School

So Kellen started school this week. He goes two days a week, for an hour and fifteen minutes. To give you a little bit of an idea about the program, It's for kids from 18 months to 3 years old. Most of which have a speech delay, or anything developmental, or physical. The Teachers are actually BYU students learning to be Speech Therapists or Developmental Therapists, with one head teacher that has been there done that. Kellen has a Speech, Developmental, & Occupational Therapist that all come to the house a few times a month, and then he gets more interaction twice a week in his class. They have an observation booth, so I can watch Kellen play. And let me tell you, there is nothing more hilarious then watching these teachers chase after Kellen. He sends the trucks down the slide, throws blocks in the water table (sensory table was water this week) Pulls everything off the walls, pours his juice on the table, twice... within a minute of each other. Dumps out buckets of toys, then runs off and dumps out a different bucket of toys, all the while laughing his little guts out. When it's time to sit, he plays this elaborate catch me if you can, with 2-3 teachers, when they do finally get him, he tries to do this army crawl and grunt to get away, and some times he does and the game starts all over again. Preston says I make handling Kellen look easy, but when others give it a go, you can see how hi maintenance he is. 

The Toddler Program only goes through July, But then he will start Pre-School. Because Kellen's birth day is in September he misses the cut off line. So he will actually get 2 years of Pre-School. He will start a special transitional Pre-School, and then next year he will start for real (same school same teachers). He will be the oldest in his class, but hopefully with the extra year and with all the teachers being familiar with him, he might be able to handle himself in appropriate manner while in class, and be able to sit when asked. Because right now, sitting is next to imposable, I am a little worried about him moving out of primary next year, but we will cross the bridge when we get there. 

Another good thing, because Kellen is in school and I don't have to stay and watch him, I am able to go do other things, by my self. So I take one day and stay and watch kellen to see how he does, and the other day I go up to the Temple. One of the many blessing of living in Rexburg, the Temple is laterally 2 minutes away from where Kellen is. I don't have very much time, but it's more then what I had before. 

Kellen is starting to talk a little though. He says NO all the time, and GO, OK, SIT, "oh wow, whats that?", or just "what's that?", or just "oh wow". But you have to remember when he does say these words, thy are breathing like a whisper, and he says then multiple times, ie: go go go go  OR ok ok ok ok ok. When he says "oh wow, what's that?" he says it like it all one word. But non the less I am proud of him. And he's up to about 20 signs now. So yeah that's about it, we are all doing really well. We love and miss all you guys. 

Titanic Museum

We have a museum here that is always changing there exhibits. For the next 6 months they have the History of the RMS Titanic. April 14th 1912, 1800 people died, because of one mistake after another. I love the story of Titanic, and I was so excited for the Museum Exhibit. Preston got us a baby-sitter and everything. At the beginning of the tour they gave us each a name of a person that was on the Titanic, and then at the end of the tour, we go to check a list of names to see if we lived or died.  Fortune, both of us lived. I would highly recommend the book "A Night to Remember"It's a compiled account of those that survived, there is so much stuff in there that I had no idea happened. For Instance did you know that there was a Ship called the Californian that pretty much watched Titanic sink! so yeah good book. and then they made a movie of the book, given the same title. I am dieing to see this movie, they do such a good job finding actors that look just like the actually person. For instance, the unsinkable Molly Brown, Mr Andrew, Captain Smith, and Isma. Captain Smith was going to retire after the Titanic's Madden Voyage. And Isma suffered public mockery for the rest of his life.

Up Date #3 Vacation

Here are just a few photos from our vacation to Utah. It was to short, to busy, and we still didn't get to see everyone we wanted to.

This is the park that is up in Sugar House. Kellen had a lot of fun here.

Poor Kellen was on the go so much trying to keep up with all of his cousins, that he fell asleep so fast when we got in the car.

This is my brother John, can you see the family resemblance?

Kellen got to far away and wouldn't come back, so I made he come back. I carry him like that a lot. He's a runner.

This is Brittany and Sean, my niece and nephew.

Yeah good idea Kellen, lets lay in the grass where all the duck poop is, and then we'll get back in the car.

This was Easter. We spent it at my brother Jim's house, with my Parents, my sister Christy and her girls, and my brother John and his family. This is the egg hunt. Kellen didn't care one bit about any Easter eggs, he was just glad to be out side. I grab a few for him, he pretty much had no idea that there was anything going on.

