Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
4th of July!!
We had a nice low key 4th of July this year. We went and spent some time playing at the beach. Watched some of the fireworks til the kids got too tired. And overall had a fun day with beautiful weather. The last couple years we were pretty fogged in, so it was a nice change.
Here are some pics of the kids. Hope you all had a great 4th!!

Chris was making the kids laugh so I could get them smiling and I just love the excitement all over this one

Hannah's not too big on the ocean these days, but she loves getting sandy

Zach on the other hand LOVES the ocean


Waiting for fireworks to start


Here are some pics of the kids. Hope you all had a great 4th!!
Chris was making the kids laugh so I could get them smiling and I just love the excitement all over this one
Hannah's not too big on the ocean these days, but she loves getting sandy
Zach on the other hand LOVES the ocean
Waiting for fireworks to start
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Party Time!
We celebrated Zach's birthday with a party at the local park with friends and family. The kids had fun playing, eating cake, and being together.
Zach arriving at his party


Posing with his skateboarder cake that he picked out

Loving the attention while everyone sings to him

Cake aftermath (I don't know who handed out the cake, but somehow both my kids ended up with pieces with the black frosting!!!)


Getting ready to open presents

Bowing as he was saying "Thank you" to his guests
Zach arriving at his party
Posing with his skateboarder cake that he picked out
Loving the attention while everyone sings to him
Cake aftermath (I don't know who handed out the cake, but somehow both my kids ended up with pieces with the black frosting!!!)
Getting ready to open presents
Bowing as he was saying "Thank you" to his guests
Monday, June 22, 2009
As heard....
Driving home from Target yesterday
Chris: Thanks for being such a good boy at the store Zach
Zach: My pleasure Dad
Chris: Thanks for being such a good boy at the store Zach
Zach: My pleasure Dad
Monday, June 15, 2009
Happy 5th Birthday Zachary!!!!!!!!!!
Zach,
5 years ago you made me a mom. Little did I know how much my life would change by your presence. You have taught me to look at life different. To look at people different. To accept differences. To love completely. Everyday you amaze me with your determination and your whole hearted love. I admire the pure joy that takes over your whole body and the sparkle in your eye when you get excited about something. You have been the most influential person on my life and I love you more than words can describe.
Per your request, tonight we will be dining on hot dogs, french fries and beans.
I love you buddy. Keep reaching for the sky!
5 years ago you made me a mom. Little did I know how much my life would change by your presence. You have taught me to look at life different. To look at people different. To accept differences. To love completely. Everyday you amaze me with your determination and your whole hearted love. I admire the pure joy that takes over your whole body and the sparkle in your eye when you get excited about something. You have been the most influential person on my life and I love you more than words can describe.
Per your request, tonight we will be dining on hot dogs, french fries and beans.
I love you buddy. Keep reaching for the sky!
Friday, June 12, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Friday, May 8, 2009
Trying to get it back...
... my blogging mojo that is. As I am sure you have all noticed (all 2 or 3 people that actually read this), I haven't been blogging much. Partially because I haven't wanted to, partially because we haven't had a lot going on. But I feel the need for a post... so here goes...
Zach is going to be 5 soon. FIVE! How did that happen? He will be starting kindergarten this fall. After months of deliberation, we have made our choice on his placement for his entry to elementary school. It was a hard decision. Here's why. Part of me wanted to push for regular, fully integrated kindergarten. I feel like he would adapt well to his "typically developing" peers and he would learn well from them. And I feel like as his mother, and his advocate, I had to push for that right? We went and toured the special ed class in our district (I don't think they call it special ed anymore, I am sure it has a much more PC name). We weren't overly impressed with it. It was kind of tucked in the back of the school. Kind of the way we remember the special ed classes when we were in school, which was... oh I don't know... a couple decades ago. It was a neat class. The teacher and aides seemed awesome. We left there more confused. With his pre-school class (which is also the special ed class of the district), we walked in and fell in love. We knew he would thrive there and knew that was it. No questions asked. We didn't get that feeling from this class. After talking through different options with his teachers, and amongst ourselves, we decided on the special ed class for next year. One of our biggest reasons is that with budget cuts, the K classes are likely to have 30 kids per class. That is a lot for any teacher to deal with. In the special ed program, they aren't taking any budget hits, and he will get much more one on one time which I think will greatly benefit Zach. We had his IEP today and there are many of his goals that deal with integration. So he will do some classes (art, music, etc) in the regular kindergarten class. Our hope is that next year, maybe he will be ready to transition into a regular ed class. Maybe repeat kindergarten in the regular class. That remains to be seen. For now, it is nice that the decision is made.
We also signed Zach up for soccer again. This year we opted out of the special needs league. While it is a great team, we thought he would do better with kids his own size and age. Playing next to teenagers that were 4 times his size just wasn't a great fit. So, he is all signed up to play in the Under 6 team and games will start this fall.
Zach's speech has been taking off lately. His pronunciation of words has been noticibly better in the last few weeks even. We are so proud of him and how hard he's worked, and for putting up with us not understanding him. Zach is such a smart kid that he has all these thoughts in his head he just can't always find the words to express his thoughts.
Hannah is almost 20 months old. She is a (as a friend recently called her) "little ball of fire". She talks like she is much older than she is. She speaks complete sentences and repeats everything you say. At her last doctor appointment (about a month ago) she was 30 lbs, 34 1/2 inches tall. She loves to color and draw, play in the dirt, and kick a soccer ball. She gets in trouble for picking the flowers in the yard at daycare and when asked about it she says "Pretty!" and tries to put them back on their stems.
Her and her brother are such a pair. They play wonderfully together and you can see their true love for eachother. If one isn't in sight, the other is asking for them.
Here are a few recent pictures:
This picture isn't spectacular of them, but I want to explain. It was like 100 degrees that day and they were hanging out watching a cartoon, Chris and I were doing something in the kitchen and I go to check on them and Zach is running his fingers through her hair and she was just loving it

