We have been busy!

We had fancy Nancy day in Kindergarten, and Quinn and our other little Kindergartner loved it!  They would both dress this way every day if they could.

Then we headed out of town for the weekend.

We went to the Lion King, and it was amazing! We stayed in a hotel, we went out to dinner, and spent time playing with our cousin Kaleb and Grandma Vicki and Grandpa Steve, and a few other great friends.  Quinn loved swimming as much as ever, and it makes me excited for warmer weather when we will get to go to the pool more often.  

The addition to our house, is that we finally got carpet in the basement thanks to some friends coming over and getting the carpet put in.  Our little guy loves his room now.  Thanks so much to great friends for helping us out!  We are grateful!

Finally the educational story of the week:

Quinn and her nurse were riding the bus home on Monday afternoon and there was a new bus para on the bus, and he was a younger gentleman, and he needed to be educated, as he did not think Quinn could do much.  So Nadean asked Quinn to tell him about her weekend, and did she ever.  She told him about her weekend at the Lion King, about swimming and having fun.  Right away this young man's views on Quinn changed, and he was hooked, he asked her more, and she told him her name and some of her favorite things to do.  She showed him her pictures and talked to him the entire ride home.  I love it when she educates folks.  She is such a great little ambassador!  Oh how I love her so!

Well, we have been trying to get Quinn off of one of her meds for seizures.  She has been doing great with it, until a few days ago.  Monday she was hyper sensitive, and anytime she was touched or heard any loud noises, she was jumping, and that lasted an hour or so.  Then she was ok, until last night, when she had a pretty big seizure for her.  Darn, it had been a few years since she had her last one.  Well, it scared her, there was shaking, crying, and she was curled up in a tight ball.  It was not pretty at all.  Yet with those two bad moments, she is also improving, since she started getting less of that med, she has been smiling more, talking more, and just more with it in general.  Like this morning I was talking to her about how she had a rough night, and could go to bed early tonight, but still had to work hard at school today, and her nurse Melissa and I both heard her say "I will" plain as day, and Nadean said she did work so hard at school until about 30 minutes before school got out and then she started crying, she cried on the bus on the way home and again when she saw Melissa was here, as if finally I can just let it out, as she hugged her and cuddled into her shoulder.  After a little Tylenol, she said she was feeling better and the tears stopped.  She told us she had a headache, which makes sense to me.  She finally fell asleep around 7:30, so we are hoping for a good night sleep and our little sweet heart waking up feeling good.

Our fun stories for the day, our foster kiddo had to go in and give Quinn kisses and say some extra prayers for her this afternoon.

The other fun story is that after school today, I had two of my students ask me if they could help me in the art room.  As they were doing a few jobs for me, I called Quinn's seizure doctors office and talked to them about the things I just wrote about, and I knew the boys could hear my conversation.  After I was off the phone, I talked to the boys for a bit and had them finish up their jobs, and did not think anything more of the call or them listening to it.  So maybe 15 minutes later they headed out of my room, and a moment later they both ran back into my room, and said, "Oh, Mrs. Otte, tell Quinn to get better and that I'm praying for her."  I told him thanks and the other student seconded his concern, and they were back out of my room, within 15 seconds.  Oh, I love my job, I love my students, and I love how they care about my daughter.  I don't talk about my daughter at school very much, as we have to much to cover the way it is.  However the kids are always asking about her and checking out the new pictures I have of her on my desk, and she does help me teach tolerance and understanding, I just try to keep it in check.  So it was an end of the day where I was so thankful for my wonderful students, and at the same time, I'm praying that Quinn has a good night tonight and feels better in the morning!
Blessings!
Susan Otte

The last few days have been busy playing with Chrissy (thanks Chrissy), swinging at the park, building forts, eating out, reading books, playing with Grandma, and enjoying the kids.  She has been sleeping super, and feeling good.  We still have a bit of a cold, but all in all, she is doing great.

The fun story for the last few days, is that we went over to see Annette, and Quinn was pretty quiet, not talking all that much, and her husband, Ben came home, oh my goodness, Quinn started saying Hi, hello, hi, hi, hello, and kept it up, clear as day until he came over to say hello to her.  After that he scooped all three kids up, one at a time and let them walk upside down on the ceiling, and I did not get any pictures.  Hmmm, I wonder why all the kids love him so.  Quinn giggled the entire time he had her upside down with her feet on the ceiling.  What a fun few days Quinn and our other kiddo's have had!

We are blessed!

Susan

It is spring break and we are having fun.

We spent part of the weekend up in Pierce with Grandma and Grandpa.

Quinn totally wanted to ride the 4 wheeler, as I asked all the kids if they wanted to, and she was the only one that piped up right away, yes, yes, yes, .....

so, we rode the 4 wheeler slowly and Quinn giggled and sang the entire ride.

She has always been the kid that wants to be moving and going.  So off we went!

Past that last friday we had a couple Nebraska football players come to Zeman to help us celebrate our goals, and they were great guys.

Past that we are busy with therapies, our last dance class for awhile, and playing around.  So I need to get the camera out to capture the memories, but have not done it yet.

love to you all.
Susan

Oh What a night!

What a cute outfit, her dancing beyond limits shirt, her zebra skirt and you can't see it, but some fun colored hair pieces.  She knew her big part was to do some kicking, so she was practicing.

Here she is, getting a little nervous before the big show, with her partner Rachel.

Here she is happy and exhausted with her dance teacher Suzanne, after a great show.

Here we are. ( I think I am always going to have to say that we can't have our foster kids in pictures online) and we have bus drivers, preschool teachers, grandparents, nurses, and the family.  It was a beautiful night.

(click on the picture to get it bigger so you can see it)

....and the cast of performers.  They were amazing!

I'm so thankful for Suzanne for getting this started!  It's been amazing!

It was hat day at school last Friday, as well as Read Across America.  So it was a busy day.  We still just love our nurse Nadean.  

Quinn's dance recital was last night, and pictures are coming.  I have the cutest pictures of our two girls and it's a bummer I can not share them on here.  

Oh the warm fuzzies from last night's dance recital are still hanging on tight, and Quinn was an amazing dancer.  Pictures will be coming soon.  Quinn had a great night, and slept better last night then in a very long time.  Oh what a great night.

The fun moment of our morning.....

We have a couple extra kids hanging out with us this weekend.

They are a perfect addition to our crew because they are a boy and girl, and they match our kids ages.  Well, here is the story,

All three girls were playing dolls together this morning, and our guest said Quinn needs help, cause she does not know how to ..... (something or other)  in pure innocents, and our full time kiddo said, without a thought, "oh no, Quinn knows how to do all that stuff, we just have to help her do it."

Oh, I love that moment.  First that they were all playing so well together, and that our full time kiddo get's Quinn so well.

I don't expect them to always play together, but those moments this morning sure make my heart happy!