Finally, We Celebrate!

Hunter, finally, had his party(we waited a month because of the weather here!)! We had Hunter's eighth birthday party this weekend at a local venue, it was a soccer party. We supplied food, drink, and children; they provided field, coaches, and fun! We had 20 kids, and luckily not a single one got bored for the 2 1/2 hours of the party. We invited his whole class, so for the girls I set up a table where we beaded and made bracelets and necklaces; we never saw the boys except for the breaks. I made the cake, and yes it was good-even had requests for the recipe! An awesome day had by all! Pictures are not the greatest-left camera in the car until the VERY last minute!

A friend sent this to me.....my life has taken me to "Holland"!

WELCOME TO HOLLAND
byEmily Perl Kingsley.
c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

For My Mom...

My Mom just had a birthday, and I was far, far away. I hate being so far away for these events! My Mom is a pretty amazing person; she has been such a good mom, the reason all I ever wanted to be was a mom! Mom know that you are loved, appreciated, and the best thing that has ever happened to me! I miss you more than words can say, but you are always in my heart! I hope this year is full of joy, health, and happiness!

It breaks my heart not to be there with you, but I am only a flight away if you ever need me!

I love you! My babies love you too!

We're Back...

We are finally beginning to feel like ourselves again! The boys and I had Swine Flu, and it kicked our butts! Hunter was the first to get sick, and he was really bad! Taylor and I followed, the worst for all of us were the secondary infections; the bronchitis and respiratory stuff! I have been coughing for two weeks now, and am finally able to speak without coughing! Some how Pat and Claire have survived not getting sick, thank goodness because I am not sure how Claire's tiny body could have handled that nasty bug! Our lives have revolved around drugs and movies-We have been taking a medicine cabinet full of meds and we have rented a ton of movies!
To top it off, our four legged friends have all had surgery-both got fixed this week!
We're back in action, and ready to get back into the groove of life!

Do Not Be Fooled...

Claire loving the kitty.....

Ha! Look closer and see how she is holding the kitty. By the neck!

This is her mean face...

Please can I get away.....

Being loved by a three year old is tough!!!!!

Just Living....

We are still here, and have not fallen off this side of the world, just living life! Sometimes our weeks seem to roll right along, and then before I know it it has been a couple of weeks since we have slowed down!
The boys have definitely gotten back into the routine of school and sports. We are still doing soccer and golf, and have now added tennis and rugby! Rugby is our favorite, they come home every Saturday morning with big smiles on their faces and mud on their clothes-this adds up to perfection in a little boy's world!
Along with sports we have added scouts! Both boys love this, they go for a few hours each week. It is a little different than in the states, did you know the first scouts were started in South Africa? We have learned about stranger danger, karate, cooked pancakes in the wild, cooked in a tree(pretended to be in a tsunami), and many other really cool things! This is so Taylor, doing stuff outdoors!
Believe it or not we are also practicing for a play! We got Hunter into drama last term in the hopes of helping with his shyness, and he is now practicing for a play! I have really enjoyed going to the practices, they are practicing 4 - 5 nights a week. I still am a little unsure of Hunter, he still will barely speak, how is he going to act?!
Oh, Taylor was invited to his first girl/boy party.... He won a dance contest! He showed me his moves, miracle he won!!!!
Claire is Claire, she is definitely sporting an attitude and a little bit of defiance-age related or just being a girl, who knows!!!! She is doing well with her therapies and has started ballet. She surprised me yesterday, I was naming the days of the week that we have play practice and she chimed in! She knew her days of the week-I was shocked!
We have a new member of the household, Carson, she is a precious kitten that Hunter received for his birthday. We are all smitten with her, I even think Pat is starting to like her, Lilly just stares and barks!
Pat and I have enjoyed a couple of kid free evenings lately, we were invited to a supper club with a couple that we met when we first moved here and had too good of a time! We also had a function through the kid's school that was nice, and sat with some parent's that we have met recently! A close friend recently had us over and made some awesome fajitas and a dessert to die for, Thank God for friends! So I guess it is our turn to have a party and start paying some people back! I am thinking about having a huge Halloween party for the kids, Halloween is new here and is barely celebrated. I hate that my kids are missing out on Halloween, so we better have our own!
Our favorite thing to do is to kick our shoes off and head to the beach! Winter is tough here :)....


Claire burying Hunter...

Taylor joins in...

The life...

See you around, if you are ever in our neck of the woods stop by! HA, I wish!

Eight!

My sweet Hunter turned eight this weekend! I can not tell you what a blessing this child has been to us, he amazes me everyday! He is probably the kindest, most loving and most considerate child I know. Hunter truly has a compassion for others that I think goes way past his years, he has a heart of gold. He is also very tough and quite a good sportsman, all sports he plays he usually excels in! Hunter makes us laugh, makes us cry, but most of all fills my heart everyday just to see his smile! He truly has had a hard time leaving everyone in the States, he especially misses his best friend,Cyrus!I am proud to call Hunter mine!

Hunter's true love is baseball, I wish we had it here in South Africa...

The smile and freckles that melt my heart everyday!