Trick Or Treat - 2012




Our Beautiful Rapunzel (from Disney's Tangled)

  We had a great night tonight Trick or Treating with our family!!  We were not really for sure how Emmalin was going to do with the wig (and crown).  To say the least, she didn't love it, but the longer she had it on, the less she seemed to mind it.  Enjoy the pictures of our beautiful Rapunzel :)


Hallie, Emmalin, Haden, and Hoyt



Emmalin and Jarrad

Trick or Treat!!

Our Family :)

 




Emmalin and Her Castle

 


Me and Emmalin at Papa's House Eating Dinner Before Our "Big Night"



The Red Button Had The Words "Trick or Treat" Recorded On It So Emmalin Could "Say"
It like everyone else at each house.  All we did is push the button and it said the phrase :)

Emmalin, Me, and Grandma Ruth



Brynn, Hallie, Jarrad, and Emmalin



Brynn, Hoyt, Marin, Brody, Russ, and Jim



Jessica, Grandma (Marilyn), and Hoyt



Hitting Her Bells :)

Here is a video of Emmalin working hard in therapy at school.  Although it is kind of hard to see.  Emmalin has 2 objects hanging above her and Emmalin's vision teacher is asking Emmalin to hit her bells (which is one of the 2 objects).  This may not seem like a big deal, but it has just been over the past 2 months (or so) that Emmalin has started to consistently show us that she understands what someone is asking her to do, but more than that, she can do what is being asked of her.  Emmalin is at the very beginning of all of this, but it's a start and we are SO excited!!  The other thing that may not seem like a big deal is that Emmalin not only finds the bells like she is asked (which is the first "command"), but then she is asked to touch them - and DOES IT (command #2).  Emmalin's shoulder's are not very strong and so it REALLY takes a lot for her to be able to get her arm where she wants it so she can hit the bells.  Today, Emmalin was able to "get her bells" with a lot more control (consistently).  So again, although this video may not seem like a lot to most people, here Emmalin follows TWO different commands!!  This is a HUGE step!!  Jarrad and I are SO proud of her! 


In Case You Can't See The Video Above, Click Here To See Emmalin "Hitting Her Bells" Another Way :)
                                                                   (Same Video)
                                                                        
                                                                   God is Good

Happy 4th Birthday My Sweet Sweet Emmalin!

When I was little, like many other little girls, I always dreamed of the day that I would be a Mommy.  Four years ago today, my dream came true when Emmalin came into the world at 7:01 AM.  I never dreamed being a Mom would be so amazing, scary, exhausting, and rewarding.  Every single day I get to wake up and see my beautiful little girls face.  And every single day, the first word that ALWAYS pops into my head is BLESSED!
Emmalin is my angel, my gift from God, and I can't imagine my life without her! She not only inspires me every day to be a better Mommy, but also to be a better person!


So to My BEAUTIFUL Light Gazing, Upside Down Hanging, Sassy Giving, Tough As Nails, Stubborn, Easy Going, Cuddle-Bug Emmalin:
You are way more amazing (in every single way) than what I EVER thought were possible!!  Thank you for making my life full of adventure and for making one of my dreams come true!!  I'm SO glad God chose me to be your Mommy!!
I WILL LOVE YOU ALWAYS AND FOREVER!!

XOXO
Your Mommy


                                                                           God is Good!

