Ads

I find really amusing that ever since I wrote about our neighbors being annoyed with a garbage can being on the curb constantly, an ad for Waste Management has been in my sidebar. LOL!

But seriously, I get money everytime an ad is clicked on so PLEASE click away. All you have to do is click and let it load on a new page and then X out of it. I can get up to $100 a month, so do your good deed for today and click on each ad a few time.

Thanks- You're the best!!!

Unsaid Rules?!

So last night, I went out to check the mailbox and found that someone had left a note on our garbage can. It said- Please move your garbage can back to your yard when it is empty. I can't remember if there was a thankyou or not. (I've really got to get my camera fixed) Anyways, we have just gotten in the habit of leaving it next to the mailbox on the curb because the truck comes TWICE a week on Tuesdays and Fridays. (I know weird, right?) It's just easier. Well apparently, this is not okay. I felt a twinge of annoyance toward the person that dared to correct our behavior but realize that it does look pretty tacky, especially when your can is the only one out all week. I had to tell myself that they're right and the only reason I feel angry is because I feel embarrassed. Nevertheless, I left the garbage can there and let Michael take care of it. LOL. Sorry Neighbors, we'll do better.

I recently finished reading Stephanie Nielsen's book Heaven Is Here. It was really good. She is so amazing and inspirational.  If you're not familiar with her story, she was involved in a plane crash and was burned over 80% of her body. I liked how she tells her story in 3 parts-  before the accident, during recovery in the hospital, and after recovery in the hospital. She also has a blog called NieNie Dialogues- I have the link on the side bar under Other Blogs. You should check it out. One of the best books I've read. I'm going to suggest it to the book club that the sister's in my ward are starting up next week. I have a hard time finding books to read at the library. I really like non-fiction but Fiction is good too; especially fantasy and mysteries. So, what have you read that is really great? I need suggestions since I've run out of books to read.

SPD

SPD-Sensory Processing Disorder. You never realize how much your Brain and your senses do and coordinate together until they don't. My Zenny has always been a more difficult child. He is very stubborn. Over this last year, he developed some unusual habits that concerned me. He starting having more tantrums and about really silly stuff (like turning left in the car instead of right). Well, come to find out he has SPD. Essentially, this can mean several things; for Zenny- he is Hyposensitve to touch which means he is sensory seeking, or in other words constantly touching different surfaces and textures, jumping (especially on the couch and beds), purposely running into things, and playing outside in the dirt. However some things he is Hypersensitive with. Some examples are: having his hair washed, his ears being touched, the radio on in the car. A frustrating thing too is that SPD is not consistant. So some days are better than others. He also has a Gluten Intolerance which makes the SPD worse. So, he is on a Gluten-Free diet which has done wonders to his behavior. He is a sweet boy most days. He also gets Occupational Therapy twice a week and Speech 4 times a week for his articulation errors. He can be a handful but with Nathan is school all day, I get to spend lots of time with him and we have a lot of fun together.

Feeling Motivated

It is totally ridiculus how long it is between posts on here. I'd like to start blogging more often. I've been reading alot lately and recently finished Ezra Taft Benson's biography and The Burning Within ( which about an LDS woman who was badly burned in a plane crash). I am now working on Heaven Is Here- Stephanie Nielson's story. They have been very inspiring lately and am feeling motivated. Any way, I need to record more of my family's life. I guess I better get my camera fixed so I can take photos again; right now, all I have is the camera on my computer and it has horrific lighting.

Baseball

Nathan's first day of Baseball practice and playing baseball.

 

Nathan is Five and is just finishing up Pre-K at Driggers elementary. He absolutely loves going to school. He also loves FHE and gets upset if we move it from Sunday to Monday night depending on the week. I can't believe is growing up so fast. Nathan amazes me with how sweet he is. He brings me pictures and "presents" that he has colored at school and sometimes even wraps with construction paper. Today he came home with a "wrapped" present for his friends' (from church) birthday this Saturday. He says it is a picture of his family.  So cute! At FHE this last week, I showed a video of President Monson talking about being thankful and then asked everyone to think of the number thing they were thankful for. Nathan said he was thankful that he could help people because it makes them feel good and happy. I told my mom that he put us (Michael and I) all to shame! He really is a good helper though. He actually tells me he wants to help me do the dishes and cook. I guess I should enjoy it while it lasts.

