Beauty of Being Human: March 2018

Still loving on Augie-doggie over here! He thinks he is a child and when we turn our backs, we will climb up on a couch or chair and make himself comfortable. He also doesn't think he should have to walk on walks and will just park his hind quarters and not move an inch. We have him in puppy training school so hopefully we make it through this hump! He has stopped nibbling Caleb's ears and has graduated to stealing their stuffed animals or socks whenever he gets a free moment. But, the boys adore him, love to help feed him and lay on him and run with him. He's mighty snuggly and patient with the boys.

Another big snowstorm rolled in which the boys did not oppose. Luke has taught Caleb the art of eating snow, which has helped Caleb not hate the snow so much. Luke just loves being outside, no matter the element in play and has tried his hand at snow-parkour by jumping off the play-set and other various items into large piles of snow. He's pretty awesome. Augie decided to eat his snow jacket while Luke was running away from him, so he got a new snow jacket and absolutely loves it.

We spend a lot of time on the communal swing set in our "backyard." It has been fun having little friends just come out when they see each other or come knock on each other's back doors to come play.

Luke is still loving preschool! He got to have crazy hair day for Dr Suess's birthday and came up with the idea for his crazy hair design all on his own.

One day after a fun day at preschool, an early morning and running errands, I looked down under the cart where Luke was unusually still (usually he is trying to stop the cart with his hands on the floor....super safe, I know,) to find him completely asleep under the cart. He stayed that way the duration of the trip and was so confused when I woke him up to go to the car. He also couldn't figure out why his face hurt.

An organization here in Utah for families with members with Special Needs often gets tickets to various concerts and events. I've never been quick enough to get the tickets, but one day, I happened to be working on my computer when the email came through with the opportunity for Disney on Ice tickets. I quickly replied and we got tickets to go see Disney on Ice. I wasn't sure how the boys would like it, but they were in complete awe. The lights, the music, the dancing, they loved it all. Luke was a little disappointed we wouldn't spend $30 on a glow stick or $7 on a snow-cone, but he soon got over it and enjoyed the show.

Our sweet neighbors invited us to the zoo with them one day since they have annual passes and can get friends in free. Luke and this little friend, McKay are the same energy level and Caleb and McKay's little sister, Halle, adore each other! It was fun to run around the zoo again with them.

Luke has the memory of an elephant and remembers every little detail of holidays past. St Patrick's day was no exception. He was ready to make leprechaun traps the second Christmas was over and was already wondering what tricks the leprechaun would play on him this time. His traps this year were pretty elaborate and included trying to trip, trick, confuse and trap the leprechaun. Unfortunately, he got away again, but he left his signature "Chucky-larms" (Lucky Charms), and turned his traps into acrobatic sites to behold.

We celebrated World Down Syndrome Day on the 21st with crazy socks, acts of kindness, a visit to Luke's preschool (which, his teacher invited all the kiddos to wear crazy socks. Have we mentioned how much we love her?), taking cookies to Dallin's work and just fun all around. We sure do love having an extra chromosome in our family.

For our anniversary, Dallin took me to a Bed and Breakfast down in Provo while grandma and grandpa Green braved the trenches and watched the boys and Augie. I'm pretty sure they went home and slept for two days straight after being ring leaders to our circus. While we were enjoying delicious food, amazing chocolate mousse, movies, travels back in time with our B&B that embraced it's Victorian heritage and bathtubs the size of our house, they were hosing down children covered head to toe in mud, wrestling rugs from a puppy, chasing a 2-year-old all over town and going on more walks than seems possible. We are grateful for their bravery so that we could have a much needed getaway to celebrate 7 years of marriage.

When we returned home, the boys were not at all excited to see us...

Dallin likes to curl with his workmates every now and again. Inspired by the olympics, he decided to do a tournament with them. Due to it being at 8 o' clock at night, the boys and I opted out of cheering him on...Okay, maybe I just didn't want to chase Caleb around an ice rink while battling bedtime tantrums... Anyway, he seemed to have a good time and now he has a neon orange shirt to match Luke's so we won't lose them when we go out in public.

Other happenings of March:

Luke is finally learning to enjoy drawing and coloring. Still not a huge fan, but at least he tries to do more than scribbling and is not bored of it within 5 minutes. I call that progress!

He also decided to try his hand at putting on my make-up one morning. I think he did a pretty fine job!

He also got to go Home Teaching with Dallin one Sunday, during which he discovered hover boards and is now convinced he needs one. Are we ready for the broken bones?

Caleb has discovered climbing and mischief. We leave him for a few seconds and find him in all sorts of trouble. Good thing he is cute.

One morning, I woke up with these crazy bites on my back. They lasted a good 2 weeks before finally disappearing. Not sure what got me, but I'm alive and well!

After the first two sessions of General Conferece, we needed to move, so we packed up and went on an adventure up the Living Room trail. Last year, we hiked the entire trail with Brad, but this year, we barely made it to the trail head. However, it was Augie's first hike, and he did so good! The boys got their legs moving and the view was AMAZING. The greenness of spring this year is definitely stealing my heart.