The Thomas Family

end of 2011, hello 2012

2012-01-01T20:22:00.003-06:00

Memorial Day Weekend

2010-05-31T22:31:00.003-05:00

We took a last minute trip to San Antonio, we had a blast.. we stopped in Austin and let the boys play at the Children's Museum on the way down. It was HOT HOT HOT down there, too hot to wear makeup, it would have melted off my face. We were only there for a quick 48 hours. Riverwalk was neat. I would have much rather been there alone with Ian, however we have come to accept that we won't be getting weekends alone together for a long time. We visited Morgan's Wonderland which was a park designed for children and adapted for kids with special needs both intellectually and physical. The boys loved it and we hope to take them back in the late fall or during the winter when it's not so hot outside. Well, I have to run... baby is upstairs wiggling. Sad I only get a few moments to myself to type : ).

What have the Thomas's been up

2010-05-16T23:02:00.007-05:00

What have we not been up to? We are always on the go go go. All three boys are growing up so quickly. Sean, amazes us more and more every day. He was recently accepted into a math and science charter school. At the age of 6 he enjoys everything science. Every morning when he wakes up he turns on the weather channel. He is mostly interested in hurricane season and local severe weather. Often times when we drop him off at the curb at school, the first person he see's he tells the weather forcast too.
Sean has been doing addition, multiplication, and has recently started to learn division. He knows all of the elements by symbols on the periodic table of elements. In his free time, he will go to the internet and watch video clips on national geographic on Solar Winds or something. His recent standardized testing had him in the 99th percentile for academics compared to typical peers his age. He is reading on a third grade level. Sean had a bit of a tough mid year at school. Thankfully, we are back on the right path and Sean is participating in his classroom and even had a young lady in his classroom write out her phone number and give it to him for a play date. Of course, Sean has no idea what to do with this.

Aidan, how quickly he has grown up. His speech is starting to improve significantly. He is 3/4 of the way potty trained. He loves to play, has a great imagination (loves the rescue heros). Aidan is our child that gives cuddles and kisses. We are working with him now on transitioning into new public places (he's having a hard time). He is very interested in what his big brother Sean does. In fact, he is often Sean's shadow if Sean will allow it. He is reading, starting to write his name, and can identify all of the planets in space by sight. Aidan took the brunt of Sean's "hitting" issues we had during mid school year. Now that Sean has stopped, Aidan is in some type of shock and has started to act out himself a little.

Baby Aaron is on the run run run. This mom is on her feet every minute of the day because of this little man. He is into anything and everything. Aaron started walking at 13 months. He loves to be outdoors. He loves his older brother's attention. He says ma ma and da da and has started in the Early Childhood Intervention program due to his high genetic risk for Autism.

I stay really busy juggling two school schedules, social skills groups events, school district meetings, doctors appointments, ECI appointments, and playdates. In fact, i'm a bit ticked that I havn't lost weight because I eat like a bird and I'm on my feet all day long doing something. Perhaps my endocrinology appointment next week will shed some light on it. I am often tired. Have I spilled my guts enough yet, I just made myself tired reading this : ).

Ian hasn't been traveling, which has made me really happy. He has been working long 60-70 hour work weeks and it appears he might be getting a promotion very soon. I am very happy for his career success. I'd like to say I played an important role in it. : )

stopping for a moment to write

2010-01-24T20:39:00.004-06:00

WOW! time FLIES with three kids. For those of you who were family/friends when Sean was born, I'm reliving that nightmare with baby Aaron. Baby Aaron has never once slept through the night. In fact, at best he sleeps in two hour increments. Next friday we are having a sleep study done, however he's identical to Sean in this category, especially with the belly issues. Ian & I haven't found a way to pencil in any help for me either. Like most families, we are recovering from a major home improvement job (shower), Ian's broken truck, entertaining for the holidays.... isn't there always something. I need to start interviewing people to come to the house during the day for two or three hours, just enough time for me to get in a nap or to get some cleaning done. Baby Aaron doesn't let me put him down, he is 22 lbs, so my arms are getting strong : ). I think I might be calling ECI soon : ), I'll wait until the sleep study reports come in, they are also giving him an EEG (Karyn are you back at work?).

