A little more help

Last June Jaden was evaluated by the school system to see if he qualified for speech services. He had been receiving speech therapy (with a WONDERFUL therapist) from BACH. But, BACH only provides services to children under 3. The good news was that the school personnel who conducted the evaluations did not feel that Jaden needed the extra help at that time.

They did make sure to tell me that even though they don't qualify at this time doesn't mean that they won't later. We were very happy at the progress he had made to that point and felt that starting preschool in the fall would help to move things along a little more "naturally". We thought that the interaction with the other children and the desire to communicate to play with them, etc... would encourage him to continue to develop his language skills.

While Jaden is pretty vocal and interactive at home turns out he is very shy and quiet at school. He isn't really exhibiting the kind of behavior we had hoped for. He needs to actually talk in order for his speech to be reinforced, corrected, etc... Fortunately, a speech therapist came to the school to do evaluations. I was not surprised when I got a phone call about my little Jaden. She felt that he would benefit from some extra help - particularly on his articulation.

So, he had another evaluation. The good news is that his language and comprehension are actually a little above his age level (3 years 10 mos.) but his articulation is WAY below (2 years 4 mos.) The speech therapist believes he has something called apraxia. He is going to speech therapy two days a week now. We are hoping that we can give him the support he needs now so that by the time he starts school his speech skills will be indiscernible from his peers. In just two sessions he's already mastered the "d" sound. Now, we'll be building on that and practicing lots at home. He's going to need to work really hard but we know he will be great!

I will be anxious to post updates on his progress. But I'll admit I'll be a little sad when the day comes that he doesn't say "all-wight" anymore :)

Sweet & Sassy

This year we celebrated at Sweet & Sassy. This is the girliest of all "girl" stores. A little girl's dream! Anna was talking about it for weeks before her birthday. She was so excited about sending out invitations and getting dolled up.
So, I was looking forward to watching her have a great time. When we got there the young ladies who worked there took the girls behind the curtain to pick out their dresses. Jessica came out first - looking so cute and full of smiles. Then came Anna. What a transformation - no smile. In fact, a pout. I have no idea what happened. One minute things were going good then next - this ->

Nicole getting her hair done.
Ari's turn - hair and nails all at once!

Jessica getting her hair done with her make up already applied. Beautiful!

The finished product! Her hair looked so cool. I wish I could do this for her :)

Lots and lots of glitter today. Here is is all over her hands!

Little Miss Nicole - she's a regular at getting glammed up!

Next, they took the girls back behind the curtain again and this time they all came out on the stage to sing and dance...except Anna....

Hey, at least the girls had a good time!

We moved into the cake room to have some pizza, special cupcakes, and open presents. Anna's smile came back :)

-I think she was just overwhelmed by everything. It was a lot to take in when we got there. Many things happening at once and lots of people around and music, lights, etc... She was better in the smaller room after her belly was filled :)

Seven!

I know that I am very late at posting these. But, finally here they are - Pictures from my little photo shoot with my SEVEN year old little girl!!! When I look at these pictures I have a hard time believing she is SEVEN! She looks so much older but seems so much younger in my mind. I think I have her frozen forever as the little baby I used to rock in my arms not so long ago...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

There really weren't any "great" ones of us with everyone looking at the camera and forget everyone smiling. It's just very hard at this age for everyone to cooperate - especially when cousins Justin and Alex were being so silly. We had a lot of fun trying though and I'm grateful to Aunt Kelli for taking these for us. We'll work on getting some more this year.
But, these were probably the best of the bunch.

Merry Christmas from the Tyree's!

Jaden's Christmas Program

We were so excited this year to get to go to Jaden's school and watch him in his first Christmas program. He was a donkey in the manger scene and he was soooo cute! He stood up there very bravely and participated with his class. They sang "Silent Night" and "Happy Birthday Jesus!" and a couple of other songs. Afterward, we all got to munch on some yummy cookies and pink lemonade.

A rare picture of me with my braces...

Me and my boys!!

The fam...minus Anna (she was still in school)

Splish Splash!

We've got two of the silliest little boys! But they can be so much fun. Lately they've been finding new things to play with in the tub. On this day it was swimming goggles. At least they are appropriate for the water (I can't say that everything they choose is!). I can't believe they kept them on. If I wanted them to wear them of course they would be screaming and hollering and rolling on the floor :)

December 19, 2009 - at the beach!

