3 really short videos I took of Emily when we were at hand camp. This is my incredibly lazy way to get these up. I just merged them into one and didn’t bother to edit, but it’s still short and cute!

Ok, I think I’m caught up on the blogging. This crazy grad school thing might be keeping me a bit busy! But if I can make it through the next 9 days, I will get almost a month off! There are 3 new posts below this.

I have no idea how it happened, but Brenden turned into a big 5-year-old boy yesterday. We had all kinds of firsts as far as party time went. Usually we have a party with family and friends at our house and we just let the kids play and make a huge mess with all the toys. But for 5, we decided we’d do it up a little more. Also, for the first time we had kids from school to invite and with only 12 kids in the class, you kinda need to invite them all. So we booked a party at Pump it Up Jr an inflatable bounce house type place. Because times for Saturday parties were terrible, we decided to hold the party Sunday. So Saturday, we had a small party at home for the grandparents and a great aunt and uncle who live in the area.

I told Brenden about the plans for the weekend in the car on the way home from school Friday. He’d asked to go spend the night at my parents house and I wanted him to know what to expect for the rest of the weekend. Mistake! He could not stop talking about how when he came home it was going to be his birthday! I tried to make sure (about 200 times) that he knew Sat. would be a little party and that his friend party was on Sun. Apparently, my parents explained the same thing about 200 more times!

When they arrived on Sat. we had the party set up with Scooby Doo decor which included a bunch of balloons, one of which was a huge Scooby. Brenden immediately saw that balloon and wanted it. Emmy on the other hand, saw the cupcakes and wanted those! I explained to Brenden that the balloons were going to be used again at the next party, but that after that he could have Scooby in his room. 400 times later, instead of asking if he could have Scooby he switched it to, “I know I can have Scooby after the next birthday!” That kid is something else. He enjoyed his family party and when everyone had gone we went to fly his new kite in the park.

Today he could barely contain himself as we waited for the 1:00 p.m. party time to arrive. But it did finally arrive and we all had a great time. The group size turned out perfect and there weren’t so many presents that it felt out of control. We have one happy little man today. And I for one, was very happy to relax and enjoy this year rather than having to worry about planning it all!

You can read Patrick’s account of Hand Camp here , because he is obviously doing a better job at keeping up with this whole blog thing!

Brenden first went to Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children for his hand when he was about 3 months old. We immediately became involved in the support group the hospital offers called Hands Down. From our first visit to the hospital we’ve been hearing about Hand Camp and how we had to go. At every Hands Down meeting someone would tell us how wonderful Hand Camp was and how we had to go. But the kids can’t go until they are 4. Brenden’s 4th birthday came two weeks after Hand Camp last year. So this is the first year we could go. So we’ve been waiting for this for nearly 5 years. Because of this, I think my expectations were pretty high. And because of that, I was ever so slightly disappointed. But only slightly.

We had a really great weekend. One of the best parts of it was that it was an extremely rare weekend were there were no errands to run, no where we had to be, no responsibilities (obviously we still had to take care of the kids, but you get the idea). We got to spend all weekend in nature away from everything with lots of other families facing similar things. We arrived Friday in time for dinner and songs around the “camp fire.” A burn ban meant that our camp fire was actually just a lantern, but oh well. It was late when we got the kids back to the cabin. I’ll mention here that while we knew the cabin was going to be shared by two families, we didn’t known it was all in one room. I was nervous about getting the kids to sleep in that type of environment, plus, I wasn’t crazy about the idea of sleeping in the same room as stranger. Plus, I forgot to take pillows! But it all worked out fine. The kids were up a bit later then normal.

The next day started with breakfast, group photo and then our chosen activities. We’d chosen to do a nature walk, weird science, and sports for the first day. There were also a couple of break out sessions for the parents to attend while the kids played in groups broken out by age. I really enjoyed the parent session we went to. It was broken out by diagnosis, so all the parents in our session had kids with symbrachydactyly. We all shared stories and fears and advice. Probably one of my favorite parts. We had also scheduled in some down time in the cabin and by the end of the sporting event toward the end of the day, we were all ready for that down time. So we went and slept and made the choice not to go to the next breakout session. It was a chance for the parents to ask questions of the teens, which thanks to being a part of Hands Down, we’d already done in meetings a couple of times. So we slept instead and woke up in time to go to the basketball carnival. The kids got their faces painted (puppies of course) , danced, ate cotton candy and snow cones, and played in a big sand pit.

The next day we had my second favorite part which was a cooking class were the kids did all the cooking. We made squid dogs (hot dogs with spaghetti noodles stuck through it) astronaut food (cool whip, crushed graham crackers, and chocolate chips), lemonade, and a layered bean dip. Very fun for the kids to get to do all of that with minimum help. We also had another breakout session where the parents got to ask questions of parents of the teens who were serving as counselors.

