Bless the Lord

Micah and Chelsea do really good singing this song by Matt Redmond. It is very encouraging to have your children praising the Lord. Micah really will belt it out sometimes. He has been getting so many more words into his vocabulary, it is fun to be able to talk with him and try to understand what he is saying.

Tyu&bbwqwq2ok im still heretyuggttewwwwqqqqb

Brookings

We made a trip up to Brookings a while ago, finally took the time to share the good times. We had a fun time playing at the Children's Museum recalling some of the things that we had done about a year ago when we had been there. The kids liked the grocery store a lot, Micah really like the dinosaur from a decent distance as long as he had a tight hold of me. Then after playing there we went to the aquatic center which has all kinds of fun things to do water related. Topped the day off with some SDSU ice cream and we were set. It sure is a fun day away from Sioux Falls.

Playing around

We had a great time going to 'the jumpy plane's at there new location. Some new features were added. Can find the ballin girl amongst all the balls? Mommy had to lay in it too before Micah thought it was an okay thing to do. After a while he warmed up and had a blast with his sister.

Lindsey found this cool idea to give to a teacher & we decided to make it for Stephanie as she graduated with her elementary education degree. It turned out super cool & is something that we will have to keep in mind as a gift to make for our kids's teachers as they enter that stage. Many of the school supplies she needs are here & the layers of the 'cake' will provide storage for these things.

The Birthday/ graduation party was a lot of fun, we got to enjoy time with friends and family. Micah got some cool presents... he can go golfing, play trains, and a digger were his favorites. 

Aunt Katie made our awesome Thomas the train cake, the kids all liked it (and so did the adults, it was tasty)!

Master Dad?!

Here is daddy getting his Masters in Education. We are so glad that daddy is done with going to school so that we can spend more time together as a family. Now daddy just needs to find a teaching job so that he can put that education to use.

Chelsea's Cubby program

Chelsea was so excited to be able to go on stage again, but once she got up there an apparent stage fright took over because she didn't say a whole lot of anything even though she knew very well everything that the kids went through, oh well, she had fun anyway!

Crash

Micah and Courtney came up with a fun new game to play, good thing Micah is such a crazy boy to want to run full steam into things. It's good for a fun time and some laughs though.

A trip to the park

We went to the park a few weeks ago, the kids had fun running.g around. Then we went over on the nature walk and a bridge over a pond. The kids wanted to look over the side to see the water so we lifted them to look over the rail. Micah was excited to see over and let the passie fall out of his mouth. Here is his reaction, the passie in the pond and the kids posing on a log.

Hospital stay

So Wednesday the 11th started out kind of rough. Chelsea has been having seizures now for about 5 months, mostly have been regulated by medicine, but the last 3 weeks have increased the amount we see happening in a day (usually 2 or three). So Weds. started out getting ready for the day and Chelsea had 5 seizures within half an hour. So I took Micah to the day care and took Chelsea to the ER. On the trip to the hospital a couple more. The pediatric neurologist that we had been working with before was on a leave and there was a Dr. from California. He didn't like what he heard for the frequency and made room in his schedule. After a visit with him and another seizure he wanted a EEG to see what was going on. The EEG tech showed that there was all kinds of activity going on that wasn't normal, in fact within 20 minutes they went and had the Dr come up to see for himself. After that he admitted her to the hospital and started a new medication. Weds in the afternoon everything seemed to be going okay, they kept the EEG on her, which showed there were seizures still happening even when there was no outward signs. That night she had about 40 through the night. They decided that the new med must not be working and told us of another. I researched the drug and didn't like it. The drug was FDA approved 2 yrs ago, and only for over 17 yrs old. The side effect that stood out is that it can damage developing brain cells. 3 different doctors came in to talk about this drug, and after a lot of discussion we decided that this was the best option to do. The medicine worked and halted the excess brain activity, she still had a couple seizures, but the neurologist was satisfied with improvements and sent us home. The new medication he will work her off of after a week he said. We pray that the medication will not show the side effects, and that the seizures will again be controlled by the original medicine. Here is a video of Chelsea with her EEG stuff on reading with Grandma. We went home Friday at noon & she has been doing great so far, we appreciate all the prayers!

Hyvee

The Kids like going to Hyvee for 2 reasons, first, to get doughnuts, the second is to go for horsie rides. This usually helps in the maintaining of outbursts in the store. Here are the two kids after the last trip to HyVee. 

Micah

Micah has this habit if storing his passie under his chin while he eats, I have tried for a while to get a picture of it & finally succeeded. I also thought the picture from his last haircut was nice...the sucker made that all ok

Bath times

Chelsea showing off her drawing skills in the bath tub, can you tell who the two individuals pictured are??? Mom and dad of course! Chelsea got this 'water' crayon with a Barbie she bought with her birthday money. The kids love drawing all over the tub, and luckily it washes off fairly easily. 

Poor Micah....

I need to start this post off saying that I was not present in the making of  these films.... So Chelsea was in charge of deciding outfits. She is entitled to changing her outfit one time per day, which usually is into a dress or into a skirt (a tutu as she calls it). This time  she decided her outfit was a swimsuit top, and that Micah needed his outfit change too. Of course he is in total agreement to do whatever his sister asks of him....for now... I am sure in a few years that there will be little to no possibility of something like this happening again, especially if daddy is home to intervene on the behalf of his son..... Anyway, kids will be kids....

Bomb pop

Micah has started this habit of requiring a bomb pop every bath time, he is so sweet with it. The popsicles usually spend some time dunked under the water, and the juices running down his chest. But he is in the tub already so it is a safe place to eat it!

A Few more birthday pics

The birthday party at the pool was a hit for Chelsea. She talks of going to hotels for the benefit of pools quite often, so I am sure that this will add fuel to her fire. The Chelsea princess with the castle cake definitely made her day too. We are very excited to have a great party for our precious girl. We thank God that she continues to do well and are joyful for the happy memories that were made this day. Here are a few more pictures from the day - swimming, thanking Nancy for a gift, the party hats that we shared with Olivia, and blowing out the birthday candles (with some help).

Already 4!!?...time sure flies

Chelsea was so proud of this cake that her aunt Katie (Decker) made for her. We had a great time partying at a hotel with friends and family. We got to swim and run around, play games, golf, and watch cousin Adam play some basketball. Chelsea came away pretty good from her 4th birthday. We are so thankful to be able to have fun together and thoroughly enjoyed our sweet little girl!

Playing in WI

We also got to go to Wisconsin to visit Matt & Courtney. We had a good visit with them although Lindz wasn't quite full strength. We got to play in the snow...which the kids loved, especially since we have none at home yet. We also got to play with bubbles and dance a couple times with Court.

Dancing Cousins

So we got a dance game for our xbox, and these girls loved dancing together. It was probably more fun to watch them dance around and quite comical at times too, just watching them wiggle around instead of watching their models on the tv. They had soo much fun that at one point a whole group joined in. They sure had lots of fun together.

Cousins

Sounds like Aaron says "there's Depot, that's funny isn't it' and Micah's response is 'No'. These boys had fun playing together in spite of their differences of opinion.