My Big 2 Year Old

My little one turned 2 on Saturday (same day as Blake's bday). I can't believe it. I've said it with the other ones too, but for some reason when it's the youngest, it's harder to believe how fast the time has gone by. Isn't he adorable?!














Here he is enjoying the bounce house with the other kids. We bought this 2 years ago to help strengthen Ian and Avery. It's been a wonderful investment. We're ready for another one that's durable enough for bigger sizes. The kids love it!














The cake, made by my friend, Julie (and her son). She is an incredible maker of cakes. I try to get her to do all my kids' cakes. Show her a picture, and wa-la! I think people like coming to the parties just to see what the cake will be!















Benjamin working on blowing out the candles. Luckily, no spit. With a little (okay, a lot) of help from Dad, the candles went out.















Ben wasn't quite sure what to do with the cake this year either. After viewing it for a short while, he decided a nose dive would work best!














And Ian wasn't about to miss out on the fun! Lucky for him, his brother decided to share!














This was only part of the end result after he was done with that cake. The bath afterwards was almost as fun!














Mom and Daddy enjoying his cuteness.

A Lot of Nothing....Sorta

This'll be a short one. Not in a real 'with it' mood today. Probably because I'm about to start. Yes, finally after 28 or so years of having a period I've finally been able to catch my mood and know when I'm gonna start. Shouldn't have taken me so long.

Anyway...just a bunch of family and friends issues going on....none of which are related in nature. Things that make me want to just move away (for a little while) while people get their stuff sorted out. Sounds kinda selfish, I know. I guess I'm getting a little tired of watching people who don't listen to wisdom, get themselves deeper into _ _ _ _, then blame God or everybody else for the mess they've gotten into. And the kicker is that it's always the person on the outside of the situation who can see all the junk a-comin, or at least some of it. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that I made all the right choices in my lifetime. I know better than to make a statement like that. I've definitely messed enough up in my life. Unfortunately at that time in my life, I didn't have sound people to listen to. They were all in the same boat I was. But it's just irritating to watch it be someone else you know and love do it, especially when they do have people in their life who can give sound advice. Seems like any question, any statement, any act of love gets turned against you. My solution? I'm stayin out of it all. Well, I'm gonna try anyway. I'm getting way better at not offering advice or any sort of statements when not asked. And I've gotten even better at skatin' around the issue when asked. I figure I can still love them and pray for them even when all else fails. As humans, we can't save anyone from themselves, right?

Then to top it all off I found out yesterday that my very, very, very, very good friends are putting their house up for sell and headin' out. As sad as I am, I can understand why. There's really not too many friendships I consider strong enough to try to keep up with when one moves away, but this is one that will be worth it. So, Rian, if you're reading this, I love you dearly!

Okay, I'll be better in a few days. Words of encouragement would be great about now.

Exciting News

Okay, we all know things are 'final' until the ARD meeting. However, I got a note in Ian's backpack about him going to the ABLE summer school program at his school. This means he will be in the program for kindergarten. This means we are very happy. He'll be in a regular ed class, but with a full time aid to shadow him. I'm not 100% sure of what all this looks like, but we had a lot of help from inside pushing for us to get him in something like this, and we are very grateful. I am just so praying that he will learn more self-control over the summer. I know he'll be excited though because he'll get to ride the bus. He loved riding the bus at his Extended year during the summer last year (even though that school is less than 1/2 mile from our house). Mommy will enjoy it as well. :)

Today when we picked Ian up from school, the first thing he said was 7 layer burrito (a Taco Bell item). I hesitated and then thought 'why not'. So I asked Avery, "Do you want a ham sandwich or Taco Bell?" So sweetly she said, "Oh, Taco Bell will be fine Mommy." Unfortunately (actually very fortunately) she got in trouble and nobody got Taco Bell for lunch. Oh darn, no junk for lunch! The amazing thing was that Ian didn't throw a fit. He was so interested in why Avery was crying and in trouble that I'm not sure he even noticed. He was just fine at home with his all natural PB&J and fruit.

Let's Build A Word!

If ya'll don't have Word World, you're missing out. It's a great show for the kids. The characters and things are made out of the letters that spell them. They build words. It goes through different kinds of skills like rhyming, 's' to make plurals, blends, sounding out words, etc. Okay, now that you have the background, here's the scoop.

We have these little 2 inch sized letters, kinda like the ones we all had and stuck on the fridge, only these don't have magnets. Ian and Avery like to get them out to "build a word". Ian has this gift of knowing what things say by looking at it. For example, if we showed him one of his VHS cassettes (without pictures on it), he could tell us not only that it was a Barney or Veggie Tales, but he could tell us which one it was (Barney Songs, King David and the Ducky, etc.). When he looks at the list of shows we have recorded on DVR, he can tell us which is Dragon Tales, World World, Sesame Street, etc. Get the picture?

So, Ian and Avery are playing with these letters, so I think, "Hey, why not see what he can do." So I get out the letters that spell 'dog', mix them up and tell Ian to build the word 'dog'. HE DOES IT! Yeah, I know....easy word. So, I get the letters that spell 'bear', do the same thing, and HE DOES IT! He had a little difficulty with 'sheep', but he finally got it in the end.

I'm thinking he will definitely be a 'whole word learner' in the beginning. What a big boy! Woo-hoo!!!!!

Another one on the Potty?

Still working with Ian on the tee-tee in the potty. He's doing really good as long as we set a timer for him. Hard to get him to go on his own free will. But I'll take what I can get right now.

Call me crazy, but I've been taking Benjamin to the potty lately. I put him on it before he gets in the bathtub (ever since I actually saw him tee-tee in the tub - one of those things if you don't see it, you don't think about it as much, but once you see it....all over). Sometimes he has to have me pour some warm water over his privates before his body will go. Other times, he'll just go after I sit him on it.

So, I thought, why not sit him on it at random times too? Sometimes I'll take him first thing in the morning after he wakes up. He's gone then. Today, I decided to put him on right before his nap....he went...no warm water needed. He's soooooo darn cute when I tell him, "Benjamin, let's go tee-tee." He'll stop whatever he's doing, make his way to the bathroom, open the lid to the little potty, and sit himself down. Then he does this "Sssshh, issen" with his finger between his mouth and his ears. He's heard Ian say, "Shhh, listen" when he's gone potty. (Cause I used to have him be quiet so I could hear if he went or not...when he would sit on the big potty.) So, Benjamin does the same thing. Then he's so proud of himself when he goes. SO AM I!!!!!

The birthday party was great fun and the scrap retreat was great fun too! I somewhat finished Avery's book. I have embellishing and journaling and some pictures still to do. I think I got picture crazy with her book because it's at least twice as thick as Ian's. Luckily, girls care more anyway. She loves looking at it. How many times has Ian looked at his????? ZERO! But I look at it a lot.

We haven't had anything exciting going on lately. Guess that could be a good thing. Still waiting to hear when Ian's placement ARD will be. A bit nervous, but I do think we've got some good things in store with it. Ian's teacher got Teacher of the Year this year! She soooo deserves it.

I go this Friday...yes, Good Friday...for my pre-op appointment for the skin cancer on my forehead. I've got to hurry and schedule our family pics before the surgery. We've tried scheduling twice before, but have had to cancel. First time we had sick kids. Second time was right after our spring break trip and Benjamin came home looking like we beat him with a bat! Didn't think that would make for a good picture. So, since we have Benjamin's 2 year bday coming up, I figure we'll knock out two pics in one.

Well, wish I had more to tell. Just feelin' a bit quiet lately.