Summer Fun

These photos are a little out of order but you will get the idea.  

The Broderick family came to visit us in July. It was wonderful! 

The kids really enjoyed having fun together.

 Collin was entertaining Kate.

 Collin showing off his Pirate sunglasses. He thought it was so funny!

 We went swimming several days a week! It was heavenly! Collin showing off his letter X.

 Daphne was old enough to participate in swimming lessons this year and she really enjoyed them.

 Such cute kids- we are going to miss Claire when she moves to Mississippi.

 Brett was showing me how tall our flowers were growing. The were so beautiful this year.

 We found out that Collin has an allergy to tree nuts. We will find out more specifics after we visit the allergist in October.

 We helped Rob & Janae move into their new apartment. As you can see the kids were a big help...

 We fed our ducks a lot of bread. We had several return almost everyday for a while. They would quack until we noticed them. The kids loved it- and so did I.

 Both kids worked on going up the stairs properly.

 The end of June Collin graduated from Preschool. He waved at everyone like he was a celebrity, such a big difference from last year's preschool graduation.

 We will really miss his teachers. They were great ladies!

Fall 2014 Back to school

I am super behind! Well I will try and catch up. Daphne is attending preschool 3 days a week. She was so excited to go!

 Collin was most excited to ride the big bus! I honestly miss the small bus as it came right up to my door. So far he is loving life and enjoying everything about school!

 Daphne was so excited she got to take Birthday treats to her class the first week! She picked cheese and crackers with birthday cake oreos and Juice.  

 Dancing with Bean before school.

Sea Lions!

We had the treat of a life time- we got a face to face encounter with the sea lions at our zoo, thanks to Laura, who is their trainer, and Christy who set the whole activity up. The kids were thrilled! They were so amazing to watch if you would like to see more, here is the link.  

Ward Christmas party

This past Sat. was our Ward Christmas party and the first ward activity dinner that we have brought our kids to. It was a wonderful experience overall. It so nice having people aware of special needs kids and helping us all have a great time.  We left the dinner a little early to put the kids to bed and then headed out on a date! - TO THE HUNGER GAMES CATCHING FIRE!! I was really excited to see it. It was a wonderful night!

Collin's 5th birthday!

Brett was working the evening shift so we took advantage of it and celebrated Collin's birthday a few days early. We took him to his favorite restaurant. Red Robin.

Daphne LOVES their Macaroni! 

We then went to an indoor garden shop called the Garden Factory. They set up a HUGE model train and fair like rides, and activities.  Collin LOVES this place!

He is thrilled to watch the trains for hours!

Daphne walked all around the other displays and wanted her picture with everything.

Talking to the reindeer!

Collin also had his first professional hair cut and HE DID AWESOME! It was amazing! I am so happy. This process has been a VERY long road. 

We also had his 5 YR old check up. 3'5 and 69#. He was so cute with the Doctor too! She let him boss her around- he got to look in her eyes and said " hey I see a blue bird!" She replied "WHAT!" Collin: "NO" with a big grin! It was such a HUGE change from every other year that we have gone. Its amazing! I am so proud of his growth and all of the changes he has made.

 He has been working so hard and even thought we have rough patches we are so proud of how far we have come in 5 years! He took Angry bird cupcakes and Juice to share with his preschool class and told everyone he saw that it was his birthday.  He got off the Bus at Alissa's home and he was spoiled with a party with them! It was a fun week!

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful thanksgiving. We made it half way to Brodericks house (Eire,PA) and it was a blizzard. So we stayed ina hotel and left super early on Thursday. We missed a bit of the parade but having clearer roads was really worth it. Shaun spoiled us all by doing ALL of the cooking- and I mean ALL! I was happy to just help clean up. It was delicious!

This was our post thanksgiving walk. Daphne got tired and loves to "ride dad"

You can't even tell Nicolette is 4 weeks away from having a baby!

Of course we went to  the local rubber maid store that has a whole indoor play area for kids. This was our black friday shopping. No crowds- but I did get an amazing deal $.75 for groups of 5 food storage containers! 

We made a craft to keep the kids busy.

Daphne introduced Claire to all sorts of gummy candy. Sour patch kids were a hit! I'm sure Nicolette wasn't thrilled  ;)

Claire loves to see what kind of spaces she can fit into. She is such a fun girl! The kids loved being with her.

Another one from the rubbermaid store.

Nicolette found this really cool activity in the town over from hers. We saw a magician , who pulled the rabbit from her hat and the kids got to pet it! We then walked around the city center and all the business had treats, a live nativity, and Santa set off fireworks. It was really enjoyable evening.

We let the kids finish the fun by eating at Wendy's they were thrilled! 

We are so grateful that we were able to go and visit! We miss these guys!

Shaun was awesome and took Brett to the airport @ 4 am ( 45 min away) so I wouldn't have to do it and then drive home in the same day. It truly was wonderful to be with them! 

Daphne's 1st hair cut

Daphne started out life pretty bald for a very long time. I never thought she would have long hair. But it has grown and she grew tired of me brushing it so off we went to get it cut.

 I thought this a-line would look darling on her. 

 She looks so much older now too! 

Our sassy little 3 year old!