January 2013

In January we:

Started getting big bumps

Worked on saying more

Had our first real snowfall

PK's first time playing in snow, he loved it

As did KB, yes those are rain boots. We didn't have any other boots, and didn't have a need for snowboots again after that day.

Had fun at a friend's birthday party

Hanging with Chuck E. Cheese

Had fun on the rides

Exhausted after a day at Chuck E. Cheese. Note to self...do not get an amazing massage two hours before going to Chuck E. Cheese, all benefits from it will be ruined. 

Enjoyed bath times together

December 2012

In December we:

Had our cousins over to paint cookies

Got exhausted from playing hard

Had fun being crazy on the couch

Worked on PK's listening therapy strategies

Made gingerbread cookies, reminded me of making them with my Grandma Hilton growing up

Practiced saying up

Made gingerbread houses at school

got a flat tire, in Baltimore (it was just PK and me for a mapping session. The battery ended up dying...AFTER the AAA guy left. I was very sad, and had to wait another hour for someone to jump our car...fortunately PK was a trooper). 

Got Christmas presents

Christmas presents

Christmas presents

Christmas presents

Christmas presents

We didn't get a chance to take a picture of all the Christmas presents they got, they were spoiled by grandparents and Santa this year!

Went to a beach, we waited in the car while KB and Bryan explored more, PK loved "driving"

KB 4th birthday

Kiernan went bowling for his fourth birthday and invited his friends from school. He requested we go bowling, and asked for a Spider-man cake. As usual, I made the cake and it took a long time. I'm getting better at not taking so long at decorating these cakes, but it can still be time-consuming.

Saying the magic words

He got this wizard costume, and a homemade Harry Potter wand from his grandparents. 

November 2012

In November we:

Gave mom heart attacks

Went down slides

Had sword fights

Tried juggling

Spent Thanksgiving with friends and got our first impromptu family picture

Went back to Chibi's

Acted silly at the dinner table

Sang primary songs in Barzilian Portuguese

October 2012

We had lots of fun in October

The cousins came and visited us this month

PK got stuck in a cupboard

We went to a child's playplace, child furniture is awesome

KB got rolled around - seriously awesome! (this was at Chibi's)

Grandparents visited, and KB read to Grandma

KB was Mario for Halloween

PK was a cute penguin

Delicious pumpkin cookies at school

Penguin, Snow white, strawberry and Mario

Another one of his class

PK worked on his walking skills

And KB worked on his cueing skills. 

(I know this is brief, but doing the blog 7 months later really can make it hard to remember everything!)

September 2012

This month was busy! I started doing my home visits for work, KB started school, PK turned one and had his activation AND second MAPing. PK's birthday will be in a separate post for two reasons, 1 - it's a birthday post, he deserves it, and 2 - Bryan has all the pictures somewhere....I have no idea where.

KB started his first day of school on September 6th. He was so excited! He is a peer model in the Cued Speech preschool classroom. The nice thing is that his classroom is where my office is, which makes dropping him off and picking him up that much easier. Life would be a lot easier if he could ride the bus, but they only provide the bus for those students who have an IEP, and he doesn't have one. So I have to provide transportation. that's ok as it allows me to see him a little more often throughout the day!

This is right in front of his school

We did take a short road trip over the weekend to Harper's Ferry. That was fun.

Bryan and KB walking on the railroad tracks

This picture was not prompted in anyway. It was very sweet to see this without a parent asking them to do it.

A long video, but I wanted to show off his receptive skills for cueing. In the beginning he is actually cueing about the light. 

I'm in trouble, the boys are already learning how to play "rough" with each other. Boys will be boys.

The funny thing about this video? Patrick can walk just fine now. He doesn't need any help. He just likes pushing the train around.

For some reason, PK found this hilarious. We're just knocking on the door of the picture of the house.

PK loves the kitchen a little TOO much. He does this whenever I tell him no, or get him out of the kitchen. It makes cooking time...interesting :)

Loving cheetos. Don't worry, I don't feed him junk food all the time.

Kiernan knew where all the parts of a bus went. 

This picture surprised both Bryan and I. We've never been able to get KB to get into color or drawing, so I had no idea what he was capable of in terms of drawing. He came home with this picture, and Bryan didn't think he at least drew the majority of that picture himself. 

So...to prove Bryan wrong, the following picture is a bad picture of KB's drawing of daddy in the sand. I watched the whole thing, and he drew a head/body, arms, legs, eyes, nose and mouth all on his own. Our kid is growing up!

He's walking ALL over the place, ALL the time now. So crazy

PK's 1st birthday

PK's first birthday went a lot smoother than KB's. KB was very sick for his, so we were not able to do much. PK was the opposite! He had just gotten his first implant activated the day before the party, other than that he was healthy as he could be.

We invited some of our close friends and a couple of people from the ward who had children PK's age. It was fun, and we enjoyed it a lot. We had it at a park in Fairfax, had subway sandwiches, chips, juice/milk and cake. Unfortunately Bryan and I forgot to take a picture of the cake. Fortunately, it's the same cake I made for KB's birthday. So just imagine the coloring to be a little lighter because I did not anticipate how much the humidity would affect the butter cream frosting. 

KB's old cake, but this is what PK's cake was too, down to the flavor of the cake.

I learned that there were very very few photos of me with PK that day, as I was moving around a lot as I talked to guests and mostly tried to keep KB in line with good behavior. I had good friends to help me out with PK and made sure he had a good time too.

Patrick having a great time. Photo by Chance Hammock

Bubbles with Jenny. Photo by Bryan Mulholland

Jenny and Patrick, there's a picture somewhere of her holding Patrick the day he was born, and her birthday was two days after Patrick. Photo by Chance Hammock

Hamming it up with Dad! Photo by Chance Hammock

Singing/Cueing Happy Birthday to PK Photo by Chance Hammock

Checking out his cake while we sing. Photo by Chance Hammock

Having a blast eating his cake. He LOVED it. Photo by Bryan Mulholland

Of course, we can't forget KB. He had so much fun. After the party, he had the chance to go out to a baseball field right next to the park with his friends, the Hammocks and the Jansons. As you can see, he had a lot of fun.

KB after playing in the baseball field and eating cake. Photo by Bryan Mulholland

It was a fantastic day, and the only thing that could've been better is if I had an actual photo of all four of us, and a picture of the cake.