YIPPEEEE!!!!!!! SONJA TURNS THREE!!!!!

Queen Sonja holding court in her throne on her most royal birthday!!!!!!
In September Sonja turned three years old! To talk to her, and in her mannerisms, one would think she's 30! She's like an old soul trapped in a three year old body!
She is also very bright, learns quickly, but is....oh....shall I say.....STRONG WILLED. She was very early (18 to 20 months)knowing her colors, shapes and knowing each sound animals make. At two she started taking an interest in puzzles, doing simple ones and now can master the 35 piece puzzles herself. She can also do a 50 piece with help.
She has, and remains to be, fasinated with the printed word. She asks a million times a day...."Mommy, what does that say?" pointing to the butter container, puzzle box, computer......anything that has words. She will sit with a book and pretend to read it to Max. It is soooo cute. Max usually just sits there and listens to the "story" but sometimes he decides he wants to get in on the action by turning the pages and adding his two cents worth. This usually results in a little tiff but soon, all is forgiven and they are back to being all lovey.
Below is a few pics from her birthday party at home.

Max, of course, enjoying his cake. I've never seen a kid that loves his food soooo much.

Sonja, Max and Grandpa eagerly anticipate tasting Sonja's yummy cake!!!

Sonja's crush Chase and his daddy Billy. Sonja absolutely LOVES Chase.

"Lucky Smiles" Day at the zoo

On August 25th, we attended the Lucky Smiles Day at the zoo. Lucky Smiles is a group of people and families affected by Craniofacial disorders. This support group was founded by a woman, Kelly Luckey, who's son Cody, was born with CL/CP. She has done a great deal to help people with craniofacial disorders and their families get information, provide lists of doctors that specialize in Craniofacial disorders and lobby the government to push for better insurance coverage for those affected. I became a member and also a pathfinder. A Pathfinder is a person who would assist another in finding information and to support other families new to the craniofacial disorders world.
The day was filled with fun and the kids loved the animals. It was also good for Max and Sonja to see other children with CL/CP.
The Amazon parrot above was the first animal we had seen..... and guess what his name was....MAX!
Below is a few pictures of the day.

Sonja, Max and Daddy standing in front of the giant aquarium.

Max and Sonja looking at the penguins. Sonja wanted sooooo badly to pet the penguins. Sonja LOVES penguins. This little penguin kept swimming really close to the glass, almost as if he wanted to get petted too!

Little penguin's Max and Sonja

Sonja saw the tigers and wanted to pet them too!!!!! We told her that they are not like on the cartoons and would bite her...... so she decided she would settle for this one

I thought I would give Sonja and Max some lesson's on milking a cow complete with the ol squirt the "milk" in the face trick. They kept wanting me to do it to them again, .........kids.

This, as you can see, is a wooden cow and inside is a water bladder with tubing going down to the teet. Sonja and Max did succeed at doing it after a few tries.

Sonja fine tuning her "milking" the goat skills.

Max and Sonja looking at a huge saltwater aquarium.

What are you thinking about Sonja? Possibly being a mermaid? :-)

After visiting with all of the zoo animals, we were talking with Kelly and it started to downpour. The kids....being kids........ headed right out into the pouring rain.

Yeah!!!!!! Puddles!!!!!!!

Max soaking wet and lovin' it!

Max, Sonja, Cody and his little brother playing in the puddles after the rain.

It was a great day.

We later found out that Max and Sonja's pictures were featured on the website!! Pretty cool.

Summer Fun!!!!

In August we went to Pirates weekend. It is a week filled with activities such as treasure hunts for kids, reenactments of local pirate history, parades and much more. I have always enjoyed going and Dan and I thought we would bring the kids up. Well....THEY LOVED IT!!!! Sonja was REALLY into it! She acted like a pirate, talked like a pirate and dressed like a pirate too. Max had the ol' ARRGGHHH done pat. There were locals including a family friend, Alex Moshier, (who plays Capt. Bill Johnson during the events), that dress up and give out "booty" to people on the street and also participate in Street theater. We didn't stay too late in the evening because it tends to get a little rowdy at night. Above is a picture of a pirate skiff that is used during the reenactment.

Sonja and I on the "pirate" skiff. Sonja was very interested in the ship and especially the galley. They have multiple bunks for the kids that partake in an on board learning experience where they travel and live on the skiff. The kids do all of the duties including cooking, navigating, cleaning. They haven't running water so they keep clean by taking a dip in whatever body of water they may be traveling in.... very cool.

The bathing beauties as pirates complete with eye patches, loot, hats, compass AND don't forget the hook hand!!

Summertime, Summertime, Sum, Sum, Summertime!

Like everyone else, we are enjoying the summer and nice weather. Max is adjusting very well to everyone and everything. Max likes to "swim" in the little pool and is also a great little helper. He loves to help pick up and help with chores as best he can.
His palate continues to heal and close after reopening after his surgery. The lip repair is on hold for now as the doctor says he wants to see if the palate will close fully without repeating the surgery. If the palate doesn't fully close in the coming months, he will repair the palate when he does the lip/nose reconstruction. I was hoping he would have the lip repair done sooner but he does fine as it is and I would rather have the doctor do as much as he can each time, than having numerous hospitalizations.
We had his hearing test repeated to evaluate the effectiveness of the ear tube placement and also check for conductive hearing in his left ear which was previously diagnosed with microtia with atresia. Well, his hearing in his right ear is within normal limits which is excellent considering the fluid he had and also being born with CL/CP (which causes problems with hearing, infections etc). The extra great news is he has conductive hearing in his LEFT!!! I always thought he might be able to hear as he always seemed to respond appropriately to my mother when he talked to her on the phone. The doctor said he could hear her and that the phone amplifies the sound in just the right range for Max to hear. He said he has some loss but he can hear with that ear!!!!! He may even be able to get a hearing aid for that ear if needed.
Here are some recent pics and happenings of late.

