Logan's first tooth

Okay, it's not exactly what it sounds like. It's not his first tooth but his first baby tooth that fell out. He came up to me early Saturday saying boo boo pointing to his mouth. He allowed me to look in and touch it but as soon as I wiggled it he bit me! He wouldn't let me touch it again so I couldn't be certain how loose it was at that point. I did write a note to his teacher to let her know about it just in case it suddenly disappeared. Because he's autistic and doesn't speak much he couldn't tell me it was loose or when it felt like it was coming out. I did receive a call yesterday around lunch time from Ann who said she was able to get it before he swallowed it. Yeah Ann!! Of course, getting him to smile for the camera was a chore in itself. It took about six shots before I was able to trick him into smiling for me.

Logan

Not a very clear picture but the only one I was able to get with him smiling so you could see the gap in his smile.

Balloons

The kids all love balloons, heck, what kid wouldn't right? Logan happens to love them a little too much right now. He wants to have all the balloons to himself. I have to blow him up two and then blow one for each of the others and still he somehow ends up with three or four. Marie is a really good sport about it. He always ends up with hers by the end of the day.

It all started the other day while we were trying to get them ready and on the bus. Logan started having a meltdown because he wanted to have a balloon. I didn't think the bus driver would allow him to have it when Marie quickly let me know otherwise. She said, "Mom, if it will keep him quiet they will let him have it. They do it in the afternoon because they don't want to hear him scream all the way home." Okay, fine, I blew up the balloon for him. Oh, what a beautiful smile I received in thanks for that little chore. He even signed thank you while saying it at the same time. I knew I was in for it at that point.

I had Curtis pick up a pack on the way home. Okay, I thought I asked him for one pack but he likes to do things in a big way. He came home with four packs of balloons! Now I have plenty or you would think so at least. I wanted to blow up enough for them once a day and no more. Logan, on the other hand had a different idea. He came up to me and said in the sweetest little voice, "I want balloot, pease!" Big angelic smile added to him actually requesting something using a complete sentence; what was I to do other than to give him what he wanted! Now the little stinker knows exactly how to get to Mommy and Daddy. I guess Daddy will be making another trip to Wal-mart for some balloons today or tomorrow.

Monday - first day back at school!

Okay, it's the first day back at school for the two older children and it's soooooo quiet in this house. I do have the television on so that Katie can watch her absolute favorite cartoon; Dora the Explorer. Once that is over, it's being turned off and the cd player is going on. This past week, Marie had them all dancing around and playing while listening to a cd I made for Logan about a year ago. If anyone tried to turn it off Logan would have a screaming fit until it was turned back on. I love it!!

I can now clean up the playroom, vacuum and fold all the blankets and the room will probably stay that way all day. Okay, most of it will. Alright, you got me; I won't have to vacuum it again until after Logan has his snack this afternoon so that's a good thing. Katie and Ryan will pull all the stuffed animals, blankets and pillow off the couch and roll around playing on them at one point today but it will get picked up with very minimal fuss.

Okay, one thing I want to complain about and then I will be done for the day. Freecycle is great when you want to find something. However, if you want to get rid of something it's not always so great. I will freely admit that I have responded to an offer and completely forgot to get it. As soon as I realized that I did that I e-mailed the person to let them know and apologized up one side and down the other. I've been paid back for that in spades. I hate to take the baby clothes to the clothing bins when I know people could really use them but when you get a couple people respond to your offer and they are all no shows it's quite annoying! I always give them the benefit of the doubt but it's not asking too much to have someone just respond and say something like; "I'm sorry I can't make it so go ahead and give it to the next person on your list" or "I'm sorry I completely forgot, let's make new plans for me to pick up!" I have had several people who, like me forgot but then promptly e-mailed me or called to apologize and then picked up promptly. It's the no-shows that drive me completely batty! Anyone else have this happen to them???

Spring Break is over!

All in all, Spring Break turned out pretty well. The weather didn't cooperate during the first half of the week but we had fun anyway. We didn't use the water toys at all but could have yesterday as it got up to 81 degrees. Today it's supposed to be more of the same but tomorrow it's only supposed to get to upper 60's lower 70's. With the much needed break for Mommy and Daddy on Thursday it made for a very nice week indeed. Thank you Ms. Ann and Mr. Charlie for coming over to watch our little gang!! The kids had such a good time and were so exhausted that they went to bed with minimal fuss. Not only that but they got up and were still very subdued the next morning. They didn't hit their normal stride until around noon which was pure heaven!