This last fall was perhaps the most stressful time EVER in my life. Sean went from Aspie, high functioning autism to moderately autistic with no rhyme or reason to his hitting in school. In fact, the school district had him on FAST TRACK to be in a classroom with all disabled children instead of mainstreamed. I was taking him to the Neuro every three weeks BEGGING for help. Between not sleeping with baby Aaron and the stress of the complaints on Sean's behavior at school, I've almost collapsed from physical and emotional exhaustion. The short of the story, a medication I was giving him was causing all of this regression. Against his neuro's suggestions, I took him off two medications and we are slowly getting him back. The last two weeks at school are the best two weeks he has had in MONTHS! !

The good news, Aidan!!! My sweet pea, is doing great in preschool! His speech is coming along, we are hearing more words out of his mouth. He still has some difficulties transitioning and has no idea how to understand stranger danger, but he's doing better. We are still working on the potty training issue. He really has no interest in potty training. I was unsuccessful as of his ARD last November in getting Aidan a full day program, when I mean full day, I mean four hours a day. All research shows early intensive programming is the best for children on the autism spectrum. I have no idea outside of cost on why my school district doesn't do what every other district does.

I got a new camera for Christmas. It's one of those fancy digital SLR's. I love the pictures it takes!!! I've uploaded some to share! you'll have to click this link to get there!

A Texas Fall

2009-10-25T21:59:00.002-05:00

We've been busy. Adjusting to the family schedule has not been easy. Mom is still on the run, and her feet hurt more than ever. We have had some fun going to Halloween parties, pumpkin patches, parks, building legos, reading books and just being silly dancing in the living room. I love you three more than ever!

2009-2010 School year pictures

2009-10-08T15:49:00.003-05:00

Aidan is 3 and in pre-k, Sean is 6 and in kindergarten

more summer photos

2009-08-31T17:12:00.003-05:00

busy busy summer

2009-08-31T17:04:00.002-05:00

This summer <<<< deep breath >>>>> was a LONG summer. Sean broke his are in three places and didn't fair well with all of the pain. Amongst his grumpiness we did manage to have an action packed summer full of fun activities. The kids wore me ragged, but I suppose this is what childhood memories are made of. We went to parks, pools, aquariums, stockyards, drive through wildlife park, rode a train, visited grandma, rode on an airplane, and visited a space museum to name some of the things. Enjoy the pictures.

Stop Autism Health Discrimination

2009-07-15T13:18:00.002-05:00

Our Health Insurance "does not cover" issues related to Autism. It's United Healthcare. Employers can also stop Autism Discrimination by letting United Healthcare know you will cover these items.

and so it goes

2009-06-27T10:02:00.003-05:00

This week has been an incredibly difficult week for me as a mom. Last Monday, Sean climbed into an empty cardboard box on top of our king bed, and decided to launch himself off. As he was falling his stuck his little arm out and took the weight of his body on his arm backwards and broke it in two places and dislocated his elbow. When he walked down the stairs his poor little arm was swollen and just hanging there funny, I could see the bone getting close to the surface of his skin so I knew it was bad. Ian, was 5 feet from him when it happened and he rushed Sean off to the ER who confirmed what we thought. We got lucky, the on call Orthopedic Surgeon, was the former Orthopedic Surgeon to the San Fransisco 49rs. On of the concerns about Sean's injury was possible nerve damage to his radial nerve. Since the bone broke in half, it was pushing on his radial nerve. His has limited mobility in his thumb and fingers right now, however at least he has mobility.

With Sean's injury, he now missed summer camp last week. Aidan is turning three next month and recently completed his battery of tests and evaluations through the school district. He has been identified as a child with autism and possibly having an auditory processing issue as well. With the diagnosis comes a receptive and pragmatic speech and language disorder. He has qualified for school district services and will start summer services mid July. Aidan, like his older brother was only offered a part time program through the school district. He will go to a school program that is 2 hours and 45 minutes a day. Their theory for not putting him in a full day program was his age. They say, they hope to get him compliant enough (in his behavior) that in January they will try to push for him to be in a full day program.

