new adventures....

Christmas was a delight....picture the following day for me though, if you will.  I hear coughing from both boys and Michael's got this weird look on his face.  Two Dr visits and two pharmacies later, we're pretty grumpy.  Me especially...for which I feel terrible (maybe because I'm well and there's guilt to be felt haha).  So the last two days had been an indoor carnival.  We wanted to get out of the house but still couldn't be around people without risking contagion.  What to do.....what to do.  Well, what about a Sunday drive?  We always used to do that as kids...it's kind of a nice lil break.  And since we live in a new part of town, we thought we'd do some exploring.  It was not a disappointment, let me tell you!  Actually, it was absolute nature heaven.  Heaven!  Here's a picture of Blaine and I by the water.  It felt so good just to be alive, you know what I mean?  Do a little exploring of your own, you just might be surprised at what you find!!

P.S.  Sorry for the whining......I won't do it again!

Merry Christmas!

Our first Christmas tree in the new house - all decorated and purty.

Blaine and his gift from Gram, Rudolph!  I'm dreading the year he no longer wants to go to Build-A-Bear.  Hopefully, that's light years away~

I wish you all such a very Merry Christmas and a fantastic new year!

Love from,

The Vorwallers

Here it is....our new home!

Our very first addition, a Christmas tree!  We didn't let Blaine know that we were closing.  So we picked him up from school, bought our tree and surprised him by taking it to the new house.

Our lanai...it will be a nice place for the dude to play when it's rainy out :).

The yard needs a lot of work, but certainly has potential.  I was charmed by the trellis and white picket fence but the "grass" leaves a lot to be desired.  We'll get there in the end, though :).

Hope you enjoyed a peek into the newest chapter of our lives!

"happy thanksgiving back."

And if you're wondering about the title, it's in reference to the movie 'You've Got Mail'.  Let me know if you get it. :).  Anyhow, we've had a very busy week and it's been wonderful.  Blaine got his new hearing aid molds.  They're called 'skeleton molds' because there's a little cut out where you can see a bit of his ear.  What do you think?  We really like them! 

Blaine is very proud of his Native American heritage.  He was super quiet yesterday morning and came out bedecked in this chief's head-dress.  He made it all by himself.  Pretty amazing, no?  I was so, so proud of him and his dedication to making it.

He was pretty proud of himself, too.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

odd ducks....

Gotta say, Blaine, Mike and I are all odd ducks.  What are you gonna do?  I often write down funny things that Blaine says.  It's a way to journal his childhood, I guess.  So, without further ado here are some more Blaine-isms.

After passing gas (gross, I know)  Blaine says, "Sorry mom, but it was just a delightful little toot."
And this morning after I asked him to pick out a book for the ride to school;
Me- "That one doesn't have pictures buddy, is that okay?"
B- "Yeah, I make pictures in my mind with my imagination anyway!"

I hugged him real close after that.

walk for hearing and a little clarke in the park...

digging into some kettle corn...

he loves clowns and she did a great little magic trick for him...

blaine and i getting ready to walk!

him and his old school chums...

bagpipers....awesome sauce!  one of the pipers was also hearing impaired and bilaterally aided, very cool to see the hard of hearing pursuing music :).

blaine was one of 7 winners in the raffle...lucky boy!

This was our first year participating in the Walk 4 Hearing.  It always impresses me how much people give of themselves to put something like this on!  They all spoil these kids rotten (they do deserve it sometimes :).  Free kettle corn, treats, pizza, comic books, Frisbees..just endless!  I love meeting up with friends and getting to know new people and hearing their stories.  It was a fun and special day~

trunk-or-treat....

a mummy and his mommy, great trunk-or-treat this year!

love a good pumpkin patch....

the selection was insane and the price was right!

blaine pretending to be sad...couldn't do it...  we ran into his first speech therapist.  carol was the one to nudge us in the direction of an audiologist.  she literally changed our lives and i cried....sheesh!

awww, a little cinderella moment haha.

go jaguars!

like papa, like grandson...

his "silly" face...

heck yes, we belted that guy in!  best pumpkin(s) ever!!!

it's been a while.

