Shriner's Christmas Card...AGAIN!

It was such a HUGE honor when we were asked last year for Izzy to be on the front of the Shriner's Christmas Card. You may remember this super cute picture that was the cover of the card...

We were asked again this year! Wow! I have been told that he stole the hearts of many and they just had to use him again so everyone could have an update on him. What a blessing that I get to share my precious boy with so many! Here it is!

(Cover of card)

(Back of card)

New Legs...with FEET!

YES! We have finally advanced to legs with feet!!! This was a very proud and exciting day for me. Izzy was doing so good with his one helper leg that it was time to move on to a new set of legs. He got to pick out what he wanted them to look like...and of course picked green legs with dinosaurs. Such a boy. It has been quite a process already as there is so much to learn when you have feet that you have never had before! Plus they make him almost 2 inches taller. He is a quick learner and has finally decided that prosthetic legs and walking isn't such a bad thing after all. Don't get me wrong...Izzy has yet to actually choose to wear them on his own, but at least he doesn't fight me like he used to. He is wanting to do everything for himself and putting on his legs is no exception. He is learning quickly how to put them on...and even more quickly how to take them off! He is really enjoying being upright and tall. He can see thing he hasn't been able to before, and get into all sorts of new things. I have Izzy wear them for about one hour per day, give or take. There are days we never use them, and others when we use them much more. I give myself (and Izzy) grace to do whatever fits best for that day.

As you may remember from earlier posts...not buying shoes for this child has been very challenging for my heart, so you can only imagine the joy I had as I was able to buy him his first pair of shoes! Izzy and I went shopping the very day we got them and tried on lots of pairs until we found the perfect ones!

I have always tried to give his prosthetic legs a name but nothing has ever stuck...until now! Izzy named them, all on his own. He calls them his Boys :-) I have no idea where he came up with this name but I love it, and so does he. I don't know if it has something to do with the dinosaurs or maybe the fact that I have called them his big boy legs or told him he is such a big boy now...who knows. But at least we have something to call them now!

Here is a picture of Izzy wearing his new Boys.

Wordless Wednesday

Prioritizing my life

Eeeek!!! It's been over a month (again) since I last posted! Sorry friends...but I have been having to do a lot of prioritizing in my life. I am very good at getting super busy and committing to way to much. When this happens I realize I loose focus on what really matters in my life. So the things that aren't on the top of the priority list take a back seat, and whenever time allows I bring them back out. My blog is one of those things. But tonight...I feel like I really want to take some time and write! There has been so much going on with Izzy and I know many of you would love an update! So stay tuned for more blog posts such as...
Shriner's Christmas Card
New Legs With FEET!
Christmas Events
Family Photo Shoot
Physical Therapy
Speech Therapy
Special Times With Family

But for now, I will leave you with this super cute picture :-)

Back to School

This September marked the beginning of my 4th year homeschooling! I could write for days on homeschooling, but that's not what this blog is all about :-) Lets just say that I feel beyond blessed to be called to stay home with my children and educate them. I have no idea how long I will homeschool, so I just take it a year at a time and try very hard to treasure each day I have with my precious little ones. This year Rachel is 9 years old and in the 4th grade. Jaxon is 7 years old and in the 2nd grade. We are using BJU Distance Learning for the second year and still loving it. It really is a perfect fit for our us at this stage in our life. We are also continuing to attend a local homeschool co-op called FIGS. The kids are learning and growing so fast. (I am re-learning a lot too!) This year our biggest challenge has been keeping my toddler busy! Last year he didn't care at all about Rachel & Jaxon doing school, but this year is very different. He wants to be with them all the time! He wants to do school with them or at least do something that looks like what they are doing :-) I have been spending a good chunk of time on pinterest finding different activities and such things to keep him occupied and stimulated during school time. Israel has a love for letters and shows a desire to learn. I look forward to teaching him someday too. I am blessed to be their mother and teacher.