The good news is, I have learned a lot on my autism journey. I will be able to use my understanding of visual supports, redirection, distraction to help myself to help Aidan. The difficult part is I now have two on the spectrum and there is no rhyme or reason to autism. Even the most consistant mother's struggle with the non compliance, tantrums, and behavioral challenges that come with it. I think one of the biggest challenges I face is friends and family and the opinions that come with it. From the outside the kids look like the normal neighborhood kid, it's mothers of autistic children that truly know and understand that challenges and it hurts me when I hear people tell me, you just need to do this.... doing what works for the typical child, doesn't always work for the autistic child. The best support anyone can give me is to read and understand about the behavioral challenges of a child with autism. I also get a lot of comments that there is nothing wrong with Sean, well.. that's good news to hear. I gave up my full time career to stay at home with him and dedicated all of my time and energy to help him get where he is today. My husband also works on redirecting their difficult behaviors with positive distractions. While Sean still has behaviors that are autistic in nature, he has come a long so far with his speech that we are very hopeful for him. I hope to dedicate the same amount of time and energy with Aidan. The struggles of having two on the spectrum and a newborn, is I cannot take all three out in public. It is physically impossible for me to keep up with them since Aidan will run and never look back. At 3 years old, Aidan is 40 lbs and the only way to keep him from a tantruming situation is to physically remove him, which makes it impossible to handle the baby. While I don't like to be stuck at the house, I am thankful Ian works from home often, because it does allow me a couple times a week to sneak out when the baby is sleeping with Aidan or Sean.

I have learned a lot about Autism since Aidan's diagnosis (which was not a surprise to me), this go around I am actually going to utilize our private insurance to supplement Aidan's care. I am going to see if I can get him qualified for private ABA Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Speech Therapy. The kicker in getting all of this approved by insurance is not to have his coded with Autism. Once that is coded on him, our insurance will automatically decline these valuable services. My reason for the supplemental care, is I cannot trust our local school district to get it done. Since he will be in a half day program and Sean will be going to kindergarten full time in the fall, I will have some time before Aidan's half day program that starts around noon to give him supplemental services.

I ask for prayers of support for myself and my husband. Prayers that we stay strong and steadfast. We've been strong, but at times we have our breaking points. We don't get many breaks from the children which can make things difficult as well.

cheating on blogger

2009-06-08T22:40:00.003-05:00

Sean got his summer haircut ~~ his shearing as we call it

Aidan refuses to let anyone cut his hair, I've even tried when he has been sleeping

Aaron is losing all of his hair!

Ever since facebook came around, I feel like I'm cheating on my blog. I guess it's easy to write a couple words verses sitting down and putting thoughts down in writing. I really honestly don't get two free hands often and if I do, I am cleaning up a mound of toys and cracker crumbs.

Aidan had some blood work drawn last week. Ever since he has been born he catches colds often. I know what your thinking, every kid get's sick, well... true... but not like Mr.Aidan. Last year I took him to the doctor over 30 times. All 30 times he was either running a fever, had strep, sinusitus, or an ear infection. He had his ear tubes put in and adenoids taken out and this January Aidan started to get a left swollen lymph node. In fact, it's not gone down. I felt hopeless like his pediatrician was listening to me. I changed his pedi and his new doctor drew blood right away. Now, we are in mystery period ... blood work doesn't show anything too crazy, but his still always sick with fever, night sweats and a swollen lymph node. We can only pray that it's nothing serious.

Sean finished his school year and immediately took off for a two week vacation to his nanny & papa's house in Biloxi. He is sooooo excited. I sent him with my old iphone, equipped with Madagascar Escape to Africa, two "How it's Made" episodes, Nasa Podcasts, a couple new weather radar iphone apps, and his favorite song of the month . Both boys belt this one out at the top of their lungs.... Barking at the Moon from the Bolt soundtrack.

Baby Aaron is growing by leaps and pounds. He is 22 inches long and has to be at least 20 lbs. He is wearing 12 month clothing and he's not even three months old yet. His appetite is so strong that I feed him every 45 minutes to an hour and despite him rejecting it before, he is starting to supplement himself with formula here and there. I purchased my favorite herbal supplement while breast feeding called More Milk Plus . For those of you reading thinking that stuff is a bunch of witchcraft, you are in the wrong. I used it with all three boys and it works!!

Sean has 4 weeks of summer camp, Aidan will hopefully get a few towards the end of the summer. He turns 3 on July 5th. He may end up in the school district program this fall. We shall see how it goes, he has his last evaluation this friday!

Ian & I celebrated our 6th anniversary at Papadeaux's last night. It was very nice.

