I had an amazing opportunity today. We went to the Ashley House for children. They care for children who are very ill or have serious disabilities. A group of us from church went and made gingerbread houses, cookies and crafts with them and read some Christmas stories. It makes me remember how thankful I need to be to have children who can run and play. But I am every bit as greatful to have had the privilage of helping these boys with disabilities today. Talk about feeling like you are God's hands and feet! One boy could use his hands but literally needed my help to move his arms to participate as he had almost no voluntary shoulder or elbow movement! Amazing day!

I received an early Christmas gift from my "friends" on my porch. What else can a girl say but THANK YOU "friends". You know who you are, and even though I don't, I couldn't feel more loved and encouraged!! Verizon Wireless, you've got nothing on my network!! Love you guys!!! "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends". ~ John 15:13 - Again, thank you!!

Lexi insisted on wearing her Cinderella dress with her outdoor gear to check the mail on a freezing (9 degrees) day. She cracks me up.

Don't try this at home. . . oh, wait, we are at home. This is the girls playing doctor. When I asked Lexi what she was doing she said cleaning sissy's ears. So this is Lexi's version of ear wax removal with her toy power drill. That is some serious wax!!!

Lexi's new skills

Little Lexi is making such huge gains with talking lately. For the longest time all we got was single words, only about half that were intelligible. Now she speaks in short phrases and even an occassional sentence. Her phrases are structured most of the time like how other languages are structured rather than English too, with long pauses between each word as if each word was a sentence all of its own. The words she has 'made up' are too funny. Here are a few of my favorites.

Okay = "ah hey"

orange = "ooz"
Roxy dog = "wooha"
Aunt Brooklynn = "hi ya" (yes, it sounds more like a karate chop)

Gramma = "Naumi" ie "Naumi Taffy" (Gramma Kathy) or "Naumi Zoe" (Gramma Chloe)

Catchall word for many things (we don't really know or understand this one) = "ada pia". For example "Lexi, what did you see at the park today?", answer "ada pia". Or, "Lexi, what does the cow say?" Answer, "ada pia". "Lexi, where are the keys?" Answer, "ada pia"

Daddy isn't home = "Daddy . . . home . . . no"

I told her to go wash her hands one day and the water had been running for a minute to I went in to check on her only to find her washing her FEET ("seet") in the sink. Looks like a safe place to sit right? Uhg!

Her new favorite thing is the clasic "why".

Lexi: "Mommy . . . cookie?"
Mom: "No, not right now."

Lexi: "Why?" (which is pronounced with a dragged out "whyyyyeeeeeya")

Most of the time you tell her "no" to something, this is the response you get these days.

Messy doesn't begin to describe this girl. Give her a project and paint and she paints herself instead.

And I totally underestimate her skills at times, in part I think because she isn't as verbal as, say, her sister : ) Yesterday, she was walking down the stairs and started counting. I thought she'd get to 3 or 4 and stop but she got all the way to 12. Not bad for 2 1/2. She can sing the entire ABC song which is super cute with her speach.

Her amazingly crazy hair! It speaks for itself!

One of her favorite toys is a bear the Gramma Dottie got for her last year. It sings the whole song of "Jesus loves me". When she can't find it I hear (in a sad voice) "where Jesus Loves Me?"

It amazes me how different my two little girls are. While Kailey is loud and dramatic (which can be both hilarious or ear piercing depending on the situation), Lexi is quiet and mischievious (which is almost always terrifying as her mother). Her favorite things to do at home are to get into my pantry, find a box of something, anything really, and pour it out into some of her kitchen dishes, 90% of which ends up on the floor. I swear I take my eyes off her for 1 minute and there is about 15 minutes of clean up involved. This occurs more than once a day consistently.


At dinner she dropped her fork, said "uh oh" and ran to the drawer to get a new one. She came back with my giant serving fork. We were cracking up!
This little girl likes to eat like no child I have ever met! She is in the pantry asking for a "nack" (snack) constantly!

Her confectious smile gets her out of all kinds of trouble though I'll tell ya! She has the "I'm way to cute to scold" look down pat!!

