Forward, famine, friends and family

Monday 23rd: The video below was taken this afternoon. Over the weekend Anastasia figured out how to move forward. Devices are the big motivation, so we used the iPod to tempt her so I could get it on video. I described it as leopard crawl but Brendon and Ruth said it looks like she is swimming freestyle. So cute.
Bible study this evening. Hezekiah always enjoys using some of Jens' dress up things.
Asher loved the kitten that was visiting. Unfortunately she had a seizure just as bible study was finishing. She knew it was coming and jumped to Brendon just before it started. It's only the 2nd one for the month though, so we are thankful for that.
Back to school this morning after 2 weeks of holidays. This morning we had Megan come to help with Asher. For now she will help twice a week, and the plan is that in October she will be able to help every morning. This will be such a great help to me.

Asher still needs to be helped with getting dressed, eating her breakfast, brushing her hair, and just being supervised while everyone else is trying to get ready for school. I am so thankful to have met Megan and look forward to seeing their relationship develop. Megan will help watch Asher at school on Wednesday morning while all the teacher aides have a meeting, so they will have that extra bit of time together too.
Tuesday 24th: Ruth often plays with Anastasia. This is one of their new games and Anastasia laughs so much.

Wednesday 25th: Anakin is so wonderfully patient with Asher. She is much more interested in him lately and he tolerated her really well this afternoon as she examined his feet.

Rachel had a full day shift in town today and Brendon had an appointment this afternoon. So I anticipated a very busy afternoon. It worked out really well though. After Ruth had her netball photos after school, these three headed off to Lantern Making. Anastasia was sleeping, and so I got some scrapbooking done. So after being a bit nervous about the afternoon, it ended up being lovely and relaxing.

Thursday 26th: Ruth was on the front of the school newsletter today - top fundraiser for the 40 hour famine. Well done Ruth.

Friday 27th: Rachel and I attended the "Refill your cup" event for ladies of the district. It was a great event. An opportunity to catch up with lots of other ladies and be reminded about how important it is to  look after ourselves.

And then we had Michelle, Nathan and Seth come for a visit. Hezekiah just loved having these big boys to play with. They played some Uno and then gave them another lesson in Dutch Blitz.

Say Cheese. :-)

After dinner they played Chinese Checkers.

Hezekiah had so much fun having these boys here, even if he didn't join in with the games. So he was very pleased when the boys attended our church on Sunday too.

Michelle is always good about remembering to take a photo with the children. So we took a few photos while we could. I was glad they managed to help us get a new family photo. It was a bit of a challenge with Asher, but so good to get a nice new one.

Michelle doesn't like driving when it's dark, so they headed off before 7. So although a short visit, it was really good to get the time to catch up. The children all got along so well and had such a nice time.
So although a bit later than usual, I still managed to get down to the courts for some games. Ruth did some lovely graffiti on the board. :-) Lovely 3D letters Ruth.

Saturday 28th: I just loved how happy Anastasia was watching Asher's "Dancing" DVD with her. Asher always gets her sticks out to join in the songs, and Anastasia was thrilled to be given sticks to join in too. Thankfully we have a small portable DVD player that plays her replacement copy. She hasn't watched it for months as the original broke (from overuse) and they don't sell them anymore. I was only able to buy the downloadable files (and the DVD I made doesn't play on our normal DVD player). So two very happy girls this morning.
It was lovely to have the ground dry enough for Brendon to cut the grass today. And warm enough to let the fire die so that he could clean the chimney. So a nice productive day and then a nice restful Sunday to follow.
Asher had another seizure this afternoon just after 6pm. She again new it was coming and jumped to Brendon just before it started. Only 3 for the month so far, so hopefully she can have another nice long break now.
Rachel had a birthday party to attend on the other side of town this afternoon, so she worked at the Rugby game and then slept in town and joined us at church in the morning. So a busy Saturday for her too.