Yesterday we had an I.E.P. for Charlotte with her school, Sound Beginnings. She now goes from 8:30am-3pm, Monday-Friday. And she LOVES it. Every night she asks if we're going to school and I tell her she needs to go to sleep and when she wakes up, we will go to school. ha ha. It's so funny.

Anyway, Charlotte's teachers are incredible. They are doing a fantastic job and we are so happy with Charlotte's progress. We made awesome goals and know Charlotte will surpass them in no time. At first we were a bit concerned and a bit down because Charlotte was tested and the results came that her language and communication (overall) was about 2 years old, 1 month. When you have a four year old it's hard to realize she's at the level of a 2 year old. But once we inquired about what this all meant, the teachers were telling us that this is incredible. What? How can that be? Well, just think about it. Charlotte was implanted June 5th. She didn't start recognizing sounds until mid-July. So really, that's four months of hearing. It's like Charlotte started from scratch four months ago and is already at 2 years old in her language! That's fast and incredible once it's understood in those terms. So, go Charlotte! She seriously has been doing amazing. In the last week or so, she's been copying 3 or 4 word sentences. I.e. I'll tell her to open the fridge and I'll just hear her repeat it. Yesterday, I told her to say, "see you tomorrow" to her teacher's and she said "see ya morrow". We're always in shock when we hear something correct out of Charlotte because we're just not used to it.

Primary program.

I just finished curling Charlotte's hair here. I kept asking her to smile and she DID but likes to squint her eyes now. I'm fine with that cause she doesn't look like she's on drugs. he he.

I got Charlotte to tell me her line for the Primary program from this past sunday. She was SO excited to do it in church. She kept asking me, is it my turn? is it my turn? And I was like, no you have to wait. And she was SO excited when I said it was finally her turn to go up. I went up with her to help her chunk the sentences properly and she did a fantastic job and Wade was so happy he could sit and see her say it on the stand. Makes my heart melt. She's doing so well!!!

This was her line "I will strengthen my family."

Jack just loves stuffed animals. Here he's kissing a horse!

Aunty Crystal sent Jack some pictures of her cats. Here is the video of him looking at it the first time.

Halloween!

This year for Halloween, I made Charlotte a Tinkerbell costume and Jack wore Charlotte's monkey costume from last year. They were so cute!! We didn't have too many trick or treaters compared to last year but it was fun. I went with Charlotte trick or treating while Wade took Jack so he could go to bed. She got the hang of it FAST. If she saw a house with pumpkins, she pointed to it and kept saying "tri-tree" or "chri-chree" for trick or treat. She loved saying it and saying thank you too. It was cute. Once the kids were in bed, Wade and I watched Mummy Daddy. It's a funny 20 min. movie. A good Halloween for sure!

Charlotte picked out the pumpkin she wanted carved! She loves saying pumpkins! We carved these the Thursday before Halloween. It was fun.

Top right pumpkin is Wades! It's the Made in NZ logo. It's a kiwi bird. Bottom right is Jack's (he picked out the pumpkin too!) and Wade did the standard jack-o-lantern. Bottom left is mine, notice the glasses? ha ha. The middle painted one is Charlotte's from school that she painted and decorated and the top left is hers as well.

I finished the tinkerbell costume! I made some wings but still liked these flimsy ones I purchased like 2 years before for 99cents at Michaels (on clearance of course!) better.

I attempted to make a Halloween meal. I didn't take pictures of the mummy dogs because they didn't turn out like I had hoped. So click on this to see what they were supposed to look like. I made the bones out of frozen roll dough. Easy! And of course had Graveyard clippings! I couldn't think of a fun main idea for me and wade so it was just a lame vegetarian meal. ha ha.

Happy Jack!

Getting ready to go trick or treating! : D

He was tired of me taking picture. But it was hard cause all of them were coming out blurry!!

Jack with some of his loot the next day!

We took Jack out for a little bit but he needed to go to bed plus Wade needed to hand out the candy too. He had a lot of fun. Well, I think he was bewildered at what was going on, really. Doesn't he know everyone is just handing out candy?!

Charlotte didn't want to wear her tutu underneath which I didn't care about! She looked adorable still!

Charlotte posing! ha ha

This is all the goodies she got while trick or treating. She was a nut. Kept opening a sucker, licked it 3 times, said she was all done and opened another. I didn't care. We always ate as much as we could when we were little so I just let her go at it. It was funny.

I added in the rest of the loot from her trick or treating at school. She is one lucky girl!! Look at that face?!

Pumpkin Walk

We went to the annual pumpkin walk with our good friends, the Tippets. They came all the way up from Orem to be with us! yeah! We were sad that our other good friends, the Wyatts, had other things to do that weekend but hope they are able to come up next year!! Charlotte, of course, had THE best time. She loves Kya and Brennon so much. I think Brennon got sick of her hugs and kisses though. ha ha. But at the pumpkin walk, Kya held hands with Charlotte and sometimes Brennon did too. Makes my heart melt! But we had a great homemade dinner before, and of course birthday cake (We went the day after Charlotte's birthday) afterwards. It was a short visit but totally worth it for us. I hope it was for the Tippets too!!

Charlotte is pointing to the bus to tell us we need to get on!!

Just outside the front entrance!

The boys. Waiting in line to get in. It was SO packed!!

There's something about this picture that I just love about Charlotte.

Jack was there. He was SO cold. Poor guy. He was a troooper. Went to bed 3 hrs passed his bedtime but he did pretty good, I think!!

Charlotte and Kya holding hands.

We get a picture with Yoda every year. She looks like such a cute yoda!!

Now, it's Jack's turn to be yoda!!

Jack is Harry Potter!

Thanks for coming up Jen, Gary, Kya and Brennon! We love being with you. Jen, I promised I wouldn't put that picture up of you!!! That's the only one I had of you too. : D I might have to steal some scene photos from you sometime. I didn't take any.

Charlotte still asks for Kya and Brennon and I have to tell her they are at home. It's so cute.