Robyn's first Soccer Game

Robyn had her 1st soccer game on Saturday since her "real" 1st game was cancelled. It was fun watching her play. She is really enjoying it (I am not sure that there are too many things Robyn doesn't enjoy though). The other 3 kids watched her play from the side lines. You could hear LoriAnne yelling the whole game "go Robyn go, go Robyn go". Robyn has her own chearleader.

Our Home

We have had some requests to post more pics of our home. I still need to put together pics of the kitchen, laundry room, and office/guest room. I will try to get that together by next week. Dave took these pics. I know I am too much of a perfectionist and almost did not post these because there is something in the wrong spot in each of the pictures. (sorry Dave that is just how I am :) If you can tell what is in the wrong spot then pretend you don't see it :)

When you come into our front door this is what you see before you walk up the stair case.

This is the before and after shots of the living room. The before pics are al on the left and after pics are all on the right.

This is the before and after pics of our Master Bedroom.

This is before and after pics of our Master Bath.

This is before and after pics of the kids bathroom.

This is before and after pics of the girls and boys room. I have posted pics of their rooms in previous posts.

This is the before and after pics of the rec/play room. The pics are taken at different angles but you get the general idea of the before and after.

Tiny is NOT so "tiny" anymore

This picture of LoriAnne and Tiny was taken the day we got Tiny in June. Tiny was 2 months old at that time.
This picture of LoriAnne and Tiny was taken tonight. Tiny is now 5 months old. So now you can see that Tiny is NOT so "tiny" anymore. Out of all our children LoriAnne is the most attached to this dog.

This is how you find LoriAnne most of the time when she is with Tiny. I think LoriAnne is going to be a Vetinarian when she grows up. She LOVES all animals.

Emma's Birthday Party

Today was Emma's (my friend Sophia's daughter) 5th birthday party. It was at a gymnastics place. The girls had a BLAST! The boys were to young to participate so Jonathan spent most of the 2 hours having tantrums because he wanted to join in on the action. It is tough being the baby :)

Here are LoriAnne and Robyn listening to the instructions the coach is giving them.


This is LoriAnne on the rope swing getting ready to land into the pit of foam cubes.

LoriAnne taking a minute to smile at the camera.

The group was divided up between 2 coaches so this is part of the group that was at Emma's party. They were having fun throwing the foam cubes at the coach.

Robyn climbing the rope. On the other side was a slide they went down which landed them into a big pit of foam cubes.

The birthday girl was the only one who was able to do this bungie jump thingy. It was fun watching her. Everyone had a blast. There were lots more things they did but my pictures did not come out since most of them were action shots. This party was definitely a HIT!

All Dressed Up And No Where To GO

Robyn had her 1st soccer game today. It ended up getting cancelled because of field conditions. It rained ALLOT the last couple of days. I keep forgetting my camera during her practices. I tried to get a picture of Robyn and told her to give me a dissappointed look and this is the best she could do. :) Robyn was dressed for her soccer game as soon as she woke up. Her game was suppose to be at 11am but Robyn is always ready early :). This is a good thing as long as your game isn't cancelled!

This is what she kept doing....smiling. She loves playing soccer. She has a great coach. A couple of the girls on her team go to her school.

Update on Mikey...see previous entry for more info

Today I took Mikey to his pediatrician to see what the plan is for Mikey's leg. They are treating his leg injury as a hair line fracture. He is not suppose to walk on it for a week. He will have another x-ray next Tuesday. If his leg has not healed by then they will put him in a cast. We will see how the week goes. Lucky he has a very mellow personality and does not usually do anything without being told. He does not seem to have any pain still so I suppose that is good. The doctor asked him where his leg hurt and he pointed to a scratch he has on his other leg. Funny Kid!

My "momma" would be proud!

