As expected, my camera cord was laying on the couch when I got home so I did get my pictures uploaded.  Bear with me because I want to post the pics so I remember the first trip with Mayah and Tyler together.

Driving through Longview, the sunset was gorgeous but impossible to get a picture of in the moving car.

End of a long trip…she sat with me on the bed for awhile.

She also needed a little bit of entertaining after screaming in the car for so long.

Grampy’s lap was a nice place while he did a little bit of internet time.

We stayed at a Quality Inn owned by Eastside Foursquare church.  What an incredible place.  Rhianna stayed there 2 weeks ago with the girls from the youth group who went to a conference. She and Kyle also stayed there at the end of their honeymoon.  Nice people, great rooms.  There is a Rodeway Inn attached to it, too, so you can pick which you want to stay in.

The breakfast is served in the Sacred Grounds coffee shop.  The kids working in there were so friendly.

We had quite a time.  Mayah often does a projectile vomit in the mornings because she eats too fast.  She chose to do it here. (don’t worry, doctor says she’s fine).  As soon as we finished cleaning up that mess, Tyler dumped his orange juice.  A man at the next table helped us clean up that one, saying something about “the special young man”.  It’s always nice when people are helpful.

We’ll definitely stay in this place again.

We stayed in the room until check-out time.  We knew it would be a long day and we wanted the kids to relax as much as they could.

This is why.  She was sick of being put in and out of car seats and strollers. Thankfully, she recovers quickly.

Here’s Tyler being put to work as Dad gets the stroller out of the car.

LOL

I hope I don’t get in trouble for posting this picture.  I thought it was so cute.  We had quite a long wait in a tiny space before they took Grandpa off for surgery.  He was pretty happy to be able to see Mayah before he went in.

Tyler was concerned about Mayah when she’d had enough of this business and needed a nap.

He was so happy there was pizza for lunch and then I gave him my iPod for awhile. He is obsessed with “God of the City” and I have a playlist that has it play every other song…I’m just weird that way.

After we ate, we went to Starbucks.  It was a short walk and the day was nice but quickly turning.

Towards the end of the wait at the hospital, Tyler got very irritated with me when I wouldn’t let him chase after Dad long after he had disappeared.  He honestly believes I cannot see him.  oh well.

The surgery went very well and although the doctor cannot say for sure, he believes everything will be fine.  I want to be kind with what I show here, but I thought this was really cool.

We had just gotten to the room and he reached for Grandma’s hand.  I wish the camera had focused better but the lighting was not great.

When we left, I also managed to get this shot.

Little Miss Mayah and Grandpa.

I just love this picture!  We were all leaving.  Here are 4 generations…and the 2 aunties met Mayah for the first time today.  It was a good time even though I’d rather spend time with all of them somewhere else!

We had a pleasant drive home and everyone is sound asleep.  I tend to not be able to get over the road under my feet for awhile after a trip so here I am.

I did knit on the way down but alas…no way to show you.  Later on that, but at least you can enjoy her perspective from the back seat.  (she’s sitting on the other bed in this room and this post is hot off the press!  lol)

“Well, today, Mayah and I rode to Oregon with Tyler and my parents. It was fun to spend time with them.

Mayah has not been the best passenger in the car lately. I’m not sure what the deal is, but she screams a lot on longer car trips lately.

Here was Tyler’s recent solution to the noise level:

He was using dad’s headphones with his dvd player, but discovered that they still canceled out enough of the noise that it was worth it to put them on even if he wasn’t listening to anything. PS. Note Mayah’s face…mid-scream! Ha ha!

When we got to the hotel room, Mayah and him were back to normal, hanging out. Mayah enjoyed watching a minute of tv with him… I though this was cute:

Little buddies. ”

The end.  Long day tomorrow.

Did you have a nice day yesterday?  We had a low-key dinner.  This is what our table looked like before we gathered around it to eat.

  There was way too much food and just enough laughing and love to share. We had my mom and Ben & Brittany here with us for the meal.

After dinner, the rest of the kids came over and we ate dessert and they drew names for Christmas. 

I am getting more and more to the point that I want simple and less stress.  Yesterday was that way and I am hoping we can pull it off for Christmas.  I don’t feel inclined to make myself crazy and lose the whole spirit of Christmas.

