I know, it's been WAY too long!!

I haven't updated in a really long time. So sorry. You know, life, it totally gets in the way of everything that I have to get done :) Soooo, I'm giving you the shortened, run down of what we've been up to the past month or so....

School started on September 7! I now officially have a preschooler, kindergartner and first grader! Yikes!!

James is LOVING school! Which is such a blessing. He just loves learning, always has. He had a beautiful time in preschool but kindergarten for some reason wasn't the best fit for him. He's now going to a new school and he couldn't be more thrilled with 1st grade! I'm a little sad that he's gone ALL DAY! but to see him bounce into school and skip out of school with a huge smile on his face and tons of stories to tell me, well, it's sooo worth it!!! Oh, did I mention that he goes to the same school as Annie - LOVE IT!

Annie is in a new school as well. She had a LOT of changes happen in a short time. Annie was going to summer school and had an amazing teacher. This teacher was incredibly interested in Rett Syndrome and was excited to help Annie get her eye gaze computer. It was her job to help us with our therapeutic goals and after a few weeks I was so confident that she would just be wonderful for Annie. And then she moved to Japan!!! Oh CRAP! So thankfully Annie got a new teacher (pictured here) and YES, Dana is just as sweet and wonderful as she looks in this picture. She LOVES Annie! The only problem is that we are STILL having issues with our therapy goals (we have incredibly inappropriate PT goals and we have OT services but NO OT GOALS which is illegal but no one seems to care, even the lawyer that we hired last spring when this started - yah, I'm mad.) and we have not only gotten a new teacher but an entirely new team. So we are once again training, teaching, educating, and trying to get a whole new set of people to "understand" Annie! I can honestly say that I am so tired of trying to explain everything to everyone that I am just about ready to throw in the towel and say "forget it! she's not going to school anymore!" We have dropped her from full days to half and from 5 days to 4. We have LOTS of meetings set up so we will see how they go and try to find the best fit for our beautiful, eager to learn, Annie! I'm hoping and praying that we can get Annie into the right fit and get her some goals that she can reach for.

Honestly, could this child BE any cuter!? This is little Gracie's first crack at school. She is going to the preschool at our church. There's a little "separation issue" and I thought it might be easier to be at a place where she's familiar, uhhh, I was wrong. Gracie LOVES people but only people she knows, like the kids in our neighborhood I swear she would walk right in their house, turn on the TV and ask for a juice box, but people she doesn't know, she pretty much hides behind me and refuses to speak. Gracie is the kid that kicks and screams and cry's when her mom leaves the classroom (reluctantly, after a 1/2 hour of tying to acclimate her). So I'm patient because this IS her first time at school and Gracie, although upset about leaving me, is very eager to tell me all that happened in school and how fun all the kids are! Sooo, I'm hopeful that the separation will get easier. The great news is that Gracie is a smart little lady, she won't have any issues with learning and this preschool is so amazing about teaching the kids about the bible and Jesus - Gracie is already equipped with prayers that she's "teaching" the rest of us!

Little G - hard at work!

The next new thing happening with us is that we have ripped out our rickety, crumbling, carpenter ant infested, inaccessible deck and have put in a new cement patio with all the bells and whistles. We started with the front yard and added "ribbons" on the driveway to widen it so when we pull Annie in and out of the car in the winter our feet aren't standing in snow. We then put in a walkway from the driveway to the back patio. Finally we put another walkway from the main patio to a second patio that leads close to the

"jungle gym" for the kids.

Annie "supervised" the whole project!

We started with re-staining the jungle gym - thankfully EVERYONE helped!

Then we "demoed" the deck! Mostly Scott's job but we got some great help from Uncle Jeremy!

Oh, and Gracie!

This is the enormous dumpster, and NO, there was no problem filling it!

Then came the sod cutting and the gravel laying.

Here is the final driveway "ribbons"

The final walkway from the driveway to the patio.

The small patio and walkway leading to the main patio. The small patio will eventually be "Annie's Oasis" - filled with purple (her favorite color) flowers and fit with a padded glider that she can just relax on.

this is the main patio shaded by our maple. We got a fire-pit and a patio heater so we can enjoy the outdoors even in the fall. Oh, and it's completely accessible for Annie!!! She can "walk" everywhere!

We've been enjoying it by roasting marshmallows,

The kids have loved riding their bikes, scooters and pulling Annie in the wagon all over the patio!
Look how happy this little girl is! I know 99% of it is because she's with her daddy but the other 1% is because she can use the WHOLE patio and get up the the jungle gym to play with her sister and brother!

Next we celebrated Jay's 7th Birthday!! Oh man, I know, he's 7!!! Instead of a "friend" birthday James opted to go camping with his family - my little outdoors man!

Jay leading us on a hike

Annie, loving the outdoors! (rockin' the 80's pony tail!)
James, cooking dinner

James, hard at work!
Annie, loving every minute!

All 3 at the campfire!

How Gracie camps!

We spent Friday night with just the family. The cousins came up on Saturday, just in time for the rain. All the kids came back to our house for a sleepover in front of the fireplace in their sleeping bags watching movies and eating pizza - nice and dry!

Sooo, other than that, not much. Oh, Annie climbed a tree for the first time (just kidding but look how happy she is to be sitting in a tree with her brother!). Ok, so that wasn't such a quick post but I had to get in all the pictures! Oh, and we have gotten APPROVED for Annie's eye gaze computer the ECO 2. It arrives in just about 2 weeks! So there will be a lot of talking going on in our house. Stay tuned for videos!! :)