I was able to still get a lot of housework done and Curtis was able to get some of the stuff on our BIG project list done as well. We started out with 16 things listed and we are now down to 10 which is great. I do believe that we may be able to get another couple done today and tomorrow. Now, as long as we don't add any more to the list we will actually have accomplished some this week!

A cute little story before I sign off today.... You know from a previous post that I absolutely HATE bees. (HATE HATE HATE THEM!) There have been two incidents where I had the kids outside and these bumble bees started flying around. The first time it was with Ryan, Katie and me so I grabbed them and headed inside. Those two bees flew around Ryan's swing all afternoon which made it impossible for me to go back outside that day. Once this week after we'd been outside for almost 45 minutes they flew near us again so I figured we'd been outside enough it was a good excuse to go inside. Of course, while we were at the movie and dinner this week the bumble bees came back. Charlie and Ann aren't afraid of them and told Marie that if she just stood there the bees would go away without stinging her. (Please note that a couple of weeks ago Marie had a friend over and the bumble bee was outside with them. They both came running back each time it flew out near them.)

Yesterday Marie was giving me the "lecture" about standing still and the bees not stinging. (Too cute for words!) So, later in the afternoon when the one came around to check us out I thought, I can handle this, no problem. I did extremely well if I do say so myself. As I was just finishing up hosing Katie down, it came for another fly by. Marie was standing on the patio when it buzzed her. I turn to look and here she is just flapping her arms at it. I'm between the bee and freedom so I started to scream at her to stop flapping her arms. It buzzed by me and flew off to parts unknown without bothering anyone, including the two little people who were right by me during this whole exchange. I had to ask her what happened to the stand still and it won't sting you routine. She was so funny; I had to crack up. "Mommy it was gonna sting me and I hate bumble bees they freak me out!" Hmmm, I wonder where she got that from but what HAPPENED to the if you stand still it won't sting you? I stood still but would keep an eye on where they were at all times. I guess my constant vigil/terror got to her.

Some spring time fun

Boys having fun on the swings.

Marie making a nice picture, before getting paint all over her hands.

Katie having fun with the paint. Before she was done she had it up both arms and on her face. I had to hose her down outside before I could take her in to the bath!

Ryan following Katie through their "Fort".

Everyone playing on the swing set.

Some spring fun

Our swings need some oil or something as they are just a little noisy!

Spring Break!

Yesterday at 3:15 Spring Break officially started. I'm sitting here trying to plan the week so the kids don't go beserk with boredom. Here is what I have come up with so far:

Games:
Go fish (Katie, Marie and I play)
Looney Toons board game - Marie loves it so it keeps her calm
Operation - you all remember that one I'm sure!
Life - it's a little old for Marie but it's easier for her than Monopoly at this point so...

Outside:
Swing set
Slide
Sit and Spin with water
Slip and Slide

Movie time: once a day we all sit down together and watch a nice Disney movie.

Walks: Marie pushes Ryan in the stroller while Mommy pushes Katie and Logan in the double stroller or pulls them in the wagon. (I can get some exercise this way!!)

Thursday is Mommy and Daddy "Date Night". We are going to go see a movie and then have an early dinner. It's going to be a lot of fun for us and I know the kids will have lots of fun with Ann and Charlie. Marie has been working with the younger kids (except for Logan) having them dance and sing for a show that they will perform for us and then for Ann and Charlie. Logan loves to watch them dance and depending on his mood, sometimes gets upset when they stop! I'm going to try to get a little video of this next week so I can post it on here for you.

All of these fun things with the therapies for both boys should keep us pretty busy all week. I still have to do the normal cleaning which will be twice as hard with them home but then again I will have Marie's help keeping them occupied.

Hoping to have lots of fun and still keep my sanity!!

Pics

Logan hates having his picture taken. As I tried to get a shot of him just now he ran away from me and then proceeded to close his eyes each time the flash went off.

Here is Mommy's little angel sound asleep in Daddy's arms.

While I was cooking dinner last night, Katie and Ryan played Dora the Explorer. Katie was Dora and Ryan was Boots the monkey.

How 'bout a little kiss for my baby brother?!

Say cheese!

