Mason's Bike~

For the last 6 months or so we have really been trying desperately to get Mason a bike.  This is not the same thing as getting any other kid a bike.  I test drove several bikes last year and finally found one that I thought would be good for Mason.  Once we decided on the bike that would work for him there was the matter of paying for it.  You see, a bike for a kiddo like our sweet Mason runs around $4100.  That isn't typically an amount of money we have sitting in our checking account wondering what to spend it on.  The same students who so generously set up the 5K to fund raise for Victoria took it upon themselves to try to get funding for Mason's bike.  They (and we) posted the fund on our facebook accounts and they looked for grants we could apply for.  I applied through Angel's Hands and they were able to help us.  With the help of our friends and family we were able to raise half of what we needed to buy this bike for Mason.  The day it shipped I was so happy I could hardly stand it! 

We put it all together and drove him around our limited space in our house.  It was pretty freezing when we got it so we were hesitant to take him outside yet.

I decided that he would get more use out of his bike if we sent it to school.  They could use it during PE or recess.  They sure have used it.  The most amazing thing is that Mason can actually peddle himself around.  He laughs and giggles and loves every second he gets to ride his bike.  It is so great for him to have something active he can do.  I am so grateful to everyone who helped us in our efforts to get our Mase this amazing bike. 

Angel's Hands Christmas Party

One thing my kids look forward to every year is the Angel's Hand Christmas Party.  We always go and usually we regret part of it because Mason is typically miserable from the noise and chaos.  This year it wasn't so bad!  Ezra was tall enough to participate and do all of the rides and games.  That really made it fun.  Victoria was not interested in doing much so she hung out with Mason a lot and that also made things more fun for us parents!  We started at the bumper cars and Ezra was dying to try it.  I was hesitant, but the kid operating the ride said he'd be fine and that if I was riding I could just follow him and jump up and grab him if I felt like I needed to.  I did not need to.

He was surprisingly a great driver.  He thought it was the greatest day of his life.  He drove a big car all by himself.  He was so fun to watch.

A rare picture of Mason at the Angel's Hands party is him not screaming or crying.   We didn't really even have to put in his headphones.  It was wonderful.  He was cute and fun.  The only part he typically is OK with is the movie part.  That is his favorite.  We saw 'Arthur Christmas' but all Mason really was interested in was the popcorn!

We saw Santa but only Mason was really happy about that.  My kids all wait to see 'the real Santa' at Michelle's house.  This Santa was just a helper and didn't really count.  They were happy to get beanies though.

Ezra actually liked seeing Santa and asking for his balloons.  Santa was confused and told him he could ask for another toy or something.  Really?!  When the kid wants balloons, stick with balloons!

This visit to see Santa Ethan decided that he wanted a BB gun.  What the?!  Ethan is funny.  That one came out of nowhere too!

Victoria was nothing but mad that we MADE her stand near Santa.  She was in no way in a good mood this day.  It started OK, but I don't really know what happened.  By Santa she was a grump.  Santa was nice enough to sit and let her just stand by him for a picture.  She looks cute at least!

After a full day of playing and roller blading and movie watching, our kids were exhausted.  Most of them slept on the drive home.

Angel's Hands Kite Day

I've posted before about this amazing organization Mason is a part of called Angel's Hands.  They support children and people with chronic or rare genetic disorders.  They have done so much for our family.  Some of the great things they offer families are opportunities to get out and do things together where we otherwise wouldn't be able to.

They had a professional kite maker make all of the families a really nice kite with the Angel's Hands logo on it.  They were so nice that even Ezra could fly it.

Ethan really got into it.  There were about 85 families that came.

They had it at this really nice park that looked like it was set up for Kite Fliers.  There were a lot of people who were just there with their families to fly their own kites. 

Our kids were in heaven. Mason even held it for a while.

I didn't really get any good pictures of the professional and their huge kites.  They were nuts.  They were huge and loud!  These dudes would dive the kites and steer them around and then land them to park them.  They were completely out of breath after flying their kites!  They had some kites that were staked into the ground just flying in the sky.  Ezra kept escaping to try and fly them.

Ezra was in heaven.  Once we freed him from his stroller he was the happiest little man I've ever seen.  Who knew kites were so much fun!

Hockey Game!

Every year the Angel's Hands Foundation (an organization that is so great and helps our family and Mase out with all sorts of things) has a day where they take all of the children who are involved with thier organization and their families to a Hockey game. Our kids LOVE it!

It's so much fun, and something that we may not normally plan to do with all of our kids. They also plan a lot of fun things for our section.

Every year they hand out cans of silly string to all of the foundation kids and their siblings. The mascot comes and 'visits' the kids in the section we are sitting in and they let him have it!! It was hilarious how much fun those kids had with that silly string!

Ethan remebers it from last year and how much fun it was. He went nuts with the silly string. He followed the mascot almost out of the terminal with his can of string. It was so funny!

They gave away so many prizes. Ethan just kept winning! (You can see some of the item he won he had to wear immediately!) Mason was a little nervous with all of the loud noises, but as long as Spen was holding him he was fine. Ez was such a trooper to be out so late. He didn't make one noise. He just sat on my lap and watched everything going on around him and then he'd cat nap!

Christmas Party

This year we finally got it together enough to attend the annual Angels Hand's Christmas party. It's at a fun center where you can to fun rides and roller skate and watch magic shows, etc.

After our pizza lunch date with Santa, we started at the bumper cars. Ethan and Spen had to go several times to satisfy Ethan! He had a blast

You can see how excited Mason was for the fun! His favorite part (to all of our surprise) was the movie! We went to see Madagascar with everyone. It was a lot of fun and our boys were so great!

Spencer took Ethan out to try and roller skate. He was pretty shakey!

Then he too Mason for a spin. I love that they let you do this with kids in wheelchairs!

Blaze Game

Last night we all went to the Energy Solutions Arena for the Blaze vs. Rush arena football game. It was a lot of fun!

The fans there are pretty crazy and intense (to put it lightly.) Mason was captivated by all of the bright colors and loud sounds!

We were invited to go to the game by an organization that Mason is a part of. It's called Angel's Hands. www.angelshands.org

Angel's Hands has done so much to support our family with the needs of Mason and his rare skin condtion. They are such an amazing group of people and we love being a part of it. They are also sponsering us to get to a medical conference in Chicago to learn more about Mason's skin condition and to meet others who are also affected. It's going to be so great!