Hittin the Slopes!

Big Props go out to my mom's cousin Katelyn.  She is a ski instructor at Mt. La Crosse and is now helping out with the Adaptive Ski Program.  Well, she talked my mom into signing me up and today was our first day on the slopes!  It was a tish chilly, but I had fun!!! As long as she kept me moving that is.  I even liked the chair lift - my dad would never be caught dead on one of those things, so I guess you could say I am braver than him (hehehe).  Maggie got to watch me a lil bit at the end and she wants Katelyn to teach her to ski now, but my mom said she has to get a little bit bigger first. Maggie and dad went out on a dad and daughter date, or at least that is what mom called it.  They went to pizza hut, Maggie loves pizza.

 

Because I got to go skiing today, yesterday mom and Maggie had some fun of their own, sledding with Maggie's friend Addie and her fam.  They had a real live horse and Maggie got to help feed it, she rode on a four wheeler, she went sledding down a big hill, she had hot coco, and a bonfire cooked hotdog. Maggie also taught Addie how to make a snow angel.  They had a blast.  Maggie had Addie over for a princess dress up party a couple weekends ago - the saving grace for me was that they watched Frozen and I happen to like that movie too.  Anywho, I thought I would include some pics of the girls having fun since I had so much fun skiing.

      

I also went swimming last week at the YMCA.  Mom and Hannah took me.  Since my mom is just getting to do more walking now, she can't take me by herself, so thankfully my nanny is more than willing to help out!  On a side note, she got accepted into med school and is gonna leave me this fall.  Can you tell by the smile on my face that I am gonna miss her. 

Dr. Seuss comes to La Crescent

Guess what.... La Crescent had the Cat in the Hat come to town!  When my mom heard about it, she of course had to get tickets and take me and Maggie.  I liked it cause there were a lot of parts that were word for word from the book, and everyone knows how much I love anything Dr. Seuss!  We got a quick pic with the cat on our way out to the car afterwards, My hat caught her attention :)  I am sportin my new poncho that Grandma Servais made for me - it's reversible, so in the top pic you see the black side and in the bottom pic you see the fun side.  She also made me a weighted blanket for Christmas and I have been sleeping really good with it (so my parents are happy).   I also thought I would show a quick picture of how dad gets me in and out of our new wheels!  Pretty slick, and I don' t mean icy...

Christmas "Wrap Up"

I know I am a little slow getting this out there, but hey, I'm 4, I'm a busy guy (and I have parents that hog the computer).  Anywho, here is our Christmas wrap up.  The start of Christmas was with the Shays, the wrap up is with the Servais crew.  But, before we headed to Mondovi to celebrate, my folks too me and Mags to our first theater play - A Charlie Brown Christmas.  My dad got tickets through work.  We had a good time - loved the music.  Maggie was so excited she even yelled out Snoopy Do every time snoopy made an appearance.  But it was alright, because there were a lot of kids in the audience, so she wasn't the only one yelling out :)

So our Christmas in Mondovi was fun.  Everyone was there, Uncle Kurt Aunt Ashley and Zoey, Aunt KiKi (Kristi) flew home, and of course Grandma and Grandpa.  We decorated cookies, we had a dance party, we opened presents from Santa, we had an ugly sweater contest (mom my won but it was a close call), Maggie and my dad went outside but it was too cold for me (and my mom couldn't walk), and we even all stuck around to watch the Packers win.  We got to drive our new van too, so we were cruisin in style!

 There was so much fun, that even Toby decided to take a nap!

Stay tuned for all our crazy awesome stuff coming up - just waiting for my mom to upload pics from this weekend!

The Start of Christmas

So my mom was a lil slow in getting her pictures uploaded to the computer for me.  Before I get into our Christmas fun so far, I'd like to share some pics of my Shay cousins from Turkey Day.  We are a split family, and by split family I mean a little over half are Packer fans and a lil under half are Viking Fans (that's right, the cheese heads do outnumber slightly)..... make for interesting Sunday get togethers at times :)  We had a great meal at my Uncle Jeremy's house and my Uncle Andy, as always, was right in there playin with us kids.

