Kids growing so fast

Time keeps flying. We've been so busy trying to keep up with all the kids activities!
Emily~ Holy Cow! She's getting old. We are hitting girl stuff and it's been way harder on me than on her I think. Taking her shopping for some firsts was very strange. She's doing well in school. She's enjoying her Battle of Books after school program and has been slowly making her way thru the books. She has homework and reading every evening for class, with her Battle of the Books homework still left. It keeps her pretty busy! She enjoys playing on the computer in her free time and spends alot of time on YouTube listening to her favorite singers and singing along!

Jace~ He's doing pretty well in school. He's catching up quickly from summer and learning quite a bit of new things quickly. He's participating in Tae Kwon Do 2 nights a week and loving it. He's one of the youngest in his class, so sometimes has a bit of trouble constantly focusing on the directions, BUT he's really trying and starting to learn it fast. He enjoys having grandpa take him each week, and loves practicing in the garage during the rest of the week. He went to a friends bday party last weekend and had a great time. He's been taking up art and has been making pretty amazing chalk drawings all over the driveway.

Benjamin~ He's probably the one making the biggest strides right now. We seem to be well on our way to potty training! We are working hard with his teachers and seem to finally be making progress at home and at school. He only wears a pullup for bedtime now and we are in underwear the rest of the day. The bad news is he will not go on his own or tell someone if he needs to go. So right now someone has to tell him to go every 30 minutes. We hope after a bit to expand that slowly to 45 minutes, then out to an hour. At some point the hope would obviously be for him to go on his own or tell us, but we don't see that in his near future. Eating and sleeping are still a huge issue for him and that makes everyones life pretty rough. He will be meeting with the pediatric neurologist before the end of the year and we are hoping to get some good solid answers at that point! Other than that he's doing well at school and enjoying having his scheduled life back.

Ariana~ She's doing pretty good. Still in OT, and now they are more consistently adding speech. There are some concerns over her obsessive behaviors in speech and in life, so she is being monitored and evaluated alot more now. She definitely has a Sensory Intergration Disorder, and they are wondering what else is going on as well. She has her transition meeting coming up in November, with her 3rd bday right around the corner. There are multiple options to what she will do next, so we shall see what happens. Preschool will be in her future one way or the other for sure.

Bob and I are doing well. Busy as ever. I'm in my 3rd trimester now and can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going. I will be 28 weeks tomorrow! The baby is doing well. He's growing fast and as active as ever. We've hit the point where you can start to see my stomach move as he plays and kicks. Always fun. I'm definitely starting to get a bit more uncomfy, and sleeping isn't going as well as it could between pregnancy and Mr Ben.
I've been spending alot of my time knitting and have enjoyed making up and altering my own patterns. I am getting ready to get my new business launched and can't wait. This is something I love so much, and can't imagine doing anything else!

Family Photos

Last night a good friend of mine did family photos for us! She does amazing work!!! Here's a direct link to her blog with our photo session! After you check out ours click the side links and you can see all of the work that she does!
Thanks C!!!
Our Family Photo Session

Running in Circles

Sometimes I feel as though I spend every day running in circles, not always sure how much actually got accomplished.
The good news is the kids are back in school. So my house is way quieter! :) I'll take a brief moment to update on each!
Emily~ She is in the 3rd grade this year. Real homework and less recess. She's doing well though. She's joined a reading program at her school called Battle of Books and it begins tomorrow. She's super excited about that, as reading is still something she loves!
Jace~ He's in the 1st grade this year. Right now has been a big kindergarten review, and somehow he's retained way more than we expected! Super happy about that. He will be starting Tae Kwon Do in a week and a half, and that will keep him busy 2 nights a week.
Benjamin~ He's in PreK this year. He's in the same autism program, same teacher, same classroom, and many of the same students. This suits him perfectly! He's still 5 afternoons a week, no full days until next year. He's enjoying being back on his stricter routine and schedule.
Ari~ She's still at home with me this year. She's starting to think about potty training and I'm super thrilled about that. She's still in OT, and doing well with that!
I'm 24 weeks pregnant now. Time is flying way faster than ever before. Everything has been going great with the pregnancy and Eli is growing and becoming more and more active.
I've been doing alot of knitting lately for myself and for other people. I've decided to finally go ahead and start my own business knitting. I'm super excited and already have alot of people wanting things made. It will keep me busy in all my free time! :)
Other than that not much new. Life continues, same old same old!