Trunk or Treat

Tonight we went out to the Webster family's Trunk or Treat. We heard all about it last year and how much fun it was, so when Jackie (and Mum and Dad) invited us along we jumped at the chance to go. The boys have never really celebrated Halloween before (for those in the US etc we don't usually celebrate Halloween here unless someone puts on their own thing), so they were so excited to be able to dress up and do some 'trick or treating', or 'trunk or treating' as was the case tonight.

Everyone decorated their car boots (or trunks as known on the other side of the world!) and then all the kids went around collecting their lollies or getting a trick instead (or both!).

Jay decided weeks ago he wanted to be an Egyptian Mummy, Harri wanted to be Spiderman (that was easy - just had to pull out the costume!), Kobe was Santa Claus (but it got too cold so we had to put a jacket on over his Santa suit) and Noah was an angel (of course).


Dad even got in on the action this year and dressed up! Both Mum and Dad looked great.

Aaron dressed up as 'Jason' from the movie 'Friday the 13th'. I was a witch - all week Aaron has been saying I didn't even need a costume to be that! He thinks he is funny.

There were some awesome costumes!! The Corona's and Sherri and her husband and Mymona had gone to such an effort and looked awesome.




Poor little Kels had a sore foot and couldn't do much, but was a beautiful fairy.

Steph and the kids came as a Wizard of Oz theme - they all looked so cute - including Steph. She made a great Dorothy.

Simone hardly had to even dress up to come as a pumpkin! ;)

The kids all went around to the cars and did their trick or treating. Everyone had gone to a real effort to decorate their car boots up. They looked so good and the kids had a great time getting tricks done to them and collecting lollies. Barb had put some plastic ducks in water (next to a pretend severed head!). Depending on which duck you chose, she gave you a bag of lollies to match.

Harri was having fun until he spotted some dogs (Harri and dogs don't mix at the moment!). He calmed down until he got to Jayne's car. Tayla was hiding in the boot and you had to put your hand through some plastic into the boot to get your treat. As Harri reached in Tayla reaches out and grabs Harri's hand. You would've thought he was being murdered! He lets out this blood curdling scream and wouldn't settle down. Being the good Mum that I am, I'm wetting myself laughing, with tears streaming down my face, while I'm trying to calm him down.

There was no way that Harri was doing any more trick or treating after that! He did start going over to Toni and Jaron's car, but wasn't impressed that their boot looked like a mouth with sharp teeth and didn't want to get his hand snapped! He then spent the rest of the trick or treating time in the van with Noah (who was hiding from the wind), refusing to come out as it was 'too scary'. After the kids had finished trick or treating the costumes were all judged.

After they gave out the main prizes they still had a few prizes left, Jay was very excited to win a box of chocolates! By that time half of his costume had fallen down!

Harri was getting upset, wondering why he hadn't won a prize for his Spiderman costume. He is so funny as he just assumes that he should get everything - a typical four year old I guess (like at the magic show last week - he just couldn't work out why he wasn't chosen out of hundreds of people to be a volunteer to go on stage!). Aaron then got a box of chocolates so he gave it to Harri and told him he won! He was really happy then.

All night there was a sausage sizzle going and lots of yummy desserts. Everyone had fun playing different games, and just sitting around talking.

Uncle Kim took the kids (big and little!) for a hay ride. It reminded me of when we were little and Pop would take us for rides on the back of his land rover or truck down at the river.


It was a great night - so much fun. Thanks heaps Jackie for inviting us along. Hopefully Harri won't have too many nightmares tonight! :)

Picnic

Today Bec, Pip and I and the kids all caught up at City Park for a picnic. Harri was asking all morning when we were going as he was so excited to play with Oliver. I think Harri thought it was great as he had someone little to boss around! Poor Oliver.


Poor little Annie is sick and wasn't herself at all. She was very quiet.


Kobe loved being out and about. He is such an outdoors boy.

Of course no trip to City Park is complete without seeing the monkeys.



Kobe and Annie both had it by the end of the afternoon!

Bandannas and Buses

Over the past 6 months Noah has developed a really bad problem with his secretions. Years ago he had trouble with his saliva and got really dribbly but a med quickly fixed that up. He is still on the same med, but it isn't helping anymore. At first we thought it was an Autumn thing, then a Winter thing and now a Spring thing, but it is looking more and more like it may be something Noah has to deal with all the time now. We have to suction him every day and his aides and teachers at school have also been trained to suction him at school when needed.

I often see kids with special needs with bandannas on to catch the dribble. I always felt lucky that Noah hasn't had to have one, but more and more we are finding we are taking little towels every where we go. I finally gave in and went and bought a heap of Canteen bandannas. It saves a lot of mess on his clothes. I have to say it doesn't look as bad as I thought.

He has a lot of thick white secretions sitting at the back of his throat all the time which are hard for him to cough up. Every day now we have to give him four lots of nebs as he has tested positive for a nasty bug that is very resistant to treatment. After two of the nebs he has to have postural drainage done. This is where you do lots of cupping and vibrations on his back and chest while he is laying on his side, to try to loosen anything in his lungs which he will then hopefully cough up. I'm finding it very hard to find the time to fit this all in - especially before school in the morning, with trying to get all four boys ready and Noah's new splints on, so we have now arranged that he will have a neb at school as well as postural drainage which is great.

Don't worry - this pic was taken back in September. He isn't like Aaron who is still wearing his Hawks gear!

