It Has Arrived

What has arrived, you may ask? A referral for the newest addition to the Knight Family? News that the new puppy is fully trained and full of manners and gentleness? A new leg with the strength of the old one for Josh? No...No...No! Sorry folks to disappoint you on all of these fronts! The big news here is that SNOW has arrived! Like it, love it, or hate it...the white stuff is here and our girls think it's fantastic!

With Daddy being on one leg and a pair of slippery "pegs", the three ladies of the house bundled up from top to bottom for a morning of chilly enjoyment in the fast-falling white fluff! Both of the girls think it's pure joy to make Angels. Logan got a kick when I told her that one of her middle names (Angela) means Angel in Spanish...her eyes lit up! Together they must have made 25 Snow Angels!!!

We then got out the 2-person sled and made a slippery track down the back hill...Ready, Set, GOOOOOO! Lots of fun for one little girl (Leah) who wouldn't touch a sled a year ago!

After a long time of sledding it was time for refreshments...WHITE snow on colored mitten! A delicacy in Mid-Michigan!

I AM WOMAN...Hear Me Roar

Okay, so maybe you've been living under a rock. Or maybe you've been extremely busy like myself. But if you haven't heard, Josh broke his leg. Yep, we like to tell the story that he was pole dancing with his boss...yada, yada, yada! In reality, he and his boss were lowering a flag pole (yep, a freakin' flag pole) and when it was almost down, plop...right on Josh's right leg! And CRACK went the tibia and fibula...in multiple places! So, thanks to the pole, Josh was the first in our household to experience an ambulance ride with morphine! We also enjoyed a lovely stay in Sparrow Hospital's ER for approximately 7 hours, where that stay ended in a transfer to a private room on the orthopedic floor. But wait...it was just in time for a stop to the OR for a titanium rod to be crammed down his shin with 4 pins along with it! Ahhhh! After a relaxing 2 day stay in the hospital for Josh, life was turned up-side-down for this WOMAN!!!

Yes, I am woman...hear me roar! I can...AND HAVE...done more than I ever have thought I could do in a 24 hour time period...I have done things that I don't want to do again...I have done things that, quite honestly, are making me pretty frickin tired!

Here is Kristin's Top 10 Things That She Has Done That She Didn't Know She Could...Or...She Doesn't Want to Have to Repeat (So Josh, you'd better heal quickly and get back on your feet, because this woman is roaring...loud!)

1. Take the trash out...in the dark...in the rain...in the cold...
2. Help her husband pee in a modified milk jug...
3. Make dinner...one for Josh, another for Leah and Logan, and then mine...WTF? I don't cook!
4. Fix a toilet...I shoved my hand in a tank...OMG!
5. Clean a fish tank...with fish poop in it!
6. Wake up early...just to have grumpy girls greet me to this lovely day...
7. Clean up dog pee...lots of dog pee...not to mention take the dogs out every 20 minutes...why do they pee so much??? Oh yeah, and scoop poop from the yard! Lots of poop!
8. Grocery Shopping...I know, I'm spoiled. But HOLY SH!T, I hate that job!
9. Dishes...can't we just use our hands and eat from the can, really now!
10. Did I mention I had to help Josh PEE IN A JUG?!?!?!

But being the WOMAN of the house has some up sides to it too! I have had a blast with the girls. At first, I felt like I really had to re-establish my authority with them. Daddy has always been the one who can play with them then immediately be the "Heavy". Not Mommy, I'm the Lover!!! The kissy, kissy, lovey, lovey! Well, not when Daddy's out of commission. I had to take an authoritative role and that was interesting for a bit! But now, we've got it under control and times are fun with just us girls! We roll on the floor, we laugh and make silly faces...girl stuff!

Anyway, I've figured out that I've got this woman of the house thing licked...no problem! But I also figured out that I miss my best friend as he lays in his man-cave healing his pole-dancing wound!!!