 

 Now Christmas with my Shay relatives, this year was at our house1!! My dad was so excited about cookin and cleanin that he did a lil happy dance with Maggie.  We had fun, got some great presents, and I heard the food was yummy!  

We have our Servais Family Christmas still to come and of course Christmas morning when we get to see what Santa brings for us, but I also wanted to give props to my stellar nanny, Hannah.  She got me an awesome keyboard toy that lights up and she even remembered Maggie loves sparkles and princess' and boots, so she got her all 3 things in one. I am missin her as she has the week off.





And last, but definitely not least, my parents came to school today with me.  They helped me make a sweet ginger bread house and met some of my friends.  Dad read me a book and mom sat with me during circle time when we sang our Christmas songs.  I loved it - we sang Jingle Bells, Rudolph, and Wish you a Merry Christmas (my personal fav!)  My ma even snapped a quick pic of me and Tora (Victoria) my paraprofessional at school.  My folks even got a early Christmas gift from me today - we made ornaments as a class project, used our finger prints to make snowmen - turned out pretty "cool".  That was my mom's joke.

Fall into Winter...

Busy, busy, busy...... this is a long one folks, get comfy

You wouldn't think we would be so busy, with my mom having a bum foot and all, but even with her not being able to use her left leg since the middle of September, we have been one busy fam.  My ma tore her Achille's Tendon back in September playing kickball (but she likes to say it happened during a crazy skydiving story).  She has been using a little scooter and her crutches (or as Maggie calls them, her "crunches") to get around.  Even with her leg is a cast, we managed to take a family trip to the Dells to celebrate my Grandma and Grandpa's birthdays and anniversary.

We made our yearly visit to the Apple Orchard.  Grandma and Grandpa joined us since my mom can't help with us kids when she is on crutches.  The apples were good.

Halloween came and went - we had a swell time as Mickey and Princess Minnie.  Even though it was cold out, we spent a good hour out and about.  Good thing we used some of my black compression suits to help us stay warm - they worked well because those Mouse Folks have black arms and legs. And it was doubly good that my mom still couldn't walk and had her scooter to help with Maggie, when she hit a wall, she was able to hop on with mom and ride home :)

Then we had Thanksgiving at our house in La Crescent..... my dad did most of the cooking (ok all of the cooking).  The day after, I think I heard it referred to as Black Friday, we went to the Children's Museum instead of shopping - it was pretty fun.  I think my dad and my Uncle Kurt had more fun than us kids at times. Then my folks went down to the Badger game the weekend after Thanksgiving and had some pretty sweet seats (again, due to my mom not being able to walk up the stairs - she used her scooter).  They also ran into my buddy from the NICU, Levi's, parents there - they are Gopher fans, but we don't hold that against them.

This past weekend, me and Maggie went to our first play.  My dad got us tickets to see Charlie Brown Christmas in La Crosse - his work gave out tickets, so thank you LHI.  It had a lot of music so I liked it.  Maggie was so excited she sat at the edge of her seat the whole time and would yell out anytime she saw Snoopy or Charlie or when the lights would go off, or on, well just about at anything really..

And, the big news.......

WE FINALLY GOT OUR NEW VAN!!!  After months of working out all the kinks, we are ready to roll (so to speak).  It has a rear entry ramp so I can ride in the car in my wheelchair - boy does that save time.... and my parent's backs ;)   Maggie is excited, the side doors open/close automatically so she calls them "magic doors".  We got the van just in time for my mom's doctor to clear her to start to put a little weight on her foot.  This is when I would normally put a pick of me rockin out in the new van, but my mom has been busy (or lazy) and hasn't uploaded the picture yet, so please stay tuned....