Went to a friends birthday party last week.  We had such a great time!  They were gracious hosts and we saw friends and teachers from school that we'd not seen since graduation.  I wish we could see them all more often :).

Is it just me or does Blaine have the prettiest red lips you've ever seen? Lol.  Honestly though.  He's quite the "pouter".

So Cousin Carter let Blaine borrow his robot dinosaur.  Blaine named him Honor.  He then convinced me to throw a birthday party for him.  I even made a cake.  Ridiculous? Yes...but it was fun!

a quick trip...

My sister Alayna had another conference in Orlando.  That's great for me because we got to see each other for the 3rd time this year!!  It was only dinner and chatting, but we had a great time!

Alayna, Furry and I getting chummy at Dave and Busters.  When we left Oregon, we also left Furry.  Thank you Auntie Alayna for bringing him back!

Blaine won a ton of tickets and was able to purchase a marshmallow shooter.  Whooo whooo!

Best buds :)....

oh me....

Blaine started at a new school this year.  He's been having a great time so far but came home yesterday and asked;

"Mom, what's co-nudity?"
me - "Uhhhh, wait....what did you say?"
"Co-nudity."
me - "I don't know Blaine, are you sure that's the right word?"
"Yeah...it is."

By this point, I'm thinking Blaine's new school is a little too "free-lovin".  And I'm also starting to panic because I know that if I tell Mike, he's going to flip his lid!

So today he comes home and says;

"Mom, I know what the word is now.  It's community!"

Crisis averted!!!!!!!

3 weeks already?

Yet again, my pictures are all out of order.  Michael stayed with us for the first week, but I haven't uploaded those yet.....so backwards we go!

Blaine and I at the lake.  It was a gorgeous day (as you can see)!  It was quite peaceful since we were the only ones fishing.  We're wearing sweaters because it can get a little chilly up there, even in the middle of summer!

We make this trip every year, and every year Blaine falls asleep in the back of Papa's truck.  It's a bumpy ride too...I don't know how he does it!!!

"I'm a model, you know what I mean....."  Struck a pose for sure.

He's enjoying the view.

We interrupt this fishing trip with a picture of Blaine petting the neighbor cow!  He named all three Booty, Tooty and Buck.  Don't ask because I don't know.  Whenever they saw him coming, they'd run right over (usually because he'd bring food).

King of the mountain!!!

Making a silly face....looks like a member of Kiss actually.

Oma was the only one to catch a fish!  Papa left his pole to use the bathroom and when he got back, my mom was reeling this dude in.  It was pretty funny!

Still water.....

More later (I hope).  Toodles!

a trip to the zoo.....

Blaine and I riding the train, it was nice and cool.

B-bop petting a turtle.  He also pet a snake, but I was shaking too much to take a picture of that!

A giraffe eating out of Michael's hand.  I love how goofy giraffes look when eating!

Taking a break on a trunk...

A carousel ride for the boys...

High-fiving a tiger!

And taking a long needed rest in an empty (kind of) nest.

Our little family went to the Night at the Zoo.  It was so much fun!  The carousel and train rides were free, it was also free to feed the giraffes and stingrays.  Plus, the Jaguars were there signing autographs.  They provided dinner and dessert (uh, yuh huh) and it was just an all around wonderful time.  Can't wait to go again next year! 

a month late...

Mike being Mike at the campout..

The boys gettin' dirty....

Swimming in the skivvies.  They are so cute! 

So yeah, this was a month ago, but Michael took the pictures on his phone....and it took me forever to get them onto the computer.  The Vorwaller men took the Vorwaller boys on a camp-out.  It looks like they had a pretty good time, huh?  I sure did miss them but was glad that they could have that time to themselves to bond.  This is their 2nd year and I certainly hope it becomes a tradition!