I’m struggling, though…we’ve always bought our kids pajamas for Christmas day and a few years ago we made the rule that anyone here wore jammies all day.  It always worked until the kids all started scattering  and it isn’t the same fun for them.  This is fine and this year I told them I wasn’t going to buy everyone new pj’s.  The problem is that I can’t stop looking at them.  My own kids say they will miss it and Rhianna said she’d be buying them for her own family.

In a way, it’s kind of fun to be in a new season and make some new traditions for the 3 of us left here at home.  This is Ben’s last Christmas here at home but all he does is sleep here now anyway…lol.  So this year feels like limbo and maybe over the next year we’ll think about what we want it all to look like from now on.

Ha!  I think I’m seeing that having the girls get married 10 months apart and Ben following this next summer has been a shock to my system.  I am so grateful, though, that God has helped me adjust to changes.  In the earlier years, I was one who could have been very clingy and resistant to change.  I recall that very clearly one day, God spoke to me in a way that changed my perspective…my kids were young and like a thunderbolt I realized that this little time of them here in our home was just a drop in the bucket in their own lives.  They would grow up and move on and build their own lives and their own homes and though we would be part of it…this isn’t “it” for them.  Wow!

Little did I realize that I would need that realization when it all started happening.  It has helped me to see that they need to establish their own traditions and decide what they want their own little family holidays to look like. 

This has been so freeing to me!  Ben has always been the one who is so into tradition, but it will help him build his own.  We’ll be here for them and enjoy the new day to come and fit into it.  At the same time, we need to establish something for ourselves so we aren’t lost and trying to hold on to what was. 

Ahhh, enough of that.  I can’t get online so this is all written on livewriter…have never tried inserting pictures this way so we’ll see how it all works. 

Hope you had a great day yesterday, full of thanks giving and that this season ahead brings you all you hope it will.

I am thankful for food on the table, a roof over our heads, family to love, God who loves us, great friends and a dishwasher to wash the 4 full loads of dishes I did yesterday. 

It was a treat, though, that both girls decided to go along.

Actually, I should say all 3 girls came along.

We had such a fun time.  Someday I will link to the blog we have started for Tyler, we all contribute to it and the girls have some pretty funny insight.

I was a little concerned that Tyler would not cooperate well with the extra audience, but he did pretty well.  Both girls are really good at making him behave so showing off for them doesn’t really get him very far when he is supposed to be accomplishing something.

He does enjoy watching himself in the mirror, though.

This was a new thing…I don’t know what this stuff was called but it’s sticky and bumpy.  He had to make balls and throw them at the big blocks.  There was a day that he would never have touched anything like this, but he enjoyed it.  Progress!

We did a lot of other things but we’ve seen it all before on here so I’m not going to show it.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  We’re having a very small dinner…my mom, Ben and Brittany and us.  Everyone else has another direction to go.  I thought it was really sweet that Kyle wanted to make a dinner for Rhianna and himself.  He’s been studying making a turkey and got up this morning to make a pie before work!

The kids will all come over in the evening for dessert and draw names for Christmas.  They usually like to play games.  Should be fun and hopefully a relaxing day.

And the sign?

I have been kind of overwhelmed lately, what usually happens is that I start getting nothing done when I’m overwhelmed.  lol  (which makes me even more overwhelmed!)  Don’t worry, I’m laughing here.

What I usually try to do is keep a song in my heart even when life feels heavy.  Well, we got a huge kick out of this when we drove by it so we had to go back and get a picture.

So with that song in my heart, I will keep dancin’, too!  I love it and the visual will keep me smiling, too!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! 

Here we are all waiting for the guest of honor.

We knew they were driving up any minute.

When she got there, she got out of the car and talked to the kids in the driveway, having no idea that the family was waiting on the porch.

Here she says… I’m not 80 yet!

My kids happened to all be in the same place at the same time.

Sisters and mom

Not really good of any of us but 4 generations here

too cute…smashed nose and all

This one doesn’t do crowds well

Peter Parker in disguise?

Ok, I have to tell a funny story on Tyler.  He got a little confused when they released the kids for kids church so he stayed with us.  they have changed the time they release the kids and he doesn’t take to change easily.

