Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Brady lost a tooth!!!

Brady has been dying for just one tooth to fall our since Aubrey has already lost two.  He was very proud to finally lose it and was very inquisitive about how the tooth fairy was going to know that he lost one and how she was going to find it.  He hid it for her and Brady was very happy to wake up in the morning to find a dollar and a coin!


Friday, October 17, 2014

61 Months!

Nearly 2 months into school and they are maturing so much.  They amaze me every day by the way they just know how to do things that I wouldn't expect them to.  Last night they brought home homework pages and had them all done before I even had a chance to read the instructions to them.  The weekends are far too short and the weekdays are going by far to fast.  New routines are taking shape and personalities are shining through.  Yup...they are growing up!


Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Happy birthday to Mommy!

The kids just love buying gifts for people! The always but some thought in it and have a reason that they bought you the things they did.  Cameron was so excited to give me his gift first!

A Halloween sign...because Halloween is coming and he likes bats!

Thanks Cam!

Aubrey couldn't wait for me to open her gift and even gave me some clues as I unwrapped!

A tea party set...because I like tea and she didn't have one like this yet!

Matthew was so anxious for me to open it that he told me what it was before I could see!  A red bank because he likes red and we need to save money for a new vacation!

Thanks Matt!

Brady was proud of his choice!  A big glass that is purple at the bottom because that is my favorite color and blue at the top because that is his favorite color!

I love these guys!  Thanks for the awesome gifts!

...and for every nice picture there has to be a silly one!

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Student of the month!

I was so proud to see what Brady brought home from school today!

He told me that he earned it for always trying his best, following the rules and helping others.  I am so proud of him and he was choking back the tears when I was telling him how proud I was. 

Time to celebrate his huge achievement!

And of course...snuggle time with his BFF!

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

First Progress Reports!

They are all adjusting to our new routines and the fact that they have to go to school every day...some days they are more willing to get up and get rolling than others.  We are proud of them for putting in the effort and doing the best they can while encouraging them to try a little harder in some areas.

Mrs. Guay reports that Matthew does his very best every day and is always willing to help out his peers.  He contributes to class discussions, listens to directions and works independently.  Matthew is working on writing his name by using a combination of both upper case and lower case letters and learning "greatest" and "least" and discriminating between them.

Mrs. Guay reports that Brady does his very best every day.  He adds to class discussions and always willing to help.  He can write his first name accurately and count well beyond ten.  Brady is learning to discriminate between least and greatest.

Mrs. Guay reports that Aubrey listens to directions and cares about her work.  She contributes to the class discussion and wants to learn new things.  She is working on finding the appropriate time to socialize.  Aubrey can write her first name accurately and count beyond 10.  Aubrey is working on 1:1 matching.

Mrs. Guay reports that Cameron is eager to do well and is always ready to add to the class discussion.  He is a methodical worker and sometimes does not complete tasks in the allotted time.  He seems to handle this well and will complete them later.  He is writing his name without a model and working on match 1:1 with numbers and quantities.

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

5 Year Check Up Time!

Five years...holy cow!  It still makes me sad when I say I have five year olds!  They were more than happy to get a half day off of school to go to the doctors, especially when they heard they were not due for any shots this time around...except Aubrey who was begging for a shot.  I had briefly entertained the thought of switching doctors, solely for the ease of not making a 2 hour round trip for simple visits now that the kids were in school.  After the appointment I did come to the realization that no other doctor would meet my expectations.  Dr Stasny is so thorough, so knowledgeable,  and stays up to date on the newest recommendations.  I have yet to stump her with a question, that I have already thoroughly researched and just needed one more opinion, in all of the years we have been there.  We are very fortunate that we struggled to find a pediatrician in the beginning because it lead us to right where we needed to be.

With Matthew our biggest concern with him was his hearing loss that seems to be causing him to mumble his words together lately.  We already had an appointment for a follow up with Dr. Chen to see if the nasal spray is effective or if he will need to get tubes put in...we will see next week!

Matthew's measurements at 5 years old:
Weight 37 lbs -  21st percentile
Height 42" - 27th percentile
BMI 14.7

With Brady our main concern was his tendency to get compulsive about things. We discussed why people are like this and how to help them work through it without the frustration.  Dr Stasny made some good book recommendations for both him and me which we are waiting to be delivered.  His leg pain seems to be growing pains and she showed us both how to do some stretches to work on those.

Brady's measurements at 5 years old:
Weight 47 lbs -  88th percentile
Height 44.5" - 76th percentile
BMI 16.7

Aubrey was up next!  We discussed how she has been giving us a hard time about wearing certain things, even after she picks them out herself, and how she has been having meltdowns over her hair being done a certain way.  She seems overly concerned with how others perceive her.  Again we got some great book recommendations and advice.

Aubrey's measurements at 5 years old:
Weight 35 lbs -  12th percentile
Height 41.5" - 24th percentile
BMI 14.3

Cameron was last up and the easiest to discuss!  We didn't have many concerns for Cameron and in fact he seems to be the one giving us the least amount of trouble right now.  They all take their turns at this for sure!

Cameron's measurements at 5 years old:
Weight 38 lbs - 31st percentile
Height 42.5" - 38th percentile
BMI 15.1

After discussing pros and cons all four got the nasal vaccination against the flu and we were sent on our way until next year!

Monday, October 6, 2014

Apple Picking 2014!

We made our annual trip to Windy Ridge for some apple picking and fun.  The race was on to find the biggest apple, to see who could pick the most and who could use the apple picker to get the most apples from the top of the tree! Always a competition in our house...some friendly, some not so much!

Silly kids!  They LOVE these props!










Tractor ride!  Matthew and Brady were good sports and rode together after rude people cut them in line and there were no spots left.

Time to map out the adventure!

Feeding time at the petting zoo!


Brotherly love!

Time to pick some apples!




The best part...taste testing.  I think Aubrey tried an apple from each row. Had to be sure which one was the best.




Apple pies, apple sauce, apple slices...it's going to be a YUMMY fall!!!!

Sunday, October 5, 2014

First Motorcycle Ride!

The fab four have been begging for a ride on Daddy's bike so we finally had a day with nothing to do and decided it was the perfect time to try it out.  Aubrey was the first one to hop right on!  She loved it and wanted to go again!


Next up was Cameron!  In true Cameron fashion he let us know it was "ok, not too fun."  The boy can never just like something...or let us know he does anyway!


Brady was hesitant to get on when his turn came.  He questioned the safety and how far they were going.  In the end he ended up having a blast!


Last but not least, Matthew was up!  Being the dare devil he is he got off and told me he can't wait to be big and have a motorcycle of his own.



Saturday, October 4, 2014

Silly straws!

The first gift they had to check out when they got home from their party was the straw glasses.  They loved them and we got a huge laugh at how silly they all looked!




We've been FLOCKED!

Nine years ago this summer there was so much uncertainty, would Ben make it through his treatments?  Would I be able to carry all four babi...