Dreams Do Come True

It all started with this photo. 

The children in the SMA community were asked to post a photo with their biggest dream for an awareness video (other than walking or a cure, because we all dream of that) so I asked Nicholas what his dream was. He surprised me by saying that he "really, really wants to ride a pony!" I asked him if he meant a bicycle because he had mentioned doing that in the past. He said, "No, Mom, I really want to ride a PONY." So I made this sign for him to hold and he wanted to also hold his little stuffed pony. I posted it on Facebook and tagged the appropriate person so it could be added to the video, and lo and behold, within hours we had several offers for Nicholas to visit various horses and ponies. It was absolutely amazing and I was astounded as I honestly just posted the photo for the video, not for the intention of soliciting offers for actual pony visits/rides. 

I then realized how appropriate the quote I chose for his poster actually is. It reads: "Things are only impossible until they're not." Quite fitting. 

So on Sunday, my friend Carrie Collins, connected us with a friend of hers and we drove into the beautiful Washougal countryside to meet owner, Kara Walsh, and her lovely little pony named Rosie. She was so sweet and Nicholas absolutely loved her!

Ella did some grooming...

and then Nicholas wanted to try. 

Rosie was so wonderful and patient with both of our children and we were all so happy to meet her!

Then today, my friend Jen Crandall invited us to come to her place and meet a couple of the horses that live there. This one is Banjo (who ironically belongs to another good friend's daughter) and he was so sweet and happy to see that we arrived with treats-carrots and apples! 

Nicholas felt a little nervous about riding Banjo (that's our reserved guy, he's more of an observer than a participator) so Ella volunteered to ride him instead. She donned a riding helmet and Jen helped her sit on Banjo's back. 

She got to ride around the arena and Jen taught her to pull the reigns to stop and to make a clicking sound to go. Nicholas loved watching his sister ride and kept saying, "Woah and Giddyup!"

 Then we went outside and met Jack, who is Jen's daughter's horse. He was also very sweet and enjoyed our carrot and apple snacks as well. 

He even performed a cute trick for a carrot!

Nicholas loved every minute of both of our visits. 

We also had another friend, Heather Born, tell us about a place in Oregon City that has therapeutic hippotherapy riding for kids just like Nicholas. We hope to check that out in a few months and work toward getting Nicholas on a horse to properly fulfill his riding dream!

Thank you to Carrie, Kara, Jen, and Heather for making our sweet boy's dream become a reality!!

Caught "Pink" Handed

So far this week I have taped a ripped book, cleaned marker off the dining room table, cleaned crayon off the leather ottoman, cleaned pink fingernail polish off a dollhouse and two bedroom walls (and then re-painted them). Whew! I am exhausted and it's only Monday. 

One may wonder if our precocious three-year-old is not watched or monitored, question if she is free to run amok in our home. But I would guess that most moms (myself included) can testify that mischief happens in mere minutes. One minute your three-year-old is playing right there next to you, happily singing a little tune. You get up to go to the bathroom and you re-enter the room, only to wonder where said three-year-old has gone. Then you find her scribbling with crayons under the coffee table. I spend most of my day at home with our two kids and I cannot believe how quickly our toddler can disappear (while I am cooking dinner, doing school lessons with Nicholas, vacuuming, etc.) only to re-appear showing the telltale signs of a girl who likes mischief, or a girl who is three. Same difference. 

The nail polish incident was a doozy with bright pink polish on two of Ella's bedroom walls (thankfully her walls are already pink) and inside and outside of her new dollhouse. This incident happened when she was suppose to be asleep. I guess we will be needing to lock our bathroom door from now on. 

Oh Heavens, I think I have had more grey hair sprout on my head in these last two days than all of our darling girl's three years combined. Praying it's all rainbows and sunshine these next few days, Lord knows I need it!

Caught pink handed. She even had time to paint her nails before redecorating her dollhouse. 

Fall Family Photos

At the end of October we had our family photos taken by my good friend, Heather Purdin, of Click Photography. She did an outstanding job and I absolutely loved her creative ideas of how to make Nicholas comfortable (since he prefers to be in a reclined position) by using a rod iron bed and antique settee outside in the field by her house. Here are a {few} of my favorite photos from our shoot...

Jami's Surprise Party

After months of planning the perfect surprise for his wife, Jami, Kris pulled off a super fun surprise party this past Saturday night. Jeff and I had a great time and were happy to help pull off the surprise for one of our favorite people. The night consisted of happy hour at Slide Inn in Portland, a ride on a groovy limo bus, then more fun later in the evening at the Kalmbach's new place. Jami was completely surprised as she thought her party was suppose to happen at the end of the month so all those months of keeping secrets made the night a total success! Happy 30th birthday beautiful Jami. You are such a wonderful person and we are so blessed to have you in our lives! Cheers to you!