He finally realized he could but as he was headed out the door, he was asked to help take the offering.  He stood happily with ushers waiting for time to go up front.  He does the job well but as soon as he gets to the back of the church, will look at me for permission to head upstairs.  Well, today I felt I should follow.  When I got out of the sanctuary, I could see him running for all he was worth but as he was running up the stairs, he was pulling something out of his pocket.  Ahhh, the spiderman mask!  He was also taking off his glasses so his intent was to run into the kids room with class in progress…tada!  Spiderman to the rescue!

I was screaming at him to stop, to no avail.  When I got upstairs and around the corner, he was gone but the mask was laying on the table outside the classroom!  Grrrrrrrrrrr.  Sadly, it took me quite awhile to get my breath back after all that. 

A day in the life….

It’s kinda cute but I know I can do better so this one will probably remain lonely and I will make 6 little pairs of socks or 6 little sweaters or something else.

(on the upside….this only took about 1/2 hour to make so may be worth re-visiting later)

Last night I had a date with 2 gentlemen…and we met up with another cute couple.

I will spare them embarrassment by not posting the other pictures.  lol

It was so silly…Tyler came back from the restroom with his Dad.  We were sitting there and Kenny asked him where his shoe was.  He looked down, jumped up and took off.  We all sat there wondering what in the world he was doing.  Before long he returned with shoe in hand.

Let me state that is 1/2 of about $750 in his hand…shoe and orthotic. 

He told us it was untied and he evidently just stepped out of it and left it somewhere in the “books” as he told us.  lol   He did it again today so we’re goign to have to make sure those things are tied well.  Can you imagine losing something like that?  (getting another prescription, probably not being able to get another paid for by insurance…and then another pair of $100+ shoes?)  ugh.

You’ve got to love the face, though.

I am sure almost everyone has seen Starbucks new mug.  I only heard about it yesterday right before I had to drive to church so I stopped at Starbucks on the way and got coffee for a friend and myself and ended up grabbing the mug, too.  I had noticed that the new holiday cups had knitting on them so this pretty fun to find out about.  They’re popping up on knitting blogs everywhere.

That’s the extent of knitting today.

We had family pictures tonight for my mom’s 80th birthday gift.  The whole family met at Kenny’s workplace.  It took awhile to get things set up so Tyler had to do his soundchecks… Note his song sheets in the background.

He was quite bored.

Little Miss Mayah was so calm when they got there…it ended about the time we were ready for pictures.

Auntie Brittany was having fun playing with her tootsies.

Tyler is still not really speaking to me (leaning away from me in the pictures was making everything “off”) but Rebecca was able to coax a smile out of him.

We had fun on the big group shot…Ben did it all and those remote control shots are always so amusing.

Afterwards, we took pictures of the different couples.

Since Ben is the photographer, Kenny had to take their pictures and had quite a time getting the camera to work.  The kids looked adorable the entire time but they probably had more pictures taken than anyone.

We had fun, though, so that is all that counts.

First of all, one of my friends has been working on a beautiful sweater for Mayah for months.  She designed the entire thing as she went along.  I got to witness much of the  figuring and adjusting so I asked her if she could copy her notes and give them along with the gift.

This picture is totally goofy but the sweater and hat are beyond wonderful!

What a treasure!

Friday night, date night, we ran into the little family at Barnes and Noble.

She wasn’t this nice when I had her. I took her for a walk and tried to discuss books with her but she was not into it.  lol  The whole store knew it.

Today we drove to Olympia for therapy.  On the way, Tyler started blowing bubbles with his nose.  It got worse and worse so I called the therapist while we were at Red Robin and she said not to come. She works with medically fragile children and doesn’t need him touching everything there.  I always appreciate when people do that for us, too.

Lunch was fun, though.

Regarding the little stubborn streak yesterday, there’s a bit more of the story. 

Recall the stubborn fellow standing in the aisle holding his head.  Now picture Dad, a brother and a sister all watching from the platform as they all were doing worship.  They can do nothing but watch and hope I don’t get into a wrestling match.  Rebecca said that she was wishing it wouldn’t be really inappropriate to get out her camera and take pictures from their viewpoint.  Everyone noticed that when requested to get in one section, he obviously went through some pretty intense reactions.  That was totally against his idea of how it all needed to be.  lol

When we left home today, Tyler made it clear that he was still not with me.  He told Rebecca when she got in the car that they were partners. (whatever that means) 

This is a look I am used to:

I still love that face but ugh.

