Piano and Christmas Programs

Here it is... the girls' first piano performance. It's short but the did great.







And the Christmas programs.. for school and for church.

Part 1







Part 2

Yes!! More Snow!!

I was just thinking… We haven’t had any snow in such a long time. I mean it’s been at least a few days or so, and it’s starting to look so… summer-like here.  Finally, it started snowing last night and is supposed to continue on into Tuesday morning.

When we got up we checked to see if school was late or anything. Although everyone around us was either late or cancelled, we were on time. We are the Mighty Dragons after all. We can just shoot flames out our mouths and melt a path to school. And because school was on time, I was very saddened. I really wanted to have my hyper excited kids home with me for 2 more hours for some extra special bonding time. I even had to excuse myself for a moment to go weep for my loss. I did pull it together and mustered all I had to pretend to be cheerful with my good-byes as they departed.

10:20 – Grandma says, “I bet they get out early today.”   So, I looked up the school closings on-line and discovered, with extreme joy, that the district was closing at 10:30. I had to shoo Grandma to quickly go pick the kids up. Bonus!! When they got home they asked if they could have a couple friends over. The more the merrier, that’s what I always say. At least there is a little snow for them to play in. (because our deprived kids have nothing to play with in the house. poor kids!)

 

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Happy Birthday Little Princess!

Anna is the big 3 today!

It was just three short years ago the Dr. asked if we were “ready to have the baby?” It was 4 days before you were scheduled. She thought something just didn’t seem right. You’re growth had slowed down for the last week. And your pulse was slower than what it had been for all the other check-ups. As it turned out the umbilical cord was wrapped around your neck. It wasn’t bad at that point, but it’s a good thing we didn’t have to wait. I am very grateful to have the wonderful doctor that I have.

So, here you are already three. Still making everyone laugh with your silliness, singing lovely songs for us. Who cares if you know the words or not. When you make up your own words, it just makes the songs more fun to listen to. Everyone seems drawn to you. While at the Catholic Schools week pizza party, I don’t think your feet touched the floor the whole time we were there. Several different kids felt the need to carry you around. Good thing you enjoy the attention.

Zonked after a hard day of playing, still wearing her new “sunshine shirt”.

 

And here’s a shot of the back of her head. The bald spot is where the huge lump was that she got from falling off the counter back about a week before Thanksgiving. Wonder if the hair will ever grow there again??

 

 

 

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Baby, It’s Cold Outside!

It was down to 27 below zero. (Depending on the source.) That’s not the wind chill either. Wind chill made it feel like 35 below. I’m still wondering when/waiting for global warming to hit Minnesota.

The kids did get a chance to enjoy all the snow we got for a couple days before the frigid arctic air fell upon us.

Just some laughs

Hope you enjoy these as much as I do. The first one is Angela in her jumpy seat. She really enjoys that thing. Anna is playing a running game on the Wii. The second one is Joseph making her laugh. She was a little tired and silly.

Grandma and Grandpa’s house

J & M,

Here is the video I was supposed to get up here for you a week or two ago. Yes I’m slow these days.  It is in four parts. It may be hard to really see the inside without the sheetrock up, but you’ll get the idea.

Vote for me..

So, I had started scrap booking our trip to Europe a long time ago, but never got the book completely done. Then I saw that Blurb was having a contest, so I was motivated to just turn our trip photos into a book.   I got it completed, yea!  It’s only been 4 years, not too bad.

It would be great if you would go and vote for my book. Tell everyone you know to go vote too. 

You can click here for my book.

Just so you know I’m not trying to sell my book, just trying to get votes.

Tell me what you think of it. Honest criticism is always helpful.

Water Park of America

We spent about 5 hours at the Water Park of America today. The water park sponsored a pool party for the MDA families. Everyone had a great time. Well, except for Angela. Poor baby had to stay with grandma and grandpa and miss out on the fun. Hopefully we didn’t traumatize her by not including her. lol    It was really nice to all be doing something together that all the different ages of our kids could enjoy.

Joseph finally tried the body board surfing. Him and Alex had a blast doing that. Matthew and Elizabeth tried it also, maybe next time they will enjoy it more. I think it scared Elizabeth a little bit when she fell off the board. Emma and Anna loved the area for the smaller kids and the lazy river. Anna even went on the really high and long family water slide. She liked that too, but Brent got a little tired hauling her up all though steps.

Of course, we were going to leave early because the kids had school the next day, should’ve known better than that. How could we tear the kids away when they were all having so much fun, and being pleasant. (bonus!!) 

   

Technorati Tags: Water Park of America,WPoA,MDA,Muscular Dystrophy,family fun

School '09

Here we go........

Annual U of M Trek

I had my annual trip to the MD Clinic today. As long as we had to go to the cities, I had scheduled to get my wheelchair serviced today too. Side note on that.... a week and a half ago I was going down the hall and stopped to say something to Elizabeth in the laundry room. As I stopped and started to turn my back caster wheel fell off. Yes, right off, and there my chair was stuck. Thankfully, I still have my old scooter around for a back-up. If I didn't have the back-up, my poor kids would have had to put up with this lady......

 

Anyway, back to the Doc. appointment. He always asks if there is any changes. Of course there is never daily changes, but looking over a whole year there is always some more muscle loss. Just the nature of Muscular Dystrophy. Then he does a quick assessment of the strength in all my muscle areas, then usually he tells us there is no hope for me. No, just kidding!! He usually tells us they are working on a cure, but they just aren't there yet. Well, this time we got uplifting news! First, there are many forms of MD. I have Limb Girdle. Then there are several types of Limb Girdle, I have type 2E. My doc said they have done clinical trials with type 2D were they use a type of virus to deliver the corrected gene to the muscle cells, and it appeared to work! Since the different types of LGMD have different defective genes, they will need to do more testing to see if they can get the other genes delivered to the muscle cells as effectively. He said, it probably won't be in a year, maybe, but probably not in two. But, he seemed quite optimistic about them finding a way in three to five years. Now, I'm usually the optimistic type, and I'm very excited about the news my doctor gave us, but I'll save my celebrating until he tells me I can start a treatment. I think it has lifted my spirits though, I feel a little more cheery!

 

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About 2 weeks ago Joseph found a really cool rock and gave it to me.

My kids are so sweet!!

 

I'll be updating posts from between the move and now. Check back....

Technorati Tags: Muscular Dystrophy,Limb Girdle,heart rock