We went out to the beach today to get out of the house for a bit. I didn't expect it to be as beautiful as it was. In the summer time the beach can be kinda nasty - the water is usually more of a "brown". But today it was gorgeous. It was a very clear, sunny day in the mid-60's. The kids had a lot of fun playing around in the sand up near the dunes. Usually we can't get them away from the water.

I know our friends and family up north are all bundled up with lots and lots of snow outside. I've seen many of my friend's blog and facebook posts of snowmen and snow angels. Here's our version: The Sand Angel...

Happy Holidays!

Stay warm!

I have been so busy the past few weeks getting ready for Christmas and trying to start up a little photography business (check out my website: http://www.julietyreephoto.com/ -this has taken a LOT of time as well). But I have been taking notes and pictures that I hope to post soon to update every one on what we've been up to down south :)



Yesterday, I got this note from Jaden (given to him from Anna):
In case you can't read it, the note says "Jaden poopt". She sent him in to tell me he needed his diaper changed.

I asked him if he did and he nodded. LOL!

It's so funny what she's coming up with now that she's reading and writing :)

What am I gonna do now?

So, Luke has learned how to get out of the crib and out of his room. I'm not happy about this at all! I hoped he would stay in his crib at least until 3. Oh well, time to change the game plan...
Yesterday morning, I heard him wake up (no crying or hollering for one of us - this is unusual). He got out of his crib, turned off the humidifier, turned off the noise maker, then walked out of his room and shut his door. Next, he came in to Anna's room (where I was sleeping), grabbed something from her desk and shut the door. I couldn't believe he didn't jump in bed with me or holler at me to get up! Next I heard him go into the bathroom and flush the toilet...then, shut the door. After that he went to see Chris and the kids who were already up watching cartoons. I just chuckled to myself and went back to sleep!
Then, in the afternoon while he was napping I jumped in the shower. After I got out I thought I had better check on him because I knew he had been sleeping for a while. As I was walking toward his room I noticed the front door cracked open. I thought "hmmm....that's weird - why didn't Chris shut the door before he left?". So, I went to close it and noticed a little boy on the front porch digging into the the Christmas decorations. Guess he knows how to open that door too! Time to lock the doors 24/7!
Now, it's time for bed. He easily takes his bottle, tells everyone "night-night", and walks back to his room. Chris predicts he'll last 20 minutes. So, I turn on his noise maker and then humidifier and lay him in his crib. As soon as I lay him down he is up and starting to climb out. I bite my lip and quietly chuckle some more as I watch him do his thing. He climbs over the crib and slides down between the crib and the wall (I expected him to go over the other side - seems much easier). Then, he walked over to the noise maker and turned it off. Next, was the humidifier. Then, he was off down the hall back to the living room.
I do not know what I'm going to do about this. I really, really enjoyed putting him in his crib and having him just go to sleep. It was comforting to know he was safe in his crib. Now, Mr. Independent is going to make me have to re-evaluate my whole game plan. Wish me luck!

Trick or Treat?

I'm not a huge fan of Halloween so, I was hoping to just avoid it this year by going to Sea World instead. Unfortunately, I started getting sick on Tuesday. Since I didn't feel well I knew I wouldn't last long on a trip we decided to just stay home and do the trick or treat thing.

I hadn't planned on being here I had to scramble to get some halloween candy and find some costumes for the kids. Anna was pretty easy. I had already spent $150.00 on dance costumes earlier this year and she loves them so she was a ballerina :). It's wonderful to get a little more use out of them since she only wore them once. We threw in a fun mask to mix things up. She's always one for a little extra drama!

Luke and Jaden were a little trickier. I happen to have lots of little dress up things around but we just had to decide on something. Luke went as Woody from Toy Story. I think he looked pretty cute :)

And Jaden was a construction worker. He wore Chris' old hardhat from his Chemical Response Team days. It was so cute and even had Tyree on it! He loved his little tool belt.

"If you were a hot dog, would you eat yourself"

This quote may be lost on some people but it always cracks Chris and I up. It's from a skit that Will Ferrell did on Saturday Night Live where he played Harry Caray. Jaden wearing my sunglasses with the lenses popped out remind us of that skit. (Click on the link and watch it - it's hilarious!) He thinks they make him look like a different Harry....Harry Potter. As soon as he got his hot little hands on those glasses he ran and got his "broom" (a.k.a Nimbus 2000) went outside to do his Harry Potter impression. Luckily, my camera was very close by and I got some pictures to share. Enjoy...