Then we had another challenge.  After we ate, he had wiped his nose all over his face so we had to go in the bathroom and wash it off.  Rebecca told him it was “her” idea so he would not cause a scene but we go through this every time when we go there…he stops abruptly and says….it’s the girl’s room.  It breaks my heart.  Sometimes he just has to go in with us.  Becca was assuring him that it was ok, it was her idea as we shove him through the door.

I thought this was cute.

Trying to get the towels out of the dispenser.

After this, we went to Target and he did dart into the men’s room there as he told Rebecca…”you’re a girl, I’m a boy!” and off he went.

We had a great day…went shopping at Barnes and Noble and I bought Rebecca a book.  Then we went to 2 fabric stores and got some fun ideas.  She is learning to sew and bought a sewing machine.  I’m so excited for her to learn.

We got home early, which was nice.  I laughed at Tyler when I looked in the backseat after we dropped off Rebecca…he was ready to get home.

(he got a new book, too….High School Musical)

I just love this tree….it’s losing it’s leaves now.

Pray for a windstorm so the leaves head off down the street, we almost never end up getting them and I love that they get evenly dispersed far, far away. 

Yes, I am and I appreciate the concern.

No pictures today.

This last week feels like a blur.  There was too much going on even though it wasn’t necessarily me that was so busy, I barely saw Kenny.

Tonight we had a prayer meeting at our church.  Since most of the family is on the worship team, it was Tyler and I together.  I made him come sit with me when we were asked to get into one section.  He was not pleased.  When we all sat down, he remained standing with his back to me and holding his head.  He would not sit down and I didn’t want to cause a scene, but I could tell he was considering going to sit with Rhianna and Mayah who had to stay in back since Mayah was sleeping.  So there he is, holding his head (my friend asked me if he had a headache…no, he is just being stubborn). Rhianna gave him the signal to sit down, which dashed his hopes of getting to go sit with her.  So he did sit down, with his back to me, feet in the aisle. 

Then he got a communication card and wrote out the names of all the family that was there…excluding me.  I guess he wanted to make sure I understood he was not happy with me….but oh well, I am quite used to that,  I guess I didn’t touch too much on his stubbornness in the 31 for 21 posts…but it’s part of my daily life.  He still is not speaking to me and we’ve been home an hour and a half.  He will quickly dispel the myth that “these kids are always so loving”.  He is his own person and for that,I am glad….but I will cry the day I make it on to his “list”.

All I can do is laugh. We have therapy tomorrow and I do hope I am forgiven by then or it will be a long day.

oh….ps….adding this post-publishing:

After the prayer meeting tonight, we were talking to someone in an office and afterwards couldn’t find Tyler.   Many people had just seen him but he was no where to be found.  People were starting get serious about helping us find him and I heard people start calling my name. He was in Kenny’s office under the desk getting more paper. Kenny had gone in to look but didn’t look under the desk.   He will never answer when you are calling, I often wonder if he even hears because he’s in his own place.  Ahhh, the joys.

Yes, I am and I appreciate the concern.

No pictures today.

This last week feels like a blur.  There was too much going on even though it wasn’t necessarily me that was so busy, I barely saw Kenny.

Tonight we had a prayer meeting at our church.  Since most of the family is on the worship team, it was Tyler and I together.  I made him come sit with me when we were asked to get into one section.  He was not pleased.  When we all sat down, he remained standing with his back to me and holding his head.  He would not sit down and I didn’t want to cause a scene, but I could tell he was considering going to sit with Rhianna and Mayah who had to stay in back since Mayah was sleeping.  So there he is, holding his head (my friend asked me if he had a headache…no, he is just being stubborn). Rhianna gave him the signal to sit down, which dashed his hopes of getting to go sit with her.  So he did sit down, with his back to me, feet in the aisle. 

Then he got a communication card and wrote out the names of all the family that was there…excluding me.  I guess he wanted to make sure I understood he was not happy with me….but oh well, I am quite used to that,  I guess I didn’t touch too much on his stubbornness in the 31 for 21 posts…but it’s part of my daily life.  He still is not speaking to me and we’ve been home an hour and a half.  He will quickly dispel the myth that “these kids are always so loving”.  He is his own person and for that,I am glad….but I will cry the day I make it on to his “list”.

All I can do is laugh. We have therapy tomorrow and I do hope I am forgiven by then or it will be a long day.