Long Weekend

Because of the 3 day Memorial Day weekend, J and L were able to stay an extra day and we packed it with as much fun as possible, including playing outside, church, supper at Drew and Elizabeth's, a long bike/golf cart ride that became an adventure when the golf cart overheated 2 miles from home, and a trip to Mimi and Pa's!  I wish I could post pictures of J and L driving the tractor and catching fish, but that will have to wait.

Here is Miss Brenna with her new shades.

Ian loves having a Bobcat parked in front of our house!

The hail storm that caused quite a ruckus during dinner Saturday evening.

Ian, driving the boat and loving it!

Ian, driving the tractor and making the bucket go up and down (the kid loves levers!)  Thanks Mimi and Pa for letting us invade your resort.  :-)

Yesterday was the last time that we have to say good-by to J and L.  They move in this Saturday for good!

sdrawkcab

I published the following 3 posts backwards.  Duh!  Should start with the rehearsal dinner, followed by the wedding, followed by the FUN! 

SO.MUCH.FUN.

Since Lindsay, Troy and Olivia were here for the wedding, we were able to snatch a couple of family meals with everyone together (except the newest Humphrey boys) and enjoyed being together.  Tom and I just can't get enough of these precious grandaughters and think every single thing they do is so awesome and amazing and cute and adorable and funny and......you get the idea and if you have grandchildren, you completely understand!

 Brenna loves Uncle Ian and was giving him a kiss

 Great Mimi and Pa and Mamma came for a quick visit

 The girls

 Olivia, playing peek-a-boo with Pops

 We tried and tried to get a picture with both of them smiling, but this was the best we could do.

 Aunt Lindsay with Brenna

 Ian and Pa

 Trying to get an updated picture with our growing grandaughters

 Olivia, running from the "bumble bee"

 Pops and Brenna

 Olivia and Mommy

 Ian even let Lindsay, Troy and Olivia ride his golf cart and they are waiting for Dad to bring it from the garage (above).

Going for a ride

We are so thankful for the time we have together and are reminded once again how blessed we are!

Wedding

J and L (new Humphrey brothers) got to attend the wedding with us and weren't ready to leave when the time came.  We were excited to introduce them to lots of uncles, aunts and grandparents and especially big sister, Lindsay and her family. 

 Brenna took a real liking to L and I'm hoping I won't get in trouble for posting this picture since you can't see his face.

Olivia, saying "Grammy is Number 1!!" 

 

 Olivia and her daddy

 Pops with his girls

 Elizabeth, Drew and Brenna

 Troy, Lindsay and Olivia

 Ian, with 2 very special people whom he adores!

 Tom's parents with their boys

This picture is blurry because Ian was dancing so fast ....with Luke's help.  :-)

Rehearsal Dinner

Our nephew, Luke, and his fiance Laura, finally tied the knot this past weekend and we enjoyed every minute of our time with them, family and friends.  Luke and Laura are easy going, laid back kind of kids and they wanted a casual rehearsal dinner where they could invite all the in-town family and thus, we got to attend.  Ian absolutely adores Luke and Laura!  They have been around ever since he came home from Jamaica and they have loved on him, teased him and cared for him (I refuse to call it "babysitting" since Ian is far from a baby!)  So, it was a special weekend to celebrate the beginning of their new life together!

Brenna, entertaining Mom-mom and Dad-dad

Ian, excitedly waiting for the ball to drop from the roof (Drew was on the other side of the shelter, throwing it over)

Ian and Elizabeth

Drew, sitting on Ian's lap in the wheelchair - crazy kids!

Keep reading for posts on the entire weekend (mostly with pictures of the grandaughters.  :-)

Birthday Girl!

When our children were very young, someone wisely advised us to pray for their future spouses.  It seemed very odd to do that when we couldn't even imagine them taking care of themselves, let alone marrying someone, but we did it anyway (although sporadically at first).  As they grew older and we actually could think about them tying the knot someday, our prayers became more and more frequent and earnest, knowing how important their life partners would be.  Well.....the beautiful little girl who God picked out special for Drew was about 45 miles away, growing up in a large, wonderful family with Godly parents who loved her and raised her to be a beautiful young woman who loves and serves the Lord.  And when I say "beautiful," I certainly mean that she is beautiful on the outside, but much more importantly, she is beautiful on the inside.  She is the perfect daughter-in-law, a wonderful wife and amazing mommy.  

