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ne in front of the judges and audience we are so proud of him we are so thankful for this journey though it is sometimes hard and grueling the joys are great and the miracles we get to see or hear as the case may be are precious this boy amazes me at 9 56 am 3 thoughts 1 19 2015 2014 recap a bit late i kind of most definitely slacked off of blogging during 2014 in fact i ve had a growing mental list of blog posts and have sort of kind of intended to actually write them but then was distracted by books or children or rain or sunshine or really anything that didn t involve opening up a computer so this may be the longest post in the history of ever but i wanted a record somewhere because we all know i will never get around to scrapbooking it of what we did and experienced in 2014 i realize 2015 started 20 days ago i started this post in 2014 hopefully this is not indicative of another slow blogging year to come i won t tell how many books i ve started and completed in 2015 already it s a significantly higher number than the amount of blog posts i ve started and completed i did just send my final batch of christmas cards a few days ago so at least blogging isn t the only thing i m behind in i have several posts rattling around in my brain i really want to describe in more detail our champions experience and what that meant to our family i will do that one soon i also have a few other ideas floating around in my head about parenting kiddos with differences and walking alongside those in your life who are hurting in the meantime feel free to just totally bypass this ridiculously long post and know that i do want to return to blogging more regularly i just needed to clear these off my brain without further ado seriously skip this post and return soon for a shorter more substantial one this is really just for my own records it s my 2015 resolution to get this blog thing printed also it s my ny resolution to keep my kitchen island clean i m doing fairly ok on that one you ve been warned this is looooong january we kicked off january with will being honored at his school as the special kid of the week he was honored in a school wide chapel of having the character quality of contentment we also had a family day in which his great grandmother and grandparents came with us to the school far away grandparents and even his friend in canada with his same diagnosis sent in videos to surprise will and his class with each family member and friend shared an affirmation of will something we really love respect and admire about him then each kindergartner and his teacher shared something about will they admire wow this was an emotional day for his mama one day after some doctor s appointments i took the kids to a park in dallas ellie climbed a flight of stairs independently for the first time will was in his class talent show and it was awesome will chose to perform his talent of running barefoot and sword fighting he chose eye of the tiger for his background music it was so much fun and as his mom i see him run all the time but it was fun to see the miracle of will running on his feet through the eyes of many parents who had never seen him do so without prosthetics his balance and agility are incredible martin luther king jr day was one of my very favorite days of the year on a whim ellie i decided to try potty training ya ll she did it in a day she had 1 accident and never looked back she napped trained and went all night too starting that day it was incredible i had feared potty training due to her diagnosis but she suddenly was ready and just did it i had also started that day feeling guilt because i didn t have any cool plans for our day off from school i hadn t created any special theme days or activities to study or crafts to create but then i sat outside doing my bible study and reading my book and soaking up the sun as i watched the kids play and realized that what they really need is time to just play they need to be kids they need freedom and unstructured time to use their imaginations they need to play with neighbors of varying ages and learn how to problem solve on their own and how to get along they need independence from me in their play this became a defining day really for helping me develop my own parenting philosophy they spent hours playing with neighbors and even exploring a nearby creek in the woods such a beautiful fun day exactly what we needed this is tx in january shorts and playing in a creek february some of our dear friends moved all the way to ca we hated saying goodbye but tried to be intentional about spending time together before they left our more ellie really misses her other ellie then will was chosen to represent texas as the children s miracle network hospitals champion ambassador this was such a huge surprise and honor it led to one of the most amazing experiences of our lives in 2014 will continued his love of dress up i love his imagination this picture was taken the day before inlaws on ice it was 75 degrees and beautiful which explains why i had no coats or socks or warm anything in our car and then we had the epic inlaws on ice adventure in which we travelled 90 miles in ice over the course of 26 hours due to a horrible scary ice storm we did this while trapped in a minivan without coats water or snacks and with my parents hence r s nickname for the adventure we have never been so thankful for our friends who offered us beds at their farm and a great fire when we couldn t get all the way home that night the next day we enjoyed freedom from the minivan and sledding at the musical little mermaid just a few hours before the great interstate ice capade so thankful to crash at our friends farm for the night spring fishing with daddy spring break the kids i road tripped to see our best friends for a few days we had a blast we played we talked we rested in the way you can when you are with your favorite people it was such a good break away for us in the spring will got new zancos prosthetics unfortunately these haven t worked out so well and he doesn t wear them fortunately they led to us getting really creative and trying to figure out an alternative for will he doesn t fit the mold in so many ways of the typical amputee he is actually functional without prosthetics prosthetics slow him down and this leads to social issues at his age when speed on the playground counts they are also hot which meant he generally goes barefoot all summer we ended up with an amazing solution thanks to a friend s research a cobbler in oregon our brilliant creative prosthesist in dallas will s first pair of custom shoes that fit his feet pictures to come soon march the kids ran a local race this was ellie s first race to run in we were so so proud of both kids the race ran out of medals for kids but will graciously shared his with his sister since it was her first race this is will s cursive by last spring his kindergarten progress was amazing also in march ellie got a big girl room a wonderful family passed their daughter s bedding and chair and bed and lamps down to ellie after they realized some of their fabrics were the same as i had used in ellie s nursery bedding and window treatments i love her big girl room and absolutely love all her new to us pieces we are so thankful for fabulous hand me downs from sweet friends april in april we went on our first family camping trip with some friends a major thunderstorm hit during the night