Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Cast update and silly walk

Two weeks ago tomorrow, we headed back to the ortho for x-rays on Skylar's leg. In order to get the x-rays we had to take the cast off, and let me tell you, it wasn't a moment too soon. There was a hole in the bottom by her heel where she scooted across the floor on it and overall, it was in pretty nasty shape. I took Ken's phone and headphones with us since they would have to use the saw, but she was really excited to get her cast off and get a new blue one on. The saw didn't scare her in the least. We went back for x-rays, which she wasn't a fan of, but did pretty well once we got her baby doll for her, and then we went back for more blue suckers from her favorite nurse and waited for the doctor to come in.

She started complaining pretty much as soon as her cast came off that her leg was hurting, as I'm sure it felt really weird for her after all those weeks of not using her muscles.

Well, the doctor came in and said that her bone was showing aggressive growth and she didn't think Skylar needed another cast on. Good news and bad news. Good news: no more cast, we can get on with our summer plans! Bad news: no more cast, Skylar was really looking forward to a new cast.

Needless to say, we left in tears because she really wanted a new cast. She was terrified on not having that protection for her leg and I think she's kind of enjoyed the extra attention lately. Especially at the playplace in Chick-fil-a.

So, two weeks later and a phone call to the doctor, she still isn't walking on her leg. We have tried bribing, making up games, going to the pool, etc. and so far nothing has helped. I called the doctor yesterday just to make sure that this was normal and they said yes. Give her lots of massages and just keep it up.

Yesterday, she actually took a few steps on her own; and she was so proud to show me when I got home from work. Today, I took some video with Ken's phone to record this moment!

Here is her "silly walk":




Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Gardening Adventures

This summer we (as in the kids and I) have found ourselves spending quite a bit of time in the dirt. Once a week we go to McIver to meet up with some friends and tend to the garden there:
Here is what the students planted before they left for the summer. We have tried our best to keep everything alive and considering that I for one have no experience, I think we've done a good job! On Fridays, I take my group from the Autism Society over to work on the garden and then we take our harvest by the local food bank. There is always at least a full grocery bag or three to donate.

I finally took my camera this last Tuesday to take some pictures of the kids in the garden because they are precious, but made the mistake of waiting until we were about done before taking any pictures. Skylar had gotten soaked with the hose and thereby stripped nekked, so I couldn't very well take pictures of her then. Jane, who met us for breakfast and gardening, laughed and told me to drive extra carefully home so as not to get into a wreck.

Grey is a huge (?) help in the garden. Or else he will be when he learns the difference between leaves and grass. He loves to help weed, but tends to grab the nice green leaves off the plants and tear them before throwing them out of the garden.

And when we do pick some veggies? He does this:
We have to hide the tomatoes.
So, I've been inspired to take a risk and work on my own gardening at home and was especially excited a few weeks ago to go to The Christmas Tree shop and find all of their plants on sale. We got all kinds of things from tomatoes, to strawberries, to wildflowers and some hanging pots all for about $10.

Skylar and Grey helped me plant everything and have helped water them too. The other day it was time to transplant some of our little growers into bigger pots and they, ahem, were a big help then too. Ken helped, so I had a chance to grab some pictures without the fear of Grey destroying everything we did while I was busy. Oh wait, that fear was still there.

There aren't any pictures of Skylar here because she wanted to take pictures instead of be in them. So she zoomed around the porch in her little flinstone-like car and took a few pictures of Grey. Meanwhile Grey was busy digging in the dirt.
We used their picnic table as our potting area. It was a good height for them actually and worked better than the front yard which we used the first go round.
Grey loves these little shovels and rakes.
Here is some of our work from the day. The larger plant is one from my classroom that survived the school year. He got replanted in the teapot since he needed some more room. The smaller one is one of our pumpkin plants.
Here is the other pumpkin plant. Two of four of them have made it and I don't think the other two seeds are going to hatch. Although we will keep trying. These two have grown about twice the size in the last week since we replanted them!
This is where they started and where the other two seeds still are.
Here are our strawberry plants. They haven't shown anything yet and I'm not sure they will since I believe it is past season.
Grey might or might not have eaten some of the dirt as he was rearranging things.

I moved the finished plants up to the top railing to try to save them from his incessant digging and he climbed on his table to try to reach them.


Here are some of the wildflowers we planted on the front porch.
Only one of them has sprouted anything, and I'm not sure if they are getting enough sun under the porch… might have to move them out to another location.
Here is another pot with wildflowers in it. Just started to come up.
And here is our cherry tomato plant. Looking pretty good!
And around the yard. We have quite a bit of landscaping around our yard: its obvious the previous owners were big into gardening. Its been fun to see what pops up during different times of the year and it seems there is always some new flowers blooming throughout spring and summer.

Here are the butterfly plants. I'm sure I could find the name of them if I searched, but what I do know is that they attract tons of butterflies when they bloom.
Here is my hydrangea bush. It is usually a vibrant blue/purple, but its been excessively hot lately with little rain, so its died down some.
These beauties are blooming on the right side of the front proch.