Friday updates

We've been lucky this week as Logan and Ryan have pretty much slept through the night in their own "corners". Logan has slept on his favorite couch every night except for one this week. Ryan, once he goes down for the night has slept through the entire night. Now getting Ryan to get tired enough to go to sleep has been the issue this week. We've been up to at least midnight every night so far this week. (Since the Astros have been playing in San Diego that's no big deal as we were trying to stay awake to watch the games)



Wednesday night we didn't get to bed before midnight and Logan came in to join us around 3:45 so Curtis didn't get a very good rest. Yesterday afternoon he took a small nap while Katie and Ryan watched Dora or Teletubbies. I thought Ryan was watching it while sitting with Daddy but when I glanced over to them I noticed he had turned to face me and had fallen asleep. I couldn't resist and grabbed a picture of that. (Of course, Daddy insisted that I not publish his picture which I promised I wouldn't so I have a picture to post of just Ryan sleeping like the little angel he is with only Daddy's arm showing. ) Please note that they were in my recliner at the time.



Later last night after two of the four were asleep, I was trying to get comfortable and put my feet up in said recliner when it broke. Curtis spent almost two hours trying to find a nut and bolt to fix it as one had sheared off and was useless. By 11:30 we had to give it up as a lost cause so he took the other bolt to work with him today so he could find a replacement. At one point he looked at me after I apologized for the broken chair and said, "you know, if you were going to break the chair, you could have at least done it earlier in the evening" and proceeded to chuckle at me. I didn't break the chair on purpose but I felt so bad for having him working those two hours when he could have been relaxing or sleeping. While he was fixing the chair I was chasing Ryan around trying to keep him out of the tools and away from Logan who had finally fell asleep.



Anyone with kids knows there really is no point in getting nice furniture. They all at one point end up in our chairs eating something. They get caught and are told we only eat at the table. (Yeah right Mom! You so funny!) While pulling the back of the chair (thankfully it has velcro all along the bottom) we were bombarded with toys and food crumbs. Hey, there's Ryan's favorite toy; I wonder how it got in there?!?! He had to look at his chair to figure out how to pull it apart and guess what?!?! Yes, more food and toys came out and I do believe that he had a whole lot more toys then food. I also found a few of his vitamins that had dropped down in and he couldn't reach them. I guess I need to go through the chairs every night after the kids go to bed and get rid of all the food/toys and anything else that ends up in the cracks of the chairs. I now need to clean up the mess from the chairs and find all his tools he left laying around and put them up so they don't get snatched and end up in a toy box or behind the couch.



I've put off the dishes, cleaning and laundry as much as I can today. We got up, got the kids ready for school and on the bus and headed out to the local farmers market for some fresh veggies. What a zoo that place turned out to be today! There was some kind of art show that was going to be going on so they had the booths set up but no one in them. Lots of parking was blocked but no one there yet! I had to drive around the block a couple of times before I finally got smart and went to park along AIA. Not too sure how smart that was as I then had to push the stroller through the damp sand as it rained a lot last night. A couple of times I thought I was going to get it stuck. That was a nice work out but kids weren't too happy with me as they wanted a longer walk! They loved looking at the ocean and Katie was flapping her arms like a bird all the way back to the car as they both said "Aweeeeeeeee!"

Easter

Easter is over again for another year and yes it snuck up on me again. Why is it that it always gets here way before I'm ready for it? We have a few decorations that I always mean to get out and never do get around to it. This year was no different than the previous ones.

We don't give the kids candy as all of it is too full of sugar not to mention the nasty food dyes. We had to scramble around Sunday morning (Yes, I did say Easter morning!) to find little toys and things to put in their baskets. I then had to sit down and stuff eggs full of GF/CF food that Logan could have just in case the eggs got moved from one basket to another. Who am I fooling? You know the eggs were moved around so many times that we would have never remembered who had which egg no matter what. Marie commented on the fritos and cashews in everyones eggs so I told her the Easter Bunny didn't want Logan to get something he shouldn't have so he gave everyone the same thing. Not to mention the fact that they all love to eat what he has sitting in his bowl anyways.

