Trip To Pennsylvania

We took one last trip to PA before Eric starts his residency program...TOMORROW! We had a great time...as you can see by the pictures.

Brandon loved smelling Grandma Dories flowers!
Happy Father's Day Daddy!!!
Grandpa Dan giving Connor his FIRST taste of ice cream...ever!
Me giving B his first taste of ice cream...ever!

He likes it...
A LOT!
Connor liked it too, but had more fun stealing licks from Daddy's cone.
Grandma helping the boys watch Putt Putt


Kick it Connor!
Go B Go
Snuggled up in Grandma's hammock swing
Picking raspberries right off the bush and eating them...doesn't get any more organic than that!
Connor tasting the berries in Grandma's back yard

"monkey swinging"
Thank you Grandma Dorie and Grandpa Dan SO MUCH for taking care of the boys and hosting us. We had a great time!!!!

Brandon Graduated!!!

Brandon officially graduated from Speech Therapy on Friday. He did extremely well on his assessment, so Mary Frances, his therapist, and I decided we should terminate his sessions. Without getting into too much technical information, here's what his test scores showed.

Auditory Comprehension - 3 years 3 months age range
Expressive Communication - 2 years 11 months
TOTAL LANGUAGE SCORE - 2 years 11 months

Stregnths - Understands use of objects, understands part/whole relationships, follows 2 step related commands without cues. uses plurals, answers simple "what" and "where" questions, uses "ing" verbage

Needs - understanding negatives in sentences and uses of variety of nouns, verb modifiers, and pronouns.

These are also classified as "needs", but only because he was assessing at almost a 5 year old level on a few things, so these were in the 3 year old to 3 years 11 months old level. Thus, making them look like a "need." Making inferences, identifies categories of objects in pictures, uses possessives, and completes analogies.

He averaged out at a 2 year 6 month old level on his receptive and expressive vocabulary skills.

Finally, here is what Mary Frances said about him, " Brandon is a very friendly and active boy who continues to make increasing gains with his speech and language skills. Brandon's scores place him within the average to above average for his age and gender. Based on Brandon's scores, he no longer qualifies for speech-language services. However, due to his medical history the option to terminate services should be left up to the parents. Brandon would continue to benefit from language stimulation and interaction with peers."

All in all, I'm very happy with the results of this assessment. When he was assessed the first time, he was below average in every category. We have the option to go back until he's 3 if we feel he is struggling. I don't see that happening considering he told me this the other day..."Mommy, no eat poop." I said, "That's right Brandon, we don't eat poop!"

Here's a cute video of him being his silly self! We had stir fry the other night, and Brandon proceeded to do THIS...with is "noodle" which was really some cabbage!



Here are a few cute pictures from us goofing off today with the Mr. Potato Head pieces

Human Fly Swatter

Here's a cute video of Brandon trying to stomp on a fly. You can hear Connor crying in the background while in time out. He was getting over a meltdown so don't worry about him...he was ok! Enjoy

Daddy Videos

Here are a couple cute videos that Eric took while I was on my Mommy Vacation to my sister's house.



This second video shows Connor's counting skills...he's so smart! :)

Water Fun

I must apologize for the lack of posting. I know I have a lot of family and friends who rely on this blog to keep up with the Danko Family Craziness. We have just been so busy that when the clock strikes 9, I'm totally done for the night. I might read or watch a little TV, but then I'm toast until 530 the next morning when it starts all over again. Here are some really cute pictures of the boys playing in their pool. Eric does a really good job taking pictures and capturing the true beauty of being a 2 year old!

Make A Makers Mark Cake

I'm in Maryland this weekend visiting my sister while Eric holds down the fort with the kiddos. We hung out on Friday, ate some yummy pizza in Baltimore, ate dinner at the Greene Turtle, and finished off the night with a showing of Ratatouille. This morning, we got up super early, ran the Race For the Cure in D.C., came home and showered, ran to Panera for lunch, had to tow Bri's car due to metal on metal scraping sounds from her breaks, make the Maker's Mark cake for Jason, go get pedicures, hit the mall for a little shopping, and now we're making quesadillas for dinner. I've had a wonderful weekend, but miss all 3 of my boys. We have another full day tomorrow, and I'll be heading home late tomorrow night.

Here are pictures of the cake Bri helped me make for Jason's 30th birthday. If you know Jason, you know how much he LOVES Maker's Mark...Eric too for that matter.

Here's me icing the cake...

putting on the whisky colored fondant
here it is with the label on as well as adding the signature red wax with drippings...

the cake before adding the lettering...

me concentrating very hard on the lettering...

here's the finished cake with the bottle I used to copy the lettering from

me and the masterpiece...

me and the birthday boy with his cake...he loved it!

Weekend Happenings

The boys LOVE to listen to music, but not your typical kiddie music. They still love music from the Wiggles, but Lady Gaga, Kanye West, and Britney Spears are also high on their list! They bob their little heads back and forth in their car seats and then tell me their "straps too tight" Here's a little video of them getting their boogie on!




We had a really nice weekend. Eric golfed all weekend with a friend of his who is getting out of the military and heading back to Pennsylvania. The boys and I hit the Cape Fear River Trail for a 6 mile adventure. We talked about the river, all the trees, bugs, we counted the bikers, runners, and doggies, and worked on the alphabet. It took us 2 hours to complete the trail and they were really enjoying it until the last mile. After the hike, we went across the street to my friend's house who has twin girls the same age as the boys. We ate lunch, played in their pool, and wore her 3 girls out. When we left, the boys fell asleep in the car and thankfully slept in their bed when we got home for another 2 hours...ahhhh!!

Sunday, Eric left early to go golfing. The boys and I went to church and hit Target on the way home. I splurged and bought them a pool. They LOVED IT. We spent about 3 hours in it..before and after nap time. One of my friends came over with her 2 girls for some pool time and dinner. All in all, it was a fabulous weekend. I have a feeling the boys will be spending A LOT of time in the pool this summer. Connor hated pools last year, but is definitely loving it this year.

My shins aren't too happy with me from the 6 mile hike, but I'll deal with it.