Sunday, April 29, 2012

Giddy-Up!

Hello, everyone! This will be a short and sweet little post this evening. Blogger has made some changes to its system, and it's just plain driving me crazy. It keeps rearranging my photos even though I save them like I want them. It's too late for me to try and figure it out now. Hopefully they'll post correctly.

 I have just a few pictures from the Giddy-Up Walkathon on Thursday.  So far, the school has raised $4,600!  That is the highest amount yet in all three years!  Reese and Paige brought in over $2,000 of that.  I am SO proud to say that :)  Thank you to all of my friends & family who donated...Dad & Trisha, David & Darlene, Gary & Patty, Granny Clifford & Pa, Granny Betty, Grandma Ruth, Jamie...so many people love these girls!  A special thank you to my awesome friends Jennifer and Trudi for helping me get even more donations, and to my mom for getting her friends from work to donate...Sharon, Barbara, Sheri...and even people I don't know.  I feel so humbled by all of your generosity.  And I wanted to mention my mom's friend, Mimi, who gave a huge donation and got a few of her own friends to make the biggest donation ever!  THANK YOU, everyone...this means so much to me (and the school)!!!

Here is Reese's class picture.  Can you find her?  She's on the right back row with her face turned the other way...surprise...haha!  She refused to wear her cowboy hat...no surprise there.  They all had a good time, though :)
Paige wore her hat for a split second :)
And Paige's class picture after the walkathon...she's still in the big red stroller on the right. It's really difficult to get everyone squeezed into one group photo.
And a few pictures from the weekend...just running around outside, enjoying the evening. Paige also did some swinging, so I had to take the camera with me :) Reese kept being silly and making goofy faces, which kept cracking me up.
Have a great week!

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Happy Sunday :)

Happy Sunday!  Time for another weekly blog update.  I don't really have anything "new" to share...the past week was pretty uneventful.  This week will be busier.  The Giddy-Up Walkathon is Thursday at OCA.  We're still collecting money from sponsors, and so far, we're right at $2,000.  Did you know it takes $2,400 to board & feed just one horse for a year?  This is the third time OCA has had this event, and all the proceeds go to the Hippotherapy program.  That's the program where the children ride horses as part of their speech, physical and occupational therapy.  Some of the kids only interact or talk or communicate while they're on a horse.  It really does wonders for them!  Reese and Paige both love it dearly, and it's so neat to watch them ride.  They come out of their shell and really focus on communicating.  Anyway, I'm excited for Thursday!

Here are the sweet pictures I got this week of my two little stinkers. Paige being a little silly goose...
My two sleeping beauties...
Reese and her Daddy playing...
Outside fun...yep, we're still wearing our Valentine shirt :)
That's about it for now...I should have a more interesting report next week. Have a good one!

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Fun with Michael

Who is Michael, you ask? Haha...he's our cat. Well, he's not really our cat...he's a neighborhood cat that pretty much lives at our house. We feed him and play with him and talk to him like he's our own. And we named him Michael Myers a few years ago when we first spotted him in our yard. He's mostly dark grey with a white face and belly, and the first time I saw him, he was sitting in the grass as still as a statue, staring at me through the window. All I could see was this really white face surrounded by black, like he was wearing a mask. Then five minutes later, I looked out a different window and there he was...staring at me again. He reminded me of Michael Myers from the Halloween movies...he was kind of scary just staring me down. We called him Stalker Cat for awhile because he would appear out of every window and just stare at you, like he wanted to kill you. So he became Michael. And this statue/staring routine became a daily thing.

This is what it felt like every time I saw him staring from the window. (Haha!)


Now that we know him, he's a very loving and sweet cat and always wants to rub up against your legs.

Here he is from the other night...do you see the resemblance? :D


The weather has been so nice the past several days, and we have been taking advantage of it. It really does feel like Spring out there. Usually it seems like Florida only has one or two Spring-like days, and then it just gets hot and humid. This year's weather has been so odd...but we are loving the breezy and sunny days lately. I got some pictures of the girls playing with Michael the other evening. Reese smiled whenever he would rub up against her or tickle her with his tail, but she never tried to touch him.








Paige would try and grab his tail every chance she got! Eventually she started swatting at it, but Michael still wanted to play :)





I love how you can see Michael's little head at the bottom left...he looks dead...haha!


Grandma Darla will be happy to see these pictures! She got Paige that lawnmower for Christmas, and this is the first time Paige has "mowed" with it :)



Not much longer before it will be pool time! The water is still too cold for us Floridians :)



To me, this picture is the very definition of Sensory Processing Disorder. Reese is holding her brush that she uses all the time. She rubs it on her hands, arms, legs, feet, stomach, and even her lips. It calms her down. Paige's main sensory issues are oral...hense the chewy necklace she is always wearing. If she's not wearing it, she's chewing on her shirt collar, a dish towel, the corners of a pillow or blanket, a sock...anything! She also has to touch everything...even a cat's tail.


We did go for a 4-wheeler ride this afternoon. It was such a nice day to get out and about. I did get some pictures of Pip, but Reese made it quite clear she wanted no part of a photo shoot. Here are some shots of Paige playing with her Daddy after our ride.