Leah's Latest

As many of you may remember, many of you may not, this blog all began in an effort to keep people in the loop of what it was like when we were acquiring a service dog for Leah. Then the blog morphed into a family blog, then an adoption blog, then a "catch-all" blog! Kinda like a newspaper with no direction! Yeah, that's it!

Well, I wanted to take the blog back to it's roots and give you an update on Riley and Leah. Fun, eh?

Riley passed all of his CGC (Canine Good Citizen) and Service Dog tests without fail...I still say the most difficult ones were having a wheelchair intentionally run over his puffy white tail without him moving and then him having to lay next to a nice, piping hot plate of food without creeping closer to it or sniffing it! Can your dog do that?! Riley can! Then Riley went to school with Leah, using all of his Autism Assistance Dog skills that he was trained for, for over a year. During that year, Leah continued to have sensory defensiveness (didn't like the feel of) toward his fur or his wet nose or his scratchy paws. Leah just has never liked the fact that Riley is an unpredictable creature...not to mention that he feels funny too!!!

Within the same year, we initiated a very intense home ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) program with Leah. This is just good old teaching with very specific objectives. But it's very intense...up to 4 hours a day in our home as well as going to preschool! Well, let me tell you something...ABA works...and Leah doesn't need the assistance of her assistance dog anymore!!! We still take him out with us so his skills are kept in tact, but with the intense work that she's done for 9 months, we've relinquished the use of Riley at school for her and she is doing AWESOME!!! Her language is moving in the right direction, her play and social skills are increasing...she's becoming more typical each day! The Doctors that we work with out of Kalamazoo actually have questioned us if she really has autism!!! That's a lot of work, if you know how she was when we started all of this therapy!

One thing that I said I would always hesitate to do is to take Leah to a DAN Doctor. For all of you non-autism people, a DAN is a Defeat Autism Now! Doctor. This doctor believes that he/she can treat autism biomedically. I don't believe that it can be completely treated nor (obviously) cured, but I wold like to look into some of the aspects of the treatments. The reason: I always said I would consider a DAN if Leah hit a plateau. I feel she has hit a plateau in her sensory needs and eye contact...she shy's away from looking at people and she is constantly on the move and wiggling as well as banging her hands and fluffing stuff! This has been since the day she could sit up...and she's 4 1/2 now...that's a plateau if I've ever been on one! So, I'm not looking to make miracles...but I need to look behind a door that I just haven't opened for her!

Overall, Leah has made tremendous developmental growth. She is a beautiful, happy and talkative girl! She loves music, dancing, her sister...and of course suckers! She's an amazing piece of this family. Our family just wouldn't be as happy and full without all of the special things she brings to us each and every moment that she does! Someone asked me a long time ago if I wish she didn't have autism or I regret the situation. My answer: NOPE! If Leah didn't have autism, she wouldn't be the Leah we know and love and kiss and cuddle and are learning right along side of!!! Thank God for Leah!

A Bulleted List of our Week

You can hardly imagine what's been going on in our week. So instead of narrating our life today, I'm simply going to bullet them and you can extrapolate what each of them has added (or compunded) to our lives!!!!!

• We got a new puppy!!!! His given name was "TIM"...OMG! But I couldn't take it...he's now better known as "Murphy"!
• Logan was put on antibiotics for a sinus infection
• Josh was put on antibiotics for a sinus infection
• Leah has the sniffles and sneezes today...no fever, but her antibiotic is waiting at the pharmacy
• Kristin had a another week from hell at her horrific and misreable job...can you say, WTF? Yes, I've applied for 2 jobs this week too!
• Leah has been referred to a Geneticist for an increasing number of cafe' au lait spots on her body
• Preschool was cancelled on Friday due to the Swine Flu throughout DeWitt Public Schools
• My Grandma Kohls was hospitalized with sudden blindness and is having a temporal biopsy today (prayers please)

I think that's enough, don't you! My goodness...and I wonder why I have difficulty sleeping or concentrating some times!!!! I know, breathe in and breathe out...meditate...pray! God gave me so many good things in this life, I just need to focus on those and reflect MORE on those! I think I tried to do that once upon a time in this blog...didn't last long! The overwhelming seems to invade my positive thinking! The power of positive thinking and prayer........

