Just when you think it's safe!

At the beginning of the year we had Anna's surgery (completely unexpected). We thought well I guess we've had our big tadaa for the year. The kids grades were extra-ordinary, they were adjusting well to their new classes, making new friends, we were having a break through with Jack. Jack was potty trained finally and we were figuring out medicines, it was a little hectic but so far everything we doable. Now we are in a new semester of school and it seems as though everything has fallen apart.

The one thing I am most passionate about with my kids is their education. It seems as though we have had a struggle with every kid regarding their education, just when we thought them growing up would be easier it has become more complicated. Zachary is struggling with Math and Science that I'm still trying to wrap my brain around considering he has been an "A" student all year...that is still ongoing. Anna is doing okay but not as good as I'd like for her to be. Then there is Madeline. My darling Madeline who is my internal dialoger, my child who rarely states what she feels, let alone be honest when she is struggling with anything. She is not one to buck the system, if an adult tells her something she will comply.

A few weeks ago I spoke with her teacher about Miss Madeline to find that she was struggling again in reading. I know this is an area of struggle for her, we have been working on this with her for three years, but we thought with retaining her a year we had fixed the problem. After I spoke with her teacher I called a specialist that I had known since Jack was a baby. She happened to have an opening at the end of the week and she would test her to see where she was having problems. She was tested for Irlens a couple of years ago and it was inconclusive, she was tested for dyslexia and that also was inconclusive. I figured with how this all was coming together it was a gift from God. The specialist that tested her was someone who had worked at the kid's school and knew Madeline's teacher.

Once we finished with Madeline's testing she said she knows where she is struggling! Finally, after 2-3 years of struggling, testing, the unknown, we have answers. She has a linguistic disorder, which is a form of dyslexia however not something that would be recognized by the district she attends. Basically when she reads she can pick out the details, those she knows, but it is difficult for her to summarize what is going on in a paragraph and thus having trouble connecting the paragraphs together. In the past couple of years Madeline has begun to enjoy graphic novels, which I never understood why, but after hearing about what she is struggling through I realized that the reason for the graphic novels is because it would help her get the context clues that she needed to finish the stories. They engaged her and she loved them. For her state assessments this year they will ask summary questions about the stories she has read and she will struggle through those. She does not know how to interpret the who, what, and relationship that goes on therefore a chapter book does not create the pictures she needs to see the story.

Here is some of her report:

Madeline is a pretty young lady with an incredible smile.  She was initially quiet, but warmed up quickly and cooperated throughout the assessment...

Madeline is a 9-year-old young lady experiencing difficulties in the area of reading.  Her history includes ear infections, speech therapy, and a diagnosis of ADHD.  The information collected during this assessment indicates that Madeline’s skills in the area of reading comprehension, especially comprehending expository text is at a frustration level.  Madeline is able to remember many details about what she has read.  She understands basic syntax and vocabulary.  However, she is unable to summarize the details in order to draw conclusions about the information.  In breaking the paragraph down sentence by sentence it was evident that she is not connecting the events and meaning from one sentence to the next in order to develop the meaning of the paragraph.  This difficulty seems to occur with the more “academic”, complex and/or unfamiliar syntax of the sentence.  We know that children with this type of difficulty need to have opportunity for explicit modeling, practice and immediate corrective support in this skill area to do this independently. 

This type of language based comprehension issue could also affect her performance on the independent vocabulary worksheet assignments of the new reading adoption of her school district.  The language used on these worksheets is more academic.  Madeline would benefit from explicit instruction in the structure of the definitions as well as how to eliminate the answer choices most unlike the vocabulary word and choosing the correct answer choice.  For example, a student has to summarize (a weakness of Madeline’s) the definition she reads in the answer choices and insert it back into the sample sentence.  She may know a meaning of the vocabulary word, but have difficulty understanding “shades” of meaning and the syntax of the answer choices.

It is recommended that intervention focus on comprehension of text at the sentence level using explicit instruction in the area of Questioning (learning to ask and answer her own questions) throughout the reading of the text, Summarization strategies (eliminating extraneous details; focusing on the reoccurring information) and building the comprehension of a variety of complex syntax structures (this instruction would include generating her own sentences using the model sentence structure).  Initial Questioning strategy should involve the practice of generating two important questions and asking them at the sentence level:

So there we are another nut to crack, more research to examine to make sure Madeline does not fall through the cracks. We are working steadily with all of our kids, it seems as though none of them can hold their own, however I know that with the foundation we are giving them and the support they have with us and their teachers they will one day fly on their own. It will be that day that I will truly feel a small sense of relief. The best part of the entire evaluation is Madeline's comments after, she said: "I'm Smart!" I'm so glad she finally realizes how smart she is!!