 

Zen (3) has really helped me get good at my goal to not yell at my children as he is very stubborn and refuses to do anything that he doesn't see as a good idea. His latest favorite phrase is "I not going anywhere!" Sometimes my favorite time of day with him is quiet time when he gets to take a "nap" in his room.  Zenny got to so to school this year as well.... well at least twice a week for speech therapy. He loved to "go my beech". Everytime we drive by the school he gets excited and says "Hey! that my beech!" Zenny has also learned to blame everything on Nathan, which can be hard sometimes when Nathan is blaming the same thing on Zenny. One of Zenny's (and my) favorite things to do is watch "funny beedeos" on Youtube. Zen really likes to watch the videos of the garbage trucks emptying dumpsters, although I don't really know what is so funny about it?.)

 

Rand (8 mo.)- WOW! There is good news and bad news with him. The good is that the Kidney reflux and dilation that he has had since before birth has completely gone away on it's own and so we won't have to do anymore antibiotics or dr. appts, tests, or ultrasounds. Yeah!!! However, the bad is that is isn't gaining weight. He has only gained 13 oz over the last 2 months despite us stuffing tons of food and formula in him. He weighs 14.13 lbs. So now we get to do tests and dr. appts for that. It's a little scary but he is the happiest kid I've had. He is so smiley and calm and loves to crawl around and laugh at his brothers (who love to entertain him).

 

I absolutely love my boys!!!

Christmas at Nana's

Kids find funny places to sleep!

 

 

 

 Santa was generous this year.

 

We forgot to bring our stockings but Santa had it covered!

 

 Rand

 Zenny's embarrassed look.

 Nathan

 

 

Christmas was good this year. So much fun!

Texas

In August we moved to San Antonio, Texas. Here are a few things we've done since we got there:

 

The birth of Rand Isaac

 

 

 

Michael's 31st birthday

 

 

Halloween

Superman, Iron Man, and Thomas the Tank Engine

 

 

 Zenny at the school carnival

Nathan's Preschool Graduation!

This was played at Nathan's Preschool graduation. More pictures to follow.

Choo choo

This is how Zenny eats breakfastmost mornings. He is watching for choo choos. There is a track that runs by our house and any train or airplane that goes by he goes running to watch it.

We are always hearing about:
"Choo choo out."
"Choo choo op (stop)."
"Choo choo bye-bye."

Cute boy!

Deaf Child?

Well, We took zenny in for his hearing screening and he came out perfect! He was so cute . I was trying not to laugh while we were in the both. They had little toys that would light up and move when he turned his head toward the noise ( sounded like white noise like on the radio). He figured out real quick that she was doing one side and then the other, so he would look at the side that he heard make sound and then immediatley turn to look at the other side. So, of course she started to change it up. But I was just crackin up. Sometimes it was loud enough that he thought there was someone or something behind us so he would turn around to look. He started laughing everytime the toy and light went off. It was cute.
Anyways, they tested him for fluid and he didn't have any. So, this means he can hear and that his speech delay is a neuron delay in the brain, mostlikely. This is fairly common with young kids. Sometimes the neurons between the hearing (I believe) and the outward expressio parts of the brain are not traveling between each other like they are supposed to and so until that develops farther the child has a hard time speaking. But he is picking up on signing very well and the yelling tantrums have cut down alot. On the other hand, we now know that he is just ignoring us when he doesn't come.

Early Intervention

About two weeks ago we had Zen tested for Speech and Language intervention. As part of the testing, they test all aspects of development-physical, emotional, cognitive, etc. He tested right at two years for everything but expressive communication (meaning talking) at which he tested at 11 Mo. So we have started him into the early intervention program here. Yesterday we had the speech therapist and a nurse come to our home to start teaching us how to help Zen. The nurse did a hearing test on Zen and he failed on both ears. They recommended that we have him tested further to see if he has chronic fluid in his ears since he does speak ome words but not consistantly and some days not at all. If it is fluid, it would make since as fluid levels can go up and down and not necessarily cause an ear infection. It also makes sense to me as I have noticed that he responds better to Michael's low voice over mine or Nana's. He also responds better if your right at his level. So we'll see. We are working on replacing screaming and pointing with Signs. He doesn't like it but they warned us that he would have a tantrum at first. But what's new a tantrum over signing or a tantrum for us not understanding what he wants? So this is our adventure for the new year!

2011 In Review

Merry christmas, Happy New year!

Zen: Turns two on January 30. Zenny has grown up alot. He is very energetic and independent but still very much a momma's boy. He frequently stops playing to come and get a love throughout the day. Zenny was recently tested for Early intervention in Speech and will start therapy sessions in January. He is right on target for everything but language expression. We are looking forward to being able to finally know what he is trying to tell us! He is a sweet boy and loves to play with his big brother Nathan.

