BYU Gymnastics Girls date

 My sister Tresa and I took our two little girls to a BYU gymnastics meet for a girls day. Both of these girls have birthday's in February so we wanted to do something fun with them together. They both are in gymnastics currently and love it. Brynn was so excited to go and even more excited it was just the girls. We found some good seats where the girls had a great view. It was a lot of fun to watch the gymnasts and point things out to the girls. The girls were a little terrified when Cosmo head our direction so we used that time to go get some treats. It was a lot of fun and we had a great time with Tresa and Kate!

Valentines day 2013

 I don't know why but I LOVE Valentines day! I love the hearts, I love the pink, and I love just having another reason to celebrate love! The kids woke up to Valentines cards and a few clues to find their Valentines. I did this last year just for fun and Brynn reminded me multiple times that is how Valentines went. So I think we have made it a tradition to have a scavenger hunt.
I also made heart shaped pink pancakes, they were not a hit. Carson as he is pouting says "I hate Valentines day, it's the worst ever." All because he didn't want to eat pink pancakes that he thought were strawberry flavored.
I also picked up a few extra things for his lunch to make it a little "lovey" too.
I saw the idea on Pinterest to make little girls hair into hearts. I pinned it hoping Brynn would be in a nice "I will sit while you do my hair" kind of mood and she was. I think the hearts turned out pretty cute. She LOVED it! I went to say hi to her at the school while I was there for Carson's party and her teacher came up and told me how amazing her hair was and that she had taken her all around the school to show people.
Kyle and I said we weren't doing gifts, but I got him just a little something because I wanted to tell him how much I loved him and he has been working SO  hard lately. He also surprised me by bringing home flowers (and balloons for Brynn) and my most favorite gift ever...

 All of the stuff for Creme Brulee! Yum! It is my favorite dessert ever and I have always wanted to buy the cute ramekins and a torch. But I always thought it was really hard to make, and wondered if I would ever really use it. Just a fyi, it is super easy to make and we have already used everything once and are making it again this weekend.

I also was able to go help at Carson's class Valentines party. I signed up to help twice in each of the kids classes, but by the time we got to Carson's class to sign up there wasn't much left. So this is the first time I have been to Carson's class to help. We did minute to win it Valentines games. My game was stacking conversation hearts and to see who could stack the most in a minute. We had a lot of fun and the kids loved it. I loved being in Carson's class and meeting all of his friends. The middle picture is him with his Valentines box. I of course just bought some Valentines stickers and we were just going to put those on a covered box, but Carson had other ideas. He saw this box on my pinterest and had to have it. It's a creeper from Minecraft one of his favorite games.

Happy 5th Birthday Brynnley!

 Brynn's actual Birthday was on a Sunday this year, so we kind of had a weekend of celebrating. Luckily by Sunday she had been on drops for her Pink eye so she was able to go to church and have a fun day. She requested curly hair so we put her hair in curlers the night before. She woke up to her room decorated with balloons and streamers. She was so excited it was finally her birthday! We had french toast for breakfast with sausage and bacon, her favorite! She worse her new dress that Grandma Ford got her for her Birthday to church. They sang to her in Primary and she loved it!

We had a dual birthday dinner with Great Grandpa Hubbard since his birthday is two days after Brynn. They have a little bit of different tastes for food so we had a bit of a buffet. We had fettuchini for Brynn and some steak for Grandpa. It was a tasty meal! After dinner Brynn was able to open the presents from us. She got a barbie music player with microphone. She can now sing to her hearts content! She got some more fairy pieces to go with the Tinkerbell house she got for her Birthday. She also got some new Tinkerbell dress up shoes.

We also had two birthday cakes. Brynn's request was very specific. She wanted a butter cake with "whoop" cream frosting with her name written on the top. So we had a butter yellow cake with whipped cream frosting (It turned out super yummy, thank you pintrest) and her name in pink gel frosting on the top.

Happy 5th Birthday to our amazing lovable daughter Brynnley!

Brynnley at 5 years old

This pictures sums Brynn up to a T. She is the girliest girl ever, loves to dress up, loves to be in her leotard for gymnastics or ballet, and has some serious attitude.

Brynnley is our fun loving, wild, sweet, funny, stubborn girl. We love her so much. She is for sure the one that can get to me the fastest, but it is only because she is such a strong personality. A personality trait that will take her far in life. She is loving school and has made lots of friends at school. She has learned a lot this year and has mastered writing her name. (I worried because her name was so long!). She is also in gymnastics this year and has been moved up to a higher class and is loving it. She loves to show me all the things she is learning and what she needs to practice at home. She still loves everything Princess and Barbie. She still can go in her room for hours and play Barbies and Princess all by herself. I love her sense of imagination! She also loves to snuggle, she is constantly asking anyone she can see if they will snuggle. She is an expert at giving hugs and kisses too.

Favorite Food:  Ham and cheese sandwich, laffy taffy, and cheese
Favorite Snack: brownies, pumpkin bread, go-gart
Favorite thing to do: Play in the summer, play in the snow
Favorite color: Pink and purple
Favorite thing to do at school: have play time and do centers, and play at the playground
Favorite Movie and TV show: Barbie and the Popstar, TV Curious George and Team Umizommi

Brynn's stats:
Weight: 41.67 lbs 64th percentile
Height: 43.5 inches 72nd percentile (She is an inch and half taller than Carson was at 5!)

