Guess Where we are going?

Yes, it was off to Bellingham for a quick 2 1/2 day visit. We decided at the very last minute(Wednesday night - 12/19) to head to Bellingham for the weekend before Christmas. Brad needed to be at a meeting in Ferndale with Andgar on Friday, so off we went. We left Friday AM bright and early. The kids were so incredibly excited to be going "Home". So was I. So, for all of my dearest friends reading this right now and thinking, wow - she didn't call me, I am sorry, but 2 1/2 days is not a lot of time, and especially with it being Christmas. I wish I would have had more time to see everyone who means the world to me, but I just couldn't. We spent Friday afternoon with the T family and Friday Evening with the M Family. On Saturday, we spent a good part of the day visiting our old neighborhood and meeting up with our renters, and of course, we made a stop at Grandma Haggen's :o) for our favorite Chinese food. And did a little last minute shopping. On Sunday, we spent the day with Brad's family, as they were celebrating Christmas this day.

We loved coming "Home". It was also so fun because Brad's family did not know we were coming since it was the very last minute, so you can imagine how shocked, overjoyed, and very much surprised they were when we pulled up in their driveway. I can still here Auntie P's screams of joy when she first found out we were there and saw us for the first time. :o)

Anyway - it was a great morale booster, and a great since of closure for my kids. It is interesting to see them since we have been back in Idaho. (Which is Home now) They are very calm, and there hasn't been any mention of wanting to go back to Bellingham. I am sure it will come, but usually a few times a week I am hearing about it. I think mostly for Tucker, it was the missing piece to the puzzle. He has seemed unsettled and confused about Idaho, so to go to his "old Blue House" and not see his things in it, but someone elses, might be just what he needed. By Sunday night, he was asking to "go home." This was very comforting for me.

Here are some pictures of the kids on the airplane - it was the Twins first plane ride. My kids are awesome. They did so good. No bickering, no complaining and the best behavior. We even flew into Bellingham, so that meant two planes and a long layover. They were just the best both ways.

And again, I am sorry I did not get to see everyone I so badly would have loved to on this short trip, but our next trip to Bellingham will hopefully be planned, with much more time, and a lot more time for visiting friends.

Oh, and I am having trouble with my camera these days - not sure why they are so blurry.

After Surgery

Surgery went great! Tucker was such a brave boy. No tears or crying until he was back in my arms. All the nurses and the Dr. commented on how good he was. I am so proud of him and also glad that it is over with. I didn't realize how anxious I was about until we left the Surgery Center to come home. While he was under they also cleaned out his ears and found out that he has a perforated eardrum in his left ear. This is apparently from having multiple tubes put in - we've only had 3 sets. It is possible when they took the tube out in September that this happened but we are not sure. Not to happy to hear this, as now Tucker will have a 40% hearing loss for the rest of his life in this ear, and if it does not close on his own, then he will have to have it repaired surgically in a couple of years. Ugh!!!!!! Anyway, we were shocked to hear this, but also we are not too worried about it. He could have many other problems that come with the Down syndrome, so this bit of news seems minor in the bigger picture. Here are a couple of pictures of Tucker when we came home today. He really wanted to play at first, but after getting comfy, sleep took over.

Tucker's Surgery

Hello All! Just wanted to post a quick note to let you know that Tucker will be having surgery tomorrow AM. (12/28/07) He is having his Adenoids and Tonsils taken out. We had his Pre-Op appointment this AM. He is much more aware of things, so please say prayers he stays calm and all goes well. I am a bit anxious. He is usually a trooper when it comes to his blood draws, but today, that was not the case. I had to wrap myself around him to keep him still, and as soon as he saw the needle coming to his arm, he started crying and saying - "Not want it". Bless his heart, I wanted to cry too! Anyway, say lots of prayers for easy recovery and no problems with the surgery. Love to you all. I will post XMAS pictures hopefully later tonight or tomorrow afternoon.

After the show - photo op

Can we go home now?

This picture is after I had to take him off the stage for a small break. He did rejoin the school for the ending.

Tucker has had enough

Time to unplug the speakers and be taken off the stage.

More of the performance

Watch Tucker - he decided to play the Guitar for this song. He had the crowd laughing and all heads were turning to look at us. What a Ham!

Singing

You can hear Sam above the other kids. She sang her heart out!

When is this show going to begin

Look at the attitudes - Sam looks as if she is saying - okay come on already - I am ready to perform, and Tucker just the opposite! I'm thinking Hunter might be thinking - Why do I have to do this. They are all so cute.

