Ryans Open house

Ryan the Caterpillar. This decorated the classroom door at Open House.

Ryan and his buddy Jezzrell checking out his Michelangelo picture under his desk. The kids actually drew them laying on their backs.

Ryan's Van Gogh Picture. His is the green one in the middle.

Ryan and his Aide Ms. Mac. They grew so close this year. We will miss her.

Ryan has officially finished Kindergarten. Todd and I are so proud of all he has accomplished this year. He started the year struggling to do his work, refusing to write his name and playing by himself. Now he does most of his work independently, is speaking so well that he no longer requires one on one speech and is making up games on the playground and inviting others to play with him. Next year he will be with a small group of boys mainstreamed into a first grade classroom. He will continue to get the help he needs and we have high hopes that he will continue to climb mountains.

We attended his open house this year at Spinelli Elementary and Ryan couldn't of been more excited to show us everything he had been working on. It is all he talked about for two weeks prior. His Kindergarten Classroom made many pieces of art work based on art styles of famous Artists. They were so nice some are going to be framed in our home.

I LOVE October!

I love October! I love the colors, I love as the hot weather turns cool, and I especially love Pumpkin Patches. We usually hit up 2 or 3 if only to take cute pictures of my little munchkins. This one was in Santa Clara. Grandma treated the grandkids to a fun time on the inflatable slides. 

Abbey and Jaiden search for a pumpkin. 

Colton visits the pumpkin patch for the first time. 

Visiting with cousins

Traveled down to Santa Clara last week to see family. The boys had a chance to play with their cousins in Grandma and Grandpas backyard. Whenever we have all of them together we always attempt at trying to get a group picture. The only "great" smile we end up getting in Justins since he is the oldest. It is a hilarious  sight to see because it involves 5 adults standing behind 3 cameras making the craziest sounds trying to get them all to laugh. I love the Look on Coltons face, he has no idea what a crazy family he has joined. It was a great visit. The kids enjoyed playing hide and seek with their older cousin Justin and playing Toy Story on Wii with Auntie Beth. 

                                                          My little peanut at 3 years old. 

Colton is now 8 Months and is starting to crawl. 

We have a new "furry" addition!

So I have been begging for a new kitten since we returned from Pendleton last year, and Todd finally gave in. The one cat we have does not like the kids at all and I wanted a cat that would grow up with them and allow them to pet her. So when Ryan's new childcare said that they knew someone who had kittens they were giving away I signed up. She is the cutest little calico I have ever seen. She will come up to us and will rub against our legs and face wanting to be petted. She is too small to get away from Ryans grasp right now and has been placed inside a plastic halloween bucket several times in the last two days. Ryan gives her cars to play with and has even picked her up (by the stomach, feet dangling) to show her a picture he drew. Either she will totally despise him when she is bigger for torturing her or they will be good friends. We will have to see. She does not have a name right now. I am having a hard time coming up with one. So she is just being called Kitten. Any ideas? I was toying with something to do with the season or Halloween. Autumn is the only thing I have come up with.

Caprisun Purse

Ok, so I saw a lady at Walmart with one of these and had to try my hands at making one. I am so pleased with the way it came out! So who wants one for Christmas??  It was really easy too! Sewed it with a denim needle on my sewing machine. It took me about an hour to make. I will put the link for the directions at the bottom if you would like to try yourself. Happy Crafting!

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/capri_sun_bag

Colton at 6 Months

So here is my adorable nephew at 6 months. I know I am missing a few months, but thought I would put up the most recent one. Isn't he so cute? 

First Day's of School!

August brought firsts for both the boys this year. First Ryan started Kindergarten on Aug 5th. We tried to prep him during the summer that he would be attending a big kid school. He wasn't so sure about this and at one point he told us, "I just want to go to school with the little kids." I took him shopping two days before school started for his school supplies. A new backpack, a pencil box, crayons, eraser, glue stick and pencils and Grandma Toni bought him a first day of school outfit. He was very excited about his new supplies. The first day of school I took him to school and he did just fine. He found his name tag at his seat with a very enthusiastic, "I found it!" 

We are now three weeks into school. It has taken Ryan a little while to settle into his new routine. Carpet time, where the children listen to stories and work on letters and numbers is Ryan's best time. He sits and participates well. Working at his desk and especially writing and spelling his name were met with more resistance. The teacher was able to get him to trace his name at the top of his papers written in highlighter. Now I am happy to say that after 3 weeks he is writing his name on his own. We are now hoping that the district will hurry up and get a permanent aide in the classroom with him. He has had 4 different ones in 3 weeks. It does not seem to have affected him much to have different aides but we know that it is when things are consistent that Ryan does the best. He has started Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy. We are very excited to see what new things he will learn this year!

On August 10th Jaiden started Preschool at Center Co-op preschool. All summer when we would past the preschool we would tell him it was his new school and it didn't take long for him to announce "There is my new school!" Every time we would pass by. With the school being a co-op I work in the classroom one day a week. My work day is Monday so I got to work on Jaiden's first day. Still being a young preschooler, he wont be 3 until Sept 6th, Some activities were met with resistance. During the flag he refused to stand up declaring, "I can't!" But now after two weeks  he tells me, "I put my hand on my heart and sang flag of America!" His favorite activity is swinging during outside time.