Swine Flu

As most of you know.. there has been a lot of talk on the news lately about the swine flu. Of course, being the mom of a medically fragile child, it does have me a bit concerned. But, I'm trying my hardest to keep it in perspective too. The kids are still attending school at this point. And I will plan to keep them there unless I hear it gets worse or shows up in Oregon! At that point, I might have to rethink my plan. But, so far, this sounds like a normal flu outbreak in the U.S. anyway. I pray it stays small and doesn't get too much worse.

Playing outside

We enjoyed being outside today. I took all three kids on a walk around the neighborhood. Normally, when I take my walks, it's just with Joshua. But, today all 4 of us went out! Ryan enjoys driving around too if it's not too cold out. If it is too cold, his arms and hands just don't work very well at all. After our walk, Jorie and daddy shot a few baskets together. Jorie did pretty good actually!

Warmer weather :)

It has been warmer here the past few days. The kids have really been enjoying getting outside more. In the pictures posted, Jorie and Joshua are watching the birds eat the bread that Jorie left for them in the backyard. Jorie has really been enjoying riding her bike up and down our street and both her and Joshua enjoy playing together in the backyard. My mom and I took Joshua on a walk today along the river trail. He really enjoyed it! After our walk, we stopped and let him get out of his stroller to toss rocks into the water. He got a kick out of that and couldn't stop smiling! I wish I had taken my camera along as those would have been some cute pics!

Cousins

Steve's sister and her two kids have been visiting for the past few days. Last night the kids had their cousins over for a sleepover. Such a fun thing for the kids to do! And since they moved away, we haven't been able to have one in a LONG time. Here are a few pictures from last night. Darren is almost 10 and Alaina is just 3 weeks younger than Jorie.

Another old video and a new one too!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I thought I'd post this older video I came across. When going through them the other day, I found this one of Ryan learning to drive his power chair. He was only 18 months old and cute as a button if I do say so myself! :) My dad is the one taking the video and Ryan keeps saying "papa" over and over again. He wanted to see his papa! We had to teach him to drive his chair to get the things he wanted and that was a hard lesson at first for an 18 month old. And the end of that video there is another one of Ryan more recently. He is showing off the button that Steve rigged up for his suction machine a couple months ago. :)

Video

Hmmm..not really sure why the video didn't show up on the last post. But, hopefully it shows up this time!

Remembering

I mentioned before that the outfit Joshua had on for Easter used to be Ryan's. I found the video of Ryan wearing the outfit. He was only a year old and it was on my 21st birthday. Aaron and I are playing catch and I'm about to open my presents. Seems like just yesterday! I am so thankful that I have these videos and pictures to remember Aaron by. What is amazing to me is that when my dad was taking this video, we were all so concerned about getting as many photos and videos of Ryan as possible as we had just been given the diagnosis of SMA and told he might not live to be 3 years old. Little did we know at the time, that it would be Aaron to leave us only a month later.

Easter pictures

Here are a few more Easter pictures!

Easter 2009

We had a quiet, but good Easter. We ate lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Brown and then after lunch, Jorie hunted for Easter eggs. It was kind of strange having just Jorie hunt for eggs. But, Ryan feels too old for hunting eggs and Joshua was taking his nap. Jorie just could NOT wait another minute for Joshua to wake up. So, we went ahead with the hunt. We did it indoors this year as it was a kind of cold outside yesterday. Here are a few pictures from the Easter egg hunt and also a few of all three kids taken right after church yesterday. Notice the outfit that Joshua is wearing. This is one of the few clothing items that I have saved of Ryan's from when he was a baby. But, I just couldn't let it go. I have a very vivid memory of Ryan wearing the same outfit on my 21st birthday and Aaron was there playing catch with him. I am sure I remember so well because we have a video of it. I tried to find a picture of Ryan in the same outfit but couldn't. At least we have the video.;) Hope everyone enjoyed their Easter!

Dying Easter eggs

We dyed our Easter eggs a few days ago. The kids really enjoy this. This was the first year that Joshua really tried to participate. But, he's still a little young to know what to do. I caught him dipping the egg dipper into the dyed water and licking it a couple of times! LOL As we were dying our eggs, one fell to the gound, cracking it. Jorie decided that she would go ahead and peel away the rest of the shell. And just as soon as she set it down on the table, Joshua had picked it up and began eating it. One of his favorite foods is eggs so that worked out well for him!! Ryan is always interested in seeing just how blue he can dye his egg. This year, he added two dye tabs to the water to make it extra blue! I get a kick out of Jorie's "people" eggs. What a cute idea. Happy Easter everyone!!

Fun at the park

We took the younger two kids to the park the other day. This is Jorie's favorite park. It's such a great park. It has 3 different play areas. One for little tiny kids, like Joshua's age group, then one for kids a little bit older and still another one for the BIG kids! Jorie has so much fun running around to the different play areas. Joshua is still too young to do very much. But, he enjoys running around with Jorie. But, the best part about this park for the kids is the big grassy hill next to the play area. It's so funny to me that these kids have this huge play area with cool swings and slides and monkey bars and their favorite part is running or rolling down the hill. I did my best to capture a couple of pictures. But, they are sometimes too fast for me! LOL :)

The two loves of my life!

Today marks me and Steve's 8th wedding anniversary! I am so blessed to have this man in my life. Steve and I often talk about how we got together and wonder how life would be different had Aaron not drowned. If Aaron had never dated me, I would never have dated or married Stephen! Many of you may not know this, but Steve has told me that if his best friend hadn't dated me first, he wouldn't have dated me. He was too afraid of the responsibility of dating a woman with a child. When I met Aaron and Stephen, Ryan was just 6 months old. Had Aaron lived, he would have been able to propose to me that summer of 1997, and at this time, he and I likely would have been married instead and celebrating 11 years of marriage this coming summer! But, the Lord had other plans for us and he did an amazing work in Steve's heart. Had Aaron not died, I never would have married Stephen, nor would there be a Jorie or Joshua! And I will never be able to describe the love Ryan has for his daddy either. It is really incredible! The Lord is so amazing! Sometimes, it is hard to believe how we started out and how much things have changed! But, it has all been worth it to spend my life with this amazing guy! I love you Steve!! With all my heart!!!

Not too much to write about....

I'm not keeping up with this whole blog thing as often as I had hoped. Whoops! I do often wonder who is reading. And since not everyone leaves comments, I do wonder from time to time how often I should keep it updated. But, we are still here! Just busy! This has been a good week. First week back to school after spring break. Jorie had a field trip today with her kindergarten class. It was so cold they had to leave early! Spring here can almost be like winter! Here are a few recent photos of the kids. Jorie and Joshua were actually really enjoying posing for the camera the other day. So, I took advantage of it!