HOORAY BRYNN!!!

SO I received a great call from Brynn's teacher today. She was so excited she had to call to let me know the things Brynn has been doing in class. She has been working on using a button communication device called a BIGMAC. The teacher records her voice saying certain things and when the child pushes the button, it repeats. She said today while singing, she let Brynn use the MAC and she "sang" with the class, by pushing the correct buttons to fill in the words of the song!!!! This is HUGE for her. It proves that she understands WAY more then she has been given credit for. To top it off tonight after baths and teeth brushing, I couldn't find Brynn anywhere. I walked by her room and Cannen was putting his finger to his lips saying shhh. Apparently she had gone into her room, closed the door,climbed into bed and covered herself up!! I was so thrilled, I ran in and grabbed her giggling and told her I was do proud!! (then she didn't want to go back to bed of course!) Way to go big girl!!!!

another great giveaway

My friend has another GREAT giveaway on her blog. If you use or want to start using coupons, you will WANT it! Just hit My litter of six on my blog list or go to www.theivanovskys.blogspot.com

WHAT!

Summer is almost over! How can that be? I remember worrying how I was going to manage it all. It hasn't been too bad at all. Now I am trying to figure out how to get all the stuff done for school already!
So what have we done this summer? Hmmm, I wish I could say that we have spent hours at the pool, but with Brynn and Cannen that is way out of the question! Those two wouldn't survive for 5 minutes! They are both way too fast, have no recognition of the word danger and go in opposite directions!! So we have been splashing around in the kiddie pool out back.
Ryan's mom got us a bouncer that has come in mighty handy on a hot humid afternoon. We just push all of the furniture out of the way and blow it up in the middle of the room. It's a great way to blow off some energy.
Aden is missing school and can't wait to go back.
Brynn is getting so big.
Cannen is starting to say all sorts of cute "I want to squish him" sort of stuff.
Ryan has been working hard and studying for the LSAT.
I have been working part time and just got called into the RS pres. as the 2nd counselor again--I guess I didn't get it right the first time!
Other that that things are same old around here. I am ready for some sort of change.... Do you ever get bored with life? Not that I am unhappy or discontent, just ready for some thing exciting to happen....

Milestones

Today was Aden's big day! He is officially out of Kindergarten and now on to what he calls the "big kid stuff." I took him to a book store on Saturday to get ready for some summer reading. he informed me that picture books are not cool anymore. It is all about chapter books now. He picked out a Scooby Doo to start with and we will go back ever week for a new one.

As for the graduation ceremony-Aden was pretty stoic through the whole thing. Not sure what that kid is thinking we didn't get any pictures of him smiling until the end when he had his certificate and I forced him to smile. He can be pretty serious. He walked across the stage with his hand in his pocket. I guess he is practicing for a GQ shoot. He was very handsome and we sure do love this little big guy. Here are some pic to mark the day.
P.S. I think that was the only time I have ever seen a pledge to a state before!--After the pledge of allegience, the kids then said a pledge to the Texas state flag. These Texans sure are full of pride!

Memorial Day

Here I am a few days late as usual. We took our annual totally unplanned trip to the beach on Memorial Day. The kids had fun,fun fun! I am glad we took Grandma and Aunt Kristin because there is no way we could have kept Brynn and Cannen together! They were all over the place.

This kid is forever running everywhere. Always in a hurry!

He is not shy. He is "borrowing" another family's diggin tools.
Of course he was not interested in the bucket full of sand toys I brought!

Who needs a spa? Aden had is very own mud bath here on the beach. Brynn is such a water baby. I don't think she got out of the water for 2 whole hours.

I had to force her out to get out kicking and screaming.

This is our after beach barbecue at grandmas. Cannen threw all of his food all over the table. Then he happened to look at my plate and noticed something extra tasty! Who wants a burger when you can have a T-bone? Love the sly look on is face---I see at all the time. He thinks he is pretty sneaky...



Enjoying the spoils! We sure love our cute kiddos! Hope everyone else had a great holiday and is all geared up for summer fun!!!!!!!!!

Giveaways!!

My friend is fabulously talented and is doing some giveaways on her blog....
www.theivanovskys.blogspot.com

SK8 or Die!

So Ryan and I had a date night last Friday. You know the typical go to dinner sort of thing. Afterwards we were wanting to do something a little different and the night was still young, so Ryan suggested roller skating. What! Any of you that know me very well-know that I am what I call a "heavy footed person". I am not a good dancer, ice skater etc. Anything requiring grace or fancy footwork looks and feels awkward to me. I'm not too swift on my feet and putting wheels under them-not such a good idea. I was never any good at it when I was a kid. Ryan on the other hand is pretty much opposite of me. He is a great dancer and used to rollerblade all over the place. He has been asking me to go for awhile now to Sk8town. I agreed. Lets just say we wasted 14 bucks and had a good laugh as did the rest of the speeding skaters. I am pretty sure that any moving I did was with my hands clenched to the 1976 shag carpet walls. Anytime I let go, my legs ended up "splitting". Too bad we didn't have a camera-you could have had a good laugh.