I made chili with corn bread for our "different Easter dinner" and then boiled some eggs so Marie and I could color them. Once the eggs were dry, we grabbed them and all the other stuffed eggs and sent Daddy outside to hide them so we could have an Easter egg hunt. They had fun; but the one who really enjoyed the hunt was Katie. She was running everywhere trying to grab all the eggs. Her eyes were so big and her grin was from ear to ear! I had Logan and Curtis had Ryan trying to help them find eggs and keep them from running off. Logan would find and egg and hand it to me so I could put it in his basket which he was holding. He was more interested in the airplanes flying around and the swing so his hunt was over pretty quickly. Once he was on the swing he was totally happy to be pushed and sit there doing nothing.

We put Ryan's swing on so we could get him on there too. He didn't seem to like it at first. What a terrified face! I'd say that lasted two seconds then the biggest smile came across his face and he didn't want to get down; not even for the bubbles! The boys had a ball on the swing set with Mommy pushing them while the girls ran around playing with the eggs then having a race. After that got boring Daddy grabbed the bubbles and proceeded to blow them so they could chase them down. I think Marie had the most fun chasing the bubbles. At one point she was trying to kick them out of the air and almost connected with my hand as I had taken over the bubble duties from Daddy. She's such a funny girl!

Talking

Today we spent the day with Daddy and everyone loved it. Okay, maybe not everyone as Logan and Marie had to go to school but the little ones loved it. We try to get down to see Daddy once or twice a month and meet him for lunch and they love it. Today, we went shopping and hit a Cracker Barrel for breakfast in between stops. As we were getting back into the car after breakfast, Katie says to Daddy, "Thank you for meeting Daddy for lunch, you have to go back to work now." What a funny little girl! Daddy will call us from the road when he's on his way home or on his way back to work from lunch and I will let Katie talk to him. She cracked me up yesterday when she asked him, "Are you coming home Daddy?" Daddy said something to her and she looked at me and said, "Daddy come home later." When she's ready to end the conversation she will say, "I love you Daddy, be careful!" and then proceed to give the phone a big kiss. Mmuuwwaaa!

Ryan has been repeating a lot of what we say lately and I didn't realize just how much he's taken in until today. I went into the kitchen to make him some fruit and cereal for lunch, as I was telling him what I was putting into the bowl he said, "Awesome!" He loves to watch Go Diego Go! and Dora the Explorer whenever he can and when Swiper comes on both he and Logan will say "oh man!" For those of you who haven't seen Dora, when Swiper the fox comes along he tries to take whatever they have so they say (three times) "Swiper, no swiping!" and after the third time Swiper says, "Oh man!"

It was funny to hear Ryan say that today but it was especially funny to hear Logan say it. He came up and tried to take something I had in my hands so I said the Swiper no swiping to him and he looked at me and said (no joke, he really said it!) "Oh man!" That boy is such a card. Imagine what he will be like when everyone can fully understand what he's saying. I still have a hard time understanding most of what he says but there are a few things that come out so clear. Last night he was playing when all of a sudden and clear as a bell he sang out, "Now I know my ABC's next time won't you sing with me!" We knew exactly what he was saying and it was just the funniest because we didn't hear him singing or saying any of the ABC's just that one part.

Ok, this last isn't about them talking but it's a cute little something that I hope to be able to get a picture of someday. The little ones will fall asleep in the car whenever we go for a ride of at least 30 minutes especially if it's after a meal. Today, on the way back from our little shopping trip they both fell asleep. Ryan sits behind the driver's seat and Katie behind the front passenger seat. 99.9% of the time when they fall asleep they do it with their heads tilted toward the other. Somehow they both fall out with their heads tilted into the middle of the car. It looks like they are trying to lean on each other's shoulder. One day when I'm not driving I will be sure to take the digital camera with me so I can get a cute shot of this.

They are best buddies as they are with each other most of the time. Of course, there are times when they fight over toys. It seems like in the afternoon when one or both are ready for a nap they both want what whatever the other is playing with and start to scream. Ryan has learned how to get what he wants (even from his big brother Logan) all he has to do is scream at the top of his lungs, stomp his little feet and flap his arms up and down. Most times this will get Logan to give him whatever it was he wanted. Katie has learned this trick and will just turn her back on him which will sometimes start WWIII. For the most part, they adore each other and will even give hugs and kisses but they are siblings so yes we do get the fights.

The cold bug from Hell!!

