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."