A Quick Review

A few highlights of our 2011...

(in a crazy random order)

*  Emilie got her central line out in March which meant swimming and water therapy.  Emilie was "free" in the water and it was such a joy to see her in the water since her legs went south.
*  Traveled to Windsor CA (very cute and charming city) to work a water stop for our Purple Peeps.  It was great to see our Aunt Steph, meet Chandra and Bobbie and the other Team in Training members.  Truly inspirational.
*  Emilie finally got her straight leg braces.  She initially started walking with a walker, but quickly moved to forearm crutches.  Great progress!
*  We traveled to Disney World for Emilie's Make-a-Wish and stayed at Give Kids the World.  Nana and Auntie Vicki joined us for the week.  We had an awesome time as a family...lots of laughter!!
*  Celebrated birthdays...Emilie turned 11, Paul turned 14 and Nicolas turned 7.  As always, the kids got to pick their birthday dinner restaurants.  Emilie and Nicolas chose Tyrolean Inn and Paul chose Buca de Beppo.  "Good times, good times!" Emilie had a group of friends over for appetizers and dessert and Nicolas had fun wet/wild party with a water slide in the shape of a huge wave.  It was literally as tall as our house.  Super fun!
*  There is always baseball...Paul played Bulldog ball and Nicolas played his second year of single A.
*  On Mother's Day, Nana was honored at Twin Lakes Church  as "Mom of the Year".  You can read about it here.
*  Emilie has a group called Crafty Chicks 4 Charity which is a bunch of girls making crafts.  The money raised goes to a charity specified by Emilie.  Speaking of blogs, Emilie has a new one called Tweenology.  Blogging keeps her mind busy and her heart happy.
*  Paul cut the tip of his pinkie off with wire strippers which sent him to the ER with Eric.  Not a big event, but it just had to be documented.
*  Emilie went back to school in September and did very well for pretty much missing 5th grade.  Our school, Baymonte Christian School, installed a lift so that Emilie could attend classes on the second floor.  We love the staff, parents and kids at Baymonte!!!
*  Our family participated in the Baymonte Tech Trek 5K.  The kids got their bibs and took off without us.  Paul and Nicolas ran while pushing Emilie in her chair.  Awesome!!
*  Paul graduated from 8th grade and is now a high schooler.  Scary and fun at the same time.

I love, love, love my family, and am so grateful that we were able to do all that we did in 2011!!!