Phoenix is 6!

Phoenix turned 6 this past Fri! We took him to pick out his own present then to Happy Joe's for some pizza, ice cream, and games! He was so excited when he got to get 2 big roaring and walking dinosaurs. He has big decision making issues (like his mother) so the fact that he made a decision in less than an hour is amazing, lol. He got glow sticks with his tickets at Happy Joe's and put them all on and posed for me like they do on Kung Fu Panda, which is what he is doing in the picture above.

He told me about a month ago that he "hated" people (which of course I had to explain that it's not nice to hate) and he did not want "all those people at his birthday". Keagan even told him that he wouldn't get many presents and he didn't care he just wanted the 4 of us there. He is pretty shy and never has liked big groups of people. We had a really nice time and it was exactly what he had been asking for for his birthday celebration!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

Today was the first day school for the boys! Keagan was very excited but Phoenix didn't even want to talk about school. I am homeschooling this year due to a lot of violence and bad behavior at the public schools here. Keagan was very unhappy at school here last year and Phoenix doesn't do well with large groups of people so we felt this was the best thing to do for them. I am using Abeka curriculum for them and it is set up much like public school curriculum. So in a way I am FINALLY putting my education to use, lol. I am working on getting a speech therapist for Phoenix so in the meantime we are working with him the best we can. We will be involving them in different sports through the YMCA and the park district so they are able to socialize with other children their age. Hopefully that will help Phoenix overcome some of his shyness...not sure where he gets that.

Until next time! I promise I won't wait 7 mo between blogs again, lol.

SOCCER

Keagan played his first soccer game today and his team WON!! Of course it is indoor soccer because of the extreme cold and the 8 plus inches of snow on the ground. So they got to play in a nice warm gym! It was 3rd and 4th grade from his school versus 3rd and 4th grade from another school in town. They all played a really good game and Blackhawk (which is Keagan's school) scored the only point in the whole game in the last 5 minutes. Keagan's favorite part, besides winning, was playing as goalie. He played a great defense! Phoenix sat in the stands and cheered for Keagan. Now I guess you can say I am officially a SOCCER MOM!

GOOD NEWS

We met with the speech pathologist at the preschool last week for Phoenix. We have tried to get him speech before, but the other school districts didn't offer such a kid friendly environment, nor did they listen to what we had to say. All that doesn't matter now because we are working with an awesome speech pathologist through the preschool. They were very encouraging and told us that he is a VERY SHARP little boy. It was so nice to hear that there are only 3 letter sounds that he needs to work on. He can say them, he just may omit them or have trouble saying them at various points in a word. And the fact that L and R are not easy for him doesn't matter because kids at his age are not even expected to be able to say them correctly. All the shyness and lack of confidence will all change with progress in his speech. He is aware of the struggle he has so at times he just chooses not to talk or do anything at all. We are so HAPPY for the changes and progress that has been made even since last week!

Keagan is 9!

It's hard to believe that Keagan is already 9! We celebrated with pizza, ice cream, and games at Happy Joe's with just a few of our friends. The kids were more interested in playing games than eating, but the adults sure enjoyed the pizza! He got a cell phone from us! Yes, we have officially lost our minds to get our 9 year old a phone of his own. Although, he was VERY EXCITED and SURPRISED!

Where does time go?? It seems like just yesterday that we were getting ready to head to the hospital so I could be induced, he was 2 days late and I was tired of waiting. They started inducing me at 6:30 on the morning of January 11th and FINALLY at almost 10 pm he was born. And to add to the excitement Keagan and my mom share the same birthday! What better present to give than her first grandson.

Just when the boys had started sleeping in it's time to go back to school! Of course they don't want to go back, but when they get back into the routine they will be fine.

Keagan is counting the days until his birthday! At some point in his life he will wonder why he couldn't wait to get older. He is very excited about having his party at Happy Joe's! I am too because then the mess won't be at my house. He had a big long list of people that he wanted to invite, but I think that we have it narrowed down to less than 10.

December 30th

Well, the holidays are almost over but what a fun time we have had! We went to Canton for Christmas and we were also able to spend time with my Grandpa and Grandma.

Phoenix still believes in Santa, which is really fun! We made a couple phone calls to "Santa" before Christmas so he could tell him what he wanted. Keagan very unwilling played along although he was dying to tell him that Santa wasn't real. I figured he would figure it out soon enough and it's so much fun when they believe that we would play along.