Easter 2014

The last few weeks of April were so lonely here at our house. We lived without our dad for about 3 weeks. He would sneak in at the wee hours of the morning and head out super early. I was the lovely single mom. We also lost a worker and one was leaving so we were getting interviews in at the same time along with all the normal things going on. It was also a time that we had to get summer programs up and going for Tyler. We also had a new ISP AND a new IEP. It was crazy.

Tyler got out of school the Friday before Easter for Good Friday so we decided to spend the day at the local indoor play place. Not only did we have a rainy day, but we are also getting into Hot season so going to the park and spending lots of time outside is coming to a close. So the indoor play place it is.

We found that Tyler is REALLY good at Air Hockey. He shouldn't be able to do it almost at all but he really did. And did really well. The other kids that were at the play place didn't know that he can't see and they were playing as hard as they could. He spend a long time there.

Grayson loves to pretend play and this kitchen was right up his alley. He did this for most of the time we were there. He really liked it. He would tell me he was "Tooking" and would hand it to me or anyone that was around to eat. I think we need to get him a kitchen set for his birthday.

They also have this awesome teeter totter that is shaped like an airplane. So between the airplane and the kitchen, Grayson had such a great time. I am pretty sure that Tyler spent the entire time NOT on the play set but playing basketball and air hockey the entire 4 hours.

It really was a great day.

We went home, had some yummy burgers and got our eggs boiled. We then got all of our Eggs filled for the ward Easter Egg Hunt and Breakfast at the "Island park" ( we live in the "Island") and dropped them off.  We ate yummy pizza for dinner and off we went to bed for our Easter Bunny to come on Saturday.

Oh, but first we Facetimed our dad... And for those who haven't seen him in a while, well, yes. He has lost weight.. A LOT of weight. (And yes, he has been REALLY sick but right now he is doing amazing!)



The Easter Bunny doesn't really bring Candy to this lovely house, so our Easter Baskets were not full of sugar. But we had a great time because the Easter Bunny left foot prints all over our house.

So the Easter bunny comes on Saturday in our house for several reasons. 1) Tradition. My mom grew up in a place that we went to the Desert. We used our colored eggs for "Eastering" and had our Candy to snack on with our extended family. By extended, I mean like half the town. My moms family- Sisters and cousins, and my second cousins, and we all went to the same place every year. So the Easter Bunny came on Saturday. 2) How else do you have a basket for the Easter festivities if the Easter Bunny didn't bring you a basket. 3) I hate doing it on Sunday because the whole meaning of Easter is focusing on Christ, and that is what we do on Sunday. 

We went to the Easter Egg hunt, came home. Hung out with our dad and had such a good day with our toys and Easter stuff. 

Sunday was a good day. We cooked Lamb, and went to Church. Grayson turned into a Cannibal at church and took a big chunk out of Tyler's leg and  threw his drink and food truck at an unsuspecting dude sitting on our bench. I was MORTIFIED. But the focus was not on us. But a time to be more thankful for our Savior and the Sacrifice made for us. 

The Last of the Trip

Thursday and Friday were nice and full of Labrum’s and Gales. Well like Ti Ti pants and grandma and Grandpa Labrum. We got together Thursday but nothing to report really, just that I was glad it was over. But Friday was a BLAST. I left totally exhausted.

We figured we would go to a pizza buffet that had an arcade and bowling and best of all RACE CARS! This also meant that Grayson was going to be in Car heaven and Ty would be in bowling heaven.

When we got there, we found the toddler area and it had a car that Grayson could drive. It was perfect. There was a carousel and mini golf and the best of all the game, GO CARTS!!

We waited in line for the go carts and Ty and I were able to drive. He was in HEAVEN. It was so, so much fun!







Saturday we went bowling with the Browns and then came home and dyed Easter eggs. I thought my boys would LOVE LOVE but they only loved it. Ty only kinda liked it. But Grayson loved it.



















Sunday found us having breakfast with Grandma and then heading to the airport. Grandma and Grandpa Labrum were dying to send us off as were Grandma and grandpa Brown but either way we made it.

The air plane ride deserves it’s own post.

How To Have An Amazing Visually Impaired Easter

Trying to provide amazing experiences, especially around the holidays, for kids with extra needs is sometimes a daunting experience. Sometimes there is no way that I can adapt it to our needs but sometimes, after many hours of creativity ( and pintrest!) I come up with a GENIUS way to make it work.