School Christmas Program

The kids had their School Christmas Program last night and they all did so great! It was a cute program. Above are pictures and videos of the highlights.

Hunter's Habitat Project

Hunter just finished his Animal Habitat project for Science. He loved doing this and Daddy had a good time too! :o) Hunter was so proud he asked me to post these pictures on the Blog so everyone could see it. Actually, I think it is the best in the class - but of course I would, I'm the Mom.

Putting up the Tree

The tree is up and we are getting ready to celebrate Christmas in our new Home. The tree was put up last week actually, but I am just now getting to updating the blog. We hope you are happy and rejoicing in this beautiful season. The kids had a great time decorating the tree - either they are getting better at it or I am getting more relaxed about it. This year I didn't have to move ALL the ornaments around after they put them on the tree, only a few. And, they aren't even perfectly placed and I still love it! The kids are catching on you see. Hunter must have asked me more than 10 times if an ornament looked good where he chose, saying "Because if it doesn't I know you'll move it after I go to bed." Gotta love these Smart kids!

Sam's Bible Verse Practice

This was a bible verse that the kids had to learn for a Parent Appreciation Luncheon that they had last week. She was practing the night before, in her Dress Up dress no less. So.....................adorable!

Video for Teacher C to share with Class

Click on Play to see Video.

A Big High Five from my friends in Bellingham

Tucker received this wonderful handmade card by his teacher back in Bellingham and his classmates, which he misses very much. The kids painted their hands and stamped the card, and also there is a picture of the kids giving a High Five! What a wonderful, thoughtful card. Here are some pictures of him looking at it, as well as a video for Teacher C to share with the class. Thank you so much Teacher C for this wonderful gift. It was great to receive it!

She's a Diva, No she's a Mermaid - Can she be both?

I had to share this photo of Sam. She came up with this outfit all on her own. Samantha loves to dress up! And then she put on a show. So.................cute! And Tucker joined in to.

Thanks for visiting - we loved having you here!

Exploring the Canyon

Brad and Nieces overlooking the Snake River Canyon

Pictures from our Visit with relatives

We had a wonderful visit with Auntie P & L and cousins B, B, C, and E, and Grandpa and Grandma Weg. Here are some pictures from the visit. We took them on a tour of the Snake River Canyon, which is beautiful, and explored around it. It was a beautiful sunny day. We did lots of shopping and hanging out and playing. But....my favorite memory was the tour of Jerome. This brought on lots of laughing! We all loaded into the van to go and see Jerome. It was myself, Auntie P and L, and cousins B, B, C, E, and Hunter. Now Jerome is not very big, and there really is not a lot to see, but I wanted to make it worth the while, so I drove up and down most of the streets. Towards the end of the tour we encountered a small object on the road. (I did not see it - Auntie L did) So I drove right over it and then we heard a POP, and a felt of thud, thud, thud on the rear passenger side of the Van. Yes, you guessed it. It was a flat tire. We all started laughing out of disbelief, stopped the van, got out, and took a look. Sure enough it was a flat tire. Auntie L and Hunter went to try and find whatever it was that caused it, and found a small pipe, about 5 inches long. I still couldn't believe this would have caused it, but sure enough, there was an imprint on the side of the tire. We all unloaded the van, and stood in the freezing cold wind, tried to read the manual and figure out how to change the tire. I haven't laughed so hard in so long. It felt great! Fortunately Grandpa W had just arrived into town, and rescued us. Grandpa and Grandma just left today and the kids are back to school, so it is very quiet here. We had a wonderful time with all of our family here.

More Birthday pictures.

It was all about Disney Princesses and Cars. Sam and Tucker each had their own cakes. (We still have lots left) Many thanks to Auntie P and cousins B & E for doing all the decorating of the cakes. You guys did a wonderful job!! The kids had a great B-Day. Here are some pictures. Also, Thank you Grandma S for our Lamps and Pillows for our new rooms. We love them!! And thank you to Grandpa and Grandma W and Aunties and cousins for all our wonderful gifts. Our rooms will look wonderful!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!

Today we are spending Thanksgiving with Grandpa and Grandma W who are here visiting for the rest of the week from WA. We are missing Grandma S today. This is her favorite holiday and I always enjoyed making her a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner and spending the time with her.

We are SO thankful for ALL of our family and friends. We are thinking of you all today and hope that you enjoy your Thanksgiving day! Praise God today, count your blessings, and eat lots! Love to you all.

Happy Birthday to Samantha and Tucker

Today is Samantha and Tucker's 5th Birthday. Wow, I can hardly believe it! They are so big. I will post more later this weekend of pictures from their Birthday. We had a wonderful visit with our Auntie P and L and with our cousins B, B, E, C. We were sad to see them leave this AM. I will also post pictures from their visit this weekend.

