Tramp, glasses, art and reading

Sunday 20th: Asher got onto the new trap this afternoon (5:30pm) and ended up having a short seizure. It only lasted for about 10 seconds and she didn't sleep afterwards. It's been 6 weeks since her last seizure though, so we are thrilled. The last one was on the day of the pool party - and amazingly she didn't have a seizure while at the pools. I wondered about her not having any protein at lunch that day, so have made a real effort with that since then. She is also on a higher dose of her newer medication and also has a higher concentration of Hemp Oil (the proper Charlotte's web oil from the Stanley brothers in America). So one or all of these things may be helping. We will just keep up with them all.
Monday 21st: Back onto the trap this afternoon - a bit earlier though (just after 3pm). Wonderfully no seizure and just a wonderful time of safe fun.
On the other tramp I just never felt safe with her as she is very unstable. I kept worrying she would fall over and fall off. Anastasia would also run so quickly and I didn't like the idea of her falling off either. So with the new tramp and it's net and hidden springs, I feel much more comfortable having these two out.

Anastasia loves the tramp just as much as Asher. She often stands at the window and watches the older children jumping. She will often bounce on the spot as she watches them. So I'm thrilled to be able to take her out for her own safe jumping sessions too now.
Asher did really well in following my instructions to jump on the circle (so handy having that mark). Later she started trotting around it.

Ruth headed off to an art course today for the next 3 days. As her best friend, Jess, is also doing the course, she was invited to just spend the two nights with them. So what a nice treat for her. Especially with Jess heading off to boarding school this year.
Brooke has been coming over often in the holidays. I was glad she came today as I would not have been able to take these two out on my own. After the time on the tramp they both enjoyed a swing. Interestingly, after Anastasia watched Asher this day, she now wants to go on that swing too. :-)

9:45pm moon rising was just beautiful.

Wednesday 23rd: Asher's new glasses arrived today. Everyone agrees they make her look older. Her previous glasses look like baby's glasses (and were baby pink). I think the lady gave great advice in helping me with choosing these.
Thankfully Asher qualifies for a "higher spectacle subsidy" and so we were able to get transition lenses again (so that they are automatically sun glasses when outside) at no cost to us. I had thought we would have to pay for this extra (as we did with her first pair), so were very pleased when we didn't have to.
You can also clearly see that the 2nd bottom tooth is out. It came out on Friday afternoon when she was at the carer.

Ok - so this is so super cute - but also SO dangerous. So after saying "clever girl for climbing on" I had to insist that she not do it again. We need to find a nice safe step for her to practice her climbing.
Just look how proud she is of her accomplishment. She is really enjoying climbing onto things at the moment, so we need to keep an eye on her.
Ruth brought this creation home as one of her pieces from the last 3 days. It's leaning over a bit - it's on wood. Both Anastasia and Asher both love this girl and keep going over to look at her. It was so funny to watch Asher look at her face and then look behind her - to try and work it out.
The other project shown below.

Thursday 24th: Anastasia enjoying a train ride by Hezekiah.
Saturday 26th: Hannah and Hezekiah had their Summer Reading party this afternoon. Ruth left early to help HYP with the set up. They ran the afternoon with loads of games for the children and then a lovely afternoon tea followed the prize giving.
Hezekiah doing a egg and spoon race. It was a bit tricky as they had lollies that they were balancing, and some were bigger than others which made it almost impossible for some of them. Loads of fun though.
Hezekiah sorted his outfit himself. He did a great job of creating an excellent Zoro.
Ruth helped Hannah dress as Mary Poppins. It was handy having the hat and skirt from her ballet concert.

Hannah ended up winning a prize for one of the 4 best dressed. Well done to both of you.

They allowed all the children who had not received a prize, to choose a book. Hezekiah didn't want to get one, but I suggested he look for one for Anastasia. He found a perfect one for her - a board book with dinosaurs. She has a really big one that she loves (but is a bit difficult with it being extra large). She was thrilled to have him read the book to her this evening.
Such a great brother. He let Asher sit and dance on him this evening too. :-) She does love this Christmas Wiggles DVD and knows all the dances off by heart. She often starts with the moves before they even start.


Ruth loves getting Asher and Anastasia doing things together. She is just so good with little children. This evening she decided to get both of them on her lap. Such fun. :-)

Eyes, hair, music and movie

Tuesday 8th: Asher had an eye appointment this afternoon. We waited SO long and it was quite a challenge keeping her there. She went through her whole bag of toys and thankfully was happy to just keep playing with the iPad and Dora cards. It was a challenging afternoon for us both. Asher's eyes have not changed since the last appointment, but with some of the things we have noticed, he decided it was a good idea to get a new prescription that is more accurate. Although he could see a change last time, he didn't feel she would benefit as much from a change then. So new glasses will happen soon.
A lovely happy face to help after a stressful afternoon.
Wednesday 9th: Anastasia loves Ruth's speaker. We have downloaded some nursery rhyme albums and she is just loving them.
Ruth also let Anastasia use her older brush. She just loves brushing her hair with it.

