October happenings

 I got to accompany Claire on her field trip to the zoo. We had a lot of fun riding the bus together. I enjoyed spending the day with my daughter. It was FREEZING that day.

 This gorgeous yellow gerber daisy has been in full bloom all month. It makes me happy since most the other flowers are dead.

 We had a great Conference weekend. Our kids love getting candy for when they hear certain words like temple or Jesus. We love snuggling and staying in our jammies all weekend.

 Here are the three big kids enjoying the "shade" our maple tree gives off.

 Baby Kaylin loves her mobile. It makes her laugh and smile.

 We found a pumpkin patch in the neighborhood to pick out our pumpkins this year.

Baby loves her saucer. Kaylin is 7 months old. She is army crawling everywhere. We often find her in the kitchen. We are on high alert to make sure she doesn't choke and things she finds on the floor. Kaylin loves hair and beads and will put both in her mouth if given the opportunity. She can't seem to figure out Mark's beard. The other day she was touching his beard and she decided to stick her tongue out and licked Mark's face! It was super funny. After two licks she decided that she really didn't like it. She continues to be a happy, sweet, content little baby. I'm constantly out around town at appointments and driving the carpool and running errands. I'm grateful that she tolerates everything I put her through.

Sean is doing very well. He met all of his goals in speech therapy and graduated from those services. Sean speaks very well. He enunciates well and even corrects himself when he makes mistakes. It's hard to believe that just two years ago Sean only had a handful of words, was just learning sign language and had very poor receptive communication skills. Sean has come a long way.

Claire is doing great in the 1st grade. She loves lunchtime and recess so she can play with her good friend Miranda. Claire loves Singer's Company and is excited for her Christmas concerts coming up in December. She has started reading chapter books and really enjoys The Magic Tree House series. Claire is very good and helping me and I love making her laugh.

Luke started speech therapy two weeks ago. He goes to Talking Time which is a one hour class once a week. I go with him and Baby Kaylin gets to spend time with the neighbors. Luke is learning signs for the sounds which helps us prompt him and practice sounds at home. Luke gets assigned homework each week.  He feels special having a homework folder and a class just like Claire and Sean. Luke loves his once a week gymnastics class. At home Luke is working on communicating his needs instead of screaming on the floor. We are all grateful for Luke's improved behavior at home.

6 month baby

 Baby Kaylin was tired and not in the mood to smile for us. She fell asleep on the floor shortly after these pictures.

 Kaylin wanted to eat the lace and could not be bothered to look at the camera or smile. She was totally annoyed with the photographer at this point.

 Love my two girls!

 Could this baby get any cuter!

 (Thanks for the adorable outfits Aunt Melissa)

 Kaylin reached 6 months on September 28th. We are all smitten with this little girl! She continues to be the sweetest, calmest, most content baby we have ever had. I'm constantly amazed at how patient she is being dragged around to appointments and stores. She loves her left thumb and snuggling with a blanket. She is an amazing sleeper and prefers to sleep in her bed which makes church a bit tricky now. Kaylin can roll anywhere she chooses and can get to anything on the floor. We held a family home evening where I showed the kids examples of things Kaylin can choke on. I'm hoping to have the whole family on board to help me keep her safe. Kaylin likes to play with(put in her mouth) hair and beaded necklaces-yikes! Kaylin does not like solid food at all. It becomes a game of how much she spits up verses how much goes in her mouth. She is loves to grab anything she can reach and can be seen swatting the spoon away in this picture above. Kaylin makes our family very happy.

end of summer

 These are pictures from one of our last summer evenings enjoying the fruits of our backyard. Here is Kaylin gumming a nectarine. She loved it.

First week of school

 Here are my two adorable stay at home buddies. I told Mark that having Claire and Sean at school would be like Mark going to work and having his workload cut in half! It's really nice to have time for my two youngest. Lukey and I are working on his letter sounds and it's nice for Kaylin to get to be home for her naps. We are looking forward to Luke's gymnastics class that starts this week and story time at the library. The three of us are going to have lots of fun.

I have been practicing braiding Claire's hair. So far so good.

 Lukey is completely potty trained!!! We sent the big kids to school then stayed home for three whole days. I showed Luke a picture of this pirate ship online and told him if he could wear his underwear full time and keep them dry that I would buy it for him. The toy was a total game changer! Luke worked really hard and by the fourth day was able to use the bathroom at Grandma's house and at the store. It is awesome having our big boy use the toilet.

 I was completely jealous of this nap that Mark and Kaylin had together.

 We had an awesome time at the annual Hamblin Family Reunion. Aunt Linda spoiled us this year. We had lunch, played games and played in the creek up Hobble Creek Canyon. The weather was gorgeous and we love to visit with our Hamblin family. The only downside was that our family did not win a single candy jar from the guessing game. Aunt Lacey continues to be the expert estimator by winning several jars. Go Lacey!

 Kaylin is now a full time thumb sucker. She refuses to touch binkies now that she can accurately get her thumb in her mouth whenever she chooses. I'm certain it will be a long term challenge to get her to stop someday but for now it's nice to not have to go in and replace her binky in her mouth. She is excellent at self soothing. Here she is about to take a nap with Grandma Luke.

 Matching her teddy bear(we had to get creative keeping entertained during the potty training week).

 I finally cut Kaylin's baby hair. I didn't want to but it was getting long and distracting. Her hair is finally starting to come in. It is fuzzy and blond and we are still waiting to see if it will be curly.

Claire came home from the first week of school sick. She missed three days of school the second week and then passed it to Sean who is our healthiest kid and only missed two days of school. He passed it to Luke who gets croup and can't breathe at night. I am now sick and miserable and now our sweet baby is sick. The good news is that the two big kids are back to school. Mark worked so many hours last week and was never home so he has been able to stay healthy. I hope this goes away soon. We will see what the third week of school brings.

1st day of school

 These kids were the most excited for the first day of school! They enjoyed posing and showing me their best excited faces. I am so proud of these two.

 Collecting potato bugs while waiting for Sean's bus.

 Sean is attending his second year at Giant Steps Autism preschool. He has the same teacher and is in the same classroom. He has not had any adjustment problems with starting school. He hit the ground running and has already learned his telephone number. Next year at this time he will be starting Kindergarten somewhere which will be a much different experience. We are so grateful for Giant Steps and for this coming year of growth for Sean.

 and he's off!

 Our big 1st grader! Claire has adjusted well to going to school all day. She loves helping make her lunch in the morning and is always good to get ready for school. Her best friend Miranda is in a different class but the two girls manage to find each other at lunch and on the playground everyday.