Max and Daddy at Barnhardt Island beach. The head gear Max has on is to help prevent water from getting into his ear. We also place ear putty into his ear opening to doubly protect it.

L to R Cousin Luci, Sonja and Uncle Dean (obscured by Sonja) at Barnhart Island Beach

Our community has a festival every year in which there is a small carnival, a parade, fireworks, diaper races and other activities. On the night of the fireworks, a life long friend had a party on her land on the riverfront and my sister Vicky's boyfriend Billy's band played for all. The kids had a GREAT time and danced their little hearts out! Here is a picture of them doing just that!

In August, We took a trip to Lake George and visited the "Magic Forest" and Six Flags Great Escape, Splashwater Kingdom. The kids had such a blast (and we did too). Here are some pictures from the trip.

Max likes to share with his sister.

Sonja is pretty proud of herself "driving" the bug ride.

The pool that "Spirit the Diving Horse" dives into!

The garbage can Barnaby.

Max and Sonja dancing to "Jingle Bells". This area displayed many old sleighs. Maybe Santa's sleighs

A very large turkey. Max just loved the birds that were here.

Smokey the Bear.... Teaching the children..... Only YOU can prevent forest fires.

Dan, Max and Sonja in a small trolley. We took this trolley over the covered bridge that you see below and also took all on a ride along the upper part of the "Magic Forest".

Max, Sonja and me in a small chapel, complete with pews, alter, stained glass and font, only in miniature. So cute and a perfect place to teach young children the proper way to behave in church.

Sonja, Max and me in the Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater pumpkin. Below is a picture of my sister and me taken when I was about 5 or 6 years old. I thought it was so cool to get a picture of the kids in the same pumpkin that my sister and I were in, and remember so fondly.

This is a very old "Sleeping Beauty" exhibit and it is animated. the children love watching it move and listening to the music.

Awwwww.....This picture warms daddy's heart (and mine because Sonja's driving with beach bars no less)! ;>)

They had a "Safari Trolley" that traveled through the woods which had various scenes along with corresponding sound effects.

I love this picture!!! They look so cute holding each others hand!

There was an ol' lady who lived in a shoe, she had so many children..... she adopted them from all over the world!!!! Oh... my dream come true!!!! Maybe Sonja and Max will have a little brother or sister from Africa, Ethiopia, Nepal or the U.S.A.!!! :)

Sonja pressing the buttons on the nursery rhyme displays. When you press the button, it plays the nursery rhyme of the display. These are the same ones that I pressed when I was a little girl, not much older than Sonja. The displays date back to the 1950's!!!!!

The "Magic Forest" is Santa Claus's summer home! Sonja was delighted to have her picture taken with him but Max, as you can see, wasn't about to let the guy with the red suit get too close. He kept his eyes on him just in case he tried to make a quick move towards him. Max was very willing to wave bye bye to him as we left.

Santa told Sonja he would see her Christmas Eve!!!! Sonja talked about it for days. We even visited with the reindeers and feed them! We gave Donner and Blitzen some food as we were pretty sure Rudolph was given plenty of food by other kids.

The "Lone Ranger" Max

Blowing the smoke from his six shooter.

Sheriff Sonja with her double barrel pink pistols.

On Sunday, we went to Six Flags Great Escape. The kids had a BLAST!!! I think they went on every ride except two or three. They saw many of the Looney Tunes and Disney characters. This theme park has the largest Disney attractions etc outside DisneyWorld! I was so glad we brought them here as well. I debated whether two theme parks in as many days would be too much, but they had no problem. We plan on bringing them again for Oktoberfest and Halloween Fright Fest.

When I was a little girl (many moons ago :), this park was called "Storytown". It still contains the same exhibits and attractions that was here years ago. My family came here every year for two weeks in the summer from age 5 until I was 15 years old or so. Seeing Sonja and Max enjoying themselves here brought me back to when I was a kid. We will continue my family's tradition with Sonja and Max and make this a vacation stop every year along with Magic Forest. Maybe the next time we come we will visit "Animaland", and when they are older,House of Frankenstein and Dr. Morbids, Then it will REALLY be continuing the family vacation tradition.

I hope the kids fall in love with Lake George like I did (and always will). I know Dan is secretly hoping that when the kids get older they will want to come here for Americade too!!! I know I will!

These three outlaws were caught cattle rustlin' and runnin' moonshine....Don't be fooled by their baby faces.....they're the meanest hombres' to cross the Rio Grande!

Sonja was sooooo happy that she was able to ride in Cinderella's pumpkin coach. She is a HUGE Cinderella fan and wants to watch the movie over and over again.

Sonja very happy getting her picture taken with Cinderella and Bat Max!

Super Sonja riding her mer-horse.

*BIFF* %BAMM! POW! Bat Max.... the caped crusader, saving damsel in distress Sonja.

"She's drivin' this thing like a MANIAC!" Sonja was using the control bar that makes the dragon go up and down. She was making it go up and down so fast, their heads were snapping back and forth. I was laughing so hard I could hardly breath! People watching their children on the ride were also laughing just as hard. Surprizingly, Max and Sonja loved it all the more!

After a great day at Six Flags, Max and Sonja are pooped right out! Needless to say... we were too!

Yeeeehaaaaw!

A little redneck fun.....wheelbarrow rides!! They love this!

Daddy's little helper!