We've been fighting this cold bug for weeks and it's never really left. This past weekend we opened up the windows as it was nice and crisp during the day. We were hoping to get rid of all the germs so we could start over but of course, that didn't happen. Ryan has had a cough for about a week now but it was finally becoming really productive. I guess with his gag reflex a really productive cough isn't so good. He had his bananas and wanted a bottle so I gave it to him and let him lay propped up on the pillows on the playroom floor. I had made dinner and served everyone and went to sit down. About half way done with my dinner I hear a cough, then Ryan crying and Marie screaming (at the top of her lungs) "MOMMY, HE HURLED!"

Poor little guy must have rolled in it, by the time I ran from the living room to the playroom he was covered. Now I can laugh at how he looked but last night, not so funny. I grabbed him up and headed for the bathroom. Started the bath, wiped him up with towels then stripped him to find he had left me a nice gift in his diaper. Lovely; it never rains, it poors! I had to wipe that up and then get him into the tub and scrub the poor guy's body. I hate the smell of formula/milk after it comes back up. It's totally disgusting so I scrubbed and scrubbed and he splashed and had a merry old time. Logan wanted to join him so I grabbed him up to add him to the mix and low and behold he had also left me a lovely gift. After wiping him up , he jumped in to splash. I had Marie stand in the bathroom while I took Ryan out to dry off. I do this right outside the bathroom door so I can keep an eye on whomever is still left in the bathtub. I had let Logan use the cup we used to soak them with and all of a sudden I heard it. Yup, you guessed it. He took the cup, filled it and proceeded to dump it outside the tub. He was aiming for Katie's potty that makes the music when something gets into the pot. Most of the water hit the bathroom floor and poor Marie was just scrambling to get the cup from him and grab towels to throw down on the floor. Today all of this is very funny but last night I wasn't a happy camper.

After all that, Ryan and Logan are still having issues with the time change. Ryan was still moving around and talking in his crib after midnight and Logan came in to join us around 1:30 so I didn't get a restful night sleep. I'm hoping the boys adjust to the time change soon because I'm just a wee bit tired.

Poor Ms. Katie woke up with a nasty cough and a pretty good temperature this morning so we cancelled all therapies, put the two eldest on the bus and proceeded to cuddle and watch cartoons for most of the day. Ryan was much better today so he wanted to color and play. Katie was pretty well shot for the day being very whiney and clingy. She's now feeling a little better and watching Marie play her game. Keep fingers and toes crossed that they start feeling better tonight so we can all get some sleep.

Tag - borrowed from Meari

1. Where is your cell phone? In my purse where I always keep it. Afraid I will forget it when I walk out the door.
2. Your significant other? Curtis, my wonderful husband.
3. Your hair? Very dark brown with gray; time to color again.
4. Your mother? Very stubborn
5. Your father? Deceased but also very stubborn
6. Your favorite thing? My family, cross stitch and my coffee
7. Your dream last night? Didn't get much sleep between one sick child and two cranky ones so not sure that I did dream.
8. Your favorite drink? Coffee
9. Your dream/goal? To be able to have my husband stay home too.
10. The room you’re in? Living room
11. Your ex? Ex what??
12. Your fear? heights, snakes and bees
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? More money and my husband a stay-at-home Dad (while I'm a stay-at-home Mom).
14. Where were you last night? at home like always
15. What you’re not? patient - never have been and doesn't look like I ever will be.
16. Muffins? Blueberry or banana
17. One of your wish list items? to have all the children sleeping in their own beds and in their own rooms this year!!!!
18. Where you grew up? In a small town in Connecticut
19. The last thing you did? changed a diaper and made a bottle.
20. What are you wearing? Sweatpants, t-shirt and socks; I'm cold!
21. Your TV? which one?
22. Your pet? none
23. Your computer? HP desktop
24. Your life? Full of therapies for the boys and lots of fun times with all.
25. Your mood? Very groggy but happy
26. Missing someone? My dad
27 Your car? Blue Dodge Caravan
28. Something you’re not wearing? Shoes
29. Favorite Store? Target or Dillard's
30. Your summer? Spent with all of the kids while they are on summer break; maybe a trip to Houston to visit family. I sure hope so!!!!!
31. Like someone? In love with my wonderful husband
32. Your favorite colour? Purple
33. When is the last time you laughed? this morning
34. Last time you cried? Sunday night; I always cry when I watch a sad movie.
35. Who will/would re-post this? I dunno, but I want to know if you do so please leave me a comment!