Mom has lost all of her baby weight thanks to the aggressive every 45 minute feeding session of Aaron. I'm back to my pre pregnancy weight, now I just have to lose about 60 lbs for me to reach my goal weight. I already find it difficult to eat having three boys under 6, so I'm just going to eat smarter. More protein. If I get hungry, instead of grabbing a bag of the kids cheese its , I am going to grab a low fat cheese stick. I have to be bathing suit worth come October. I am soooo excited about my girls cruise, I can't stop talking about it. Three days of sun and good friends with no interruptions... can't wait!

Ok, I have to get going. I am sure there will be baby awake soon!

Here's smiling at you!

2009-05-03T20:46:00.004-05:00

Aaron is growing by leaps and bounds. He is almost 2 months old and he is just about to get into 6 to 9 month clothing! Yikes! Had the boys dress up today and mom played home photo studio and snapped a couple good pictures. I'm doing good, outside of the sleep issues, which is to be expected. I am about 5 lbs from my pre pregnancy weight, however... that was my heaviest weight I started being pregnant at, much more weight to lose!

Brothers, Boogers, & Baby

2009-03-30T20:31:00.003-05:00

Aaron made his big debut almost two weeks ago! Boy, where does the time go! I was scheduled for a cesarian section on 3/29 and went in to labor on 3/17 (ST.Patty's Day)... Aaron was born 10lbs 2oz ... I think they got the original due date wrong : ). If he would have gone to the 29th, he would have been almost a 12 lb baby... whew

I woke up the morning of the 17th, having pretty regular contractions. I also threw up that morning and figured I could chalk that up to the flu like symptoms some moms feel before they go into labor. We made it into the OBGYN and he said he would go ahead and do the C Section that day. When I went up to the L&D they hooked me up to the contraction monitor and they were pretty regular. 10mins apart. The C Section went great (with the exception of the Spinal Block administration) and big boy was born and came out screaming! I spent extra time on the table, we did cord blood banking and I had my tubes tied : ). As much as I love children and babies... I know my limit. I am afraid if I went for #4 that my sanity would go downhill and my quality of mothering would also go down hill.

I'll share a couple photos, however for now, I will probably be posting some under Aaron's Blog too.

Snotsucker!

2009-03-07T21:29:00.002-06:00

I cannot wait for my new NOSEFRIEDA. Aidan doesn't blow his nose and has chronic sinusitis and with Ian's help, I think this will help us keep his nose clear. Since I had to order it online, I ordered a second one for the baby.... just in case.

You have to check it out!

Ready, Set, Go!

2009-03-01T22:26:00.005-06:00

I've got the baby's car seat cleaned and ready to go. Diapers, back up formula to supplement as needed. A bed for the baby. Some outfits. All we need is the baby! I hit full term today so it's a matter of time... tick tick tick... my guess is, he will have curly hair. I have the same scratchy sensation on my cervix as I did with Sean... we shall see if that is just a bunch of baloney or not. Make sure you are watching the baby's blog for announcements!

My Happy Valentine!

2009-02-16T21:30:00.000-06:00

My Boys were good to their mommy this year! Long stem roses, truffles, and a nap! Ian even spent 6 hours cleaning the house (it's getting hard to pick things up off the floor). Sean was taking pictures today and this is what we got!

so proud of my Sean

2009-02-08T20:34:00.000-06:00

My good friend Lisa just emailed me this picture she took of Sean during his football season, I couldn't be more than proud of him! He starts football back up next month! Ian wanted him to pick up another sport like baseball ... Sean saw Ice Hockey on TV and told his father, "daddy, that's what I want to play". Yikes.... I better get him into martial arts soon, so they can help teach him when it's appropriate to tackle or hit. Sean had a doctors appointment last week and he almost weighed in at 60lbs. He's getting soo big!

Speaking of big, I'm as big as a large whale right now. Equipped with cankles and all! I've really backed off lifting Aidan up to his crib. My mother instincts tell me that if I continue to lift his 38lb rear up into the car seat or crib, that my water will break soon. As much as I am uncomfortable, I still want the baby to make it to term. I want him to be as healthy as possible.

I had a nice day off today. I didn't have to do dishes, laundry. or clean up the toys. I even got a 45 minute cat nap in. Thanks to my hubby for thinking of me in the last month of being pregnant. I really needed the day off too!