State Fair

The Oregon State Fair is a long time tradition for my family. It's how we know summer has come to an end and the school year is just around the corner. We go every year and spend an entire day (13 hours to be exact!). We do it all from rides, to shows, to animals, and of course food! Recently we have started going with my sister's family which has been wonderful. This year Izzy was tall enough to go on one ride, the Canoe Ride, and he loved it! His big cousin Callie held him and it was super cute. Jaxon and Rachel enjoyed lots of thrill rides as they are tall enough for everything now.

First fair ride!

All time favorite ride at the fair...The Zipper

Izzy LOVES animals!

Jaxon got asked up on stage  to do a little break dancing competition! He was SUPER excited and did awesome!

Clamming

We live only an hour away from the beach so we go often! Unfortunately our beach isn't usually warm and sunny. Its usually cold and windy. We wear winter coats and if we are brave enough we dip our toes in the water. But never the less...its our beach and we love going. This wear we decided to try clamming! We decided to go on a guided tour and were quite excited as we have never done anything like this before. My parents were joining us as well. We got up early and were there all ready to go, only to find our that the tour guide was sick and we had NO guide for the day! We made the best out of it and borrowed the items and used our iPhones to learn how to clam! LOL! It was a funny site I'm sure for anyone who knew that they were doing, but we didn't care! We went and had a blast! We mostly only caught small ghost shrimp (not edible) and a few tiny clams.

And since we were at the beach we made a whole day out of it; lunch at Mo's, lots of GeoCaching, Playing in the sand, The Wax Museum, and The Undersea Gardens too. Our day was full of laughs and smiles and fun memories. We hope to go back again on the tour some day. But for now...here are some pictures.

Clamming

Jon and my Dad...oh my!

Rachel & Gramma

He loves the sand

We made it in time for the show!

Truly NEVER a dull moment!

Our family with my parents Jeff & Mary

Canyonview

This post isn't about Izzy...it's about my other two beautiful children Rachel & Jaxon! This summer they got the opportunity to attend a camp local to our area called Canyonview. They went for the first time last year and loved it so much that we had to go back this year! It is a Christian day camp. The kids do all the typical camp things...canoe rides, candle making, learning silly songs, creek walking, swimming, hiking, making new friends, Bible study time and SO much more. With Izzy being the youngest and having needs that require more of my attention, it was so wonderful to have something that was JUST for Rachel and Jaxon. A place where they could go and just be them, not Izzy's brother and sister :-) We are very thankful for this camp and what it means to our family and the many ways it blesses our children. The kids are already looking forward to going back next year!

Rachel & Jaxon's camp counselor - He was GREAT!

On the last night they put on a program for the families. It is full of silly songs and the salvation message too.

Camping

This summer we enjoyed lots of camping. We do it the old fashion way...in a tent! We have dreams of someday having a camper...but that's not today. We love to camp in the Bend/Redmond area where we are pretty much sure we will have lovely weather! No point in tent camping with kids in the cold and rain! Izzy LOVES being outside and getting dirty (Although he doesn't like being dirty beyond the activity he is doing...lol). We did lots of hiking, GeoCaching, biking, swimming, rafting/tubing and relaxing. Here are a few of my favorite photos from our trips this summer.

There is never a lack of fun in our family!

Doesn't get much sweeter than this!

GeoCaching

This was one of our favorite camping activities this summer

Off to go rafting for the first time

*Family*

Learning to make Paracord Bracelets

The Turkington Family ~ Summer 2011

Camp Attitude

I have waited to write this post because there is just way to much to say (and show) and I just know I won't do it justice. But I will try to put into words this amazing place full of love and grace.

Camp Attitude is a camp for kids of all different types of special needs and their families. We heard about it last summer, but really knew little to nothing. I checked out the website and we signed up many months in advance. We had some friends who went a few weeks before us and had nothing but beautiful words to say about it, so we were getting pretty excited. The week finally arrived and we were off. Thankfully for us it was just a short  1 1/2 hour drive away. Lots of people traveled many more miles then we did...even from different states. Upon arrival we were warmly welcomed by many "red shirted" happy faces, many of whom already knew our names! We were shown to the yurt we were staying in and a flood of "yellow shirts" followed us and unloaded our whole car, helped us get set up, unpacked and all settled. It was awesome! The rest of the day was spent wandering around the camp getting to know where everything was, along with meeting new people and making friends.

