Speech Therapy and Gymnastics

Well, first let's talk about speech therapy. Sophia has done amazing with speech therapy - so much so that she has tested out of the First Steps program! Her therapist is just amazed by her progress. She has one more lesson in this plan and we are finished. I don't know what she is going to do when Miss Dana no longer comes to the house.

Sophia has started gymnastics and absolutely loves it! She loves to play and it gives her some mommy time since it is a parent/tot class until she turns 3. Olivia continues with gymnastics and still loves it. She was asked last spring to join a developmental team that prepares kids for competitions. We decided not to start with the summer session but did start this August. She loves this and is continuing to improve. She was in a parade last Saturday - unfortunately I didn't take any pictures. Ugh! Her first parade and I missed it! Here are a few pictures of Sophia doing gymnastics.

First Day of School

The first day of school went off without a hitch! Olivia asked every day after we went to the open house and met her teachers if she got to go to school that day and I always said no not today but you will go on Monday. Well, Sunday night she picked out what she wanted to wear and what Sophia was going to wear before heading to bed. Monday morning she woke up and I could hear her skipping through the kitchen saying "I get to go to school today" over and over again. She is going 4 days per week and Sophia is going 2 days. She has since decided that she doesn't like going to school when Sophia isn't there. Here are a few pics of the first day:

State fair and good friends

Today we went to the State fair and met up with friends, The Hedden Family, we met through our DTC group while waiting for Sophia. I would link their blog in this post but I have no idea how to so I will just say see the link on the side under Emma and the Boys. They come to our lovely state fair every year and this is our second year of meeting. We got to meet their new son Sam for the first time and he is a real cutie! Olivia and Robbie (their 5 yo son) picked up right where they left off last year. At one point I thought I was going to look back and see them holding hands! Sophia and Emma were opposite each other - when one was in her happy phase the other was not so I didn't really get any good pictures of them. So without further ado, here are some pictures.

Jack, Robbie, Sam, Emma, Olivia, Sophia and ColemanRobbie and Olivia last year

Robbie and Olivia this year

The only half-way decent pic of Emma and Sophia I have.

Swimming

Olivia is taking swim lessons with a friend of hers in a semi-private lesson. She is doing so amazingly well. She loves it and is becoming fearless of the water which is kind of scary. My mom, my brothers and their families came over last Sunday for a cookout and swim party. My brothers were throwing both Olivia and Sophia up in the air and Olivia would come back to the top and swim either to the side or the nearest adult. Sophia they would catch since she can't swim yet. She loved it as well. I was able to take a few pics.

Speech

Sophia's speech is going so well. Here is a short video of her saying her name.

Camping and Holiday World

We took our annual camping trip to Holiday World last month. We usually take the tents and rough it but after fighting to get the kids to take a nap in the heat last year our group decided to rent cabins. It was nice! We drew the short straw and got the futon while our cabin mates with their 3 kiddos got the bed and bedroom. We ended up putting our air mattresses up in the loft with the girls and it wasn't half bad - unless you needed to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Friday afternoon everyone arrived and after supper the dad's took the kiddos to the swimming pool. David is so impressed with Olivia's swimming. So am I for that matter. While they were gone, the moms/wives made the camp fire. Yea us! We had S'mores and after we all put the kids to bed we stayed up and talked around the campfire.

Saturday morning we went to Holiday World. We had planned on spending the day at the water park but it was kind of windy so we decided to devote the day to riding rides. Olivia has just amazed me at the things she will try. She rode the scrambler which she liked until it started going real fast but she stuck with it and didn't cry or scream. She rode a ride called the Turkey Whirl twice and rode the roller coaster. Sophia will try almost anything one time. She rode the roller coaster too but didn't like it one bit! When it was time for a nap, we all went back to our cabins. We took our cars over to HW and rode the shuttle back to the campground since it takes longer to catch a shuttle at night. Well, that turned out to be the WRONG thing to do. Olivia was fine until she got off the shuttle and got to our cabin door and it was like a light bulb went off in her head. She realized at that moment that her beloved Taggie was in the car and she would not/could not/can not go to sleep without it. Our good friend and cabin mate, Mr. B (as the girls call him) went back to our car and got the Taggie for Olivia. I think he did it as much for his kids (so Liv would quit crying and his kiddos could sleep) as he did for Olivia. She was so thankful and so was/am I! Thanks, Mr. B! We went back and rode more rides - including a log ride for Olivia (she loved it) and mommy - and we closed the place down! Olivia did an awesome job all day! I was really nervous about not taking a stroller (took one for Sophia) or wagon for her because she has not walked a place like that for an entire day. She walked all day and did not complain until we were walking to the car to go back to the cabin.

Sunday we all packed up our cars and went to HW again. This time we did spend much of the day at the water park. Sophia takes a while to warm up to the water attractions. We stayed until just after naps and got home late Sunday evening. I need to load the pics from my camera to my computer and I hope to do that this evening.