Helping Daddy (Jarrad) Open Presents Today





Pumpkin Carving 2012

Emmalin and Her Pumpkin



Hoyt Organizing and Emmalin Supervising





Grandma and Emmalin

 

Ever since I was a little girl, it has always been a tradition to carve pumkins together as a family.  Now that I'm "all grown up", my family is a little bigger, but every year we still all get together to make sure the tradition goes on :)  So that is exactly what we did today, my family got together and carved some pumpkins - minus Jarrad because he had to work :(   I love this time of year!  It's not so hot and nothing beats hanging out with family!!  Here are some pictures :)  

Grandma and Haden



Emmalin Hanging Upside Down
*Her FAVORITE Thing To Do*



Me and Emmalin After We Finished Our Pumpkin :)

 


Papa and Hallie

 




Everyone Working Hard

 

Emmalin's 4th Birthday Celebration

Happy Birthday 4th Emmalin :)

Even though Emmalin is not officially 4 until next Monday, we had a little party tonight to celebrate Emmalin's 4th birthday.  It was small (just some family came over) but it was perfect.  We are SO blessed!  In the pictures Emmalin seems really out of it because Emmalin had a really big seizure right before it was time to open presents and have birthday cupcakes.  I felt so bad for her :(  To be honest, if we would have just been having a "normal" night at home, Emmalin would have gone to bed for a little bit to "sleep off the seizure".  Unfortunately it's just the way it goes sometimes.  But we still made the most of it and of course Emmalin still looked beautiful as always!!  I love her SO much and I feel SO blessed to be her mommy!! 

Em right after her seizure :(

                                                                 
  God   is Good!

Cousins Brynn and Hoyt

Cousin Brody



Cousin Hallie

Cousin Haden

Singing Happy Birthday

All of her cousins blowing out Emmalin's birthday candle and helping Emmalin make a wish :)

 



Opening Presents



Jarrad, Hallie and Haden at the Fire Pit

Aunt Jessica, Hoyt and Brynn

The beautiful birthday girl starting to feel a little better :)





Sneak Peak Of Our Beautiful Rapunzel

Our Beautiful Rapunzel :)

Today I tried on Emmalin's Halloween costume for the first time.  In case you couldn't tell, Emmalin is going to be Rapunzel from the Disney movie Tangled.  She looks SO cute and just thought I would share a picture from the "test run" (lol).  I will definitely be posting a lot of pictures of actual Halloween night, but enjoy this for now :)

CVI Workshop



Emmalin with her Aunt Jessica

This week has been a CRAZY week!   Monday I was with Emmalin in St. Louis meeting with a dentist and Tuesday I went right back for an opportunity to attend a free workshop on Cortical Vision Impairment (CVI -Emmalin's main issue with her vision).  The workshop was put on by MoSPIN (which is a free program that we participate in that is for parents who have children birth -5 that have vision or hearing disabilities).  I am SO grateful that I had the opportunity to go to this!!  This workshop helped me understand CVI a little better and gave me a lot of ideas on ways that I can be working with Emmalin to help her succeed to the best of her ability with CVI!  Not only did I learn a TON about CVI, but I got to ride up and back with Emmalin's vision teacher and OT (both from Emmalin's school).  This gave me the opportunity to get to know these amazing ladies a little better.  It was a "mommy free" day for me, and I'd be fibbing if I said it didn't feel a little weird not having Emmalin with me!  Emmalin was with her Aunt Jessica (my sister) and so I knew that she was in amazing hands, but I have never "left" Emmalin like that (all day), to the point that Jarrad had to pick Emmalin up after he got off work.  I didn't get home until around 8:00 pm and I couldn't believe how excited I was to see my little girl!  The entire experience made me REALLY grateful in a lot of ways! 
I'm grateful there are amazing programs like MoSPIN in Missouri that help educate parents on how to have a better understanding of their children who have vision (or hearing) disabilities.  Through this education, those parents then have the chance to help their children have a better opportunity to succeed in the environment around them.
 I'm grateful that Emmalin has such amazing teachers/therapists at school that were willing to travel all the way to St. Louis to try to get a better understanding of how CVI works so they could then in return have a better understanding of how to help Emmalin succeed to the best of her ability in her school environments. 
And last, it made me SO GRATEFUL for the fact that I have such an amazing husband that works SO hard to provide for our family so that I have the opportunity to stay home with Emmalin! 

We are SO blessed!! 

Below was the sunset on the way home :)  Beautiful!!  God is Good!