Learning from the past in hope to NOT recreate it in the future!

The other day my husband and I were able to have some one on one time while the kids were at grandma's house. We actually had a great conversation about our families. After the divorce my family fell apart. My dad moves around constantly but is truly the only one I have contact with and that is through his new wife. My mom, though only a mile away has become self-involved and is only a part of our family when it is convenient for her (which is maybe twice a year or on the kids birthdays). Overall my family is non-existent since that's all I have and we're okay with that for many reasons.
What took us for surprise was his side of the family. Maybe it's due to how spread out everyone is and the inability to see how each has changed if at all. But we are noticing that the perceptions have never changed. At family functions they remark at what an awful memory my husband has or how badly he treated others in the family. It was funny the first 5 years, but now that we have children of our own we wonder! My husband has said that many things he doesn't remember because they were not important to him or it was something he would rather forget. What others have claimed as being treated badly were only a few times and many of them perceived differently that they were. My husband has never been one to rehash the past...it was something he hated in my family because they failed to see what was and what will be, they settled on what was instead of asking about the now. We know and hope that we are much different that what we were. We have grown so much individually and as a couple to see that what they saw is no longer what we are.

This was never more apparent then our time spent with them over the summer. We found that we are truly not a part of the family. Our special needs are far more than they are willing to take time to understand. We are no longer an important piece. It's not necessarily because what was said, but what was not said. Now I will say that our marriage has never been agreeable with his family, neither was our relationship. It was something that they had hoped would dissolve over our long distance relationship, but we survived and are stronger. I have never truly been accepted into the family and maybe it's because we basically grew up together as we've been together since we were 15. Though after all the years of dating and marriage and children I thought our accomplishments would finally be enough, even my husband thought it would be enough. I even considered my MIL as Naomi and would follow her, just as Ruth followed Naomi. They were the only family I had since mine was no longer. However, after our visit we found that we will never be fully accepted, especially now with our child with special needs. And so we do what we do best, pull ourselves up from our bootstraps and focus on our goals for our children and our family. We have lost connection with most of his family and now only make contact on holidays, making small talk in knowing they don't really want to hear what we do and make the talks short for fear of feeling less than or not enough. This is a difficult task because they are family and we always hope to make our families proud through our growth and accomplishments and the difference we make in the lives of others, which is what we have been raised to do. The lack of relationship, acceptance, and understanding is something we can not be a part of. This has not been easy, we mourned and accepted the fact we have a special child and we new that sacrifices needed to be made, we just never knew it would be family related, but we press on!

So with all of our sorrows and changes in family structure we have to ask ourselves, what can we do to make sure this doesn't happen to our family? I hope we are on the right track. We make sure there is respect between siblings, we don't allow bullying in the house and try to maintain open and honest conversation. We allow our children to be independent and respect the choices they make and applaud them for the ideals that make them stronger individuals. We strive to show them how to be thoughtful of others through mission projects, community giving, etc. We have begun to pray for their spouses, that they will be open-hearted, and open-minded as they will also help with the trials and tribulations of our son. We hope our children will remain tight-knit and will be in close proximity to each other so they can live, laugh, love, and share in each other's growth. I know somethings will never be perfect and I know there will be things I will need to make the best of, but my hope is that I will never feel as though my children are less than perfect, that they will always know how important they are in our family and how each one of them make an impact on who we are and that any contributions made by them will only allow our family unit to be stronger. I believe we are already on that track and I can not help but thank our youngest son for showing us the importance of value, honesty, unconditional love, strength and perseverance.

Just when you think it's smooth sailing!