I just love her eye lashes in this picture

Zach talking to a baby at a family function.......

...... right before pimpin his sister out to him (love the looks on her face)


We were out of town, and they were supposed to be sleeping, I went in the room and found this

Hugs (and actually if you look close, he is kissing the top of her head)
Zach is going to be 5 soon. FIVE! How did that happen? He will be starting kindergarten this fall. After months of deliberation, we have made our choice on his placement for his entry to elementary school. It was a hard decision. Here's why. Part of me wanted to push for regular, fully integrated kindergarten. I feel like he would adapt well to his "typically developing" peers and he would learn well from them. And I feel like as his mother, and his advocate, I had to push for that right? We went and toured the special ed class in our district (I don't think they call it special ed anymore, I am sure it has a much more PC name). We weren't overly impressed with it. It was kind of tucked in the back of the school. Kind of the way we remember the special ed classes when we were in school, which was... oh I don't know... a couple decades ago. It was a neat class. The teacher and aides seemed awesome. We left there more confused. With his pre-school class (which is also the special ed class of the district), we walked in and fell in love. We knew he would thrive there and knew that was it. No questions asked. We didn't get that feeling from this class. After talking through different options with his teachers, and amongst ourselves, we decided on the special ed class for next year. One of our biggest reasons is that with budget cuts, the K classes are likely to have 30 kids per class. That is a lot for any teacher to deal with. In the special ed program, they aren't taking any budget hits, and he will get much more one on one time which I think will greatly benefit Zach. We had his IEP today and there are many of his goals that deal with integration. So he will do some classes (art, music, etc) in the regular kindergarten class. Our hope is that next year, maybe he will be ready to transition into a regular ed class. Maybe repeat kindergarten in the regular class. That remains to be seen. For now, it is nice that the decision is made.
We also signed Zach up for soccer again. This year we opted out of the special needs league. While it is a great team, we thought he would do better with kids his own size and age. Playing next to teenagers that were 4 times his size just wasn't a great fit. So, he is all signed up to play in the Under 6 team and games will start this fall.
Zach's speech has been taking off lately. His pronunciation of words has been noticibly better in the last few weeks even. We are so proud of him and how hard he's worked, and for putting up with us not understanding him. Zach is such a smart kid that he has all these thoughts in his head he just can't always find the words to express his thoughts.
Hannah is almost 20 months old. She is a (as a friend recently called her) "little ball of fire". She talks like she is much older than she is. She speaks complete sentences and repeats everything you say. At her last doctor appointment (about a month ago) she was 30 lbs, 34 1/2 inches tall. She loves to color and draw, play in the dirt, and kick a soccer ball. She gets in trouble for picking the flowers in the yard at daycare and when asked about it she says "Pretty!" and tries to put them back on their stems.
Her and her brother are such a pair. They play wonderfully together and you can see their true love for eachother. If one isn't in sight, the other is asking for them.
Here are a few recent pictures:
This picture isn't spectacular of them, but I want to explain. It was like 100 degrees that day and they were hanging out watching a cartoon, Chris and I were doing something in the kitchen and I go to check on them and Zach is running his fingers through her hair and she was just loving it
I just love her eye lashes in this picture
Zach talking to a baby at a family function.......
...... right before pimpin his sister out to him (love the looks on her face)
We were out of town, and they were supposed to be sleeping, I went in the room and found this
Hugs (and actually if you look close, he is kissing the top of her head)
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