Because of Tyler’s visual impairment and sensory issues there are a few things that we can cross off our list at Holiday times. We found at Christmas that he had some major anxiety issues that went hand in hand with seizures so now that we were getting those worked out we wanted this holiday to be just fun.

I couldn’t figure out what to do. There was no way that we could handle going to a large Easter egg hunt because him being put in the “right” age group is pretty much insane. Plus asking them to put a almost 7 year old with the 3 year old looks pretty silly as well. So we did what any Auntie would do. I text ed my husbands sisters with kids and asked if they wanted to participate in a Visually friendly, immunocompromised/immunosupressed Easter egg hunt. ( AKA just us, no extra germs, that I can adapt to our needs and still make it fun) My Sister in laws kids are the same age and younger than Tyler so it works really well. Though they opted not to, we went to our second option.... THE KIDS!! ( Kayden, Koy and Lexi) We invited Max and Morgan but they had a funeral to attend.

As soon as I asked my Sister in law if they wanted to do it I bought the stuff to make some pretty awesome eggs with no candy since 2 of the kids don’t prefer candy and  had stuffed eggs with cars, crayons, princess stuff. When they opted not to do it, I took out that stuff and just put in my left over change. Probably a good ten bucks worth. I bought a 70 count egg basket and we opted to just have Kayden and Koy and Tyler look for eggs. Lexi got a steal of a deal with CASH eggs but she had to work extra hard.


The 70 eggs that i purchased had a variety of color. I picked 3 colors out and made sure we had equal amounts of each. Then I found 3 different types of sports eggs and made equal ones of those. Those are the ones we hid for the kids.

Instead of making a bunch of eggs and saying have at it. We told them you can only collect your color of egg. We were able to hide the eggs according to skill level and vision level and all had a wonderful time.

Ty came home with 27 eggs and each egg was hidden to just the right level of him. The others had the same experience and they all enjoyed the left over change I had and not one quarrel of to many eggs were had.

To experience the excitement of coloring eggs, we let him go at it. We let there be a mess. We let him re dye the eggs 3 different times. We do whatever he wants. He even gets to use his hands. Because really, who cares. He will remember when we did the eggs exactly how he wanted them to be.

Easter stuff

*I didn't pull out my camera ONCE over the holiday so every picture is stolen from my sister and ran through light room. Your welcome!*

When my parents came into town on Thursday they were given 2 free nights at their favorite ( and the KIDS favorite) hotel. It has a water park in it and it gives hours of entertainment for the kiddos.

After I got back from my appointment we all went up to go swimming. My mom took Ty so I could met up Dallas for sushi. ( I even ate rolls and it was FABULOUS!) I took off after dinner and left D to go swimming. Ty wasn't having much of it and didn't stay as long as the rest. We left and he was crying about being hungry for a while. When he got home he said he wanted a Donut. (Thanks again for the food ranch donuts!)

He slept in his OWN bed all night and seemed to be more refreshed from sleeping than he had been the day before. His energy piddled after Shriner's but we headed to the National Kidney foundation Easter Egg Hunt. It was at the Salt lake Library and was very crowded and worked great for the kids. Ty had lots of help from his Cousin Lexi.

We ran some errands and ended up back at the Hotel for a night of swimming and pizza. We came equipped with pool toys and ended up having a good time. Tyler's toy was borrowed by some kid so he took their toy. He just sort of hung out. He loved it.

Saturday everyone came here for a little easterin. Dallas and I had to run an errand and when we got back it was JUST in time for lunch so we missed all the festivities. ( hence why I had to steal photos!) They colored Easter eggs and had a Easter egg hunt in the back yard since it was COLD. Ty got a bat and a ball and he hasn't let it down since.

Sunday we did NOTHING. Literally. After the weekend we needed a day where we made it to bed on time, took naps and just was a family. Dallas snuck out of the room after I feel asleep on Sunday morning and I took a way long nap and Ty was SUCH a happy camper. We played baseball, picked up messes and was not required to do or be anywhere. Just what the doctor ordered!

The rest of the week

Our amazingly busy Wednesday made our Thursday kind of a beast. Ty stayed at his Grandma's house until we were on our way home from the hospital. He pretty much didn't stop crying all night. He woke up exhausted and very very sad and very very tired. But he doesn't give up.

I happily sent him on the bus while he cried over not having the right movie to take to school. (Which he doesn't EVER take) I ran inside and called his teacher and let her know that he was really sad and kinda being naughty so if he is REALLY bad call me.

