Snow Day!

Yes, we had a legitimate snow day today! The kids had a great time, there is so much snow! We have never had this much, it will definitely take a few days at least before it is gone! There was no school today so Nathan and Lynsey went outside to play in the backyard. Adam didn't want to go outside, but when a neighbor suggested some sledding at a nearby hill, Adam was in so we all trekked over there. He loved it! Lynsey probably spent at least as much time outside as she did inside today, a lot of  fun for them:-).

What has been going on the last few weeks . . . We are getting some new windows put in, so that's kind of new. We had some quotes done up and had to decide which ones to replace and which ones would be okay a while longer. Such a big investment! I look forward to the day when we have all these projects done, like in 20 years lol! We are making a lot of progress on painting, the kitchen/living room is almost done (just a bit of trim left to go). I will post some before and after pictures of the living room yet because there is the most dramatic difference, but I am hesitating because it doesn't look finished yet without the new windows! I kind of want to wait until the new windows are in so the difference is more dramatic;-).

Adam's home program continues to chug along, I think it's going well! I've been noticing that he is answering more and more questions lately. I have been trying to get him to tell me what he eats in the cafeteria on that one day a week that he doesn't take a lunch from home, and he never wanted to tell me, but he's starting to tell me! I know he's answering properly because I have tested him a few times by asking him what he had in his lunch from home and he answered correctly. The problem we are still having is that he is mumbling or trying to get away with incomplete words, like using complete words is just torture for him:-/. I do see some progress in his overall understanding of words and situations, which has made life a bit easier for us. I think the home program is starting at just the right time!

Nathan is a little reader and a little counter! He is trying to sound out words and he counted to 300 the other day:-D. I hear him trying to work out what adding two numbers equal, and not just 1+1 either! It's interesting, we haven't pushed it at all but he is just more interested than Lynsey was at that age! It probably helps that he and Lynsey often play school and she is teaching him some quite advanced material (I always have to remind her that she needs to make sure his work is age appropriate!).

Brian is away in New York this week, so we are roughing it at home sans Dad. So far it's going okay, Adam is understanding work trips so well it seems, which is just a huge blessing! Our family had a really scary moment Friday morning when Brian's brother Steve got kicked in the head with a horse. We didn't know anything for the first hour after we heard the news, had absolutely no idea how serious it was! Thankfully, it was not as bad as it could have been, and he will fully recover from his injuries, but he does have a long recovery ahead of him. Brian might head out there in a few weeks to see him, we are playing it by ear to see how he does this week. He is waiting for some surgeries on his face as he has some shattered bones, and may require some eye surgery as well. Super scary but we are so glad he's going to be okay!

January days . . .

January is cruising by, not much to report. We have been settling into a bit of a routine with Adam's home program coming, although they are only coming 3 days a week so far. Adam is doing pretty well with it, and in my opinion they are doing a good job of getting to know him and not pushing him too hard right at the start. He had a really good day the other day, actually playing with his remote control car! That was a first! He has picked up with his "No we're not going to (insert random word here)" ranting again, but I suspect this is just a reaction to the change and hopefully will fade again soon. In any case, I have not minded the change of people coming into the house, and it makes me feel more accountable to keeping the house clean:-P.

We have been doing a lot of painting the last few weeks, finishing up the walls in the living room and kitchen. We need to do trim (which Brian is working on right now) but we are actually in process of bidding out some window replacement as well so we are holding off on painting some of the trim until we know for sure which windows we will replace. Big expensive job! I will post some before and after pictures soon, but I kind of would like to wait until the new windows are in in the living room since that will really complete the look:-). I painted the fireplace white which makes a huge difference! I am getting a bit sick of painting, though:-/.

Not much else to report! Brian took Lynsey snowboarding on Martin Luther King Jr. Day which was a lot of fun for them, Lynsey actually took the chair lift for the first time! She is improving! Happy she is sticking with it! I am thinking about taking piano lessons from Lynsey's teacher. I got to thinking about it and thought, why not?? I love music and would love to be able to use our beautiful piano! I haven't heard back from him yet about availability so we'll see if we can find something that works for both our schedules - I will keep you posted!

Christmas in Redmond, Edmonton, and Canmore!

Lots of Christmas festivities this year! We had our family Christmas on the 23rd, and the kids got to open all their presents from us. It was a lot of fun watching their faces, even Adam really liked the spinning top we bought for him! He is still warming up to the treadmill, not an instant hit but he has used it a few times. It is very cold in the garage these days, though, so he isn't in there as much as usual anyway. On Christmas Eve, we were off to Edmonton! The flight went well, no hitches. Our time in Edmonton was really nice, very cold for the first few days, but we still attempted some sledding! Thankfully the last day we were there it warmed up so the kids were able to last a bit longer out there. We also went to Martin and Angie's for my family Christmas gathering, but unfortunately Adam was a bit sick so we couldn't stay too long. Both the boys had pretty bad coughs while we were in Edmonton.

On Wednesday, we were off to Canmore! We had a good time hanging out with Brian's family and doing some activities. Adam loved the outdoor heated pool the most, although all the kids really enjoyed it. That first night, all the grandkids got some birthday gifts, since their birthdays are all in the winter time. Thursday morning, the kids opened their Christmas gifts from Brian's parents which was a lot of fun for them! I took Lynsey cross country skiing on Thursday as well with Andrea (and Mike and Annie, although they weren't actually skiing together with us). It didn't go all that well, Lynsey didn't really enjoy the skiing up the hills. The way back was a lot more fun for her since it was mostly downhill. That evening was the Penner Christmas dinner in the banquet room of the hotel, but our boys didn't last very long. I pulled them out early and took them swimming, so I wasn't able to visit for very long. The next day, Brian took Lynsey snowboarding and I went into Canmore to do some browsing in the stores with Frances. That evening, all the guys and Lynsey went climbing at the Canmore Rec Center - Lynsey is getting quite good at it! On Saturday morning, we took the kids to the Rec Center to do some swimming. Lynsey didn't have as much fun as the boys, since we went with Steve and Andrea and they left early. She wanted to go back to the condo with them, but we felt like she should stay with us. Oh, well - it was Adam's birthday and he was having fun, and I didn't want to cut the one activity that he wanted to do short because Lynsey wasn't able to overcome her feelings. In the afternoon, the girls (Andrea, Annie and I) and Mark went cross country skiing again. This time was a lot more fun for me, since I wasn't managing a daughter who wasn't enjoying herself! 

Sunday was pack up and go day! We went to Bobbi and Jer's for lunch and hung out there for a few hours in the afternoon before it was time to head to the airport. So glad we were able to catch up with them! The flight home went fairly well, was a bit delayed but it didn't cause us too many problems. This week we have been trying to get back in the swing of things! The kids are back in school and we met the therapy assistant that will be working with Adam this week as well. They are very slowly starting up his schedule with her, an hour a few days a week, plus a team meeting on Wednesday afternoons with the program managers. They want to take it slow so he gets used to someone being in the house working with him, which I appreciate, since I know he isn't going to like this change. Maybe if it's gradual enough it won't bother him so much! Time will tell!

One thing I wanted to mention was how interested Nathan has become in reading lately! He spells everything out and tries to sound out words, he might be my first early reader:-). It does help that he has a big sister that is teaching him all kinds of things of course! He has also not been sleeping very well, he comes to our bed quite often during the night. I feel like it's been ages since I had an uninterrupted nights sleep, going back to baby days around here! I am hoping this is just a little phase, a hiccup, that will go away soon enough. I will play it by ear and see if I need to start being a bit more firm about him not coming to our room at night, I would really rather he just stop on his own.