My Silly Boys

Hugs for Kelsey

Kelsey is our special home health aid who helps care for Sam! As you can see, he loves her a lot! We are so thankful for her!

2008 Christmas Letter

December 2008

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and your family! We hope this letter finds you happy and healthy. This has been an eventful year full of blessings and challenges for us. It is hard to believe that our little boy is 7 years old already! He is about 55lbs of wild strength and energy. We pray that our muscles and backs continue to keep up with him! Sam’s loving hugs, smiles and laughter keep our hearts full and happy each day!

The beginning of 2008 started out with a month long stay in the hospital for Sam. He spent part of the time at Avera Mckennan Hospital and the rest of the time at Children’s Care Hospital. He had an infection that needed to be treated with IV antibiotics three times a day. While he was in the hospital, we remodeled our upstairs bedrooms to make Sam his very own suite. We combined two bedrooms into one and put in a raised bathtub, sink and swing for Sam. His new room has provided us with more space and made it much easier for us to lift him in and out of the tub!

In June, Sam began attending school at Children’s Care Hospital and School. We are so thankful for the wonderful staff of people working with him! His school day begins at 9:00 and ends at 3:30. He is doing great in school and is even learning how to use the big boy potty! He also made his first appearance as a ringbearer in July when our friend Kelsey got married! He was so handsome and performed amazingly well!
Listening to music, reading books and swimming are still his favorite activities. He loves lots of attention!

October brought Jeff ‘s 11th anniversary at the Trane Company. He continues to work in sales and we are thankful for the flexibility that his job allows. In August he had an opportunity to go to a Dude Ranch in Wyoming for work and had a great time complete with cowboy boots and horseback riding! My volunteer activities keep me busy during the day while Sam is in school. I enjoy speaking and advocating about Special Education issues. This year I had an opportunity to speak at USD and present at the GreenSTAR Symposium for SD Achieve.

At this time of year we reflect on all of the blessings God has given us. Our strong family ties and close friends offer us great strength, smiles, love and laughter on days that we need it the most. We look toward 2009 and pray for Sam’s continued good health and happiness. Thanks so much to our family, friends, teachers, therapists, nurses and doctors for making a difference in Sam’s life. You are all so important to us. We wish you a Merry Christmas and much joy in the up coming new year!

God Bless,
The Horstmeyers

Sam's 7th Birthday Party!

Halloween Fun

Touching yucky stuff at the haunted house!

Cruising for treats at school on Halloween! Lots of fun costumes!

Darth Vader Sam

My Boys...

At cousin Brook's surprise 30th birthday party. We have aged a bit, for a multitude of reasons!

FRUSTRATING SEIZURES...

Sam's seizures have increased again and we are in need of prayers right now for some answers. His medication has been increased three times already this fall and he has not had a decrease in seizure activity yet. We do have oxygen at home now which is a comfort for us. Last Wednesday Sam had a CT and an EEG which resulted in a very long day in the hospital. He had difficulty waking from the sedation medication and also had 7 seizures, none of which were during the time he was hooked up to the EEG, of course! His EEG was abnormal as expected, and it showed that he was having a lot of seizure activity and probably more seizures than we are recognizing. The doctors are kind of puzzled right now as to where they should go next. Please pray for Sam's team of doctors, a decrease in seizures for Sammy and patience and strength for Jeff and myself. God Bless you all and thanks for your continued prayers and support!

Fall Festival at CCHS

Chef Sam had a fun time at the Fall Festival at Children's Care. Some of the kids participated in growing the veggies and caring for them throughout the summer. The result was a fall party full of vegetable fun! The kids decorated their own shirts and the staff dressed up complete with Sam's friend Kathie turning into a human carrot! Sam tried homeade vegetable soup and smelled lots of herbs! Daddy even stopped in for a surprise visit!

Grandma and Grandpa are Home!

Grandma and Grandpa went on a journey out west to Glacier National Park, up through Banf Canada and back down through Idaho returning home after two weeks of fun! We were all very happy to see each other, but I think Sam was the most excited of all!!!

Loving Grammy Joyce

Fun Zoo Pics

We had a fun weekend playing with the grandparents while Jeff was away at a Dude Ranch! Yes, I said Dude Ranch! He wore cowboy boots and rode a horse in Wyoming with some buddies from work. While he was experiencing the great outdoors, we went to the zoo and had a great time feeding the animals in the petting zoo. The staff was kind enough to bring the animals out for Sam to touch and he seemed to like the horse the best! I was worried that Grammy Joyce was going to pass out after Sam kissed the horse, but she hung in there like the trooper that she is! Lots of wipes were used seconds after their noses met! Also, notice our "extra" goat friend trying to get in on the action!

Play Date at the Park

Sam had a play date at the park with his friend Allison and he missed her so much over the summer that he needed to say hi by playing footsie!

1st Day of School at CCHS

Sam will be attending school at Children's Care Hospital and School this year and we are so excited! We are sad to be leaving our friends from John Harris, but are excited about the new program at CCHS. Sam is thriving and trying new things. He is involved in a potty training program and he went pee pee on the potty on Thursday afternoon! We are so proud of him! Time will tell if it happens again, but it has to happen once to happen a second time, right!? They rolled out the red carpet and cheered and clapped for each kid as they entered the building on the first day of school. Sam is very content and happy at school and has a wonderful staff of people working with him.

4th of July in Watertown

We spent the 4th of July in Watertown at Grammy and Grandpa Horstmeyer's house. Sam had fun listening to the fireworks and smelling the smoke balls. He also loved Grammy's tub! Here are some pictures of the fun weekend!

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo...

We have been enjoying our zoo pass this year. Sam loves to hear the noisy birds and monkeys! I'm not sure what he thinks of the stinky smells, though! He also had a great time feeling the tiger fur, riding the carousel and having a picnic lunch with mommy and grammy. We are looking forward to the petting zoo opening back up so we can watch him feed the horses!

Handsome in my Tuxedo!!!

As some of you may know, I have an important position in my friend Kelsey's wedding on July 19th!!! I am the ring bearer and get to wear a pin-stripe tuxedo! My grammy and mommy helped me try it on last night and I looked quite handsome!

Rainbow Trout Fishing Videos

Catching Rainbow Trout!

Sam went trout fishing with his classmates on Tuesday morning followed by a picnic in the park. Grandpa John was able to join us and we had a great time catching three fish! Sam got a good grip on the one in the picture and even tried to take a bite to explore a little more!