Happy Halloween!

For your Halloween pleasure, I'll show you a couple of videos of our favorite "Quinnism". Our next door neighbor has a blow up jack-o-lantern and Quinn LOVES it so much....once he got over his initial fear of course.  He now can spot a Jack-o-Lantern anywhere and we love it because he says, "Ja-Ju-Wa!!!!"  We aren't sure how he got that out of Jack-o-Lantern but we pretty much love it.


Here he is one morning after we dropped klp off at school.  He gets out of the car and immediately goes to talk to it.




and here he is one night when we were pulling in the driveway.



Happy Halloween!!!!!

The Zoo

A couple of Saturdays ago, we decided to take the boys to the zoo in Tyler.  Q has never been and klp was really young when he went, so we thought they might enjoy it.  Plus it was finally not unbearably, so my husband wouldn't melt (That Montana blood gets hot with anything above 75!).  

We had a good day together.  klp walked in his walker most of the way so we were glad he got to use his walking.  Overall, I'd say the boys were UNDERwhelmed by the whole experience.  They didn't spaz out and love it like I thought they might, but I also think they expected the animals to do more.  I mean a lion is cool and all, but aren't they supposed to ROAR?? Not just lay there, ya know? Here we go with a few pictures: 

klp and KLP checking out the flamingos (I think) . 

The mountain lion was my favorite of the day. He was pacing right by the window it was SOOO COOL.  Q was a little scared at first (shocker) but eventually made his way up to the window as the mountain lion walked away.  

klp facing off with the mountain lion.  Even in a situation like this, we weren't sure if he was actually seeing the animal or not.  Its kind of a mystery sometimes.  

There's a cool little bird place you go in to where there are tons of parakeet type birds flying around.  We found some sticks with birdseed to feed the birds with (lucky us, we didn't have to buy any) and klp loved feeding them.  qsp on the other hand, would drop the stick as soon as the bird came close.  

They did both seem to enjoy this snake.  It was moving, so I think that helped them see it and enjoy it.  I really love this picture.  

klp making his way!  GOOD BOY! 

This is q saying "CHOMP CHOMP" and chomping his hands together. He was SOOO EXCITED about seeing the alligator.  He just kept "chomping" all day until we finally got to see it. I'm pretty sure he wanted to say, "Really?  This is it?" because the alligator was just laying in the grass way far away form the bridge where we could barely see it.  The other one was in the water hiding.  Sorry to disappoint ya, Quinn Man.

klp trying to make an escape from the picture.  qsp continues to be my best model.  

Sure wish q wasn't scratching his ear.  Its such a great picture of my boys.  

Of course, when Kanyon got tired of walking, Quinn was more than happy to take the walker and boogie.  

self photo while we waited for Dad and Q to catch up with us. 

I think the penguins were their favorite animal of the day.  Q loved watching them swim around.  He was LOVING IT! 

Cheesing by the penguins

This was taken at the very end....can you tell?  :)  Done.  They were done.  

A Few Questions???

How much will he pay me to NEVER show these to his friends when he's 16???

Doesn't Rebekah look like SUCH a good teacher???  (thats really a joke.  She's my friend who got her teaching degree but hated it and never planned/plans on using it, so I like to tease her about being a teacher)

Is it just ASKING for an injury when I let Q push klp? 

Why can I still not resist sand box pictures? And why does klp STILL say "cat poop" when we talk about the sand box even though it was 6 months ago that I found some cat poop in the sand box????? SHEESH!!!

Could he be any cuter? 

Why will he not keep a hat on without me tricking him into it? (I told him to show me his hand so i could get this pic in his Central Montana CoOp hat....a Wes Phillips wardrobe staple)

What happens when your mom has a garage sale with a couple of her friends???  

(you play with your friends' old toys) 

How can you beat $5 for Blake's old train set??!!! 

Who woulda thunk qsp's treasure would've been the hangers??! 

Did you know klp can walk his new puppy (another garage sale trade with Amy)????

You rootin' for the Rangers too?

You scared?

"How do you like my shoes?" (klp was THRILLED to be wearing Nolan's old shoes)

Can you look at klp's school pic without saying "ahhhhhhhh"? 

Can you tell he's saying Cheeeeese?

How do you like THAT for a "random picture" post without calling it that??

Back in the Saddle

After the usual summer off from Hippotherapy and the unexpected September off due to CRAZY HOT weather, Kan man is finally back in the saddle!!! He was SOOOOOO excited.  He kept saying, "I RIEEEE I RIEEEEE" (I ride I ride!).  He and Kandy picked up right where they left off.  This first day, Kanyon aslo said Chris and Debbie's names (his side walker and leader). He also said "POOP" When he was patting the back end of the horse. Celia said, "Is that his rump?" and klp answered with an emphatic "POOOO!"  Laughter followed which is of course, why potty humor is so fun.  I have a sneaky suspicion I have a lifetime of that ahead.  

