We were once again reminded how fragile life is.

Uncle Jerry was doing great, had a normal day of work,

then passed away in his sleep.

 He was so kind and educated and was such a great man to look up to.  He will be missed.

After the funeral we decided to take a detour to the Stuhr Museum in Grand Island and it was beautiful.  We had never been there before and everything was not running, as it's really busy during the summer, with lots happening, but there is a beauty in being there when things are calm and quiet.  We basically had the place to ourselves and it was wonderful.  We had a few folks give us personal tours about this or that, and we had the place to ourselves.

 The inside of the building shocked me, the staircases and fountains were in the first room and they were beautiful!

 One area had a car and small house set up, and our kids played and played and played.  I'm so glad they are still ok playing!

 Then we got to play with old phones and operator booths.

 there was a jail they had lots of fun with!

 It was a beautiful day so we played outside as well.

 We caught a case of the giggles a few times.

 So loosing someone is hard, but it reminds us how to use our time wisely and be kind!  

Happy 12th birthday Isaiah!

We have the tradition that our kids get to pick a restaurant for their big day.

Isaiah almost always picks Showguns.

So we had fun!

We also went to the Greatest Showman movie, and I recommend it.

All about acceptance and finding yourself.

It was great and the music in it is amazing!

 Then back to the house for cake and presents!

 Oh how I love this kid!

Quinn had her IEP at school.  

It went ok.

There are still folks that don't see what she can do, and now she knows she can get away with not working for them.

We have a few folks at school willing to keep learning and we are excited about that.

At the meeting, they told us she does not use her computer to make sentences.

As we were leaving I was so thankful Ms. Drake was standing there when I told Quinn we needed to put her coat on.

She said some thing on order of :

No, no thanks, it's to small, you....

to which Ms. Drake said, you what, what should I do.

Quinn responded:

keep, you keep, thanks

So there we go, she talks to us at home and therapy and dance all the time.

She needs to do her job at school, so having them see her doing what she does at home

has got to help, right?  Along with them inviting us in to help keep her accountable.

Team work is great!

Thanks to all our teachers and helpers and nurses, for helping Quinn and all our kids.

It was Gotcha Day!

Here is yesterday.

Here is our 1st anniversary of Gotcha Day 

4 years ago.

We are so lucky!

We also had the CDC clinic,

where we have lots of doctors and therapists and folks check Quinn out and let us know how things are going.  Thankfully we got good ideas and a good check up.

 It was exhausting, she fell asleep at 3 and slept for 14 hours, all afternoon, evening, and night.

Denali and Isaiah both tried to wake her up for pictures, but it did not happen.  

CDC is exhausting for all of us, but such a wonderful day to see so many people.

Here is our trip to the air and space museum.

Being able to move and run and not freeze was so nice.

 They have a great hands on area where kids can explore and play.

 The girls are starting to go out and about on their own.  It's good to see them spread their wings.

 While Isaiah wants to stay small and enjoy little things.  I'm ok with that too.