An Uneventful Update

So many people have asked me, "What's up with the adoption?" "Where are you in the process?" I can give you an update but it really doesn't have much info in it!

The last time we updated we told you that we were 16th on the list for a singleton girl and 8th on the list for twins, either girl-girl or girl-boy. Wellllllll, we don't have any new info on this....soooooo, we could very well still be 16th and 8th or we could be bumped up! Who knows!

The frustrating thing with this lack of information is that we have asked over and over for information from our agency and we have been given blanket statements about our case. We don't need OR DESERVE blanket statements from the agency who we have worked with for so many months and also have completed a successful adoption of two beautiful girls!!!! You ask, what is a blanket statement? "Your case is being monitored and we are reviewing your documents." We've got an answer similar to this several times!!!!!!

The other component of our update is that we have requested our agency look into if there is a child who is deaf or hard of hearing that meets our home study eligibility criteria. This means is there a little girl, age 0-18 months, who has a hearing loss, or is there a child in that age range that is one in a twin set. So, we are open to a special needs adoption as this is my area of expertise and I really feel that my heart and mind is ready and prepared for parenting another child with special needs. I believe that God has put me here to do this...this is my purpose. BUT, our agency can't seem to answer the question if this is a possibility or not and if there is a child available currently or if we wait! SO FRUSTRATING!!!! I just need some answers about OUR CASE...it's OUR information!!!

Once we get any information, we will share it with you...but for now, this is our update!

At the Dentist

We all knew growing up in my family, with a mother as a dental hygienist, that dental health was a priority. Give me a break...we didn't know what a sugared cereal was and having gum with xyletol in it was the only kind made, right? Literally, I would beg to spend the night at friends' houses that had Fruit Loops and Lucky Charms in their pantry! That's how much our family valued dental health!

I can't say that we don't have the coveted Fruit Loop every now and then, but I will say that we do go to the dentist every 6 months...and this includes the little ladies!!! Yepper, the girls have been to the dentist right along for several visits. It's getting better with each visit...it was rough to begin with! I mean we couldn't even walk back to the "BIG CHAIR" room without tears and so-on!

But come on, we've got BIG GIRLS now! Logan even asked to go back to the room and get started!!! That's putting dental health in the highest priority!!! :) We can't quite sit in the BIG chair, nor do we use the "polisher", but we do county our teeth, scrape the cavity boogies and paint our teeth! We'll eventually get to the full appointment...but it's all a start to making Grandma proud and having true Dental Health!

The Knight's Love SMB

Many of you don't know but I was almost a SMB member...for those of you who don't know "SMB"...that's insider talk for Spartan Marching Band! Yep, I tried out, made the band and they said, "Okay show up and you'll just do one more try out for a chair." But in between both try outs, the first of my many heart procedures took place and we all know that the first procedure didn't go as planned! So, I was a "no-show" to the chair try-outs for the SMB! Regrets? No, just a passion for the band to this day!

And then there's Josh who is a percussionist through-and-through! So much that I have to ask him to stop the toe-tapping or finger jiving at least a few times a week! That drum line gives us all goose bumps! We're both trying to convince Leah and Logan that playing drums is the only option in life, per music standards!

So we had no plans for our weekend and there was a home MSU game...for us that means CHEAP ENTERTAINMENT! We drive ourselves over to campus, pay an arm and a leg for parking, then go watch the band! This is the third season we've done it and the girls love it!!! Both seem to plug their ears at first, as that is always their first reaction to anything with sound, but after some time, we're all clapping and marching with the SMB! After we watch the warm up, we dash down the street to catch the March to the Stadium! The girls caught their first glimpse of Sparty today...or the first one that they seem to remember! We all joined in on the chanting of The Series as they grimaced in straight rank and file right in front of our eyes!

