Back at the end of January our cousin Luke came to join us for the evening! We had a blast and played really well together. We were sad when he had to go home. Here are some pictures from our evening:

We got to make our own pizza for dinner. Before this we were running around like crazy.

Watching our favorite show Yo GABA GABA.

Ephriam decided in the end to skip the little bowl he had and just bring out the whole popcorn bag.

Kendra LOVES to read book. Just the other day she read the words “the, to, for” without me reading them to her first. Yes she is 3 and reading! She knows all the words to her favorite books. If you couldn’t tell one of her favorites is The Very Hungry Caterpillar. In this picture she has just gotten this book for Christmas. She ‘reads’ it EVERYDAY. I hope that she continues to read and love books for the rest of her life.  I am very proud of her.

Yes this is the 3rd place to see this video! Hope that you enjoy.

How Great Is Our God from Chris Walker on Vimeo.

On Jan 29 I meet up with Ephriam’s preschool teacher, School OT, district representative, school speech, school PT, school pych and myself to talk about Ephriam. The teacher learned why Ephriam spills his milk off his spoon when he eats cereal (Ephriam doesn’t like milk in his cereal.) I also learned that he is doing somethings at school that he doesn’t do here. Overall I am happy with his progress and how his IEP is laid out for the next year. He has finally reach goals at school that we have been working on for months at home and private speech and OT. I am sure that there will be lots of growth with him over the next year as from year to year he gets better and better. I am sure too with us now all on the same page that we will be able to better help Ephriam master his skills. I wish that I could post all of his goals here but there are too many! So I am very happy with his IEP.

We then moved on to his kindergarten transition meeting. We, Chris and I, have three choice to choose from for Ephriam’s education next year.

1. Stay in half day preschool

2. Go to Regular Kindergarten. Having one teacher to almost 30 students. There are lots of worksheets and sitting activities.

3. Go to the Multiple Disabilities (MD) room. Where there is one teacher 2 teacher aids and only 10-15 kids. Here all their learning is hands on. They are able do lots of one and one and the lesson plan for the day is based on Ephriam’s IEP and the kid next to him has his own lesson plan. Even though they maybe working on reading they will be working on the level that they need so some are learning to know what the letters look like and other are reading sight words. They are move around a lot and play a lot. They take field trips and go to the YMCA once a month to swim for an hour.

We feel that if we keep Ephriam in preschool that he would not be getting enough of what he needs. He is needing more interaction and a full day of school verses a half day. Chris and I also feel that if he goes into a regular kindergarten classroom that he will just get lost in the suffle and not get the help that he needs. In the MD room he would be best for Ephriam at this point. It seems like the push in the right direction for him. He will also have the opportunity to out grow the room too. If he were to start talking over night then he could go to a regular Kindergarten room or even be pulled into the regular Kindergarten room for a certain subject. So it isn’t a permanent placement.

However before we can say this is where Ephriam needs to be he has to go through the standardize  testing to see where he fits in. So all of us are getting back together on March 25 for and hour and make a final decision. Our goal is to do what is best for Ephriam. He needs to be where he will fit best, not feel overwhelmed, and get the help he needs.

So I will have more information on March 25th but for now Chris and are leaning on the MD room.

If you have question and know my e-mail address please e-mail them, if not please feel free to ask them here in the comments.

FW

So the holiday rush is over for us. We have finally finished Christmas. The last one was too fast. We wish we could have played with our toys with Nana, Grandpaw, Uncle Bubby, and Aunt Katie more but we got to party down with them at Katherine and Josh’s Wedding. We also celebrated Ephriam’s birthday with them too. Here are some pictures from this past weekend:

Glittering Nana up!

Now it is my turn!

Kendra and her Bitty Baby Twins  and Ephriam with Woody (he got Buzz too)

Opening more presents!

Transformers for Ephriam’s Birthday!

Bumblebee!

Waiting to eat.

All the pretty girls. They are all cousins too!

Da’ Boyz! A couple of more cousins!

Kendra enjoying her dance party with Jordyn and Payton.

Park and Ephriam booging down.

The Clan on the Dance Floor.

Ephriam and Daddy.

