whew...

I've decided that maybe I'm capable of blogging once a month...and I've barely made it for April! So here's our month in pictures!

"How To Train Your Dragon"
(highly recommend this movie! We loved it!)

coloring Easter eggs

(our eggs were kinda boring this year the coloring set I bought only had THREE tablets in it!)

family picture on Easter
(tradition for our family)

'some' of the Milgrim grandchildren
(another family tradition but my little grey house isn't big enough to hold 'all' the Milgrim grandkids!)

2nd grade field trip to the Cowboy Hall of Fame
(such a beautiful museum)

EEG for Fletcher

(all is well, they thought he had a few seizures so they wanted to be safe and check things out)

vocal music program

(isn't she gorgeous?)

Kylie's 17th birthday party

(lot's of fun!)

the units open at TCC

(Maddie can visit her bubba in his unit)

sweet visit from some of our Tulsa friends

(me, Garrett, Christine, Janet & Fletcher)

Oh yeah, I don't have a picture but we have a legal driver in our family!! Kayleigh took and passed her driver's test on Wednesday! Whew!!

Woooooo...

So I didn’t blog in February and I’m barely making it for March!!! Things are going well around Casa Burns just busy! Seems as if every aspect of our lives are busy kids, school, church, dance, Girl Scouts, TCC etc.

Kayleigh’s finishing up her sophomore year and it’s been a good year for her. She’ll also take her driver’s test at the end of April and will be driving!!! Kayleigh tried out for Choral in January and made it! She’ll have about 4 performances in the next two months. We’re looking forward to watching her perform. Kayleigh spent spring break in Mississippi with her grandparents and came home to SNOW! Yes, it snowed the first day of spring in Oklahoma City. We have had some crazy weather this winter.

Madeline is keeping me busy as well. She’s finishing up 2nd grade and will be 8 in May! This is has been a great year for her, too. At her last conference her teacher said she’s ready for 3rd grade! ‘We’ sold 474 boxes of Girl Scout cookies in January until the middle of March. And by ‘we’ I mean me! Our main cookie buyers were at TCC and our church! Maddie is getting ready for her dance recital. This year she’s in ballet and jazz so she’ll have two numbers to perform and two costumes! She’s very excited about both costumes!

Fletcher is one busy boy, too! He’s excelling in all his therapies especially physical therapy! Here are a few things his working on, sit to stand, gait training (basically a fancy walker) standing in a stander, power mobility and scooting in a sitting position. He’s truly getting some independence! In February Fletcher had a dysphagiagram and was cleared to start taking food by mouth! So in speech therapy he’s making tiny attempts at eating things like apple sauce, peaches and suckers to name a few. Fletcher’s not really a fan of the whole eating thing so that’s been a little tough. We’re praying that he’ll learn to love food like the rest of the Burns family! Fletcher’s also very vocal these days! He’s really using his voice! He says blue, purple, ma ma, bye, hi and now Fletcher Burns! What a blessing this boy is to me!! The next best thing that’s happening is Fletcher is on room air everyday during the day! Meaning, he’s not requiring any oxygen other than his own! The VERY best thing is he’s grown another ¾ of an inch in the past three months! I need to do some research but I believe that makes 3 inches in a year!!! You might remember that for 3 years Fletcher did not grow at all, not even a tiny bit. The Padmidronate infusions are working!!! Thank you Jesus!

The pointer finger it's a wonderful thing...

I've really taken a lot of things for granted in my life...like how I am able to use my fingers without any thought whatsoever...Fletcher's teachers and therapist have been teaching him to use his pointer finger...he's been using a communication device in class each day that requires him to push little buttons. It's only been a few weeks and I think he's mastered it...

just a little funny....

Thought this might bring a smile to your face today. Fletcher got a doctor kit for Christmas from his teachers so I thought it'd be funny to show him one of the many uses of a bed pan...

Kayleigh turns 16...

Wednesday, January 6th Kayleigh turned 16 years old! Craig and I are so proud of the young lady she is turning in to. What a gift Kayleigh is to us. Exciting things are happening with her she has her permit and is driving but won't get her licence until April. On Wednesday night we took Kayleigh to Outback Steakhouse for her birthday dinner and tomorrow afternoon she'll have her party at Laser Quest where we'll play laser tag. I'm making a big pot of tortilla soup and having everyone over after the party. It should be lots of fun!

Fletcher turns five...

On Decemeber 30th Fletcher turned five years old! It's hard to believe my baby boy could possibly be five! For his birthday party this year I decided again to do a 'favorite things' theme. Fletcher loves his stackers, duplos and books. So I went to a bakery and asked if they could duplicate the stackers and duplos in fondant and then draw one of his favorite books on the cake. I got exactly what I asked for and was extremely pleased. We had about 40 people come to celebrate with us. Our family and friends always make us feel so loved! One of my girlfriends came and took pictures and did an amazing job. Thanks again, Janet! And thanks to everyone who came and blessed our family that day!

wearing mommy's glasses...

the cake...

Fletcher greeted everyone who walked in the door...

me and my mom...

me and my friend Janet...

Kaleb and Fletcher...

my sister Dawn and one of her grandbabies, Katie...

a few of our guest, Ryan, Isaiah, Conner, Elli and Maddie...

Trudie, Evan and Megan...

Baby Evan and Fletcher...

Ryan, Ellie Kate and Fletcher...

Fletcher not real sure about those fondant stackers...

me and my boy...

Craig and Fletcher...

Kayleigh and Fletcher....

Christmas and the New Year...

Well, I guess I'll start with Christmas. We had a blizzard here in Oklahoma City on Christmas eve which ruined our plans to bring Fletcher home to spend the night like we normally do. Which made for a very sad mommy. Craig was sad as well and wanted to at least try to go to TCC and see how bad it was out there. Well, it was bad! We had to be realistic. It was entirely too risky to put our ventilator dependant child and all his medical equipment in our minivan. What if we got stranded? What if we got stuck? What if...so we drove several miles up the road and decided to turn around to come home without Fletcher. We had to also think of the girls if we were to get stranded and how it would ruin their Christmas. So home we went. We carried on with our family traditions of the kids opening one present (which is always an ornament), Craig read the Christmas story to us and we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and ate a piece of the cake the girls and I made earlier that day. Santa came and went and we woke up to the beautiful 3 to 4 feet of snow outside. Then my very sweet husband shoveled the driveway and sidewalk for over an hour so we could go and get our boy! We took our time getting to TCC and back home with our precious cargo. All was right in our universe...all five of us together for Christmas day. Craig's parents and his sister and her family came over and ate dinner with us. The roads were still quite treacherous so they were only here for a short while but it was great to be with family.

Craig, the girls and I celebrated New Years Eve here at home. We ate some tortilla soup, watched Aliens in the Attic and played Guitar Hero World Tour. It was a nice way to bring in the new year. We are blessed and looking forward to 2010 and all that it has in store for our family.