The following day each of our children were assigned a "Buddy" also known as "Yellow Shirt". They all wore a yellow shirt that said "Buddy - A friend who sticks closer than a brother" on the back. The job of the buddy is to love on our children and be with them doing whatever they wanted from breakfast until bedtime! We had some time to talk with the buddies and go over special needs and such. Then off they went...without us...it was crazy! But wonderful at the same time. Each of my children got specialized one on one attention from an amazing teen who was there just to love on my kiddos! They all had so much fun and my kids sure wore their buddies out!

Jon and I enjoyed lots of time to ourselves. Some of which we had no idea what to do! LOL! We took walks, rode bikes, fished, read books, spent time with other parents, and truly enjoyed our alone time. Throughout the day we would meet up with our kiddos and they were always enjoying themselves.

There were also "red shirts" or servants. They were adults and/or families who came to serve as well. They would clean bathrooms, wash dishes, take out the trash and every other type of "household" job. They were wonderful people with beautiful spirits that were as bright as the sun. Both the red and yellow shirt people are all there as volunteers...no one gets paid. Yet we campers get to go for FREE! Crazy isn't it!

All of our meals were prepared my a culinary trained chefs...and everything was homemade! It was SO yummy...especially for camp food!!!

Every day was filled with tons of activities. All which were adaptable for any special need. It was amazing how they thought of EVERYTHING! The kids did so many things, but just to name a few...horseback riding, jet skiing, tubing, talent show, playing in the river, fishing, wagon rides, lots of lake time, petting zoo, laser tag, crafts, hot air balloon rides and SO much more! There was never a dull moment around there!

We were there a total of 6 days and we were pretty sure we could just move there! The place if full of more love then you could ever imagine. Here is the link to Camp Attitude if you want to check it! If you have a kiddo with a special need of any kind...you need to go! You will never be the same!

Here are a "few" of the pictures from the week. It was so hard to pick which ones to share since there were photographers on site taking pictures of our kids all the time, then composing a CD at the end of the week with them all on it for FREE! But here are the ones I picked.

They took this picture of our family upon arrival.

Izzy LOVED the horse rides!



 Jaxon and his buddy Chase

 Rachel pretty much lived at the barn with the animals

 The who group of week 5

Izzy got two buddies! Charlene and Alex 

 Rachel and her Buddy Cassie

Laser Tag!

 Jon enjoyed playing too!

Getting a ride from Dad 

Jon, Izzy & Me with "Uncle Mike" on the SeaDo 

Our family on the tube ride!

End of Summer Recap

Summer is always a busy time for us and this year was no different. In fact it was even more busy than normal! We packed it full of activities and trips and loved every minute of it! We created so many wonderful memories that we will forever cherish. I left off blogging with a little teaser from Camp Attitude and thought it was only fair if I finish that story, as well as tell you about the rest of our summer and the beginning of Fall. So stay tuned over the next few weeks for blogs about
Camp Attitude
Camping
Canyonview
Clamming
The State Fair
Back to School
and an iPad2!

Teaser...from Camp Attitude

Ok, so we just got back from Camp Attitude...I have a huge blog post in my head right now...but I don't have the time to write it. So for now I will leave you with this. If you have a special needs kiddos of any kind and live in the NW (or even if you don't!) You have to check out Camp Attitude's website. It is something that will change your life! And here is a teaser picture for you :-)

Wordless Wednesday

Happy 4th of July (A little late I know)

We went camping for the 4th of July, as we do every year. However this year seemed to be the most fun we have ever had! Israel was old enough to really enjoy everything we did (Minus the freezing river water)! Plus he was able to go without taking a nap and stay up later than normal without falling apart! It was glorious! We spent our time...

Playing in the dirt

Taking hikes and GeoCaching...Izzy LOVES the Beco (And SO do I)

Having necessary potty time (Very thankful for travel potty chairs!)

Sleeping in very warm sleeping bags

Together as a family