Climbing the net

It's been forever and a day since I've blogged, folks. Sorry about that. We've been kinda busy! Here is a short video clip of what our D has been practicing at the Y pool for a while now, and what he's been able to accomplish! He's amazing, and strong. So love this boy.

Surpassed.

Three of my four kids have surpassed me in skiing/snowboarding, and its only a matter of time before the fourth gets on his bucket ski and surpasses me as well. As long as they can manage waiting for me at the bottom of the run I'm up for going! Love our children and their joy in life.

Cuteness

Annnnndddd....just because he's so darn cute in the snow.

School year

Homeschooling has been going really well this year. I love it. Most days. And my kids love it. Most days. I have one that wants to read all day long, one that doesn't want to do school whatsoever (unless its art time) and wants to play sports all day long, one that really wants to just know how to read the big, large books right away and skip all the basics (ya know, picking up big novels and wanting to read them when she's only newly six and still reading simple stories!), and one that loves to color, say his colors, and his shapes. It's such a blessing to be home with my kids. Here are some highlights so far this year:

Homeschool science fair. We had a great time experimenting. Best experiment at the science fair was a Lego Robotics Mindstorm thing - pretty amazing - and creepy. 

Art museum field trips. We've gone three times this year - to two different art museums. Culture. It's so good. We also joined the Nature and Science museum and we've definitely gotten our moneys worth! 

Field trip to Kong. Here's D in front of the huge Kong at the entrance.

P.E. Here's H doing pull ups at home one wintry day. One of the best Christmas gifts ever - a pull up bar! And more outside winter PE - pulling brother on his sled. We do a lot of soccer around here, too.

Art. My all time fave to teach.

Reading in our jammies. Pretty much my other all time favorite.

Some of the best books we've read this school year. 

That's it for now. We'll be over here learning. Hope you are enjoying your year, too! I'm closing out with a pretty interesting graphic. Until next time! 

Swim meet 2016

Wow. November was my last blog. Guess I just can't keep up with this thing! Ha! I still enjoy writing, however, and love sharing about my kids and all that God has blessed me with. So...for those of you still around, hi!

This past January we went to the Jimi Flowers Paralympic Swim meet once again, and were able to connect with some of the most amazing people. We attended this meet a few years ago, and we met some of the "one arm club." What a blessing to connect with other kids like D and meet their parents. This year was the most special of all, as we had the opportunity to really get to know the one arm crew. Not only did we cheer them on at the meet, but we were able to go to lunch with them and their families. It was such a joy to ask questions, connect with them, and to allow D to see what he can do! Now we just have to find somewhere that will teach our boy to swim...

Kayla, D, and Bre

Kayla, Gabe, D, and Bre

Tools

Dad made a cool new tool for D to use. He's loving it...turning off and on every light over and over again, as well as opening door after door. Such joy on this kiddo's face!

October

There are so many things about my husband that I love. One of them is how handy and creative he is! Our kids dress up every Halloween with their cousins and we come up with some group theme, then trick or treat all together. In past years we've done Star Wars, Dr. Seuss, Angry Birds, and Wizard of Oz, among others. This year was the Superhero year, and the first year that Dillon could drive his own wheelchair around while trick or treating! Our Dillon was the coolest kid around as his dad made him the raddest Batmobile to go along with his Batman costume! Here are a few pics of our night, and some of the hubs making the cool ride.

Batman, Wolverine, BatGirl, Captain America, Robin, and SpiderGirl (or something like that)

Our boy was so joyful in his Batmobile; he'll probably want to keep it on his wheelchair for good now! The rest of our weekend was eventful for little D, too, as he was fitted for his FOURTH prosthetic arm! As his full arm grows he needs to keep updating his little arm. He uses his prosthetic arm daily and it is his favorite method of mobility. We went to see our fave, Dr. Terry, this weekend, and D was cast for another arm. He should have this one in a few weeks, and we look forward to this one fitting better with his growth. One of these days I'll line up all of his arms that he's had over the past two years - it is so fun to see how he has grown! After the doc visit we had to take the kids to a childhood fave of ours... Happy Fall!