Delve back into 2012

How do I look back at the last year?
I tried looking through all of my pictures and just picking out a couple of my favorites. Or 181 of my favorites! And no I'm not going to post 181 pictures here. Maybe just a couple of a month.

But this was our 2012

January was the month of purchases and clinic. We enjoyed some outdoor fun, purchased a new van, Nick's wheelchair and a potty for Nick. We also registered Katheryn for kindergarten. We tried to set up a whole year of doing.

February didn't see us doing anything special. Setting the pace, making small progresses. I do stand on my soap-box a couple of times this month. But we tried to do everything together.

March brought us a whole new world of therapy. Nickolas enjoying himself, working, showing off and blowing everyone away (in physiotherapy and speech therapy). Katheryn of course was right by his side.

April my little girl turned 4!! It's hard to think back to 4, right now my mind is already focus on the big 5. Katheryn had herself a tea party for her birthday (setting the costume trend). Nick got not one, but two sets of his own wheels.

In May we were ready for summer to start! We spent a lot of time outside, playing, drawing, walking around the zoo and of course the long weekend up at the cottage. We also had some changes we have had to adjust with our spina bifida lives - losing our in-person support group.

June of course is spina bifida awareness month. And I just love this picture of Nick with the spine! June was also a big change for us as I went back to work full time and felt I didn't have time to do a lot of stuff (like blogging). We were getting things ready for school, finishing off C/E and trying to adjust to a new dynamic , right before everything changes for the summer.

July  had Nickolas in his intensive conductive education, and mommy learning to let go for a while, but there was lots of walking and learning and doing more things. Katheryn was getting ready for school and showing off her attitude! Oh yeah and a couple of us turned 34 (which seems like such a  grown up number, as I'm writing this)

August. What can I say about August, other than WE HAD SO MUCH FUN! On our first family holiday. I know we did other things, Katheryn started camp, Nick had his MRI, we had our family reunion. But really it was that 4 days that made an August to remember.

And September brought the start of school. A whole new era - for Katheryn, and for us. We started off the month with a final farewell to the summer at the cottage. We did a bunch of learning, and teaching this month with school, meet the teacher, parent talks and a general meeting.

I think October was spent with Thanksgiving and then all of our spare time was spent getting the kids ready for Halloween. But I think it turned out great! It was definitely a month for pictures

November had another birthday, 3 years. Pirate style! Adjusting to the new attitude that seems to come with 3 has been interesting. But Nickolas has restarted therapy and really took off (literally) with his walking and desire to walk. And Katheryn has started to want to pose for pictures - very important in this family.

And here we are in December. I think we jammed every single spare minute with some kind of holiday fun or event or something to write about. We had parties and concerts, Santa Claus, writing, reading, snowball throwing, train rides and of course Christmas (and even some pirate AFO's thrown in the balance).

 

When I started this I was thinking that 2012 was a nice slow and steady year. But we filled a lot into this year. If we wanted a year of doing I think we got it.

 

 

I feel like I'm behind on a lot of stuff, the house is a mess and sometimes I just want a day off. But the kids are having a blast and that is what they will remember. And 2013 is almost here, maybe I can rest then, but I'm sure I'll have something else to do with the family when the time comes.

 

 Can't wait to see what lucky number 2013 will bring!



It's a Holly Jolly Christmas

We had 3 days full of Christmas family, presents, dancing, music, food and fun.
It was perfect - we even got a little bit of sleep in there.

It started with opening the last day of the advent calender - and some fighting over who got to fly Santa around with the presents

We checked in with Norad to see where Santa was - and even pulled out our globe to follow him.

Christmas eve was spent dancing

Boy did Nick have the moves!
Around and around and around he went, and up and down. If his legs were still, his hands were going, going, going. I have a new appreciation for Katy Perry! Because those kids loved her songs!

which was perfect - because it tired Nickolas out so much he was fast asleep when we got home!

And the kids were all ready to open their present in the morning - in matching pj's of course!

We brought our favorite toys to visit Grandma Ridding and have a big family dinner

Nick got to scare everyone being a cross between a dinosaur and Santa Claus.
And walking between everything. Roar!

Now that the kids are enjoying games - there were a couple of grandma's who were all ready to start playing.