After the band entered the stadium, we went to the children's area and found the ever-loved inflatables! Oh yeah...if we would have found those first the girls would have never allowed us to walk the campus and hang out listening to the band play scales and warm-up!

It was a great day to see the SMB...so on any given home football day, we'll be cheering GO GREEN, but it's not necessarily for the helmeted and padded boys on the field...it's for those highly skilled musicians who brought our family so much enjoyment today!

Summer 2009

A Summer Collage

Our Ethiopian Journey...

...is in a holding pattern! We've done everything we can to move this process forward and now we wait! We wait for a referral of a baby girl or twins! I know, so you think we're nuts with the whole twin thing! But do you honestly think lightening will strike twice and God will bless us with twins again!?!??! Hehehe!!! Ya never know! We will accept girl-girl or boy-girl twins...or a singleton girl, 0-18 months of age at the time of referral. We are 8th on the list for twins and 16th on the list for a singleton! It's gonna be a long time folks...a long time! And what is a long time do you ask? A year until a referral comes through!?!? At least that's what we are told as an approximation! So be it...we know that it will be our child that is referred to us...one that God intended for US when the call comes. All in due time...all in due time!

Something's Off...

There was a time just a bit ago when I wrote here that I said something to the effect that everything was 'right'...the job was right, Leah's therapy was right, yada, yada, yada...

Well, things change, life changes...my life has changed...something has changed...something is off!

What is it? Leah's therapy is great! We pulled her from public education at Clinton County RESA hasn't been what we expected. We really felt her home programming was providing her more social, academic, emotional, language and overall benefit than any programming RESA would offer. Thus, I am thrilled with what WE are providing Leah...at our expense and at our discretion. This is SOOOOOO RIGHT!

The girls are doing fantastic! Summer treated them like princesses! A trip to Disney World, several trips to Higgins Lake, time in the kiddie pool and out at the swing set on a daily basis, time spent with family and friends, a weekend getaway to Indy, not to mention all of the little things that I fail to mention! The girls and their life is SOOOOO RIGHT!!

So what is off?

Maybe it's my job? Yeah, that's one thing...I resigned from MSU as of this August but will remain to teach one course to interns/grad students in the Deaf Education Program. Life just got too busy with 11 hour days with teaching and supervising interns. I wanted to be a MOM!!! So, I then accepted a position in Livingston County as their Teacher Consultant for the Hearing Impaired. Big Mistake...I don't want to do this...Overworked...there is enough work here for 2-3 people and they expect miracles and most expect them now, but yet they don't trust me in what I do or say! SOOOO, why bother? I don't know...I don't want to. I just want to be a MOM, but who can afford to when we are paying for ABA????

What else is off? That Michigan is NOT the place I want to live any longer. Yep, you read that right. I do not want to endure another MI winter (although I know I will), another road covered in black ice, or another day of negative temperatures! I want to move...

So what are the solutions? Grin and bare it, I guess. I already feel a mild depression settling in regarding the start of school...UGH! I sit at the computer finding the best school districts to live and work in throughout central Florida! Mark my words in this blog post friends and family...it will happen soon....the Knight Family will become Floridians!!!

Anyway, I need to show you what is "right"...I've posted a depressing post tonight...and the past posts haven't had any pics at all!!! Here's some pics of our fantastically "right" girls!

Adoption Update

For those of you that went on the International Adoption journey with us to Guatemala, you know that these kinds of journey's are just that...a long, tedious, bumpy, winding, emotional journey. But in the end, our Guatemalan journey ended in the happiness that we so desired!!! We are praying that our Ethiopian journey will result in the same manner. Let me explain!

We've been rolling along our path of document collection, notary signatures, references, social worker visits and all that jazz. You know, all of the stuff that comes with adoption! We're good with that! Fine and dandy! Naturally, along with all of these time consuming and nit-picky activities, we forked over a few thousand! Also an expected part of the journey!

