First day of school

Crazily enough, the first day of school for Cole was on Wednesday.  I really and truly cannot believe it is already time for school to start again.  I had a very hard time deciding on what to do with him for school this year.  For a few months I was pretty positive I was going to keep him in his old school and commute the twenty minutes each way every day.  He is my child that has the hardest time with change.  I really wanted to do what he needed.  He has struggled a lot over the past seven months and if I needed to take a little extra time to drive him to school, that is what I would do.  In the end, I feel like we made the right choice for him to go to school in our boundaries.  He has come home very happy every day and loves riding the bus.  He has already made two little friends that he talks about constantly and I am grateful every day he seems to be doing so well.  He is a smart little stink and we are so proud of him.

day 70 (wednesday)

It is hard to keep busy during the summer, especially when you have a kid that can't do much.  But, it has still been so much fun and I feel like we have been running around like crazy.

*The boys have worked on their field journals.  They find something that they would like to draw.  Draw it in pencil, outline it with a black sharpie and then use watercolors to paint their picture.  They have loved it.  It has kept them busy for hours on end.



*melty beads.  Even though I hate them.  They are a big hit.



*Cole and Crew are the most creative.  Really it mostly comes from Cole and Crew just does whatever he does.  This day was the most interesting.  They played underwear ninja men and spent the afternoon using pillows as their shields, underwear as masks and rolling around on the floor doing somersaults like the ninja.



*Lots and lots of family birthday parties.  This one in particular was Stockton's.  A pinata is the perfect boy party item.  It gets out a lot of aggression.  We may need to bring one into the house permanantly.



*Feeding the ducks



*My eight year old driving me crazy by doing stuff like this:



What you don't see is Crew sprawled out on the ground seconds later.

And then he does this... (notice the bunny ears and he is the only one not looking.  He is trying to get a rise out of his older brother.  And unfortunately, it works.  Every. Single. Time.



But then five minutes later that same eight year old turns around and does this:



*This kid started on the first Percy Jackson last Thursday.  He is finished with all five and is already more than halfway through the second Percy Jackson series.  Crazy.  But, it is better than tv any day.  It just makes me happy that it is something he can do that he enjoys that has nothing to do with electronics.  (Please notice the pretzels in the second picture.  The ONLY thing we can get him to eat is grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup and pretzels.  He will eat them all day.  But that is it.  And it is driving me crazy because they will not take him off TPN until he will eat a full set of calories.  Any ideas?)



*My love/hate relationship with the ice cream man.  Loved him when I was little.  Now, not so much.  Cole surprised everyone by buying them an ice cream.  Even me.  With his birthday money.  See what I mean?  He's a tease one second, the next, he melts my heart.



*water balloon fights are a hit



*lots and lots of meds.  (And still trying to get him to eat)



*We found the best and easiest hike ever called Rocky Mouth.  It is about 15 minutes with rocks and caves and the best part is the waterfall at the end.  We are still trying to get Jake to learn to enjoy hiking.  At this point, I am pretty sure it is a lost cause considering he even hated it when he was four.  We have a video of him lying on the side of the trail complaining he was tired and you can still see the car in the background.  Cole on the other hand, was running up the hill.



For as weak as he still is, he really did so so great.  And there were some pretty steep parts too.  Tough little kiddo!



*I don't have any pictures, but a few other fun things the kids have done is cousin camp, Cole and Crew went to Lagoon with grandma and grandpa, they have done lots of swimming, that longboard is getting used quite a bit, movies galore and some wii competitions are just a few.

It has been a long and busy summer.  But, I'm not gonna lie.  I am ready for it to be done.  It has been a rough year.  I am so grateful we have not had to do any of this through RSV season, but it has been hard having all three kids home from school and trying to entertain them without being able to do much.  I think we have cheated quite a bit by doing things we probably should not have with Jake, but I also believe it helps make for a healthier kid to be able to actually be a kid.  That is my excuse any ways.  And he does seem to be doing better.  He is getting stronger every day and even gained a little bit of weight at his appointment this morning.  He is not up to what he was before he started losing so much, but at least it is going up and not down.  We were also able to stop one of his meds (fluconozale)!  Hooray!  As of today, we have only 30 days until we hit that 100 day mark.  We are so so close.  And we can't wait!

visitors

Remember the phone conversation Jake and his cute friend from Georgia had a few weeks ago?  We were lucky enough to have them come visit this past week.  Even after two years of not seeing them, those little kiddos acted like they just saw each other yesterday!  It was so fun.  And even though we do not get to see them very often, I feel like they are some of our closest friends.  We met up in Park City to do the alpine slide on friday morning.  (not sure if that would be bone marrow approved, so don't tell!)



It was Cole's first time going down by himself.  He was more than a little scared, but got over it really fast.  Especially when he ended up beating me and Crew because we got stuck behind some slow lady. That is the worst.



Cute Jake and Kate.  (Pretend this picture is in focus.  My bran new lens is already having issues.  And I am not happy.)


They were able to stop by on sunday for a few hours as well.

There was some serious just dance 3 competitions going on.



The dads even got into it a bit.  They were the most entertaining to watch!  (Pretty sure they should both try out for the next season of "so you think you can dance")



All seven of our little kiddos.



 They make me laugh.



And laugh some more.  Pretending to be asleep.  (Jake's eyes are a little creepy)



Love them.  And loved seeing them.  It makes me sad we do not live closer to each other.  Maybe one day, right Hansen's??!