3-D

Aden got to go and see Monsters Vs. Aliens in 3-D with his aunt Kristin. He had a great time and we had fun playing with his 3-D glasses. They are pretty cool . I was expecting the good old red/blue glasses, if that gives you any idea of how long it has been since I have seen anything in 3-D!!!! Peace out.

Man am I a lazy blogger or what. Honestly, I forget I even have a blog most days, even though I check everyone else out all the time. I just told an old friend about my blog on Facebook and realized I hadn't written anything for some time now. Writing seems like too much brain work by the time I get around to it (kids in bed, house clean, etc.). My brain seems to have been shrinking lately. I have to admit I have been having some deep thoughts though. I should do better at putting them down, since I forget so quickly.- I would tell them to you now, but I've already forgoten... That will be my new goal.
Nothing really new around here. Ryan has been working like crazy and is headed to Mexico next week. I have been teasing him about finding a Latina and setting up house on the beach somewhere. I just hope the trip is without event. He has been to South America 2 times. Once with me once with work and both times ended up in a sticky situation that had to be resolved with a little $$$ if ya know what I mean.
Aden is loving school and doing great. He is a wiz with his spelling, often getting 108% (they have bonus words and a sentence).
Brynn is making progress. I think that Cannen is giving her a little motivation at home. She is very jealous and since they are on the same development level in a lot of areas, she is becoming competitive. Poor Cannen also becomes her punching bag! I'm thinking he is either going to grow as the most patient sweet guy or have a huge chip on his shoulders!
I am trying to get back to running more regularly and fiddling with the idea of trying a triathlon. They are very popular here.

Update

Results for Angelmans Syndrome=negative.
Still looking for some answers....

LOVE

A little late, but it's still love! Here are some Valentine's hugs and kisses from our house....

Ryan's mom surprised us with balloons, treats and a yummy fruit pizza, which I am sure I ate the majority of! Hope you all had a good one.

WHAT THEN?????

So I called the Dr. to see if Brynn's test result for Retts came back . After the girl helping me put me on hold for 5 min three different times, I started to think, Oh it must have come back positive and she doesn't know how to tell me. I wanted to say, "look- this isn't a surprise to us or anything so just spit it out already." So you can imagine the confusion as she said, there seems to be no abnormality present based on the test result. -Hugh????!!! So here I am thinking that finally we were going to get answers, you know have a tangible real live name for what Brynn has. Nope back to square one. Her aid at school suggested Angelmans Syndrome. So of course I spent hours reading about it. And of course she seems to fit the criteria pretty darn well. That is the frustration-so many symptoms over lap for all of these conditions. I just called the Dr. and asked the nurse to ask the Dr. to order the test so we can have it done before her next appointment in March. I figure why bother going if there just going to tell me what the girl on the phone just did. These appointments and tests aren't cheap ya know!
So I'll keep you posted. We already feel like she is a little angel, so maybe it is Angelmans syndrome :)

Good Times

We have a streaker at our house. This little kido loves to be in the buff. He is so quick too. I get him all undressed in the morning and he is off before I can get a clean diaper on him. He seems to think he is unreachable on the top of this slide. It is the first place he runs to when he is trying to get away from me!

All smiles! More smiles! We had blood drawn last week to test Brynn for Retts Syndrome. It takes 6-8 weeks for results. We learned the waiting game a long time ago, so it doesn't seem like that long. I had a friend that was totally shocked when I told her we had to wait 6 weeks to get Bryn into a neurologist. I told her I was happy to get her in that quick. When I first called her geneticist, they told me it was one year wait and to just let them call me! I can handle 6-8 weeks!

I was so happy we found this robot. Or should I say Santa found this robot. Apparently it was on Aden's list but we didn't find out about it until the week of Christmas. He had made a list in his class and was telling me he was worried Santa wouldn't get it. I had no idea he ever wanted a robot. I am sure if he did not get one, he would have figured the whole Santa thing out. I already had to tell him there is no tooth fairy. After he lost his first tooth, he was freaking out because he didn't want the tooth fairy ( a strange man with a beard, according to him) to come into his room in the middle of the night and he refused to go to bed. I am sure I could of come up with a creative way around the truth, but I must have been too tired at the time, so I just told him it was me to get him to be already! I was surprised after that he didn't suspect anything with Santa.

Cute boy. He had a fun morning!

Ryan took most of Christmas a New Years week's off. It was nice to have him home. It really helped out tremendously. I am not sure how I will manage this summer with all the kids home all day. It is quite the feat with Brynn and Cannen. They have such a love/hate relationship. I am sure we will be at the YMCA lots!!!