Thursday 10th: Ruth loves doing things in Anastasia's hair. She can't wait for it to be long enough to get tied up and "played" with.
Such a happy little girl with such beautiful smiles. I often just reflect on how far she has come with her eating over the last couple of months and I am so grateful.

More Moana fun. Anastasia dancing with them. 

Above: We got a carer for the younger two today and I took the others up to visit friends in their new home (which they have been in for ages but it's been that long since our last visit). I just LOVE the view they have.

 Friday 11th: Ruth enjoyed building the hydraulic claw that arrived this week. I got a special on these kits so we ordered 3. They are great fun, but just a bit too pricey - so we won't be ordering more.

Sunday 13th: 3rd time lucky with the movies and we got to watch one with Dad. We dropped the little two off at friends after church and it was so nice to be able to have the time together with the older children. What a treat.

Monday 14th: Ruth loves putting Anastasia on Asher's lap. We always have to watch carefully though, as if Asher is in a mood - she will just push her right off. Today was a good one.

Wednesday 16th: Hannah and Hezekiah enjoyed going to an art class today.
Some lovely creations.

They have also been busy with the School holiday reading programme. Hezekiah was pleased to get his finished up today. They did it really differently this year and it was a lot of fun. They will get invited to a end of holiday party to celebrate all those children who have put the effort in to read through the holidays. What a great help to keep encouraging them.
The Christmas tree is down but the table is still in the lounge. Anastasia thinks it's great fun.


She knows she is not allowed on this drum (the right way around) so she worked out a way to keep mum happy but still get to sit on it. :-)


And just to confirm - she does know how to use the drums and does love playing them.

We got some shopping done on Sunday too, which included a new tramp for the younger two specifically - so that I can feel they are both a bit more safe. Asher just has no concept of not going to close to the edge, so this will help reduce some stress and allow them to have a bit more fun. The girls helped put it together this evening and so got to enjoy the first jump.

Ruth enjoyed some shopping too. Don't you just love her solar flamingo lights?

Paint, pretzels and play

Monday 5th: What a beautiful day. The girls made the most of it and school holidays and sat in the sun painting this afternoon.
Ruth's lovely creation.



BELOW: We had so much wind over the previous 24 hours that the garden is full of branches. It was incredible how many came down. Thankfully all small ones.

Ruth quickly took a photo of Asher's arrangement of DVDs this afternoon. She was very impressed that she had put them in such a nice pattern. I am sure it was not on purpose though. Brendon is patiently waiting for her to choose the one she wants so he can put it in for her.

Shadow enjoying a nap on her lounge bed this evening. Woken by Ruth taking photos. :-) Ruth tried a few different camera settings, so Shadow had a few photos taken.
Tuesday 6th: Our first try at making pretzels. Ruth had a go, but it was a bit too hard. Especially when every now and again a bit of un-blended lentil got stuck in the tip.
They looked and tasted great. Next time we will sprinkle sea salt over them before cooking. And try make sure they are all the same size. This time we had some soft with others nice and crisp (depending on thickness).

Wednesday 7th: Ruth took this photo of the sky this morning. It was so pretty.

I finally got the camera out with me to get a few photos of the kids on the tramp. The school holidays have seen them outside having so much fun.
This is a fun one with Asher in the air. They know to wait untill she has bounced onto her bottom before they do any really big jumps. Once she is down they are allowed to "double bounce" her - so this was the result. She loves it.

Asher is getting much better at bouncing with them too. You can see how high Ruth is here.

They love running around the tramp too. You can just see the orange pants of Brooke who has been visiting during the school holidays. Brooke is really patient with Asher and always talks to her so nicely and helps her and checks that she is ok.

Asher loves playing in Rose Cottage too. I got a bit of a fright though as she had closed the door and there was a big bang. I immediately thought she might have fallen with a seizure - but it was just the toy oven's door falling as she opened it. It was a good reminder for me though of the fact that it is just that much more stressful having a child with uncontrolled seizures. You always have to be on the alert and ready.

It was sweet to see Shadow following Asher when she climbed onto the back of the ute.
And Shadow gets very excited when Asher is on the tramp. She follows her around like this and sometimes even tries to get to her through the mat. When all the kids are on (I don't let them jump if Shadow is under) it's been fascinating to see that she only follows Asher around and shows no interest in any of the others.
She would jump on their with Asher if she could.
I spoke with a lady who does training of epilepsy assist dogs and she said labs are very sensitive to energies - so Shadow is obviously very concious of Asher's change in energy when she is on the tramp.

Thursday 8th: These three had so much fun on the tramp today. They were making up funny songs and playing so nicely. Hezekiah just got a big grumpy with me when I brought the camera out. ;-)