A little of this and that

It has been a few "hunker down" weekends lately. With the winter storm and now with two sick kiddos and 1 sick momma we are a bit confined to our home. But this time of year I could not ask for anything better (except for the sicknesses).

We have been keeping ourselves busy digging out of the snow, movies, playtime, rocking out to the Christmas music and lots of snuggles. For everything in between Jason and I have been tag teaming getting the Christmas preparations together. On top of all of that we have a little boy with a birthday just 2 days after Christmas so still trying to figure out how to make his day special amidst all the holiday celebrations.

Owen has been a VERY good student lately. Every single one of his teachers has been noticing huge changes in his participation over the last month. We all assume it has everything to do with the hearing aids! We also met with his team again to go over a new strategy since he now qualifies for deaf and hard of hearing services. So they will go through a round of testing to see where he falls in all the tests at school. We should know more in a few months what all that really means.
I got a nice note from his speech therapist at school this week. I always love hearing when things are going so well.
I just finished working with Owen. I had to write to tell you how exciting it was!!! Owen hardly let me get a word in the entire session!! I made a list of the things he told me about. There were at least 17 things!! Some included Santa Claus, Matt and Molly, Grandpa, presents under the tree, daddy shoveling.... Megan came in to give me something and he continued to tell her things. It was probably my most fun session with Owen yet!!! I am still smiling about the MANY things he talked about and I understood them!

We have been busy with OT and speech homework and we review his "book" everyday after school. Even if that means stopping instantly what you are doing because he wants to do it right then. As seen here as Jason was trying to cook dinner, Owen wanted to go over his book.

 

A trip to the mall

What would the holiday season be without a trip to visit Santa. Sit on that lap and tell him what you want for Christmas?
I have been prepping the kids to peak their interest. Olivia keeps wanting to look at the picture from last year where she was crying. So I have asked told her over and over not to cry this year when she sits on Santa's lap. That he is our friend and he loves her. So she said ok and was quite excited to go.
We got there and immediately both kids clammed up. They wanted nothing to do with him. We were the only ones there so Owen sat on a bench away from him and waved. Finally he warmed up enough to walk over and talk to him. I reminded Olivia one more time, let's not cry on Santa's lap this year. So we quickly plopped them up on his lap. And this is what you get.

At the end of it all, we couldn't pull Owen away and Olivia just kept asking where he went. The best part of the whole thing is that Owen has his name mixed up. He thinks he is "Christmas Tree". A little hard to explain to Santa why his new name is Christmas Tree but he went with it anyway. Thanks Santa.

Progression

As we navigate a life with child with special needs we often times find ourselves struggling to make progress in certain areas. It is hard to isolate yourself from others out there that are the same age. To live in that bubble to not realize how far behind we are in things. Something simple as watching a neighborhood boy who is the same age as Owen riding his bike down the street. We get blindsided by the fact that we still struggle to get Owen to pedal a trike consistently on his own.
What makes this even more prevalent is now having Olivia. 3 years younger. But developing right along side him. And at times passing by with such ease. He struggles with counting, can't seem to get it together. He gets 1, 3, 5 and then out of the blue we hear Olivia go straight on to one through ten. It is such a battle within us. To be soo happy and proud of one and yet be a little saddened that the other struggles.
I often feel like I am raising kids that are the same age. Because really that is where they are both at right now. One maturing very quickly. The other starting to gain momentum. But the beauty of it all is they have each other. They have us to cheer them on. They have all of you to show the support to help along this journey. And for that I am grateful.

I try not to post pictures like this - Owen's tongue sticking out - but I could not resist this one.

If I could just zoom out so you could see how there arms are so intertwined working on a project

They make an amazing pair.

Until they start fighting over something... :)

A colorful world

We are seeing more and more of Olivia turning into a little mommy. This is another example of her doing just that. We (me and Jason) do this with Owen ALL the time (minus the screaming - they were a little hyper).

I LOVE IT!

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Adventures in life

It seems our weekends have been jam packed that I haven't been able to detail all the fun we have been having. I love the stages that we are in with the kids. They are great fun to be around  and we can take them places without there being some form of meltdown.

A trip to see Tangled with the Thorsens. Owen enjoyed it, it wasn't too princessy and had some good action to keep him entertained. Olivia isn't quite ready for this stage.

A trip to the super crazy sledding hill with Auntie Erin. She did all the work. Owen is a bit scared of snow but he managed to enjoy himself for a wee bit.

And then there is the hustle and bustle of the everyday adventure. One that entails school, daycare and therapies with 2 kids that are refusing to nap. So they often times fall asleep in the car on the way home. Even carrying them into the house doesn't awaken them.



Trimming the tree

What would the holiday be if not for family traditions?
I remember growing up that even if there wasn't a lot of money to go around, we at least had a the spirit of the season. Somehow my mom and dad always made it special as we shared time between the two houses. But leading up to Christmas is what I remember most. The Christmas music, the house filled with the holiday lights and the Christmas tree that was always nice and plump. Often times falling over and eventually hooked to the wall. We would trek through the snow at the local tree farm to find the one that was just right. Pull it through the back yard and drag all the snow in with a mess of fresh pine needles. And then it was Lisa, Nick and my job to get everything on the tree. Stringing together popcorn. Picking through to find our favorite ornaments. Being together.
I really love this time of year. And as the kids get older it is becoming more and more special to watch them enjoy the traditions we are starting. We may not have the freshly chopped down tree (we tried that a few years ago with Owen. Did.not.go.well) But we have in it's place a beautiful look alike that is no hassle other than plugging the pre-strung lights in. I hope in a few years we can venture out as a family and start bringing a fresh tree in through the back door dragging in the snow and leaving that mess of pine needles.

This years decorating was giggle worthy. As I handed an ornament to each of them, they each took it over to a branch to hang it. Eventually they each had about 10 ornaments on 1 branch each. Next year we will need to work on using other branches. But it is their tree too so I let them decorate as they wanted :)

Owen's side

Olivia's side. She was pointing out her ornaments to Owen.

Thankful

We have so much to be thankful for.
It is always a blessing to have healthy children, to have enough to be able to provide a good life for us, to have such a wonderful family. It seems sometimes it is too good to be true. How are we so lucky? But we don't let it go without being thankful for it. That is one of the reasons I love this time of year. To appreciate each other and to appreciate all that we have.

We had a lovely day on Thursday. Jason worked hard all day cooking an amazing feast and somehow planned it all right to be done at the same time. My job...keep the kids entertained. Sometimes I think that is a feat in itself ;)

He brined the turkey overnight, made his own herb butter to spread inside and out. Stuffed it with all sorts of goodness and it turned out wonderfully. He is an AMAZING cook!

We had a small family gathering (small for us). Even Uncle Ryan made it home for the holiday (see him in the picture wearing Jesse's hat?). The kids did not let him leave their sight all night. Even as he tried to take a bathroom break, Owen was laying on the floor trying to find him under the door.

We missed having Jason's family, my brother Matt, my mom and brother Nick and family. So it felt a bit incomplete.

But with everything else. We will take what we can get. And with that we got Marshall.

Here is a preview of what we are working on tomorrow!!!!