Opryland

I think we finally figured out the best day to visit Opryland!  We go every Christmas season to walk around the hotel and see the lights.  But since the hotel is next to Opry Mills, there is a ridiculous amount of traffic.  The cars usually back up for a mile just on the highway and then it takes forever to get into the parking lot.

My mom was supposed to fly in on December 23rd.  Unfortunately her flight got canceled and she didn't arrive until Christmas Eve.  She got in around 5pm so we headed straight to Opryland after picking her up.

There was no traffic at all (even though Opry Mills was still open).  It was so nice!

This year there were giant nutcrackers with directions on how to get to different attractions.  Rylan is obsessed with nutcrackers and has to pick up every single one he sees in stores.  I like Carter copying this nutcracker's arms.

I think Carter is copying the middle snowman and Rylan is making himself a carrot nose.

The biggest Christmas tree I've ever seen ...

Huge poinsettia tree ...

The lights are everywhere and so pretty!

An attempt at a photo of the five of us!

Kissy Face

Grayson made this face all the time when he was just born.  It's getting rare now to get his "kissy face" but I wanted to make sure I got a picture before he stops!

Rylan's Fall Party

I have so many old pictures still to post from the last couple of months.  Grayson is occasionally sleeping (instead of screaming) after the big boys go to bed so I'm getting a little time to catch up on things, like blogging.

So, here are some pictures from Rylan's fall party!  It was October 30th, the same day as Carter's field trip to Lucky Ladd Farms.  As soon as the kindergarteners got on the buses, I raced over to the preschool.  I only missed the first 15 minutes of Rylan's party, which is when they made a craft.

Next the kids played games.  One was "toss the bean bag in the bucket".  Rylan was really good at this (especially compared to his classmates).

I didn't really understand the other game.  It seemed like "pin the tail on the donkey" with a spider and spiderweb, but I don't think there was a specific place the spider was supposed to go.

The snack was dirt and worms (puddling with cookie crumbles and gummy worms) and oranges made to look like pumpkins.  Rylan didn't want to eat either.

And last, one of the moms read a couple of Halloween books.

Rylan with his best friend from his first year at preschool (Radnor).  I love how they are sitting the exact same way!

Rylan has also become really good friends with Caleb (who was also in his class two years ago).

Before leaving the kids also got goody bags!

I'm so glad I was able to make it to Rylan's party!  I would hated to miss it!

Carter's Speech

We have Carter's annual IEP (Individual Education Plan) meeting in January.  This will be Carter's 3 year anniversary so we will be discussing if Carter will remain eligible for services.  I have no idea if he will.  His speech has improved tremendously over the last few years but there are still sounds and words he struggles with.  I believe he'd still benefit from therapy though I know he doesn't get as much assistance as he used to.  He now only gets 30 minutes a week and there are at least 2 other kids with him in his session.  So far Carter hasn't complained at all about being pulled from his classroom for his session.

I received Carter's first quarter progress report with his report card a couple of months ago but never posted about it.  Below are his current objectives and progress.

Objective 1: Carter will carryover /s/ and /z/ into conversational speech as observed in 3 3-minute speech samples with at least 90% accuracy.

•  Current %: 75
• Status: Some progress made.
• Status Narrative: Although this objective was previously met, Carter benefits from verbal reminders to use his /s/ sound appropriately during conversational speech.  I am continuing to work on this goal.

Objective 2: Carter will eliminate the phonological process of gliding (produce /l/ and /l/ blends) in isolation, syllables, and words with at least 80% accuracy in 4/5 opportunities.

• Current %: 80
• Status: Objective has been met.
• Status Narrative: Mastered.

Objective 3: Carter will articulate /l/ and /l/ blends in phrases/sentences with 80% accuracy in 4/5 opportunities.

• Current %: 80
• Status: Objective has been met.
• Status Narrative: Mastered.

Objective 4: Carter will generalize /l/ and /l/ blends into structured conversational speech as observed with 80% accuracy in 3 3-minute speech samples.

• Current %: 70
• Status: Some progress made.
• Status Narrative: We are continuing to work on Carter's /l/ blends in conversation speech.  He is doing great!

Elf on the Shelf Friday

I have to say that Mr. Elf was a little less creative and last minute with all his overnight fun this year.  But he still managed to do something every night and never forgot (barely!).

On Saturday I had to go to the grocery store before my dad and Jan arrived.  Mr. Elf decided to help me out with my shopping list ...

On Saturday night / Sunday morning, Mr. Elf must have done something to upset some of our army guys.

We caught Mr. Elf and Spiderman playing Go Fish on Monday morning.

On Tuesday morning we found Mr. Elf stuck inside of Carter's gingerbread house!

He still had some sugar on his face (as well as my eyeliner from the previous week that he's still having trouble removing!).

On Wednesday morning Mr. Elf was all caught up in one of our rubberband bracelet looms.  He's obviously not very good at making them!

Mr. Elf went home that night.  See you next year, Mr. Elf!!!

