Lions and Tigers and Bears....Oh My!!!!

Reagan and I had a fun day at the zoo yesterday. John and I got her a zoo pass for her birthday and I have had great intentions of taking her these past three weeks, and yesterday, I decided to make it a priority!!!! We invited our friends Ami, Garrett and Jack Roybal to join us! It was a gorgeous day and we had fun! I was enlightened to the fact that Reagan cannot name her zoo animals...shame on me! This was also her first time to be running free at the zoo not in the stroller. When she saw the gorilla she said "I know what that is, it is a gorilla because I have seen him on the computer" (again shame on me!) She made lots of funny comments while we were there but two of my favorites were "that elephant has a big hiney mommy; and YOU have a big hiney too!" and when the gorilla was bending over and getting a drink with his rear facing us she exclaimed excitedly "ahhh, that gorilla has a booty....he has a booty!" She was fascinated with rear-ends yesterday, I guess!

Need a Laugh???

Picture me in all of my pregnant glory RUNNING down the street chasing my neighbor's Chihuahua who is doing Figure 8's under my van!!!!! It was a site to see for sure!!! All the while Reagan is in the car screaming "Catch him Mom....I want to hold him!" And it is only Monday....

Kindergarten Homework....FUN!!!!

Blayne is loving Kindergarten. I am so glad that we decided to start him when he was six. He is doing great and is a real leader and star student in the classroom. He is enjoying school so much and is learning to read and write and even enjoys coloring and drawing now. I know that boys and girls are different, but I have been so surprised at how he doesn't enjoy doing things that the girls loved doing like: coloring for hours WITHIN the lines, making lists, learning to spell any and everything especially family members' names! He hasn't taken interest in any of that, and actually would be brought to tears if I MADE him do it! He would enjoy using the scissors, but only to mutilate a piece of paper, not to actually cut on the lines!!!! Things have really changed since school has started....I guess Blayne's pretty teacher Mrs. Middleton



has convinced him how important reading, writing and coloring in the lines are!!!

Well, this weekend's homework was to make a "Me Paper Guy" it was to resemble the student and portray something that relates to the child. Well, Blayne had some ideas that fit him to a "T"! So, we worked on his guy this afternoon....fun times! I think that you will see that his guy definitely covers who BLAYNE is!!!!

Preparing for Baby Bryan

Thanks to these cute boys

(well,and their Mom too!)

And thanks to these cute girls (Libby with Reagan and Anna--whose mother just had triplets!!!)

And their sitter

I was able to have a couple of days to tackle THIS pink room and all of its contents

In order for my sweet Aunt Judy to come and neutralize the pink room in preparation for Baby Bryan's arrival!



My friend, Ami, took Reagan for a day and I was able to empty out Whitney's room, move the furniture and practically move her into Savannah's room. It is amazing what one can get done without a three-year-old helper. Reagan had a blast playing with Jack and Garrett! Then, Libby asked for a play date with Reagan so Araenae came and got her for a play date and lunch so I got a second day of Reagan-free work done. John taped off the room and my Aunt Judy drove in two hours to come paint it for us! We hope to get the bed set up with bedding on it this weekend. I will post an updated picture after we do so. I am very grateful to my friends and to Aunt Judy for their help. This was an overwhelming task as you can see from the picture of Whitney in bed with the PILES of stuff in her room. We moved her clothes to a different dresser and her dresser to Reagan's room.....what a chore. It did help me to reorganize and get all of the summer clothes put away and the fall/winter ready. It feels good to have this HUGE task done and to have plans in place of where we are going to put this 5th child!!!! More pictures coming soon!!!

Cousin Sleepover

Last night two of my nieces and my brother-in-law came to spend the night. The kids were so excited for them to get here and waited anxiously watching out the window for them to get here. They had a grand time goofing off before bed and playing some Wii. They all (except for Reagan....shhh!) camped out in the gameroom last night. They are having a great time together!
The goofiness begins!


This is how the guys watch kids!

Wii Time!


Reagan has really enjoyed having Emily here to play.

Bedtime!




Breakfast...yum!!!

What Goes Around.....Comes Around!!!!

These Two....


Blayne First Day of Kindergarten Whitney First Day of 3rd Grade

Remind me SOOOO much of These Two...


Jerral 2nd Grade Jennifer Kindergarten in 1979....check out my cool clothes, they are IN now!!!

This week at the breakfast table, I have heard "don't look at me"...."quit smiling"...."stop smacking"..."can you close your mouth while you're eating...that is gross"..."stop breathing like that"...."don't toot at the table that is rude"...."quit making noise while you eat"...and I could go on and on....my mother can verify, that there were MANY conversations over breakfast at my house growing up that carried these same words!!!

I am sure that you can't imagine THESE two angels acting like that???


Here we are at the lake. Dad just caught me a pet turtle "Goober" and Jerral in fine form is SHOOTING him with his air gun!...niiiice!
We weren't ALWAYS mean to eachother....look how sweet we were in this picture! We lived out in the country and spent many hours together playing and laughing!

Jerral (age 4) Jennifer (age 2)

And my two can be really sweet too! They just came home from school and Whitney used her OWN money today to buy a floppy frisbee for herself AND she bought one for Blayne!!! WOW!

BANGS!!!

Whitney has been wanting to get bangs, and she got to do it today. They look really cute, and she feels like she looks like a different person!!!! Reagan got a bang trim too!!!

Before.....



After....



Reagie's Bangs

Little Miss Independent

Reagan is so funny. She wants to do everything herself. We had to park WAY far away from the school for Flag Day. She told me that she didn't need me to carry her or hold her hand, she was going to RUN to the van. And, she LOVES to open the automatic doors by herself and attempt to buckle her moose of a car seat all by herself!

Flag Day

Friday, September 11th, was Flag Day at our elementary school. The children learned patriotic songs and dressed in their red, white and blue! John, Reagan and I enjoyed participating in this special day. It was rainy, and a boy in Whitney's class passed out and hit his head HARD on the pavement and had to taken by ambulance to the hospital, but other than that, it was a GREAT time! What a great thing for our children to learn some of the patriotic songs of our country and to learn to honor and respect the American Flag!