Halloween!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They boys had a great time trick or treating this year. We all dressed up and went down the street. I also posted some pics of his first bus ride. See the videos for birthday, halloween and bus movies!

October

Bryson had a great birthday this month. He had a car cake and a car pinata. His best friends came over (the Blickenstaffs, Cales and Bernie and Denise). He recently qualified for the special education program in our school district and he loves it. He qualified in the area of social skills. He is very excited to take the bus, he will be going on the bus for the first time tomorrow (early 7:15!). I hope I can get him up that early. He is very interested in letters and their sounds. His favorite programs are word world and super why (they teach early reading skills). He even likes to practice writing his letters. He will sit at the table and practice for at least 15 min.(I never thought he's sit still that long).

Kyle is doing great, he moved up to the next class at daycare and we are going to start working on potty training while Bryson is at school. He had a few successful trials, but nothing consistent. His favorite movie is Dumbo. He breaks out crying during the scene when dumbo and his mother are separated, it's adorable! He can jump much better, he can get a few inches under his feet now.

We went to a pumpkin patch and took a hayride out to pick out pumpkins. Kyle loved the hayride and cried when we got off. The boys even helped to carve their pumpkins this year. Bryson wanted his pumpkin smiling.They also helped to make the scarecrow which Bryson named Ernie. Every night we take a "train" ride outside to light the pumpkins.

Ken has been working on a swing set/play structure for the boys using left over lumber. It's going pretty well, but we've still had to buy quite a bit of stuff, it's amazing how it all adds up. No wonder they are so expensive to buy!

Ken and I are trying to shape up a bit. We are taking a yoga class once a week and I love it! I have also started running. I ran the Portland "run like hell" race last weekend and had a great time. It was a 5k (3miles) and everyone was in costume.I went with our friends Cory and Melissa and their kids. The theme was zombies, so I painted my face like a zombie. I'm considering working up to a half marathon for the spring. It's going pretty well, I've been able to run up to 4 miles so far!

more pictures

pictures

Summer

We've had a great summer this year. It started out slowly, we didn't get good weather until the end of July, but it's the first week in Sept. and we're getting temps in the 90's. We went to the Clark county fair for the first time this year. Kyle really enjoyed looking at all the animals and feeding the goats. His favorite was the demolition derby, he screamed when we left, he wanted to stay for more!

We went on our first family camping trip on the 4th of July weekend with 2 other couples and their kids. Getting the kids to sleep at night and naptime sure was a challenge, but we survived. The kids got to meet Smokey the bear and spent most of their time playing with cars or riding bikes with the other kids.

We had a great visit to WI the end of July despite some hot and humid weather. I was able to visit with some old friends in Madison and in Green Bay. While in Madison the boys played at the park, took a boat ride on the lakes in town, played at the children's museum, toured the capital, fed chickens,zoo, went swimming, library and more... They loved playing with John's trucks, of course. In Green Bay Bryson and Kyle enjoyed visiting with their cousins Skye and Vincent. Kyle really took a shine to Skye and even called her "mama". Bryson had fun with Vincent and went to the train museum together, Bay Beach and slept over at Grandma's and the cottage. The boys had fun at the cottage riding on the pontoon boat and playing at the beach.

We spent time working on the house in August. Power spraying and staining our deck, getting our old septic decomissioned and fixing a leaky pipe. We went to the beach for labor day weekend and the boys had fun playing in the sand. Their favorite thing to do right now is to play in the dirt (it is even better than sand). The side of our house is all dirt right now (we plan to build a swing set there) and the boys love to play trucks in it.

Bryson is learning his letters and can name a few when he sees them. He also knows some letters in sign language. He was a little fearful of the deep water, but is getting braver with getting his head wet in the shallow or the bath tub. We've been playing more in the creek this summer and even have an inflatable boat and little fishing poles. Bryson loved all the boating we did this summer, he even went on uncle Scott's (z) boat. Bryson has appointments the next two weeks to be evaluated for special education through the school system, I'm hoping he will be accepted so we don't have to pay for more therapy.

Kyle loves the water, he doesn't seem to have any fear of it either. He likes to float with his life jacket on and doesn't seem to mind being dunked. His speech is improving, he speaks in sentences now. He has a few favorite stuffed animals he likes to sleep with his Kitty (a dog toy from Abby), puppy and penguin. He also has a couple of blankets he likes to sleep with. He can climb into the top bunk now and he usually naps up there during the day. I want to start potty training, he's gone 1&2 on the potty a couple of times, but frequently refuses to go on it. He's moved up to the next class at daycare and they work on potty training there too.

California vacation!

We recently visited the San Francisco area for my sister's graduation. The trip started out pretty stressful. Our flight was canceled on the way there and we had to fly into Oakland instead which messed up our rental car reservations. The boys did a great job on the airplane, it was a little difficult keeping Kyle in his seat, but otherwise things were fine (they even have free alcoholic drinks on Alaskan air, so we took advantage of that!). The boys had fun playing with grandma and grandpa at the park. Kyle took a shine to aunt Jessie and was calling her "mommy". Getting the boys to sleep at night was quite a challenge, it took at least an hour and a half to get them to sleep at night. Bryson enjoyed going on the ships and liked to pretend they were pirate ships! He was quite disappointed that they weren't going to sail. He's already looking forward to our WI trip in august so he can sail on a boat. Both boys were pretty impressed with all the buses and trains/trolleys in San Francisco and loved to watch them.

Bryson is doing well. He is taking a break from therapy and gymnastics class over the summer. He had an assessment through the school system and will be evaluated by PT,OT and speech in the fall to see if he qualifies for therapy in the school system. Bryson is doing great with pretend play. His favorite right now is fireman Sam. He also loves to wear his cowboy boots.

