Words of a Kindergartener

This happened at lunch today...
"Mama, guess what C. said to E. today?"
"What?"
"He said, 'Who farted?'" Then M starts cracking up laughing.
Great...thanks for teaching my kid that word...I kindly told her that we do not say that word. Great...

Uh-oh!

Makena told me today that she and two other girls got in trouble at school because they were noisy in the library. They had to miss some recess. (OH MY!!) I talked to her about it and called one girl's mom because I wanted to get the story straight and know if M needs to apologize to her teacher. Ok, so inside I am thinking...."What?? After two years of wonderful behavior in preschool, you act up in the library?? Are you serious, girl?!!!!" But I did not say that. I was calm and we talked a little bit about behavior and that she always shoud tell me what happened. Hmmmm...So, Lori, this post is for you. :)

So Sweet

This morning Ryan paused as he was walking out the door. He said," oh, check your i-Pod. I put a song on for you." I was excited as he has never put a song on before. He told me where to find it and kissed me good-bye before walking out the door. Well, after I dropped the carpool off at school, I eagerly found my i-Pod and played the song. It is wonderful! I Just Call You Mine by Martina McBride is the song. So when I called him to thank him, he said, "Well, I think that is as close as I'll get to making you a mixed tape." How funny!! What an amazing husband, I have been blessed with by God!!

A Morning at the Park

"Look at this bug! It's a worm," said Brody excitedly!

"Me-haw!" (He doesn't know it's really "Yee-haw!")

Climbing with Daddy

We took Brody to the park on Monday while Makena was in school. He loves to run around and climb on everything. He had a blast having Mommy and Daddy's full attention.

Picking her up!

I forgot to add these pictures from the first day. Can you see her in her pink dress and pigtails? Notice the man waving, holding a video camera? Yes, there were quite a few with cameras and video cameras so I wasn't out of place!

Hi-ho, hi-ho, It's off to Kindergarten Makena Goes!

Makena started kindergarten on the 10th of August. She was so excited! (I was a wreck.) Ryan, Brody, and I took her to school and she officially met her teacher. (I was very impressed with the room environment and set up.) While I never really cried, I had to hold back my tears. I just couldn't believe that my little baby was off to Kindergarten!! The night before I kept remembering various times in her life; it seemed like it had only been a few weeks ago that I brought her home from the hospital. Time needs to slow down!!!!!!!!!! Makena has her good friend in her class which is great and has already met lots of new friends too. I am glad she is in Kindergarten but I do miss her when she is there. :) I can't wait to volunteer in her class. I've already met lots of the parents and they all seem great! On the second day of school, a little girl came right up to her and said,"Hi Makena!" when we walked in. Yea! I could tell that made Makena feel good. I am slowly getting to "know" her classmates as she talks about them. It is neat to hear her tell me about her day. (Of course, you all know that secretly I wish I was there to actually see what goes on.) What a sweet kindergartener!

'Twas the Night Before Kindergarten

...and all through the house, mommy was running all about.
Looking for the book she had saved through the years,
that talked about going to Kindergarten; mommy held back her tears,
"Ah-ha," she cried triumphantly as she found the book,
then cuddled her soon to be kindergartner as they took a look.
After reading that book and many more,
mommy gave her kindergartner a kiss goodnight and shut the door.
Thoughts ran through mommy's head as she prayed for her child,
still knowing God would keep her safe, all the while...

Pouty Pants

When Brody is in time out, this is what often happens...

"I don't wanna go in time out!"

"I'm going to get up."

Now watch his eyes...see the hint of a smile? It's there, just waiting to bust out.

Here is comes...... All better! Now, he just has to finish the time out. He cracks me up!

COMING SOON!

On its way....
Makena's first day of school! The end of preschool pictures. (I found them!) Silly Brody and more...

It's 4 am...why am I awake?

I keep waking up in the middle of the night and laying awake for an hour or so. UGH! I am not a night-waker. Whenever I wake up, my first thought is always of my family. I think, "did something just happen to my dad? Keirsten? Mom? Lori? Linda? John? Ang?..." Then I analyze what I was dreaming about and if that woke me up. (tonight it was about a neighbor who's granddaughter and parents we invited to M's party and I was talking to them about it.) That is what woke me up! I started thinking about her party and all that I have to do for it and got stressed out!!!!!!!!!! CRAZY! I tend to over plan parties for kids and it just stresses me out. I should have done the gymnastics party and then wouldn't have to worry about it. Oh well! So after 23 minutes, I got up and planned the whole party. Now I just have to get the rsvps and misc. things in the next few days and I will be set...until the day of the party and then it will be crazy time as we have soccer that day. I need the whole day to focus in order to set up and do the cupcakes. Hmmm....told you I kind of get stressed out. Ok, so this post isn't helping so I am getting off to get ready for R's back procedure in two hours. Have a great day and the next time you can't sleep, just give me a call! I may be up too!

