We highly apologize for the lack of posts for the last couple of months. Our lives have been fairly busy, with little time to post updates on our blog. This is my pathetic attempt to add a post. The months of March and April passed much to quickly. I feel like I blinked and it is now May. Hopefully things will slow down a little bit, but I doubt they will. K and Big C continue their trek through tee ball. It has kept them both fairly busy with a practice on Monday, a game another weekday night, then another game sometime on Saturday. It has been a bit rough, but we have managed. The team has shown really good progress. L hadn't attended a game in about 2 weeks and she said they had improved tons since she last saw them play. The team went crazy when they finally won our first game two weeks ago. All of them are such great kids, and we have a lot of fun, but I am ready for tee ball to be done. Once tee ball ends Big C will go straight into swim team. We thought tee ball was busy. Swim team has practice every day for 30 minutes then we report to the pool every Saturday for the next 6-9 weeks by 7am. Why do we do this to ourselves?
School only has a few more weeks. Big C says he isn't sad to be done with school, because he wants to really be a 1st grader. At the start of the year Big C's teacher recommended we had him tested for Gifted & Talented (G&T). She thought he was very bright, but didn't know if he was "gifted". We didn't know how to take that comment. She clarified that most of her "gifted" students lacked in the social aspect, in which she said Big C doesn't. Well needless to say, he tested extremely high and has now been placed in G&T. He loves it! He definitely gets his smarts from L.
N keeps plugging along. He has become a lot more interactive. His wonderful therapists have really helped him in his development. He is our little trooper. No new news regarding transplant. The pediatric transplant surgeon took a medical leave for all of April. So no pediatric kidney transplants were done by our transplant center for April.
Little C continues to grow in size and attitude. I used to think it was funny when parents would say their daughter is 6 going on 16. Wow, how true that is!!! She is very loving and caring, but has a stubborn streak in her that frustrates her parents daily.
Any way...here are a few pictures from the last couple of months.
Big and Little C with L at the beach in Galveston. It was a beautiful and fun few hours playing on the beach.
Big and Little C playing in the sea water...and enjoying every little bit
I had to post this picture.(you may have to click on it to really appreciate the sexiness) Mainly because it was so disgusting. The girl is way too fat to be wearing a bikini..and her boyfriends shorts are about to fall off. I guess it is some of Houston's finest spending time at the beach.
Big C and N enjoying time at the park together
L's remolded half bath. She worked really hard, and it looks really great. Sorry, couldn't find a before picture to so the contrast.
Big C and our friend the Bertoldo's visiting the Houston Zoo. We are now season pass holders and will make many more trips.
The Beams' and Bertoldo's. L and Lauren were really good friends in College Station. I am sure they wished they could spend more time together.
Family picture at the zoo. K took most of the day off and met us at the zoo.
We are way behind at updating our blog so here goes a ton of pictures of the last couple of months.
This was one of Big C's Christmas gifts, an outer space marble maze. He had been asking for it for 2 years and was excited to get it. It took K 12 HOURS over 3 days to put it together, it had a total of 480 pieces. Now you see why we had to take a picture of all that work.Someone in our ward gave us a trampoline which was awesome. We were going to get one for Christmas but decided against it. A free one is much better. We were a little hesitant after Little C's broken leg but the kids love it. Gotta love the trampoline static hair!
Big C's school had a "hoedown" in conjunction with the rodeo that comes to town every year. It was so cute. All the kids in his class sang and danced. Here he is with his buddy Diego.
Here is a video of one song of the hoedown. Little C didn't quite know what to think.
N turned 4. How did that happen? It just seems like yesterday that he was in the hospital! He is doing so well, progressing and learning new things every day. What a blessing this little guy is to our lives. As always his birthday is bittersweet but with each passing year, as we come to know and accept N for all that he is and isn't, our hope is that it will be more sweet than bitter.
I made a monter truck cake for N's birthday which we showed some minor but short-lived interest in. He still takes only water by mouth but we have gotten him to eat some ice cream, a bite of cinnamon roll and some yogurt. He does it sporadically, though.
Happy Birthday little man!
During spring break, we went to the Livestock Show and carnival that comes each year with the Rodeo. The kids loved it.
We had a really fun day, eating the carnival food (K indulged in a deep fried twinkie and said it was worth it) riding rides and seeing the animals. Big C milked a cow
and got to pet a kangaroo
and Big C and Little C loved the Texas Longhorn, however in this house we say "Gig 'em"!
N was interested in the baby goat.
Little C rode the merry-go-round
and everyone rode the train which is always a hit
Little C and Big C got up in the big tractor
But N was just interested in the huge tires...he loves those wheels!
