Time to go home

On Wednesday mom and Nick took the long car ride home.  Mom said to Nick, "you were a good boy on this trip, I had a wonderful time visiting our family, I hope you feel the same way."

Christmas Day

One of grammy's favorite things about Christmas is she has all of her grandchildren together.

Here is a picture of mom with Katie (and Nemo).

This is Uncle Ned, Aunt Stefani, Henry and Katie in front of their Christmas tree.

Christmas Presents

Nick got wonderful Christmas presents from his family.

We gave Henry a Long Beach t-shirt, and 2013 sunglasses because he likes to stay up until midnight.

We gave Katie 2013 sunglasses too!

Katie got a Finding Nemo fish, and the movie to watch.  Grammy wanted to take a picture of Katie with Nemo, but she covered up her face with the fish instead.

Christmas Eve

On our Massachusetts trip we slept at grammy's house.  On Christmas Eve we went to Henry and Katie's house.

We had our family dinner together.

Henry monitored Santa's progress on Santa Tracker.

Then we called Aunt Nicole and Uncle Brian on the computer. 

They opened their gifts while we all sat around talking and laughing.

Christmas in Massachusetts

Last Sunday, mom and Nick took the long drive to Massachusetts to celebrate Christmas with our family.

Of course Nick was very happy, he has been talking about this for weeks.  He packed up his craft supplies and put on his Santa hat.

Grammy was so happy to see us, she made a big dinner for us.  Nick ate at the counter with Henry and Katie.

Mom and Grammy sat at the table with Aunt Stefani and Uncle Ned.  Aunt Stefani said, "wait until you come to our house tomorrow, we are going to have a wonderful Christmas celebration!"

Christmas Tree 2012

Every year we go to Dees Nursery with McKenzie to get our Christmas tree.  It is a very happy day for Nick, he loves Christmas and he decorates the house for the holiday season.  But this year we are in an apartment, and McKenzie is far away.  Mom found the Christmas decorations and brought them to the apartment.

We did not go to Dees this year, we went to a smaller place called Atlantic Nursery, and we got a little tree.

The tree looked very nice when it was all done.  But Nick was sad, he was asking for McKenzie. 

So we called her on the computer and we showed her our little Christmas tree!











It wasn't the same routine, but still made us all laugh and smile.

Facetime with McKenzie

After the storm we could not live in our house.  McKenzie went home to live with her family, far away in South Carolina.  Nick misses McKenzie, and sometimes when he asks for her, we call her on the computer!

 This is a picture of McKenzie talking on the computer.

 Sometimes Nick gets silly.

And sometimes he is quiet and serious.  In this picture, Nick is drawing at the table and McKenzie is talking to him. 










We use Facetime to talk on the computer.  In a few months we will be back in our house and we will be able to sit at the table in person.

The Laundromat

Now that we are living in an apartment, we do not have a washing machine and dryer in the house.

We have to go to the laundromat to wash our clothes.  This weekend, mom told Nick he would help.

First we had to put the clothes into the washing machines.  Then we put in two dollars in quarters, turned on the machines, and put in soap.

We went out for pizza lunch while the clothes were washing, then we came back and took them out of the machine.  Nick had to put the clothes into rolling baskets so we could bring the clothes to the dryers.

The laundromat was very busy, we found one dryer that was not in use.  Nick put the clothes in the dryer and then we had to put quarters in again to turn it on.  While the clothes were drying we went to Waldbaum's to do our food shopping.

When we came back all the clothes were dry.  We put them back into the rolling baskets and folded the clothes on the tables.  Nick was not very good at this job, mom had to give Nick a lot of help and instructions.

Then all the clothes were clean and folded.  We put them into our laundry baskets and put them in the car.  We had two of them to carry, so Nick carried one and mom carried the other.  When we got home Nick had to help carry the baskets and food shopping bags up the stairs to our apartment.  Mom told Nick, "I never minded doing laundry at home, but going to the laundromat is a lot of work!  Thanks for helping today, we got a lot done and we had pizza lunch together, you did a very good job!"

Thanksgiving 2012

Most of the time, mom makes Thanksgiving dinner.  But this year our house is broken, so Uncle Bobby said that he would make Thanksgiving dinner for us.

Even though daddy was not supposed to be cooking, he was in the kitchen helping.











Nick waited for dinner on the couch.  He was a good boy, and he ate turkey and potato with us!

Then we had dessert and posed for group pictures with cousin Jenni and Ryan.











When we left, mom said, "that was a wonderful thanksgiving.  Our house is broken and that made me sad, but this reminded me that we have family who care about us and that makes me happy."

That's not your bed!

One night mom and dad had to meet a contractor at the house.  While we were talking, Nick found a bag of blankets in the closet and he put them on the floor where his bed used to be. 

Nick looked very pleased with himself to get a little piece of his old world back.

Back to AHRC

Nick was happy when school was open, but he was also happy to go back to his Saturday program at AHRC.

First mom and Nick went to the bagel shop for breakfast, then we drove in the car to Brookville.

We walked through the building and said good morning to everyone, then Nick paused before he went into his classroom.














When dad picked up Nick at 3:00, they went to Burger King and Party City, just like old times.  Nick was happy to have some of his old routines back.

Back to School

 
When school opened, they did not have a special bus for Nick.  Mom and grandpa brought Nick to Wantagh State Park, and Nick went on the big bus with other kids who go to school in Long Beach.

Every night Nick made his lunch.  He was very happy to be back at school with his friends and teachers.

After two weeks, Nick got his own school bus that picked him up at grandma and grandpa's house.Nick waited at the door in the mornings.











Then the bus would come and Nick would go outside.











Mom said, "I am so proud of how well you are adjusting to changes in your routine!"

Staying with Grandma and Grandpa

In the middle of November, school was open again.  The Fairfield Inn was too far away, so mom and Nick stayed at grandma and grandpa's house during the week.

We had our own room, and mom brought Nick a computer so he could watch YouTube.











Everyday grandpa would take Nick to the school bus.

And at night, Nick got used to living with a dog, this is a picture of Fluffy!

Cleaning out the house

After the storm, we could not live in our house.  

We had to put a lot of things in the garbage because they were wet and dirty.












Men came to the house and ripped out the floors and parts of the walls that got wet.  Nick did not like seeing the men rip out the walls in his room.










After they were done with the work they put big fans out to dry up the water.
 










All of the rooms looked different with the walls and floors gone.

And we have nothing left in our kitchen, we will have to make a new kitchen when we fix the house.










Mom told Nick, sometimes good things can come from bad things.  We will try to make our house better when we fix it, especially the kitchen.