Alyssa is 1!

Alyssa had her first birthday! What a joy in our life she has been. Our family is complete with her. What a surprise she was and a blessing she has been.

Her personality has begun to shine through. Like Ryan she loves to cuddle. She has moments of spontaneous laughter where her eyes sparkle and her laugh goes all the way to her toes. She loves to smile and play. She prefers the remote control to most of her toys even though it doesn't do anything. She has taken to climbing and we have found her on the desk in our room playing with the computer. She is definately drawn to the electronics. Somehow it runs in our family.

What a party we had for her and Grant for their birthdays. Tia planned and pulled off a fabulous birthday party. We had a costume party with games, food and cake. Oh, the train was a huge hit as well. The kids could not get enough of the train (Courtesy of Kevin and Jill Edwards).

Grant made a very cute sidekick as Robin.

Benjamin gets his cast.

Benjamin broke his arm at the end of September. He ended up going in to the operating room three days after he broke it. The surgeon ended up not having to pin it she was able to set it and cast it without surgery. It was very good news. He chose to have a purple cast. Right before surgery though the doctor found out that his favorite color was green and was surprised that he wanted purple. When he came out of surgery his green monkey had a purple cost on his arm and Benjamin had a purple cast that was accented with a bright green stripe to match his monkey. Benjamin was wonderful through it all. He was even disappointed that he could not go back to school until the following Monday. The cast is scheduled to come off on November 11 if all goes well and it heals as well as it has so far. He will most likely be in a long arm splint for the following 2 weeks.