Happy New Year from the Royers! Here are our many pictures from the year if you want to follow along.
I saw a shirt the other day that read “Thankful, Blessed, and Kind of a Mess.” The mother of one of Cassie’s classmates wore it. Yep, that is where we are in life, thankful, blessed, and kind of a mess. I guess that is just life with a 3- and 6-yr-old.
I am thankful and blessed that the kids love to play with each other. They are often two peas in a pod. They both have huge imaginations and love to play pretend. Their stories will range all over the house utilizing numerous props.
They both love to play dress up, especially 3-yr-old Cassie. She is our little fashionista. Sometimes she will wear five outfits in one day. We are close to baby-locking her dresser drawers.
They are both builders. They like to draw a design on paper and then try to create it. Kate’s jack-o-lantern was spot on. The other day they designed and built an entire village out of cardboard boxes for their stuffies. After many instances of, “Can I have some metal to make this design?,” we bought a 3-D printer for Christmas. I can’t wait to see what Kate designs on that.
We got them bunk beds this summer and moved Cassie into Kate’s room so that it is now the Kids’ room. We are slowly getting the office back. I look forward to being able to close a door on an important meeting and not having the office space where the TV is.
Cassie is a strong willed threenager. She can tell you exactly what the house rules are. Following them is another thing. My gosh, the amount of trouble that she can get into. We tried to potty train her. Unfortunately, that is still a work in progress.
We finally got Occupational Therapy started for Cassie. We found her therapy office because they had a station at Kate’s HopeKids Trunk or Treat. So far, they are great. Yay! I am so done with Fraser.
Cassie likes Apple Valley Pre-K Open Gym, the Minnesota Zoo, swimming at the YMCA in Burnsville, and now preschool.
In the spring, Cassie qualified for Special Education preschool. I fought hard for that. Like Kate, Cassie is autistic, but she has her own set of strengths and challenges. She started 3-yr-old preschool this fall. She attends three days a week for two hours a session. When you add the bus ride on both ends, she is gone for about three hours on those days. She enjoys going to school and wants to go more days.
Kate is getting so big! In the spring she “graduated” kindergarten. Now in 1st grade, she did an after school STEM Inventors club. She finally got up her courage to go down the tiny water slide at tot-time at the waterpark. That’s good, because she aged out of tot-time as well as other beloved activities, like pre-k open gym, ECFE classes, and her summer program.
We need to find a new summer program for Kate on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the summer. We would love to hear suggestions for an energetic 7-year-old.
Kate’s turned into a climber. She’s gotten stuck in a few of our trees. We keep thinking that we should get back to Vertical Endeavors Climbing gym with the kids.
Speaking of climbing, Dave routed the hops to the top of our house. The hops loved that and grew the best they have ever grown. They got all the way to the top of our two stories.
We like to do things as a family. Home Depot builds, Ice Castle, Luminary Loppett, bike rides, puppet wagon in the park, State Fair, Brewery events, fall festivals, and Bentleyville, to name a few. We are very grateful to HopeKids for all the fun events we get to do for free with them.
The kids do really well going to the theatre. This summer they saw the Broadway version of Frozen. The very next day, they got to talk to “Elsa” at the HopeKids HopeK. We also went to Elf Jr and a full blown ballet show. Cassie loved it. We desperately need to get her into dance classes.
We are still running 5Ks. We had four races this year. We got help watching the kids at the events so Dave and I can run without pushing a 90 lb jogging stroller. I was pleased when I placed 2nd in my age group on a “fun run” for me.
Dave and I had our 20 year anniversary this summer. Thanks to our long-term babysitter, we even got to go out to dinner that night.. Our hair definitely looks like it’s been 20 years.
We did four main trips this year: Duluth in June, Fall Lake Campground on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in July, North Shore in August, and Duluth in December for Bentleyville. It has been really nice to get back to the Great Lakes Aquarium in Duluth. After being volunteer divers there for over a decade, it is nice to share the experience with our kids.
Looking forward, both kids will start swimming lessons in January. Hopefully that works! I look forward to maybe one day diving with the kids. But first, swimming.
Heart wise, it has been 5 years since Kate’s heart transplant. She is doing great. She is still on the same two drugs she has been on for years, and will be on for life. That is just the background of life.
Kate is still resistant to eating and firmly g-tube dependent. She made great strides over the summer, eating about half of her food with her mouth. However, as school approached, she basically stopped eating again. Weaning Kate from her g-tube for good is going to be a hard process that we will need much help with.
I hope you and yours had a wonderful 2025. Wishing you peace and joy in 2026.