My OB called soon after and told me it was a good idea to come and see him. As soon as I hung up my mom called and said that they were on their way. They showed up with an amazing box of Food Ranch Donuts. I went and picked up Tyler and they went and got the "kids" while Ty had a small nap.

I left for the OB's soon after. Everything looked fine and Grayson sounds great. Progestrone was stabbed in my bum and everything else looked great. We follow up Tuesday with the peri and another appointment. I was told to have a resting weekend but otherwise I was ok to take my time and relax a little.

We played Thursday and got a call for an appointment at Shriners for orthotics on Friday. My dad came with us. Ty was in a MUCH better mood but was still NOT his self. Poor kid just couldn't get enough sleep. My dad helped a TON. I didn't even think to take pictures.

For orthotics they put a cast on till it dries then cuts it off. It isn't painful minus the stretching his legs into a good stretch but it gets old after awhile. His appointments are not fun. They are now usually pretty hurtful and he has a lot of them. Once they were off he seemed to cheer up.

The best part of the day for me was going up to not nice therapist and getting A BIKE!!! It isn't brand new and it isn't for keeps but Ty gets to practice with it. He does really well and can do it. Especially if people are out. He even drove himself over to the neighbors to go play.

The best part for him was playing with the basketball. It was so hard to get him to give it up. He loves it and "claps and cheers" for everyone who does it. We left and went to go pick up the kids.

Then the Easter festivites began

Easter Baskets

Ty is not the typical kiddo! We didn't do the traditional candy everywhere but we made him a basket FULL of stuff that he likes. And stuff he likes A LOT!

He got a few movies, some suckers and some balloons and bubbles.

And along with all the goodies Ty woke up with a COLD! Runny nose, VERY low grade fever and just over all blah. He didn't even want to color eggs.

So the "Holland" Mom thinks. wow.. this sucks and we thought it would be better than last year.

And then I think , is it always gonna be this way.

Then I think... Oh well. We did our best.

Easter and Conference weekend

Easter and Conference weekend ended up being the same weekend this year. I was some how invovled in getting some of the word out for our mission reunion. For those not "aware" of what missions/reunion are we get together with our mission president and chit chat and see what we have all done over the years since leaving. Interesting really!

My little sister ( who is 27) babysat Mr. Toot for Dallas and I so that we could go. We were going to color eggs on Friday but due to an unforeseen accident Granny and Gramps didn't make it up in time. So instead Nicky took my kid and my sisters kids went with the G's ( grandma and grandpa) and off they went to the magical world of hanging with the G's.

Apparently this included playing at Mcdonalds and then subsequent swimming where Aunt Nicky said that Ty played till his heart was content. He also got a little "confused" when my OTHER sister got there.

So the "other" sister story....... We apparently look alike. Which we do. But for some reason no matter how long we have been apart if Ty doesn't have me there he thinks that I am here. To the point of being jealous that she is helping her own kids!

YES Tyler does know who his mommy is. BUT she looks like me and to a visually impaired kid we look alike. She is a good sport. But I think it ticks of the OTHER sister :)

Anyway, Saturday we spent the day in Logan having Easter egg hunts. The Smart me deleted his first Easter egg hung but he was doing great till he found an egg on something he really wanted to play on and then it was done.

Afterwards we drove back to my parents hotel room. They stayed in a hotel that had a small water park in it. I didn't have my suit so you get spared the photos of my CURVY body!

Ty LOVED the water park. I had Meanly told him all week when the G's got there he would be able to go swimming. Sure enough, he asked for swimming almost the SECOND they go there.

Here are the swimming photos!!! FUN!

I

I am not sure who had more fun... Grandpa or Tyler. I know that Ty NEVER stops.. so I am thinking they both went away tired. Thanks mom and dad for the great hotel and pool and LOTS of energy!

Sorry it took so long to get an Easter post up.. I will skip the boring details and just share the photos. We had a blast. He loved it.

Eye appintment... and a preview

This past Friday we had our eye appointment. I had my day planned out and that was on the top of the list. Ty got up and we got him ready for school. He even put his glasses on and was waiting with his stuff out the door for the bus to pull up. It never came.

Before I called Transportation freaking out, I logged online and checked the school calendar. Just maybe I missed a short day or something. BUT, low and behold, school was out on break because of Easter.

At first I was a little mad till I realized that it just made it better for me. Now I HAD to get up and get going. Me and Ty made our grocery list and priced matched almost everything on it. I got myself all ready to get out the door and we headed off to walmart.