It always makes me happy to be around the other families and all those kids happily oblivious to their different hands. And as we pulled out of camp on Sunday, Brenden was already asking if he could go back next year. So when I say I was slightly disappointed, it doesn’t mean much. Only that I think I thought it was going to be much more emotional than it was. But it was all pretty great.

A few weekends ago the family went to the Dallas Zoo for the morning. We had a membership two summer’s ago and we enjoyed it, so after taking a summer off, we renewed for this year. The kids love playing in the creek in the children’s zoo. This time, they even managed to pay attention to a few animals! We didn’t make a full day of it because I had plans to take the kids to the Arboretum the next day with a mom’s group I’m trying out. The kids were a bit harder to manage there and didn’t seem to want to listen, so we made that a short day as well, but still managed to have lots of fun.

So, I’m a little slow in getting to this, but it’s been a hectic few weeks. Patrick and I went to London while both of our colleges and the kids school were on spring break. Patrick had a conference he wanted to attend the following week and I made a deal with him that he could go if I got to go to London with him before that. So we went.

But before we went, we had some excitement! Somehow in all the planning and preparing for the trip, I never looked at my passport. I don’t know why. But it turns out it had expired at the beginning of the year. Those things are good for so long and I had been out of the country fairly recently, so I didn’t check it. Until about 3 hours before we were to leave on our trip. You can read here about the saga of getting an emergency renewal. But I’ll sum it up by saying that if it weren’t for the help/actions of my parents and my husband, I’d have spent the week on the floor crying. I would never have even tried to get a passport on the day I was leaving. As much as I generally hate referring to a family as a team, we were a pretty good team that day!

We had a really great trip. Here’s a link to some of our pictures.

Brenden’s school had an art show last week and I skipped out on class so the whole family could go. We got to see art work from all the kids and in the gym the kids got to try out different mediums.

Brenden's zebra.

The Snowy Day.

Brenden's rendition of Matthew's Dream.

Emily and I hung out concentrating on one thing at a time while Patrick chased after Brenden who moved quickly from thing to thing.

For a brief moment we were all in the same spot.

Last week I took the kids to the mall play area to run around and generally act like kids. This particular mall has various soft things for the kids to climb up on like a train, a mountain a little mining shaft. There was a little girl I’d been watching because she had long curly auburn hair and it was gorgeous. She called out to her mom that a little boy wouldn’t let her get to the top of the train. Her mother responded in a way that took me by surprise. She told her, “push your way to the top.” Pretty simple really, but so different from what I would have told my kids. I would have told them to go play somewhere else. Or to wait their turn. Or something else equally “nice”. This mother wasn’t proposing that her daughter hit anyone or push or shove. She was just saying, if you want it, go get it. I don’t think either response is wrong, it just reminded me that not everyone approaches the world in the same way. And I liked the idea of teaching my kids to balancing pushing their way to the top with going to play somewhere else.

Last Monday Patrick and I went to a conference with Brenden’s preschool teacher. Brenden is smart, but if he doesn’t want to do something, he doesn’t do it. So I was prepared to hear that he has trouble in class. But she only had nice things to say about him. She said he’s very smart. And he’s a leader. She told us that all the other kids are waiting to see what he’s going to do and he’s totally oblivious to it. It’s nice to get a little perspective. At home, we just think of it as bossiness!

The only area she was concerned about at all is his handwriting. We discussed how whenever he uses a fatter object to write, his writing is great, but when he uses a regular pencil he has a really hard time controlling it. We are going to try letting him use the old school kindergarten fat pencils and see if that helps. She did note that his writing has greatly improved since the start of the year. And also, that he can sit still longer!

She reinforced our choice to send him to kindergarten at this school. It’s a class of only 12. He’ll get lots of one on one time and he really needs that. Also, it’s probably the only time we’ll ever be able to afford a private school for him!

I’m constantly taking little videos of the kids with my phone but I never do anything with them. Poor Emily is going to feel slighted after all the videos I posted of Brenden when he was little. So here is one I took of Emily this week:

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Religion, spirituality, and God in general are a rather confused topic in this household. Consequently we haven’t done much in the way of discussing this with the kids. However, the preschool that Brenden attends is through a Methodist church and every Wednesday they have chapel time. Occasionally Brenden will come home singing something about the Lord or something else that never ceases to throw me off just a bit.

One day he was talking to me about how he learned that God was up in the sky, and to him that meant in space. He’s not God to Brenden though, he’s Gourd, which I can only assume is a cross between Lord and God. A few days later Brenden told me that Gourd made us on the wing of his spaceship in space but he was deeply concerned about how we got down to earth from way up there in space. He decided we all must have slid down his tongue.

Right before Christmas he told me that he thought Gourd was just pretending he made us but that it was really Santa Clause that did it.