Nathan: Turns four on Thursday-Dec. 29. He is not my baby anymore but is growing into a smart little boy. He loves to ask questions, watch movies (which also includes his t.v. shows), ride his new Diego bike which Santa gave him, and play with the Kitty. He will start Preschool in February. Nathan keeps us amazed and laughing at the things he comes up with! Nathan often tries to use our own parenting methods back on us. The other day in the car he wanted to listen to his tape and I told him that we were going to listen to the radio for awhile. He said, "Well, that's not a choice!"

Michael: Michael continues to work as a balloon man, creating various creations of balloon art. He works at Texas Roadhouse, Village Inn, and Fat Cats as well as private parties and events. Michael recently took the LSAT ( Law School Admission Test) and we are still awaiting the results. Take a minute and vote on the poll to the right about which school he'll attend. Michael serves in the ward as one of the Gospel Doctrine teachers and does a great job.

Alene: I am currently staying home enjoying every minute with my boys. I teach piano and babysit a little boy in our ward. I am the serving as the ward Oganist still and early this year felt prompted to volunteer to be the ward choir director. So, after putting it off for a few months I did and of course was immediately called to the position. It has been an interesting experience as I have learned to que, direct, and sing all at the same time. This last sunday we performed a christmas cantata. It was a lot of work but turned out wonderful.

We hope all of our friends and family are doing great and we anticipate with much excitement what the new year will bring for our family.

New Big Boy Bed!

Zenny is now a big boy!! We took the crib down and put up this toddler bed for him.

This his first look at it.

Nathan needed a picture of his bed too.

Here is the bed after we put the thomas sheet set on.

You probably wondering why I didn't have the boys share Nathan's full size bed. Well, That's because I wanted them to actually go to sleep and Zenny can hardly handle it by himself. Together just isn't going to work right now. Plus, he can get in and out of this bed by himself.

Zenny is loving his new found freedom which means mommy now has to read books to him while he falls asleep so that we know he stays in bed for nap and bedtime and not destroying something. We also keep the door shut so that he can't destroy the house or hurt himself should he wake up before his parents.

Halloween

On Halloween we went to Black Island Farms with a friend.



The Boys had fun going down the slides, seeing the animals and vegetables and picking pumpkins from the pumpkin patch.

Going to find the perfect pumpkin.

Nathan found his pumpkin!

Zenny found his Pumpkin!

The boys pumpkins before I carved them.

The boys' pumpkins after carving- Nathan picked the BAT CAT and Zenny got the GRAVEYARD GHOST.

The Boy's showing off their finished pumpkins before going trick or treating.

For Costume pics see Facebook.

Bedtime Story

This is a video of Michael doing his version of Five little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. The Boys Love to have him read this to them. This is the Rock and Roll version. He also does an opera version.

Meet Reeses

We adopted a kitty last week. She is 7 months old and an orange/white tabby. Her name is Reeses, but I like to call her Reesey. She is a really friendly but mellow cat. We love having her around. Michael really wants to get a dog but likes cats too. Nathan all but begged me to let him "borrow him". I didn't really grow up with animals so I don't really care either way. Although, I'm not fond of the hair shedding so Reesey will get lots of grooming every week. Here are a few pics.

My Birthday!! Happy 5th Anniversary!!

My Birthday was August 23rd and our anniversary was August 26th. For my birthday, Michael took me to IFLY to go skydiving in the simulator. It was so much fun. I couldn't get the video to upload but here are some pictures of me flying.

For our anniversary, we went to the Hines Mansion in Provo and stayed in this room- Winter Dreams. It was so romantic. We stayed at the mansion 5 years ago on our honeymoon- in the library; picture of the library on the bottom.

This is the library. The tub is up stairs and the bathroom was behind the wall. It was painted to look like a bookcase and it was cool as it was like a secret passage.

Anyways, we had tons of fun. We went out to dinner to Carraba's and then went back to the mansion and watched a movie.

Vacation in Tucson

In July, we went down to Tucson to visit family and pick up our van. Here were some of the highlights:

Visiting family

Haircuts! from Aunt Elna

A trip to the Children's Musuem.

Nathan is putting away his groceries.

Inside a submarine.

Zenny playing with legos!

Playing in the "Jungle" gym.

Here the boys were connecting tubes together and then watching a ball roll through the maze they created.

Riding on a firetruck to put out the fire!

Nathan on the chase!!

Swimming at Aunt Elna's house.