Keep Believing

I have referenced Ben's friends Angie and Brian in a different post. Truth be told, I think of them as my friends since I follow their blog faithfully. Also, I heard lots about "little Angie" and "Angie and Brian" before I ever saw the blog.

About a week ago, Angie wrote the post that I feared would come: Brian's cancer has progressed to the point that it no longer makes sense to continue treatment. At the age of 36, Angie has begun dealing with end-of-life care for her husband. At the same time, Angie continues being a mom to her two young boys. I guess part of what amazes me about Angie is how she is able to write moving, poignant, and inspiring posts in the midst of such personal tragedy.

You may have noticed the new widget on the side of my blog. A fund has been set up for Angie and her boys. There are many times when we hear stories like that of Angie and Brian and we want to help but don't know how. The gadget is there in case you want to help monetarily. I am sure Angie, Brian, and the boys will take all of the prayers, positive thoughts, and/or good mojo that you can send their way. If you attend church, please add them to your prayer lists.

If you haven't been to Angie's Keep Believing Blog, please check it out. (Here's the address in case the link doesn't work:
www.aboneill.blogspot.com )

When you read Angie's blog, you'll see what an amazing person she is. Ben says that Brian is just as incredible and that the two of them compliment each other well. They have handled this difficult journey with grace and love. I hope their blog touches everyone else as much as it has Ben and me.

Erlan's latest tricks

• Erlan continues to amaze us. I wanted to list his latest and greatest (so in a year I can remember--time is simply flying by!)
  
  As soon as Erlan wakes up, he runs to his room to pick out his clothes. He likes his clothes and likes to pick out his own outfits. Somedays he picks out clothes that match, other days are just funny. (Yes, he still joins us at 2:00 am....)
  
  Erlan does not like to be wet. He gets very wet when he helps with dishes. He runs upstairs to change. He also does not enjoy being naked. If a shirt comes off, it better be b/c he's taking a bath or going swimming; otherwise, it's upstairs to his closet.
  
  Erlan knows the alphabet and can identify all letters except K and N... I guess he has a mental block. He loves to play the alphabet game at Starfall.com
  
  Erlan can count to 10 and can identify numbers 1 to 10. He loves to shout out numbers in Wal-mart. His favorite counting game is the duck shoot game at ictgames.com (If I weren't so lazy, I'd find the links for you.) We're starting to work on 11 through 20.
  
  He's using two or three word phrases more and more frequently. The first phrase I heard was, "No more eggs!"
  
  He loves to go with Daddy to feed cows. "Cows feed!" He helps Daddy fill the buckets and he tries to carry the buckets.
  
  Erlan can work the mousepad on the computer. Ben taught him this today, and he's actually pretty good at it. (I'm not thrilled to have even more competition for the computer!)
  
  Erlan requested a bowling party for his 3rd b'day. We had just been to his cousin's bowling party and Erlan loved it. When Ben and I were talking about his party the next day, Erlan tapped my face and said, "Mommy! Ball!" Then he made a bowling motion with his hand.
  
  Erlan likes to sing "Happy Day to You!" (Happy Birthday to you!)
  
  He said his own name for the first time to day. Until now, he has referred to himself as "You."
  
  Erlan loves to throw balls (and whatever else he can find). He's actually pretty good at it. He also gets in trouble a lot for throwing things in the house.
  
  Erlan loves Baxter. He has figured out how to put Baxter into his kennel (a handy trick) and how to take him out (a not-so-handy trick--Baxter is having trouble with the whole concept of potty training so he needs to go outside as soon as he is let out of his kennel.)
  
  Erlan has figure out the lock on the door and likes to go in and out of the house. So far we've gotten around this by locking the screen--he'll probably figure that out next week.
  
  Erlan loves to read. His favorite book is Goodnight Moon. He is delighted that I have it memorized and he can turn the pages himself. He also likes the Sandra Boynton books.

I'm sure I will think of more. In a month it will be a year since we met him. I cannot remember a time without him. He is our miracle.

Wiped-Out Wednesday

Erlan woke up bright and early. He tried to rouse the girls. He pulled the blankets off of the girls, he yelled, “Out! Up!” It was to no avail. The girls continued to sleep.

