We had a great Thanksgiving this year. We went over to my parents house and stuffed our faces silly! After the feast Justin went to the ASU game and I took the boys to a movie with my family. We saw Enchanted and it was so cute! I'd recommend it to anyone! Caleb especially liked it because of all the cute animals and of course, the singing!
Anyway, we truly are thankful for our beautiful family this time of year. Our boys are so special to us and words cannot describe the love we feel for them. We are so excited to be able to welcome our baby girl in the next few months. We hope everyone had a great Thankgiving holiday! We love you all!!
Almost 2 weeks ago we took the boys up to San Diego to go see Sea World and the San Diego Zoo. We had such a great time. The boys did so good traveling and they were both so happy to see all the animals and sea creatures. Hopefully this slide show will work and you'll be able to see the pictures!
We stayed for 3 days and had the time of our lives. The first day we went to the zoo and saw loads of animals. The boys had their favorites like the monkeys, tigers, gorillas and elephants. We then took off to Sea World to catch all the shows before it closed. We got to see Shamu, the Dolphins and Clyde & Seamore. The boys loved it. I have a funny story about the Dolphin show and I'll have to post that separate.
The next day we went to Mission Beach before Sea World opened up again. This was such a fun experience with our kids. They both LOVED the beach. Even though it was freezing cold, they would still run full speed to the water. We were planning on going to Sea World directly after the beach so we had to keep them from getting too wet, plus we didnt have any swimsuits! But they both loved how the waves would crash into the sand and loved the feeling of the cold water sweep up on their feet. What bliss! Ah, the joys of childhood!
Well, after the beach we went to Sea World and saw all the exhibits like Sharks Cove, Penguins, Polar Bears, etc. We also saw a new show called Pets Rule and it was great. There were tons of dogs, cats, birds and even a pig. The boys loved this one, especially because we had front row seats!
Overall, this trip was so fun and was especially fun to share with our kids. We can't wait to take them back to the beach and this time let them dive into the water!
Our Halloween was pretty great this year. The boys dressed up as America's Finest and America's bravest and hit the streets looking for candy. They fought some crime along the way. My parents came out to our house to trick or treat with us. The boys had such a great time. Gunner was so thrilled there was a day dedicated just to candy!
(It was also my sister Kristin's birthday...Happy Birthday Sis! Love you!!)
It finally happened. Caleb lost his first tooth! For documentation purposes, it happened on Nov. 1st and was the bottom tooth.
The funny story behind it is that he woke up like normal, ate breakfast and then had music therapy. As they were singing songs and playing on the drums, I noticed Caleb had a hole in his face that wasn't there before..."oh my gosh" (i said to myself)..."he lost his first tooth!" I thought that it might have just fell out right there so I started looking around. Of course, it was no where to be found. Not in his sheets or on the floor (anywhere that I could see). So, we concluded that he must have swallowed it!
I called the doctor later that day and they told me everything would probably be fine. He'd just have to pass it sooner or later. I doubt the tooth fairy will want it after that happens! I couldnt get his picture that day so this picture was taken at the Ray's Halloween party last week. Isn't he super cute? (Thanks to Ale for taking this picture and sending it my way!)
Last Saturday was Caleb's big party. We all had a wonderful time. Thanks to all our family and friends that were able to come and join the fun. Thank you also for any donation you made. It truly does help and support new families of children with Down syndrome.
I made a slide show of Caleb's fun day. We started off with a short walk around the SRP Pera Park and then had loads of fun playing in the bouncers, getting snow cones, playing games and visiting with family and friends. As you can see Caleb's favorite part was dancing with the cheerleaders and following Barney around. It was a great day! Caleb walked the whole way and was just beaming to see all his special friends. Thank you Caleb's Crew! (Okay, the slide show isn't working again...just click on "view all images" and it'll take you to the website where you will be able to see the pictures. Sorry!)
The day finally arrived when Gunner was able to get his red cast off! Yea! Of course, as soon as we walked back to see the doctor he started crying because this place has scarred him of scary noisy machines and doctors that tug and pull on his leg. I reassured him that we were going to take his big boot off and that he'll be able to walk on his leg without the cast.
It was a little scary for him to hear the loud noise of the saw as it cut his cast off. Those things scare me a little. The sharp blade so close to his leg creeps me out, but I have to be tough for my little Gunn man. It did help that there was a miniature skeleton with a red cast on his leg too. He got to hold him through this whole ordeal.
This experience has taught us many things. We've been creative with things we can do with Gunner and watched him be so tough. His cast changed from blue to purple to red. He's been such a good boy about everything.
Of course I forgot my camera on the day he got his cast off, but thought I'd post my favorite pictures of him throughout this journey.
The good wagon. How he loved going for rides and even taking naps in it!
He is now walking really well. He's still adjusting to having the cast off. He walks around like its still on. We're so glad that he's all healed up and that he doesn't have any permanent damage. He's such a big boy and we're so proud of you Gunner!
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I haven't really been keeping up too good with my boys so here's a little update on what we've been doing.
A few weeks ago we finished with October break. Caleb had 2-1/2 weeks off of school so we did a lot of fun things like going to the zoo and playing at the park...well as much as we could...I couldn't let Gunner set foot in the sand for fear of him getting sand in his cast. That is something I did NOT want to deal with. These are the only pictures I got of the zoo.
Over the break, Caleb also found some fun in the backyard. We were putting our winter grass in and had a bunch of water in the backyard. We had also removed a dead tree but hadn't filled in the hole...Caleb got to it before we could fill it with dirt...and since our yard had extra water, it all drained out to this hole creating a really fun little pool, as you can see!
Gunner also found some fun stuff to do. Despite having his little cast, he is so busy! He found the animal crackers while I was doing laundry upstairs and decided he wanted to count them all. So of course, he had to pour them all out! They are now considered dog treats!
Another one of Caleb's favorite things is movies. Besides Barney, he loves the Disney movies. He will actually crack up and laugh at the funny parts. Its great to see. Here's a movie of him dancing to "Happy Feet."
Last night Gunner was eating cookies n cream ice cream. I was telling him the ingredients in the ice cream and I asked him what he could taste. He told me, I only taste cookies & snow!
My bones need chocolate!
At dinnertime Gunner wouldnt eat his dinner. I told him "Your muscles & bones need food to help it grow." He tells me, "No Mom, my bones don't need food, it needs chocolate!"
Cute Caleb
This boy loves to play peekaboo. He's so much fun and always finds simple pleasures in life.
Flexing his muscles
"I eat all my tiger cereal (Frosted Flakes)! It make me strong bones!"
We had a great Thanksgiving this year. We went over to my parents house and stuffed our faces silly! After the feast Justin went to the ASU game and I took the boys to a movie with my family. We saw Enchanted and it was so cute! I'd recommend it to anyone! Caleb especially liked it because of all the cute animals and of course, the singing!