Ali G

2009-02-02T12:55:00.000-06:00

Here is our young Ali G..... or might I say, Aidan T

what a character!

growing up!

2009-01-31T22:30:00.000-06:00

where does the time go... Sean amazes me more and more every day! This past week he has started to really take an interest in the Weather. In fact, he asks to watch the weather channel on a regular basis. This afternoon while I was cleaning my closet, Sean came up with a doodle pad and free handed the United States and proceeded to tell me about a low pressure front moving over some state causing rain. He then drew lake Michigan and mentioned there was a chance of snow. He proceeded to the east coast and drew a picture of them getting more ice. I can see how he is going to struggle a bit socially in school, because most 5 year olds don't get into certain science subjects like he does. The good news is, he loves sports. That almost forces him to be a little more social.

Aidan, my big boy Aidan. One of the things I missed out with Sean as a first time mom is the creative / imatative play. Sean, just lacked the skill all together. Aidan every night when I lay him down, blows me a kiss... and well, it melts my heart. He is still likes to bust a move to almost any kind of music. I'm working hard on trying to get him into a mom's day out program once a week, however we've hit a bit of a behavior turn with him, he is just now having separation anxiety. This makes it really hard for me to leave him, (with him throwing a tantrum). I go back to the memories of Sean doing that at daycare and how they never proceeded to tell us there were any issues until they kicked him out of daycare. I can't imagine how Sean was being treated in that class.

I've changed the look of my blog to more of a "spring" look. I figured I better do it why I had the chance. Aaron's blog has been updated as well.

I am off to bed, we are lucky enough to have some good friends pop in tomorrow night for the superbowl.. btw, ian has and will always be a die hard steelers fan. Some of my friends from my old neighborhood in Ocean Springs might remember seeing that Steelers flag flying from the house... so if you haven't picked a team to route for and need one... go ahead and route for them!

Long time no post....

2009-01-11T22:04:00.000-06:00

Eek, I am a bad blogger... I've been busy busy busy!! I started a blog for the baby, my hopes are to print it as a journal at the end for him. You can find it here, or over on the right column on my blog roll.

We've schedule a C Section for March 20th. I do have a feeling I am going to have this baby early. He's already 4lbs!

Aidan, boy... he keeps me busy. The primary reason for not blogging. He's also hit the separation anxiety stage. He's starting it a little late, but wow... talk about timing... I'll be going to the hospital in a couple months for 4 days... I hope he does ok.

Sean, had a rough transition the first week after school for both Thanksgiving and Christmas break. It gives me a good idea that he will need summer services to keep from regressing on his social skills prior to starting kindergarten next fall. In his free time he likes to watch the Discovery Channel. He's watching engineering type shows. "How it's Made", "Time Warp", seriously, I don't know any other 5 year old that will sit there and do that! His football season is coming to an end. He has really learned a lot and I think he has enjoyed himself quite a bit. It's been good to see him & Ian have an activity they could bond on.

Aidan will need to start some type of moms day out program. He will be 3 this coming July and is totally stir crazy with Mom & being home with me. It get's hard to go out because I have to be home for Sean's school bus in the morning and afternoon and he only goes to school for 2 hours and 45 minutes a day (Sean). Right in the middle of the day and I have been putting Aidan down for naps. We had Aidan in a preschool setting one day after we returned from our Christmas trip to Mississippi and he didn't do so well. He wouldn't eat any of their food, wouldn't nap... etc. I suppose it will take him some time to get use to a routine.

It's late and I've organized an event for my local mom's group tomorrow morning (old habits die hard).. We are heading to a bounce house place and I'm taking both the boys (WISH ME LUCK) and hope they are on their BEST behavior because I can't be struggling with them to get them out to the car! Ian is on a short 2 day work related trip to Colorado, so I will be on my own the next couple days. Thankfully I have a friend near by that I can call on in the event of an emergency.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

2008-12-18T00:14:00.000-06:00

we have a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom fetish in our house, here is Aidan's attempt at singing!

He has quite the voice... i guess I better get him into singing classes.....

warning, hide your fine crystal if you turn the volume up

Checking my ticker....

2008-12-13T18:50:00.000-06:00

I had to drop by today and check my "Ticker" because I needed to know how pregnant I was... ha ha ha! That's the difference between baby #1 and baby #3

We have a place for Aaron to sleep, no nursery yet, we may not have one together either!

