Halloween

We had a wonderful Halloween this year.  Little Landon was Tigger.  Erik and Bekah were Tarzan and Jane.  Chandler was a baseball player.  Cory and Taylor didn't dress up as anything, but looked like they were in costume anyway....their football team has a long-standing tradition that if they make the playoffs, the players bleach their hair, so last night, Bekah bleached their hair. Since they both have pretty dark hiar, it turned very yellow! 

Cute little Tigger

 

 

Tarzan, Jane and......Tigger!

 

Chandler the baseball player (As usual!!)

 

 

Crazy Hair!!

 

 

Our Pumpkin (or Munga, as Landon would say!)

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

 

 

 

Landon is two!

I honestly cannot believe how quickly time has gone by, and now our beautiful baby is two!  He is truly a miracle.  I thank God for him every day. 

 

Of course, Landon had a Mickey Mouse party, because Mickey is his very favorite!!

Fun Day at Elitch Gardens

 

We had a great day Sunday at Elitch Gardens.  Shari went with us, and Bekah brought Erik.  Chandler also brought his friend AJ.  Landon loved riding the carousel!  He also enojyed the ferris wheel, the crazy bus, and the ghost blaster.  It was a wonderful family day!

Homecoming Game

 

County won the homecoming game 42-16.  It was a great night for a football game under the

Friday Night Lights!

 

 

Taylor

#72

Cory

#86

Chandler

 Rich and Randy had sideline passes

 

 

Baby Arianna

 

Our Niece Cassie had a beautiful baby on Saturday.  We welcome sweet Arianna to our family.  We are so excited and thankful she is here.  Cassie will be an amazing mother to her. 

 

 

Happiness

I was just sitting here thinking......I have never been happier in my entire life than I am right now.  I have always had a happy life...wonderful childhood, happy marriage, and I have loved being a mother more than words can say,  from the moment I knew I was expecting Bekah.  My life has always been truly blessed.  But I feel SO blessed at this time in my life right now! I thank God for my children, my husband, my sister and parents, and all of my extended family and in-laws and friends.  I realize how blessed I am and I am completely happy and content with my life exactly as it is.

Birthdays

Here are photos from the big kids' birthdays this year.  Cory and Taylor turned 17 in July.  Bekah turned 19 in August, and Chandler turned 12 yesterday!

Happy 17th Cory and Taylor!

 

 

Bekah is 19!

 

Chandler turns 12!

 

Homecoming 2012

 Cory and Emily

 

 Taylor and Abby

 

 Brothers

 



Bekah and Erik

 

So Many Miracles

Our sweet little Landon has been making wonderful progress over the last few months.  He has made slow and steady progress since birth, and we thank God for that every day.  Lately, he has had made some amazing and miraculous accomplishments, that have come pretty suddenly, and when I look back over the past few months and how far he has come, it brings tears of joy to my eyes!  Several months ago, I made the decision to take his nutrition into my own hands and start blending whole healthy foods to give him through his button.  Mom and Dad bought us a Vitamix blender which has been a God-send!  I blend up things like salmon, chicken, eggs, fresh fruits and veggies, oats, whole wheat, yogurt, milk, juice,and olive oil and have replaced commercial formula, which has corn syrup as the number two ingredient.  He has responded to this homemade blend beautifully.  His color is great, his immune system is strong, and for the first time since birth, his weight is up above the 10th percentile curve that he has followed his whole life.  Over the last few months, his strength has improved so much. A couple months ago, if we tried to stand him up, his legs were limp.  Now, he is standing on his own, while leaning against something just for balance.   We picked up his new AFO's to give him some more ankle support while standing.  He is talking more and more everyday, putting two words together and saying more words than I can count.  A huge blessing, one we weren't sure we would ever see, is that he passed his swallow study this week!!!  He is cleared to drink liquids for the first time since his first swallow study at 3 weeks old.  He can also start eating soft meltable foods and finger foods in addition to the purees that he has been eating. He is cleared for eating and drinking anything he would like to try, really.  The problem is, he has developed somewhat of an oral aversion and some senosry issues that we will have to work through.  He is not interested in drinking and not very interested in eating, but that could be because he is getting so much substantial food through his blends.  We will work on things and it make take a long, long time until he is eating and drinking enough orally to gain weight and stay nourished.  In the mean time, he will still be getting most of his nutrition through his G-tube.  We are fine with baby steps....we are used to it!  As far as the sersory issues, his therapist recommeded things like shaving cream in his bath since he doesn't like gooey stuff.  He is not thrilled with the shaving cream.  He makes a whiny noise and just looks at it.  He is so cute when he does that.  I am trying different things of that texture, food and otherwise, to introduce as many gooey things as I can, in the hopes of getting him used to it.  Anyway, after everything we have been through,  I welcome this new challenge with open arms, so happy that he is ready to take these new steps!  The other fabulous news over the last month or so is that his orthopedist said he no longer has to sleep with the shoes and bar, which is so comfy for him.  He has been wearing lots of footie jammies lately!  What a wonderful few months!

Working hard at getting strong is tiring business!!

Landon's Sandbox

 

So, since the summer started, I have been excited to get Landon's sandbox all ready for him.  We built the fort about 10 years ago when the big kids were younger and it has a big sandbox that we built underneath.  I absolutely LOVE this fort.  Rich and I built it from scratch together.  We have lots of fun family memories of it, both building it and the kids playing in it through the years. Since the time my older kids had used it, I was disappointed to see that some neighborhoold cats had used it, too.  Yuck!  So the older boys and I took all the sand out, lined it, and put fresh, new sand in it.  I put a plastic tarp over it and weighted it down with rocks to keep cats out, which was a pain to deal with everytime Landon played in it.  He LOVES it, by the way, and I want him to play in it on nice days whenever he can.  So after researching the features that I would love to have in a cover, my very handy and talented hubby built this awesome cover this weekend.  When it is closed, it is a nice cover to keep the cats out, and when it is open, it folds into bench seats with backs!  I love it so much and I am so thankful to Rich for building it for him!  Landon could play for hours and hours in there, and I love to sit in there with him, with my toes in the sand.  Feels almost like we are at the beach!

Here is the fort with the sandbox underneath

 

 

Here is the cover closed

 

 

 

And here is the cover opened to form the seats

 

Landon is really enjoying it!