This was Big C's favorite part of the day. He kept saying that we had to make sure we went back to "Fun on the Farm" next year because it was so fun.
We rode the "speedy train" to and from the show which the kids also thought was great.
We also braved the spring break crowds and went to the zoo. Always such a fun activity.
My children that eat love their food as you can see.
Big C started T-ball this year. We did not know what we were getting ourselves in to!
K got appointed to be the coach because he was the only one who went to the parent's meeting from our team. After paying our $185 so Big C could play, getting a sponsorship of $375 for our team, making sure we had a team basket for opening day and volunteering at the opening day carnival for 2 hours after the team parade, the coaching job has died down to just weekly practice and 2 games per week.
However, it is fun for K to be able to help Big C learn to play baseball, a game he grew up playing and loves.
Here's Big C calling himself safe at 1st base.
N at one of the games
Our little diva enjoying the game from the stands.
The day we left for our Christmas trip to Utah, I was in charge of Big C's school holiday party. It was chaotic fun and Big C told me he was sure that the "real" Santa and Mrs. Claus were at his party because Santa's beard was actually attached to his face.After 2 1/2 days in the car (25 hours) we finally arrived in Utah, just in time for Big C's birthday! We celebrated with all our family at Planet Play and everyone had a great time
Nanny was being silly! Little C enjoying her pizza
N at the party
All my family was there
And many of K's family came
Big C and his Utah cousins, Troy and Sadie, who he hardly ever gets to see!
My cousin, Emily, came to the party. It was her birthday, too!
We visited lots of friends, some of which we didn't get pictures with. We were able to visit with my mission president, President and Sister Tobler. That was awesome. I missed my 10 year mission reunion, so I was glad to be able to see them and reminisce about our days in Poland together.
I saw my kindred spirit, Melissa. I miss her!
And our kids got to play together
And we got to see our dear friends the Sartori's several times. We were glad that K got to participate in their new baby's blessing while we were there.
We love them and always wish we lived closer to each other so we could see each other more often.
We loved the cold weather for a change. It really felt like Christmas to me. We went to a live nativity one night and you can't tell from the pictures but it was snowing and cold. Big and Little C loved playing in the snow but by the time the night was over they were so cold. Big C told me he didn't want to be in any more snow!
It was fun to get bundled up, I forgot a hat so I had to borrow my Dad's hat. Oh well, it kept me warm!
One of the most memorable events of the vacation was our trip to Jump On It, a bounce house with lots of trampolines. N loved it.
and so did Little C until she broke her leg!! She was on a trampoline and a teenager jumped off a platform and double bounced her and broke her leg. My lot in life is to spend my days in ERs and doctor's offices and being on vacation, I guess, is no exception to that rule! I half way expected to be in the ER for N sometime on the trip but never expected to have to take Little C.
She was little trooper and had to be in a splint for a week and couldn't walk. But as you can see, she dealt with it really well. A week later she got a purple cast on her leg and could walk on it after that. We are so grateful it wasn't worse and that she didn't have to have surgery or anything.
We had family pictures taken with both sides of the family and they turned out great. Here's me with my family.
and K with his family
then just our family
and our cute kids
I love this picture of Little C
and this one of N
We had Christmas Eve at Nanny and Papa's house
N entertained himself by playing with empty wrapping paper rolls. He loved it.
We had a yummy dinner
A fun treasure hunt for all the grandkids
that took them all over the house to find clues for Grandpa's Grab Bag
And all the grandkids gave Papa a big hug for all the gifts in his Grab Bag.
We had a cousin gift exchange and sang some hymns and read the Christmas story from the Bible. We had a wonderful night.
Christmas morning we went to church. Here's Little C in her Christmas dress.
then opened presents
Big C was most excited about his Pokemon cards
and the Leapster 2.
Little C loved her pink pony
and her Elmo backpack.
N liked his baton
and the mittens kept him entertained for awhile.
Santa also delivered a trampoline for N back at home, it was too big to transport to Utah!
K was excited about his new boots until he discovered he couldn't get them on his feet so we had to take them back. We had a wonderful Christmas Day and it was so great to be with all of our family!
We did so many other activities that were so fun that I didn't take any pictures of like iceskating, movies, lunch with friends, an acapella concert, family dinners, a BYU basketball game, bowling, just to name a few. We had to say good-bye to Grandma and Grandpa a day before our trip was over, they went to California for a wedding. It was so good to spend time with them.
We spent our last night at a Walton family Christmas party and saw many people we hadn't seen in years. It was fun.
It's always hard to say good-bye and head for home
Because we never know when we will see everyone again.
But we had a great time and are so glad that we made it for the holidays. We love you all. Thanks for making our vacation so fun and memorable!!
