Silly boys...

As a mother of just boys, it is quite the adventure! They are loud, inappropriate (sometimes), active, and silly every day. Every. Day. And I wouldn't change it for the world. 

This is Preston saluting. Yep, he doesn't put his hand to his forehead like I showed him, he puts it above his head!!! I think it's hilarious, and I have him salute every now and again to see if it still is going above his head. 

Brothers are awesome. Because the big brother can do tricks on basketball hoops and hold on to you so you can have a ride. Little brothers are great because you get to do these tricks and pretend you are playing with your brother. 

 Ready?

 Here we go!

This cute boy I cannot get enough of, or the many faces of him. 

Not happy.

Such cuteness! I love profile pictures of him.

Brothers do everything together. Even leaning on the back of the chair to watch TV. 

Another good thing, big brother doesn't care that little brother put a bowl on his head....not sure he even noticed. 

He is a mess, but I sure do love him! 

Girls Trip...at home!!!

I made some great friends while in northern Virginia, and one of the girls had moved away after our girls weekend trip to NYC, so this year she came back to us for a short visit! We had a few days with her to do lots of going out and girl time. 

This is Katherine and I at the movie theater that had reclining seats?!!?? It was amazing! 

We had so much fun together and did so much catching up. After this myself and another girl from our group have moved away. Hopefully we can all get back together again soon!

Preston starts School!!

First off, let me take you back to Preston's 18 mo. and 2 yr. well baby check-up. During those check-ups at the doctor they ask how your kid is doing and what kind of things they are doing so they can make sure they are meeting the milestones they should be. We realized that Preston was falling behind in speech, but also with pointing at things or wanting to show us something great. He never pointed at anything until about June of this year. Usually 1 yr. olds are pointing at everything around them or things they want. At the age of 2 Preston was only saying 8 words, usually they are in the 30-50 word range and also putting 2 words together to say something. He also was not responding to his name being called. We'd call out Preston 8-10 times and he wouldn't look at us. This got us worried so we took him to the county to get him tested. 

We started with a speech therapist just interacting with him, and seeing what he could do and also asking me questions. They said he definitely needed more testing to see what was going on with him. So that started the meetings with a social worker, a psychologist, another speech therapist, getting his hearing tested and then finding out the results to see what they found. Social worker got his whole background of his two years. The psychologist asked him to do some puzzles or put a block into a cup she had, she was the one who told us at first that he could be autistic, or on the spectrum somewhere. I was shocked that she would say that, but it was something I had already thought of, so it was good to be prepared for that kind of an answer. The other speech therapist played on the floor with him and saw how long he would interact, if at all, with her. The hearing test was big, because I thought for sure something was wrong, but turns out he has perfect hearing!!!!! 

In the end they came back within a week and told us he was not autistic but he did have a Developmental Delay, especially with Communication. This started the journey we have been on now for a year. He was able to get an IEP (individualized education plan), especially for him. He would start school in a special education preschool class, and since we got to him so early he would hopefully be caught up to his peers by kindergarten. 

His diagnosis is with communication, not just with speech. He didn't talk much, or copy what we said, but he also doesn't understand WHAT we are saying, or what it even  means to communicate. When he wanted something to eat he would go to the fridge or pantry at the age of 2, and get whatever he wanted. Which we thought was just independence, but he needed to talk. So now he is learning how to communicate. How to show things to people, how to interact with others (another thing he never did when we'd go see family, not even when there was a whole room full of people, he would walk by without a glance at anyone), how to speak and ask for things, and look at us in the eye. Eye contact is something he doesn't do well either. 

But the good news is, he started school in January of this year, and went until June, and started back up again in September and is doing well. He is not making leaps and bounds, but he is definitely progressing. He will be tested again in January to see where he lies and make sure his IEP is on track for him. I'm so grateful for a pediatrician that made me aware of this, and suggested we get things looked at, because it makes a huge difference! And I know lots of kids who just don't talk until they are 3 or 4, but his was so much more than speech. He has started to understand what we are asking of him, or telling him. It's his communication both ways, receiving and giving that was the problem.

Here Preston is on his first day of school!!! He didn't want to keep still for any pictures.

Trying to get away from me.

