TJ Smiler @ Preschool

TJ's school, "Little Lambs" took Fall school pictures and they were sooooo cute but soooo expensive. Since we just had a butt-load (and yes that is a measurement) of pictures taken at Sears we opted not to buy them, but to scan them, so we could keep them. I hope you enjoy. See you all soon.

Love,
The Franklin's

I know this is crazy....

but the primary president just called to talk about setting a date for Kate's baptism! So, mark your calenders...Kate is getting baptized, Oct 10, 2009 at 10:00 am! Hope you can all attend! :)

Kate's Piano Recital

Bowen the Movie Theater Ham

Tonight I was very brave and took all three kids to the movie theater (by myself) to see High School Musical THREE. The girls loved every second and Bowen...thanks to a large quantity of Halloween candy...was pretty good too! However, several times he felt the need to shout out things that the whole theater could hear! First, any time he heard "getcha head in the game"...he had to repeat "head in the game"! Also, in the movie Troy shouts out "Yo!" to get the cafeteria to quiet down and so Bowen felt like he needed to shout our "Yo!" That got a few chuckles. Finally, (and this takes the cake!) when Troy and Gabriella finally kiss, Bowen said really loud, "Ewwwwww! Gross!" Everyone started to laugh and so then he thought he needed to say it over and over! It was funny...the first time, but then it just got irritating and so I had to open another pack of Smarties! Hurray for sugar!

It's A NICU Reunion

The GHS Bryan NICU had it's 29th Annual NICU Reunion yesterday. It was so great to see all the healthy and happy NICU grads. We were happy to see all of the nurses and doctors that helped us so much when our boys were in the NICU.

Daddy and the boys next to the sign.

Here are the boys with Claudia. She was their nurse a few times in the NICU and then she had Alex several times in the Special Care Nursery.

This is Dr. Ohning, Alex, Ben, Mommy and Daddy. Dr. Ohning treated Alex when he had Sepsis. He remembered Alex and was so glad to see him doing so well.

Clair's Cafe

For Clair's birthday she wanted a cooking party! So, we decorated cooks hats, did a kitchen tools scavenger hunt (here is the checklist I made for each girl...WalMart had this stuff for cheap so they each got one of each thing listed), made personal pizzas with mini rolling pins, designed fruit kabobs, and decorated cupcakes! (Clair got a mini cake to decorate!)Then the kids played and Clair opened gifts. It was a great party. I have to give major props to my very dear friend Dorothy! VERY last minute she jumped in and saved the day by making these darling aprons! They looked a million times better than what I was planning to do! (I am sorry I didn't get a pic of all the kids wearing the aprons...I have a hard time taking pics and running everything!)

The party was a HUGE hit and several people who had been to lots of my birthday parties said this was the BEST! I might agree, the kids were so entertained with not much effort on my part...just lots of organization and some helpful adults!(Bowen made his cupcake into a lollipop by sticking his finger in it to eat it!)(Kate, Clair, and Brynlee...Clair best buddy in our hood!)

Play me a song, you're the piano kid!

Kate had her first piano recital last night!
(We missed Daddy, but hope he is having SOME fun in Europe! We were so happy to have GrandBetsy come with us!)

Not to brag, but she was really good! I think she sounded the best...
she played very melodically! (Is that a word?)
Kate and her sweet teacher, Emily Anderson!
Her friend from church, Grace, takes lessons too!
After Kate finished her first song, Bowen clapped and then shouted, "My turn! My turn! My turn!" I held him back but when it was all done, he made a beeline to the piano!
I took video of her playing her two songs with KT's recorder...she said she'd help me put the clips on the blog, so look for it later!

ClairBear's Birthday!

Here are some pics from Clair's actual birthday! She was SO happy all day long! It was cute. She had breakfast in bed...farm shaped waffles as requested! She got several thing she's always wanted...Kate got her a Webkinz (FINALLY)...a hippo she named Hippy! Bowen got her a dress up outfit...a wedding dress...after Halloween sale (GREAT DEAL)...that she LOVES! Stephen and I got her a recipe box for kids, apron, and MP3 player! She also got cards, money, and gifts from extended family! She was really on cloud nine all day! She even shared with her brother! We are happy Clair is part of our family! We love her!

Say Cheese......

SO.... we did it, thanks to mom. We finally had a professional Franklin Family picture made. Yeah us!!! I can't show them all to you, since mom is getting them for Christmas, but I did want to share some with you. We are so excited to be coming home soon, especially since gas prices are dropping. It might be a cheaper trip than we thought. Can't wait to see you guys. Love you all!

Maria

Alex Loves Miss Kaci

Alex just loves his Physical Therapist, Miss Kaci. She always calls when he has surgery and leaves him a message. Once I was listening to her voicemail on speaker phone and when Alex heard her voice, he perked up and started smiling. He always smiles when he sees her and gives her hugs and kisses.

