All in a Day

Visits from family always go to quickly and the goodbyes never get easy. We were blessed this past week to get a visit from Mitch's sisters. Vanessa, Kim and her husband Will, and their two boys Matthew and Joshua. We were so excited to see them and we so glad they made it safely to "the middle of nowhere"! I thought I'd post some pics of their visit, enjoy!

Here is PJ in his latest night gear. He wears his hip brace at night along with his new night braces for his feet...doesn't seem to phase him one bit!

Mitch and his sister Kim--they are so photogenic, it really is unfair!

Daniel with his cousins: Joshua and Matthew...they had a blast!

Vanessa, Mitch, and Kim

PJ had to get in the picture :-)

Me and my love <3

Mitch and Kim

Everything is going well at the Hinton house. The summer is flying by (no!) and we are getting ready, yet again, for another trip to San Francisco for PJ the first week of August. Daniel's been blessed with a few vacation bible schools, and he's been reading up a storm. He has also discovered his love for Star Wars...it's cute. He's been a good boy this summer and I get choked up just thinking of him going back to school...
Mitch is busy as ever with work. I find myself constantly cleaning and picking up the house. The laundry never ends and there are always fresh cookies to make and crumbs to sweep up...I wouldn't have it any other way!! We are so blessed. I feel blessed to be able to stay at home and be home with my boys everyday...

Ok, let's just get the obvious out of the way: it's been roughly 5 months since I've last posted...ok, there. Now that is out of the way we can move on (that was more for me than you, ha!)

These past 6 months have seriously flown by. We've been through a kindergarten graduation, Daniel getting glasses and losing 2 teeth, PJ's foot surgery, painting a house, selling and buying a car and a couple other life changes...now is that not a jam-packed 6 months or what?! And, as usual, Heather-style, I don't even have enough pictures to capture every single one of those moments. I wish I was better at that, but I'm not...at least I admit it!! I was thinking that maybe if I do quick (which usually end up lengthy) bullet points, maybe that would be easier to catch up...so, here it goes.

Daniel did awesome in school. He received a special award at the end of the year in front of the whole school. The award was for reading. This kid reads so well, it's kind of scary. He is reading around 3rd grade level at the moment and continues to grow everyday. I'm so proud of him. Along with the special award, he received a $20 gift card from the school.

Daniel lost two teeth as well...but, not w/o some resistance! He isn't one for wiggling his own teeth. And actually, right at this moment his top front tooth is loose, but I can't get him to wiggle it. His two bottom adult teeth actually started to grow behind his baby teeth (I know, creepy!) and so he had to get those pulled out by the dentist. So let's hope he can get this one pulled out before he starts sprouting more adult teeth!

PJ is doing amazing. He is such a trooper. God has His hand on PJ and you can see it in everything that boy goes through! He recently had his Achilles tendon lengthened and put into leg casts...I know it sounds horrible and I guess it kinda is, but after going through the spica cast experience last year, this was a breeze...well, until his cast started falling off! I laugh about it now (it's now a week after that happened), but I was pretty stressed about it. The surgery went really well and was relatively quick. He had a bit of trouble coming out of anesthesia, but once he was awake, he was back to his joyous self. But about a week later, his right cast started coming off. We got in to our brace maker the same day. He wanted to take both casts off to take a molding of his feet to start making his new braces for when his casts came off. I was a little upset that he wasn't just taking the slipping one off to recast, but it turns out the leg that we had though was just fine actually had a disgusting black bruise on the top of his foot due to the cast and needed to be changed...if he didn't take that one off, we would have been dealing with a nasty pressure sore. God intervened and I am SO thankful for that!! I just love seeing God in the midst of His work!!! PJ received his new braces a week early and was able to get his casts off a week earlier than planned! YAY!!! He's been in his new braces for about 3 days now and is doing awesome. Today is the nursery in church, I got him to stand and play and a toy for about a minute with his legs straight and he was totally supporting himself with no help from me!!!!! YES!!! He is going to be on the move soon, I just know it!!

PJ is quite the smarty pants. He is so stinkin' cute and I think he uses that to his advantage, whether that being him telling Daniel while pointing at him, "no!no!no!" or laughing all cute when I say "PJ, no no!"...he just looks at me and smiles, like I'm kidding or something!!! I can't help but melt inside...I try to not let him get away with too much, but I'm telling you, he is one cute kid!!

Mitch is working so hard at the mine. He is on rotating shifts, so we'll get a week of him working days, then nights. It's ok. I was used to it at the police dept. He works occasionally at the PD when he is needed or when he needs to relieve some stress (I know, that doesn't make sense!). He is a hard worker though, and I am so thankful for that.

We painted our house this spring...I'm just going to keep it short and say that next time, if there is a next time, we will be hiring someone...I think I developed carpel tunnel from that weekend...ha!

We had been thinking about getting a car for me to drive...we have a 4 door truck that I had been driving, which is nice, but it is lifted a little and lugging PJ around and getting him in and out of the truck was getting difficult. Not to mention that equipment that we are starting to take with us for PJ's mobility. We had been driving through car lots for a few months, but just felt that it wasn't time and that God would show us the right time and the right car when He felt it was right. And then, out of the blue, my parents came over to our house because they said they wanted to talk with us (man, did I ever feel like a kid again....) They told us they were thinking of getting a new car and asked us if we would be interested in buying their Honda Pilot. Um...yes!! God totally blessed us with that car. It is exactly what we need. I'm not writing about that to be obnoxious about getting a car...rather, I am praising God for His provision, for Him giving us patience, and for His awesomeness! Even if it's just about a stinkin' car, I praise God!! So, we sold my Buick (remember that wonderful car Amber?)...I was sad to see it go, seeing as though that car got me through college and the first 7 years of Mitch and I's marriage. I'm sentimental that way!

So, now, I'm just going to let the pictures and my little captions do the rest of the talking...I told you...I could do quick bullet points!!! Hope you're not snoozing by now!

Easter pics of my handsome boys!!

Daniel has taking a fond liking to golf. A dear friend of ours bought Daniel his first set of clubs and he has been enjoying them!! That picture on the right is actually a candid, looks posed, but it's the real deal!

Look at that boy!! man, I love him!

Pappy and PJ. This hot air balloon was going right over our house!

Mitch and his friend Jeff...I hope they don't mind I shared this! ha! This was Mother's Day weekend. The guys took me and my friend Shana to a spa weekend in Reno!! Good job boys!

Daniel at graduation. Just look at that smile...I'm so proud of that boy!!

Daniel and his teacher, Mrs. Dendary celebrating graduation! oh, and his good friend Lauren!

This was from our latest trip to San Francisco to get PJ's surgery. We had to stop at the beach. Our good friends Jeff and Shana and their daughter came with us...man, many laughs were had...oh, and I have to say, my husband is smoking hot in that hat!!