One hitch...one of the "fees" in these payments was called a "supplemental fee". Yep, like we're not paying enough to build a family, but we get to pay a supplemental fee! So we complained to the executive director, she bit our heads off, la-de-da-de-da, we paid the freaking fee! What's another bill?!?!?!

Definition - "Supplemental fee" = "keep the agency above water during a bad economy" fee!!!!

Well, the state of MI, thanks much in part to the media, feels that the "fee" is not really a fee and it is a contribution...where it is illegal for adoption agencies to accept contributions from families who are in the process of an adoption!!!!

Definition of "fee" by agency does not = definition by state & media!!!! WHOOPS!!!

Result of disagreement of definitions...state of MI investigation and a 6 month license for the agency to conduct regular business and fix their problems.

Result for the Knight family...Confusion!!!! We are unsure if the agency will be a viable company in 6 months as their license could be revoked after that point! We are unsure if we can get our money back if they go under!! We are unsure if we will bring a child home with this agency because of this silly "supplemental fee"!!!

So now what...
The State has 1 1/2 weeks to respond to the agency regarding their license. At that point in time, we will be nearly ready to send our dossier to Ethiopia and have our named placed on the waiting list to receive a referral of a little girl. We are hoping and PRAYING that this has been blown out of proportion by the media!!!! At this time, we are planning on continuing with the adoption with this agency. We do have an email into the MI A.G. to check on the status of the investigation just to cover our backsides...money is one thing, but bringing home Baby Ella is another!!!!

I'm sure you are all confused as ever right now...sorry...here is the link from the Grand Rapids news to make this as clear as mud!!! :)

http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/ottawa_county/Adoption_agency_cited_for_violations

Just hope and pray that this is just one of those bumps in the journey...one of those forks in the road!

Wednesday...

Leotards - Hand-me-downs

Tutus - Hand-me-downs (I'm cheap, who can blame me?)

Somersaults, over and over and over and over on the living room floor? - PRICELESS

Monday...I am grateful for...

Laughter!

I took a late afternoon nap so Josh watched the girls and fed them a wholesome dinner! Then they were outside playing with the neighborhood kids! All in an effort to allow me to rest!! What a guy!!!
I finally awoke to come downstairs to an empty house...silence! :( Sadness! I missed the girls all day because they were at childcare and then I missed them all night because they were outside and I was resting. (You do what you gotta do!)
Eventually everyone came inside and we all sat down for a lovely PBS program of Curious George! It's Kids Week on PBS so there are prime time kids shows this week. We were all sitting together and Leah wanted tickles from Daddy, like she so often wants! So Daddy got his tickle fingers going and the laughter filled our home! Then Logan got to laughing with those two and I sat back and enjoyed the sound of love, fun, and pure bliss!
Remember...it's the little things!

So Much to be Grateful For...

In my time of respite, I've had lots of time to review my blog, organize printed and digital pictures, scrapbook (back from Christmas of 2007, oh my!)!!! Nevertheless, I've had a bit of time to look over my life in a visual format! I've looked, I've read, and I've realized I've got something to be grateful for...No, I've got a lot to be grateful for!
Our family has went through a few losses this summer. My dad's best friend past away unexpectedly, my great aunt passed after a long battle with cancer, and just last week one of my very best friends' mom passed from a long battle pancreatic cancer. When I look at my immediate and extended family, I have so much to be thankful for and to be grateful for! Not only the BIG things like our general health (I say that loosely with all of my idiotic and numerous issues), our general financial stability (again, stating it loosely!!), our happiness as a FAMILY and with MYSELF! But for the little things...
So, if I can continue to find the time when I head back into the swing of life as a full-time everything, and not being a bed-resting, non-cleaning, pill-popping chicka, I want to post little things that I am grateful for.

Like...

