Cruising!

 

Caitlin had her dance recital on Saturday. Granny took her and mom meet her there after graduation.

 Her dance group did great, I ordered the video so dad can watch when he gets home.

 Caitlin doing her thing! The dance was 60's theme, but I bet there were few that recognized the songs!

 So cute!

 This was the tap routine!

Cute

 Can you tell I really like to watch my princess dance!

 Waiting backstage for the show to start. After sitting in my regalia in the hot hot hot sun I was excited for a dark cold dance recital!

 OH did I mention that Friday was Caitlin's kindergarten field trip. Oh talk about a good time

 Here are the girls in the class.

 The entire class.

 Look who works at the aquarium we found pee paw!

 Yeah!

 Look what Owen found, a new boat! I think mom and dad would like this!

This was Caitlin before the rehearsal she loves dance.

Just look at those girls all together HAHAHAH Got to love 6 year old dance.

One entire week!

I have had this week off of work and while its only Tuesday my list of what I had planned to do and what I have actually done is very different. Oh well, Owen and I are having fun, enjoying the awesome weather. Tomorrow morning I will clean the entire house and go grocery shopping so that will make me feel like I accomplished something. I have plans to cut the grass tomorrow while Owen naps, although he didn't nap today oh well! Like I said this will be a week of blog posts. The weather is nice, I am off of work and even better my computer is downloading pictures again. Yippee

  A quick stop for pictures in the flowers on our way to piano yesterday.

 I can't can't wait until Carl gets home and we can spend more time, on the dock, kayaking and in the boat!

 Right now we go fishing in the ditch. Yes tadpole hunting is one of our favorite pass times. You know I love it!

 You better not stand next to Owen or you will be wet , very wet!

 We always have to take them home joy joy!

Smile for the picture guys!

Winds of Change!

Well guess who is doing great talking! Its still hard for me as he has no where near the vocabulary that Nathan and Caitlin had at this age, but considering where we have been he is doing great. So great that I am going to take him to speech tomorrow and Tuesday and we are going to start transitioning out of speech. He has been going to speech two to three times a week for 18 months!!!!! I think I will go down to once a week for the next month and then be done in time for summer! OH yeah!!!!!! Oh yeah!
So here goes
Here is Owen's most recent evaluation received today
  "So I wanted to share the most recent evaluation information I have with you.  I completed an articulation evaluation and he continues to demonstrate errors for /l,r,ch,f,v,th,sh,z,k/ in at least one position at the single word level.  These are all age-appropriate errors however and with these errors he scores within Normal Limits for a child his age.  I also completed an oral motor screening.  He continues to have difficulty with isolated tongue tip movements and in combining two movements.  He earned a score of 32 and 33 is cut-off level for a 3 year old.  I think some of his deficit was motivation as much as inability.  I think he does have adequate oral motor skills for speech production.    The final area I assessed was his spontaneous speech.  He demonstrated a Mean Length of Utterance of 3.8 words which is typical of children 41 to 46 months of age.  In December his MLU was 1.4 words so he has come a long way.  He also was 92% intelligible and 75% intelligibility is expected for a 3 year old."   

          SO there you have it , Owen is talking age appropriately and so this summer we can spend everyday at the pool and beach instead of two days dragging everyone to speech YIPPEEEE , Happy Dance!

 

So Happy after I got this email we went out for a celebration ice cream trip to DQ which everyone enjoyed I also have so many pictures to download. We had a great weekend with Aunt Ali and Grandma, so tomorrow I will be updating the blog after our trip to speech! SO now that I can stop worrying about Owen and speech and I can switch my mom worry meter over to other things. Lets see tomorrow morning I am going to worry about Lindsay all day. She is giving her brother her kidney tomorrow. I explained to the kids that we wouldn't be seeing her for a few weeks and that mommy and grandma were going to hold down the fort. Caitlin asked what a kidney does, Owen explained that a kidney is a kitty cat and goes meow! We have really deep conversations around here!
Then there is Nate, ohhh Nate..... he was sick a few weeks ago and still hasn't regained his appetite you know its not like he ever had one. So now we are drinking Pedisure you know its 13.00 a 6 pack!!! We also have to take trips to DQ where I get the other kids small ice cream cones but get him a large and pray no one notices! I explain to them they must have made a mistake. Yes the ice cream cone below Owen has is a small!! You can imagine what the large looks like. So Nathan has been having allergy asthma problems, and he has been waking up early like before 6! So this week I will focus on Nathan and yes Caitlin she is fine, she is always fine! I got a letter from her teacher on Friday she is reading at a level N, I looked it up and that's the end of second grade hahahahaha!