Brynn did great at her 5 year/Kindergarten check up to. Passed with flying colors. She was a little worried about getting shots, but did awesome. Didn't even cry. She also had a reaction to the shots (Carson did to) She got an infection from one of them in her arm. It swelled up and got really red so she had to go on an antibiotic for that. Thankfully no more shots until Jr. High!

Cousin Birthday sleepover

 So for Brynnley's birthday (that she has been talking about for months) I told her she could have a friend party or she could have her cousin Sadie sleep over. She picked having her cousin Sadie sleep over. I was kind of glad she chose the easier option.
Brynn got to pick dinner out and she picked Mac and Cheese from Rumbi. After dinner we told her she could open all the presents from everyone except us. So she opened a cash register from Sadie and the Smith's, a dog carrier for her American Girl dog Honey from Grandma and Grandpa Randall, a Toys R US gift card from Great Grandma and Grandpa Ford (she is so excited to go with Daddy and buy something), some money from Great Grandpa Hubbard (which she is also taking to Toys R us), and a new Minnie night dress from Aunt Michelle and Uncle Dave. She also got stompezz, some clothes, and her very "wanted"  Popstar barbie from Grandma and Grandpa Ford. As you can tell from the pictures, she LOVED the presents.

 Here are the girls with their matching Pop star barbies. They loved them and danced around and sang with them all night. Cute cousins!
After we opened presents we got everything ready for the kids to watch a movie. We had popcorn, laffy taffy, chex mix, and brownies all for them to eat during the movie. Daddy had bought Brynn a new barbie movie for them to watch for their sleepover. We also painted the girls fingernails. They had a great night!

Our plan was to wake up and have doughnuts for breakfast and then all go to Kangaroo Zoo and have Heather and Tyler meet us there. I went into Brynn's room in the morning and her eye was swollen and goopy, Pink eye strikes again. So we quickly got Sadie on her way and postponed the Kanagroo Zoo trip. Brynn was pretty disappointed, but we tried to make the best of it. 
We played with all of her new toys and made she sure she still had a great day despite being plagued by Pink eye.

Love Box notes

We started the tradition last year of our Love Box the week before Valentines day. That post is here.
So we continued on the tradition this year as well. It was really nice this year because Carson could write his own, he for sure wrote the most. I love seeing what the kids love to write and what stands out to them.
Happy love day!
 To Carson
I love you because we don't fight anymore. From Brynn
To Grandma
I love you because you have tea parties with me. From Brynn
To Mom
I love you because you help with chores. From Carson
To Val
I love you because you wan to always be better. From Kyle
To Brynnley
I love you because you were so brave at the doctors and getting your shots. From Mom
To Kyle
I love you because you are the best snow shoveler! From Kelli
To Mom
I love you because you help at school. From Carson
To Mom
I love you because I help you. From Carson
To Brynnley
I love you because I help you get better when you are sick. From Carson
To Brynnley
I love you because you like to snuggle in the morning! From Grandma
To Kyle
I love you because you work hard for our family. From Val
To Carson
I love you because you snuggled with Mckay in bed this morning. From Mom
To Valerie
I love you because you are the greatest mom to my grandchildren. From Kelli
To Dad
I love you because I help you. From Carson
To Brynn
I love you because you always ask to snuggle. From Mom
To Kyle
I love you because you are a great Dad. From Kelli
To Kyle
I love you because you make me a better person. From Val
To Dad
I love you because you let me go upside down. From Brynn
To Carson
I love you because you like to read and are so good. From Grandma
To Brynn
I love you because you are your own person and love dancing. From Grandma
To Grandma
I love you because you are the best Grandma. From Carson
To Dad
I love you because I follow instructions in sports. From Carson
To McKay
I love you because your smiles is infectious and makes every day a great day. From Dad
To McKay
I love you because you work hard on making sounds. From Mom
To Grandma and Grandpa
I love you because you let us live her and waste your electricity. From Kyle
To Val
I love you because you love me no matter who I am and how I act. From Kyle
To Valerie
I love you because you are such a great cook! From Kelli
To Grandpa
I love you because I give you funny jokes. From Carson
To Grandma and Grandpa
I love you because you let us live in your house and help with the kids. From Val
To Mom
I love you because I listen to you. From Carson
To Brynnley
I love you because you love to work on your letters. From Mom
To Grandpa
I love you because you dance with me every night. From Brynnley
To Carson
I love you because You love everyone and always worry about everyone being happy. From Dad
To Brynnley
I love you because you came into lay with me in the bed so I wasn't alone. From Mom
To Brynnley
I love you because I help you play super smash brothers. From Carson
To McKay
I love you because you give me great "loves". From Grandma
To Grandma
I love you because you play the animal game with me. From Brynnley
To Carson
I love you because you are a good brother and show your brother and sister you love them. From Mom