Cole Family Artwork

A week ago Monday, the kids were off school for President's Day, so when Ryan's O.T. came for his scheduled visit they all got to work with him for his session. Since it was raining, we couldn't go outside so she decided to try some finger painting. I have to admit I've never tried this with the kids. I know, bad Mommy! For the most part Ryan enjoyed playing in it and Katie and Marie had a ball. Logan ran up a couple of times saying, "Paint!" and then would run back off. He even stuck his finger in some purple paint and made one little swipe at the paper but wouldn't do more than that. This picture is the end result of Katie, Marie and Ryan fingerpainting that day. I believe I will have to invest in some washable paints so that the kids can do this more often. They all loved it and didn't give me that much of a fuss when they were done and heading in to a nice warm bubble bath. Why didn't I think of this before? Katie hates to get into the bath and then hates to get out. After the painting session she was almost ready for her bath and didn't fight like normal. She still didn't want to get out of the tub but I can live with that!!

I think I'm going to put this up on the wall in the playroom to show off their combined efforts at fingerpainting and add more pictures to it as they do them. I can make a finger painting wall of pictures and I know they will love looking at their beautiful artwork!

Kid Fun Time Saturday

Saturday mornings are spent cleaning up before Ryan's 10:30 S.T. session. I have to block the rest of the kids on the other side while Ryan is in therapy or they will distract him too much. This Saturday Logan and Katie were not happy with being blocked. Once Ms. Kathy left, Ryan fell asleep in my arms and I put him down for a nap. I let the others out of their "cage" so they could have the run of the house to calm them down. This made Katie and Logan very happy as they like to run up and down the hallway or ride one of the push/pull toys up and down.

Once Ryan awoke from his nap we played in the living room and some how started playing hide-n-seek. I would grab Ryan and hide under his blanket while Marie counted. It was so much fun but hard to keep him calm enough until she'd rip the blanket off our heads and he'd scream with laughter. We then had him count to 10 while we hid under a big blanket and every time he'd coming running over and say "Mommy!" and grab the blanket off while Katie and Marie giggled. Logan watched this for a little while then decided he would help Ryan or whomever was counting. Once I threw the blanket over our heads I would feel Logan grabbing at my head and he'd giggle. We even got him to get under the blanket to hide a couple of times. He was having a great time right along with the rest of them. We decided to let Mommy count while the rest of them hid and I think they enjoyed that even more. I found them the first time because I could hear Katie saying, "I want to go see Mommy" so I came around the corner and yelled "Gotcha!" They all screamed and laughed and of course I had to keep doing that until everyone got way to hyper and we had to all take a time out.

Ryan had his O.T. yesterday afternoon outside in the front yard. She brought a storage bin that was really long but not too deep and it had a ton of rice and dried beans. She had hid some small plastic animals, some shells, some loose change and some small balls. He had to sit in the bin with his socks and shoes off and search for these things and put them in little bowls. He sat there the entire session and only threw things a couple of times. He seemed to like running his hands through all the stuff and didn't mind his feet being in it either. Although, he did have his toes curled at one point like he wasn't too sure if he wanted to be in there but after that he was fine. We will be making a trip to Wal-mart for a bin that size to put our 15 lb. bag of rice in and to buy some dried beans to add as well. I know that Logan likes to run his hands through stuff like this because he has a smaller version in his classroom or did the first year. We had planned on making one of these but couldn't find a bin with a lid so we didn't complete it. Now that I see what she used I'm heading out to purchase one today (or better yet, will have Daddy pick one up on the way home!)

Pics

Katie playing while Ryan was napping

Ryan and the nasal spray

Birthday and other stuff

Ryan turned two years old this past Saturday. Poor little guy was so under the weather we didn't celebrate until Sunday. Since he wasn't the only one not feeling well, we didn't do much other than to bring out his presents and let him play. He's afraid of Tickle Me Ernie, didn't care about the Happy Birthday Diego and his Elmo Knows My Name wouldn't work. He lay in my arms and let Logan and Katie press the button every time Diego stopped singing. Logan loved the Ernie and promptly took him in the other room to play which didn't bother Ryan in the least. We will be doing something more this weekend to really celebrate his birthday now that everyone is on the mend.

I think Ryan's napping patterns are back to normal or at least they were Wednesday. After his physical therapy, he climbed into my lap and fell fast asleep, snoring loudly. I was able to lay him down on his pillows and he slept for almost two hours. What a nice break it was, even though Katie did try several times to wake him up. She was successful the last time she tried but at least he had slept for almost two hours. Yesterday we spent the day with Daddy and he slept the entire time we were in Target and a little bit of the ride after that. He even took another nap when we got home, of course, he had to be in my arms to do that but at least he slept. Katie took a tiny nap on the way home; we had a 30 minute drive and she slept for the last 15 minutes but at least she did sleep.