The girl keeps me hoppin! Love her to pieces!

Proud Mom Moment

Okay so I have totally fallen behind with blogging. I am going to try keep up now ; ) I had a proud mommy moment today. We had Kailey's Kinder conference today. She is number 6 in her class and numer 13 in all of KG (of ~115 kids) with her reading skills. She is cooperative, does great work and is a good friend. But the wasn't what made me proud. Her teacher shared that she had an in class assignment on What Makes Me Special .. .. .. So she drew and wrote what made her special. Kids said things like 'cause I have blue eye's, etc. Kailey said "Because God loves me (in her own KG spelling of course). WOW! LOVE HER!!

Getting closer . . . craziness slows down.

Closer yet we get. We moved my mom in last week and are mostly unpacked. She had surgery at Harborview to fuse her neck at C5-7 this past Tuesday. In two weeks she is having brain surgery to put a cushion between an artery and nerve that are compressing one another and causing facial spasms among other things, so back to Harborview we will go. Poor mom's first surgery went okay but not excellent. She lost a LOT of blood and we believe she caught the stomach flu the we all caught and was throwing up all day after her surgery. After a weekend of all four of us puking then mom's surgery being at Harborview 12 hour days I was just glad to be at home cleaning the house. Who knew cleaning the house would be such a joy : ) But the day after my mom's surgery I realized I couldn't find my wallet so cancelled everything in it, only to find out that evening that it WAS at Fred Myer, where I thought I left it and even called twice earlier and they said the didn't have it. Aaaahhh! Craziness always happens in bunches and I am glad that it appears this bunch is over; till the next surgery at least : )

Moving in . . .

I am almost there with moving Gramma Chloe in. The countdown to surgery begins. I started last Monday moving my mom in and it has been a busy week trying to get everything done before her neck surgery in just two days now. We have her almost all moved into our home now but have a ways to go to clean up her house in time for a renter to move in. I still had to work this week and Lexi caught the stomach flu in the middle of it all just to add to the excitement of my week : ) I win awards I think for mom who has had the most bodily fluids expelled in her in one week. Last night Lex throw up on me twice and had explosive diarrhea on me twice also. Yes, literally all over me cause I let her sleep snuggled next to me after she woke up 3 times in 45 minutes around midnight. She must have had a tummy ache which woke her up and the rest of the night reminded me of why I shouldn't let her crawl into bed with me. YUCK!!!

I am just praying that God has my mom in his hands during all these upcoming surgeries and that she doesn't catch Lexi's flu bug before the surgeries.

Summer project update

Yes, it is happening. We are making progress. Amazing what a little elbow grease and time with Gramma Chloe and kiddos will create such a fun experience.

Even the three neighbor boys joined in our fun to fill the containers with dirt.

What is Lexi doing when she is not painting with us. Getting into trouble of course. She was playing with the ducktape instead of the toys.

She had been climbing the ladder to the monkey bars as you saw in my previous log, but coming right back down. She has since then become a daredevil about it and once her feet are on the TOP rung, she jumps to the bars to go across! Fortunately I have been there to catch her, but when I am on the grass painting with Kailey it is all I can do to get up and sprint over to her (she is sooo fast up that ladder!!) to make it to her before she leaps! No amount of time out or scolder deters her. Sooooo, what did mommy do to solve the problem?

Nothing duckdape and a piece of cardboard won't fix : ) No more climbing for you "wild" flower!! That is Kailey's new nick name for her, just "flower" wasn't suitable anymore. It is perfect really.

Silly Sayings

Kailey: Mom, for your birthday, do you want to do dishes, or go to the fair??
Mom: Go to the fair (not knowing if I should be happy I was given a fun choice or offended that such a non-fun choice is clearly perceived as being fun)
Kailey: Okay then we will go to the fair and daddy will drive cause you shouldn't have to drive on your birthday. (but I should have to, or rather 'want' to, do the dishes : )

LOVE her!!!

