Sunday, August 21, 2016

Lights, Camera, Action

The second week of August was a fairly normal week in our lives.  Lindy and Will spent the week at SciCamp at Lights, Camera, Action.  They ended up having a great week at camp.  They wrote, acted, and filmed short movies.  They did stop motion animation and they played with green screens.  Drew took the kids and picked them up every day but Friday because it was on his way to work.  I picked them up Friday and got to watch all the films. 

We gorged ourselves on the Olympics each night.  We did almost nothing else during the week. 

We did have a fun weekend though.  Friday night we went out to eat and then to Old Salem with Mimo.  Old Salem is celebrating its 250th birthday and this was a weekend they were having some celebrations.  We went and listened to music in the square from 7-8:30pm.  At 8:30pm  they had a light show on one of the buildings.  It was more like a movie that showed the history of Old Salem.  It was pretty neat and lasted about 20 minutes.  It was a very enjoyable evening we had.

Saturday we mowed in the morning, I took the kids to the pool for a little while, and then we went to the Wake Forest Fan Fest.  We met my friend Brian and his family there.  The kids did a few bounce houses, slides and obstacle courses and we got to see lots of football players.  It was very warm outside but thankfully they gave out free water.  We left there and headed downtown to eat dinner at the Camel City BBQ Factory.  It's a pretty neat, new place downtown.   They had some games downstairs on the tables for the kids to play, like connect four and rock 'em sock em' wrestling.   The kids had fun playing those until I took them to the Barcade on the third floor.  It's a legit arcade.  The kids all had fun playing games.  We eventually were able to drag them out the door.  We walked down to a little street festival that was going on for a few minutes and walked back through the Art Park.  It provided neat pictures!

Sunday we had church and then we went next door to meet the neighbors' foster baby.  Then we all went swimming.  The kids had fun at the pool having someone to play with.  

To see Lindy and Will's movies from camp:
Lindy - Click HERE
Will - Click HERE

Pics from the week:

Failed pic from camp! 
 Friday night at Old Salem




 Saturday night at the Fan Fest
 Lindy, Will, Isabel and Kevin.  (Isabel is the same age, but not same size as the kids! ha!) 




 Look at her posing with the quarterback!
 We went searching for tall players!



 Playing in the Art Park that is lit up with fun colors.



 Creepy but cool!


 

Monday, August 8, 2016

Lindy's Ears

We spent most of the week recovering from the big birthday.  Whew!  It was also a week I didn't have anything lined up for Lindy and Will.  I actually had come up with shared grandparent plans and then I remembered some appointments Lindy had that ruined all my plans.  We had to go onto Plan D I think.

Monday Lynn took the kids to Concord Mills.  She has been wanting to take the kids down to the Lego store so they went.  They had an enjoyable day checking out books and Legos.  They took some birthday money and they got to buy books and Legos and they came home happy. 

Tuesday Lynn was going to Mooresville to meet a friend for lunch so she gave the kids a lift to my parents.  They ended up spending Tuesday-Thursday with my parents.  They had some rain so they didn't go swimming as much.  I think Will went swimming on Tuesday and Lindy went on Wednesday.  Will brought one of his birthday presents, a k'nex ferris wheel and he put that together and played with it a lot.  They went out to eat and for ice cream and Lindy threw it all up.  She doesn't do it very often anymore but it happens.

Drew and I went out for Chipotle and a movie (Bad Moms) one night.  We had a buy one get one free Chipotle coupon and a movie gift card so we had dinner and a movie for $7.04.  Not bad! ha! 

I met my parents Thursday in Clemmons at lunch.  I grabbed the kids and we headed off to a FULL afternoon of appointments for Lindy.  We squeezed in a trip to the PT because the brace we had gotten the week before was causing her problems.  Jill cut it down and added some padding.  We played with a razor scooter and the balance beam, checking her balance.  She got better with both over time.  I asked her how to teach her to ride a bike and that is why she was checking her balance.  She said she really doesn't think she is ready to ride without training wheels but she said to make them a little uneven which will make her start to work on her balance. 

We walked down the hall after PT and headed to audiology.  It was a long awaited day - NEW hearing aids!  We started the process in January and we finally got them Thursday!  They are a lovely shade of pink, a little darker than her other ones.  They look almost metallic.  She was very proud of them.  We are excited to have new technology and hearing aids back under warranty.  She had the last ones for almost 8 years so we hope these last that long! 