resulting in possibly the coldest night of my life note to self get a sleeping bag we ended up loading up cars at 1am to keep our stuff from being drenched and then spent a very cold night in our leaky tents by 8am we were headed to cracker barrel like a bunch of wet rats i ve never been so glad for a hot shower now i just have to convince my husband to try camping again with me also to invest in a tent without a hole also i m going to check the weather next time before attempting by april ellie became a jumper this trampoline has been awesome for wearing out energy and building muscle strength on a beautiful april day the kids hosted a lemonade and popsicle fundraiser it was a great success easter ellie got pretend makeup this year in her easter basket her daddy her cookie her mimi were gracious enough to let her give them makeovers we have been working hard at bike riding in april i finally took my first set of bluebonnet pictures ever this seems to be kind of a tradition for texas families but somehow i ve just never done it until now ellie danced in her dance studio s spring show love this girl love her dance class precious instructor i m so proud of her also i m not crafty at all but managed to create these little no sew tutus for her class so they could match in their spring show ellie loved it and will headed to hand camp for kids with hand differences we made lots of friends and had a blast reconnecting with old college friends and west tx friends photo credit texas scottish rite hospital for children will got an art lesson from this professional artist with hand differences they drew awesome dragons the rock wall ended up being a brutal experience for us will got scared and was unable to make it to the top this meant he was unable to do the zip line he was crushed and we didn t know any of the other kids watching so he was embarrassed too it was just an awful gut wrenching heart breaking character building tough experience i am confident he will be able to do it someday it was so hard as his parents to not be able to help him or push him harder or somehow fix this for him there s a life lesson in here somewhere victory someday will be so much sweeter for will on that rock wall he did however have a great time creating art may in may we travelled to virginia for an old friend s wedding it was beautiful and such a fun weekend of celebrations ellie i hosted our annual mother daughter grandmother tea party in may i almost didn t do it this year because i felt overwhelmed in may and it seemed like the easiest thing to let go but ellie begged so we went for it i am so so glad i did the girls really got into it this year they each brought books to donate to our local children s miracle network hospital for kids in the hospital and while they played the moms each made hand scrubs which ellie and i delivered to the hospital for moms of kids who were hospitalized on mother s day i decided this year the little girls were old enough for real tea cups and used the china tea cups with them i ve collected it from estate sales and borrowed some from family wow the girls were so so excited to use real tea cups they were so careful and precious we went around the table to share something we love about our mom or daughter and ellie said that the tea party was her most favorite day of her whole life i am so glad we did it ellie was such a helper this year she made and decorated the cupcakes and helped serve them also i had a fancy tea party dress for her but she really wanted to wear this pink dress up dress so we went for it i love how much ownership she took in this year s party sweet sweet friends favorite picture of my kids ever i have a dream of someday meeting a sculptor who can turn this picture into a bronze sculpture for my yard at a discounted price in may will graduated from kindergarten also the city named may 14 will butts day yep he got his own day perks for being the texas ambassador champion for children s miracle network hospitals will the mayor press conference for my 6 year old in the spring will ellie began to beg to have sleepovers together i love listening to them whisper as they fall asleep one night i went to check on them and they were sound asleep holding hands my heart melts at the sweetness and purity of their friendship i am so grateful they have each other by the late spring will had become a full blown book addict i love that he loves reading one of our favorite activities is to read our novels side by side while ellie naps in 2014 he read lots of geronimo stilton books a few magic treehouse books these drive me crazy books 1 3 of the boxcar children harry potter book 1 treasure island stuart little swiss family robinson jungle book twice he really loved it laughed a lot three musketeers condensed version jackson p jones hardy boys books 1 2 half upon a time ralph s mouse runaway ralph mouse on a motorcycle series how to eat fried worms lots of encyclopedia brown books tom sawyer huck finn half of call of the wild then we realized it was too over his head mine he also loves shel silverstein and has read each of his poetry books cover to cover i often hear him giggling as he reads those i can t tell you how many places i ve found him with a book in his hands he will read for hours i m so very thankful he says in heaven he hopes he can fly while reading i loved this day on the beach i was in my chair nearby with my novel ellie was napping between us happy mama happy kids in late may we took a family vacation our first disney cruise ellie loved meeting the princesses i couldn t believe she and i waited 90 minutes to meet princesses but when she told me how very happy she was i was glad mostly that we did it one day will saw a man on an island who is an amputee will asked us if he could go meet him and so we told the little extrovert future senator that of course he could will introduced himself and we learned that the man is a veteran who lost his legs in afghanistan we met his family and his friend who is also an amputee and thanked them for their service the rest of the trip whenever will spotted them he would run to him and high five them will called the three of them the zanco club since they all had prosthetics will loved meeting real soliders who also wore zancos and i think they liked seeing how functional full of life will is as an amputee my little pirates exhausted kiddos ellie loves to dance with her daddy she calls it marry me daddy apparently she thinks marriage begins with a dance our hearts will be crushed the day she realizes she can t actually marry him but for now they dance while we enjoyed the cruise it really helped solidify how we want to travel with our kids and what kind of travel we most enjoy as a family and factoring in our various personalities and disabilities so a story about one of the best days for our family in 2014 for one of the island days i began researching something to do i knew the goal was to get to a beach because we love the beach and everyone would be happy typically in this marriage r does the travel planning he s good at that and enjoys it for some bizarre reason i did the travel planning for this particular day i found a sailboat to charter in college i took sailing for pe credit so pretty much because i sailed on a little river in a little sunfish 15 years ago i m convinced i am a sailor r gets nervous every time i rent a sailboat at the ocean he suspects i have no idea what i am doing he may be correct but don t tell h...