Saturday - Girls Day!

Ceil was up and standing tall this morning.  She is looking forward to Annie, Karen, Denise, and Hanna coming to spend the day with her.  Kind of a mini girls weekend.  Should be fun, and Denise will be taking pictures for the blog.  Later, the whole gang came to visit.  Kevin and Colleen, Wayne and Mary, Brian, along with the girls it was a full house and lots of excitement for Ceil.  This is what being at home is all about.  Enjoy the pictures below.

Look mom, no hands!

Standing tall and looking great!

Karen and Ceil enjoying a quiet moment

The gang at the plant nursery

Wayne and Mary came to visit with Ceil!

Annie and Ceil

Running through the jungle

Enjoying a KFC dinner with Kevin and Fester

Ceil really enjoyed the evening

                                     Everyone kicking back after dinner and enjoying the evening

Friday Update - Playing Hookie

Ceil was up and doing great this Friday morning.  We will be taking it easy today and enjoying the beautiful weather.  Linda came home early today to spend time with Ceil and I.  What a wonderful surprise!  We were off to Cashwise for a roll and coffee to start the day.  Afterward, we walked over to Goodwill for some treasure hunting.  Then it was over to Lake George for a walk in the sun and wind.  We were back home for soup and grilled cheese sandwich.  Simple, but fun Friday off for Linda.

Off to Goodwill after a treat at Cashwise

We did find a few treasures at Goodwill, and Ceil is modeling a lovely hat.  Appropriate for celebrating the royal wedding don't you think?

Lovely at Lake George

At the new water fountain

Thursday Update - The Morning with Doug and Speech Therapy

Ceil was up early and doing quite nicely this morning.  Doug came to visit Ceil.  The speech therapist came as well to do an assessment to determine if Ceil would in-home speech therapy.  I was out and about running errands and will get the information from Doug a little later.
Well, the speech therapist thought that Ceil had not lost any ground, and recommended that we keep working with her as we have been over the last few months.  That's good news, but we all know Ceil is sharp as a tack.  Doug and Ceil went shopping at Walmart and drove around town a bit before coming home for a nice lunch, followed by the much needed afternoon nap.

Wednesday Update

Ceil was doing great this morning.  After peddling, Steve came for PT.  This was his second to last visit, so he had me do all the work and evaluated and gave suggestions on working with Ceil.  Ceil did great!  She did four sets of standing/sitting and side to side.  She also did four sets of rail walking without any problem.  Steve was impressed with how well Ceil and I worked together.  He will be back on Friday for one last visit, and if the weather is good, we will walk down and up the ramp! 

Tuesday Update - Rainy and Cooler

Ceil was up this morning and doing very well.  Ceil had a session with the OT right away this morning.  It went well, as Ceil again worked on using a device that assists her with putting on her socks.  It is hard to understand, but you can see how difficult it is for Ceil to do this, and how much energy she uses in the process.  The OT feels there is little else to be done, as Ceil is doing very well otherwise.  Ceil also had a visit from the PCA for a shower and check of her vital signs.  Not much else planned for today, but you never know what might happen later.
Well, the weather was a bit too nasty for an outing, so we just stayed home for the evening.  Ceil enjoyed AMC with Linda and visited with baby Christopher.  Then it was off to bed, as tomorrow will bring more therapy with Steve.  See you then.

Monday Update - Walking and Taking Our Time

After a busy holiday weekend, Ceil slept in a little longer this morning.  We took our time and just did everything nice and slow.  After a nice breakfast, a little Food Network.  It was time to do some work.  We started with peddling for about 20 minutes, then is was over to the rail for 4 sets of up and down exercises, and finally we walked the railing 4 times.  We concentrated on posture and balance today.  Ceil did so well, and was really working hard on her posture.  Ceil found that standing tall and straight made it easier for her to kick the right leg out when walking.  She was delighted with the outcome, and so was I!
The morning was still young and the sun was shining so beautifully that we had to take a walk.  Man, was is it ever nice!  We took our time on the walk and went the really long way around the block.

Ceil was please with her newly raked flower beds.

Easter Sunday

Ceil was up early this morning and excited about going to Easter mass. We had a nice scrambled egg and cinnamon roll breakfast this morning  Yum!   Linda and Ceil are picking out a dress and shoes for church.  Micki will be going with them to the Easter mass.  Micki, Brian, and Doug came for dinner.  Denise and Ian stopped by for a brief visit before dinner.  It was a wonderful Easter dinner, and Ceil had a great time.  Enjoy the pictures from this beautiful spring day.  Finally!

Brian and the turkey

Denise stopped by with flowers for Ceil

Doug and his buns

Coming back from church

Greeted by the kids

Fester and Ceil

Denise telling a story

Ceil got calls form Larry and Annie

The gang sitting in the warm sun

Beautiful Easter day

Dinner time

Fester at his finest

Yum!  Micki's wonderful coconut cake!

After dinner fun

The girls before church

We went to lake George for a walk

The lake, the sun, and the wind

We stopped by to see Leo's memorial

Saturday Update - Easter Egg Hunting

Ceil was up early and out the door in search a an Easter egg hunt.

Ready for the hunt!

At Riverside warming house by the fire

Lots and lots of kids, eggs, and anticipation!

Eggs all over

ING eggs for Linda

Playing at Riverside park

Not the nicest day out

Pines in the park

Happy Easter to all!

All my Easter basket ;^)

Finished!

Aerial view

Good Friday

Ceil was up and doing great this morning.  Ceil will have visits from the PCA , PT, and the home health nurse today.  A busy Friday morning for Ceil.  Ceil did great with PT.  However, Steve indicated that there will be only two more session before home care signs off.  They feel that Ceil is doing so well that the service is no longer needed.  We will continue with walking the rail and working our way to the ramp and then to the van.  That is long-term goal.  Home care has been great and we are very grateful to them for working with Ceil and giving us the tools we need to continue the work. 
What a great surprise for Ceil when she opened the wonderful Easter cards.  One from Maxine and Lee, and one from Doris.  She was all smiles as she read them and showed them proudly to Linda and I. 

                          Thank you for the wonderful cards!

Thursday Update

What a difference a day makes.

Doug was here this morning to spend some time with Ceil. They went out for a while tooling around town, and window shopping.  OT came at 11:00 am and worked with Ceil on dressing and taking off, and putting on socks with a special device that makes it a bit easier.  Ceil did very with the OT.  Very quiet afternoon for Ceil.
After dinner, Doug and Al, a friend from the college days stopped by to visit with Ceil.  They talked about the good old days when the Gross house was full of kids and activity, and how Ceil just seemed to manage every detail without breaking a sweat.  A nice visit indeed, and nice way to end the day for Ceil.  Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday Update - April Snow

April 20th and more snow!

Ceil will be up soon, and we will have a quiet morning which will include daily home therapy and activities. 

We did wind up having a good morning of therapy.  Ceil keeps getting stronger every day!  Later, we went on an outing to Sam's Club for supplies .  As we were leaving for Sam's, it started sleeting, but the sun was shining in the distance.  Pretty cool. 

Off to Sam's Club

Sun in their face, storms in the background

Cupcake anyone?