Holy Moly we've been busy!!

Wow- what a crazy busy month we have had! First we set off for California and had an amazing time and I had the best 30th bday a girl could ask for. I took over 500 pictures, obviously I can't post them all on here. I did however upload them to facebook so here is the link to go check them out :)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=39488&l=d3144&id=668503234

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=39492&l=5ee0e&id=668503234

There are 2 albums from Cali because well it was awesome. Since getting back we have just been getting ourselves back into our routine and getting caught up. Avery didn't really get behind in school which was great- she brought homework with her and was a champ about doing it while we were driving places.

October is always a busy month for us- I love the fall and Halloween- I get almost a full month where I get to go out and just be a KID with my kids! It rocks :) We have been doing crafts, going to the farm, turning my van into a pirate ship for our church's trunk or treat- loads of fun stuff. I'll just give yall the links to the other pics as well~

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40391&l=bf970&id=668503234

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40655&l=a2ded&id=668503234

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=41343&l=89fb0&id=668503234

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=41347&l=befed&id=668503234

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=36957&l=74fbf&id=668503234

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=41725&l=3f253&id=668503234

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=42081&l=dd196&id=668503234

All of the links are to different albums on facebook- enjoy!

Pretty cool!!

Helloooo..
Sorry for not blogging for a bit- not too much yet a ton of stuff happening. Things are in the planning phases- but next week will be a different story as we will be in California!! yay :)

The kids are great- Avery is doing really well in school and has a lot of work that she needs to do while we are gone to keep caught up. Miranda is constantly getting her "card flipped" at school for talking (shocker!) and Oliver is loving his 2 year old pre-k program that he goes to one day a week :)

This is where the "pretty cool" title for this post comes into play- One of my friends is a photographer and she is just getting started doing it as a profession but she is awesome. Anywho- got the kids pics done and she has used some of them on her website!!!

www.christiebphotography.com

There are quite a few pics of Avery and Oliver and a couple of all 3 of the kids together. My favorites though are the ones of Avery. She does not like to have her picture taken so I am hard pressed to ever have a picture of her that I absolutely love- but these ones just take my breathe away! She is so beautiful :)

HSM

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They just grow up too fast!

In the past two weeks I have seen so many friends posting pictures of their kids first day of school this year. Miranda has also really enjoyed looking at the pictures and it has made her and I miss our friends a lot. I decided to go back and look at old pictures with her and could only find a few :( Our computer crashed (Mother board fried) about a month ago and I thought I had all of my pictures saved properly to disks, but sadly I didn't. So I have a huge favor to ask- if anyone has any pictures on their computer from before you guys all moved away from Maryland would you mind sending them to me? I would greatly appreciate it!

In the meantime I thought that I would share some of my favorite pics of the kids together! This is how I remember all of your kids :)


Kennedy's bday party!



Makenna and Miranda at Black Hills park



Kayla's birthday at build a bear workshop



This has always been one of my favorite pictures- Kayla making her wish :)



Kayla and Miranda shopping :)



Kayla came to visit for Miranda's bday- yay!



Andrea and Paigey



Miranda's 3rd bday party!



2004 pumpkin patch trip



Miranda and Hyrum :)



Miranda and Kayla at the pumpkin patch!

School days!!

I cannot believe that my girls are so big! Avery is in her last year of grade school this year and Miranda is in her first. It dawned on me as we were on our way to school that morning that this is the only year that my girls will ever be in school together. That realization made me a little sad.

They both had a great first day- Avery really likes both of her teachers this year, especially her math teacher. She is a little nervous because she is in 6th grade math and spelling, but I'm sure she will do awesome. She is such a smart little cookie!

Miranda, oh my Miranda. So far school for her has been all about the social aspect. Who she is friends with and who she plays with at recess. So far I have had no information what so ever about what she has learned at school, but that is just totally Miranda.

Ofcourse I was a little camera happy as usual- here are the pictures! Enjoy and Happy school days to all my friends with kiddos that are back in school :)

The girls were ready to go about 30 minutes before we actually needed to leave so they decided to sit outside and wait :)



Can you tell that she is super excited?



Avery's all ready for 5th grade! Her last year in Elementary school- I cannot believe it!



The girls walking up to school.



Miranda with her good friend Sragvi



The girls in front of the school!



Miranda with her teacher! She was the first kid from her class at the school so she got to hold her class sign :)



Miranda waiting with her class



Miranda saying "Bye Mom!" we were not allowed to go to the classroom on the first day- but she was great about it and didn't want me to come!

too funny!!

Soooo I just read my friend Diana's blog and realised that we were at the same concert and didn't know it.

I was just coming here to blog about it and post some pics as well- wonder how close we were to eachother?

Oliver's speech evaluation

Well first off and foremost the little man will definetly qualify for services!! That is great news, but as a momma it is really hard and emotional to go through the evaluation process and read the write up afterward. You just never want anything to be "wrong" with your child.

I thought I would give some highlights on what was written- I have about 9 pages so I won't be writing everything :) I'll spare you guys!!

This was the summary statement~

" Oliver is a 27 month old little boy who demonstrates relative strengths in visual problem solving skills adn gross motor. He struggles with paying attention to spoken language. He likes to follow his own agenda and gets easily frustrated. Oliver doesn't have any words to communicate. He qualifies for early intervention services to address these needs"

Now any of you that know or have been around Oliver know that he does have some words- he probably has around 25 (still not enough for his age) but the little stinker did not say 1 word the entire time that they were here doing the evaluation!! Such a boy :)

Here are his evals levels~

* Cognition- 27 months- Oliver pretends objects are something else and puts things away where they belong. Oliver points to his image in the mirror and he will pull over something to stand on if he cannot reach an item.

* Receptive language- 14 months- Oliver identified 1 object and gave a toy upon request. Mom shared that he follows routine directions. He preferred to follow his own agenda and got easily frustrated when models were provided.

* Expressive language- 8 months- Oliver babbled 1 time at the end of the evaluation. Otherwise he played quietly or screamed when frustrated. Mom shared he says mommy, daddy and ball. He can reportedly do animal sounds, but not use words to name his sisters or to communicate.

* Social-Emotional- 26 months- Oliver scored within normal limits. Oliver varies his play with toys and plays near other kids. Oliver also engages in familiar activities like pretend sleeping and talking on the telephone.

* Self-care- 31 months- Oliver can undress completely and attempts to put his shoes on. He puts on simple clothes without assistance. Oliver discriminates edibles and unwraps candy. He sucks through a straw and uses a fork to eat.

* Fine motor- 23 months- Oliver stacked 8 blocks and imitated horizontal lines. He placed pennies in horizontal and vertical slots. He didn't have attention for imitating a 4 block train. Oliver got easily frustated with nut and bolt.

* Gross motor- 27 months- Oliver walks up and down steps and runs well. He kicks a ball by swinging his leg forward


All in all- it was pretty much what I was expecting!! He is on target age level for everything but his language so now the next step is the actual therapy-yay!! I'm so glad that I listened to my mommy instinct on this one :)