We left audiology and headed across the street to ENT for her yearly check up with the doctor.  He follows her for her ears and her paralyzed vocal cord.  We had debated doing surgery on her vocal cords to try and get her a little more voice but we were never convinced it would work.  He actually said he thought she had a lot of voice for a paralyzed vocal cord and was glad we didn't do the surgery.  Hmmm.  There are plenty of times I wish she had more voice but she managed with what she has.  He dug out some wax and we were on our way.  It's been a long time since we have had back to back to back appointments and I was exhausted.   Poor Will had to tag along to all the appointments as well.  The kids weren't nearly as exhausted as I was by the time we got home. 

Friday the kids got to go to work with me but Lynn picked them up for lunch because I had a meeting.  I got them after my meeting was over and we headed to a local park to meet up with Lindy's friend Petra.  It was a hot afternoon but the kids had fun.  I brought Wet Head for them to play and cool off and they enjoyed that.  We headed home to get ready for another long awaited event - the Olympic opening ceremonies.  We all stayed up as long as we could. 

We had a lovely summer Saturday.  We haven't had that many free days this summer.  We had a lazy morning drinking coffee and watching some Olympics.  We did get the yard mowed and then we were able to go swimming for a little bit.  We got cleaned up and we headed to Greensboro to get one of Lindy's birthday presents.

Her ears pierced!!  The Beavers gave her money to get her ears pierced (with our permission!).  We had an appointment at 4pm.  She was so excited!  We had talked before about how it did hurt but we didn't dwell on it on Saturday.  I did walk through the process with her at home.  We got there and they did exactly as I described.  She picked out pink studs to put in.  They put dots on her ears and they pierced them at the same time.   Same time and done!  I think she was surprised at how much it hurt.  She did start to cry.  She had the most pitiful look on her face.  But she is such a trooper that as soon as we showed her a mirror so she could see her new earrings, she started smiling.  She was good after that!  She picked out a couple more earrings and we headed on our way. 

To say she is proud of them is an understatement.  She is loving them.  They haven't been too painful for her which is good.  She was hilarious to watch at church on Sunday.  She showed them to every single person there.  She can't wait to show her family and friends and teachers.   Our Sunday afternoon was filled with more Olympics and grocery shopping. 

A big week for Lindy's ears!  She is so exciting to be sporting new bling!

Pretty new hearing aids!

 Wet Heads at the park.  Will pulled the lucky pins in 3 of 5 games they played!  He was soaked!

 I thought Aiden was laying so funny on his arm one night.
 Showing her the dots she would put on her ears.
 Getting ready.....
 OUCH!!
 All better!!!

 Such a big, brave girl!
 
 Lots of pretty bling!
I bought Aiden a new bed on Sunday...
 There is some debate on whose bed it is though.  ha ha!

Sunday, August 7, 2016

Family Birthday Party

The kids enjoyed a few hours of playing with new toys while we got everything set up for the next go round.  At 4:30pm we had 12 family members come over to keep the party going.  We kept up with the Olympic theme but I changed to red, white and blue for the USA Olympic team.  We had lasagna, salad, and bread for dinner and more Olympic ring cupcakes for dessert.  The kids racked up with more presents from very generous family members. 

We were wore out after a very long day of celebrating Lindy and Will.  Never far from our minds was Adam.  We would give anything to have him here and celebrating with us. 

More pictures from the big 9th birthday.

We actually gave the kids our presents early in the morning, before the big birthday party. 
 We gave Will a keyboard for his birthday.  I wrapped up each part of it so he had more to unwrap.  He had no clue what this part was but he seems excited! ha!



 The stand.  He was still confused!
 It was a very Barbie birthday.  A dog Barbie and eye doctor Barbie!

 Oh.....a keyboard!

 He was very excited about his keyboard.  We are going to look into lessons.
 And now onto the birthday party. 

 Lindy was all about helping to feed Ellie.
 We sang first to Will that evening. 

 Mesmerized by the flame!











 Only Lindy would ask for a cane for her birthday. ha!



 Aunt Joan and Uncle Curtis
 Mimo, Aunt Jamie and Ellie
 Ms. Martha!
 GrandBob and Suzette
 GrandBob.  Oh GrandBob.  We were all watching in horror to see if he would break a hip.
 Nana and Papa
 Uncle Brian and Aunt Anna
 Wrapping up the Southern Olympics
 9??  How in the world can they be 9??