Friday Favorites

January 2016 is coming to an end - how'd that happen so fast?!  Happy Friday regardless - it's time to celebrate, cheers {with a little vanilla steamer}!!   I'm linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea to share my Friday Favorites.

{one}  One of my most favorite nephews turned seven this month.

Happy birthday Samuel, aka Sam-well or Butter-bean :)

I'm so glad that we got to celebrate this special little guy.  He had the best birthday party.  Who knew dodge-ball would be so much fun?!  The Baker family dominated... Guess we should've known :)

{two}  Home with my three cowboys will always be my favorite, happy place.

I traveled for a funeral without them this month and oh boy, I couldn't wait to see them.
{three}  Vision Therapy Fridays with my big guy has it's perks.  I cherish the one-on-one time, watching his progress and getting grocery shopping completed before the weekend even starts.  It's becoming my favorite weekday afternoon.

Keeler's making such progress with his VT and most importantly his academic confidence is improving.  He's honestly like a different kid.  We'll never be able to thank his teacher enough for suggesting we go a step beyond having his eyes checked and have him tested by a Behavioral Vision Therapist.  Therapy is time consuming and at times, frustrating but our his hard work is paying off. Did you know?...

• 25% of students in grades K-6 have visual problems that are serious enough to impede learning.

• When vision problems go undetected, children almost invariably have trouble reading and doing their schoolwork.  They often display fatigue, fidgeting, and frustration in the classroom - traits that can lead to a misdiagnosis of ADD, ADHD, dyslexia or other learning disabilities.

• It is estimated that 80% of children with a learning disability have an undiagnosed vision problem.

• Early diagnosis and treatment of children's vision problems is a necessary component to school readiness and academic learning.  A vision screening, either at school or at the pediatrician's office, is not a substitute for a complete eye and vision evaluation by an eye doctor who specializes in developmental vision.

• Early testing for vision problems is critical to mitigating learning disabilities or, in some cases, significant visual impairment in children.

• Vision is a complex process that involves over 20 visual abilities and more than 65% of all the pathways to the brain.  One in four children has an undiagnosed vision problem which can interfere with learning and lead to academic and / or behavioral problems.  However, it is important to know that these children frequently do not report symptoms because they think everyone sees the same way they do.

source
I've had a few friends/readers reach out to me regarding vision therapy and please continue.  I was so blind, pun intended, to this problem.  We'd had his eyes checked - twice and everything was fine - 20/20 vision.  Unfortunately, we were thinking that he was going to be a "slow learner" when in fact he hated reading for a reason. “Even the most gifted students will struggle academically if they have trouble seeing the blackboard or focusing on a book."
{four}  Sunday the weather was gorgeous.  We had a load of cattle arrive early in the morning so after church we went out and helped Tyler on the farm.

This photo of Kal is certainly one of my new favorites.  Kal loves his candy and his horse loved his candy face!  

Keeler's friend went along with us.

Keeler loved showing him around and driving us in the Ranger.  Certainly in his element.

My favorite little cowboys.  This photo just makes me smile :)

{five}  And lastly, my new favorite shoes, 

Vionic Women's Ease Sydney Loafer

I bought mine right around Christmas and catch myself wearing them almost everyday.  Leopard is a neutral!  I found them at Dillards for over $120 but as soon as I tried them on, they were a must!   It's rare to find a shoe with such cute style and amazing comfort. This is my first pair of Vionics but supposedly their "Orthaheel Technology naturally aligns your feet and helps relieve heel pain by reducing over-pronation..."

Since I got my pair - my mom, sister and SIL have ordered a pair.  We found them on Amazon Prme for a fraction of the price too :)  Win! Win!

