Saturday, May 22, 2010

Sometimes she's sweet...

...and sometimes she's sassy.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Artwork!

I especially love this one because they called me over and said "Mom, look! We worked together!" Eden drew the pink girl, and Holland added the dog ("Zippo"), the sun, the sky, and the grass :-)


Holland did this one on her own. It's a self portrait. She added a headband, bangs, freckles(?), and even a belly button. She is also walking Zippo, but told me that he "is flying up into the air!" Funny, funny girl.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Cycling Is Fun!

Last summer we started talking about getting a bike for Eden. I did a little research and asked around a bit, but somehow the summer got away from us and we never got that far. Eden's home PT mentioned that there was a little girl in our town who had a bike that she thought might work for Eden, so last fall I contacted her mom and asked if we could borrow it to try it out. These adapted trikes are so pricey that I really wanted to try one and see if it would work before I invested a ton of time and money into getting one. So, we borrowed it, and it worked. I figured that I had the winter to really figure out how we would go about getting one for Eden. She was excited about the prospect, and let us know that she wanted a pink Littlest Pet Shop bike. Of course.

Before I got too far along in the process, the mom who had loaned us the bike called me and told me that her daughter was outgrowing it and probably would not be able to use it come spring. She asked if we wanted it, and I said, "absolutely."

Fast forward to about a couple months ago. I went and picked it up, and Eden became the proud new owner of a blue and green Freedom Concepts Discovery bike. Well...at least she was the owner and she would ride it...I don't know about proud. It wasn't exactly what she had envisioned (it wasn't pink), but she WAS a good sport about it.

In the meantime I hatched a clever plan, and called up a couple of my super industrious, creative-type friends. I asked if they thought they could turn this into a pink bike for Eden and they told me to bring it over! So, I dropped it off and a week later it was pretty and pink. Ron spray painted the bike light pink and dark pink, and Amy even made pink glittery beads for the spokes. They also cleaned it up and tightened up all the parts so it was a much smoother ride.

I took Eden with me so they could see her reaction, and it was everything she had hoped it would be. We put her on it and she literally TOOK OFF! She was flying on that thing, around and around their little cul de sac. We joked with her that the color pink must give her super powers. She told us that that the bike was just a lot faster without the "string" (the rope pulley that was holding the pedals up).

So, it IS faster without the pulley, but without it her toes were pointing and the pedals were scraping the ground. After getting it home, we decided to try it while wearing her taller orthotics. This worked like a charm. Now she is able to fly around on her new pink bike...which I also decked out with some Littlest Pet Shop removable stickers, a pink flower horn, AND a bell.

Instead of spending the summer learning to pedal a trike...we're gonna spend the summer really RIDING. We took it to the park a couple of weeks ago and she rode about a mile easily. She was riding circles around Holland:-) It honestly makes my heart sing to see her riding that bike. Eden has the PINK Littlest Pet Shop bike that she had dreamed of!

Special thanks to Amy and Ron, and everyone who helped make her dream come true:-)

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

What's Up Wednesday




We're still here!

I just returned home from my 4th annual Hair Posse reunion trip. This year we went to San Francisco. It was four days of awesomeness where I got to see a whole bunch of my favorite people in the world...High School friends Jessie, Donna, Lisa, and Maggie. As a total bonus I also got to see some of my family (Aunt Katy, Uncle Keith, and cousins Abby and Drew). I love them all and had such a great time visiting!


It was a much needed break from reality, and timed just right to give me some respite right after March for Babies and right before the girls got sick with another snotty/cough virus. It started with a slight cough the day I came home, and just this evening has evolved into the start of breathing treatments and TLC with Eden. She'll probably have to stay home from school tomorrow... Hopefully we'll weather this one quickly and be back to our regularly scheduled program soon.

Work is crazy as I try to wrap up all of the end-of-the school year referrals, but I won't complain since I only have 19 more wake-ups before the end of the school year, and I still have a job in the fall.

I am working on a big, exciting, surprise post featuring Eden riding her new pink bike. Stay tuned for that and be ready to be amazed yet AGAIN. I'm not kidding. It's so flippin amazing and exciting that I can't stand it! She just needs to get well so we can get her riding again! I can't wait to show you all!