October Fest

My blog has been nothing short of pathetic lately. True, things have been busy, but I could have found time to catch up with all of you in cyberland. My apologies. So, instead of making individual posts about the last month, I'll sum it up in one post.

1. Halle, our adorable first-grader, is in full school mode. She LOVES school. Her reading has really taken off, and her penmanship is almost better than mine. She makes life easy.

2. We took Chase to the neurologist to get some more information on his speech. He is making a lot of progress, but he is no where near where an average child his age should be. The doctor diagnosed him with dysarthria. It sounds bad, but we've been dealing with this so long, that we were finally happy to have any sort of diagnosis. Basically, Chase will struggle with speech for a while, but our goal of having him speak mostly clear by kindergarten is still intact. I argue with the insurance company often because speech is considered developmental, so getting coverage for therapy is hard. Hopefully, this new diagnosis will help.

3. Road trip! We went to St. George over UEA break. I love taking the kids down there. We have such a good time just hanging out as a family. (Plus, there is a Christensen's there. Bonus!)
The weather was gorgeous, and once again, I left wondering why we don't just move down there.
Sam & Chase spent hours on the golf course. It looks like I've got another golf fanatic on my hands.

4. Lizzie entered babbleland. Because of Chase's speech difficulties, I've been watching Lizzie's speech signs closely. This month she took off! Yea! Here's what she says:

Me: ma ma ma ma ma

Lizzie: da da da da da

5. We all went to the BYU/Idaho State game. I haven't gone to a BYU game in a long time, but we decided to risk taking all of the kids. They were awesome!

6. We made the annual visit to the pumpkin patch. Apparently, everyone in the valley found out about the pumpkin patch, because it was crazy!

The kids had a fabulous time, and I even convinced them to pose for a few pictures. (Well, most of them.... I always have to get action shots of Chase.)

7. We went to Chase's school Halloween party. It was amazing. I wasn't expecting much, but it blew away every Halloween bash I have ever attended. They had about 50 different games for the kids to play, lots of food & adorable decorations.

8. And, our best news... Chase is potty-trained! I convinced myself that he would be in diapers until he was 16, but after someone "stole" his diapers, it wasn't too bad. We make sure he goes to the bathroom a lot, so he's only had a few accidents.

So, in sum, it has been a pretty good month. We've spent lots of time together, which makes us all happy, especially me! Bring on Halloween!