Summer time...and the livin's easy

I could get use to this life! It is for sure, the good life being at home with the kids and just enjoying my time with them! I like 3 year olds! What a great age of learning, exploring, excitement....few tantrums....but overall just a fun love for life! Here is what our summer has been like:

Elle is pretty much potty trained!!!! Rangers game = no accidents. 4th of July parade = no accidents. Nap time = no accidents. I still don't have her going on her own. I have to ask and her and she will go, but we are so over the hump, and I am now only buying diapers for one! Now we just have to get Alex on board...hum...any thoughts?

Elle has started dance class! She has been to three sessions of tap and ballet now and is ... ok ... at it:) She likes tap a little better than the ballet because the shoes make a tap-tap sound, and ballet is just not as fun. I stay in the hall because she doesn't pay attention when I am around. Whenever I look in, she is usually just tapping her shoes in random fashion and not really in-sync with the other little girls. However, to her defense, she is only 3 and the other few girls are 5 and have been doing it for a while. She loves it though, and that is all that matters!


She has an obsession with babies in bellies (she thinks she has one in her belly). I think it is because Rae Lyn is pregnant. She thinks we all have on in our bellies, including Matt! She asks to see it and kisses his belly for him.

The other day she was in a sea-shell bikini top and told me that she wanted me to see her pirate. I was confused and thought she thought she was wearing a pirate costume. When she asked to see my pirate and pointed to my chest, I realized she wasn't saying "pirate" but "private." I told her that we don't need to talk about privates with anyone other than mommy. Sheesh!

I frequently get licks on the face because she says that's how doggies kiss you, but she will do it so often that you start to feel pretty gross. She loves to paint and has now taken to painting herself with water colors. We have had to learn that paint goes on paper not anything else.


Finally, with Elle, she loves to swim. We swim often, and she can do it with just a floaty on. That is a big help in the pool to not have to keep a hold of her at all times. I can just let her tut around with her floaty while working with Alex. She wears some seriously cute bathing suits, but the point of this story is to tell you all what she calls that suit. I have tried and tried to get her to say it right, but she insists she is saying what I am telling her to say...which is..."baby soup." I think it is too funny! She will dance around and tell us that she has her "baby soup" on. Then point to her belly and say that she has a "baby in her tummy" and her :baby soup" on. Crazy girl!

Now to the Al-inator. He is doing so great. We are still not making huge strides. No words to tell you as of yet, but he is really on his own as far as mobility and control. We hardly fall, we walk everywhere anymore, his depth perception is getting so much better, and he is eating solid foods most of the time with his fingers. We are really coming along.

We still do horse riding every Saturday, and I am just enjoying it so much. He is having a blast, and the families and kids we share the session with are inspirational. I have really made a little horse-riding family out of these parents and kids. They are just amazing. I have been really blessed to have found this therapy center with the teachers and the other kids that are in our session. Just fabulous. I cannot rave enough about it! Anyone wanting to do some volunteering or need info about Wings of Hope, shoot me an email!

We are trying aquatherapy on our own. I have researched some videos online and asked my old therapists for suggestions, and Alex has really started to enjoy the pool and what he does in it. He enjoys it so much that he bee-lines for the pool and practically falls in he is so excited. Now I just have to keep him from drinking the water all the time...


We can't wait to start school again in the fall. Even for those short 3 weeks, I was seeing progress. He was pointing out pictures of animals, sitting during story time to listen, and enjoying their sandbox. I am really pleased with his progress, and I am so blessed to have this amazing teacher, Mrs. Lane. He is in great hands.

As for Matt: He is in Arkansas a bunch. He has many projects going right now, so he is busy, but we are proud that he is really holdig his own. He had to head out before the 4th of July this year. He was bummed to say the least, but he knows that this is what is needed to continue to move his career in the right direction. Matt, if you are reading this, I am sooooo proud of you and I love you. We are coming up on 7 years next week. I couldn't imagine a life without, as my dad would call him,...Matt, scat, you dirty old rat! ;)