In with the New

Remember this?  Well, our new deck was finally finished on Monday May 23rd.  It was a long 6 week process, and we're happy to be done.  I'll say it again (as I know I've said it before), I strongly dislike contractors!!

This was the end of day 1 where most of the deck was taken down.

It really unnerved me to have doors that led to certain death.  We put bright orange tape on the locks to make sure the kids didn't try to jump out the windows.

Our new deck!  It's slightly larger than our last one and has a glass corner to protect the grill from the wind.  Well, it sort of does its job!

Up on the deck.  It's even great to walk on it barefoot.

The boys have enjoyed having the new deck.  Finn likes to go out and play first thing and Kai loves the view.  Now we have to figure out what to put on it!

Thunderbirds

For those who don't know, we live just a few miles away from the United States Air Force Academy.  Every year at the end of May they hold graduation services that are always capped off by an air show from the Thunderbirds.  The normally practice for a three days or so before the show and then they have a good 15 minute show that they perform for graduation

In the past, the Thunderbirds have flown right over our house, I mean RIGHT OVER it.  Graduation was on Wednesday the 25th this year, and for some reason they seemed to be staying more toward the south of us and turning around over the mountains instead of over our field.  Kai and I waited on our deck (another post!) for about an hour before the show began.  Admittedly, I was a bit disappointed as we could hear them much better than we could see them.  But Kai was still super excited.  He loved the Thunderbird show and even said it was the best part of his day.  He said a few other cute things about how great it was, but I forgot to to write them down.

The Thunderbirds flying in formation.  Click on the picture to make it bigger and you should see it better.

In formation again.  Click to enlarge, again.

There was one point where the planes went straight up into the clouds and then would fly straight back down.  Kai called the place in the clouds where the Thunderbirds reappeared a "hole."  That was almost immediately followed by, "If Jesus were to step on that cloud, He'd fall through."  [About a 30 second pause]  And then the Thunderbirds would be in trouble!"  He made me laugh.

Next year (as long as Finn's not napping again), I think we'll drive down to Lockheed with Reid.  His building is right across the street from the stadium, so we're thinking maybe a picnic and an airshow in the Lockheed parking lot sounds like fun!

Great Strides 2011

On Saturday May 21st our family participated in our first Great Strides event to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis.  We were blessed to have over 30 people from our ward come out to support us in our walk.  I was also touched by the people that donated to the cause and helped us raise money.  We were by no means even in the neighborhood of the top fundraisers, but we really didn't put that much effort into it, and we were greatly blessed by friends and family that care.

One of the first things I noticed when we got there was just how many people had turned out.  The official count they gave was 745 people, but I think that was based on the people that officially checked-in and I know not everyone on our team did that.  My guess is that we were much closer to 900 people or so.  There were 50 teams represented.  That's a whole lot of people per team! 

The walk took us on a nice scenic route through a downtown area of the Springs.  It really was a beautiful day and a beautiful walk.  And for the most part, the boys did pretty well with the walk.  Kai loved that all of his friends from church were there and he walked a ways with them.  After a while he joined Finn in the double stroller.  Finn wanted to get out of the stroller but he didn't get the concept of walking with the group.  He thought it would be more fun to just run the other direction.  So, unfortunately, he had to go back in the stroller.

Kai before the race with our hometeacher's children--Cassidy and Max
Kai LOVED having all of the teenager's attenetion!

Finn and Momma waiting for the race to start.
I'm SO glad I got a haircut.  Look at that hair!

Kai and the Chick-Fil-A cow.

What a wonderful ward we have!  This is most of our team.  Another family showed up right after we took the picture.

Walking for a cure!

Finn, Kai, and Reid crossing the finish line.

Waiting in line for lunch from Quizno's and Chick-Fil-A.  The rose sticker indicates that Finn has CF.

Eating lunch.

There was a fire truck for the kids.  Of course, Kai enjoyed that!

Kai got to try a firefighter's helmet.

Before the walk began there were free bagels and pastries.  And after the walk there were sandwhiches from Chick-Fil-A and Quiznos, as well as cookies.  I was also impressed by the constantly full drink coolers that were there the entire day.  After the walk, people ate lunch, mingled, and listened to the band and announcements.  Our family played at the playground for a bit.  It was a good day for everyone.

The Great Strides walk in Colorado Springs raised an amount just shy of $133,000 this year.  What an awesome site!  It was amazing to see the lines at the pavillion.  The longest one by far was the donation line where people just waited in line to pay money and write checks.  What a wonderful thing for everyone!

Reid's Birthday

We celebrated Reid's birthday on Friday May 20th.  For his cake, we ordered a cheesecake from a local bakery, Cake This.  I actually stumbled onto them through Groupon and got an amazing deal.  It started when Groupon sent me an email saying that they missed my business (as I had not purchased a groupon in a couple of months) and so they were giving me a $10 credit that I could use sometime in the next two weeks (or so).  Well, as the days unfolded I didn't see anything I really wanted.  The day my credit was set to expire I decided I was just going to buy the Groupon if I could use it all.  It turned out to be a cheesecake from Cake This for $22, instead of the normal $39.  With my $10 credit, it would be $12 for the cake.  Perfect!  And then I bought through Swagbucks and earned enough bucks to cash in for a $5 Amazon gift card.  So, for $12 we got a cheesecake and $5 at Amazon!  Sweet!

