Spring Fun

Spring is here and we are so excited to be outside enjoying the beautiful St. George weather.

Easter Camping. Thomas' first time.

 

Cade's First Birthday Party. The girls wanted to wear dresses and pretty hats.

All 3 kids ready for the day.

Fun at the splash park

Thomas' Buzz Lightyear suit. He was very excited about it.

 

My little helpers. Now that Thomas is doing well and thriving emotionally and socially (after lots of work and reinforcement) He loves to help with Arianna.

Fun down by the river with Arianna, Journey and Thomas.

The KITE FESTIVAL. We went there with Grandma and Grandpa. Arianna and Thomas had a blast.

Flying the kites with (the big tummy) Grandpa, as Thomas calls him.

Library time. We go every week to story time, they have a fun craft and then we go pick out books that we can read throughout the week.

Practicing how to ride bikes with safety first protection.

 

 

 Reading books on Arianna's bed. They love books. We love it when Journey comes over to play for the day.

Kambria's Birthday party. Ryder's little sister turns 1. Such a fun party.

Little Munchkins eating breakfast. So thankful to wake up to these 2 happy kiddo's.

Craft time.

 

Splash pad once again. It was a regular on our summer schedule.

 I love this picture. the above is the day before we got his glasses fitted to his face and a handsome hair cut. Look at the difference a hair cut and glasses did to make him look so much older. Handsome little man. Eating breakfast outside. Enjoying the perfect weather.

Fun new park with Journey, Arianna and Thomas. This was by far one of my favorite parks we went to on our "park tour" over the summer.

FIRST TIME POOPING in the toilet. He was so proud of himself. He decided to start using the toilet to urinate but had a hard time with pooping. After much hype and a poop song he finally decided it was ok. I'm SOOOO flippin happy to not change nasty 4 year old pee and poop. I can't even explain how disgusting it was, and to top it off he wouldn't allow you to wipe him. So it made for an awesome time every diaper changing time.

 New underwear for pooping in the toilet. I'm so proud of this amazing boy and the strides he has made in all areas of his life.

Seriously Thomas has turned a 180 degree turn. In just 2 short months he has:
- gotten rid of his diapers
-  He is ok with smells of "real" foods (when I cook he no longer holds his nose and tells me it is stink)
- He is ok with foods that he doesn't like, being on the table. (we no longer have a "freak" out. Yay!!)
- He is even comfortable enough to start trying new foods.
- He is fine letting me wipe him (after he tries to wipe himself) This use to be a huge battle.
- He no longer hurts Arianna when he gets mad. (He use to hit and kick and scratch and bite her whenever he got upset.)
- He no longer has crazy moments where he screams and yells and I try to help him and he just bites me and scratches my face and spits at me and tries to hurt me. (Huge success there).
- We are working through his feelings and how to handle them
- He is playing well with other kids (he was ok with this but NOT at sharing)
- He has learned that he needs to communicate to help him through his problems and to get what he wants or needs. ( he was VERY hard to understand and couldn't speak very well at all, Arianna had a better vocabulary and clarity to her voice then him).
- His overall behavior has changed drastically. I am no longer embarrassed to take him shopping. He doesn't run as fast as he can and then hide as soon as you let go of his hand. Or throw huge fits when he doesn't get what he wants. He knows that what I say I mean and if he chooses to act a certain way he has certain punishments that go along with it.
- He is so fun and enjoyable now. Instead of feeling like I'm going to tear my hair out we have tons of fun and he knows there is a time to be silly, a time to be serious and a time to play.
- He no longer has boundless amounts of energy. At first I thought he had ADHD but it was just a lack of structure and outside time because he is fantastic now.
- There are so many other huge marks of improvement but i'm running out of time, but you get the picture.

The month of MARCH

 Thomas has been with us for a few weeks now. He has come out of his shell and is turning into a very amazing young man. He loves to go to the park and loves to go out and play. I have had to up my caffeine intake to keep up with him. He goes and goes and doesn't slow down.

 

 

 

Thomas and I before church. The first time we went to church he ran around the building 3 times during sacrament (after I took him out for crawling underneath everyone's chairs and running down the hallway). As soon as I stepped out of the culture hall he took off running inside the building. Looking back to see if I was running after him (which I wasn't). He kept running and running as I took a seat on the couch. I could see that me sitting there not caring that he was being a "wild man" didn't make him stop so I hid and caught him and wouldn't let him go until he could calm himself. What in the world did I get myself into!! Aaaahhh!!

 

 

 

 

 

 MY LIFESAVER!!!

This behavior chart has been my ultimate lifesaver. I can't even explain how important it has been to help Thomas see what's expected of him. What's ok to do and what's absolutely NOT ok to do. He is very excited to start it and wants to start right away. So how it works:
* They receive 5 cards at the beginning of each day
* They get them taken away and given back for each good or bad act they do throughout the day.
* At the end of the day if they have all 5 cards on the chart they receive a sticker
* When they earn 10 stickers they receive a "prize"

This is the BEST way I have gotten Thomas to see that I'm serious (I always do what I say) and he NEEDS to listen to me. Nothing else was working but this little chart has been awesome. Plus I don't need to nag, if something's wrong he knows a card will be pulled.

One of the very few foods he actually eats! Banana's!

 

 

 This is where I found these two playing. It was so cute I couldn't even be mad at them. We did have a talk after words about how the dryer is NOT a safe place to play, luckily the talk stuck and they haven't played in there since.

Fishing! Clayton had a Saturday off (yay) and we invited our friends to join us. The kids caught 2 or 3 fish and the adults didn't catch any. They all had fun playing together and getting wet in the stream. I think it was Thomas's first time fishing because he was loving every second of it. Altho I was a little worried about him saying "lets hurt it" after Clayton caught the fish. Just a little creepy...

Fun times in our backyard with Jackson and Cade

 

 

It's Here!! Our baby girls headstone has arrived. It's so perfect and beautiful. I got these 2 little cuties to join me for a picture. I'm so happy to have a headstone to decorate instead of a patch of grass. Love seeing my babies memories live on. We visit it weekly.