Thanksgiving

It was our Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend. We tried extra hard to have a good, happy and family oriented thanksgiving, while remembering and being thankful for the influence and love of someone who wasn't there.

 

We were thankful for the excitement that Nickolas has from being independent!

Wanting to do everything himself.

I'm thankful for Nick's inquisitive nature!
What is all these leaves doing here?!

For his determination to work things through, and having fun kicking the leaves

I'm thankful that Katheryn has never stopped asking questions and exploring

Nick has been enjoying the play set, and his favorite thing is the slide!

 Especially when there is a whole pile of leaves on the bottom!

I've been trying to get Nickolas some kind of carrier for his walker. So far I found a little tool belt that is working so far. Nick can carry his milk and walk at that same time.

We took the opportunity of the beautiful leaves and sun to take some pictures.
Look at that adorable face!
I'm thankful I can look at this every day, and hear him say "I love you mommy"
Something a year ago I wasn't sure I was ever going to hear!

 

Everyone enjoyed a jump in the pile of leaves!

And throwing leaves at each other!!

We enjoyed 2 thanksgiving dinners with all of our family.
Including a couple of pirates!

We shared some bonding moments (don't need a special day for that)

And we had an opportunity to show off our crazy side!!!

Thanksgiving gives us a day to be together and just think about how thankful we are to be together, to be ourselves, to enjoy ourselves and just be thankful that we are exactly where we are supposed to be.

Pumpkin Hunter!

We told the kids last night that we were going to pick up some pumpkins.

They were really excited!!

 

We wanted to do the whole experience, not just find a random pumpkin patch. So we looked up a couple of our local farms and decided on Whittamore's. They have a whole Pumpkin land area.
I was hesitant at first. Kyle and I decided that Nick was walking in his walker and I didn't want him to get stuck or have difficulty moving around in areas.

The first thing they kids saw was the bouncy castle! (Or I should say farm). Katheryn went right in. And of course Nick wanted to follow. After thinking about it for a bit, and seeing how open it was, and that there weren't any really big kids in it, I decided that Nick could go on it.

Off he went crawling around.

And he did have fun, until he fell over onto his back, and couldn't get his knees back under him. The attendant rescued him. No tears, nothing. Nick just told me he was done and wanted to look at something else.

 

The idea was to get really big pumpkins! But then the kids saw the little ones and decided that they could carry their own pumpkins and wanted small ones in stead (and somehow Mommy, Daddy and Grandma lost our ability to say no)

 

Nick was really excited that he got to carry one too...

But then it started to get heavy...

Problem solved!

We had a little lunch break

And we raced some rubber duckies!
Katheryn and Nickolas both won (Katheryn has gotten significantly better when she loses)

And then we decided to look at the big pumpkins!!!
I think this is what they were waiting for!

And what the point of going if you can't get a family picture!
(It was a little windy and cold)

And then we loaded all the pumpkins in!
We have a future movie star here (there was a camera from CTV that got a clip of Katheryn)

And then the kids were tired and cold and were ready to load up and go!
(Did you miss the part about not being able to say no - we got 10 pumpkins of various sizes)

A very successful pumpkin hunt!!

Rockstar!

 Nickolas has become a rockstar!

He is singing and dancing and working any type of drums he can (literally) get his hands on!

Some of his talent has gone to his head (as you can hear), he is aware of his star power!

 

Nick will climb on anything so he can make more noise with is hands.
SHHHH he's getting a drum set for his birthday (I can't believe we asked for it).

 

Nick already has the beginning of a fan-base. You can hear Katheryn cheering him on at the end. And he's dancing (he dances with his eyes screwed shut). And singing his favorite song EVER! (From Jake and the Neverland Pirates).

 

I'm always looking for magical musical talent in my kids, Katheryn has a number of different piano's and keyboards, some flutes, a xylophone and they are always making some kind of noise. I'm considering a guitar or 2 for them as well.

We are definitely not a quiet household!

 

Rock-Star!!!!

School Routine

I'm trying to start a new routine with Nickolas

In the morning we take Katheryn to the bus stop (Kyle, Katheryn, Nickolas, Sammie and me) - Nick is in his wheelchair.

But I want to build endurance with Nickolas in his walker,

So in the afternoons we are taking out the walker

 

Nick is getting distracted very easily
And we are taking our time

In the last 4 weeks we get about a quarter of the way to the bus stop (uphill)

Nickolas is having a lot of fun doing it
And really feels that he is accomplishing something

I am so proud of him and how much he is trying!
I am always cheering him on - and so is Katheryn when she meets back up with us

The progress is slower than what I want
And I try to remind myself that Nickolas doesn't work on my timeline

Dressing up!

It's officially October!

Which means that I can start adding more to our Costume box!

 

And I should probably get a moving on our Halloween costumes!
I excited for our first wheelchair and walker costumes!!
It looks great in my head...
Now I have to figure out how to actually make it happen.

On another note...
October is also Spina Bifida Awareness Month in the United States!
(It's June in Canada)
There are lots of awareness going on in different blogs!
Showing What Spina Bifida Looks Life
31 Days of Spina Bifida Awareness
Our Families, Our Children
The Good and The Bad - Potter Style
Days of Spina Bifida Awareness - Just found this blog!
Information about Spina Bifida
This one is about Down Syndrome, but just sub in spina bifida and you got it!

I've seen this on some people's FB pages, and I made this!
I have it proudly on my car, but it's also available on cafepress.com