Nanie's Beach

aka York Beach or where I grew up. We went to the ocean to frolic in the waves, play on the playground and eat penny candy. Cousin Thomas joined us. The kids all had a blast as did the adults. Kailyn stated that she likes to play in the waves, but swimming in the pool was better because when you swallow the water it is not as salty. The culmination of the kids day was getting the penny Candy (which came out to $12 between three bags, not even close to pennies) and quickly falling into a sugar coma on the way home in the car. The culmination of the adults day was stopping at a fried seafood place and devouring a Captains platter, while the kids slept in the car.

Water FUN!

We got a pool. It is one of those 12x36 blow-up pools. Perfect size for the kids. I had one of similar size growing up and we had a blast in it so I hoped it would be a hit with my kids too. It is! I needed something to keep the kids occupied this summer and I don't want them to miss out on typical summer fun. Going to the beach is out of the question during the week. Too much for me to take a 6 month, 2 year, 3.5 year and 6 year old on that sort of adventure yet.
Kyleigh has been in too, but I just dunk her in and jump up and down for a few minutes and then she is "shaken", as she says, so she is not in it too long. Graham sleeps in the shade in the stroller while the kids splash in the pool. When the little ones go down for a longer nap the kids get in the pool again.
Seth and I will be getting in it too when it gets a little warmer (or the air gets hotter). The kids have to get out frequently because their bodies turn purple from the cold water fast.
Here are some pictures of the kids having fun.

Great P.E.T. Meeting

We had Sam's summer school PET (Pupil Evaluation Team) meeting today. It was supposed to be for ESY (Extended School Year), but turned into an Annual because it is so close to when the next Annual PET is due. (Seth and I agreed to this because we are not requesting a change of services for the fall) You have to have the ESY PET to prove that there would be regression if there were no services for those 9 weeks during the summer. The team all agreed that it would be in Sam's best interest to continue services throughout the summer. Its not that he would regress per say, but once school started back up he would lose 2-3 months of learning because it takes him that long to become reacquainted in an educational setting. 3 full days a week of school with Speech therapy 1x a week. We were shocked that they approved the Speech. We were fully expecting to have to pay out of pocket after the horror stories we have heard. His new case worker was really nice. The nicest one so far (this is his 4th in a year) and was not concentrating on the money aspects of things. (or at least made it appear that she had Sam's best interest in mind)
Sam has made major gains since he started school last Fall. He started in the 1-1 program and transitioned into the 3-1 program in February. His language has flourished and until today I had no data as to how much it has changed. He tested in the 30-50% range; 50% for Cognitive and 30% for expressive. This is a HUGE HUGE HUGE difference from the 1% and <1% he tested in April of 2007. Seth and I were absolutely thrilled. Now, he still has a way to go in regards to "maladaptive behavior" as they call it. Sam will only talk on his own terms, he does not learn in a typical way, needs to learn how to function independently in a classroom and we were basically told he marches to his own beat.;) LOL His social scores were not as great, but for now we are elated that he has come this far and is considered "average" cognitively. Hopefully he will continue to thrive and will come out average in all areas by the end of next year.

Maine Wildlife Park

After T-ball we headed up to Gray to the Wildlife park. The kids were extremely excited and raced from one wild animal to another for a while. We saw every Maine native wild animal imaginable with only a few non native things in the mix. (Peacocks to be exact) Some of the favorite animals were the bears, turtles, Moose, deer, fish, ducks, skunk and owls. Here are a few pictures from that adventure.

Our Little T-Ball Player

Kailyn has been enjoying going to T-Ball every Saturday morning all Spring. Today was the last day. Her teams name was "Black attack". She fielded four hits and threw the balls to first base like she was supposed too, had great hits of her own and drew some fantastic pictures in the dirt.
She wants everyone to know that now she has three medals. One each for soccer, basketball and t-ball.

Kailyn is a First Grader!!

