Late last fall we started teaching the boys at home. We found that our small local school was having trouble with Orion's impulsive behavior and with the ESL angle on top of their delays. We homeschool our other kids so they were excited to see what we do at home every day. We may send them back to school in the future once they have more English. They have learned so much here with us!
Theo practicing counting and matching.
Orion is examining one of our schoolbooks.
The boys loved last fall. There were a lot of new and different holidays for them.
Evan was very happy to come outside with us. He wasn't fond of the leaves crinkling, but he loved the sun.
Barton had fun playing outside with everyone. At this point he was still a little shy and overwhelmed by our busy family, but he was enjoying things from the sidelines.
Barton's pumpkin!
Orion's pumpkin!
Theo's pumpkin!
Evan practicing eating things using his new feeding and therapy seat!
Orion stopping at McDonalds on his way home from an appointment!
Halloween last year! Barton was a little confused at first, but he liked it once he started getting candy! Theo loved it! Orion was a very convincing pirate, if you couldn't guess. Evan was overstimulated pretty quickly, but he joined us for some trick or treating.
We moved from fall into winter. Barton really came into his own as he settled into our family. We celebrated a few birthdays and Christmas, plus took everyone on a trip to the circus. We kept things low key but everyone had a really wonderful time.
Orion showing off his glasses!
Barton turned 17!
Merry Christmas from all of us!
Evan has grown so much. He was still putting on chunk at this point, but pretty soon after this he started getting taller. He now wears clothes that used to fit Orion!
Barton at the circus!
Theo at the circus!
Orion at the circus!
Everyone together! We took up an entire row of the balcony! I didn't get a picture of Evan by himself because he was so busy rocking to the music that he didn't hold still, but he had an amazing time too! An incredible friend of my husband's joined us and had all of the clowns come meet the kids. It was such a fun time for them.
Orion's birthday! Yes, he really loved the blue frosting on his cake!
We survived our first family stomach bug. Yep, these pictures were to celebrate the first day after that where I didn't have to clean up after anyone. Hint: large family laundry is insane! I love it, but oh man.
Theo grinning big!
Barton feeling better!
Orion, impish as always, even after being sick!
Sweet Evan, still resting a bit.
Then comes spring! We do all kinds of fun things like jump in puddles. Some of the boys took convincing to play in the mud. Some didn't! Then came Easter as a family, and a new baby. Spring was a very busy time for us!
Orion supervising from his vantage point!
Barton learning how to splash from his younger brother, our resident puddle expert. He was so unsure when he saw the other kids jump in, but he had the biggest smile once he realized it was okay to go play and get dirty!
Theo loves mud. He needed a serious bath after this, and then the bathtub needed a good scrubbing! Totally worth it for him to have this much fun though!
Family picture!
Barton playing outside!
Theo having fun in the grass!
Orion raking! You can see that this is when he started to shoot up like a weed! Oh my goodness did he have a growth spurt! When he came home he was about the size of an 8 year old, and now he is the same height I am!
Summer came with lots more time to play outside and a few more birthdays.
Theo loves these chickens. He could sit and talk to them for hours.
Barton is looking extra fancy here. One of his sisters decided he needed a flower to decorate his hair to look like hers.
And here he is working very hard on a toy house he is building!
Orion is showing what the top of Barton's house will look like.
Just sitting here, big man on campus. He has grown so much!
Theo's birthday!
Look how big Evan has grown too! This kid brings me so much joy!
Theo with his new baby brother! All of the boys were so happy to have a baby in the family, but Theo just dotes on him. There has never been a teenage boy who loves babies more than this. And yep, messy house in this picture. Real life folks. ;)
Here is Theo again doing one of his chores. Or at least he is supposed to be doing it! I think he got distracted by the tv, but I can't blame him. Happens to me too!
Orion is planning a menu here. Don't let that smile fool you though, he was probably up to mischief a couple minutes earlier!
He is also our Blue's Clues audience participation champion! This kid can yell out "a clue" loud enough for the neighbors to hear. I managed to pull him away from the tv for a smile here.
Here comes fall. Almost caught up!
Fun drawing with chalk! You will notice they all look like shaggy dogs. Haircuts happened a few days later!
Busy working!
Loving the sun on his face!
Theo with his buddy again. They are so unbelievably sweet together.
Here is Orion working on math with his sister. I was trying to take a picture without them seeing me.
But they caught me!
Great coloring Orion!
Halloween costumes! Theo is a firefighter and Orion is Elmo!
Barton loves Star Wars so he is Boba Fett! He was much more excited this year!
Evan was a Star Trek officer!
Here is the whole family together. They were quite the crew!
We took everyone out to eat before trick or treating. Yep, we take all of them out to eat at the same time! This is the Chinese buffet, one of our favorite places to go! Theo is here enjoying his food!
Barton and Orion loved the blue ice cream!
Evan was my buddy and sat with me.
Orion and his sister built a leaf house. It was huge!
Later Theo, Barton and their other sister rolled around and knocked it over!
Here is Evan with one of his little brothers. The other kids asked him to roll in the leaves too, but he wanted to stay and talk to Evan. Evan still thinks the leaves are too crinkly to sit in, but he did have fun holding some in his hands this year.
This here is what it is all about. This is special needs adoption at work. This is love.
And last but not least, our new family vehicle! The kids love it!
We have had a lot of great times, sometimes some hard times, but through it all we love these boys!