Yep that is us trouble! Mom We have been too busy to blog for a long time now so it is time to get back on track. So here is a run down of what we have been doing:

• Since we last posted both Kendra and Mommy got the flu. Kendra was out of school for the whole week but was able to say hello to her teacher the last day of that week. She is fine and healthy now.
• We took the Polar Express Train ride with our cousin Luke and some of his friends. It is unusually  warm but we had a great time.
• Thanksgiving we stayed at home with Mom and Dad and watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV. We also helped Mom and Dad get a few Christmas decorations out and decorate the house.
• Kendra took her first trip to pick out our Christmas tree. This year was only Ephriam’s second year to go but we had a blast as a family frolicking!
• We made new friends at church with the Macks. They have moved here all the way out from California so that Mr. Mack could be the assistant track and field coach at UC. We love playing with Travis and Caleb. We also look forward to our small group nights.
• We got to take a trip to the Cincinnati Zoo Lights. We had a great time looking at the lights and even stopped for a moment to have our picture taken with Santa.
• We have now made it through 3 out of 4 Christmas celebrations. Our last one will be in a couple of weeks when we do Christmas with Grandpaw, Nana, Uncle Bubby, and Aunt Katie.
• While Mommy was having a 7 day stretch of school and work we were out to cause mischeif. We wrote on the wall with chocolate chapstick, covered ourselves with soap, Ephriam pooped and them wiped it on his humidifier, and Ephriam also rubbed lotion on him till he had a beard and all over his bed. By the end of the week Mommy was just glad to spend time with us playing.

We are hoping that their will be a few pictures for you to see tomorrow. Mommy says that as long as we nap it should be fine. For now we need to try to sleep.

Yep that is us trouble! Mom We have been too busy to blog for a long time now so it is time to get back on track. So here is a run down of what we have been doing:

• Since we last posted both Kendra and Mommy got the flu. Kendra was out of school for the whole week but was able to say hello to her teacher the last day of that week. She is fine and healthy now.
• We took the Polar Express Train ride with our cousin Luke and some of his friends. It is unusually  warm but we had a great time.
• Thanksgiving we stayed at home with Mom and Dad and watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV. We also helped Mom and Dad get a few Christmas decorations out and decorate the house.
• Kendra took her first trip to pick out our Christmas tree. This year was only Ephriam’s second year to go but we had a blast as a family frolicking!
• We made new friends at church with the Macks. They have moved here all the way out from California so that Mr. Mack could be the assistant track and field coach at UC. We love playing with Travis and Caleb. We also look forward to our small group nights.
• We got to take a trip to the Cincinnati Zoo Lights. We had a great time looking at the lights and even stopped for a moment to have our picture taken with Santa.
• We have now made it through 3 out of 4 Christmas celebrations. Our last one will be in a couple of weeks when we do Christmas with Grandpaw, Nana, Uncle Bubby, and Aunt Katie.
• While Mommy was having a 7 day stretch of school and work we were out to cause mischeif. We wrote on the wall with chocolate chapstick, covered ourselves with soap, Ephriam pooped and them wiped it on his humidifier, and Ephriam also rubbed lotion on him till he had a beard and all over his bed. By the end of the week Mommy was just glad to spend time with us playing.

We are hoping that their will be a few pictures for you to see tomorrow. Mommy says that as long as we nap it should be fine. For now we need to try to sleep.

For a treat every once and again we get to make cookies after dinner! There is usually not enough time to do them from scratch but we find that these are good too! Ephriam did will doing his sprinkles all by himself. Kendra needed a little help because she did put nearly enough on one cookie! Enjoy!

Love,

E&K

Kendra enjoys putting on make us and lots of it. On this particular day her Nana wasn’t paying any attention to her and let her put on mascara instead of lip sticks. Since she likes to have her picture taken it was no hard task to get the smile before we fixed her  up. Next time she will be aware of what she is putting on her face.

This was an idea that Mom kind of  got from Crayola.  It turned out really neat and took sometime to do. Let us know what you think:

First you paint your leaf.

Kendra’s was red and Ephriam’s was green.

Then you put the paint side down on a piece of paper and push it evenly, you can do this several times or just once.

Kendra did hers only once and got a great big bold leaf.

Ephriam did his a couple of times.

I* thought that I had taken a picture of the final project show you how it turned out but no such luck. You will just have to wait and see if  I can get one. These will be sent out as cards (I hope).

Love, 

E&K

*I meaning, Mommy. Sometimes she does silly things*