Everything was going well, kids were adjusting to their new classes and for Z a new school. Grades were exceptional and all was well...didn't even have sick kids the first couple of weeks of school (which is amazing!) D and I were excited because we had planned a weekend (Saturday afternoon til Sunday) away from the kids which had been 4 years since the last time that happened. The weekend before we were to leave A began to get sick. This did not worry us in the least because we thought it was a stomach bug...2 days tops right?? A stayed home Monday because she was throwing up, we decided to let her stay overnight at her grandma's house Monday evening because she was still running a low grade fever and was not ready to go back to school. Luckily the vomiting had ceased earlier in the day and figured that another day of rest would get her ready for school. Tuesday morning at 6 am we got a call from grandma stating A had terrible stomach pain on the right hand side of her tummy, had been moaning all night and wanted to take her to the ER. Since I had not seen her since the day before I was hesitant on her going. I am very much in-tuned with my kids and I know what's going on before most do, so I didn't want to jump the gun until I could see for myself. So I waited until the Dr.'s office opened and spoke with a nurse who stated that it would be the afternoon before she could be seen and that if she was in enough pain, she needed to go to the ER. It still wasn't good enough for me. I waited it out, checking on her every couple of hours to see how she was doing. She was regaining strength and by about 1pm, she was perky, wanted to vacuum the rugs and get her nails done, so I thought heck she's ready to go to school in the morning and thankful that I didn't overreact on taking her to the ER. When I got home that afternoon, Anna came home as well...I was hoping to get a smile, I missed you momma, and I'm ready to go to school....but that would not be the case.

When she arrived A got out of the car slowly and slumped over. Her grandma proceeded to tell me that about an hour before she came home she went downhill quick and was in worse pain than before. I was concerned, and after seeing her I knew something was not right. I called the Dr's. office again and explained her symptoms, to which they said "I would have thought the same thing (stomach virus) as you because we have had many calls regarding those exact symptoms, until you said she was hunched over". The nurse explained that it was my call to either take her to the ER or monitor her closely. D and I had spoken on the phone and I waited for his arrival to make the decision. We were trying to save money for our trip, but I knew that if we waited and did not take her we would be in big trouble while we were gone. After I told D that she went directly to her room and got in bed when she got home, he checked on her....she was basically non-responsive in and out of consciousness trying to sleep the pain away. After seeing her D was still a little hesitant about sending her, but agreed we needed to do something. So I took her...and prayed the wait would be minimal.

We got there a close to 6pm, and sat for maybe 2 minutes in the waiting room to be seen. When A was seen by a nurse and after listening to the questions she was asked I thought....woohoo! it's just a bladder infection...we'll be in and out of here in no time! Ha!! We were put into a room to await being seen and to wait for some lab work. Another nurse came in and pressed in 3 distinct areas on her belly and asked if it hurt. She pressed on the left side and it hurt, pressed in the middle, didn't hurt, pressed on the right and really hurt. After pressing on her the nurse asked me if I knew what we were trying to rule out, to which I said yes Appendix. After she agreed, she then stated that it was NOT something she ruled out. So a CT was ordered, Anna had to drink the apple juice that didn't taste like apple juice and we waited. The nurse wait we would wait 1 1/2 hours, we waited less than an hour and were in the CT room. We were not back in the room a minute and the Dr. came in and said "you know what we are here for right?" I said yes Appendix, he questioned "Oh, you already know?" I did a double take, and said know what? He said, her appendix are inflammed and we need to do surgery immediately! We just need to know if it will be local or if we'll have to send her to Houston. While I waited for the news the Dr. stated that if she had come in a day or so earlier they would have just treated her for the UTI that the tests showed she had and sent her on her way. WOW, what a God moment to know that we did what we needed to do at just the right time!

It was all coming so fast. I knew that this was a possibility, but the way everyone had talked I thought it was a bladder infection...to which that was also some of the problem. I was trying to get everything situated in my head...then everything hit me. Okay, if we had to go to Houston, D would be there with me know question...then who would watch the kids, how would they get from point A to point B? Scheduling is everything at our house and normalcy is explicitly important for J! It was coming at me at light speed at the strength of a Mack truck and I didn't know what to do! My phone was dead, Anna was now in a drugged sleep and I was alone with her in the room...and I broke down. I broke down at the idea of what if, I broke down at the not knowing of where we would be I broke down at the fact the my world was turning upside down with each passing minute and I was helpless. After a few seconds, I chastised myself for being vulnerable in front of my child who was also nervous about what was going on and not understanding the seriousness of it. The strange thing about all of this was that at no time was I concerned about her well-being, at no time was I concerned about the surgery or if anything would happen. At some point I knew that she would be okay, it was a calm in me that put me back together. As the nurse came in she asked if I needed a tissue to which I quickly said No! I pulled myself together and began planning until I knew more. I contacted people who I knew would be willing to help and knew my kids well enough that they wouldn't be overwhelmed with them. I looked at everyone I knew and their schedules and worked accordingly as I waited. A few minutes later, the nurse said there was a Dr. here that would take her surgery and 30 minutes later she was being wheeled into surgery.