Recess after the feast.

Sam and Tucker playing outside at school for recess after the feast. They were having so much fun.

Little Indians

Today Sam and Tucker's class had their Thanksgiving Feast. (They are off all next week from school) They were so cute!Here are a few pictures.

Big Sister

I am so amazed by Samantha's intiuitiveness to protect her twin brother Tucker. It hurts as well, and allows a huge array of emotions to enter my mind.

An example - At chapel at school on Tuesday, I had the priviledge to attend with the kids. (The teacher does not like me around much - because then Tucker does not follow directions and has a tendency to act up - so I try to stay out of sight at school)

Well, this was a roller coaster event for me. Here is how it went - I arrived early so that I could hide in the back of the room so that Tucker did not see me. I was able to watch the class walk in, in single file, quietly, Sam leading proudly, as she is the designated line leader for the week. She saw me and smiled from ear to ear - but continued with her leading of the class to their appropriate place on the floor. So, I anxiously watched for Tucker so I could enjoy his obedience as well, walking with the rest of the class. But - what - no Tucker - all the kids had come in and Tucker was not with them - I knew where he was - dilly dallying along the way, getting there when he wanted to. So, Teacher K. had to leave to go and get him. He came holding her hand - looking a bit annoyed with her. Of course that parental self kicked in and I was saying in my mind - oh Tucker, why can't you just follow directions. Then, he spotted me - and loudly exclaimed "Mommy", ran away from the rest of the class, in front of the whole school to hug me and kiss me. Tears are there again, loving him for not caring about anything else at the time, but hugging and kissing his Mommy. Then I sent him back to join his class, and just like all the other kids, he proceeded to follow directions. It came time to say the Pledge of Allegance, Pledge to the Christian Flag, and Pledge to the Bible. I watched with such admiration as my two kids, my twins, my little 5-year olds said all three. Oh, and to see Tucker place his hand on his heart and say the pledges, and to see him hold his hands together to form "book" to represent the bible, sent me in to a overwhelming feeling of wanting to bawl right then and there. Things went quite smoothly for the rest of the chapel time, until it came time to sing. And SING did they do. Imagine 115 kids in a room about the size of two average living rooms, add music, and a lot of joyful kids ready to Praise the Lord!! It became very loud very quickly and Tucker does not do well with LOUD noises of anykind. Here is where I became anxious, proud, irritated, confused. See, when the loudest parts of the song came around - Samantha immediately ran to Tucker to put her hands on his ears to shield him from the noise. I watched her with lots of love knowing that for the rest of his life she will always protect him. Tucker looked at me with hugh tears running down his face - he just wanted out of there - but he stayed with Sam and continued to glance at me. At the end of the song - the kids right away got ready to go back to class. Sam grabbed Tucker's hand, brought him to me, and in her demanding, bossy voice said: "Mom, why don't you just take him home?" I immediately wanted to scold her for her tone with me, but I could tell she was very concerned that he was upset, so I had to do some quick thinking, as I had an audience of teachers and administrators, and visitors watching this all unfold. I praised her for protecting her brother, and also let her know that if we did not make a big deal about this, Tucker would be fine once they got back to class. She responded with, "I know Mom, I am just trying to be a Great Big Sister! I just looked at her and did not really know how to respond, so I hugged her, and walked Tucker back to the class, where after a short time of love and hugs and kisses, he settled down. I left the school, feeling like I had just been hit by a truck that smashed me with every emotion you could feel, only all them at once.

I see the developmental gap widening between the two of them, but I also see their Twin bond growing deeper and deeper. I also worry that Samantha spends too much time worrying about Tucker and protecting him that she is missing out on enjoying school and her own time. She cries when he cries after being hurt, she worries when he worries, and she mother's him when I am not around. I am so thankful for this at such a young age, but I also want her to have a worry free life herself. It is enough that I worry for him and think about his future every day, that I don't want her doing it too. I'm the Mom, that is my job! But, then I turn it all over to the Lord to show me how to deal with these changes coming on n their growing years, thanking him and praising him that He gave Tucker a twin to always watch over him. I have read a hundred times, and been told by so many experienced Mother's that this is all a part of our journey with a special needs child. I am praying and learning.

Thanks for letting me share this with you all and for letting me get this off my chest.

Who knew?

