Thursday, July 31, 2008

Catching up...

We survived our family trip to St. Louis with flying colors.  Saturday we departed in the wee hours of the morning and made it to St. Louis by lunch time.  The rest of the day we spent relaxing by the hotel pool and enjoying pizza.  We were really blessed to have both Claudia's and Eloise's Godmothers come to St. Louis for some quality fun time!  Sunday we visited the Butterfly House where the concentration of butterflies pleased even the four-year olds in the crowd.  Eloise spent the first twenty minutes wishing (read whining) for a butterfly to land on her arm.  I thought for sure we were going to be carrying a crying little girl out the door... but thanks to God's sense of humor a huge butterfly blessed Eloise's forehead with it's whispering wings.  (one also landed on Claudia's tray)  
Monday we headed down to Washington University Children's Hospital for our appointment with Dr. Brunstrom.  Despite Claudia's extremely positive attitude going into the appointment she lost it in the office.  Through the patience of the staff and Dr. Brunstrom's perseverance Claudia did end up walking with her various walkers and braces for the crowd.  Each appointment the group does a video to compare and see how Claudia is progressing.  All in all it was a good visit and we came home with a list of 12 recommendations and 6 months to complete them.
The ride home was a little longer but we made it home around 10 pm.  Not bad for a weekend's work.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Smiles


Thought we would share a few of our first smiles.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

RIDEABILITY

The girls enjoyed a perfect Minnesota sunset as they rode with the Rideability Program.  They couldn't be more excited to tell everyone the names of their horses and that they went "horse backing".

Waiting in anticipation...

Claudia riding J.T.


Eloise riding Ginger


Cooling off with treats after a long ride!  Way to go cowgirlies!

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Door County

"The Brothers"
(Matt, Pete, and Joe)

The (Expanded) Rank Family

Just a few photos to note our Fourth of July weekend in Door County.  The fish were not biting so I'm missing the perch photos.  However we did have a grand time taking all the kids to the local farm.  The weather was great and traveling with four children was manageable.  We dropped our mini-van off in LaCrosse on the way home for the ramp conversion.  Also heard the great news that Claudia's power wheelchair has been approved by insurance.  It won't be long before you can witness the new wheels. 

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Vincey and Julesann


We are just about to the two month mark!  Time certainly is flying by for all of us.  The new nicknames (Vincey & Julesann) have been approved by the big sisters.  Matt prefers to call Vincent "Big Ticket" but that was nicked by Eloise on account of it not being fancy enough.

Just have to mention two comments from Claudia and Eloise.  

"I can settle him (Vincent) down all by myself because 
I'm a BIG girl"-Claudia
"How come boys have different bottoms than girls?" -Eloise


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