April over already

In previous posts I forgot about including these two photos I got from friends.
12 April. Val got this lovely photo of Hezekiah enjoying a cuddle with one of their dogs. Val reports that he is very good when he goes to visit. The only problem is that he gets very upset when he is told it's time to go home. :-)
14 April: And Noortje got this lovely photo of Hannah with the dog she looks after at times. Apparently Ruth helped Noor put the photo onto face book. I asked Ruth how she knew how to do it (as I had never shown her before) and she said "I just worked it out. It's easy enough." :-)
Sunday 20 April. The church had organized this huge jumping castle for the children to play on after church today. They had so much fun.
Every week there is a lunch after the service - so it always helps the day be nice and relaxed. No rushing home to make lunch. And this was an extra blessing today with us only getting back from the hospital on Saturday afternoon.

Although still hard to catch one of her smiles on camera - she was actually really pleased to get onto the jumping castle. She made it very clear that she wanted a turn and I could see the joy of bouncing and being a part of the fun with the others.
She had a nap in the sling as she normally does during the service but when she woke she was not at all interested in giving up her little blanket. Normally it gets put away when she is done sleeping - but today we made an exception. :-)
In the evening I was able to get this lovely photo of her smiling. She had been playing with Dad, laughing at him tickling her. It may seem so simple to most people, but these are huge blessings to us. After she had her 11 seizures on 5 and 6 January it took her almost a week to learn to smile and a bit longer to laugh. So the fact that just 2 days after having 12 seizures she is doing so well - it makes our hearts very glad. She is on high doses of glyconutrients (thanks to family and friends) and this was a very noticeable benefit. Her recovery is just so much quicker. She was still a little wobbly on her legs today - but so much better than yesterday and we can see it is not going to knock her back as much as we would have expected.

Wednesday 23 April was a very busy day in the kitchen for Rachel. I love that she enjoys baking and making food (as it's just a job for me and I don't really enjoy it). She made a huge pot of mince and veg (her favourite meal), "legal" brownies for Brendon and I (with no sugar or wheat), hot cross buns for the children and Brownie buns for Brendon (wheat free).

Brendon got these photos in the evening of Asher enjoying "Round and Round the garden".

So sweet to see her anticipation at the "one step, two step".




Below: Thursday 24 April. Lovely to have a nice sunny day for the children to enjoy the garden with their friends.

Hezekiah giving Asher a ride.
Logan helping Ruth with the dogs just before lunch. It's always such a pleasure having Logan come visit as he is so good with the dogs and plays so nicely with Hezekiah.

Friday 25th April. Anzac day today and Val was kind enough to give Ruth and Rachel a lift to the service (as Brendon was working in the morning).
Asher has started climbing on the rocking horse herself. I got Ruth to "get ready to catch her" while I took the photo but I have realized over the last week that I need to be less stressed about her falling. I do need to give her space to climb and fall and learn. I obviously still make sure there is nothing dangerous around for her to badly bump her head on - but I have also seen that if she falls of - she doesn't hit her head at all and doesn't even get hurt.
This was taken just after midday. It's been a day of sun and then rain. Apparently it rained just as they were heading out for the Anzac day parade (to lay the wreaths).
Hezekiah was more than happy to be out in the rain as long as he had his beanie on.

This is one of the lovely photos Val took this morning at the Waikari service.

And this one at the monument in Hawarden.
Aren't they just wonderful photos? Postcard quality Val. Just beautiful.
Check out more of her lovely work here.

Brooke had been visiting in the morning but after lunch she returned for more games with the older girls. They had a lovely time building this.




Below: Saturday 26th April. Rachel did some raking of leaves today but decided to give the girls a racing track which they thoroughly enjoyed.