While we were at Walmart we dropped Dallas Jeep off to get serviced and somewhere between there and the grocery part we lost our list. I was so mad. I had to go off memory and that also meant I wasn't going to be saving a lot because I couldn't remember all the price matches.

We went about shopping and headed home. We didn't want to be late to the eye doc. His office staff is, well, less than nice about you being late. We grabbed a burger for Ty and headed to the office. Our appointment was at 1:00 and we got there about 12:40. The doors were still locked. The office staff stood there, laughing, as we tried the door. We went and sat down and 3 other patients came and waited with us. All of us had 1:00 appointments. Weird.

As we were talking to the Eye doc we got Tyler's eyes dilated. Because of his increased ROP and advanced stages of the disease we are always at increased risk for retina detachment. Ty is watched very close. We discussed a few things and the doc just watched Ty interact with me and relax a Little. We were then sent out to the waiting room for our ten minute wait.

While sitting there the office staff was yelling at someone who was 15 minutes late for their appointment when half of the waiting room had appointments 20 minutes earlier that hadn't been seen soon. They are a horrible staff. I have left and found new docs for better staff.

Anyway, we get called back in and we discuss the what ifs of getting this exam. If he wasn't able to get it we would get with Ty's ENT and do a combined exam. Lucky for us, Ty was as cooperating as much as he would. He was screaming, kicking and gagging. But we got what we needed.

His Nystagmus is getting better and as he uses his eyes more he gets null zones or places where his movement stops. As he gets a little bigger and we get his shunts more stable we will look at surgery to help fix this movement. ( Our friend Lucy just had it done by the same doc.) We also looked at what would be better for Tyler as far as school environments and preschool programs.

Dr. S and I think it would be a awesome idea for Ty to at least try the foundation for the summer program. If all goes well we might look at the foundation for preschool next year. They run longer hours and more times a week. They are more specialized to work on his vision along with all the rest.

Overall his prescription hasn't' changed. He will be getting the same type of glasses for next year. Might need to go look at new ones. I hate his current pair.

He threw a few really good temper tantrums on Friday and also went and picked out his cousin Morgan's birthday present. I am always bad about mailing things so we are working on EARLY for her, late for her mom.

He picked a book and when we got home he shared it with his dad only to throw the worst tantrum we have seen in a while. Poor kid just can't get his point across some days.

Saturday we had some bad news about my grandpa Rue. He is sick and needs to be in the hospital. We are hoping that as the week goes on he can get better and his lungs can recover and he can be back up and going. We are praying for my mom and her sisters to have Comfort.

Today was Easter and we have a MILLION pictures and I have a whole post waiting for the pictures to go with it. So stay tuned tomorrow.

But for now... a preview

Ty was signing more because all of his eggs were in the colors and he LOVED it. Wait till you see the rest.. He was in dirty heaven.

Doesn't seem like I am exciting this week!!!!

I think I am losing my blogging spunk. On my "other" blog I have been adding a few pictures but mostly we are just doing our thing.

Water therapy has been going for about a week now. I have been SICK. REALLY SICK, so we had to cancel one day this week. We will be going 3 times a week, then regular Physical therapy one day. We get speech stuck in there and eye therapy so right now I am TIRED. I will be working all weekend and we will be doing out Easter thing on Sunday.

Ty is a great kid. He has really shown his strong will this week. Temper tantrums at EVERY therapy. Lack of naps in our house has made us ready to spank! ( OK not really I don't spank) He also make us laugh. I don't think I got any pictures this week but next week I will.

Dallas is working like CRAZY!! I swear he is a mad man. He works so hard for our family. I just wish there was something I could do to make his knee feel better. I am half tempted to put him on a plane to Utah and have Dr. Winterton take a look and Dallas stay there till he gets better.

I am just me. I have been sick. I love my bed and sleeping. It makes me feel at least somewhat better. Sometimes it even hurts to breathe. Hopefully I am on the upswing and feeling somewhat better. Guess we will find out after my round of meds and working all weekend.

As a family... NEVER BETTER!! We have been having a great time here in Arizona and are hoping to plan a trip to the zoo before hell hits!! Looks like we have a month, maybe a month and a half before it hits!!

Guess we will be planning a trip to Utah soon. Not sure when but soon. We promise!

That's us!! Guess I will try and plan something fun this week so we can at least get pictures. Wish Dally luck on his Knee. Poor daddy!

Happy Easter!