At the end of the ride, klp got to walk and "lead" Kandy. He was very excited and kept saying "rope!".  Fun times.  

Here he is showing me his rope! Can you see that THRILLED face??!! 

Q's New Favorite Sport

In his short life, Quinn has already fallen in love with most major sports.  Currently it's football.  Or as he says, "butt ball".  Nice.  Especially when we were leaving a restaurant Sunday afternoon and as he walked through the middle of the place and spotted the TV with a football game on it, he yelled, "BUTT BALL DADDY BUTT BALL!!!"  Oh dear.



This is more like a blooper reel.



I can't say that his current skills give me hope that he'll be in the NFL, but thats Ok.  We're not really big football people anyways.  :)

Random Pictures

I'll let the pictures do the talking....with my captions, of course! :)  

q after dropping off Kanyon at school.  Killer sleepy face.  

klp wearing Daddy's cowboy hat. This may or may not be a little hint at their Halloween costumes

q and Chandler sitting in a bucket...k-i-s-s-i-n-g.  Not really. They were just both sitting there and being so cute.  

We had PT at the park one day.  It was lots of fun! Our PT, Celia, is a part of the Ambucs club that helped build this all access park.  We LOVE IT!

Swinging....shocker.  

klp with his crutches (or "sticks" as we call them).  They are very new and he still needs 100% help.  They are just starting to work on the rhythm of stepping and putting the crutch down, etc.  Not to mention, the balance, and holding on part.  We are hoping his left hand will allow him to use both crutches, but we may end up having to just use one if that left arm has too much trouble.  Either way, its fun to see him working on the next step (pardon the pun).  I remember when they ordered his gait trainer thinking there was NO WAY he was going to be able to walk in that.  They started working on it and it wasn't long before he was figuring it out!  Same thing with the bigger gait trainer and then the walker.  The stakes are a little higher with the crutches because he has to learn how to fall correctly so as not to hurt himself on the crutches.  The crutches will also mean more falls in general.  So far, everything he's used has offered a lot of support so the falls have been minimal.  We have a lot of work to do, strength to build, and just time with this, but I know he'll do great.  

he loves hand rails, so he loves getting to hold them and walk.  Here he is walking down the stairs.  

peek-a-boo Quinny boy! 

That's a nice way to end a post, huh???

Self photos with Kanyon

It doesn't come up much on the blog, but I have mentioned it a few times.  Kanyon is legally blind.  He's been receiving vision therapy since he was 2.  Along with having very very near sighted vision, he has some other factors with his neurological damage and development that make the whole vision thing a little tricky.  He compensates really well, but the older he gets, the more I realize just how much the visual/neurological difficulties affect him and the things he wants/tries to do.  All that to say, he was given an iPad from an organization that was giving them out to children with visual impairments.  We were totally shocked, as we don't really deal a lot with that organization, but we were really excited.  He really loves it and I am finding more and more apps that he can do independently and with our help.  We joke a lot about it, but we really are thankful for it.  It really has helped him and we feel like the older he gets the more it will help him.  

One day we were playing around with the camera. I was trying to get a self photo.  Between him being obsessed with other parts of the screen, the 3-2-1 countdown, and getting him to look at the right part of the screen, we had a hard time getting a good shot.......

he could NOT stop laughing.  He thought it was all so funny! 

Since the straight on self photos weren't working, I told him to give me a kiss....here he is going straight for my MOUTH! 

I redirected him to my cheek and WE GOT IT!  

Boys

There are so many fun things about having boys.  Sometimes I see them doing something that just makes me think, "That is SUCH a boy!"  One of my favorites is watching them play with their trucks and stuff. One night last week they were both busy doing "BOY STUFF" so I got my camera out.  

I was trying to get a picture of q pushing his truck, but every time he saw me with the camera he would stop, squat down, and CHEESE! 

Finally I got a few.  He loves this truck. Its traveled many miles in our house and outside. Sticking out that tongue for extra concentration!

aaaaand he spotted me with the camera....stop. squat. CHEESE! 

Meanwhile, klp and his John Deere were chuggin' right along.  

and just when I thought we were enjoying life as a Boy to the fullest, q busted out with the granddaddy of them all.....He held up the trailor (it goes with the tractor) and started making gun noises.  

here he is shooting me.  I'm tellin' ya, they're born with it! :)  

YEAH FOR BOYS!!!!