Today, Logan came bounding up the stairs after everyone let me sleep in (a regular occurrence on the weekend) and gently tip-toed up to the side my bed and said, "Momma, you're waking up now." Period. *Notice that wasn't a question, rather it was a declarative statement.* So, I lumbered out of bed and loafed downstairs to find two adorned princesses watching their beloved "Tom and Jerry". My Prince was cleaning the kitchen and washing dishes! I poured myself a mug of steaming hot java and my princesses smothered me! AAAHHH!!! We all then decided it's a beautiful day to go outside to enjoy the morning. So we slipped on our shoes and donned our flip-flops and the girls went to dust the world with the sand from their sand box and swirl the fresh morning dew from the slide with their four year old ambition, all while Josh and I sat together sipping coffee on the covered porch, petting Riley! I AM GRATEFUL FOR THIS MORNING! It was a simple morning but something I remember doing as a young girl...I'm grateful to my parents for giving me this memory!
Overall, I just need to look at the small things...that's life, right? I don't want to miss life! It's too short to miss it! It's not always the BIG moments and the LONG trips and the EXPENSIVE things we do is it? It's the little things that add up and I need to capture those!!!!

More on Summer...

Summertime is seriously the most wonderful time in my life. I mean, I could have a major surgery and still love summertime more than anything! Oh, I did!

Yep, it's done and over...I had the big hysterectomy last week! On my birthday no less! "Happy Birthday To Me!" Actually, I'm hoping that it will provide me with some beautiful gifts in the long run...better health in many areas! My surgery was done robotically and laparoscopically. So, no big abdominal incision for me, just three 'puncture wounds' on my abdomen with one larger than the rest. The worst is the 'burn spots' where the ablations were done internally and this is normal pain. I'm on a nice regimen of drugs (which I tried to stop but paid the price) so I'm resting comfortably! Should be back and in the groove in 2-3 weeks! Thanks to one GREAT HUSBAND, an excellent babysitter and empathetic girls!

So, back to summertime! Did I mention that I love summer...warmth, sun and everything that goes with this season?!?!? LOVE IT! So much that last night on the news one of the anchors said something about September's cool nights are around the corner and I went into a mild depression! I've been trying to convince Josh that Michigan is simply NOT the place where we need to live...he's so practical! But I've found several homes and jobs for both of us in sunny locations! (See what you do while you lay in bed recovering all day!?!?!)

The Sunset We Know and Love

Before surgery we did get to have a brief family vacation at the lake. The weather, of course, wasn't 'beach weather' every day but it was great family time and lots of fun! The girls met some friends while at the cottage and got some social time in. We also got to do some boating, fishing, tubing (beach-side), swimming, play at the park, and lots of princess dress-up! I packed an outfit per day and nine princess dresses...they wore three outfits in 10 days...total! Get the picture? Enjoy the pics!

Logan and Mom Bond...

Yesterday was another super day in the Knight house! We had Mema and Papa over for a day of summer fun...homemade guacamole, swinging, swimming in the little pool, grilling and chasing girls!!! It was fun!!!! And Logan brought up a "Big Girl" topic...being born in Guatemala!!! It's so awesome to hear her talk about her birth country and have that knowledge, "I was born in 'Glatamlala', and now I live in Michigan!" We're proud of this and so is she!!!

So last night I pulled out her Life Book, something I made just weeks after we brought them home on their Gotcha Days. I read this to her and she was intrigued with her baby pictures from Guatemala, more details of her birth story and information on her birth mother! Yesterday was the first time that we talked about her birth mother! We've always talked about Mama Karla and Papa Isai, their foster parents, but their birth mother was not appropriate to talk about yet! But last night Logan and Mommy really talked about her birth story! It was an emotional moment for me...but Logan was elated!!!! I will now teach her and talk to her, and Leah when she's ready, more and more!!!

***I posted this so all of you adoptive moms and dads know that it was a 'moment'!!! Haha!!!

Just Being an Advocate...