We ended our 3 day Christmas with the Bartley Christmas on boxing day.

Nickolas was very excited for Christmas this year. And Katheryn, going to a catholic school, knew all about baby Jesus and his birthday. Everyone was (mostly) happy and playing. They showed off to all of the family - Nickolas standing up straight and dancing - everywhere. Katheryn counting to 100 (and beyond).   Nickolas even wished Baby Peter Pan (it works for a boy or a girl) Merry Christmas!

This photo collage created with Smilebox     Merry Christmas! I hope your holidays were filled with as much family fun as ours!

Trick or Treat!

Today is the day! Halloween!

The kids were very excited to dress up and go to a Halloween party

 

Both of them LOVED their costumes and wanted to keep them on all day/night!

I even got out some makeup. It is supposed to be a stencil, but it didn't work so I tried free-handing it from the picture on the box (it's supposed to be a butterfly)

 

Katheryn had absolutely no desire to take her 'carriage' out trick or treating, but she did pose for a picture in costume.

It was damp but not really raining that much when we started out.

Took some time to pose for some pictures on the front line.
My niece Madison (who is lalaloopsie) came trick or treating with us
I have no idea why Katheryn is making such funny faces...
It probably had something to do with 3 camera's pointed at her (and saying we couldn't leave yet)

And a quick picture with me

And we were off!

They girls were very excited to shout trick or treat.
And we had to collect Nick's candy for him.
There wasn't a single house where Nick could actually go up to the door for candy himself. We got him to yell out trick or treat! Just one of those things you need to problem solve.

He didn't seem to mind. He liked carrying his bag that was getting heavier and heavier.
And they kids eventually started to lose their steam.
It never started to really rain, but it was misting/spitting and we all got very damp (again I was really glad all of Nick's ship was waterproof).

And then we were home again!
Bags were full, kids were tired and wet

 

The kids took stock of their goodies

 

Then Katheryn took over handing out the candy

 

When we asked her what she liked better, handing out candy or giving candy she said she liked handing it out better!

So did the kids she handed it out to! Each kid got gigantic handfuls of candy when they came to the door (and we still have a ton left over!)

Now to think of what we'll do next Halloween...

Family, family and more family!

The August long weekend means that it is time for our annual Philips Family Reunion!

I don't remember what year we started doing it, but it is the one time of the year when all of the family can get together, catch up, show off, watch grow and relax.

Kushog Lake is a beautiful swimming lake, BUT it is deep and Katheryn was well aware that she needs to be in her life jacket whenever she is close to the edge. (I may have stressed it a little too much, a week ago Katheryn woke up from a bad dream because she was near the water without her life jacket on).

The cottage hasn't grown in the last 50 years or so, it is a 3 bedroom cottage. But the family has grown significantly since my grandfather built it. So when we all meet in the year we camp it!



The kids love camping!

The water, the outdoors.

Katheryn didn't want to actually get in the water, she was just really happy to fill bucket after bucket of water and destroy sand castles. And following around the older girls (who were a huge, big help).

But Nick was the water baby! We swam and swam and swam. (It was alot easier once I got a noodle to help support us). There was a pirate ship on the lake!
Nick and I kept watching out for Captain Hook

Every family dinner needs to have our picture. And since we are too big to eat inside, what better place to set up our photo than with our dinner table!
I think we are all here, except Katheryn was in the cottage napping and we are missing 2 dogs (and Nick is hidden a bit).

The weekend was supposed to have a rainy day, so I made sure we had a bunch of fun things to do when we were stuck inside! The goody bag came out a little earlier and our craziness started to show a bit!

We also pulled out the badminton set and the 'kids' had lots of fun bouncing a birdie back and forth.

The cousins liked playing together, and teaching the younger ones!

The beginning of the weekend was a little bit hectic, with lots of clinging and crying. But by the end of the weekend we were more relaxed. Nick started to relax, and while I could never be too far away, Nick did take some opportunity to get into trouble (like colouring all over his face).

Or doing some exploring!

The cottage weekend was a huge success, the kids all had alot of fun, relaxing, exploring and playing with their cousins. It seems like 3 days is just not long enough.

But we'll take the time we have to breathe and enjoy the peace and tranquility.