I absolutely love is version of things—something only a kid could come up with!

I’m a little behind on this blogging thing, so I’m going to catch up tonight. Emily turned the big 2 last week. We had a nice quiet birthday part for her at home. Maybe next year we’ll do something with friends, but this year, we kept it simple again.

She had a checkup the next day and seems to be growing well and developing just fine. The doctor was impressed with the amount of words she can say and how many she can put together.

Her stats:
Weight 26.2 lbs 43%
Length: 34 1/4 61%
Head: 18 3/4 53%

And both she and Brenden were happy that there were no shots.

Emily has started the sweetest little game that just melts my heart. We have a rocker that has been repainted and the cushion has been recovered but we’ve never secured the cushion back on to the rocker. Yes, I realized that’s not safe, but it’s not the point of this story.

So Emily has started getting the cushion off the chair and putting it on the floor. She then gathers her two blankets and her milk. First she lays her head down on the cushion like a pillow and says night night while patting her back/butt. This is my prompt to cover her with both blankets, pat her butt and tell her goodnight. After she’s done this a few times she motions for me to lay down. She then covers me, pats/rubs my back and tells me night night. She works extra hard to make sure her tiny baby-sized blankets cover as much of me as possible. And sometimes, if I’m lucky, I get kisses too. When she started this it was acceptable for me to lay on my side but the second time we played I didn’t understand why she kept pushing me. Until finally I realized, she wanted me to roll on to my stomach because that’s how she sleeps so she was just trying to shove me over.

The amount of effort she puts into covering me and the loving gentle way she pats me and kisses me just gets me every time.

Over the weekend we went to Walls Family Farm to pick out our Christmas tree. This was our second year to go and I was very surprised with how much Brenden remembered from the year before. As we were making our plans to go he told me he wanted to go on the hayride and play in the little red house. I really didn’t remember that the tractor that drives you out to the trees had hay on it, but he did.

We were a little worried about going this time because Brenden had a bad cold and pink eye in both eyes. His eyes looked terrible the two times I woke up with him in the night, but by morning they drops had started working their magic. He said he felt ok to go so we decided to try it, especially when we realized the next time we’d all be free to go was Dec 18.

The kids had a great time exploring and playing with sticks, but eventually got a little tired of my hunt for “THE TREE.” Eventually, we found it. Of course I had remorse the second Patrick made the first cut, but I think we made a good choice. We took the tractor ride back to the barn with our tree and the kids played in the red house and on the swings. We took a cookie break while waiting for Patrick to pay for and secure the tree. And Patrick of course got into a discussion with one of the owners about what else, iphone apps.

Side note: Brenden has changed the words of the title song to the following lyrics: “O books o books your pages are so made out of diapers.” The good news: He loves making up creative songs. The bad news: He’s such a boy!

We’ve all been trying to get in better shape around here so we’ve been working on taking more walks. Patrick goes for a walk every weekday morning before settling down to work. The kids and I aren’t exactly in a routine yet, but we’ve been trying.

The first week we started the kids decided they wanted to take the wagon along. First Brenden pulled it and Emily did’t want to sit because she wanted to pull it. So they switched. Then Brenden was upset that he wasn’t pulling it. Of course neither of them was really strong enough to pull it with the other one inside so I was helping them both. When I could see that who pulled the wagon was quickly becoming a problem, I offered to let them both get in and have a ride while I pulled. And there they stayed happily riding through the long version of the walk until we got to the duck creek. When we got there they both got out and to take a closer look at the ducks.

With no one holding the wagon down, the wind decided to have a little fun with us whisking the wagon off into the duck creek. I’ll take the time to point out a few things. 1) Ducks live in the duck creek. 2) Humans frequent the duck creej. 3) Humans don’t always pick up after themselves. 4) Ducks don’t either. Add these facts up and it makes for some pretty nasty water. And while I grew up swimming in ponds and I’ve seen people in this creek, I have no interest in ever swimming in it. And the last two facts, 5) Brenden always has to bring a toy with him where ever we go, this time, the toy was his beloved WallE toy that can fold up into a little box. 6) WallE was in the wagon.

So to recap: Nasty water. Wagon in the water. WallE in the wagon. Wagon in the middle of the creek. Just sitting there. In the middle. Kids panicking and running right up near the water. I knew I was going to have to go in. As I was working up my courage to wade in, having no idea how deep the water was, I thought maybe I should take a look at it from the other side of the creek. So we all crossed the bridge to have a look. It really didn’t look any better from that side. But suddenly the wind started to blow again. I could see that if I waited, it would blow the wagon right in my direction. And it did. I was saved. I only had to get one foot wet.

I gotta say, if WallE hadn’t been in the wagon, I would have been tempted to just leave it. But it all worked out, and Brenden was excited to come home and tell his daddy the story.