One of the downsides of living so far from California is not having my mom close by. My mom is one of the most talented people I know. If I could not do something I knew my mom would do it for me or at least help me out. So for LoriAnne's first day of preschool we had to decorate a paper doll. Of course LoriAnne did not want something simple. She wanted her doll to have a princess dress, yellow hair, bows in her hair, etc. So I talked her into using some fabric I had on hand that we used for their bedding. Then I made some pig tails out of yarn for the hair. I had LoriAnne glue everything on. She is a perfectionist and had to have everything in the right spot. For a preschool project I think it came out pretty cute! My "momma" would be proud!

LoriAnne and her doll that she says is "adorable"

LoriAnne looking cute and all ready for her first day of preschool!

Sabrina (my friend Sophia's daughter) & LoriAnne are in the same class. They had a great day together.

Jonathan wanted his picture taken. He kept saying "mommy, me cheese...mommy, me cheese" and then he would give me this great big smile. He is getting so big....and sooooooo handsome!

A BREAKTHROUGH...sortof

So today while I was in the ER with Mikey the nurse who put a splint on Mikey mentioned how good he was. She could not believe for 2 1/2 years old he sat still the entire 4 hours we were at the hospital. Then she started asking me some questions about Mikey. All I could think of was you are the first person to know Mikey without really knowing him. It turns out she is raising her grandson who has Asperger's syndrome. While we were in California he was somewhat diagnosed with Sensory Integration Dysfunction. They were going to test him further when he turned 3. As I talked to this lady she told me to go on line and read up about Asperger's and there are tests you can take to see if you think your child has it. I have cut and pasted the symptoms below. Mikey fits this 100%. I can't tell you how good this feels to know what direction to take with him. So this week as I follow up with his doctor on his leg we will be getting a referral to get him tested for Asperger's at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital.

Symptoms during childhood
Parents often first notice the symptoms of Asperger's syndrome when their child starts preschool and begins to interact with other children. Children with Asperger's syndrome may:
**Not pick up on social cues and lack inborn social skills, such as being able to read others' body language, start or maintain a conversation, and take turns talking. (taking turns talking is an everyday-all day long problem I have with Mikey)
**Dislike any changes in routines.
**Appear to lack empathy.
**Be unable to recognize subtle differences in speech tone, pitch, and accent that alter the meaning of others’ speech. Thus, your child may not understand a joke or may take a sarcastic comment literally. Likewise, his or her speech may be flat and difficult to understand because it lacks tone, pitch, and accent.
**Have a formal style of speaking that is advanced for his or her age. For example, the child may use the term "beckon" instead of "call," or "return" instead of "come back."
**Avoid eye contact.
**Have unusual facial expressions or postures.
**Be preoccupied with only one or few interests, which he or she may be very knowledgeable about. Many children with Asperger's syndrome are overly interested in parts of a whole or in unusual activities, such as doing intricate jigsaw puzzles, designing houses, drawing highly detailed scenes, or astronomy.2
**Talk a lot, usually about a favorite subject. One-sided conversations are common. Internal thoughts are often verbalized.
**Have delayed motor development. Your child may be late in learning to use a fork or spoon, ride a bike, or catch a ball. He or she may have an awkward walk. Handwriting is often poor.
**Have heightened sensitivity and become overstimulated by loud noises, lights, or strong tastes or textures. For more information about these symptoms, see sensory integration dysfunction.

Pendley Happenings

We have had allot going on lately. I can't seem to remember my camera so I can take pictures though. I will try to do better this week.
Robyn lost another tooth today. She was very excited. It makes her look more grown up. It just does not seem like she should be 5 years old already.
The next on the Pendley Happenings is Mikey fractured his leg. We do not know how he did it or when he did it. Try explaining that to the ER. Luckily he gave them a different answer where it hurts everytime they asked him. He never complained of pain. We just noticed he had a bad limp today. Since he couldn't tell the doctor where it hurt he was x-rayed from the waist down. I am sure this is not the only time we will have a problem like this with him. I think we have been very fortunate so far that this is all that has happened. The great thing was since he was not in "pain" he was very happy the entire time (4 hours) I was in the ER with him. It definitely made the visit more pleasant. He isn't suppose to walk on his leg for a few days until it is x-rayed again later this week. So far he has enjoyed being carried everywhere.

What a sweet little boy!!!!!