Vacation Bible School

This week Nathan and Owen are attending vacation bible school at Shades Mountain Baptist Church.  Mrs Mary Jo (seen in the first picture holding Nathan) attends SMBC and asked the boys to attend.  She is the boys aid at school and is also their aid at VBS.  The boys, and our entire family, absolutely love her.  Nathan and Owen are really enjoying themselves.  They are excited to go each morning and Owen especially will talk about it for hours when they come home.  As you can see from the pictures they are all smiles while they are there.

The Typical Sibling

There are so many layers to a family that has children with special needs.  Special needs affects everyone in the family not just the disabilities of an individual.  This was definitely fascinating news to me when I heard it.  I have shared it with a few other friends who have children in our similar situation, both typically developing and special needs, and they found this information to be true and helpful in understanding their own family dynamic.

Often times the typical sibling wants to be in charge of activities, tries to make themselves better than those around them or will argue.  This is because so often the friends around them are talking about fun things they do in every day life with their own siblings, which is very typical.  The typical sibling does not have these same experiences with their special needs siblings because they are unable to have age appropriate experiences.  So, being saturated by hearing these circumstances, the typical sibling is hurt emotionally because they have a constant reminder of the experiences they are missing out on with their siblings because they have special needs.  Often times the typical sibling also feels a self-imposed responsibility to defend the family honor by trying to prove the family is worthwhile too and that the typical sibling can make up for the things their special needs sibling is incapable of doing.  This knowledge does not excuse bad behavior but lets the parents understand the emotions of the typical sibling and allows them to deal / teach them in appropriate ways.

Now, as a friend of special needs families how does that look?  Do you avoid the family to not cause harm to the typical sibling?  No, this would cause more harm to the typical sibling because they need and desire the opportunity to play with their typically functioning friends.  The best thing friends of special needs families can do is treat them like they are "normal".  Invite them to your house, don't be afraid to be seen in public with them (warning: there will be tons of looks and questions), understand their may be an extra measure of grace needed for the typical sibling and just be their friend.

Swimming with Oma, Papa and Cooper

Logan made Homewood swim team yesterday.  We are so proud of him.  His swimming has really come along way in the last year.  His first meet is June 10th.

After swim team practice today we met Oma, Papa and Cooper at the pool.  We had a great time!

Camping

This weekend our family and the Tolbert family went camping together at Lake Guntersville.  This was the first time camping for Nathan and Owen and the first time I had gone camping in years!  Preston and Logan have gone a few times over the past couple of years.  We thought camping would be a great family activity a couple times a year so we bought a tent, sleeping bags, floor mats, etc.  We all had a wonderful time.

Preston and Owen are putting up the tent.

 Makala and Logan loved playing lots of different games together.

 Olivia, Mason and Nathan are checking out the lake.

 Logan had his own private area in the tent.  They are having so much fun in there.

 On the other side of the divider Owen and Mason are having a great time.

 Logan found lots of shells in the lake.

 Logan and Makala spent every moment playing together.

 After swimming Sunday afternoon the boys are ready for dinner.

 Unfortunately Owen did not make it and ended up going to bed before he ate.

 Mason and Nathan played with glow wands while waiting for dinner.

 Eating some strawberry shortcake together.

 These geese were hungry and wanted some food!

Summer Vacation: Day 1

Yesterday was our first day of summer vacation.  We packed our day with tons of FUN!!!  After breakfast the boys spent tons of time in the playroom.  Logan carried Nathan a lot while they were playing and held him up to get hugs several times.  I just love how much Logan loves his brothers.

This was also the day the new Homewood Pool opened.  The boys all loved it and Logan especially loved the new water park area.  I can't take Nathan and Owen to that part by myself, but Preston is coming with us today so they will be able to experience it too!

After the pool we stopped home for a quick lunch and a change into dry clothes.  We then headed to the theater to watch Mr. Peabody and Sherman.  All four of us thought it was a really cute movie.

Once we were back home we decided to have some sprinkler fun in the front yard.  All the boys enjoyed it more than I thought they would.  This kept them entertained for about 1 hour.  It was then time to dry off, change clothes and eat dinner.

After their dinner we headed to the Hays' house.  The boys had so much fun playing with the Hays' three kids.  Preston and I had a chance to sneak away on a date!  We had a picnic dinner, long walk and some bubble tea.  It was awesome and a great way to celebrate our 13th anniversary on Monday.  Thanks Shaun and Melissa for giving all five of us such a great evening.

Fun at the end of the school year

We are enjoying lots of fun at the end of the school year.  I think all of my boys will enjoy the break but will also miss school.  They all love school so much.

Every night Logan reads the Bible to Nathan.  They both enjoy it so much.

Yesterday was Nathan and Owen's End of the Year Party at the Park.  All three preschool classes were there.  The boys enjoyed riding their bikes, racing in this car with me (though I think it was going a little slower with the weight of an adult in it), playing in the bubbles, swinging, pizza and a visit from the ice cream man!

Logan had his semi-annual Skates 280 Party!  His favorite part was when they played a song from The Lego Movie.  We had to sing, "Everything is awesome..." every time it came up in the music.