While these are blooming on the left side.
Last year I went through and took several macro photos of all the different colored flowers in our yard and they now decorate our kitchen. Makes it feel much brighter and prettier!

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Movies in the park

One thing I loved about Nashville was that every summer, they would show free movies at Centennial Park- just bring your blanket, chairs and snacks.

I realized last summer that Greensboro started the same thing in 2009, but I never had the chance to go. Last night, Skylar and I went and met my mom, niece, and two nephews for a showing of "The Goonies" on the big screen!

The park was packed, but we had good seats. Skylar wasn't a huge fan of the movie- I'm pretty sure she got scared of the Fratelli's brother in chains- but she watched the whole movie and did great. She's ready to go back for "Madagascar" next month.

Here is Caleb, JJ, and Cheyanne.
And here is Skylar. She didn't want to have her picture taken last night.
*side note: this is why there is usually a discrepancy between the number of pictures I have of Grey vs. the number I have of Skylar.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

The Fourth!

The fourth is always a fun holiday. We always eat good food and have a good time, but the stress that can mark other holidays doesn't seem to inhibit this one.

This year we got up and went to the Jamestown Parade festival. The kids ate their breakfast when we got there at 10 if that tells you anything about our schedule lately. Usually they are in bed by 7:30 at the latest and up by 8:30 at the latest. Ever since Skylar broke her leg and then we have had visitors in the area, we have been staying up late and sleeping in later.

The kids enjoyed the parade (mainly the candy and the little flags they were given), but Skylar apparently thought she was going to get to ride in a float again this year like she did last year. She was a little disappointed when we set up shop on the sidewalk with everyone else!
The beginning of the parade. I really like the Jamestown parade when the kids are this age because it is shorter and easier to attend than Greensboro's downtown.

Recognize this? This was the float that Ken and Skylar rode last year.
And evidently Jim Carrey participated as well… ? Not sure why...
After the parade, we headed over the Nana and Pop's house for a last visit with Gigi and Gpop before they headed back to ole' TN. :(

We relaxed and played for a while before making some homemade ice cream. Yum!
I haven't had homemade ice cream since my Pa-paw used to make it, so its a little nostalgic for me. Skylar absolutely loved it!
We might have to invest in a ice cream maker… you know, for the nostalgia factor.

Skylar helped Nana and Papa make the ice cream. You can see what was important to her:
She told me, very seriously, that she had to lick it because it was too thick to go in the sink.
Watching the machine and occasionally adding more ice or salt.

After we left Nana and Papa's house, the plan was to meet my Mom and go to High Point's festival and stay for the fireworks that night, but we had a huge thunderstorm go through the area, so we opted to hang out at home for a while until the storm passed.

With the kiddos are dolled up in their pjs, we headed out way past their bedtime to find a good place to park for HP's fireworks since we had never seen their's before. We finally settled on just parking in the park and paying $10 before we ran out of time looking for a spot.

We parked and walked up the hill just as the show started, and ended up with some of the best seats I've ever had for fireworks.

Grey liked them, and kept pointing up and saying, "ohhhh" which is his form of wow.
Poor baby about fell asleep, but barely made it.
Skylar liked the fireworks, but was afraid of the loud sounds. Smart mom here forgot to bring some earplugs for her even though I knew this would happen…

She kept one ear pressed up again the stroller and used her pillow to block the other ear. She said her favorites were the little loud fireworks and the ones that looked like fireflys.
She did smile during the grand finale!
And here are some of my favorites from the night. I was pretty pleased with how they came since I've never tried to photograph them before and I just assumed they would all be blurry.











Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Gigi and Gpop come to visit!

We've been pretty busy this past week spending time at Nana's and Papa's house. Last Saturday, Ken's brother, Joel, called to say that he was in town for the week. So, we headed over for dinner and learned that Gigi and Gpop were also coming to town on Sunday for the week. We spent most evenings with them this week and Skylar and Grey (and Ken and I too, of course) have really enjoyed seeing everyone this week.

I'm not sure that Gigi and Gpop were aware of how much Skylar really enjoyed having them here this week as she isn't one to show a ton of affection to other people. It is one of the aspects of her personality that I wish she would outgrow, although I know it is part of what makes her her. But sometimes she can come off as rude or uncaring towards others and I pray it doesn't impede her relationships over the years.

Grey also enjoyed the past week, but was mainly too busy running in circles around the house to pay much attention to anyone, unless they had food.

Bill and Kristen came up at the end of the week and cooked an amazing dinner for everyone Friday night, so of course we had to take the opportunity for a family picture with everyone here at once. Now I wish I had changed out of my nasty work clothes beforehand...
Gigi and Gpop
Nana and Grey clapping at Papa's silliness trying to get Grey to smile :)
We started with Papa first and Grey was definitely in the mood to pose for a picture. Do you think he knows what a camera is yet?
Papa was playing and put a finger up to Grey's mouth which he immediately took a little nip of and thought, "this game is hilarious, let's do it again!" Here's his I'm gonna get you face as he is waiting for Papa to put a finger back up.
When Papa wouldn't cooperate, Grey showed him how it was done. "See, I can do two fingers!"