October 2012 Update

After Jared, Nathan, and I spent a week in Seattle it looked like he was going to be there for a while.  My mom needed to go back home, and paying for a hotel room was getting really expensive so we decided to take turns sleeping bedside with Thomas while the other one would stay at home with the other kids-- at least until we got into the Ronald McDonald house.  Because I couldn't drive Jared's stick shift, I took the first turn at home with the kids.

NEW GLASSES

Nathan got new glasses to help him not go cross eyed.  He looks very handsome, although keeping glasses on a 3 year old is quite the challenge, and it's even harder to keep them clean.  Also in this photo, note the vintage Yellowstone National Park shirt circa 1985-ish.  Jared found this souvenir shirt in his save box, and decided to let Nathan have it.

SEATTLE CHILDREN'S

After spending a week with the kids in Richland, the Ronald McDonald house finally opened up and we were able to all go up to Seattle to be with Thomas.   It felt really good to be together as a family again.

The kids riding on the Hippo outside the entrance to Seattle Children's.

The kids couldn't get enough of their sweet baby brother.  When they visited the only difficulty we ran into was who got to hold him first.

Maddy holding Thomas for the first time.

Abby holding Thomas.

Nathan holding his little brother.

Although the kids loved seeing Thomas and playing at the Ronald McDonald and the hospital playroom, after a few weeks they started getting homesick.  We decided to show them that Seattle had lots of fun things to do other than visiting the hospital.

AMERICAN GIRL STORE

Abby and Maddy absolutely loved the American girl store!  Here is Abby in front of one of her favorite American girl characters, Kaya.  Abby has read all the Kaya books and has been discussing them in her American girl class at Homelink. Kaya is from the Nez Pierce tribe in the area that is now the Tri-cities.

Here is Maddy with the doll Rebecca whom Maddy likes because she is "fancy and looks like me."

KING TUT

For Abby's homeschool, Jared took her to the King Tut exhibit where she was able to see ancient Egyptian artifacts that she had studied about in her ancient history class.

Here's a picture from when Abby went to the King Tut exhibit in Philadelphia when she was less than a year old.

The cutest little Mummy.

Abby also enjoyed seeing other things at the Pacific Science Center.  She especially loved the 3D IMAX movie about the migration of monarch butterflies and kept trying to catch them out of the air in front of her.

Abby by the space needle.

THE ZOO

Jared took the kids to the zoo in the rain while I spend a day having one-on-one time with Thomas.  The kids were soaked but had a great time.

HALLOWEEN HAPPENINGS

We did homeschool with Abby and Maddy in Seattle, but Jared took them back for a few days one week  so they could go to classes and he could take care of some things at home.  Nathan's preschool took a trip to the pumpkin patch.  Here they are enjoying a ride.

Picking out pumpkins.  Nathan was disappointed that he could only pick out a small one.

The kids were really sad at first about spending Halloween in Seattle, but they ended up having a wonderful time.  In fact they were much more spoiled than they would have been at home.  The hospital playroom had a big Halloween party where they got lots of prizes and they got to show off their costumes. They also got Halloween prizes and candy at the McDonald house.   Many of the doctors and nurses were dressed up and Thomas even got his own little pumpkin decoration.

On Halloween night Abby lost her first tooth.  She had been wiggling it for days, and after noticing how loose it was while helping Abby brush her teeth, Jared gently grabbed the tooth with a piece of gauze and pulled it out.  She was really excited the next day when she found 4 shiny quarters under her pillow left by the Tooth Fairy.