Last night we had a good laugh when Ryan picked up my nasal spray bottle (cap tightly shut, of course) and put it to his nose and made a sniffing sound. I've been using it because I've been so stuffed up due to the cold and allergies. Apparently the little guy has been watching Mommy this week and decided he wanted to try it too. I was in the other room tucking Katie and Marie into bed when I heard Curtis bust out laughing. I came around the corner to see him doing it and promptly grabbed the camera to get a few shots. (pictures to follow)

Gone but never forgotten

A little dedication to my Dad who may have left us on February 5, 2006 but who is never far from our thoughts and hearts.

He was friends with my grandparents before Mom brought us back from California. It took them a long time to begin dating but he'd been in my life as long as I could remember.
Before they got married, he was always there for us even though he had to support a son from his first marriage he still made sure that we had everything we needed.

Three generations of West men; Bernie, Virgil or "Pap" as I always knew him, and Gary. Later when all of us kids started families Bernie became "Pap" to all the grandkids.

One of my favorite pictures; we would always spend a day snapping green beans and any other veggie we could to can for the winter. He would get up at the crack of dawn and head out to a farm to get all the fresh produce and bring it home for canning. It seems that it always ended up that he and I would be the ones in the kitchen getting the veggies ready and then Mom would start canning them. They were always up until after midnight finishing up. Oh those green beans were soooooo good!!

In Florida a couple of years after we moved down for the warmer climate.

Mom and him at my house at Christmas one year.

This picture still shocks me; I asked him if he wanted to hold his grand daughter while feeding her and he said sure. I didn't think he would but he did hand her back as soon as she messed her diaper and said that was Mom's job to clean up. Always a smart remark that made me laugh.

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Some of his favorite lines; take a short walk off a long dock (for when we were driving him nuts) I hid some green jellybeans outside for you; why don't you go look for them (if there wasn't snow at Easter) or I hid some white jellybeans outside (when there was still snow on the ground) The always funny (to me and him at least) Go play in traffic. The classics: Here's a kiss for ya or I think someone stepped on a frog.

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The time Don tore his engine up while studying engine mechanics at the local VoTech school. He yelled and then spent the day with Don putting it all back together. Don't think Don got grounded for that one.

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The time he, mom and some friends went to the Daytona 500 in the infield to watch the race. He came home with a very irritated look on his face and said "where's the beef?!" Apparently Mom had packed everything in the cooler for the race but forgot the hamburgers and hot dogs. They had ketchup and onions on hot dog buns. That was hysterical! He laughed about it when he got home but I don't think he was too happy at the time. He NEVER let her forget about that either. I think it was one of his favorite stories to tell.

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We were moving into the house in Ormond after being in a rental for a few months (after first moving down here) and there was a HUGE palmetto bug in my dresser drawer. I thought nothing of trying to swat at it until it flew at me! I started screaming, Mom ran in to see what the problem was she swatted at it while telling me there was no reason to scream and when it jumped on her she screamed bloody murder. Bernie ran in mumbling something about damn silly woman and took care of the bug. Our hero!!

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The time I was laying outside in the back yard and my husband (at the time) was across the street visiting with him. A HUGE rat snake fell out of the tree, I ran screaming out of the house and across the street and he laughed so hard I thought he was going to wet himself when he found out why I was acting like a moron. They calmly walked over to see just how big that snake really was so they could tease me about it for years to come.

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It's still hard to deal with but if we remember the fun/funny times then we can laugh through our tears.

Disney Pictures - Katie's Birthday

The Tree of Life

The battery started acting up and I couldn't get any more pics of Goofy but I do have where they took some for us. Once I figure out how to get them I will e-mail you all pictures. I got a hug from Goofy too!!

As you can see; Logan adores Mickey! (So does Ryan; the only way to keep him calm while waiting in line was to pick him up and show him Mickey!!)

The Birthday girl!

Ryan; the Super Fussy BOY!

I was trying to get a picture of the deer but it was nice to catch something else in the frame!

This is supposed to be a picture of Mount Everest but as you can see I didn't do a good job!