lake trip 2011

Justin's family takes a trip to the lake every year (for the last several anyway!) and this year we returned to Center Hill Lake in Tennessee. Here's the highlights in pictures.

Phoebe got to know all the aunts, uncles and cousins, including Shari. She seemed to like them all pretty well.

The boys enjoyed a lot of time on the boat and swimming in the lake. Lewis had a great time, while Owen was running high or low at all times. He missed his nap just about every day because all 5 of us were sleeping in one room and we wanted him to go to sleep quickly instead of his usual concert of preschool hits (with "Firework" thrown in) for a good hour. It worked in that regard, but his attitude was affected negatively at times when he got tired.

Owen's grumpy look.

He also loves the cousins and was excited Olivia came on the boat some.

The boys rode up front with Aunt Jeanne.

Back at the lake house, Grandma had some quality time with Phoebe.

The boys sat on the tube/raft thing.

Justin and Owen relaxing on the porch swing.

Phoebe and Owen.
Our view from the lake. It was lovely, but so hot!! We had a great time. It was nice to get away from reality for a while.

Phoebe starts to play

These photos were imported on July 15th! Shows how behind I am. Phoebe was chunking up a bit (notice her legs!) and starting to show interest in the dangling toys in her pink box.

VBS

We are playing catch up from the summer, starting back in mid July. We took the boys to a short VBS sponsored by the Church on Main. The boys had a great time and recognized some staff from school which made it seem more familiar! The playground was a big hit, including this funny see-saw.


The second night they had the kids act out the nativity story. Lewis agreed to play the part of a wise man. He got to take a gift to baby Jesus.

After Owen saw Lewis dressed up, he decided to participate the next time and got to be Joseph.

They were an antsy bunch, but loved the songs, costumes and crafts.

the pledge

This morning at breakfast, Owen started saying something that soundly oddly familiar. I realized he must be learning the Pledge of Allegiance at school and had him do it again. It needs work, but absolutely cracked me up. Check it out!

boys' stats

Well.....this is not a very exciting post, but our boys are growing, so we wanted to update the stats. Lewis started school last week, and Owen starts next week, so it has been a whirlwind. We were crazy and threw potty training Owen into the schedule this week to make things extra interesting!

More on all of the above later! Here's the latest:

Lewis, age 5:
Weight: 37 lbs.
Height: 40.5"

Owen, age 3:
Weight: 33.5 lbs.
Height: 38.5"

They are really close in size actually. Lewis is still in the 20th percentile which was good news. I'm always afraid he'll drop way down, but he is gaining at a steady pace. Owen is way up there percentile-wise, and doing great. He is even catching onto the potty thing pretty quick, which he should at age 3! He's going on a fairly strict timer still, but keeping dry pants pretty well. Here's hoping having those two in school will give me a bit more time to update the blog.

Mandy moved!

Ok, so this is mostly just a link to my friend, Mandy's, blog, about her recent to move to Houston. She does a great job of summing up her experience with us over the past 2 1/2 years of working with Lewis. By the end, she was working with Lewis and Owen and was at our house (or in and out) chunks of just about every day. Needless to say, the past couple of weeks have been an adjustment. She knew the boys really well and easily worked with them, helping to teach them all kinds of things. She is pursuing Applied Behavior Analysis (the type of therapy we use at home) as a career now, which excites me because it is a field that is so needed when the rates of Autism have sky-rocketed and it is the one most proven method that works to change behaviors of kids with the disorder. Unfortunately, it is not commonly used in this area.....and when it is used, it is often not as accurate as it should be because there are so few board certified behavior analysts training others to do it. So, we wish Mandy the best of luck and beyond that--pray that God will use her to help so many families like ours to help our kids reach their full potential.

These pictures are not the best, but it is hard to take pictures of squirmy boys on an iPhone.

random pics

So...we are kind of behind. These are random pics. Phoebe, above, had her first play time at Hopscotch. The boys got to play and she got to relax.


Owen left Big Red School demanding to wear his backpack one day a few weeks ago. He has never wanted to wear it so I took several pictures of him holding his butterfly painting. So funny. He got pretty upset when he had to take it off to wear it in the car though.

We have also been spending quite a bit of time at the "water park" downtown. The boys are enjoying the fountains with the hot weather we've had.

Lewis strutting his stuff.

Owen taking a break on the side.

This is Lewis with one of his "M & M" friends. He loves going to Kroger to see these guys.

Lewis also has been loving to hang out in Phoebe's pink box. She has a little bird that plays music and he has been learning to play the songs on the piano.

We got to celebrate Independence Day with fireworks this year. We went to a party at our friends' house (Jim & Susan Nelson). There were a lot of bigger fireworks there since Kentucky's laws got a bit looser this year. The boys LOVED it!


Phoebe and Aunt Ellen enjoyed the party before it got dark. Since the boys liked it so much we went to Alvaton's fireworks show and it was pretty big and loud. Once again, they loved it, but Phoebe did not like how loud the fireworks were at this bigger event. Next year should be better!

Owen and the monkey during their nap.

A cute pic of Phoebe in her cute dress from the Shephard cousins!

birthday highlights, Part 2

Big smile before he blew out the #5 candle.

The next weekend, Justin's side of the family came for a visit and showered the boys with gifts. We had the Shepherds, Shephards (from Nashville) and Uncle Lee and Aunt Imogene Simmons (also from Nashville). It was lots of fun!

Lewis opening a gift with encouragement from Grandma Linda (aka Ninna).


Owen trying out the pirate costume from a dress up set.

Baby Phoebe looking on with Aunt Monica.

Yet another cake.


Aunt Jeanne takes a turn with Phoebe. It was such a fun day, and we had a great time with everyone.

birthday highlights, Part 1

Because the boys' birthdays are so close together, it makes more sense to celebrate them together. However, to keep it from being totally overwhelming, historically we have had separate parties with each side of the family. This year, we opted to throw in a "Tattoo Party" so some other kids could come. The above photo is the only picture I had from the party. Justin has many more and we will try to post them soon. You can see our friends, Tom and Jack Sternberg, talking with Mandy Guss while others are getting tattooed out of view of the camera.

The next day, we celebrated with the Reitmeyer side. The boys each had some candles to blow out.

Phoebe and Grandma Martha.

Lewis got a tee ball set. Owen and Grandpa enjoyed it most!

Grandpa and baby Phoebe.

We did some work outside after the celebrating. Beth and dad posed for a shot.

firework

In honor of Independence Day, Lewis performs Katy Perry's "Firework."