Kyle is doing well too. He is talking in short sentences now and is very sociable. He was making lots of friends at the airport. His favorite movie is Alphabet Train. He is starting to sing parts of songs with you and his favorite is Thomas #1 (thomas the train).

Ken has a birthday this month and got a bike trailer for his father's day/birthday present. We're looking forward to taking it out for a spin.

I've been working alot on the garden and fixing up the yard. Seems my to-do list is never ending. I've started a Zoomba class and I'm really enjoying it. I'm trying to run more frequently as well.

Kyle turns 2!

Kyle celebrated his second birthday. We had friends and neighbors over for the party. The kids fished for prizes and hit open a pinata. The cake had an ocean theme. The kids had "octopus" and shells and cheese for dinner. Kyle definitely enjoyed the cake and ice cream, but was rather disinterested in the presents. We let the older boys open them for him. Mara and John came to visit for the birthday too. Kyle is talking in short sentences now (about three words) and loves to run, jump and climb (just like his brother).

Bryson can ride a big bike (with training wheels) now. He is spending more time doing fine motor activities like crafts and has even been able to button his clothes. He can have decent conversations and his sense of humor is starting to show. He has significatly improved his performance at gymnastics class as well. He still has difficulty following directions in class though. Bryson is doing much better in his new class at daycare and doesn't cry anymore when I drop him off.

We had a nice Easter with our friends the Blickenstaffs. We went to a park and hid easter eggs. The boys had a great time running around looking for eggs. Kyle was just as good as the older boys. Bryson really enjoyed coloring eggs this year and they turned out great!

Is it spring yet?

We've only had a few nice days this spring and the rain is getting old. On our first sunny day in a long time Bryson couldn't wait to get the swimming pool out, unfortunately it was only about 50 deg out, he was very disappointed. We went to the tulip festival over the weekend, the boys had fun on the tractor "train"and Bryson loved the bouncy house.We had a nice visit with Steve, Jan and Anna in March. Unfortunately, Kyle was sick for most of the visit. We are expecting Mara and John in May for Kyle's second birthday.

Bryson started occupational therapy the end of Feb. He has a Sensory Processing Disorder. He needs work on his fine and gross motor skills as well as self regulation strategies. He has really improved with his strength and fine motor skills recently and seems to enjoy doing the fine motor tasks now. He doesn't get as frustrated and is more willing to try difficult things. He also started gymnastics classes and has done very well in the last two sessions. We bought him a trampoline for home after he bumped his face on the coffee table jumping off the sofa. He has moved up to the next class at school and is adjusting well. He is mostly potty trained, but still has the occasional accident.

Kyle is almost 2 years old! He still looks like a baby to me and he is so small! He's a pretty tough little guy though, last week we got a report from daycare that he kept wrestling a boy to the ground and made him cry! His favorite thing is to run around the house naked and yell, "naked baby!" (Bryson loves to join in too). He is talking more, but I don't always know what he's saying, it usually takes me awhile to figure it out. He loves to play outside in the water and mud. It's nearly impossible to keep him clean. He can pull the wagon all the way down to the church and back now.

I put up some new videos too!

Snow!

We got a couple days of snow this winter. The boys had a great time. We didn't get a chance to make a snow man though, it melted too quickly. I couldn't believe they canceled all the schools here for one inch of snow (and it was melted by noon!). We even had a couple days of cold weather (20 deg or less). It reminded me of back home, I forgot just how cold it gets in WI.

Bryson started seeing a speech therapist in Jan. He has had three visits so far and it has been very helpful. The therapist feels he has normal expressive and receptive speech, but he has social problems and needs to develop better play skills. We have been working on improving his eye contact during conversation and play as well as expanding his play skills with more pretend-type play (see pictures with the costumes). He initially made excellent progress and was even playing better and participating more at daycare. However, he's had a set back over the last couple weeks and is having more problems. He's been slowly gettin better the last few days and has even gone poop on the potty about 5 times now. Anyway, I am taking him to an occupational therapist tomorrow to be evaluated for sensory problems. He has also started a gymnastics class, he really enjoys it, but has difficulty following directions and staying with the class. He had to change classes so I could be there with him to help with his behavior. Today was his first day in the new class and his friend Jackson was there too. He had a great time!

Kyle is doing great, but he's really starting to test his boundaries and can be quite sassy. He loves to play with cars and enjoys playing outside. He is talking quite a bit and can put three words together. Overall, he is hard to understand, but when you figure out what he is saying, it's great. He loves the water and doesn't seem to have any fear. Last time when we took him swimming he wanted me to let go of him, even in the deep water. In the bath tub he's been laying down in the water on his back even!

I'm putting some new videos up too, so check it out!

Happy New Year!

We had a wonderful holiday season this year. Bryson really got into Christmas and Santa this year. His behavior was the best ever and he even started going poop on the potty. (Unfortunately, he has discontinued this practice since santa came.) He was pretty impressed with all the presents on Christmas morning and was able to pass them out due to the picture tags. Mara and John came to visit for Christmas and Bryson was a good little baker, helping gramma make bread and decorating the cookies with sprinkles. He even went door to door Christmas caroling for the neighbors and dropping off cookies. We took the Amtrak train to Portland one day and Bryson really enjoyed it he has been asking to go for another train ride.

Kyle is starting to really exert his independence. He is talking better and can express his needs and if he doesn't get what he wants he throws a tantrum. He is more particular about his toys and fights over them with Bryson, now he wants all the cars (even Bryson's) to play with. He likes to do things on his own and doesn't want to be carried anymore. He enjoyed all the new toys at Christmas, but wasn't excited about opening gifts. He loved to play with the Christmas tree ornaments (Bryson too).

I added videos to the drophots site too.