 

 

Spring????

Well Spring has been coming and going, mostly going! The days when it is nice the wind blows 50 knots okay maybe only 30 but its impossible to run and well my dreams of taking Owen in long runs in the jogging stroller have been non existent, this is not cool! Although we could probably use the stroller as a kite and fly!  As I sit here it is raining outside hum...... not cool. One upside to all this is the fact that my spring cleaning is still in high gear as we don't feel much like leaving the house. I find that with the pollen as high as it is Nathan's outside time has to be limited to about an hour or two per day, all day and he feels really bad the next day, is lethargic and doesn't eat. He really hasn't eaten since allergy season started so to say we are ready for summer is an understatement. I know I know just a few blogs ago I really just wanted spring! I know I am never happy ! LOL!!!!!  This week I filled out Owen's preschool paperwork for the fall, I am just waiting for his physical form to come back from the doctors office and he will be all set. I have Nathan and Caitlin's summer schedule almost done. They both wanted to go to Sound to Sea again. Wow does that week take a hit to our wallets! I won't publish numbers but camp for each kid and then Lindsay for the week! Lets just say I probably just break even going to work!!!! Nathan is going to Boys Scout camp, and Caitlin will do dance camp. They are both going to be on the swim team. Owen will also do swim lessons. We also can't forget Owen and speech we have it set at 2 days a week but some weeks we work in a third!!! We went to Step It Up night on Tuesday night to get ready for next year and so there you have it. We just need a dad so we can start our summer of fun! Soccer is OVER! Caitlin has her end of the year dance recital in two weeks and so yes, the blog, I really do try but its just so hard with everyone running in different directions! Everyone is sitting on the sofa watching a show now, its hard for me to believe  but they are all sick! I know I know, just colds, poor little Owen woke up with a bad cough this morning! Oh does this mean I skip the end of season soccer party tonight hahaha I bet they will all be well enough for that:(
Okay here are some pictures not from my camera because I have yet to download them but stay tuned, this is the week of pictures, I promise!!!!

 Caitlin on her Kindergarten field trip with her friend Abby.

 Grandma had to go on this one, as siblings were not invited , thanks Grandma, a trip to the farm.
Owen and I will be going to the aquarium next week for her last field trip of the school year!

April Showers bring May Flowers

Well I didn't get to download my pictures from my camera so some iphone pictures will have to do for now. I am have been busy the past month, cleaning out the house, well actually I have cleaned little I have just been organizing. It all started when I decided to refinance the house and in hopes of a high appraisal I started organizing and I just can't seem to stop until its all done.  The only small problem is with three kids its usually two steps forward, three steps back. Take for example, Friday night after happy hour I came home to finish the closet organization. Owen helped me put together one last shoe rack, we put it in my closet organized the shoes and my closet was done. Fast forward to Saturday when I was downstairs cleaning out something else and walk upstairs to find a pile of shoes in my closet (see below) and my shoe rack gone! It was in Owens closet with one pair of shoes on it and this is what I was left with (see below). Okay well the house cleaning is going well but I usually only have about 6 minutes at any given time to spend on it so yes it is keeping me busy until Carl gets back.  Nathan had his last soccer game of the season on Saturday he did great, almost scoring the winning goal , they actually tied but still an undefeated season, way to go buccaneers.
Caitlin has her last week of soccer this week! Caitlin scored her first soccer goal of the season on Saturday she was so happy. I am happy for her, way to go Caitlin!  I will have my Saturdays back and I can't wait. I have many trips in our future. I am in my last week of school this week so just like always next week at this time, soccer will be over, I will be finishing school and I will be sitting on the porch sipping cold lemonade in the summer sun!

  I am dreaming of a kayak out in the creek , I think this is one of the first things I will do when Carl gets home.

 Guess what I was eating , powdered donuts!

She dresses herself, ohh she is so much fun. She has a new friend in the neighborhood, she lives four houses down and her mom lets her come over and play and they just do girl stuff for hours! Inside outside its so nice. Nathan is allowed outside with the boys but I still keep Caitlin close  so its nice she has someone to play with!

