Cousins

We had the kids' cousins over for dinner tonight. Darren is now 10 yrs old and Alaina is Jorie's age. She will be 7 in November and Jorie will turn 7 next month. Hard to believe these girls are going to be 7! Seems like just yesterday they were born. We always have a great time when we get together.

A FUN Saturday

Saturday, Ryan attended an Oregon Duck football game with Steve and grandma and grandpa. So, it was just me and the younger two kids. Jorie had a birthday party to attend. So, we decided to go together while Joshua napped at home with grandma Laura. It was a really cute party held outside at a playground. Very nice park. We will have to go back now that we have discovered a new park! It was a small party with only 5 girls...although one of the girls is not pictured in the photo. And it was a puppy themed party. The girls enjoyed getting their faces painted and nails done. Most of the time they just played together on the playground. It was a beautiful day for an outdoor birthday party! Afterwards we went home to get Joshua and we all headed out to Jorie's favorite restaurant for miniature pizzas. To top off the day we went shopping for some new ballet slippers for Jorie. Her old ones are really getting to be too small for her. It was a great day. And Ryan really enjoyed his day at the game too. I don't have any pictures of that unfortunately. But, he had a GREAT day doing what he loves most...watching football. :)

Fall is here

Ryan pictured here making Joshua laugh. :0)

I have always enjoyed this time of year. Fall, cooler weather, the leaves changing colors on the trees, lots of baking, crafts, family time and the holidays around the corner! But, behind all the fun and happiness that this season brings, the main thing that is always on my mind is wondering when Ryan's next major illness will happen? Along with all the wonderful things that fall brings, unfortunately, it also brings illness. Will Ryan be in the hospital this Christmas or Thanksgiving? Will we make it through at home without the need for the hospital? Will we be able to get together with friends and family for the holidays...or will someone be sick and we have to cancel last minute to protect Ryan? Living in such suspense all the time, never really knowing when we will lose Ryan or when he will go through several days or weeks of a scary illness is hard. Even after all these years of living with SMA, it's still just as hard. I think the only thing that makes it easier is knowing that we have learned so much along the way and that we can take that knowledge with us during a hospital stay. HOPING that the doctors will listen to us, which they sometimes do not. Right now, I am working on a hospital protocol for Ryan's next ER or hospital visit. Hopefully, he does not have to be hospitalized this winter for any reason. But, if he does, we want to be fully prepared. And even though we have come prepared in the past. There are times that the doctors do not listen to us. So, we decided to print out a plan, list Ryan's previous hospitalizations and his history. We will have his doctor sign it and it will be the first thing we hand to the "hospital" docs and nurses upon our arrival that don't know Ryan as well as his pedicatrician. We are hoping that with his doctor's signature on it, it will come across as accurate and that we know what we are talking about as his parents. I have not had as much time to blog lately. Even with the kids back in school again. Joshua keeps me on my toes! We are praying for a healthy fall/winter for everyone! I know that God certainly CAN protect Ryan. And so that is what I will continue to pray; even with Swine Flu out there. God can certainly control the Swine Flu germs too!

First cold of the school year

With fears of there being two flu's this cold/flu season...every little cold or sniffle one of my kids get from now until the end of cold/flu season (April or May of 2010!!) is going to cause some anxiety!!I'm going to really need to take things one day at a time and trust God to protect Ryan. With that being said, please pray for Jorie and our family. Jorie is the first one to bring home an illness since school started 2 weeks ago. We are watching her carefully and making sure we take every precaution possible to protect Ryan. But, sometimes, there is only so much you can do. At this point, her illness seems mild. So, that is a good sign. Time will tell!

September videos

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Here are a few videos from the past couple of weeks. Elliott had a sleepover a few nights ago and wanted to sleep in the pack n play. But, before they went to bed, both Josh and Elliott had so much fun climbing in and out of it.

recent photos

Here are a couple recent photos of the kids. Ryan and Jorie in some of their new school clothes and one of Joshua relaxing on the couch that I thought was cute. Hopefully, I can get back to updating the blog more regularly. :-)

Summer is ending!

We celebrated our last day of "summer" yesterday and took the kids out for dinner and then on to the park. I really can't believe how quickly summer flew by and how fall is already in the air! It was chilly last night at the park! Jorie was brave enough to wade in the river a bit. But, was shivering quite a bit afterwards. I managed to get a shot of all 3 kids and individual ones too. It was a fun evening. Today, Ryan was off to start the 8th grade and Jorie 1st grade!

Been BUSY!

We have been busy here lately. So, not much time to post on my blog! School will start back up again on Tuesday for Jorie and Ryan. Jorie is thrilled to go back, Ryan is not. :) Our biggest concern as the kids head back to school is, of course, that there are 2 flu's out there this year to worry about. I would like to ask for your prayers that Ryan and Jorie would be protected from them this year. Actually, that all of our family would be protected. If one of us gets it, then the rest of us are in danger of getting it as well and passing it on to Ryan.

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Baker City last weekend to visit Steve's sister and family. We had a great time. Their son, Darren, is 3 years younger than Ryan and Jorie and Alaina are only 3 weeks apart in age. So, they always have a lot of fun together! :)