Within all of that I had the kids schedules taken care of, D was with me. Before he came to the hospital I asked that he tell the other kids what was going on.  Z wasn't concerned because papa had surgery a few months before, but M was a different story. She cried because her sister was in trouble, she mourned at the fact that she had been hateful to her and now it was possible that she wouldn't see her again. I'm sure she had a thousand things running through her head, but her papa calmed her fears and let her know she could see her the next day. J was already asleep so he never knew anything happened. Surgery started around 10:15pm and we were going up to her room just after 11.

As we were waiting during surgery we had a couple of surprises. A couple of friends stopped by to stay with us until she was out of surgery. I cannot thank them enough for distracting us during this time, especially at that time of night! It was appreciated more than they'll ever know. We laughed and reminisced until we got the call that A was out of surgery. The Dr. then came out and explained that her appendix were gangrenous and had begun to leak which is why the surgery took longer than normal. Because of the leak they had to install a bell in her belly to ensure that everything that drained. He was not sure how long she'd be in the hospital but guaranteed at least 2 days. We asked if we could take her appendix home in a jar, but the Dr. said know that it is sent to a lab to be studied, but we could take a picture of it....so D did and it stunk! Luckily I was far enough away that I didn't smell it, but I took the Dr. and D's word on the matter.

Once A was in her room, I slipped away to gather some things from home and prepare for an over night with A. Once I was back D and I switched places and he went home to the kids and I stayed. D was the jack of all trades during our hospital time and I worked with A to get her back to health. It was painful for A. The first night was awful. When she needed to use the bathroom, there was no waiting! I cannot tell you how many times I yanked the IV plug from the wall and quickly turned it around the bed and helped A make it to the potty in time. Only once did she wet the bed because she couldn't make it in time. When that happened I assured her that it was okay and that I had extra clothing for her for this purpose.

The next day the nurse stated that she would need to get up and moving around, so we did. I made her walk 4 times a day around the floor because I knew that it would help and for a moment I was in a flashback in preparing J for life, revving him up to feed, making him work for everything he did....it was the same way with A. After she completed her first lap, the nurse gave her a bear for her accomplishment, which I thought was awesome! A was exhausted but not once did she cry! She would groan and moan when in pain, but never cry. After a good afternoon nap she was ready to receive company and she was showered with it! Her brothers and sister were excited to see her and were very attentive to her needs. The out pouring of love was seen during this time! Her teacher had A as a center assignment which every student colored, wrote, drew something for her and even gave up their coupons for her. It was amazing! She received gifts from family friends as well as family. She knew she was loved!

By the third day she was ready per the Dr. to be released, but this day was feared by A because she knew what had to happen before she went home....have the bell removed from her tummy! The bell was a nuisance for A, she hated it...but the knowledge of having at least 6 inches of tubing inside her stomach and knowing it had to come out was not something she looked forward to. Throughout all of this she had only cried for a couple of seconds to which was only done in frustration after walking. I wasn't sure how she would take this removal. I knew that A was a trooper, she had more inner strength than any kid I had ever seen her age. I knew that she was strong, but never had it been tested. So when it was time, I held on to her with both arms and blocked the view of what was going on. As the nurse counted she waited for A to say go and when she did, she screamed for a couple of seconds....stated "that hurt" and held on to me for a couple of seconds like a koala hugging a tree, then it was over. No tears, just went back to watch TV. Now let me express that the removal of this tube is very painful...a couple of nurses told me that it had made grown men cry and that no meds would help the situation. The nurse that removed the tube had even told a that she had just removed another from a grown man and it made him cry like a 2 year old...and here she was with no tears....AMAZING! And with that it was time to go home, and we did!

We got home Friday afternoon at 3:50 pm. We were so happy to be home! It felt good to be in our own beds and to have normalcy once again regain it's rightful place. A was told that she could not do physical activity for 2 weeks and couldn't lift anything until she saw the Dr. again. M was happy to help her in any way, everyone was happy to see her home and in much better spirits than before she left that Monday morning. We had the weekend to relax and prepare. J had an opportunity to regain his much needed schedule and people placement. Now 3 weeks later I can say that A is completely back to normal...quite honestly she was back to her old self by about Wednesday after she got home.

