sometimes he lets the storm rage...

I found this on pinterest a few weeks ago, and I really needed it today.

As you may know Violet is a toe walker.  She has always loved to just prance around on her toes like a ballerina.  It's super cute and so sweet, except for the part where her leg muscles are tightening up and may actually get shorter.  That is not ok.

So after several Dr visits with her pediatrician, a physical therapist and an orthopedic specialist, today we picked up Violet's magic boots! I'll post a picture later, but for now, Violet is still not too happy about these magic boots.  They are called AFO leg braces if you want to google them, but they look like small walking cast, they are molded to her feet and they have butterflies on them!

I was really nervous about todays appointment, and I was really concerned with how Violet would react to wearing her new braces or if she would agree to wear them at all.  I knew that she would be upset about them and for those of you that know Violet she can be quite the raging storm when she is really upset.  As we were pulling out of our parking lot this morning, I saw an elderly gentleman walking with a can and I happened to look at his feet (I don't really know why) and he was wearing special shoes that have a heel platform to help support him because he too was a toe walker and had never had it corrected.  I have never seen this man before and I'm not sure he even lives in our complex, there is a retirement community across the street so maybe he was just taking a walk and decided to take a walk in our parking lot, but I do know that whatever his reason was, he was there to calm my nerves before our appointment and help me to see what all the effort would be for.

So Heavenly Father didn't calm Violet and make it so she would instantly love her new boots and be agreeable and wear them when required, but he calmed me so that I could have the patience and the resolve to work with Violet so that she could get used to her new boots.  So even though there has been a lot of crying, screaming and even some throwing stuff, we've made it and I know we have been watched over today.

Sometimes it is those small and simple things that just get you through the trials of life.
My goal was for Violet to wear her braces for 1 hour and after I got her calmed down she did agree to wear them and even walked around in them a little bit towards the end of her hour.  When the timer went off she ripped them off and shouted HURRAY!!!  it was adorable, now if only we can repeat this tomorrow we will be on our way.

Halloween!

 Violet went as Barbie this year.  She told everyone her name was barbie and that she was going trick or treating with Wylie.  I think this is the year she has really known ahead of time how much fun she was going to have and actually anticipated it, this makes me excited for Christmas!

 Claire went as a princess.  (they pretty much just wore their dress up costumes, it's halloween all year round in our house!)

  Claire wasn't as excited about Halloween as Violet, but she was really excited to find Super Why on tv.

 Violet had a quick costume change and did a chicken dance before switching back to barbie for Trick or treating

 This is the 3rd year that Violet has gone trick or treating with Wylie.  New additions are Claire and Phoebe.  The little girls are catching on...sort of.

 After trick or treat we went to my parents house for cider and charlie brown.  Diana and John had been busy carving pumpkins all week.  Here are some of my favorites (there were 18 total)  This one is a shark.

  Spongebobs friend Patrick.

 And of course Cinderella :)

The girls ended the night with a tea party with Grandpa.  They had a great night and slept great!

Happy Halloween!

nothing much new

 Not much has been happening around here.  Just school, work, dishes and laundry (living the high life)
Claire has perfected her tantrum skills...although she doesn't quite have the defiant personality that her sister did so it's a good thing I recorded this tantrum for posterity because It might be the last one she ever threw.

 look at that skill.  throwing her self on the floor....

 kicking her feet like a pro!

 Claire smiling for the camera, showing off her pigtails

 she loves to get pigtails put in but immediately pulls them out cause she wants to look at the rubber bands.

 Violet still loves to play "cheese" with the camera.

 Claire loves to poke me in the eye....seriously she does it all the time, It helps her to fall asleep.  She likes eyelashes and eyebrows....I hate it.

 lovely

 can you imagine trying to sleep like this?  

 Making a painting for Gma's b-day.  we ended up painting over it and using different colors.  but it turned out cool.

umbrella in the shower....totally rational.

 Visiting Gma's office to dress up like little old ladies.

 Claire and Gma talking about all the pictures on Gma's wall.

and finally some snuggle time with Dad in the girls new big bed.  It was time to get Claire out of her toddler bed and they always ended up in each others beds anyways so now they have one big bed.  We are doing some minor decorating in there so when that is done I'll put a picture up. It's going to be cute.

Hope all is well!

Wesley lost his first tooth about a week and a half ago. He was very excited! And to add to the excitement, he lost his second tooth the next night!

I think this face says it all. I cannot believe that he is already loosing teeth, I feel like he is growing up so fast. He is really loving school and is learning a lot. They sing this song about letter sounds to the tune of "Who let the Dogs Out?" (Who let the B out? B, B,B, B, B. Who let the C out? C,C,C,C,C. etc.) So tonight he was looking for his glue and sang, "Who left the glue out? G,G,G,G,G." It made us laugh!

Hope you all are doing good adn gearing up for Halloween, oh boy.

-Emily-

Adoption

This week 2 of my friends announced they were starting the process of adoption!  I am so happy for all these wonderful people.  I pray that they will be able to find a special child to join their families.
Thats all...it just made me so happy and I wanted to share it :)

ramblings

I have a new place to keep track of the stuff I find on pinterest.  Check it out.  Stuff I found on Pinterest.

So I realized that it has been a really long time since we added anything to either blog and we still have pictures on our camera from last Easter, so I thought today would be a good day to at least get started to organize that. We had a really fun summer hanging around Houston and visiting both families. My pictures are of course out of order, but I am just happy they are there. In Olympia we went to Burfoot Park. It is so nice. They have play equipment, picnicing areas, and hikes down to the beach. We just took a hike to the beach but we had a lot of fun there. I love to throw rocks in the water and was so happy to do that wiht my boys. This will definately be a stop that we will make next time we are in Wahsington.

We also had a really nice time in Utah with the Wood family. It was nice to reconnect with the family again. On the last day we were there our little family took a trip to temple square. It was fun to show the boys the temple, Visitors Centers, and the Conferance Center (They said they recognized it last week at General Conference). It was a nice day there and was so great to just be on Temple Square.

We landed in Houston and the next week Wesley started Kindergarten. He really likes to be at school and is learning a lot. He has a great teacher which really helps. He says his favorite part of Kindergarten is "learning". Oh and he has his first loose teeth. It is all very exciting for him.

So, it is Sam and Allison at home with Mom all day. We love it! We miss Wesley, but are having fun just the 3 of us. Sam is doing a pre-school co-op with a few other kids in the ward. I am teaching this month and he is surprisingly retaining quite a bit. We have had fun!

Dad has been retired for a year now and I must say I was really surprised when I learned that he was into shooting. My Dad? What? It was really fun to be home and see him in his mountian man atire. I think it is a great hobby to have and as I understand it there is a guy or two in the ward that he goes shooting with. I know Jonathan is excited to go shooting with the guys next time we are together.

Jonathan is busy at work as always, but I am glad that he is learning all that he is. It will just make him a better Engineer. He's busy with scouts again (3rd year) and just being such a help for a tired mom.

Anyhow, that is a little bit of what we've been up to. Hope you are all well too.

love you all

texas woods