Olsen Reunion

In June we went to our annual Olsen family reunion.  This year we went to a house near Bear Lake.  It was a blast, and the kids loved the play room and the slides that went from floor to floor.  The adults loved not having to worry about the kids.

We went to the Minnetonka caves that weren't too far away.

The theater room was a favorite of the kids.

 Family game time.

 Okay, maybe the grown-ups liked the play room too.

 We stopped for raspberry shakes.  Yum.

The whole family, minus Haden and Taylor.

Bike Parade

Our ward primary had a bike parade for Flag day.  It was lots of fun, and the kids had a great time.

Playing catch-up

Lily and Kate chose to get a Build-a-Bear for their birthdays this year.  We took them both on Lily's birthday.  I think they had a great time.

Lily's cake was de-lic-ious.  Thank you Pinterest.

Multi-tasking.  Kian tolerated it well.

Kate's birthday.  Yes, those are Andes candies on the cake.  She asked for a mint chocolate cake, and this is what I came up with.

Kian's new AFOs.  His first pair, for walking anyways.  He does pretty well in them and is getting stronger and walking longer all the time.

Grandma and Papa moved back to Rexburg and we miss having them so close.

Lily's language program at school puts on a cultural celebration every year.  This is her first year, and it was a lot of fun to see it.  Each grade does a dance and a song.  

Playing with Uncle Tandy at the Ultimate Frisbee tournament.

This is in our backyard.  Chris has really worked with Kian to get him to climb up the ropes.  Completely supervised with a good amount of assistance.

We bought a fat bat and ball for Kian, and Lily has a surprising knack for it.

This is the sight we all see every time we leave Aunt Deidre's house.  Usually they are all waving, too.

Kate gets the therapy sister of the year award.  She accompanies us to every appointment and doesn't complain too much.  

This is Mike Workman, one of our PTs.  We always meet at a park or playground, and he can really get Kian to move.

This was after Lily lost her 4th tooth.  She has since lost another one.

Kian's third birthday.  You've come a long way, baby.

The gift was a hit.

And who doesn't love tres leches cake?

Update, but no pictures

So Kian has been in his casts for 4 weeks now and he is on his fourth set.  The first set was on for about 10 days and he did really well in those.  The second set was on for 2 weeks, and the way they were wrapped didn't really allow him to stand or walk very well, so he took a couple of weeks off.  He played on the iPad and tablet a lot.  We went in on Monday for a new set, and while we were there they made casts of his legs to make braces for him to walk in.  They put him in casts until the braces are done, and from the time he got off the table where they put them on, he was ornery.  He wouldn't put weight on them or take any steps.  So on Thursday we went back and they changed them again.  The new ones are better and he will even run in these.  Assisted of course.

So next week I get to register Kate for kindergarten, and the next week Kian gets his casts off and his new braces on.  Also, Kian will get his special ed preschool evaluation that week.  That's gonna be interesting.  And that week is Kate's birthday, and Lily's dance program for school.  

Hopefully I'll get some pictures up soon of Kian's blue, red, and black casts.  We had to do different colors to keep track of which set were which.

The most common question at our house...

How do you spell...

Anybody know the age limit for the national spelling bee?

Family Happenings

The U of U gymnastics team had a father-daughter night with free tickets, so Chris took the girls and they had a great time.

 Kian standing un-assisted.  It lasts for a few seconds before he crumples.  He also got to where he was able to walk across the room, if well motivated.

 The cousins came to play for a few days.

This is a few days before Lily's first tooth fell out.  The replacement tooth had already grown in, so when the tooth actually came out, you could barely tell.

Kian's physical therapist lent us an adapted car for a week.  It was fun for the kids to drive around, but really hard to steer.

'Nuff said.

 Is it spring, yet?  We're going with yes.  Maybe.  For now.

 Fun with Chris's new waterproof camera.  This is where the kids LOVE to go swimming.

Kian was seen at Neonatal Follow-up and was given the Bayley assessment, which he aced.  And he totally impressed the psychologist while he was at it.

Kian was seen at Shriner's hospital by an orthopedist.  We had quite a long wait, but Kian loved playing in the super huge play room.

 He got casts put on both feet to help mold his feet into a better shape.  He tolerated it really, really well.

He can't walk as well, but as long as it doesn't impede the use of his toys, he's okay with it.  He will wear them for about a month, and they'll change the casts once during that time.