Today I had the joys of sitting at urgent care. Sean has strep again and we are back to having ear infections. Poor little man got a shot of penicillin and antibiotic prescription for two weeks

I don't have anything exciting to report, if you want to see pictures of me, google "Shamu" .. ha!

I hope everyone is having a happy holiday season.

Christmas Party for AIdan

2008-12-06T17:04:00.000-06:00

Sorry, Aidan didn't manage to get any photos taken today , we tried with Santa but it was a no go! Aidan had his ECI / First Steps Christmas party today. He was so excited by all of the helium balloons hanging from the ceiling he kept running back and forth asking for "Green one" or "Red one" and swiping all of the Christmas cookies. I went hoping Aidan's support team would be there (however they didn't show up), so I thought I would spend some time talking to the other moms.

One of the moms particularly hit home with me. She was in her young 30's, first time mom to a very active 2+ year old little boy. She was all dressed up in her local North Texan garb of black tall boots over jeans with a studded jacket, and she was completely out of breath. He son was keeping her busy, picking up toys, throwing them, grabbing other kids toys looking for a reaction from them, and playing with things that were not toys. Making high pitch noises. Well, this boy came over to Aidan and took one of his toys, and Aidan... well it didn't phase him. No reaction. This stumped the little boy and the mom came running over, I'm sooo sorry and she proceeded to sternly lay into her son. I told her, in all honesty, it's ok, it won't phase him, he has an older brother that does that to him all the time. She proceeded to lay into her son and told me, it doesn't make it right and I am so exhausted at the end of the day. I'm trying to teach him to share. What this mother didn't know and hadn't been told was something I had seen before. It didn't take a rocket scientist to see it, he was clearly on the spectrum. It was going to take a lot more than her "telling" him how to share and to pay attention. I took a moment to reflect on all of the progress we made with Sean since he was at that difficult stage and couldn't be more thankful we were past it. Being a mom to an active 2 year old can be challenging, but add autism on top of it, and it will make any mother lose her mind.

Before I got a chance to talk to the mom, she left the holiday party early, entirely frustrated. I said a little prayer for her on the way home, that she would soon understand why she was going through these difficult behaviors and hopefully be given the help she needs to get him on the right path.

Ian came to my rescue at the Christmas party after he finished watching Sean's flag football game. Aidan starts to "run" when he gets into lowd busy scenarios. I was physically tired from bending over and picking him up with my big belly in the way. I still try and push myself for Aidan, because I want him to have all of the social options Sean had at this age. We are hoping to get him into a mom's day out program in January. This will give me a well needed break during my last trimester (which is just around the corner.

Ok, have to run, Aidan is throwing things...

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T14:25:00.000-06:00

I started cooking yesterday, and I still haven't finished!! The best part is, we are only cooking a few things and our friends that have a little boy with Autism that use to be in Sean's class last year are having us over. I made 2 pumpkin pies from scratch, those were pretty easy. Southern Cornbread Dressing. Cherry-Italian Sausage Dressing. Apple, Orange & Cranberry relish (turned out awesome by the way, I'll post the recipe when I get time). The last item, is yet to be baked, first time making bread from scratch, making homemade yeast rolls! Hopefully they will turn out!

I am Thankful today for my family, my immediate and extended families. I am also thankful we picked a name out for baby boy #3. Aaron Alexander Thomas, with a small deviation of maybe Aaron Glen Thomas. Aaron is Ian's dad's first name. Alexander is a big "Torrey" name, my uncle is James Alexander Torrey Jr and my Grandfather was James Alexander Sr. Glen is my father's first name, however part of me thinks I will reserve this right for my younger brother Tyler to use this name if he by chance has a son. My dad would be happy knowing I used Alexander. Ian's dad is happy we are using his name to!

I'll post some photos/etc later. Everyone have a great day with your families!

Fun on a chilly day!

2008-11-21T11:20:00.001-06:00

Since we welcomed cooler temperatures into north Texas, the mosquitoes have been dying off and we have been able to get out in to the back yard and enjoy playing! I love seeing the boys dressed up in coats and hats. Aidan, especially loves the backyard, he runs around with sidewalk chalk writing on everything!

I'm going to leave you with this brief post, because I am pulling a loaf of pumpkin spice walnut bread out of the oven and it's been cooking for an hour making the house smell good and yummy!