Smores

Kailey loves "firecamps", or so she calls campfires : ) Our neighbor Lissa introduced her to the art of roasting marshmallows and she is addicted. I was bummed that we didn't have a way to introduce her to one of my favorites; smores. Then I remembered a fabulous memory of my gramma. Not having a 'firecamp' herself, she was good at improvising. So that is just what I did!

I know!! You are all soooo jealous right now : ) And, yes, this is a kids shoe box with candles sticking out of it and chopsticks for skewers. They LOVED it and that was all the mattered to me. The smores were quite yummy!

I hope they have a fond memory of our silly escapades just like I did as a little girl.

Summer project

Hard to see?? Gotta have vision for this one people : ) This is our future vegetable garden. Oh yeah!! This is what they looked like when I picked them up from a lady giving them away on craigslist. Yes, can you believe she was giving these gems away! I have no funds for a summer project really so have to be creative to make it happen. Kailey loves this sort of thing and anything Lexi can make a mess of she is happy to do.

So off we go . . . I got two gallons of paint for $18 on clearance and mixed some to make different colors for decoration. Kailey is having a blast with this. It has been our evening girls time the past couple of nights.










Even Gramma Chloe got in on the fun!


Wish us luck!

My Little Pilgrim

I cannot believe it but my sweet little girl is graduating from Pre-K. She had a fun end of year program on Friday. It was so cute, they did all kinds of sign, posters and the works in their performance.

Mommy, Daddy, Papa, Gramma Kathy and sister were all their to cheer her on.

And it wouldn't have been the funnest year ever without her best friends at school with her. Daddy brought her roses to give her after her performance and she shared some of them with her little girlfriends Brielle, who is going to kindergarden with her, and our long-time buddy Reagan.

We are so proud of you Kailey-bug!!!!!

Lunch meat anyone?

What is this innocent, sweet little things up to now you ask?? That innocent smile is drawing your attention away from the lunchmeat to the left of the picture that she has stolen from mommy (I turned my back for ONE second I swear!!) Is the package nicely sitting there on the toy kitchen counter though? Of course not!

I am a creative girl and have managed to put lunch meat in EVERY nook and cranny of my pretend kitchen and container!
Not so innocent now am I : )

Inspiration

I watched Michael J Fox's special on the Adventures of an Incurable Optimist recently. This is a little bit on what he had to say that I found inspiring.

"The past 10 years, I found myself struggling with a strange new dynamic. I had to build myself a brand new life when I was already pretty happy with the old one. I had a wonderful life that I loved (career, wife, kids)
If I had to give up any part of this how could I possibly protect myself from losing all of it.The answer had very little to do with protection and everything to do with perspective.The only unavailable choice was whether or not to have Parkinson’s, everything else was up to me.
I could concentrate on the loss, or I could get on with my life and see if maybe those holes started filling in themselves.For everything this disease has taken, something of greater value has been given. Sometimes it is just a marker, pointing me in a new direction down a road I might not have otherwise traveled. So sure it maybe two steps forward and one step back, but after a time with Parkinson’s I have learned that what is important is making that one step count."

Wow!!! I found that to be such a great way to look at the struggles in your life. He wrote a book titled Always Looking Up and for me I feel such a double connotation to that title. I need to remember to keep my "chin up" and remain positive as the slogan goes, when life is hard. I also need to always look "up" to God to comfort and protect me and know that he promises so much for me. For everything that this world, this economy notably, has taken from me, God has given back. He promises to never give me more than I can handle (1 Corinthians 10:13). He promises to comfort me when I am tired and overwhelmed - "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28) He promises that I am never alone in my struggles - "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." (Isaiah 41:10) He promises to take care of my needs if I just GIVE them to him - "....Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him. . . ." (Matthew 6:24)

Knowing these promises, how lucky am I really! God is my "all natural", "no preservatives added", "unlimited refills", "all expenses already paid" antidepressant. Does it get any better than that?