We woke up to snow. Schools were closed. Berthoud Pass was closed. It’s a good thing we weren’t planning on leaving today. We spent the day at the condo. We hung out, watched movies, and played games. If you do not have the game Snorta, you really need to buy it. We had so much fun playing it. I worked some, but it didn’t get in the way of the good time.

We hauled Erlan’s skis out and pulled him around the parking lot. The girls pulled their skis out too, but they figured out that the parking lot wasn’t nearly as much fun as the slopes. They did enjoying pulling Erlan around.

The girls have kept each other entertained. They spent today playing with Hannah Montana dolls, making videos on Kenzi’s camcorder, and playing homecoming queen. “Is there only one homecoming queen?” They also spent a lot of their time playing with Erlan.

Tomorrow, we will hit the slopes one more time. We plan to take the girls up to Mary Jane and take the greens back down.

Hitting the slopes

Everybody hit the slopes of Winter Park today. I am thankful that I am still able to snowboard after 5 years. I’m also thankful that my muscles are sore and that I’m alive. :-)

Winter Park has wagons for families to use to haul gear and kids around. Unfortunately, the wagons weren’t out today. We improvised. I seriously doubt that Samsonite thought that their roller bags would be used to haul kids around ski parks.

We enrolled Erlan in ski school today. I think that he really enjoyed it. They did take him out to the bunny slope. He caught Amy and I watching him. You’ll see him turn around and stare at us in the video. Before we shot the video, he was looking at us and finally yelled, “Mommy?” I waved. I was afraid that he’d start crying, but he didn’t.

We saw him again on the bunny slope in the afternoon; however, the instructor had FORGOTTEN him! Ben figured this out after watching Erlan just standing there, not interacting with the group. The manager had the right attitude saying, “This is totally unacceptable.” The instructor who forgot him told Ben that he was disrespectful to her! She forgot our kid and was concerned about respect. She had 4 kids in her group and couldn’t do a head count.

Kenzi also enrolled in Level 2 ski school. There were only 4 kids in her group. She went through Level 2 and Level 3 today! She is ready for Level 4 instruction. Her instructor managed not to lose her and said Kenzi did a great job. She’s now ready for easy blues! Kenzi was very proud of her accomplishment.

Keely psyched herself out b/c of the lift and would not enroll in ski school. She said she would hang out with Granny Jannie at the lodge. After watching all of the skiers, she finally said that she’d go on the lift IF Amy would hold her hand. Amy bought her a pass and took her up the lift. Once Keely got on the lift, she said, “You’re right. This is like a roller coaster!” She made it down the hill with only minor falls. She really enjoyed herself. Unfortunately, I have no video of her on the mountain today. She and Amy went one way, and Ben and I went another. By the time that I made it down the mountain, I was too tired to go back up to get pictures. Ben was going to go, but we ran into the aforementioned incident with Erlan and the ski school.

Here are some more pictures from the lodge at the end of the day.

Colorado, Day 2

Sorry if the videos in this post don't work. They are still processing at YouTube, and I'm too tired to wait to see if they start working.... Will check tomorrow.

We didn’t make it to the slopes today. Erlan woke up with a fever. We also thought that the girls needed a break. Erlan (and Mommy) took a refreshing three-hour morning nap. Everyone else went skating. Apparently the girls spent most of the skate learning how to get up while on ice skates. Keely commented, “This ice is slicker than the other ice!” :-P



In the afternoon, we went sledding. It was awesome. Everyone had a great time, even though it was wicked cold. We had the kids as bundled as we could get them. Granny Jannie even went down the slopes. I think that the video speaks for itself.





Finally, here’s a brief video of Erlan on skis from yesterday.

Our Colorado Vacation

Since Erlan is almost 3, we decided it was time to go on a ski vacation in Winter Park. To add to the fun, we brought our nieces, Kenzi (age 8) and Keely (age 7), with us. Don’t worry… we balanced the ratio of kids to adults by bringing Amy and Granny Jannie with us.

The kids were terrific on the 12-hour drive out. The girls entertained Erlan. They watched DVDs. They only started asking if we were there once we reached Denver. They were amazing. Erlan had a couple of false-alarm potty breaks so that he could get out of his seat and stretch a bit.



