July Randoms

We had such a fun summer.  As the kids get older, summer just gets even better.  There is much more flexibility although, we certainly still pay a price sometimes.  Kamden had the honor of catching the one and only fish EVER caught on the new boat.  We have had it a year.  Fishermen, we are not!  Actually, I think Joe and I could rock some serious fishing but the kids are loud and impatient most of the time.   When swimming and tubing are available, I don't blame them!

This photo is everything.  The girls just love my kids and play SO well together.  They basically treat Brody like a toddler but he lets them and they all love it :)

Kamden completely ROCKED swimming this summer.  He has had lessons the past couple of summers but it really clicked this year.  At the end of the summer, he was independently swimming the whole time at the pool.  The below picture is both Kam and I jumping off the diving board... at the same pool... at the same age... 30 years apart!

This is Ms. C (below pic).  She is the most amazing person that has, without a doubt, changed and shaped Brody.  She is a Speech-Language Pathologist that works for MO First Steps.  Brody qualified for in-home 1x/week speech therapy and I can't believe how awesome the experience was.  It is hard, when in the trenches, to see the progress.  At his 6 month evaluation, it was so great to reflect on how far he has come.  

When Brody turned 3, he aged out of the First Steps program and went under the wings of the school district.  Beyond helping Brody, Ms. C helped ME be a great advocate for B while navigating  social/family expectations, IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meetings, and just plain HELPING with the guilt of having a child with an "expressive speech disorder."  

We miss her dearly.  Brody still finds things around the house that remind him of her and comes up to me in the saddest voice, "Ms. C...."  :(

More on this later.  The transition to the new school has been better than I ever expected!