Elizabeth, we love you and are so thankful that you are part of our family!  Happy, happy birthday!!! 

Awards

Ian's school had a special program for the special kids and each child was recognized for the progress they have made this year.  Ian was very excited for everyone, clapping at each name called, but as you would expect, he was most excited when his name was called.  His award was for learning 50 sight words this year! Way to go, Ian!!!

 Mrs. Kelsey giving Ian his award

 Shaking Mr. Pinto's (principal) hand

 Ian's best buddy at school.  This is the same little guy who spontaneously left where he was sitting during the Grandparent's Day program to wipe Ian's chin.  What a sweet boy!

 These pictures require an explanation.  Last summer, when Ian met Mr. Pinto for the first time, he took him for a tour of the school and when they got to the cafeteria, he wheeled him up to a table and told Ian that this is where you say, "Pizza, please!!!" while simultanously pounding the table.  Of course, Ian thought it was hilarious and immediately started pounding the table.  So, that has become a thing with them (like the hats.)  That's what he's doing in these pictures and you can see how much Ian loves it! 

 Every school should have a principal like Mr. Pinto - he is the BEST!!!!

These are the folks that have worked so hard to help Ian progress this year.  From left to right:  Mr. Pinto, Mrs. Kelsey (resource teacher), Mrs. Morris (para who gives Mrs. Mays a break) and Mrs. Mays (Ian's para)

When I have more time, I'll do a post with more details about Ian's progress because he's learned a lot this year, thanks to these patient people and the support of his GLASS teachers.

26 years!

26 years ago today, Tom and I were blessed with a beautiful, no, a handsome, baby boy and at that time, we thought our little family was complete (and it was for 20+ years).  Drew Thomas was 8 lb. 13 oz. and 21.5 inches of joy!  We are so thankful for the years God gave us to raise him, for the wonderful wife and daughter God has given him and for the Godly young man/husband/father he has become because of His abundant grace in Drew's life.  

Happy Birthday, Drew! 

We love you, are so very thankful for you and can't wait to see how God is going to continue using you to advance His kingdom!   

Opportunities

For 5 Thursday evenings, Ian had the opportunity to participate in Pete's Pals, which stands for Physical Education Teacher Educators Supporting Physical Activity and Life Skills (whew!) and is supported by Purdue University Dept of Health and Kinesiology in coordination with Faith Community Center.  Each child is assigned a trained clinician (or two, in Ian's case) and they work with the child for an hour in the pool and an another hour in the gym each evening.  Ian had great clinicians and I'm sure you can imagine that he absolutely loved going each week!  Of course, the swimming was his favorite part!

 Ian with Sean and Sarah - awesome Purdue students!

On a totally different note, Ian has had a communication device for this entire school year.  He has "outgrown" it and is very ready to move on.  So, we had an AAC evaluation at Easter Seals Crossroads in Indy this week and he will be moving to an actual computer that has many, many selections for him to choose from in order to communicate.  The gal that did the eval was convinced that he has so much locked up in that head of his (which we already knew!) and this will help him be able to express it.  She was also impressed by how motivated he was to to use and learn the devices.  It will take LOTS of support from a speech therapist and work on his and our parts, but we are excited about the possibilities for him.  He got to try out several different devices at Crossroadsd and loved them all!  The very sad part was explaining to him that we had to leave them all there and wait for paperwork to be done, insurance to be filed, etc, etc.  He actually cried, which is quite rare for him and made me cry, too.  He should have a rental in 1-2 months and will use that for a period of time to be sure it's the right device for him.  The cost is outrageous so we don't want to make a mistake!

This is what he's been using:

And, this is similar to the one he will have:

Exciting stuff!!!!