We spent Friday night lazing around the condo. The girls entertained us by dancing and singing all of the songs in HSM (High School Musical—for those of you not in the know). It’s amazing how much the two girls have in common.



Saturday was spent acclimating to the altitude change. Ben, Amy, and Granny Jannie took the girls to rent skis. Erlan and I took a much-needed nap. We took Erlan back for skis later.



Sunday the girls finally hit the slopes. We enrolled both girls in ski school. We decided that we would teach Erlan ourselves with the handy ski harness that we purchased. By the time we got the girls’ settled and Ben’s boots warmed up to the point that he could put them on, we would have had to buy a half-day ticket. Since lift tickets are $90 and half-day tickets are $83, we decided to wait until we could do a full day. Here’s a run down on the kid’s day, from youngest to oldest…

Erlan: We stuck Erlan on his skis so he could get used to them. We pulled him around a bit. I let him watch the little kids in ski school. He seemed interested (meaning he watched it out of the corner of his eyes). We’re going to enroll him in afternoon ski school tomorrow.





Keely: Kee-Kee (or Chi-Chi as Erlan calls her) announced she loved ski school the first time we checked on her. Unfortunately, a couple of hours later, she had freaked herself out with thoughts of having to ride the chairlift up the mountain. This gave her a tummy ache and she missed about 3 hours of instruction. After Amy talked to her, Keely chose to re-enter ski school. Amy heard this exchange between the instructors: “Did they threaten her (Keely) or did she do it on her own?” “They threatened her.” Here was the threat: “Keely you have have a choice. You can finish what you started or if you are that sick, you can lay in bed all night, not watch TV, and not play with Kenzi.” Keely chose to go back to ski school.

As a side note: I can hardly criticize her for freaking herself out since I have been known to freak myself out many, many times before going up a lift. In fact, I’m freaking myself out now thinking about riding again after a 5-year hiatus. My last lift tags are from 2004!

Kenzi: Kenzi loved ski school. She took everything very matter of fact when I watched her on the bunny slope. She went up the lift to do the long green run at Winter Park twice! She will be Level 2 when we enroll her tomorrow. She was very excited about her success; however, when she called to tell her parents about her success, she was most excited to tell them about the heated pool at our condo. “Guess what?!? There’s a pool where we can swim in the winter!”

Karla: Karla got a good workout hauling Erlan around all day. Apparently the altitude hurt Erlan’s legs and he could no longer walk. Ben, Amy, and I carried him around almost then entire day. I felt like I had spent the day on my board.

For the parental units checking this blog, your kiddos are doing great. They are not homesick (sorry). They are very active! They are happy. :-)

A Christmas Story

Erlan likes to tell a story about visiting Santa. He says:

Cheese.

Poop.

Choo-choo.

Mommy then translates for his avid listener.

We took a picture with Santa ("cheese").

Then Erlan went to the bathroom to poop.

Then Erlan rode a little 75 cent train.

The longer version of the story goes like this:

Erlan and Mommy stood in line for 30 minutes to get Erlan's picture taken with Santa while Santa had a lunch break. Three minutes before Santa is supposed to arrive, Erlan announces, "Poop!" I told him that we would first "Cheese" with Santa and then he could poop. Erlan asked, "Choo choo?" "Yes," I said, "we will choo-choo after pooping." [At that point, I wasn't actually sure what he was talking about. Erlan, who loves trains, had spotted a kid's train ride while we were walking around the mall. I figured there must be a train somewhere in that mall, and we could find it after the poop and picture.]

Erlan was fine with this plan. As we are standing there (1st in line), Santa finally walks out. The kids start cheering and waving. Erlan sees Santa and emits a high-pitched scream--the kind you hear in horror movies. He was terrified. I finally got him to wave to Santa, but I knew that he wasn't convinced that this guy is jolly.

I let the people behind us go first so that Erlan could see that Santa is ok. Erlan still was not convinced. Another family gets their picture taken. Even though Erlan still does not want his picture taken, I force the issue because of the impending need for him to poop. Erlan screamed again, started crying, and reluctantly sat on my lap for the picture. The result was this:

From this, we created our 2008 Christmas card:

We hope everyone has a great holiday!