First Halloween Treats

Sydney and Ethan got their first taste of Halloween today after school. They made these pumpkin cups in Mother's Day out and their teachers put special treats in them which Sydney and Ethan thoroughly enjoyed. Sydney's teacher also informed me that her walk has gotten a lot faster now (with the help of her braces) and today she got to be line leader for the first time:)

Pumpkin Patch

This evening, we loaded up the kids and headed out to Harmon's Tree farm for a hayride. It was pretty chilly outside, but we all had fun, and we got to bring home a baby pumpkin to play with.

All Smiles After School

Back to the Beach

We went to Hilton Head this weekend and had a blast! The weather was great, there wasn't a crowd at the beach and Sydney and Ethan had tons of fun. I'm beginning to think October is the best month for the beach-all the fun without having to show all the skin:-)

Alabama Here We Come!!

We received some good news today. Sydney was on the schedule with the University of Alabama to start a program called Acquire Therapy in September 2007. The program is designed to help gain function in an arm that isn't working properly due to brain injury, stroke, cerebral palsy, etc. It is a very intensive program involving 6 hours of therapy 6 days a week for 4 weeks. They will place a cast on Sydney's left arm to force her to use her right arm and then hopefully regain much of the function that she lost. Since there aren't any other programs of this kind around, we weren't able to get Sydney in until September 2007.

Well, an occupational therapist with the program contacted us today to let us know that they had a cancellation, and a spot will be available for Sydney this November. YEAH!! The only bad part is the program costs $15,000 and that doesn't include accommodations, food and other living expenses. So, we will be in a tizzy trying to raise the money quickly, but we feel it is really a necessity for Sydney's improvement so we are going to find a way to make it work.

We have high hopes for the function Sydney will gain through this program. If all goes well, she should be able to use two hands to open and play with her Christmas presents...Priceless:-)

feel free to visit the program's website at http://www.circ.uab.edu/cit.htm to find out more information

The Zoo

Sydney and Ethan visited the zoo today with their friends Will and Caroline. It was a great day, and I think they all enjoyed themselves despite their deer-in-headlights expressions in this picture.

Daddy's kids

Sydney and Ethan have been big fans of their daddy lately. They rush to greet him when he comes home from work each day. What a nice way to end such a crummy long commute:)

Alabama

We made a whirlwind trip to Alabama this weekend to see family, and we had a blast. The car ride wasn't the best, but Sydney and Ethan did well. The funniest part of our trip though was when Ethan started clapping when we pulled into our neighborhood Sunday evening.