New Library, a wedding and a Christmas party

Friday 16th: Some boy fun with Dad.

They are training sticks that Brendon borrowed from this sensei.

Yesterday afternoon Rachel and I headed into town. She got her next pair of pointe shoes, and we also stopped in at the Special Needs Library. We were gifted a year's membership, so it was nice to go and have a look around (without Asher to watch). It was nice to get some different things for her for the summer. We will have them for 2 months rather than the normal 1 because of the holidays. We were unsure how much we were going to have to pay for the rental, and were pleasantly surprised when it was just $14 for the 2 months (for 6 items). We wished we had chosen a few more things.

She is really good with her Dora and Diego 9 piece puzzles, so when I saw a few 12 piece ones that were similar (wooden with the frame) I thought it would be a great "next step". They were all garden photos, so we picked this one as it had the most variation in colours. Next time we will try another one of them. Now that she is getting more familiar with these shapes, it will get easier for her too.

The children headed up to the library to play Wii. Rachel went with and took a couple of photos. Hezekiah was pleased to go too and get another book out of the library.

Asher giving Little Miss some love. She is not too interested in the kittens.

Saturday 17th: Brendon and I had a lovely afternoon / evening off duty as we attended a friend's wedding. It was nice that it was close to home as it's always nice for Rachel to know we can get home quickly if we need to.
Someone had actually said "I hope you get some R&R through the holidays" and I must admit, my thought was "that will be a few years away". Through the afternoon though, I could feel that I was relaxing. It was just such a treat to be out with just Brendon and enjoy the company of many different friends that we have made over the years. Someone did take a photo of us, so perhaps eventually I will be able to add a photo to this post. :-)

We have started the kittens on food. We did soak some for them, but most of them went straight for the dry food.
I loved how Little Miss was supervising. :-)

Sunday 18th: We were again invited to the Willows Christmas Party through the Champion Centre. They put on this party at the cricket ground for families with Special Needs children. The other children miss out on a lot with having a special needs sibling, so it's nice that they get something special like this.
The pony rides are always a hit.

Hezekiah all smiles. :-)
Ruth is not too big yet to enjoy a ride.

And then they spent loads of time on the jumping castle.
Ruth's too big (old) to enjoy this, but the youngest three had so much fun.
I started feeling very self conscious of the fact that Brendon and I were constantly walking around the castle, making sure one of us had her in sights all the time. Thankfully at a function like this people are more understanding, so I tried to not care about what others think. With Asher, being a "helicopter parent" is needed. And we saw that again today.

At about 1:30 she had a 1 minute Tonic Clonic seizure which started on the castle. Brendon quickly got in and brought her out. We were very relieved when it stopped as she was very blue around her mouth (and a bigger area around her mouth than usual). She stayed quite blue and so we asked around if there was oxygen anywhere. A few minutes later she started crying. She must have had pain again, but this time I was grateful, as the crying helped pump the oxygen nicely and her colour finally corrected. She was pretty exhausted though, and slept for over an hour and a half until we left (and was still sleepy in the car).

I sat with Asher in my arms while the middle three waited in line for face painting. Just as they were getting close to the front, Santa arrived. So they each got a number and then went to collect lollies (that they all plan to give to friends). And then it was present time. Brendon got this lovely photo of Hezekiah getting his gift. The organisers just ask for ages of the children, and provide gifts for them all. Such a blessing and a special treat for them all.
I had to smile from my spot (you can see me behind there - sitting at the face painting stall) when Santa had a little chat with Hezekiah. It started with him asking his name. That always gets the adult leaning in to listen a bit more closely. :-)

And then they all got their faces painted.
We didn't want too much pain on Hannah, so she got this lovely flower. Afterwards we realised we should have just asked if she could get a balloon animal (as it was either face paint or a balloon).
Ruth asked for a bright flower again. The lady remembered her from last year.
Rachel enjoyed standing and watching the ladies as they created their masterpieces. They even gave her a card as they do lessons. She hopes to get to some once she has her licence.
No surprise with Hezekiah asking for a spider man mask. And posing for the photo as if he is shooting out his web. The funniest thing to me with this is that Hezekiah has never seen any spider man movies or cartoons. It's all from what he has learnt form friends. So much fun for him though.
A very special afternoon.