Family Tree

When we cut down the big maple tree in our front yard a few years ago I cried. I loved that tree it was beautiful. It provided our house and yard with just the right amount of shade in the summer and shelter the winter. As I was leaving Home Depot yesterday I noticed that they had a large variety of trees for sale. I drove home and convinced Taylor that we needed to plant another tree in the front yard. I helped him imagine how nice it would be to sit under the shady tree during the hot summer months and how nice it would make the yard look. He agreed and set off in the truck to purchase. I loved that it was a family affair all of us outside assisting in the planting of this tree. I thought about how cool it will be years from now to see it grown along with the children, and to know that we put it there.

Mattie was such a big helper.

everyone pitched in, even the dog!

The tree looks wonderful..

What a perfect day!

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a cute one of Mattie helping Daddy..

Earlier as we were laying mulch down in the backyard Mattie insisted on using the rake to help spread it out. He look at me matter of factly informing me "I helper!" as he pushed the heavy rake around.

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Since you asked, an update on Ali's Bionater.

She seems to not mind it at all. However its difficult to understand her sometimes requiring me to ask her to repeat herself several times. I told her the other day that she was going to have to really focus on talking slower so that she was talking more clearly.

She said "but Mom, that's just not like me to talk slowly!"Which is very true.

She's still doing speech exercises but they are more associated with working on her tongue thrust than actually articulating well. The speech therapist was concerned that in the middle of retainer is a wire that might be inhibiting her ability to keep her tongue on the roof of her mouth. This would not help us in the long run, so I will be talking to Dr Jensen about that at our next visit.