Okay, so this post is to vent a bit, share the funny realizations of our new place of residence, or to just Freak Out with all the changes and new knowledge of where we have moved. (Brad is gone again (Wed - Friday) so I am all alone, and if I talk to the kids about all these things, they might start freaking out too! :-)

So, anyway, I knew things would be different living out in the country, but wow, what an education. You see, three times this week I have been told that Jerome, ID is the armpit of ID. What does that exactly mean? Oh, and how nice to know that we now live in the armpit of the state. So, instead of getting defensive with the person telling me this, I just chalk it up to knowledge about where we now live.

And, here is what I have learned about Water. Did you know that water can be extremely hard and filled with lots of rock minerals? Did you know that Hard water leaves a lovely white powdery film on all of your dishes? Did you know if you leave a glass that has been rinsed sitting on your beautiful black sink, that you will have a decorative ring on the sink where it sat, and it does not go away for a long time. (I did learn that vingar and water will remove it, eventually). Did you know that when you shower in Hard Water that you are leaving a disgusting layer of soap scum on your sink and hair, which dries your skin out to an attractive layer of shedding, itchy skin. And, did you know that when you drink Hard Water, you are also drinking all the rock minerals that the water contains? Do you want me to go on - or are you grossed out yet?

I have tried to be patient with the Water situation - but I've had enough. And, my itchy, flaky skin and yucky hair is screaming for relief. So, we called a water softener company, called Kinetico, which came to us with high recommendations. We set a meeting with the salesman for Tuesday night - thinking that it would be a quick meeting, a high price to fix the water situation. Well, the high price is correct, but the quick meeting wasn't. We learned so much about hard water and with lots of graphic demonstrations - more than I really wanted to know about!

So, tomorrow we are going to have a $2,700.00 water softening system put in to fix the problem. Just a mere $2,700.00!!! And, we have to now be on a Salt delivery route. What is that? I've heard of Milk routes and paper routes - but Salt routes. But wait - you would think that after this huge expense, we can carry on with relief from the hard water - just as if we had it all along. No, soft water contains sodium - from the salt - so now we have to consider drinking water. A filtered system does not filter out the salt, it only filters out the minerals, so for another $1,600.00 we can have a drinking sytems installed. Come on - when does it stop. (We are not doing this at this time - we will just stay stocked on Bottled Water. And, Softened water kills plants - so inorder to water my plants (which I just bought a bunch of new ones) I have to go to the garage, switch the lines on the softener to get hard water. Sounds so complicated - I am hoping not. And, soft water leaves your hair extremely frizzy - great! Isn't this all hilarious? I only say that because if I don't I might lose it. Oh, and one more thing I learned about during this presentation was that if we lose power, we also lose water. Yikes!! This is because we are on a well, which is of course powered by a pump. At this point - I looked at Brad and said - "Where did you move me to?" So obviously I was very naive about this country living, wells, propane heat, and the lack of convenience to places and things. Next thing I know we might be hitching up the horses in the dead of winter to get groceries. HA-HA!

For all of you who know me - know that I like everything in its place, working as I think it should, and the convenience of technology and basic needs, and all things clean and germ free. You can only imagine my horrified look when I saw the "scum" in the water during the lovely presentation we were given.

Thanks for reading this venting post, and for laughing with me.

Quick Update

Hello to all, and sorry for the long days without an update. Our week with Brad being gone went well. It was very confusing for the kids to have Daddy gone again - but we made it. Samantha was quite emotional the whole week, missing everyone she could think of to name, as well as suggesting we sell our house here in ID and move back to Bellingham. I think this was her way of trying to make sense of why Daddy had to be gone. He was gone 6 days and nights, and worked so hard while he was in Sunnyside. 6 long straight 12 hour days. I rarely see Brad get tired, so when he did almost nothing on Saturday, I knew he was exhausted. We are so thankful for such a great husband and father, providing for all of us, and he is such a loyal employee.

We are getting ready for a week off school next week - and lots of visitors. We received great news that we will have a house full for Thanksgiving. Auntie P and Auntie L, along with Cousins B,B, C, E are coming on Saturday and staying through Tuesday, and Grandpa and Grandma W are coming Monday and staying until Saturday. So, this means we will have guests for the Twins Birthday, and Grandpa and Grandma will be with us for Thanksgiving. We haven't told the kids that the Aunties and cousins are coming! They are going to be so excited when they arrive. We can't wait to see them all and to have them in our new home.

We are having an early (one day) B-day party for the Twins, who will be turning 5 on Nov. 21st so they can have a party with their cousins. I'll post pictures of the party Wed (the 21st). Wow - can you believe they are 5 years old.

The weather has turned cold, but still lots of beautiful sunshine! I'll post more in the next coming days.