because Joel and I thought they were so cute (and good) we ended the day with them riding the "choo choo" one more time. I have to say, it was a lot of fun as parents watching our kids have so much fun on the rides. We don't do things like this very much so it was pretty neat for us to experience.

After riding rides, we went to a dog show. Both kids are nuts about dogs so it makes sense to take your dog crazy kids to a dog show, right? It was probably boring for them but they did like watching the dog catch all of the frisbies and jump in the water. It was only 20 minutes so it was done at the same time the kids were done. Worked out perfect!

After the dog show, we went to the petting zoo and as we were walking up towards the entrance we hear a kid say, "Hi Grant!" Who could it be but our good friends from church! It was so crazy meeting up with them and it was really cool because we got to hang out with them for the whole afternoon!

We had such a great time at the fair and the weather was nice, too. It was overcast and threatened to rain but it really was nice. Joel and I were really proud at how well Grant and Kate did. I'm not saying that they were perfect, but overall they were pretty good and they really liked being at the fair. Joel and I had a good time, too. We definitely made a great memory and I can't wait to scrapbook our day at the fair! :-)

I won't post all of the pictures because I took so many but here are the highlights:

Joel and Grant coming down

the "choo choo"

our good friends, The Scott Family!

see how cute the baby piggies are?

"don't think I'm taking a nap; I'm only sleeping for 5 minutes." (she really did only sleep for 5 minutes - little stinker!)

God is so good!

These two pictures are pictures that I have taken and developed for the purpose of working with Grant on words that we want him to say, or to say better. It is one of the many program activities that we do every day. We work on 8 new photos each week and this one is one of his for this week:

Grant says "paw" for "stop". I'm not quite sure how 'paw' is 'stop' but that is what comes out when he tries to say 'stop'. Stop is a word we use quite often and so I thought it would be a good word to work on for getting the /st/ sound going. Now for the reason of this post: This morning when we were working on his language photos, Grant looked at this picture and said while pointing to each letter, "ess, tee, o, pee!" I just sat there for a moment and was so encouraged by this for several reasons. First, he can recognize those letters. Second, he can say the name of each one. Third, he can say the names of them one after another without long pause or hesitation. But most of all, he had enough focus and attention to point and say each letter. This is so huge for him and a huge amount of progress for him! It made me realize that his focus and attention really is getting better and this encourages me so much.
I love that he is learning his letters and able to go from one sound to the next. Six months ago if I asked him to say three random words or sounds back to me, he couldn't do it. This is part of apraxia - not being able to flow from one word or sound to another very easily. So for him to say one letter after another is huge, speech-wise! And for his interest to hold is huge, too, for Grant!
I so vividly remember going to one speech therapist 2 1/2 years ago and her so candidly telling Joel and I that she simply could not work with him because of his lack of focus and attention. And Joel and I both know that in order to work on articulation, he really needs to be able to focus in on what we are trying to get him to say. She basically showed us her door and told us to come back after we have worked on improving his focus and attention. Not only did we leave very discouraged, but I was pretty depressed by it. I know she was right but it still was so hard to hear.
Honestly, it's moments like those that have been the hardest in accepting my son for who he is and for realizing that he isn't the child that I had hoped and dreamed about for months and years prior to entering parenthood. There's nothin' that can prepare you for having a kid with special needs. BUT the Lord is loving and kind AND faithful and he lifts me up when I am down. He gave me Grant for a very special reason and God is teaching so much through him. I can't imagine my life without him and I love him so much! When I think about knowing Christ, it's hard for me to imagine how parents of a special needs child make it who don't know the Lord.
So from now on I'm pretty sure that every time I look at a stop sign, I will remember the moment Grant and I had this morning, and it will encourage me to 'keep on keepin' on!' Isn't God good? He really is!