4th Anniversary

Today is our 4th Anniversary!

Terrell got back home Monday night and we were thrilled he'd be home for 3 more weeks! HA! Today he had to leave to go save the day in Pittsburgh. He was home a total of 30 hours. Not our favorite way to spend our anniversary. He will be back on Saturday.

Luckily, we snuck in a date last night thanks to a great friend who let Lexi stay the night.

Us, being poor, used a giftcard to Applebees then quickly hurried home so we didn't run out of gas on the way! Haha! We redboxed Red Dawn which made me want to seriously go kick the crap outta something, so we busted out our airsoft guns. Fail. They were broken. NEVER FEAR! Our Nerf guns came to the rescue. Then we played Scrabble where I started off with a bang....I only had letters for EIEIO! What a silly night! It was midnight when we finally looked at the clock and were so tired so went right to bed.

Maybe someday we'll do something cool.

Happy Anniversary, babe!

Thumbs up for my husband!

CHEESE!

Hahahaha.

We were laughing so hard cuz we were so tired...we couldn't take a picture!

Yeah, basically.

FINALLY a decentish one. I spared you all the many attempts!

Don't mess.

Ready to kick some trash

Wreaking havoc.

The invaders

This is us.

Terrell: I'm being CHINESE!

In the forest!

Behind the bamboo!

BubbleBubbleBubbleBubble

Nice weather means 2 things...outside and BUBBLES!

Lexi and Rosie had a blast "chomping" the bubbles!

Thank goodness for the bubble machine...

Kandu to the Rescue!

CHASA is a great support to the kiddos of pediatric stroke. They launched a Kandu campaign where kids could be nominated by family members or friends to receive Kandu friends (CHASA mascot and PENGUIN!) in the mail to help them if they are having a hard time!
Lexi was lucky enough to be one of the first receipients of Kandu....she was nominated by her Aunt Lisa and Grandma Evans. THANK YOU!

Kandu came in the mail wearing a Super Kandu cape and a card that read:

Hello Lexi,

I'm Kandu, the mascot for the Children's Hemiplegia and Stroke Association (CHASA). 

I heard you have a cast on your arm and am sending you a friend to help you feel better. 

Have a great summer!

Kandu

Lexi LOVES her Kandu! She plays with it every day, and it definitely made her feel better during her CIMT! She will definitely be bringing it with her to treatment and surgery! Thank you CHASA and Kandu!

What's up?

Terrell

• Currently in Nashville, TN stomping it out in the muddy terrain.
• Trying to bike more if he can
• Has had longer breaks in between races but still gets called a lot about them!
• Approaching birthday #28
• Started donating plasma again
• Loving his club. The brothers are great men!

Kellie

• Sharing the awesomeness of It Works and trying to earn extra money for the family.
• Featured on a Conference/Team call  for It Works
• Was asked to write for chasa.org as well as feature Lexi on the site
• Working on finding a publisher for the Kids Have Strokes Too book
• Trying to listen to a General Conference talk every day to keep herself sane
• finally wrote another article for A Mom Knows

Lexi

• Just completed 3 weeks of CIMT
• Is getting so "big" (not in size) and is working real hard to do things by herself
• Spreading the word about Pediatric Stroke in a very fun way
• Weighs 23 lbs
• Loves cookies
• Comes up with the cutest and silliest phrases and actions
• Went to gymnastics for the first time in a month and did so well that mommy is going to let her try a big kid class next week

Rosie

• seems to have regressed in training a bit
• 38 lbs and is basically full grown
• Loves tennis balls
• Working on Lexi-specific commands

Family

• Ready for summer
• Terrell and Kellie had their last Sunday teaching Primary last week
• About to celebrate anniversary #4
• Ready for summer (ohhh I said that already!)
• Prepping ourselves for what this fall will bring with the SDR

Lexi & CIMT

Lexi participating in Constraint Induced Movement Therapy (CIMT) also know as cast therapy these past few weeks. Needless to say...I hated it. :-)

Her left arm was casted permanently during that 3 week duration so that her Right Side was forced to be used. Can you imagine that frustration? She was certainly frustrated and would use her cast as a weapon to get her frustration out (bruises and a black eye for Mommy). Not fun. A lot of tears and frustration for all of those involved.

All in all, she did great using Righty. She was so proud of herself (and so were her mommy and daddy) when Righty did something! She had a better attitude than I did about it, and the results from CIMT are so far, great. Look at the look on her face in these pictures and you can see just how proud she was!

Go Lexi GO! Even though it was hard, YOU DID IT! And Mommy is soooo proud of you!

Here are some pictures from today when she got her cast off...