The kids enjoying the ride there:

Wagon overboard:

Walking home with a wet wagon and a wet foot for me:

This past year I’ve found myself facing a lack of energy. I’m sure I could come up with a list of reasons that have contributed to this feeling, and they’d all be true, but I’m not sure any one thing is to blame. And some days this lack of energy has lead me to feel like I’m not being the Mom I’d like to be. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not sitting around being lazy. Ever. I’m always doing something, but I’ve found it hard to focus on any one thing for too long. And I’ve found it impossible to sit and play with the kids for any stretch of time. I’m constantly jumping up to do something else really quickly before settling back into play time. And I’m over-sharing all this to say, that the kids and I had a good day today.

I found that having a few activities planned ahead really helped me stay focused. This morning I mixed up some cool whip and food coloring for the kids to paint with. They had a great time painting on their construction paper. Somehow, all the colors seemed to have mixed into one. And amazingly, Emily figured out the stuff was edible and licked the plate clean when done painting.

While Emily was taking her nap and Brenden was having quiet time, I gathered ingredients to make pumpkin bars. I measured everything out and put it in small dishes as if setting up for a cooking show. Then I called Brenden out of his quiet room time and we mixed up the bars and put them in the oven. I finished up by making the frosting while Patrick took a quick work break and took Brenden out for a little baseball. And I must say, they are delicious!

After Emily woke up and we all had a snack the kids and I went for a walk. We even got homework, a family dinner, TV time and baths in before bedtime stories.

Nothing big. I just felt like I got it right today. And as an overly critical of myself person, that actually IS a pretty big deal!

Notice how intently they are both concentrating:

Yummy:

Our creation, which really was yummy:

Today I took Brenden to his favorite haircut place for a much needed haircut. He can sit in a car and watch a movie while they cut his hair. And also, he can play trains at the train table there while he waits. So most of the time, he’s pretty good and enjoys going there. So we braved the cold rainy day. Here is the handsome boy post haircut:

I had been thinking for a couple of days that Emily’s hair was getting a bit mullety so I was sort of contemplating her first haircut, but wasn’t really ready to commit. After seeing how great Brenden’s hair looked though, I gave in this evening and cut it myself. I’m sure I’ve set her up for the life-long struggle with bangs that I’ve had, but surely seeing past your hair is more important than style? Ok, I don’t know, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. So I cut some bangs and evened up the back. It’s wasn’t a drastic cut by any means, but somehow it makes her look so much older. Harder to see in the picture I’m posting because I have it up, but when it’s down, it’s a big difference. Before and after:

Before. The part in the center was really long.

The back after. Hoping I haven't seen the last of her little curls. But the sides are still fairly curly.

The bangs after.

Brenden originally wanted to be a monster for Halloween this year. He’d described in great deal what this monster should look like and I was getting worried because I had no idea how to make it happen. On a trip to the dollar store in search of something unrelated, he saw a set of pirate stuff and decided then and there he was going to be a pirate. And luckily, he stuck with it.

The kids were really great trick-or-treating this year. The neighborhood was so different than last year. Last year, hardly anyone was out when we were and hardly anyone was giving out candy. This year, lots of people were out and a lot more were giving out candy too. The kids walked all the way up the street behind us zigging from one side to the other. Then we walked down our street and back to our house. Brenden said “trick-or-treat” almost every time and they both said “thank you” every time. They did have to be reminded, but considering last year Brenden wouldn’t talk at all and the year before that we did about 3 houses before he was done, I think it went really well. And we got so many compliments on the kids, especially the little cupcake.

We only got 3 groups of kids at our house and Brenden was eager to hand candy out to them.

You know those weekends people talk/blog/facebook about where the whole family hung out and did spent time together just having fun? Yeah, we’ll yesterday we had one of those. I’m not saying we don’t have fun on the weekends or that we don’t go out, but usually we are trying to fit so many things into the weekend that we are just running from thing to thing.

Today Patrick got up with the kids and I got up a little bit later and made us omelettes. Then we took the kids to the park and spent an hour there just letting them play. I’m ashamed to say I haven’t done this all summer because I just can’t stand to sit out in the heat. But today’s high was only 89 so despite being very sunny, it wasn’t too bad.

Then we decided to go the Dallas Children’s Museum and let the kids play. Actually, Patrick wanted to go to the zoo but we let Brenden choose between the zoo and the museum and the museum won. The kids loved it! Brenden ran from thing to thing and there were plenty of things for Emily to enjoy too.

Emily had her belated 18 month checkup on Monday and is looking great. She only cried for a split second after her two shots and was done before they even had the bandaids on. Although she promptly ripped the bandaids off.

Her Stats:
Weight: 23.6 lbs 37%
Length: 32 in 58%

She’s been an adorable joy. As long as you don’t want to give her a bath or wash her hair!