The holidays are over...

So it seems that the holidays have taken it's toll on my effort to keep up our blog. Seeing that the last time we posted was in the fall, so much has happened since then. Winter is here and it started off with a bang. The snow's been falling since before thanksgiving and has not stopped since. At one point we had a total of 2 feet on the ground in our back yard. It warmed up to 50 one day and then snowed the next. The boys are having a blast in the snow but the cold is here too. This morning on the way to work I noticed that it was 8 degrees outside. Cold like that makes you want to stay inside all day... Which is how we spend much of our days in the winter. This year we discovered a great sledding spot and the boys love it. It's a lot of work since we either have to carry Andrew up the steep hill or drag him in the sled. But regardless, he gets to enjoy the snow with everyone. Matthew can literally run up the hill and it's great to tire him out like that.
Sean has taken to the healthy lifestyle of exercise and healthy eating habits. He's been out running just about every day, even in the snow with his shoe cleats. He's run in a few small marathons and hopes to be able to enter some more this summer. He even got me out there in the Poker Run that was held. I have to admit, that although my body did not like the shock of it, it was a lot of fun. I think that it is a good plan for us all to enjoy some more exercise. Even Matthew is excited to go running with Sean and jumps at every chance he gets to do his "exercises" as he calls it. The boys get on the treadmill which is a great energy release for Matthew and good for Andrew's strength building. We put it on a high incline for Andrew to help stretch his heel cords. Which brings me to...
Andrew is done with his horseback riding therapy for the winter as we explore an indoor alternative until spring. We plan to get him into swimming when the next enrollment comes up. He's got his therapists at school all coordinated and is doing great at school. He is aparently pretty far behind on his academics in school so he is getting extra help for that. His teacher and aide keep us updated daily on his progress and the lines of communication between his team has improved greatly. He had the pleasure of singing on stage for his christmas concert at school (Make sure you check out our videos on www.youtube.com/thefavilles) He's sad to be done with his riding therapy, and had the chance to continue for the winter, but the bitter cold would have made him not want to go and we didnt want to chance the idea that he may not EVER want to go again, so we are holding off for the winter and will continue again in the spring. He's been on break from school for the last two weeks and we're seeing some regression and hope that he can get back on track quickly. We've been trying really hard to keep him active and stretched but there is only so much we can do without the equipment they have at school. During his next break we will schedule some clinic visits for him if the school decides he does not show the regression in their opinion.
Matthew continues to excel at school and is in love with his creative side (must take after his mom :)) He still has a difficult time keeping his energy bottled until recess, but tends to lose focus in class. He's got a few buddies that he gets into trouble with and has a hard time listening and staying on task. They try to keep them separated at the activities and meals to help... but mostly, they like to act up together and feed off each other. The teacher has noted that it seems Matthew is bored since there is a wide range of ages 3 to 5 in his preschool class. Matthew has mastered all of the skills they focus on and so she has been working independently with him on more advanced learning and it seems to be helping. He's a quick learner but has a wild imagination and lots of energy.

We all had a great christmas and a relaxing new year. Sean & I had a great Christmas and just bought some items together instead of exchanging large gifts. We bought a new digital (well needed) camcorder, a subwoofer and a bluray dvd player for our media room. So we had minimal gifts for each other this year. Christmas for the boys was great of course. It's really all that matters anymore. Andrew got a lot of learning toys which he was a bit disappointed but got over quickly when he realized how cool they really were. He's been playing his lelappad regularly and is loving his karaoke machine and "stage" that he got. Of course they both got some spiderman, Venom, Ironman etc, figurines that they love so much and we can't forget all of the clothes. Matthew was SO into Christmas this year. He begged every Santa he saw or even looked remotely like Santa, for an Imaginext Safari set... which he got. He was So excited to open presents this year. Unlike last year where he really just didnt care and was so sick he could barely open presents. He also got the Leapfrog "Tag" reading system and he & Andrew fight over it. We may just have to get Andrew his own. For anyone out there that doesnt know what this is, it is a pen that can help read the stories from a special book and has the option to go online and download stories to it that it will read for you. It's really neat and they really seem to be learning from it.... Imagine THAT!
So that's what we've been up to and it's about hibernation weather. But be sure to keep checking the blog and youtube for more videos and also be sure to check out new photos on photobucket and our picasa web albums. We upload to those quite regularly.
Hope you all have a Great New Year!