Needless to say we did not get that trip that we planned and even fear the idea of trying to leave again...simply because we have 3 others with appendix and we are afraid to take any chances! But through all of this we are a stronger family unit. We were able to see what was important, we were able to see who we could trust, who truly cared what was going on, etc. God did some miraculous things during that time and I wouldn't trade them for anything. Though we now await for each bill to come in, I am taken back to that week, knowing that I wouldn't change anything and to see so many wonderful highlights of that time. So very thankful that everything happened just at the right time, maybe not my timeline, but God's. I don't know why it happened during that time, but his ways are perfect and I know that it happened for a reason, but it did allow me to think....Just when you think it's smooth sailing, be ready for anything, because it's coming!

 

The Day Before School

We are about 15 hours away from the first day of school...This will be the first year year that not all the kids will be at the same school. Zach will be in middle school and the rest in elementary. Last year was the last year for them to all be in the same school. It was nice for them to be able to see each other and for Jackson to know there were people there to support him, love on him. So this year will be a year of growth. Zach will be riding the bus to and from school the girls will be walking or riding bikes and Jack will also be riding the bus. New experiences for all and I'm sure Zach will enjoy being in a place of his own, not to mention riding the bus with friends so he can get some extra talk time in!
My hope for this year is that it will not be one of obstacles! Last year it seemed as though we were constantly up against obstacles we as a family could never catch a break...by the time summer came we welcomed it with opened arms because we knew that for once we could actually relax and time was on our side instead of against us. I am hoping that this school year will be one where the kids can really enjoy the year and the learning that comes with it. I know that the calendar itself will be a doozie as it does not lend to many breaks during the year, but if the kids can realize they can do what is expected of them and do it with quality and excellence then that will make for a great year. My hope is that reading will become more enjoyable for all of them, that they will grow with anticipation when reading a book and that they would choose to read their book over watching T.V. or playing on their DS, Wii, or XBox! I know that each grade comes with it's own struggles, but it can not be any more difficult than last year!
I also hope that this year will be one where we can spend more time as a family, going places and experiencing new places together. I hope my girls and Jackson find a really good friend, one they are inseparable from. Zachary has a few close friends that he does many things with, these selected boys have been together for many years and hopefully they will remain close as they reconnect in a new school.

This year will be a year of hope, a year of progress, and hopefully a year of wonderful memories!!

 

How many eyes in the family?

Since finding out at the age of 2 months old that Jackson had Down's Syndrome we have been told time and time again how lucky we are to have a healthy boy. If there is such a thing as typical, you could say that many children with this genetic disposition have heart problems, sometimes eye disorders, breathing problems, increased risk of leukemia...and the list continues. They were right, we have been lucky. Jackson is a tough little man. For the most part he's been very healthy except for the twice a year breathing treatments he's had to endure since he was about a year old. When he see's the PA she remarks at how healthy he is, when he saw an eye specialist at the age of 1 she remarked at how healthy his eyes were. Considering the rocky start the first 6 months of his life he has been on a role. Though not much has changed, I have been noticing his eye beginning to cross in quite often. I can't say this is unusual because M and A have also had this problem, had glasses and now do not need them any longer, so I knew what to expect...(Not that anything is that easy with Jack!) LOL

Taking Jackson to the doctor is always an interesting adventure. He likes to explore, know his surroundings and meet everyone in the office, making sure he doesn't miss anyone! This week I chose to try and get Jackson's eye's checked by someone local in hopes that we would be able to get everything we needed without having to go to Houston. Dr.P. was great. I wasn't too sure at first, but he had amazing patience with J. Of course it would be great to say that he was able to look into the computerized machines and we were able to figure out everything we needed, but alas it is never that easy. Between me, Dr.P and one of his helpers we were a regular dog and pony show trying to get Jack to look in certain directions so Dr. P could look into his eyes.

After about an hour we pulled it off. However the doctor wanted to really see in his eyes and requested we come back in a month for dilation (which means Darren will have to be in attendance!). So he gave a prescription for J stating that this was only half of the required prescipt that had he given him the full script, J would never have worn them because they would be too blurry for him. WOW! Just 2 years ago, the specialist stated J would need glasses once he started to read because of the structure of the lens. I just never realized he would go this drastic this fast, though I must admit his older brother's script has changed tremendously in just a year due to growth. Considering J's growth over the past year, I guess nothing is out of the realm of possibility.

So after the appointment we went to Eye Master's to get his script filled....He looks soooooooo cute! I know that I am biased, but man he is even more adorable than ever!

Here he is getting fitted for his first pair!

Jackson now sporting his glasses. I can't say he keeps them on all the time, he is doing a great job getting used to them. He is far-sighted so it is important he wears his glasses while he plays or looks at tv up close. I am hoping that he'll begin wearing them most of the day, but I figure a few hours at a time is better than nothing.

