A Day of Fun with the Cousins

My sister, Amy, and her family came to Utah for their Spring Break and on Friday we decided to let our kids take the day off of school and spend the day with their cousins at Classic Fun Center in Sandy. We had such a fun time and were there for over 6 hours. The kids Skated, went in the jungle gym, bounced on the bounce toys, and played arcades. We enjoyed some pizza and I really enjoyed hangin' with my momma and my sistas!

Brianna was really determined to learn how to skate and despite the falls, she did a really good job!

Kelsea

Kelsea, Courtney, and Mary

Landon was darling the entire day and was really good. I decided to give him a pizza crust and was amazed that he actually ate it without choking (he only has two teeth and I was pleasantly surprised).

My brother, Brian

Katie, Amy, Zach, and Brian

Tami and Skyler

Amber thought she'd try skating and realized it was not for her

My mom and Skyler

Me and my sistas

And we definitely wanted one with mom

What a great day!

Extra, Extra, 'READ' All About It!

Today was a big day for my sweet Corbyn. He advanced to Level D in the Take Home Reading Library and I could not be more thrilled. Now I know that there are a lot of other first graders that are on higher levels than Corbyn, but this truly is amazing for my little guy. At the beginning of the year, he was on Level A and was really struggling. When I would read with him, he would get frustrated with himself and clearly he was not grasping the phonetic concept. Since he has been in Miss Eliason's class, he has excelled so fast! After the first month of school, we decided to change his IEP to include some Resource classes during the day, where he would work on reading with the Resource teachers. I am so pleased with his progress!

When Corbyn was first diagnosed with Autism, I remember being so concerned that he would struggle with learning how to read. I thought it would be years before he would understand phonetics and I never thought he would be reading this well in Frist Grade. I am so proud of Corbyn and how hard he has worked to get this far. Good job, buddy!

Knowledge Bowl

March 14th was the District Knowledge Bowl and Kelsea was on one of the teams from her school. They have been preparing all year for the competition and my, was it a competition. I was amazed at how super gung-ho some of the other schools were! Kelsea did a really good job and answered most of the questions for her team (her teammates seemed really shy and only one of her teammates hit the buzzer to answer a question in all four games). Her team didn't win any of the matches, but I think it was a really good experience for Kelsea to have. (She says she is going to do much better next year, "because she wants to win" - you can tell she's competitive like her mother.)

This is Kelsea and her friend, Aubrey. They weren't on the same team, but it was fun to be there together - not to mention, they were really excited when they got the goody bags the coaches passed out.

Good job, Kelsea!

To Be Sick or Not to be Sick, that is the Question?

This was a crazy weekend for us. It started out with my Grandpa's funeral on Saturday, then Sunday morning, Amber woke up and could not stop throwing up. We had Stake Conference and my sister, Tami's, baby's blessing, so I decided to stay home with Amber and Landon. After Stake Conference, Corbyn started to feel a little sick, so he then stayed home while Jason took the older girls to the blessing. By late afternoon, I started to feel really sick and could not keep anything down either.

At 2:00 a.m., Brianna threw up all over, at 3:00 a.m., my sister called (where Kelsea spent the night) and said Kelsea just threw up, and while I was on the phone with my sister, Corbyn threw up. Needless to say, it was pretty crazy and pretty gross for my poor family! Jason headed to Sandy to pick up Kelsea and I got the other children back to bed. By morning, everyone was fine. No one was throwing up and everyone seemed happy and ready for the day.

We kept the kids home from school, for obvious reasons, and spent the day at home. It was a pretty crazy, sick, weekend and I must say, I am so grateful it is over!!!! I truly am grateful for good health and I hope that my family will not have to go through another experience like that for a long time!!!

"Remember Who Loves You"

On Tuesday night, my Grandpa Darrington passed away. He died in his sleep and must have had a peaceful passing. He lived such a great life and I absolutely adored him! Anyone who knew him could coin his favorite phrase without even thinking twice about it - He always told us to "Remember Who Loves You" - that is something I will NEVER forget!

Love you, Grandpa!

Hard Lesson to Learn

While Landon was sick, I kept telling the children to please stay away from him so that they wouldn't get sick also. I had one child, who would not listen and was in Landon's face all the time. I reminded her over and over again that she could get sick, but to no avail. Well, this morning Brianna woke up with Pink Eye - :( She is so devastated that she has to stay home from school, because her teacher is having a pajama, popcorn, movie party today. I feel so bad for her, but I wish she would have listened to me and stayed away from Landon. I think this is a hard lesson to learn. Sweet Brianna.

Oops!

So, I'm a pretty awesome Mom, right? I finally took Landon into the Doctor yesterday and he had double ear infections and pink eye. Oops! I guess he didn't have a measly virus after all - moral of the story? If greenish looking discharge is coming out of your child's eyes, take 'em to the doctor, duh!

Poor Guy!

So, Landon woke up this morning with some serious eye boogers and amazingly enough, this is how his attitude has been . . .

. . . up until now.

Now he just wants to go to bed. Let's hope all the oozing will be gone soon! Poor guy!

Amber's 4th Birthday

Amber's 4th Birthday was on Monday and we thought it would be a lot of fun to take the kids to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. As it turns out, everyone loved it . . . except for Amber. She was scared almost the entire time . . . oops, guess we should have picked a different activity.

We came home for cake and ice cream and Amber loved it!

The kids were all super excited for Amber and made sure that she had a great day. I have such awesome children and I am so grateful!!!!!

Urban Family Photos

A few weeks ago, we got our family pictures taken in downtown Salt Lake. We just got our CD of the session back and I thought I would post a few of the photos. Many of you have probably already seen these, but for those of you who haven't - here you go. We were super pleased with the photographer!!! (Jeana Bird Photography) Check out her website: jeanabirdphotography.com or her blog: jeanabirdphotographyblog.com if you are thinking of getting family pictures!