Happy Halloween!

Wishing everyone a Happy Halloween! No one wanted to smile at the same time!

Visit to Oklahoma

During Fall break we drove from California to Oklahoma. It took us three days to get there and three days back. Our visit was mainly to visit with David's sister that has been very ill lately. We enjoyed visiting with Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Mike, Aunt Misty, Matthew, Elizabeth and David's sister Pat.

Of course, the boys had to play some golf while they were together so one morning Mike, David and Emma head off for the course. David let Emma drive the cart between each hole. The only problem was David didn't explain to Emma enough to ONLY drive the cart when dad was with her. Thus, there was a sprint to the cart as Emma decided to drive off by herself.

Here are a couple of photos of that day. David wants to work on Emma learning to play.

1st day of 5th grade

Emma was so excited to start 5th grade that she was ready for school by 7:00 am. As she is not a morning person that was quite amazing! She has a new teacher this year and we are hoping for the best. Her amazing teacher of the last two years moved on to teach High School level kids. We are hoping Emma will be with him again in the not to distant future. Summer School (her doll) even had her own backpack for the big 1st day, although she didn't get to stay at school but had to come home with mom.

Riding Together

The kids had a lot of fun on Saturday riding their bikes with our neighbors on our street. Emma even made a little basket on her bike so that Summer School (yes, that is her doll's name) could ride with her. Sam is relaxing in the wagon after riding his Lightening McQueen bike so long that he said he needed a juice break. So mom pulled him while he rested and had some juice. It was a beautiful, sunny California day.

Sidewalk Chalk

Emma had some great fun with sidewalk chalk in our backyard. See if you can see what she has created this art work for. Hmmm???? I wonder.

Hooray for Emma!

Completely awesome dental appointment this morning. Emma sat is the chair for the first time, leaned back, opened wide and didn't need any assistance whatsoever!! We are sooo proud of her. It may have taken years to get here but we are proud of her to have worked through her fears and now the whole dental office won't know when Emma is there. She was as quiet as a mouse today. It's hard to convey what a HUGE step this is for her. Sensory wise her mouth is on the extremely high side so for her to allow Dr. Singer to explore, examine, wiggle and touch teeth is tremendous for her. We are celebrating tonight. Emma got to select the reward: Amy's Gluten Free Mac n Cheese with a side of french fries. I wish I had taken my camera today but we had no idea this visit would be so amazing.

Our little helper!

Now that the chandelier is up, Emma has decided she wants her walls painted pink. So Daddy let her help paint a section of her room. She had so much fun! It is becoming a true little Princess room.

Having fun!

Sam and Emma had a blast today jumping in their Mickey Mouse jumper with Ansley. So great to see our friends from Texas.

The chandelier

The chandelier was hung up on Saturday and we are thrilled to report Success!! For the first time in her entire life, Emma slept in her room, by herself, through the night! Time to celebrate! Who knew a chandelier could make that much of a difference.

Our Family February 2012

Emma's Room

It's amazing to me how closely one needs to pay attention to little clues our kids give us. We've had problems with Emma sleeping in her room for years. We've asked her, rearranged furniture, painted, etc. to try to help the problem. Every time she would walk to her room she would hesitate at the door... almost afraid to go in. We would ask but she could never express to us what the problem was. One day instead of walking in behind her as I always have, I walked in front and watched her face. Her head would not move but her eyes looked up to the ceiling fan in the room. I immediately asked her if she would like the ceiling fan to be gone. She smiled and said "yes" with great joy in her voice. Needless to say that in less than 10 minutes my husband was up in the attic disconnecting the ceiling fan and it was gone. From waking up between 5 to 10 times every night, to making one of us be in the room until she would go to sleep, to her not sleeping much at all, she is now sleeping until 2:00 am soundly. She only wakes up once now and I just need to kiss her and tuck her back in bed and she sleeps the rest of the night. The only comical part of this story is when we asked her to show us what type of light she would like, she picked a $699.00 chandelier. Mom is now trying to recreate the chandelier for her. Will post photos once it has been hung.