Strawberry Shortcake

Here is my little Strawberry Shortcake girl! My mom made this costume for me to wear for Halloween one year when I was about Jorie's age. I have saved it all these years. And Jorie thought it would be great fun to try it on. Brings back alot of childhood memories! ;)

Josh's new wagon!

A few months ago, while playing with a remote control car; Steve accidentally drove the car into Josh's wagon. It actually ran into it SO hard that it broke the wheel off the wagon and it wasn't something that could be repaired. After several months of Josh asking, we finally decided last Saturday to replace his wagon. We decided this time to get a different type of wagon. It's larger than his little Radio Flyer wagon and made from hard plastic so it won't rust. It also has two cute little seats inside, a cup holder for drinks and a little door that Josh can open and close to get in and out which he LOVES!! He will spend hours just piling cars or stuffed animals in and out of it.

A few nights ago, we decided to take it for a walk to the park near our house. I pulled Josh on the way there and he pulled it all the way back home himself. I think it's going to be a well used toy for many years to come. :)

Fishing!

One of the activities we did while Ryan's friend Sam was here was fishing! Everyone enjoyed this activity. Finding things that everyone can enjoy in our family are rare due to the differences in age and ability. We had a great evening! We left after a quick dinner of Subway sandwiches and headed to Shevlin Park. Joshua and Jorie spent most of the time exploring and looking for sticks while Sam and Ryan fished with Steve. By the end of the evening, the other little fishermen and their families had left and we had the pond to ourselves. Ryan was the only one to catch any fish. But, we all had so much fun trying. Even I fished for a little while. It brought back alot of memories from my childhood and fishing with my grandparents. ;) What a fun evening! None of us knew at the time that Ryan's leg was broken. But, this fishing trip was just one day after his fall out of bed. He hardly complained at all which is amazing to us! We found out the following day after a trip to the doctor and an xray.

Ryan update

Just a quick post to ask for your prayers. Not only for Ryan but for all of us. This has been a trying time to say the least. Ryan didn't have much pain in the beginning. As I mentioned below, he complained so little that we didn't even know his leg was broken until Friday afternoon. Although the pain is still fairly minimal; it IS there. And it seems more and more apparent at times when we need to lift him, dress him, position him in his chair etc.. I thought having a child with a physical disability had already taught me MUCH patience. But, I was wrong. I am now learning, through this latest trial, so much MORE patience. Dealing with Ryan's frustrations on top of my own. He is fearful of anyone touching him. But, yet we have to in order to care for him. This morning, it took about 45 minutes of my discussing with him just how to lift and move him to pick him up out of bed as he was so nervous. Of course, I lifted him just fine and he wasn't hurt. But, his fears are still there. Pray he heals quickly and that his pain stays minimal and that he will let us help take care of him.

Ryan's first and hopefully LAST broken bone!

For those who don't already know; my brave boy broke his femur Wednesday night. He actually rolled out of bed (something he has NEVER done before). In fact, to give you an idea of just how crazy this is....Ryan has not had the ability to roll since he was just a baby. He lost that ability pretty early on. Anyway, he was at Grandma and Grandpa's when it happened. He was hooked to all of his machines; including his bipap, oximeter and feeding pump. And when my mom found him, he was in a sitting position with all of his equipment still attached to him. We were incredibley grateful that he seemed fine from such a fall. He did complain of his right leg hurting a bit on Thursday. But, there was no bruising or swelling and nothing that would lead us to believe anything major was wrong. After giving it a full day, we decided to take him in on Friday for an x-ray. Ryan still insisted nothing was wrong and didn't even want to go in! However, the x-ray showed that Ryan had a broken femur! We were all in shock. I am still amazed that he broke his leg and hardly complained about it. Further, we are shocked that there weren't more visible signs of a break! Please pray that it heals quickly!!!

Summer Fun

It has been a busy week. But, one full of friends and family. We started last week with Kami and cousin, Elliott coming for a visit. That was also the week of VBS. Jorie and Elliott attended it together along with the rest of the city of Bend. (just kidding). But, there were a LOT of kids there this year. Halfway through the week, we had Ryan's best friend, Samuel, come for a visit. He has been staying with us since last Wednesday and will return to Seattle on Friday. The boys are so close and it's always sad when he has to go back home. They look forward to their week long visit all year long! Sometimes, Sam gets to visit again around Thanksgiving break. Hopefully, it works out for him to do that again this year as well. He's a huge help to me as well with watching Joshua and they just love eachother. On Monday, we had Steve's sister and her family over for a bbq. Jorie finally had a GIRL to play with and she was thrilled! Ryan's cousin, Darren is around the same age as Sam and the three boys had a great time together. They were having so much fun that we decided to let Darren stay over on Monday night as well! They enjoyed an evening of fishing with Steve, came home gutted and cleaned the fish and then cooked it right away. LOL Then we watched a movie and let them stay up way past their bedtime! ;) But, it was fun to see Ryan so happy and surrounded by good friends. Jorie got to have her own sleepover with cousin Alaina at her Grandma's house! We had one last round of company today when my friend Kari came for a visit with her two girls. She has two girls 7 and 5. It was fun to finally let Jorie have some girl time as she has been surrounded by boys all week! Its been a crazy past week and a half! But, it has been alot of fun catching up with old friends and family!

Daddy's girl

I was looking through some older photos and came across these two of Jorie and her Daddy. These are two of my most favorites. Although there are MANY! I have found that over the past couple of years it has gotten harder and harder to find the time to actually edit and print my pictures. Before, I did it once a month! Most of them are now just stored on the computer rather than in albums! But, I will never stop taking them. Jorie adores her Daddy and I think these two pictures capture that pretty well. :)