Ready for school with his lunchbox! Not an easy day for me at all. He was only 2.5 yrs. old and I couldn't believe he'd be going to school for half the day without me. I was a worried mess the first week. 

Ready to go!

Back home again, and playing in some snow before we go inside. 

SNOW!!!

At the beginning of this year we had snow, and then more snow, and then....more snow!!! I can like snow, but when it gets to be this much I'm not a fan. Also when it's so cold outside and it's snowing, you can't even enjoy it. Luckily, we had some days that we could go out and enjoy the mounds of snow we were provided. 

Preston loved it, and always wanted to be out in the snow, even though it was hard to walk in.

"What do I do now?"

Spencer got the great idea of cleaning off our front steps, and then making a massive mound of snow at the bottom to jump into. It was lots of fun, although trying to remove the massive mound of snow was not fun. 

Daddy getting Preston with a snowball. 

Spencer was tired and just laid down to rest. 

The boys together playing. 

This was the first of the snowfall. We didn't think we'd get much this first day so the kids went to school. Which wasn't such a great idea. We don't have the plows and manpower to clean the streets as quickly as other towns who do get snow a lot, so it stayed like this until 4pm, with additional snow on top of the already packed/driven on snow underneath. There was lots of car accidents that afternoon/evening and even some buses slid off roads. Parents were not happy their kids had to go to school in this, so for the rest of the year I think the administration took the "just in case" let's be safe decision. 

And did I mention it was feeling like 1 degree outside!?!?!? Yep, these poor kids at the bus stops. Look at that wind, we are just not used to getting that kind of coldness and wind....although this was the second year of a bad winter there. 

The snow was pretty to look at while it was falling. I loved sitting by the window to see it all. 

Another day outside to play in the snow. Preston especially loved figuring out the whole snowball throwing thing....because he kept throwing snow at me all the time. 

Christmas 2014

This year for Christmas we decided to go down to my parents place and spend the night. It was lots of fun to see everyone and to have my parents there for the big morning. 

Our family's presents!

The Christmas Tree with all of the presents from family around it...we had a lot. But there were three families doing Christmas there, so not too bad. 

The big reveal! I love getting this picture every year of Spencer. He loves walking in and seeing what Santa gave him. Preston still didn't quite understand what the big deal was, until he found his pile. 

Such a cute boy!

I absolutely love this picture of Preston. One of the best smiles he's given to me. 

Preston was excited about a lot of his gifts, but he loved the Mack Truck he got from the Cars movie. He laid on the floor a lot and just rolled it back and forth. 

Spencer loved this shirt that my parents gave him, and the new rubik's cube he got, and has still been trying to solve. He gets so close. 

Handsome kid!

My parents gave us this awesome family tree as a gift!!! It starts out with Tyler and I in the middle then goes out until it gets to our great-great-grandparents! I love it because it's a pretty cool way to see the names of your family, and be able to display it. 

Preston and Grandpa on the iPad. 

While down south we were able to visit with Ms. A!!! We love seeing her and being able to catch up on all things. 

Cute moment of the oldest grandchild and the youngest grandchild. They bonded pretty quickly and Preston loves playing with him. 

My parents also got Spencer this pixel book. He has to make designs out of the pixel blocks on the front of the book. He really liked it and took the time to finish one of the designs. 

Overall, Christmas in 2014 was great! We loved being by family, and enjoying that time together.

Christmas 2014 movie

Our year....

December 2014

So I've done an awful job this year of keeping up with the blog, it's been a busy year, but I'm here to redeem all the memories we've made. First I need to finish up last year. 

One day after church the boys were eating or maybe it was that morning before we went to church and I had to go behind them for something, and I saw this. They were sitting the exact same way! I loved it because it showed that even though they are 8 years apart that they can be very similar. 

During this month and a few other months, our friend in Northern Virginia, Katherine, gave us extra crepe batter. She has a stand at a farmer's market that makes crepes and they are delicious! We were thrilled whenever she would call and ask if we wanted some batter, I don't think we ever said no.

We had to make the Gingerbread Houses. This is the front of Spencer's house.

And here is the back with the frosted roof. I think he did a good job with it all.

Preston had a little help from Dad, and did a train. Although he mostly ate some of the candy and then dumped it on the top of the train engine or in the cart behind it.