I have felt as though I had to go into a 'survival mode' that past 2 years to protect myself from the world as it self destructs around me, and market that impacted our family so heavily. God has taught me so many things through it though that I never want to forget. I teach my kids things that I should work on myself. I am sure at times God says, "Wendi, you get what you get and you don't throw a fit!" I tell my children that and expect them to accept it, but why is it so hard to comprehend and accept at the age of 30!! My life hasn't always taken me down roads I wished to travel and sometimes I do stomp my feet and throw a tantrum about it. But some of the most treacherous roads have build a character in me that I now cherish. In the past two years I have dealt with situations that literally broke my heart and tore me into pieces. God put me back together each heart break I encountered and I am stronger that I could have imagined I would be.

God has shown me the amazing support system he has put in my life to rely on. I have a better network than Verizon could ever boast! And that is no exaggeration. I have some truly beautiful people in my life. I love you all so much.


Another point that I feel God has shown me in recent times was summarized by a young boy, Christopher, in a story talking to his beloved friend, Pooh.

“You are braver than you believe.” “You are stronger than you seem.” “You are smarter than you think.” “Even when we are apart, I will always be with you.”

Thanks God, I needed that : )

Lexi is two!

Alexis Madison "Flower"

Lexi is two already! She is in LOVE with Abby from Sesame Street so she was wearing the headband and wings for her party all day Saturday. Every time I would ask her if she wanted to open her presents she would say "Abby". Then when if was time to open them, she looked in each bag for Abby. Apparently cause I told her we were having an Abby party she thought Abby would be there in person, so was trying to find her all day. So silly.

Instead of regular cupcakes, I made ice cream cones (with cupcakes on top and the frosting swirled so it looked like a cone from Mc D's) Lexi's had Abby ontop which she loved.

She does the silliest things. Instead of running in the sprinkler or on the slip n slide, she stood next to it and splashed hysterically till she was soaked! Wild Woman!!











So, since she hadn't had nearly enough sugar for the weekend, On her actual birthday, Sunday, we decided to take her to lunch at the Ram after church so she could have a Mile High Mud Pie. She thought that was a splendid idea!




The only thing she couldn't decide was if it was more efficient to use her spoon or fingers to shovel it in : )


After a good rejuvenating nap, we went to a birthday party for one of Kailey's pre-k buddies at the Little Gym. This was Lexi's first LG experience and she LOVED it! She is so funny about certain sensory things. For example, I have NEVER been able to change her diaper in a public bathroom cause being up in the air on those pull down tables FREAKS her out. You'd think I was performing surgery! The giant jump houses freak her out. She will only swing if it goes slow. Anything with air and movement or suspension involved together, she is not going for. (But she will climb up on counters or to the top of the monkey bars without qualms). I don't get it but it is what we would call in my OT world as a bit of gravitational insecurity. Not diagnosable, but interesting to an OT mom. At any rate, she HATED the air track (a long air filled giant mat that the kids run, tumble, jump etc on). But the high bar with a complete stranger working there's help, totally okay with that! I am baffled at her presentation of symptoms, but love her to death for sparking my curiosity and defying anything that fits into a box, as is par for her personality.



Aside from the high bar, the other highlight of this event for her was hide and seek. The kids had to line up and hide against a wall while the staff hid and they found them. She was so adorable sitting with a bunch of five year old's.




What's that Lexi? Sunday school, a Mile High Mud Pie and Little Gym party wasn't quite enough fun for the day? Sure we can go to the park with a buddy : ) So off we went with our Holmes friends to our favorite park.


Thank you Kerri for my Popcycle for my FINAL birthday treat : ) Wow, that was a lot of sugar in one weekend. But isn't she cute!!!






Again, gravitational insecurity? Huh?? And let's talk about out second favorite activity to climbing; feeding "baby" Casey. Here is evidence of her sneaking him her popcycle : ) Sorry Kerri!!



My birthday wouldn't be the same without my beautiful big sister to celebrate!

Happy Birthday "Flower Lexi"!

P.S. If you didn't know, or just forgot, Lexi got the nickname Flower from her big sister. That is what she was determined to name her while she was still in my tummy and we were deciding on a name. She would talk to Lexi in my tummy and call her "flower", when people would ask what we were naming the baby, she would answer for us "flower". So, she is our Lexi Flower : )