outside with Seth

Seth and I were home alone.  After watching several movies, Seth told me that he wanted to go outside :-)

 

First, he had to clean the snow out of the swing.

 

Then he could climb in.

 

Yay -- "I did it all by myself!"

 

"ok -- enough of that."

 

Time to climb.

 

try #1 to get into the tree house

 

try #2 to get in the treehouse

 

"Forget the treehouse -- how about this rope ladder."

 

"Or maybe I could climb up this pool ladder and reach the deck and make Mom freak out."

 

Falling off the bottom rung of the ladder makes the perfect opportunity to make a snow angel.

 

He seemed to think I'd be upset about eating snow, but since I didn't mind at all, it was a little less fun.

 

try #3 to get to the treehouse -- This time, he even asked me to help him get across.  I said no way, of course.  The treehouse is dangerous for Seth.

 

singing loudly in the silence -- not sure why it was so quiet outside.  There are lots of children who live on the street behind us.  Maybe they're all hibernating.

my teenager

I was shocked when I saw this picture of Joel wrestling at regions!  I knew he'd been working really hard to make weight all season and that he'd been lifting after practice several days every week.  But I was still surprised that he's gotten so big and muscular!

Because this is how I think of Joel wrestling:

Luke's compassionate decision

Luke:  "When you two die -- no offense -- or move away or I move away, I'm going to go to the pet store or the pound and adopt the ugliest dog there."

Jason:  "You know, you could just move to a different house.  We don't have to die first.  And why are you going to buy the ugliest dog?"

Luke:  "Because no one else would adopt it, so it would be there and never get picked.  I'm going to pick that one for my own."

Luke's Legos

Luke wanted pictures from every angle.

This is a canon.

He used spare pieces to copy the picture in his new Lego book.

He made this go cart pretty much all on his own.

new mailbox

For YEARS I've wanted a unique mailbox.  The Down syndrome group board gave me a gift card to Home Depot after the Buddy Walk, so I bought a new mailbox.  My friend Ann worked her artistic magic to give me a one-of-a-kind piece of art in my front yard.

I have a hard time driving up the driveway.  I just want to sit in the road and stare at my mailbox!

picture: 


mailbox: 

dreams

I pretty much never remember my dreams, but last night I remembered two of them.  First, I dreamed that Joel, Seth, and I were swimming in a lake.  Seth had just started swimming underwater, but he didn't know how to swim back up to the surface.  I had to pull him up when I thought he'd been under long enough.  I turned around to wipe water out of my eyes, and Seth swam away.  It was a lake, so we couldn't see him.  Thankfully, I woke up before the screaming and crying could start.  I went into Luke and Seth's room to make sure they were both breathing and to give Seth kisses.

I was afraid to close my eyes again even though it was only 2 a.m., but sometime after 3 a.m. I fell asleep again.  I dreamed that I was taking Seth to school, but apparently it was also my workplace since people from work were there.  When I was helping Seth get to his class, I realized that I hadn't gotten all the way dressed!  I was just getting Seth to come with me to go back home when my real-life Seth woke me up to take him to the bathroom.  I was SO very glad to see my Seth alive, to know that I was all the way dressed, and to have Seth be able to wake up to use the bathroom!  Crazy dreams!!