So, I thought I'd post some pictures from Physical Therapy since we talk about it all the time. Today was a great day at PT. Usually, when Alex has a great week (walking a lot) he just doesn't feel like performing for Kaci. Maybe it's because it's so early in the morning or maybe he's tired by Thursday. Who knows!?! But, this week we tried a new approach. We went into a smaller room and moved the mats (that are usually there for kids to "workout" on) out of the way and gave him the whole room to walk around in. He did so well! Today he set a record. He walked 28 INDEPENDENT steps. We hope to see him walking "full time" by Thanksgiving.

Ben was right there with Miss Kaci and Mommy yelling "YAAAAAAAAAAAY" when Alex would walk really well. He's so supportive of his big brother.

Here are a few pictures that I snapped today.

Alex showed Miss Kaci that he'd been walking around a lot over the past week.

Kaci decided to try Alex on the swing and Alex just wanted to hug it and press his nose into it.

She also wanted to check Alex's leg. He drags it from time to time and she wanted to make sure his muscles weren't tight. She said they aren't, so she decided to try something else.

She wrapped his leg in a special bandage. It's kind of rubberized on one side. Kaci said it gives "feedback" to his leg and would help him not drag it when he walked.

So here's our little 1/2 mummy checking out his new bandage.

And here's Alex just trucking along toward the end of our hour with Kaci.

Alex Also Loves Miss Kathleen

Alex's Early Interventionist (EI) from KidVentures is Miss Kathleen. She comes every Friday and spends about 45 mintues with Alex. She does a lot of activities with Alex that help him develop different skills like walking, bending over to pick up toys off of the floor, and He did so well today! He is always happy to show off his stuff to Miss Kathleen. He always hugs her and gives her kisses. I'm so glad that he likes both Miss Kaci and Miss Kathleen so much. It makes his time with them so enjoyable.

Here are some pics that I snapped today.

Ben wanted in on the action so he tried to do some activities, too.

Alex gave Miss Kathleen a HUGE smile.

The garbage truck comes during our time with Kathleen and Alex loves to yell "HEY!" to the garbage guys. Most of the guys are inmates on work release from the DOC. They always smile and wave back. I hope that it brightens their day.

Miss Kathleen read My Speedy Turtle to both of the boys.

Then she gave Alex a BIG hug.
Alex also played peek-a-boo with Miss Kathleen. He pulled her hair in front of her face and then pushed it back and said, "There she is!!!!!" Very, very, very cute!!!

A Big Ol' Playdate

We had a fantastic playdate at my friend Amy's house. We had five sets of multiples, a newborn, and five mommies. It was complete insanity. The kids all play so well together (they were all born within a year of each other). So here's a pic of the whole group, or at least those that would cooperate.

Front row: Anna & Carlos, Ben & Alex

Back row: Avery, Ciara & Gavin, Ashton, Zachary

And waaaaaaaaaaaay in the back doing her own thing......Ally.

Fellow Latter Day Saints, consider this...

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is politicaly neutral. However, they have issued official statements regarding many of the hot topic social issues of today. Here are two important issues to consider when you are voting on election day!

Democrats stand for…
- the right of every woman to choose…they support right to choose even if mother cannot pay (which means using tax money)
- no federal gay marriage ban


Republicans stand for…
- opposing the use of public revenues to promote or perform abortion and will not fund organizations which advocate it. At its core, abortion is a fundamental assault on the sanctity of innocent human life.
- a constitutional amendment that fully protects marriage as a union of a man and a woman, because our children’s future is best preserved within the traditional understanding of marriage,

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a statement opposing gay marriage. (We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children. The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. – From The Family:A Proclamation to the World)
Also, the Church has said that elective abortion for personal or social convenience is contrary to the will and the commandments of God. Church members who submit to, perform, encourage, pay for, or arrange for such abortions may lose their membership in the Church.

Look pass what the media says…look pass who will get you the best tax cuts or health coverage…look pass the person you think has the better personality or public speaking ability…look at the moral values of the party they represent and vote with your MORAL conscience!

Girl Gourmet Cupcake Maker

So Kate REALLY wanted the Girl Gourmet Cupcake maker! So, with some of her birthday money...almost $40 because it was a deluxe set...she bought this cupcake maker. So, we've had it for about a week, but I just was so busy and booked, I didn't have a chance to help them try it out. But today, we finally found the time. We read the instructions and mixed and poured, and measured. Then we microwaved the batter and 30 secs later we had a cupcake. Then we mixed, measured, poured, and stirred and loaded the frosting into the frosting machine. And tada...we had a frosted cupcake! It looked pretty good...but looks can be deceiving! (Icky!) The girls each made one (they are kind of small) and they ate every bite!