Kicked Out!

Leo graduated from his speech therapy is just a few short months! Yay, Leo! His speech therapist came yesterday and what I feared came true...she kicked him out of the program! ;) I mean, really, I am glad because that means he's now caught up and developmentally appropriate, but I will miss her! She was such a wonderful resource, she was funny and both kids adored her! I do believe that the techniques she gave me to help Leo start talking really worked. I know that eventually he would have started talking on his own, of course, but learning just a few key things really helped and we are thankful! There is still a bit of whining of grunting on Leo's part, but we're working on it! One of my biggest issues was that Leo wouldn't call anyone (except Mom and Papi) by name but he has finally added Sis, Shelby, Stacy, Bama, Grandma, Cathy, and Annie to his vocabulary. We're still working on Walter, but at least the human names came first!

*So I know the picture doesn't really have anything to do with speech therapy, but it was too cute not to share! He was eating his breakfast and reading one of his favorite books (If You Give a Dog a Donut) the other morning and he looked just like Daddy reading the Sunday paper. Too cute!

Fall, Fall and More Fall!

this is Sophia's pet, Fudge, and he felt right at home doing yard work!

We love our trees in the summer, but in the fall? Not so much. Every weekend from now until it snows I think will be dedicated to leaf pick up! Booo! The kids are actually fairly helpful, surprisingly, and if Leo will at least stay near enough to see him (meaning he doesn't hop on his motorcycle and take off around the block!) then we're all able to get a fair amount of work done!

Happy Birthday, Bama!

Smiles with the birthday girl!

Sophia, Jacob, and Andrew

We hosted a low-key gathering to help celebrate Mom's birthday. I made potato soup, chili and white chocolate raspberry cheesecake! It was a nice night to get together! Too bad the other birthday girl wasn't in town :(...we missed you, Steph!!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Yeah, I know it's a little early, I do feel that way, but honestly, did you really expect me to stay away from Santa's arrival via helicopter?! I couldn't do it. When I told Sophia what we were going to do she immediately said, 'Santa usually comes in a sleigh'. She's so deadpan, my Dad would love that about her!! ;) Anyway, I explained that the sleigh was getting routine maintenance to make sure it was in working order for Christmas and she was satisfied with that. Anyway, enjoy the pics of Santa making his arrival...afterwards we visited his mall home to do some fun activities!

Sophia was literally beside herself with joy watching his arrival. She was absolutely ecstatic!

we ran into our friends Julie and Landis,

and some other friends too...

Mr. Build A. Bear

the Quick Bunny

and the Chick Fil A Cows
interestingly, Leo was confident enough to wave at the Cows but when they started coming near him he turned his head and ducked. We're not there yet, but we're making progress!

of course we had to do face painting

Good thing it's cute! We stood in line for no less than 45 minutes. That was all she wanted to do, so I let it happen. Amazingly Leo was content to sit in the stroller and watch all the people. She wanted to wait to see Santa until closer to Christmas but was very comforted in the fact that he was there.

afterwards we had Panera with Luca, Massimo and Francesca.

Community Helpers

Sophia and Luca show off their librarian and dentist

Tee time for Leo

my little performer

it's in the genes!

teamwork on sweeping up the general store

Leo plants some corn in the field

Sophia rings up a local

My friend Julie organized an event for her Mothers of Young Children group and she was a little low on numbers so she invited us along. Always up for activities, I happily accepted! We've been to the Cityscape exhibit at the Johnson County Museum a few times before but this time included a class about community helpers. The whole exhibit is focussed around communities and has lots of small businesses, a farm, a park, a theatre and a library. Sophia was riveted and asked tons of questions. Then the kids got to make their own community helper. Sophia chose to make a librarian wearing a yellow dress and pink shoes. Leo picked out a purple shirt for his helper.

Chuck E. Cheese

eating pizza with the birthday boy, Alex!

And apparently, Chuck E's pizza is the best on the planet because both of my kids ate 2 slices!

yummy cookies for dessert!

I admit it...I've been avoiding Chuck E. Cheese for a long time! But, our friends, Eli and Alex, had a birthday party there last week and I realized that it isn't so bad! ;) The kids had an absolute blast and were way more into the riding toys than the ticket toys...well, actually about half way through Sophia remembered that tickets equal prizes so she went on her way collecting as many as possible. Leo must have ridden that darn pony 15 times along with the monster truck and race car! I think now that I've been baptised into this mayhem, I'll happily take them there this winter when we need an activity...plus during the week, earlier in the morning it was downright peaceful!

Staying Busy

another Barnes and Noble story time to meet Curious George!
Leo loved watching Curious jump and dance around...from afar!

we ran into Lauren and Aubrey too, everyone loves Curious!

in addition to the train table, B&N put in a Lego Table

we may be hanging out here during cold months!

nice, doggy!

Auntie Wendy got a new puppy named Parsley, she's pretty cute!

Sophia was very gentle with her and loved holding her

love fest during a nugget fest! Just cute!

honk, honk! Playing with their new McDonald's toys

ready to relax with a Red Box Movie

more park time!

two budding artists

Charlie has been extremely busy at work the past few weeks and this weekend was no exception. I tried to keep us busy because we all missed Daddy! We did lots of fun activities, at home and out. It's nice that Leo is starting to get big enough for some of our craft projects.