McKay at 3 years old

This picture describes McKay perfectly right now. His favorite place to be is on the couch, with his silky blue blanket, in his PJ's with a cookie in his hand watching the Bubble Guppies. For him, this is his happy place!
Three is a big age for McKay because it is a big deal in the special needs world. At three they leave the early intervention program and transition into the school district. They actually receive all of their therapy and teaching through the school district preschool. McKay will not be entering the school setting quite yet though. His health is still somewhat fragile and he still gets sick very easily. So his doctor's thought it would be best to wait a little while to go to school. So he will attend preschool in the fall at the school. Until then he will still be able to receive services through the school district by doing home hospital. They bring a teacher and his therapists to the home. We are just finishing getting it all set up, so we will see how it will go. I know it will be a rough transition for McKay, so I hope it goes well. I am very happy I don't have to send him to school yet, it is going to be a cry fest when I actually have to put him on the bus to send him to school. I don't even like to think about it yet!
McKay has done a lot of great things this year! His biggest accomplishment of the year has to be walking! I am so over the moon that he has gained this skill. He gets better and better each day with his walking. He decided about Christmas time that walking was better than crawling and now walks about 90 % of the time. He is still pretty unstable, his gait is not the best and he is pretty slow. But he is working so hard.
He has also made a lot of strides with his language, he has a lot more sounds that he has ever had and he has about 5 words, 2 of which he can use in the right context. We have lost all of his signs except go, pronounced "doe" by McKay.
McKay still is a very sweet lovable toddler (yikes toddler!), he has recently been diagnosed with anxiety and it shows up just about any time we leave the house. He LOVES being home in the house, that is where he is most comfortable. He was also diagnosed in November as being Autistic. It will not change a lot of things for McKay. It is hard becasue you can't help him like you would a typical Autistic child becasue of his syndrome.
He loves to say "bye" to everyone, but usually only on his terms. A lot of times he will say it to people as soon as we see them so that they will leave.
One of McKay's loves still is balls, it is the only toy he really will play with at all. It is great that we at least have something. We can get some great therapy going as long as there are balls involved. He is ridiculously good at throwing, it figures that our special needs son has the best arm. He also is left handed.
He still is beyond obsessed with Bubble Guppies. It is his favorite thing ever and I am so grateful to have something for him. We are even more grateful that Nick Jr. has kept Bubble Guppies going and is still coming out with new episodes!
I just noticed that on his birthday post for last year I posted I hoped he would be off of baby food by this time this year. No such luck. He has been approved to receive feeding therapy through Primary Children's Rehab center to help with his feeding issues. He will be having outside Occupation Therapy twice a month to work on all of his sensory issues and his eating. He will also be receiving speech therapy twice a month as well.

His favorite things to do:
-Still watch Bubble Guppies
-Watch Bubble Guppies in strange places, his faves are under the table, in the laundry basket, and inside of the ottoman.
-Play with Grandma and Grandpa's coasters
-Play 1, 2, 3 "doe" with Daddy
-Eat cookies

His AWESOME achieving milestones:
Standing on his own!
Walking on his own!
Squatting down from standing position on his own!

His SUPER COOL language:
He can say "no", "doe" (for go), "bye", "datt" (usually for cookie), "mama", "ba" (for ball), "dada"

McKay's stats:
Weight: 38.4 lbs 95th percentile (working on that, he is currently considered obese, so we see a nutritionist and he is calorie restrained. It is a major work in progress)
Height: 38.5 inches 76th percentile (he has always been short so this is a big jump!)

We are so happy and blessed to have McKay in our lives. He truly is a blessing. I can't believe the progress he has made this year. He continues to work so hard and learn to do new things on his time.

Happy 3rd Birthday McKay

I can't believe McKay is three. It may not sound that old, but for McKay it sound really old. (I'll go into more detail in the next post as to why). I am so happy he is three and has made it to three. When we took him to his three year well check his pediatrician admitted he wasn't sure if he would truly get to this point when we first started bringing him into the pediatrician after the NICU.
We started off the day with our usual growth chart picture. I was pretty excited that McKay could stand in front of it this year. What an accomplishment that is too! But he of course did not want to stand in front of it.
Poor kid did have the stomach flu on his birthday. The worst of it was the day before his birthday, but he still wasn't feeling great that day. Lots of clothing changes, we'll just say that much.

We had pizza for dinner, usually his favorite. But he wasn't feeling great and didn't really want to eat anything. Afterwards he (I should say Kyle and the kids) opened his presents. He got a new bubble guppies microphone. Which he was mildly interested in for a few minutes. (He has NO interest in toys). He got a few books, some Bubble Guppies bath squirters, and  his big present was a water table he can play with outside in the summer. He also got a bunch of clothes from the Grandparents on both sides. A big thank you to the Fowler's for helping McKay by making him a school desk/table he can use at home for his home school/therapy.

We had cookie cupcakes since McKay's favorite thing is cookies. He pulled a few of the cookies off, but didn't have much interest in the actual cupcake.

It was a pretty low key day for McKay. Someday we may have a bigger party, but truthfully he would probably hate that. But he was surrounded by family and lots of love on his birthday and I think that is all that matters to him! Happy Birthday to the Wayster's McKayster's!