Di is still out of action with her broken arm, but Noah's special school has agreed that Noah can go to school there full time until Di can use her arm fully again. Di is going to school with him, but they have an extra aide there helping out Di with all the physical stuff, while Di is teaching them all the things they need to know about Noah - suctioning, meds, feeds, postural drainage, nebs, toileting (that is a whole other blog post! Noah has some interesting toileting needs!). So far it is going great. The school has been fantastic in trying to get Noah involved in lots of different things such as using the sensory room.

Yesterday afternoon I got a phone call from the lady who works in the office there. She said she sees me 'struggle' (I thought I was doing well!! Maybe Kobe trying to wriggle out of my arms was the cruncher!) in each morning with all of Noah's gear plus the three boys (Jalen has decided he likes walking to school rather than being late each day) and asked me if I was interested in Noah catching the bus to school. Most of the other kids that go there are picked up by a bus each morning that is fitted out for wheelchairs. It picks them straight up from their home. She said while Noah is going there full time it's no drama to arrange for him to catch the bus. This morning was his first time! The school is literally two blocks from our house, but it was soooo nice just having to walk him out the front door this morning, rather than loading him up into the van with the other two boys and all his gear. I believe that the woman on the bus in a registered nurse.

I am so jealous of their automatic lift. I'm grateful for our ramps that we have and that we don't have to get Noah out of his chair to get into the van, but boy one of these would be great!! Maybe one day.

It's nice to know that the mornings won't be as rushed from now on. In some ways I'm hoping Di's arm doesn't heal too fast!!

Shares in The Examiner

Aaron decided he didn't want to be outdone and appeared in The Examiner newspaper today - timing in their school's athletic carnival. Everyone keeps asking us if we have shares in the newspaper!

One of the Boys

Harri loves watching Jay play his Nintendo DS, and it looks like Kobe does too! He was mesmerized by it tonight.




It was all fun and games until Kobe decided he wanted to eat it. Jay wasn't too impressed!

Rohan's Big Day

Today after the Primary Presentation it was Rohan's baptism. He has been talking about it for months. He looked great all dressed in white.

Once his cousins arrived he wasn't too keen on taking any more photos, but more keen to go and play but we convinced him to stay still for a whole family photo.

Notice Simone is hiding nicely there behind her Mum!! Won't be long now till Rohan has another little cousin to play with.

Kobe's First Solids

Kobe will be 5 months in a week or so, and I remember being told to wait with Harri till he was 6 months till we started solids, but I think Kobe is really ready to go now.

He has been so interested in watching us eat lately and trying to grab our food. Jay started at 4 months, so we thought we would try him tonight to see what he thought. He was so into it - he kept grabbing my hands and pushing it towards his mouth to get it in faster! Check him out!

World Festival of Magic

Every year the Riverside Lions club sponsor a magic show put on at the Princess Theatre. They ask businesses around Launceston to purchase tickets for the show, which are then given out to local disadvantaged kids and adults. During the week St Giles offered us some tickets to go, and last year the boys just loved it, so we thought we would go again.

Its a great night - the entertainment is world class and we always see heaps of people that we know there - lots of other kids with disabilities from Noah's school and also kids we know from the School Holiday Program.

Kobe decided that it was way too loud for him and wasn't keen at all. I ended up taking him out into the foyer where he was much happier chatting to anyone and everyone that would talk to him. At intermission Aaron and I swapped over.

Jay was oohing and aahing during all the illusions. They were pretty incredible. Harri actually got a bit scared in some of them.



I don't really consider Noah to be disadvantaged, but it's nice to know that there are so many people and groups out there willing to do so much for others.

Phil and Suzy Show

Noah is still home from school, but his special school rang during the week to invite him and the boys to come along to a performance that was going to be on today.

The school is literally about 200 metres from our house, so I thought rather than get them all loaded into the van (which is a drama in itself!) we would walk. I put Kobe in the pram (hoping he may fall asleep during the show) and asked Harri to push. Talk about a drama! Every time he would hit a slope the pram would go up on one wheel, and Harri would be screaming. I couldn't stop laughing and ended up pushing the pram and wheelchair together. The cars going past sure had a good look! :)

The show was really great. It was the Phil and Suzy Show. They make CDs for children and are from Victoria I think. They were very funny. St George's school also came over (children with disabilities who are more able - i.e. not in wheelchairs) and they loved it. They were laughing their heads off the whole time. Harri saw a boy with Downs Syndrome and said 'there's Daniel!'. I couldn't work out why he said it until later, and then remembered Daniel that we know from the School Holiday Program who also has Downs.

Phil was very amusing. He turned into the 'crazy chorister' and had the kids in stitches.


When he was dressed as 'the crazy choristor' Harri asks 'where's Dr Phil?'. I couldn't stop laughing as anyone who is named Phil is straight away 'Dr Phil'! (can you tell what I watch during the day!!).

There was lots of singing and dancing. All the kids in wheelchairs were danced around by their teachers and aides. Harri was so good with Noah and got up and danced him around too. It was so nice to see as he doesn't spend a lot of time with Noah, but he was excited to do it when he saw everyone else doing it too.

All the kids also got to have a turn of playing some instruments.

Lucky I took the pram as Kobe did end up falling asleep!

It was a great show and I loved seeing how much the kids loved it. It made me really think that I would love working with special needs kids when I finally go back to paid work.