Seems summer turned to spring...

Although the temperatures have gone up, the rain won't stop!! It's getting quite difficult to plan our weekends since there has been SO much rain! Our local news reports "Since Memorial Day, there have been nine weekends, seven of which were wet. And of those, five have been a total washout. The weekdays haven't been much better. In June, there were just six dry days and so far in July, just 10."
It all make for a pretty depressing summer! The worst part is that with the rain, comes humidity! so we have to run the a/c more often to take the moisture out and because we cannot open the windows. Now with this hurricane wreaking havoc, there are flood warnings & severe weather advisories/watches all over the place... in 35 counties! We just hope the weather clears up before Matthew's Birthday next weekend! We plan to do another outdoor party. He wants to have a Hulk birthday. Matthew thinks he's the Hulk! So we've got a party planned for him and he's invited about 20 kids from school. He's very excited for his birthday this year. Something that he was never really into before, but this year seems to have clicked that it is his birthday and so he's chosen lots of toys that he wants for his birthday...most of which are either Hulk or Batman. So hopefully the weather clears up.

The boys (and of course, us) have been busy with lots of other friend's birthday parties. Every weekend since June, they've had a birthday party to go to. And of course they get to see the invitation and hear their friends talk about the parties, so we hate to break their hearts and tell them that we cannot go. So every weekend we've been busy. We have the boys' cousin's birthday this weekend along with a fundraiser Benefit for their school this weekend.

Last weekend we attended another friend's birthday/pool party at a local gym and there was a waterslide to the pool and arcade fun. The boys had so much fun. We've uploaded photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/thefavilles There are videos also, so check them out.
The boys also had a field trip to the fair on tuesday where they visited the 4-H buildings where all of the animals are. They had a great time, especially in the "corn pit". Those photos are also on the website above.

And finally, we want to tell you about a really special little girl. Her name is Hannah and you may have seen her story on the Today show or other news reports. This special little girl suffers from GAD or Giant Axonal Neuropathy, an extremely rare nerve disorder where the incidence is unknown and there is NO cure. Her family has started the Hannah's Hope fund to try to help raise money for research to try to find a cure. Hannah is only 4 years old, the same age as Matthew. It's a really heartbreaking story to hear and makes you think about your own children and what it would be like if you knew your child would die because there was no cure or minimal treatment options. Our family met the family of little Hannah at a fundraising event held here locally by family and friends. We would like to take the time to ask you to visit her webpage. Do what you can to help. www.hannahshopefund.org
There are also numerous media coverage events and fundraising events that you can be a part of. We've already committed to a golf tournament that will be held in August. If you would like to help or read more on Hannah, please visit their website.

And finally, you can also see more of the boys videos on youtube! be sure to check them out!
Have a great summer!

Summers here!!

So summer is officially here. The temperatures make it warm enough to go swimming, even in the lake. The boys are now in summer session at school and Andrew is preparing for Kindergarten in september. They both had their year end picnics at school. Andrew was excited to put on his show for all of us and matthew showed a little bit of SHY!! Check out their videos on www.youtube.com/thefavilles
I also uploaded a video of the boy's experience with a large fish that their pop pop caught while we were camping 4th of July weekend. They had a great time camping and wanted to stay longer. We plan on trying to make another camping trip before the summer is over. The boys are also enjoying their small pool that we set up for them. It's only about 3 feet deep but it's perfect for them to swim around in and they don't need their water wings for it. The water stays filtered and clean. So no more emptying those little kiddie pools. Hopefully next year we can afford to put a real pool in... as long as we can afford to pay for fuel to stay warm this winter.. that's a whole other problem.
As far as everything else, Andrew is doing well and started with his new speech, PT and OT for the summer. No more aide, so we'll see how that works out and no more SEIT for the summer. We're sad to see all of these changes happening, but it's somethign that we have to accept and know that he will be just fine. It's just so worrying to see him have those setbacks everytime there is a change.
Matthew is doing great... still a little wild man, but doing great. He's learned how to throw a HUGE tantrum, with kicking and screaming and throwing things. They are short lived and easily diffused, but, wow, when he explodes, he explodes. It's usually when he is really tired and hungry at the same time... like when I pick them up from school and before dinner.
The boys have been really into the "Bridge to Tirbithia" movie and have been acting out the scenes in the empty wooded lot next door to our house. They swing from the grape vines and climb up the trees. It's so cute. While camping, they were ammused for hours with a rope hanging in the woods, acting out the movie scenes. They have really begun to use their imaginations just like they do in the movie. It's very cute.
So, more photos have been uploaded to picasa web albums and hopefully some time this week I can post them.