Officially!! Yesterday was her last day of being a Kindergartener. She is absolutely thrilled!! I on the other hand am not. I am sitting here wondering where all this time is going and how I can slow it down. ;) Don't get me wrong. I am proud of the little girl she is turning into, but I am now in shock with the fact that she will be gone all day long at school next year. She got a wonderful report card and was thrilled with the fact that she received a ton of 4's on it (you can get anywhere for 1-4 for grades) This was the first time she had even acknowledged or understood the fact that she got a report card. Last night she was organizing her workbooks and talking about how she had to work in them all summer so that she would be ready for first grade. She also made books about what first grade would be like. She keeps asking me when we will shop for her first grade supplies as well. When I tell her August she gets a frown on her face. She certainly has a zest for learning!! :)

You don't realize how much

You love your life until you can't participate in it anymore. I have been ill and could not take care of any of the kids. I missed them all so much. I really could not and can't stand being out of the daily action. We still don't know what is up, but I am slowly starting to feel better. I am now taking care of the kids again. (with help from Grammie and Grandpa). Thank goodness I have my Mom (Nanie)too. She came up and took care of Kyleigh and Graham. I don't know what I would do without my family and feel very blessed to have them all.

Butterflies and insects OH MY!

One of the kids favorite things to do outside right now is hunt butterflies and other insects. They say they are trying to catch butterflies, but in reality they will catch anything that is small and does not bite. This includes, butterflies, dragonflies, grasshoppers, crickets, ladybugs etc... Kailyn has a knack for naming every single insect that comes to live in the little insect carrier. She is very dramatic when one of the little beings is let go by her little cousin accidentally and very sad when one dies during its captivity. She does all the things she feels needs to be done to keep them alive. Gives them food, water and shelter.
Today the kids had a play date and got to introduce their friends to their love of catching insects. All of them had a great time catching and examining the little critters. Only one dragonfly lost its wing accidentally via one of the boys.
Below are some pictures of them hunting and examining. I see a few future scientists in the group. :)

Tooth #2 is Out of here!!

Exciting evening at the Robie house. Kailyn very unexpectedly lost her second tooth right before going to bed. We were laying down doing our usual chit chat and she said that her tooth was getting more wiggly. I told her to show me and she did reluctantly (thinking I would wiggle it or pull on it too hard) I told her to pull hard and she said no. I said I thought I saw the new tooth coming in and wanted to look again. I decided to wiggle it and she pulled back. When she did this the tooth snapped out!! Now the tooth fairy has to visit our house again. I wonder what she will leave this time?? Here are some pictures from the proud tooth loser!

He continues to amaze us every day

This is what one of Sam's teachers said to me this morning at drop off. It made me smile. "He continues to amaze us with what he comes out with every day".
We were in the car this weekend and Seth was quizzing him trying to provoke deeper thought. One of the questions was, "Sam, where did you come from?" His answer was, "me people." Seth said again, "Where did you come from", He said "I non't(don't) know". He was obviously confused with this question. Seth told him that he came from Mommies belly and Sam laughed and said no. (He apparently thought that was silly.) I said, "You were a baby like Graham and came out of Mommies belly. You got bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger (How Sam describes things growing) and then came out of my belly." I think Sam has watched a C-section or two on tv with me ;) and he said, "Doctor broke you belly and had to fik (fix) it"

Kailyn's Recital

We went to Kailyn's recital last night. She did wonderful and it was interesting to see all the other dances. Her Nanie, Grampa, Grammie and Grampa all went and she was thrilled to receive flowers from both sets of grandparents. It was a late night because Kailyn, Grammie and I all stayed to watch the second half of the show. Nanie, the two Grampa's, Seth and Sam all went home. Nanie and Grampa had a long ride ahead of them and Sam just about fell asleep in the first half so they all left. Kailyn had a blast at the second half of the show and was delighted to see her teacher assistant in a number of the dances. When we went to the car Grammie's battery had died. Kailyn did not get to bed until 10:30 at night. WAY!! past her bedtime, but she was absolutely thrilled about that.:) Here are a few pictures of Kailyn showing off her moves before the recital.