Put that in your pipe!

I'm mailing copies of Ben's first kindergarten assessment out to every doctor who told us we should 'consider his quality of life,' 'the milestones only get harder,' and that his development 'is like kicking a puppy.' In case you can't tell from the picture, Ben recognizes all upper and lowercase letters, knows the corresponding letter sounds, identifies his shapes and colors, counts to 30, and knows upwards of 100 sight words. Of course he battles challenges every day, but he is not just passing kindergarten, he is excelling! He is easily the hardest working kindergartener out there, spending several hours outside of school each day working on flash cards, phonics games on the computer, reading books, and practicing letter formation and writing. His perseverance and hard work is paying off! I am so proud of him I could burst!

If Ben has come this far in five years, I can't imagine what he'll accomplish in the next five. Go Ben!

My Baby is 2!

Rocky must be the most well loved 2 year old. He is and will always be my baby; I unapologetically spoil him rotten with extra love and attention. He has his dad wrapped around his finger and his brothers all smother him with excessive....we'll call it, "love." He completes our family and we all adore him. 

Rocky is very verbal and likes to repeat everything he hears his brothers say, especially anything choice phrase that gets a reaction from mom and dad. I know Rocky is officially two because he has started using phrases like, "mySELF!" and "why?" alllllll the time. Rocky is fairly even tempered--he's learned to just go with the flow in the chaos in our family. If he gets scolded he starts looking for his blankie right away to get comfort. He is playful, mischievous, affectionate, smart, and spunky. He likes to eat fruit, yogurt, and meat and pretty much throws everything else onto the floor. I can't really think of any toys that he shows an interest in--he just likes to be outside and be in the mix with his brothers. Rocky is a joy in our family and we love him to bits.

We kept his birthday festivities low key. We spent the afternoon at the museum, then met Nana and Papa for dinner at Red Robin and cake and presents after. 

Rocky wasn't very interested in his gifts, but Joey is enjoying all his new toys! Rocky was content with a dum-dum sucker that I let him pick out for a birthday treat at the store.

Happy Birthday to my sweet boy!

Retakes!

We have a firm "no-retakes" policy in our family....which we promptly disregarded the moment Hank brought home this beaut of a school picture:

When I picked Hank up after school and asked him how the pictures went, he gave me the disclaimer that he thought the photographer snapped the picture while he was still "getting ready," so I thought I had been given notice that the photo this year might not be a framer, but I really couldn't have been prepared for the psycho expression on his face. It's not going over the mantel, but it does give me a laugh every time I look at it.

Max's picture turned out cute, so at least we came out 1 for 3 on school pictures. 

The night before pictures, I went to the grocery store specifically for the purpose of buying hair gel so that the boys would look their best on picture day. The morning of picture day I made sure to style each of them with a cute 'wave' in front. As soon as I picked Ben up after school I knew his picture would be a flop--the good for nothing hair gel just turned Ben's hair into a limp, sweaty-looking mess. 

I happen to think these boys are the handsomest little dudes on the planet...unfortunately they just inherited my non-photogenic gene.

First first day!

Joey really has been asking to go to preschool for the better part of the last year, so there were no tearful goodbyes when his first day came. I'd probably feel a little more distraught about my buddy going off to school without me if he didn't love it so much and if it weren't just two mornings a week at my next-door-neighbors house. Joey thrives in preschool: he is friendly and social and smart as a whip. Love him!

Pucker Up

Rocky has mastered his "duck face" and makes me smile every time he does it.

Go Cougs!

These guys thought they were pretty lucky when Aaron took them to a BYU football game that didn't start until 8:15. To make the night even more special, BYU scored a touch down to win the game during the final play and they got to rush the field afterwards. 

Mmm, mmm Good!

It might not look like a big accomplishment, but we were jumping for joy when Ben recently learned to drink from a cup. Most people take for granted the ability to drink fluid from a cup, but when you struggle with lip rounding, have low tone, and a strong oral aversion, drinking can be a big challenge. Ben feels pretty proud of himself every time he drinks from a "big boy cup" and we couldn't have chucked the blasted baby bottle any farther.