So just when we thought all of us would be in glasses, we had A who did so well in hers that she no longer has to wear them....We will find out too if M will need to continue wearing them. So for now we have 5 in glasses.

Sometimes spontaneity is the spice of life!

Sometimes the spontaneity is the spice of life! We have tried to do things on the fly which is very difficult for us because of our families special needs plus for many years we have struggled! We tend to travel the opposite way for example we got married, had a bunch of kids (not your normal 2 is enough), then chose to go to school in order to ensure that we could give our kids a better life. We knew that we would never be rich or famous. Darren and I knew early in our marriage the importance of family that we wanted to share with our children. To be able to understand and trust each other with the hopes that one day there will be a very strong connection once they have lives of their own. We wanted our kids to know who their parents are and not just the paycheck that was provided. Growing up we remembered all the good times we had either going places or doing things around the house, like me watching "Looney Tunes" with my dad on Saturday mornings, or Darren white water rafting with his dad and his dad having to roll out his cigarettes because they were water logged. Those memories are precious and long remembered and endeared long after the stuff we had during that time in our life.

Now that things are beginning to settle down we chose to show them the world...Texas style! ...even if it's a quick day trip. So about once a quarter we have taken a quick trip around Texas and hopefully the rest of the U.S. During Spring Break we went to Arkansas for a family reunion which allowed our kids to experience 600 acres of living. They were able to run around, explore, fish, talk to cows, etc. Plus they were able to play with their cousins, which is a rarity considering we do not live in the same state. They could be kids without the adults continually asking where they are and what they are doing....they had a blast!


We then chose to elaborate our Easter trip. We went camping as a family which then led to going to the first amusement park that catered to all abilities..."Morgan's Wonderland" (http://www.morganswonderland.com)  Here are some of the pictures.
  Here is the entrance to Morgan's Wonderland

 Here are the kiddos under the hands

Some of our favorite play equipment~~












An awesome slide~

A swing where we don't have to worry about Jackson falling out!

And finally the train that encompasses Morgan's Wonderland...There were no tears shed the entire trip!






Although we try to find new things for the kids to see, Darren and I are also foodies, so if there is a cool restaurant to see or a vineyard to try, we'll make an extra trip...So while we were in San Antonio we also stopped by the Big Lou's Pizzeria as shown on Man vs. Food: http://www.biglouspizzeria.com/

 Our pizza was only 24 inches! As if that were not enough we also had to go by LuLu's bakery which is also home of the 3lb cinnamon roll! It was delicious and all 6 of us were able to eat on 1 roll with some still left over!! http://www.luluscafeinsa.com/

Zachary was also studying Texas History this year at school so we got to see the Colorado River and also took pictures of our tour of the Alamo! It was a great trip!!

Darren and I also took some time to ourselves yesterday and saw the Broadway Across America "WICKED"!!

I was so excited...it was excellent! Hopefully we'll be able to see it again!



As we were coming home we decided to surprise the kids and go on another family adventure....to Wimberley, TX. Now I will admit there was a purpose of going and that was to surprise a very long time friend...but when we found out it was the oldest and 2nd largest open market in Texas we thought it would be a great experience. So we woke them up and got in the car and traveled 4 hours to see Denise! It was wonderful to see her face in amazement. We wanted to support her and her family's new business of Gourmet Tamales http://www.gourmettamalekitchen.com/ We had an opportunity to test some of their tamales and they were awesome. The kids got some Old style German Kettlecorn and freshly roasted peanuts. After spending some time there we also chose to go to a winery near by. After going to several wineries in Arkansas, we have become drawn to the vineyards and tastings. So we headed to Driftwood vineyards http://www.driftwoodvineyards.com/ the view was breathtaking! So we go the kids together for a photo!

It was a beautiful day in Wimberley and so thankful we had the opportunity to see something new!

Since Jackson wanted pizza (his favorite) we also stopped at a nearby pizzeria which was housed a brick oven pizza. To top it off we treated the kids with Dairy Queen ice cream. They were such troopers during this long drive and got along great!

Not sure where we'll go next time, but I have really come to love these little mini-trips! I look forward to showing them more of the world as they become age appropriate and can handle the long trips. They may not see all the glitz and glamour, but at least they'll see parts of the world where they can make a difference. For now, we'll serve our community as we get ready to volunteer with the backpack program. I love doing things with my family and watching their faces light up as they see things they've only seen in books or photographs. I look forward to what the future brings and how the kids remember what we did and how they grew as a person!