Anyway, Reid choose the banana white chocolate cheesecake and it was delicious.  That night we also got a sitter and we headed out to dinner.  Unfortunately the place we wanted to go to had a long line, so we ended up at Red Robin.  It was good food and good company and reminded us of Centreville.  In fact, it was the first time we had been to Red Robin since our move from Centreville.  So, it was nice.

I hope Reid enjoyed his birthday!

Happy Birthday Kai!

We celebrated Kai's 4th birthday on Saturday May 14th.  He was very excited for his birthday this year and wanted to invite everyone he met to his birthday "party".  I had planned on waiting until his 5th birthday before we started to do parties with friends, but somehow he learned about birthday parties this year and was really looking forward to having one.  After a lot of thinking, we decided to do something very simple.  I asked him who his best friends were and then we just invited those few friends for cake and ice cream.  I tried to tell them no presents allowed.  We invited Sister Horton and her daughter Megan (our RS president and her daughter that we use as a babysitter), Sister Lundwall and her daughter Micah (Kai's old nursery teacher and her daughter that just loves Kai), and the Webster family (a family that we switch babysitting with often and that has 3 boys all around Kai and Finn's ages).  Unfortunately the Websters were unable to come, but it still turned out well.  Despite what I said, everyone brought Kai a present and we all had a good time eating cake and ice cream and opening and eating presents.  Kai definitely had fun helping to pick out the dinosaur decorations and telling me what he wanted on his cake.  What he didn't know was that I already had a cake in mind, and despite his requests for pink and polka dots, he was going to get a dinosaur cake.  In the end, I think he was very happy with his birthday!

Grandma Hickman sent a birthday package a few days early.
The boys loved the musical instruments.

And Finn loved walking through the popcorn!

Kai's dinosaur cake had a motion-activated dinosaur on top.
See the video below.

Another view of the cake

Kai wanted to eat the volcano.  It was just
an upside-down ice cream cone, so he only ate the frosting.

Working on the frosting

A view of our little party

Opening his first present

It was a blue stuffed braciosaurus that he has named
"Herbivore Longneck".  Silly Kai!

A present from the Lundwalls, Toy Story 3 Memory

One of his favorite presents, the playdough Cake Makin' Station

Opening his stomp rocket behind his soccer ball from the Hortons.

Riding his new balance bike from Mom and Dad with is new helmet and elbow pads.

Moments

Eighteen months ago today Finn was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis.  I can't believe it's only been 18 months.  I feel like I've lived a lifetime in those 18 months.  I've learned a lot in 18 months and my perspective on life has certainly changed.  Right after Finn's diagnosis we made our blog private.  At the time I thought I would have more personal thoughts to share, but it turns out that private or not, I still can't bring myself to actually put my feelings out there for, what feels like, the whole world.  Oh, there have been many times that I've started a post and have actually almost published it, but I always stop.  I worry that maybe I haven't fully expressed myself well, or that I'll offend someone, or that I'll just be way too vulnerable.  I don't like being vulnerable!  :)

But here's what I am comfortable saying.  For me, it's all about the moments.  There are moments that I am honestly just discouraged and upset.  Those are the moments when I'm angry at Cystic Fibrosis and what I feel it has taken from me.  I'm angry for Finn and for the potential (or lack thereof) of other children.  I get jealous of friends who can make it seem so easy to decide to have a baby.  (I know it's not but sometimes it just seems unfair that the rest of the world doesn't have to worry about life-threatening illnesses when they think about children.)  Sometimes my heart just hurts.

Then there are other moments.  We had one tonight where we just watched the boys run around and tackle each other.  There was laughing and happiness for over 20 minutes.  It was great.  To see the boys love each other, giggle together, and just be boys--those are some of the greatest moments.  Yes, in that moment I thought about CF, but I was honestly thinking about how the rough housing was a great, fun way to make Finn's life better.  So, yes, my boys will be allowed to rough house and run throughout the house.  In fact, they are allowed to blow whistles and bubbles and even scream to a certain degree.  All those activities are great for the lungs.  So, I say go for it!

Most moments, I don't think about CF.  Life is slightly (ever so slightly) different for us, to be sure.  How many moms do you know that make their kids clean their hands as soon as they hit their car seat?  Or how many 4 year old boys refuse to get in a shopping cart because Mom didn't clean it yet?  But even with all of those little nuances, we are a pretty normal family doing the best we can to live a normal life.

So, it's been 18 months of ups and downs.  We have a long ways to go, but I'm hoping that there will be so many more ups than downs.  No matter what happens and what decisions are made along the way, I'm grateful for the lessons that I've learned and that I have yet to learn.  I'm grateful that Finn has come along to teach them to me.

Mother's Day

Kai came home from his Sunbeam class with these drawings.  They are awesome!