Linking up with: Erika/Narci/Andrea

Show & Tell Tuesday

I'm lacking on the blogging front because quite frankly I'm failing at taking any pictures lately.  And a blog post without pictures is just plain boring to me.
I'm linking up with Andrea today to participate in Show & Tell Tuesday!  I had fun reading a few posts this morning and started noticing that I too have some confessions I could share:

I love being a "boy mom" but I'm guilty of purchasing some pretty "girly toys" for my boys - basically for my own pleasure but with hopes that it will make them better husbands someday.  But pretty much because I don't know how to play farm, football and war!  All boys need to know how to cook, clean, host a tea party and take care of babies, right :)

Tyler does 99.9% of all baths/showers for the little cowboys because I hate it.  They splash everywhere, think it's funny to "make bubbles" in the tub and drink their own bath water.  I just can't stand it.  I politely offer to clear the table and do dishes as a cop out.

As most of you know, I'm obsessed with matching my little cowboys and they're almost getting too old for it.  But I will continue until they insist I stop.  Yes, it's kind of dorky but it's also darling. #twinning
I am overly emotional about my kids growing up and that I'm missing out.  I had a full out panic attack last night while trying to fall asleep thinking that Kal only has one and a half years before kindergarten.  It didn't help that I watched a sad Dateline regarding the Bingham family that have 5 children that all have been diagnosed with the same heart failure that requires heart transplants.   We are so blessed and so often, I take that for granted.  The Bingham parents are such warriors.  They have such hope and strength for their children.  The mom said, "all we can do is love them, have faith and provide them with good, happy childhoods."  That's what we're all trying to do, right?  But childhood just goes so quickly.  I have bottomless love for my boys and would just like more time with them while their little.  #workingmomguilt
I get caught often for eating the entire box of Kallahan's favorite cereal, Lucky Charms.  He always picks it out at the store.  I tell myself I won't eat it.  We get home - I cave.  A cup (or three) just makes the perfect bedtime snack.  Then when he occasionally asks for it for breakfast I have to tell him, "we're out.  Let's put it back on the list."  His tears make me feel really bad but obviously not bad enough :)  I'm sure I have many more momfessional moments but we'll leave it with those!  Thanks for reading and I can’t wait to read more of yours :)

Baker New Year Party

To ring in 2016 we hosted a little New Year party at home this year.

Tyler's brother and his wife, Erica were visiting and we invited Granny over to celebrate too.

 Erica, Kallahan and I had a lot of fun the day of the party shopping and setting up for the party.

Scary, but Kallahan is already quite the little shopper.

While we were busy shopping, Keeler went to the farm with his dad and Tim.

Tyler took this picture of Keeler working the chute.  He might be little but he's a worker!

 But back to the PARTY!  First we had some fun with Keeler's new selfie stick.

We served au jus sandwiches with an assortment of dips.  Easy and yummy!

Erica and I set up an activity countdown for the little cowboys.  They popped a balloon on the hour and inside the balloon was a fun group activity.

6:00pm: Vision Boards for 2016.  Keeler's included a cross, a baby calf and a baby cousin.  I think Kal had a similar vision ;)

7:00pm: Just Dance on the XBox

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8:00pm: A cup stacking contest

9:00pm: We played Pie Face!  Erica and Tim were newbies and we got a lot of laughs. 

We also played Keeler's new Cookin' Cookies game.

 

Kallahan had picked out a cake and cupcakes for the party.  What's a party without cake?!

Our countdown for the littles ended at 10:00pm.  Kallahan was actually asking to go to bed, poor little guy.

Erica and I were the only ones that made it to midnight so we had made our own fun with the selfie stick and included Sprinkles.  Oh, those Baker girls!

We're excited for many more #BakerNewYear parties.

Wishing you the best in 2016!  May your new year sparkle and shine!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2016!! Hope you have all had an amazing start to the year. We had a fun night hosting a kid friendly party with some of our favorite peeps {post coming soon}.

Our "2015 Best Nine" via Instagram

My three handsome cowboys, holiday fun, plaid, candy and snuggles - a pretty good representation of 2015. Make your own collage here

Cheers to an exciting, adventurous & amazing New Year!!  We sincerely wish you all the best & may all of your wishes for 2016 come true!