You know me...when it comes to my kids and to other kiddos with special needs...you can't really quiet me down!!! I will fight until the end and do what I believe is right! (Just ask our local special education administrators...UGH!...but that story can be saved for another day!)



I wanted to share with all of you that the State of Michigan is approaching passing its Autism Insurance Bill. It recently passed the House and now the Bill is in committee within the Senate. I am asking that each of you, within the State, to call your Senator and ask them to support the Autism Insurance Bill.



If you don't know, this kind of bill (if passed into law) would allow families with children with autism to seek Applied Behavior Analysis intervention for their child and have the service covered up to $50,000 annually up to age 26. Yes, folks...it's all out of pocket right now! But it's so worth it! But imagine what our life could be if the insurance company stepped up to the plate and covered Autism...and actually stopped discriminating against individuals with the diagnosis. That's all it is folks...discrimination! Just because Leah (and others) has that diagnosis...no speech, no OT, no ABA, nothing! If she were deaf, with CP, with DS...covered!!



Okay...off my soap box! Here's a new PSA that has been put out by Autism Speaks...just FYI!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rVX_nSLFtg&feature=player_embedded

Summertime at the Knight's

It's summertime and you know what that means...time flies! How does the old saying go, 'time flies when you're having fun'?! Well, the Knight's are having a blast and the date proves it! I can't believe that it's the end of June already! Wow!!!

It's been a great month...sorry to not have kept you in the loop! Let me lasso you in on the happenings!

We returned home from Disney World after 10 straight days of rain in Florida. Yes, that's what I said...10 STRAIGHT days of rain, storms, wind, and YUCK! Florida had experienced drought months prior to our splendid arrival...alas the Knight family showed up...FLOOD! So be it! We accomplished what we set out to do and that was to have the girls in awe every day...Princesses, Mickey, Minnie, spinny rides (minus daddy) and the whole ten yards. We even experienced first class flights both down and back...uh-huh!!!! :)


We returned home to head back to work, finish up school and go back to "normal" for all of 2 weeks or so, then it was time for a Tinkerbell Party to celebrate two little girls 4th birthdays!!!! Can you believe it...4 years old!?!?!?!? AARGH! All winter the girls have been begging and pleading to go to the cottage to fishing to "catch the big one, blue one". So instead of any kind of party or shin-dig, we hauled the family up north to the family cottage at Higgins and had a beautiful weekend at the lake. We fished...caught 60 in one outing (but no blue ones...hmmmmm!), swam, played on the beach, and had a mini-Tinkerbell party with Mema and Papa as well as Great Grandma and Grandpa. The girls share Great Grandpa's birthday...just 80 years apart...so it is an extra special day! Girls were overjoyed with it being their special day...now Logan is asking if it's her birthday "tomorrow?" Haha!!!!



Moving along in June, we then headed into the summer schedule. Leah is continuing on her intense home therapy program as well as speech therapy. If you haven't been around this little girl in a while, you can't even begin to imagine the changes in her. Two words: simply amazing!!! Logan and I are working hard at playing hard while Leah is working with her home teachers. We've gotten in a few good rounds of Barbies and pretend store!!!! Oh yeah!!!

And just this past weekend Josh and I took a step in the direction of growing up...we let the girls out of our sights overnight...2 nights in fact!!! Mema and Papa took the girls back up north for a few days and nights while Josh whisked me away to an Anniversary Weekend in Chicago! It was great!!!! 90 minute massage in a fancy salon, yummy food, shopping on the strip! Then a 7 hour trip back to see my girls!!!! (Oh yeah...and my parents too! Tehe!!!)


Now we are on a mission to let summer ride!!! Let the good times roll with swimming in the little pool that we have for the girls, play in the sand, eat Popsicles and have picnics! So, give us a call or just stop by!!!! It's summertime!!!!

Days 2-4

As wet as wet can get...we're still enjoying our Disney Vacation!!!