First Days of Winter Break...Anything But Boring!

MONDAY

I have to mention Sunday evening first. After we had gotten the kids all down for bed, John and I decided to watch the movie Julie and Julia which we had rented the day before. Just as we began watching, some friends of ours who own a doughnut shop, stopped by with a box of doughnuts for us. So nice! So we had a little snack while watching our movie. Actually we only made it half way through the movie before we got too tired and had to go to bed. We're getting old! It's really pathetic!

Monday morning, the official first day of winter break for John and the boys, came early and began at 8:30 with Bryce's quarterly review. This will be the last one with Bryce's current case manager since he will be turning 3 in January and will be moving on to another one. Bryce's physical therapist was there for the meeting as well and then did some therapy with him afterward. She helped us get his gait trainer all set up for him.

For now we are just using the gait trainer as a stander to help strengthen Bryce's legs and hips. Right now he seems to have enough strength and energy to stand in it for just 5 minutes or so, but he sure seems to like the time that he is able to be "up" on his own.

Monday afternoon Spencer had his appointment with the urologist at PCH, so he and I left about 11:30 to head up to that. After an ultrasound, x-ray, and exam, the doctor has determined that Spencer has a spastic bladder. He is now on medication that hopefully will relax his bladder a bit and help him be able to feel the urge a little more and also be able to hold it a little longer. Hopefully it will work well for him. Everyone that we worked with while there was great with Spencer. He ended up with multiple stickers, suckers, and a smelly pencil by the time we were through. It was about 5:00 by then, so we decided to have dinner in the cafeteria before heading home. I told him he could choose whatever he wanted to eat and he was very excited to get to have his very own sausage pizza, caramel flavored milk, and ice cream for dessert. We then made a quick stop at Walmart on the way home and got home just after Spencer fell asleep in the van.

While we were in Phoenix, John decided to take the other 4 kids to the McCormick Railroad Park in Scottsdale. We used to go there all the time when William and Jacob were little and we lived just 10 minutes from the park. We haven't been for a while and they had a blast. I told John to take the camera and get some pictures, but he said that although he took the camera, while he was there he didn't have any time to do anything but take care of the kids. He even had taken a book thinking that he would get a chance to read, (ha, ha, ha!) but soon learned that it was not going to happen how he was imagining it. It just makes me smile to know that he had a little taste of true fatherhood and to realize that it is a lot of work to take care of our little ones right now. Maybe by the end of this "vacation" he will have a little more appreciation for what I do all day! I'm sure he will be ready to go back to "work"! I am glad that they got to get out and have a good time together. I'm sure it was good for John and the kids!

That evening we finished watching the movie we had started on Sunday. We really enjoyed it!

TUESDAY

Tuesday was a fun day. Bryce's therapist canceled their appointment because she was sick, so we just spent the morning at home. The boys and I got some work done in the morning and then while the little ones slept, the older boys played outside. At one point they came in and wanted me to come out and see what they had done. So I went out and this is what I saw:

a whole bunch of grapefruit peels. The boys said that they had picked and peeled 10 grapefruits. When I asked them what they did with the grapefruits, they took me out a bit further to see.

They had lined them all up on the dirt and put sticks in them as antlers. They had made reindeer out of grapefruits!!! I got a kick out of that. They are always coming up with something. Last Monday they made "pink lemonade" by adding sugar to juice they had squeezed out of some grapefruits! =) I love the way boys minds work. My boys sure can make me smile!

They said that they would leave the grapefruits out for Santa and his reindeer this year. I guess they figure he gets enough cookies and milk...this year it will be grapefruit!

While we were out looking at the grapefruit reindeer, I noticed that it was becoming quite cold and windy. We went inside and within just a few minutes we heard rain. It was pouring rain and within minutes it had turned to hail. So of course the boys grabbed an umbrella and headed out into the hail, but within a couple of minutes, the hail had ended and it was just drizzling again. Weird little temper tantrum storm, but it was fun while it lasted.

Tuesday afternoon my sister, Sheri, was in town. She came down and watched our kids so that John and I could go out on a date! We went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse and saw the movie Avitar. We loved it!!! What made it even better was that they took our free passes even though it was still a special engagement. We did pay the extra $3 each to see it in 3D. It was totally worth it. I couldn't believe how much I enjoyed the film. We both really loved it! It truly is amazing what he has done with this film. I have to admit that there were a few cheesy parts and by the end, you know what is going to happen and want it to just happen all ready! Like many movies it was drawn out a bit at the end for the drama of it. However, even with that, the movie did not seem long at all and was so worth seeing and very enjoyable to watch. One of the best movies we have seen in a while!

WEDNESDAY

Sheri spent the night last night and this morning took all 5 of my children to the zoo! She is one brave girl! While they were gone, I went to the dentist and had a cavity filled that has been needing to be taken care of for a long time. I then finished my Christmas shopping and headed for home. I got home just about the same time Sheri and the kids did. Since the cleaning crew was still here, I took Bryce in with me to feed him and get him ready for therapy while Sheri took the others to Burger King for lunch. John had to pick something up in Phoenix this afternoon and decided to stop in at work to get something done there while the plant is quiet, so the kids and I just hung out for a while, had dinner, and now they are sleeping! I think I need to go get a little wrapping done tonight before I head off to bed myself! Christmas Eve is tomorrow. I can't believe it is here already!