Work hard, play hard

Last week Hallee and Wyatt helped me rake leaves after school.  We had a great afternoon, we worked hard and we played hard!

We made a big pile for each of them to jump in.

Wyatt had a great time and was happier than he has been for a long time.  He has struggled a lot lately.  He gets upset very easily, yells and then is mad at himself for yelling.  He has told me that he doesn't like himself and feels dumb after getting upset.  It makes me so sad to hear that.  I've been seeing things that concern me with Wyatt for a few years now. I was fairly certain he was struggling with depression and it's bad enough now that we feel like it's time to get some outside help.  I started with contacting his school counselor.  A couple of weeks ago he started a "strong start" group.  He meets with the counselor and a few other students once a week.  They talk about emotions and feelings and learn how to problem solve and stay calm.  Wyatt is enjoying that and I have noticed that he has told me how he is feeling more and talked through it with me instead of just running off in anger.  We also found a counselor for him.  We had his first session last week, which was basically just giving family history and going over my concerns about Wyatt.  He will be meeting with her every week for now.   I think Wyatt is feeling hopeful that these things will help.  It is tough because he can't articulate his feelings, but I think we are both feeling hope that he can start feeling happy again and having more good days than bad.  It is so hard to watch your kids struggle, especially with things that you struggle with yourself. 

Hallee loved jumping in the leaves.

Hallee is always talking a million miles a minute.  She always has something to say and loves to make other people laugh.

Wyatt and Hallee have not been getting along very well lately.  When Wyatt is having a hard time he really struggles with Hallee.  Wyatt is very sensitive and hates noise when he is upset and Hallee is always singing or talking.  They have been butting heads a lot lately, so I was thrilled to see them having so much fun together!

Wyatt wanted to play football so we would rake some leaves and then stop and throw the football around.  Wyatt and Hallee wanted to play a game against me.  Hallee didn't quite understand where the quarter back was supposed to stand!  It was so great to see Wyatt laugh instead of get mad at her.  They were so cute!

We threw the football a lot and Wyatt was so excited that he kept getting better and better at catching the football.

He ran inside to get some football clothes on!

He had fun kicking the football too.

After a while Wyatt decided he didn't want the football clothes on.  Hallee ran over to put them on and thought her socks would make great football gloves!

They thought it was pretty funny when I asked them to get in the garbage can and jump on the leaves.

I love that Hallee gets so excited about everything she does.

They played tag for a few minutes.  I couldn't stop taking pictures because I was so excited to see them having so much fun together.

It was one of those perfect days where we all just laughed and played together.  I'm so grateful for these good days, they help me get through the bad days!