We did get to spend some time with Cameron's Family (Preston's Brother) Kellen and Jordan and fun swimming in the hotel pool.

Kellen is my little water bug. He loves to play in the water, he does such a good job swimming with he life jacket on.

Our Vacation was a lot of fun, and I am always glad to see family. We love you guys a ton and miss you already.

Up Date #2 five minutes

This is what happens when you leave a 2 year old alone for five minutes! trust me there is more clothes there then it looks. He emptied out his entire dresser!

Up Date #1 Bounce for Autism

I know I haven't blogged in a long time, but it's not my fault really. It's Preston's. He's M.I.A from sun up to sun down, with the lap top, and when he does get home, the last thing I want to do is sit in front of a computer. I would rather spend that time talking to my husband about our days. So here is what you've missed, not that it's all that interesting.

It was Autism awareness week a while ago, and our High School hosted a "Bounce for Autism" activity. Kellen liked it for the most part, but I had to take him out a few times because it was to overwhelming for him. He didn't really like the Jolly Jump/Bounce House/ Bump & Jump (everyone calls it something different) He didn't like being enclosed in like that. But he eventually warmed up to, with a lot of help from Daddy. He kind of liked the big slid, but we would have to caring him up, and then kind of push him down, I know that sounds bad, but really I think he kind of liked it. What he really liked was the Mushroom thing one. He would scream and cry to get on that one, but you had to wait forever. So I would wait for him, and then call for Preston to bring him back so he could have a turn. All in all, I do think he had a good time.

Art 101

Fall

Spring

These are Kellen's latest art work. I think these ones are my absolute favorites, he is getting so creative. The first one I call Fall because to me that is what it looks like, a little path and and red orange and yellow trees. I tried to get him to use blue but he didn't want to, and now I see why.

The Mom and Kellen Show

Well I guess it's about time I up date my adorring fans, that's right I'm talking to you. We have been really busy, and I hate busy. I am the layed back go with the flow kind of person, and lately I have been living by the Calender. Kellen and I have been doing the "Mom and Kellen Show" none stop, I am hoping that when school is out Preston will have more time to play with us. Preston is so close to Graduating though, I just need to hang tight.

Kellen's Speech therapy, and Behavorial Therapy are in full swing, and so far I'm not that impressed. It is great to have that one hour where I don't have to be the one trying to keep Kellen's attention, or try to keep him out of trouble. No words yet, but right now that is not that high on my priority list, I have other things to worry about. But all in all, Kellen is a good boy and really smart, he just need a little extra help. The program only goes for 6 more months, so lets hope we make some progress by then.

HippyTree

Handplane First day test from Cyrus Sutton on Vimeo.

I know I haven't posted anything new in awhile, but this was well worth the time to make a post. This truly brought a smile to me and Preston's faces. Enjoy.

Deceptively Delicious

I am obsessed with this cook book! 

The idea behind the the book is to get your kids to eat more Vegetables. To start off a special thanks goes out the Andrea Tao, because she is the one that blogged about it, awhile ago, and that really sparked my interest. The Recipes are fantastic, and Kellen has eaten everything that I have put in front of him. Here is a list of the stuff we have tried.

•  Applesauce Muffins (with Cauliflower)
  
• Banana Bread (with Cauliflower)
• Pancakes (with Sweet Potato)
• Chicken Salad (with Cauliflower)
• Macaroni & Cheese (with Butternut Squash)
• Burgers (with Carrot)
• Lasagna (with Sweet Potato & Cauliflower)
• Chocolate Peanut butter Dip (with Carrots)

So it is just a few, but honestly none of us can taste the difference. It just make me happy to know that Kellen is get some really good Veggies in his diet. The next on the list to try are the Grilled Cheese Sandwich's, and the Chili. If anyone wants me to post a recipe, just send me a comment, and let me know which one. 

Spring Cleaning

So we did some spring cleaning a few weeks ago and one, of the many treasures we found were 3 rolls of film. I know, crazy right. They were fun to get developed, but this roll was pure gold! These were taken a little over a year ago, here in Rexburg. Kellen was so tiny, it's almost hard to remember him that small. But believe me, he was just as active, and funny then as he is now. Gosh, I sure do love being the mom, to a kid that everyone else thinks is such a stud. I'm not going to lie to ya, Kellen is so funny.