Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween

From our Spooky little family

To yours!

Ahoy there matey!

Hope ye' land lubbers

get a lot of loot!

Together we can...love

Matthew recently wrote this for school:

I have a brother who has a special body.

He can’t walk. He can’t talk. He can’t move his body in the way he wants. But does have his own language of love. One of the ways he tells me he loves me is with his wink. He is always winking because he only has one eye.

He shows me love when I lay by him. He is like a teddy bear because even though he can’t talk, he always listens. I can tell him my problems and he makes me feel happy.
When I’m having a hard day, I lay by him and he helps my bad feelings to melt away. He helps me to feel peaceful.

When I hug my brother I like to do a special arm lock with his arm and mine. My brother can’t hug me back, but when I want him to hug me I help him by putting his arms around my neck. 

I can tell he’s happy when I’m around. When I come home from school and I’m near him, he usually gives me a smile.

My brother teaches me that love is the most important thing ever. He tells me with a feeling. He tells me with his heart. He shows me you don’t have to have a perfect body to love perfectly.

Show and Tell

Tomorrow I am helping Matthew's class with a Halloween art project.

His teacher e mailed me to tell me that Matthew would like to "Show and Tell" Caleb while I'm there.

I was touched.

Matthew isn't self conscious about his little brother.

He is proud.

He knows how special he is-

and when you experience something extra special.

You want to share.

I know just how he feels.

Conference weekend...

Frosting Halloween cookies with cousins

Swinging all together!

Snuggles and songs from Papa.

We had a wonderful conference weekend.  We were touched by inspired council and we were surrounded by people we love!

My favorite quote from general conference:  

"To live with gratitude in our hearts is to touch heaven."

Thomas S. Monson

The proof is in the pudding

Caleb has a great dead pan face

but we had so much fun playing with 
pudding finger paint...

That we caught a smile!

"The proof is in the pudding!"

Hands Full

We've had our hands full of fun things!

And we finished our morning making the yummiest chocolate chip oatmeal cookies ever!

I like recipes that make a lot so this is a great one!

1 1/2 c shortening or margarine

1 1/2 c sugar

3/4 c brown sugar
4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla 

5 c oatmeal

2 1/2 c flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp soda 

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon (I add more because I think it's tasty!)

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 c of chocolate chips (I add more because you can never have too much chocolate)
Mix the first 6 ingredients.  Then mix dry ingredients and add to the sugar mixture.  Blend well and drop on cookie sheets.  Bake at 350 for 7-9 minutes.

The Wishing Swing

Caleb received his Wishing swing this week! It is absolutely delighful to see him enjoy his swing surrounded by his brothers. It truly is a wish come true for our family- for all of our boys to be able to play together...

Caleb fits just perfectly in his wishing swing!

We are so blessed to have a special place to play as a family!

We know we'll make special memories in our wishing spot for years to come

Our heart felt thanks to our wish granter Scott

And to Teno who donated all of the bark !

Swinging is magical to Caleb

Especially when he gets to be with his brothers!

We are humbled beyond words to be blessed with such a special gift.  Thank you to the Make a Wish Foundation and to all who give their hearts to make wishes come true!

Teddy Bear Picnic

What better way to say good bye to Summer than a
Teddy Bear Picnic!

Since Caleb is a teddy bear himself, he was right at home!

Mitchell chose to bring his crab from Nana and Papa

And he didn't mind when it tried to snitch his lunch!

Bree brought scrumptious teddy bear cookies that melted right in our mouths

and Bugg was cozy in his wheel chair

Until he remembered his tasty hands!

Thanks for a wonderful picnic!
We had lots of fun with our beary special friends!

Our new Park!

Spanish Fork recently added a new park! The play ground is amazing, and there is even a Splash Park! We were thrilled to see that there are swings there that work for Caleb! I have to admit I was a little bit teary as I put Caleb into a swing and was able to let go!
Seeing Caleb swing made us really excited for his "Make a Wish" swing that will be attached to our play set this week!!

Perception

Yesterday I overheard Matthew talking with Caleb.
He said:
Caleb, have you ever heard of depth perception?
Someday when you have two eyes,
You're gonna LOVE IT!

C ya PICC

Caleb's PICC line was taken out yesterday! YAHOO!
The Doctor wrapped his arm in red to see if Dallan would notice.
Don't worry.
I changed it back to BLUE today!

Two angels

Caleb has a new cousin Kate.
Isn't she beautiful?!
She still has heaven rubbed all over her ...
just like him.

The Calm of Caleb

Caleb has a way of calming my little boys when they are feeling a little bit overwhelmed.
He is just what my Matthew needs after a long and tiring day at school...

Our wish came true!

How it all began...

September 2009

We got a special package in the mail from the "Make a Wish Foundation!"

Inside it had a special key...

that would open the door to the wishing room!

October 2009

Our trip to Make a wish

It was magic from the time we stepped through the doors!

Caleb was the star of the evening!

We explored the grounds,

and spent some time at the wishing pond.

We each got to make a wish and throw a special coin in the fountain. They even gave us each another coin to save as a keepsake!

Our wish granters took us on a tour of the building, and we spent some time talking about Caleb's wish. They were great sports to entertain my boys' wiggles and short attention spans! We wrote down Caleb's wish, and then we all got to write our own wishes for Caleb to be read in the wishing room.

The boys could hardly wait...

There was a special lock for our special key

Matthew helped Caleb put it in the keyhole.

Caleb was full of smiles as we stepped inside. There were beautiful lights and a magic waterfall in the center of the room!

We all got to read the wishes we wrote for Caleb.

Caleb's wishes from us were put in a knight for us to keep, and his special wish was put in a golden case!

We all helped send Caleb's wish to the wishing wizard!

It was magical!

Our wish granters were wonderful!

The evening was full of magic.

My boys will never doubt that wishes really do come true!

Caleb loves to be with his brothers and he loves to be outside! So we wished for a play set with a handicap swing so that that Caleb and his brothers can have adventures together outside!

November 2009

We helped with a "Make a Wish Family Fun Run" to raise money for the foundation! We were touched by the many family and friends who came to support our family and the foundation!

August 2010
Our wish came true!

This week our play set was installed! We are thrilled!! Caleb's handicap swing has been ordered and should arrive soon! We are truly humbled to be the recipients of a gift that will bless our boys with many happy memories in the backyard.
Thank you MAKE A WISH!

The installers were great sports to let Mitchell help.


We love seeing the play set filled with people we love!
We're excited to make memories for years to come!