Eyelashes

Carter and Rylan have amazing long and thick eyelashes (they get them from Brian - not me).  Grayson was born with much more average eyelashes.

Just recently they seem to have grown (and curled).  They are so dark too.

Grayson also lost a lot of the hair on the top of his head.  But the new hair that is coming in seems to be the same dark color.  And his eyebrows have darkened up.  It's starting to look like all of our boys are going to have completely different hair colors!

Gloria a Dios

Two weeks ago Rylan had his winter performance at preschool.  The program this year was called "Gloria a Dios".  The kids sang six songs ...

• Gloria a Dios
• For You
• I Will Love You, Lord
• Bells are Ringing
• Do You Know?
• A Parting Prayer

I didn't think the songs were as good this year and the kids just weren't into them as much as they usually are.  But maybe I'm just extra critical since I'm not happy with Rylan's preschool this year.

This year we were all asked to make our kids a drum out of an old coffee can or oatmeal container.  I covered one in red and green construction paper and then Rylan (with a little help from Carter) decorated it with some of our Christmas stickers.

This was the first year that Rylan got to perform on the stage.  Last year his class did an informal performance in the music room for the parents.

Before the kids started singing, we got to go up and take a picture of our child.

Most of the kids in this picture are in Rylan's class (he has 11 kids in his class this year).

Rylan didn't seem to sing all that much but was smiling the whole time!

The younger kids performed in the morning and this is the older kids, including Rylan's class.

I didn't film the entire performance this year.  Grayson started fussing near the beginning and I was doing my best to make sure he didn't start wailing.  Here is part of one video I did get ...

First Tub Bath

I FINALLY gave Grayson a bath in the baby tub today.  Once his belly button stub fell off, it still looked really raw in his belly button so I wanted to be sure that was 100% healed before submerging him.

Grayson was not a fan initially ...

But then he started to calm down ...

And then seemed to like it ...

Grayson is finally REALLY clean :)

Baby's First Christmas

Grayson cried and cried through his first Christmas.  He is so much like Carter as a baby.  Everything I think I blocked out about Carter's first few months is coming back to me!  Just like Carter, Grayson can go through all his bibs and several outfits in one day because he spits up so much (spitting up is an understatement).  I'm scared to look back in my blog and figure out when Carter stopped being so fussy.  Hopefully it's soon!

Grayson had a few minutes of awake calm time.  He really seems to like his new piano kick mat from my mom!

Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!  Love you all!!!

First Trip to the Zoo

Grayson visited the zoo for the first time on Monday.

Look!  A six-legged/armed kangaroo!!!

Actually, this was our first time seeing one of the joeys.  According to the keeper, this one is the oldest at 7 months.  He had actually spent 30 minutes outside of his mother's pouch earlier in the day.  There are about 5 more joeys we'll be sure to see more of soon!

My dad and Jan visited for a couple of days and this was there first visit to the zoo.  They also got to finally meet Grayson!

Thanksgiving School Work

Since Christmas is tomorrow, I should go ahead and post the Thanksgiving school work I wanted to share!

Here is everything that Carter was thankful for ...

In case you can't understand kindergarten spelling ... my mom, my dog, my friends, my dad, my brother, our food, my teacher, and my school.

Also, as homework, all the kindergarteners were given a turkey and told to disguise them so they could hide for Thanksgiving.  Carter had just started basketball practice and picked out the team name and colors for Brian.  So here is what his turkey did ...

Carter designed everything and I just did a little cutting out for him.

Hands

Grayson has also started to find his hands and realize that he can suck on them.

Smiles

Someone is just starting to smile!  Love it!

Holiday at Cheekwood

The boys and I met Missy and her kids at Cheekwood yesterday.  Brian had to work and Warren was out of town so it was just us with all the kiddos.

None of us had been to Cheekwood yet this year for their Christmas activities.  We got there at 10 am and I'm so glad we didn't go any later because we managed to do each activity right before a line formed for it.

After stopping by the model trains, we went to the art studio for the main craft.

The kids all got to make a snow globe. It was a really cool craft.

Carter designed his and needed very little help.

Missy and I were very impressed.

Next we headed upstairs to decorate cookies.  This year the cookies were huge Christie ones - they were very yummy.

The babies were there too even though they didn't make many pictures!

Concentrating hard to get the entire cookie covered in frosting ...

Lots of sprinkles!

The boys all approved of the cookies!

The next craft was decorating cards.

Rylan's:

Carter's:

Then we got to see the two reindeer in training - Jolly & Jingle.

Luke and Carter look pretty good as reindeer :)

We even got to get our pictures taken in Santa sleigh (Santa was there but the line is super long to see him and you have to buy super expensive pictures!).

Grayson woke up right before our turn so I got to get a picture with all my boys!

After all the Christmas fun we let the boys run around for about an hour since it wasn't too cold (upper 40s).  We are so glad Missy met us and we got to have a little Christmas fun at Cheekwood!