My shoes minus the shoe rack! Thanks Owen

 

Report Cards

Carl asked for a few blog posts and well since I don't think I have sent him a package in a few weeks I guess I better deliver! Stay tuned for a few blog posts this week! OH might I add THIS IS THE LAST WEEK OF SOCCER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Caitlin was Student of the Month for March! Way to go Caitlin. This is the first time we have ever had student of the month I think, we have had student of the month on the bus for both children but I think this is a first.
Caitlin's teacher writes " Caitlin takes her responsibility to improve her community seriously. She is very conscious of her social responsibility to help others, keep her community clean and follow the rules" She gets all those wonderful qualities from her mother of course :)


Well as I write this Nathan tells me his stomach hurts. OHHHHH its been a rough week this week. Nathan has not been feeling well. I have no idea what's wrong with him. The doctors have no idea either. Its a long story but it started last Tuesday with a call from the school nurse telling me she was considering calling an ambulance, jump to Wednesday with a trip to the doctors and steroids. He was out of school all week by Friday my fun meter was pegged so off to Grannies he went. On Sunday morning she called me and thought he needed to be seen and so off to the doctors and then to the hospital for the usual round of tests and yesterday evening and today he seemed to be doing better, but ohh can I say this, I think I am ready for Carl to come home , yes I am ready !!!!! Okay anyway he hasn't said anything again so maybe it was a passing thing. I think I will do the usual keep typing and see if anyone yells louder that they are dying , in need of desperate assistance or overall not happy with something, it happens every 12 seconds or so!!!!!! Oh right so anyway back to how awesome everyone is. Report Cards yep. ... I am too lazy to download the pictures so I will post that that both Nathan and Caitlin got great report cards. Caitlin got above average in Reading and Word Study/ Spelling. Ms. Salmons writes
Caitlin has passed all required Benchmarks. She is an early developing writer, wish is on grade level. She is reading on a level J and read 145 sight words. I look forward to reading her stories each week! She is a joy!
Nathan got above average in reading and his teacher writes
Nathan's exceptional school work is a reflection of his enthusiasm for learning and his inner drive to excel. His positive attitude is very contagious. Nathan is willing to take part in all classroom activities. He adds great insights to our class discussions and is always willing to be a volunteer. He is progressing well in all areas of study.

okay well that's all Nathan tells me his stomach hurts so I am going to go pour a glass of something, or maybe just drink straight from the bottle and help him!!!!
Stay tuned for more blog posts later.... oh and did you hear Ninja Stanley made it safely to Japan!

Nate's Birthday Party

Well I know his birthday is still 11 days away but our weekends are filled with soccer and more soccer and there is just no time during a normal week so I decided Spring Break would be a great time to celebrate. I took Nathan and four friends (Seth, Garrett, Aiden J. and Aiden M.) in the van and two followed in another car down to Jungle Rapids in Wilmington for a Laser Tag /Arcade Party. It was during the day and Lindsay watched Caitlin and Owen and it was nice, I got to really enjoy his party and so did he. Nathan is doing so well in school this was his reward a good times just for him with some good friends!  At one point he turned to me and said " THIS IS THE BEST BIRTHDAY EVER" now I know he said that last year at Lego Land hahaha but that's okay birthdays should be special. I consider them even more special when all I have to do is get in the car and when I get there the drinks and pizza are waiting, a few games of Laser Tag and Arcade later and here we are!





Entering the laser tag area, just off the Arcade


At this point I realize should have brought the good camera, ughhh my little camera could not handle the bad lighting so the pics leave something to be desired like LIGHT!!!!


In our party room overlooking the laser tag arena, ohhh these kids were excited!

 Getting ready,  This little girl was a sibling and she could hang with those boys!

Here's the group going in for the show down, we had the green team and the red team.



 With no flash!


Eating pizza and cupcakes after the first game of laser tag.

Getting ready for the second round.


 Boys will be boys .... ha hahah and one girl. I am sure Caitlin would have had no part of this, and you had to be 7 and it was dark inside!

Nathan loved the video games too.



More guns geeezzz!

Hum I think guns are safer than motorcycles!!!!




 He got guess what legos for his birthday! Every birthday since age two all he wants is legos !!!!

Enjoying pizza!


Talking with his buddies, the kids got along great. It was a very cold and very very rainy day, so it was a perfect day for an inside party at any place except my house!!!!!
HAPPPY BIRTHDAY NATHAN WE LOVE YOU!!!!!