Here are some pictures that our neighbor took of the kids while we were out have fun in the yard. The kids had fun riding the 4 wheeler that friends gave Taylor for his birthday last year. Taylor loves that Sydney runs with him; she (the dog) is such a mama to the kids. The kids also made a snowball fort that they hid behind and threw snowballs at me. Sarah was disappointed that the other scooter they like to ride does not have a motor on it! We went sledding across the street at the school hill too. Usually we don't get this snow until after Christmas so we may be in for a long winter!

Disneyland and Legoland!

What a great trip! We went to Disneyland, Legoland, and Seaworld the 1st full week of December. We went with the Woods who are family and close friends. They have 2 kids also. Sarah's "favorite, favorite, favorite" part was kissing Mickeys nose! Taylor's favorite part was Seaworld. At Seaworld he asked why they didn't let him to his "tricks" with the whales because "you know I'm a whale trainer too mom". Sarah was brave and went on splash mountain, thunder mountain, and the Matterhorn among other things. She didn't have a smile on her face but she didn't fuss about it much. She would smile so big when we told her she was being brave. Thad asked Taylor to go on Space mountain with him and after mom chickening out he looked at Thad and said "Ok dad I'll go with you" in the tone of a parent having to ride a kiddy ride. The parades were spectacular and everything was decorated for Christmas. Here are some pictures:

We came home on the 14Th in the snow. We hadn't planed on leaving until the 13Th but with the snow coming to the NW we left a day early on our "nothing to do" day. On the 17Th Sarah had surgery. She had a Pharyngoplasty and ear tubes. She had a hard time with her breathing and had to stay in recovery for quite awhile. Finally they removed her tongue stitch and she started to do better. It was a bit touch and go of whether they would need to put a tube in for her to breath. We just prayed and knew that whatever she needed would be best. She is doing great after a couple of fevered nights and she's talking so good. She sounds a bit different to me but I love to hear her say 'b' and 's' sounds now. The Dr's said she has allot of scaring and may need another surgery. She is such a trooper her strength runs deep.

My sister had her 2nd hip replacement on the 15th. She was at OHSU and wheeled over to visit us at Dornbeachers. The previous surgeon used a screw on head the last time which made the surgery alot easier. Ida (my sister) is still trying to recover. Please keep her in your prayers.

We are gearing up for Christmas and it's so fun to see the excitement on the kids faces. Taylor asks everyday if it's Christmas. We've gone sledding a coupe of times. We now have about 1 1/2 feet of snow and it's still coming. Soon we'll have to groom our own sledding trail. We hope you all are having a great week and enjoying the little things in life like: neighbors who shovel your sidewalk, people who hold the door for you, and treats brought to you by friends who are thinking of you.

On another note we said good bye to Thad's grandpa Routson yesterday who passed away the Wed. we were gone. He is such an important man to us all. The Wed morning we heard he passed away Thad gathered our family and told the kids. With tears steaming Thad told the kids that we wouldn’t see grandpa again and Taylor said yes we will with Jesus. Thad said grandpa’s body was sick and Taylor said no dad he has a new body now. So with the heart of a child we say good-by to a wonderful man who always had a twinkle in his eye. We are reminded that Christmas is our hope of seeing our Savior and some of us sooner than others.

Start of school (among other things)

Here are some pictures I took for the kids! They are growing up to fast. In December it will be our 1 year "anniversary" of when we got Sarah. So great to have both of our kids with us. We so missed having her in our family before.

Happy birthday Sweetie! How fun to throw a girly birthday party! Sarah wanted a pony party so that is what we did. The kids played pony games and she and I made pony cupcakes. She had lots of girls and a few boys join the party. We decorated the house for her and when she woke up she was thrilled and kept saying "Sarah's birthday" and even sang herself happy birthday several times. So here is to Chinese outfits with cowgirl boots! Who would have known it would look soooo good!

Taylor and Sarah started school. They both love their schools and we are so thankful for the direction from the Lord as to what school each of them should be in. Here is a picture from the first week of school and a picture from when Taylor went with his school to the local pumpkin patch.

Taylor convinced Sarah that he would "help" her ride her bike. She thought it was great that she would be in charge and Taylor thought it was great to "train" her to ride! They both thought they were in charge and they had a blast doing it!

Above is a picture we took at a fish hatchary an hrs drive from our house. The kids love feeding the fish, watching them at the fish ladders and just being outside.

Both Taylor's and Sarah's eyes got huge when they realized some of the fish are their size!

The flowers were beautifull

They got to walk right over where the fish were going up. The fish were about 2 ft below them.

Here is a picture from the first week of school. Taylor's class starts with free time art so he often exclaims to Sarah "Get in the care we are going to be late!". Sarah loves to remind Taylor that she goes to school too. If Sarah is asked to paint there is not a spot missed on the whole paper!

Up and Coming!

I forgot to mention that we will have Dr. appointments at OHSU on this Wed and Thursday. Sarah will have a speech and audio re-eval and then we will chat with her surgeon. We are hoping to schedule a nasal scope in the the near future so that the surgeon can evaluate her soft palate. After the scope he will be able to schedule her soft palate reconstruction. We hope to do that surgery in November. Please pray for wisdom for us. It's hard for people to understand what she is saying. Her Dr and speech therapist said these surgeries would be coming in her future. We are starting her is a preschool in a couple of weeks. She still doesn't interact much with girls her age but she is starting to so we hope the class will help her with those skills. Thanks for your prayers.

Here are a few pictures from Horse Camp this last week. I volunteered as the camp nurse for 3 days this year. I was blessed that our whole family was able to come. It was wonderful that Thad offered to come. Being camp nurse wouldn't have happened by myself with 2 young kids and horses and a swimming pond! The kids (and us) enjoyed it and the kids both got a ride. I feel blessed to be able to be the camp nurse. The camp kids seem to take in all they hear and the chapel time was great.

Taylor posed in front of the dock. He could hardly wait to show Thad the dock he jumped off of last year.

So here are some pictures from our trip to Bend for Thad's annual softball tournament. Funny how we don't have pictures from the games but we did several other fun stuff that "6 day" weekend. The kids love horses and there were 2 at the place we stayed in Redmond. We took them carrots and the kids learned how to feed them, no injuries but they did get slobbered on.







A co-worker of Thad's brought his family and boat for the trip. It was so fun and relaxing. Sarah wasn't sure what to think of being on the boat and the 2nd day she said she didn't want to go. She didn't like that the water wasn't bath temperature. In the end she started to jump off the boat and had a blast. Taylor loved it. He rode on the tube and knee board. He wasn't sure if
he liked either of them but at the end of the trip he started to say that he was a big boy for doing both.





















We went and fed the geese at the Bend park. Both the kids laughed at how the geese took the food right out of their hands. To my surprise we didn't get attacked by the geese and the kids have all their fingers. The geese must have gone to training school because last time I was there I almost lost a finger and they attacked in a swarm. Maybe they weren't so hungry this time!

Too much fun!

Thad is home after a week of work away from home. The kids and I missed him. Today we went to a waterpark about 2hrs from where we live. It's not huge but it was great for us! I may add pictures later from Jessie and Bob's camera.

Our kids are fish! They love the water. I think Sarah swallows allot of water since she still has the fistulas from her mouth to her nose but she still jumps in as much as she can. She had to go potty every 30 minutes I think from all the water she was drinking. Taylor surprised us all when he followed Thad up the 10 ft high dive and jumped off! He loved it and went until the lifeguard said he couldn't anymore. He can now swim to the side by himself too (about 10-15ft) like I said he is a fish.

Got to go it's late. Have a great week, Becky