'Twas the Night Before Christmas

Lewis and his class went on a field trip recently to several nursing homes to sing Christmas carols and recite 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.  Lewis had a section of lines and did such an incredible performance, we wanted to post it before Christmas, even though I'm pretty behind on my blog posts.  CLICK HERE for the link!! Enjoy!

And a few pics from the event:

jackson's orchard

We got to take the whole family out to Jackson's Orchard in late October including the grandparents Reitmeyer.  Lewis and Owen fight a lot, but once we got out there, they were eager to climb onto the highest part of the hay maze together.

 

 

Owen did some exploring on his own too.

 

Lewis enjoyed sitting on this slide for a while and enjoying the view.

Phoebe found a pumpkin almost as big as she is.

We got all of them to sit together sort of....on the white pumpkins.

Owen really enjoyed being there.

Mom + Phoebe.

Phoebe hanging out with Grandpa! 

sixpence + random october pics

 So, in October, Beth and I took the kids to a free sixpence show at a park in Nashville.  We've been listening to their new album, "Lost in Transition" quite a bit and Lewis had been playing their songs pretty frequently on the piano.  Owen likes to sing along, so it seemed like a good time to take them to a show.

 It was great!  It was a beautiful day, and the boys LOVED seeing them perform songs they knew.  They also played a couple of old favorites ("Line of my Earth" and "Within a Room") so it was fun for all of us.

 We got to play outside a lot with Phoebe who is ever more attached to her baby.

 We threw a lot of rocks in puddles.

 We saw the WKU Homecoming parade.

 Owen, Phoebe & I stopped by Lost River Cave to walk around and see the fallen leaves.

 They ran across the bridge.

And Lewis made some animals out of playdoh.  He went through a "Noah's Ark" and "Dinosaurs" phase so we made mostly those animals and he thought it was amazing.

Medical Center 10K Classic

On October 13, I ran my first 10K!  My friend, Grace Tuju, and I ran together. This photo is us before the race. It was a crazy time because the whole week before I had been hurt with plantar fasciitis and unable to run.  After purchasing some Brooks running shoes, I was able to run the 10K in 1:03:36 (or something like that), and felt pretty good after. I really felt terrible just a couple days before so I felt like God really blessed me by allowing me to run after training for it over a couple of months before.

 Me and Lewis after my race and before his Children's Classic race.

 This is Lewis "stretching" with the other kids before the race.

Lewis found some friends from his class at school before the race.

This is Grace and me after the race.  It was a great day for me because I wasn't running at all a year before and wouldn't have ever thought I could do this kind of thing.  Grace had organized a running group this fall and we have enjoyed running together so it was nice to have a friend to run with!! Very grateful!!

gallery hop and wku volleyball game

 Back in mid-October, we ventured out to the gallery hop and got someone to watch Phoebe.  We took Lewis and Owen to the Capitol for an exhibit of Kentucky art and artists.

Then we stopped by the Kentucky museum and the boys made 3-D guitars.

There was a free WKU volleyball game after that, followed by Hilltopper Hysteria at Diddle Arena.  We weren't sure what the boys would think of it, but Owen loves sports of all kinds and seemed to really love it.  When the basketball pep rally started, we got through the announcements of all the names of the players, and then had to leave, at which point, Owen freaked out and started crying.  Lewis also enjoyed himself.  It was a fun, baby-free night!

Lewis' field trip to Jackson's Orchard

 Here is Lewis' class on their field trip to Jackson's Orchard.

 Me and Lewis.

 Lewis sitting on some pumpkins.

 Ms. Doolin directing traffic before the hayride.

 Me & Lewis on the hayride.

 Lewis picked out a nice pumpkin.

 Lewis wanted to jump over his pumpkin, and he did!

After the field trip, Lewis' class had a pizza party as a "reading celebration."  Lewis ate 3 pieces of pizza, which was unprecedented.  I was glad to witness it! It was a fun day and all the kids had a blast!

early october

 October was filled with quite a bit of baseball.

 Owen and I continued to going to his AWANA class with Mrs. Dawn.  Owen chose to sit next to her one night (instead of me) and I was proud so I took this photo!

 Phoebe got a new outfit with zebra print pants. 

 We went to Bernheim Forest and saw this exhibit of artwork that is also a maze made of wood/twigs etc. It was pretty interesting. The exhibit is called Snake Hollow by Patrick Dougherty. The boys were pretty amazed!

 We also looked at some other sculptures near the visitor center.

 Grandma Linda (& Grandpa) and Aunt Jeanne were able to meet us there!

The boys sort of posed for this photo!

slim fit jeans + dietician

Back in the beginning of October I was shopping at Kohl's and found some slim fit jeans.  Lewis runs at least a size behind anyway, but adjustable pants end up being pulled to the point of looking ridiculous.  I held up the slim fit against a pair of regular size 5 jeans and the slim fit jeans had a noticeably smaller waistline, but were still adjustable.  Wouldn't you know that the slim fit jeans fit perfectly and we didn't have to adjust them!

We got worried a couple of months ago when I heard a webinar on feeding concerns from the Kentucky Autism Training Center.  They said if a child doesn't gain weight over the course of a month that a dietician should be consulted to help them gain weight.  Lewis had only gained one pound over the course the previous year so I knew there had to be multiple months when he didn't gain.  We met with a dietician who said he fell in the bottom 5% (if that) of kids his age for BMI, and that he needed to gain 3-4 lbs to put him back into the 25th percentile.  Our main concern is that his body isn't getting the nutrients he needs for best brain function and since he already struggles with cognitive impairment, we didn't want to make any of that worse!

Her suggestion has been for him to eat 250 calories more each day, to help him gain.  Halloween came at a good time, and the fun size candy bars have been a welcome addition.  He is also drinking "coffee" at Spencer's frequently that consists of a little coffee and quite a bit of half & half.  It has been interesting and we aren't sure if he's gained much yet, but hope he is filling out his clothes better by the time he turns 7 next June. We'll keep you posted!!

end of September

 The end of September brought in the official beginning of fall, with long sleeves and jackets, and lots of walks outside (or runs with Phoebe who is a speed demon).

 Owen and his football.  This boys LOVES football and plays it all the time.  He keeps up with all the NFL games and College football as well.

 More walks with Phoebe.

And the International Festival.  The Flamenco dancers were just beginning after we arrived and walked through some of the booths.  Once Lewis saw them we couldn't drag him away.  He moved up to the front row and clapped and tried to dance with them (which seemed kind of distracting so we made him stop).  Since then he has danced quite a bit at home and will say, "Clap for me!" while he dances.  Who knew he would love it so much?  Owen didn't like it.  He mostly wanted ice cream and Phoebe wanted to walk in the flowers.  Still a very fun time!