Happy Easter!

A rabbit delivered baskets of goodies sometime last night, the kids have on spiffy church clothes, our bellies are stuffed from eating for two days, we've spent time with family, we've gone to church, eggs have been hunted (three times), and it is a gorgeous spring day outside. What a wonderful Easter weekend!

Intent on the hunt:

Success!

Shelby "stepping".

Happy Easter!

Our Spring Break in pictures

Prepare yourselves. This is a lengthy one. Here's what we've been up to:

Hanging out in our pajamas till mid-morning.

Getting some work done on our land. See http://www.kinnairdsfolly.blogspot.com/ for pictures.

Meeting our buddies to play at the park. Driving to Virginia to visit Uncles, Aunts, and Cousins Learning how to drive a tractor there:

Supervising the tractor driving with my cousin Samuel:Snuggling with Uncle Stephen and Aunt Cambridge: More snuggles with cousin Allie Grace: Meeting friends at Maymont Park in Richmond (Mo and Oia from Unexpected Lessons).

Harding and Oia were like two peas in a pod. They played nonstop, giving Mo and I plenty of time to chat. Maymont has an indoor nature center with river otters. Shelby was in the midst of throwing a major tantrum when she noticed them and finally settled down to get acquainted with one:

Otter kisses?It was nice to finally meet Mo and Oia in person....we've been communicating through email and following each other's blogs for awhile now. I'm glad to know them and was thrilled that Harding and Oia hit it off.

There were tornado watches and severe thunderstorms yesterday afternoon, but then the sun came out in the evening and Harding was inspired by the puddles between Dearing's and Stephen and Cambridge's houses. Muddy joined in on the fun (living up to his name, maybe). These two were babies at the same time. Maybe they still share that bond. Harding, Shelby and I have had a wonderful week together. We missed Trip (who was saving his vacation time for this summer) and it is great to be home now. I'm sad the break is over though...back to the grind tomorrow. But summer is just around the corner and I'll have two whole months to hang out with my family nonstop then. I love this one of Harding running down my Aunt Dearing's driveway....he really had the best time staying there (as did I).

Y Soccer

Harding is playing soccer for the YMCA this spring. This is his first venture with organized sports, and the first game was on Saturday. We figured soccer would be a good sport to start with since he loves to run around and since Harding has been watching Trip play on Sunday afternoons since he was a baby. The first game went about how we expected it would. I think he had fun, which is the important thing.

Here are the Batmen huddled together after scoring a goal for the other team:

Harding pretty much kept a commentary going with us as we watched from the sidelines the entire game. He wanted our reassurance of what he was supposed to do, asking questions like, "So its okay to take the ball from the yellow team, right?". Here he is demonstrating his batman skills. He takes the team name a little too seriously.

At this point, all the players were at the other goal and Harding says, "Hey look at me Daddy, I'm a helicoptor." Not Trip's proudest moment, but it was hilarious just the same.

Other memorable moments included Harding running off his field in the middle of the game and onto his buddy Derek's field in the middle of their game to play with him. He didn't quite understand about staying within the lines. We quickly bribed Harding with ice cream if he finished out the game.

Here H is with teammate and family friend Sofi after the game.

We delivered on our promise of post-game ice cream. They both chose chocolate.

Spring randoms

Daddy and his princess.

Cute kiddos.

Harding got to camp on the floor in our room when there were severe thunderstorm warnings last week. He was thrilled to have Bailey join him.

Couldn't resist this one. He may kill me when he learns to use the internet and sees that I have posted this. The Spidey obsession continues....

Granny, Papa Gene, and Ethel

We stopped by Granny and Papa Gene's house in Decatur on the way home from Atlanta. Harding wanted to show off his new bubble gun to Papa Gene.

As well as his jumping skills:

And flying skills:

We made one more stop in North Georgia on the way home at my college roommate's parents' house. Amanda was there for a visit and we dropped in at chicken feeding time, which Harding is still talking about. This is Ethel eating...

She even let Harding pet her.

Ethel and her friends let us take home a dozen of their yummy eggs:

I don't know why I didn't get a picture of Amanda and me, but it was really good to see her and catch up briefly (she lives in Seattle so we don't get to hang out often).

Riley is 1!

I just went through the pictures on my camera card and realized that I never posted pictures I had intended to back in March. It has been a crazy month, with me taking mid-terms, Shelby being pretty sick for an extended period of time (thank goodness she is finally better), and all the OT stuff. Shelby had a severe cold the weekend of Riley's 1st birthday party, so Trip stayed in Asheville and snuggled with her while Harding and I made the trek to Atlanta by ourselves. It was a great party (with everything a one-year-old could want).

Riley wore the same snazzy outfit that Shelby wore to her first birthday party.

She learned how to properly eat a cupcake from an expert.

She got to hang out with her doting Aunt Tiff.

And there was bubble fun with her two older boy cousins.

It was a great day, and I was glad that Harding and I were able to be there for all the festivities. Love this sweet little girl.

OT woes...

So for a while now, I have been thinking that Shelby's occupational therapist wasn't the best fit for our family. She (through no fault of her own) doesn't have the schedule flexibility to meet with us at home in the afternoons or on weekends. Around the time of Shelby's three weeks of constraint therapy, our service coordinator began looking for other OT options for us. Another pediatric OT with constraint therapy experience and an excellent reputation had a spot that was opening up in mid-March and we decided that we would make the switch to her. Then at the last minute, Trip and I changed our minds because we felt we hadn't given Shelby's current OT (who we like personally and who Shelby responds well to) a fair shot. We communicated our needs and wishes to her and she agreed to work with Shelby at home once a month in the afternoons when I could be there. Then last week we found out that she was drastically reducing her contract hours and would only be available to work with Shelby once a week at 12:30 (right smack in the middle of nap time). I frantically called the OT whose available spot we had just turned down and it was already filled. Not only that, but there are no OTs that contract through early intervention who have openings right now in our area. So now Shelby is left without occupational therapy at all during a time when she desperately needs it. She is using her left hand and arm more than ever and I would like her to continue to make strides. We're in the process of trying to get her some OT appointments through the hospital and hopefully there will be an opening soon through early intervention. I will never again hesitate to follow my gut when it comes to making decisions for my children. Lesson learned, but I hate that it was at Shelby's expense. Also, if you are exploring career options right now, I suggest becoming an OT. They are certainly not hurting for work in this economy!