Pink or Blue...

We're not telling you or ourselves! We've chosen to let this one be a true surprise right up until he/she arrives!!! Our next ultrasound is the 26th which means that you, mom will be the first to see the newest grandchild. :) Perhaps I will scan in the pictures of the baby after the ultrasound.

Keep them coming!

I have received so many emails and texts about the baby and how I am feeling!! Thank you so much to everyone for your prayers!!!! I am happy to announce that I am on day two of totally feeling good all day and it is now 9:15 at night!! Yes! PLEASE KEEP THE PRAYERS COMING!!! I also think that at 15 and 1/2 weeks I have felt our baby move. :) This is early but I felt Brody moving at this stage too. I say "think" because until it is consistent, I never truly know. Pretty cool!!!!! Thank you so much!

I Can't Believe It!

Before we headed on our trip, I erased my memory cards assured that I had already downloaded my pictures. Well guess what? I deleted all of the end of preschool pictures and the special water day at the preschool. Bummer! I hope I will never do that again!!!

Sweet Little Girl

A few weeks ago I was driving in the car with Makena. We were almost home when she said,"Mama, I just love God." How sweet is that!!! I replied back to her, "So do I Makena. He is awesome." Her simply little statement just warmed my heart!

Canyon Lake

Our friends, the Richards, have friends who live in Canyon Lake. They invited the Richards and us to spend the day with them out on their boat driving around the lake and swimming! We had such a wonderful day and made great memories! Canyon Lake is wonderful and so much fun! It is a great community to live in!
Makena loved riding this motorized jet ski. It blew up and went about 2 miles an hour. She thought it was great!

Brody loved looking at the water and all the fresh air!

We hope to someday own or co-own a boat! Any takers????

What fun!

The coordinating boys! Brody adores Jake!

Playing in the lake!

I'd love to say that this was after a long day but really he conked out after an hour of riding in the boat! The fresh warm air and gentle rocking rhythm lulled him to sleep.

Running Errands

What a busy morning we've had today! I packed the kids up and took them all over our hometown. We headed to Goodwill to donate things. I love getting rid of stuff. It is such a feeling of relief to have the stuff gone and out of our lives forever!!! We have too much stuff and I can't stand having a pile of stuff that we don't use just sitting in the closet, attic, playroom, family room....wherever!!!!! (I'll be downsizing a lot in the next few months as we prepare for our newest little one. I am also searching for coordinating bedding for the M and B...but that is another post.) So after donating, we headed to Makena's former preschool and the library. We have a great library that always runs an awesome summer reading program. (We actually did not do the summer reading program this year because I forgot! Oops!!!! We got some great books which I am going to spend time reading with Makena in a few minutes. ) Then we hit........Wal-Mart or what I refer to as Wally World out here. Now, I have been to some great Wal-Marts in other areas and states but I just have pure luck whenever I go to the one closest to me. Check this out. I have experienced: a woman standing in line with her shirt pulled up breast feeding and had a LOT exposed. ( I am all for breastfeeding but that was just way too much exposure for me.) There's been more but it was so traumatizing I just can't recall right now. Anyway, at Wally World today I did not experience anything crazy!!! In fact, I got what I needed at great prices! Even better....M and B were wonderful! Finally we headed home with a small detour to make an eye dr. appt for M to review her patch therapy and eye strength. That will take place next week. Speaking of next week....M starts Kindergarten Monday!!!!!!!!!!!!! More on that later!!! Have a great day and in case you need to go there, it looks to be a great day to head to Wally World.

Guided Reading Books

I have a subscription to Reading A-Z.com and it is fantastic! If you are looking for leveled reading books, phonics readers, vocabulary books, and more, I totally recommend it! My subscription runs out in 8 days so I am busy downloading tons of books. (Yes, this is legal!!) It is often difficult to find books that emergent (early) readers can read on their own or with little help from you. This site provides them, at a reasonable price, and gives you more. They have built in lesson plans for each book and activities to go along with the books. This site is a must for all teachers and parents!!
Want to know more?
www.readinga-z.com

GUESSS WHAT?

I haven't downloaded any pictures since June 6!!!!!!!!!!!! WHOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Time to download, edit, and upload for the blog and digital frame!!

32!!

To celebrate turning 32, we went to Sea World for my birthday! It was a great day! The weather was sunny and warm. We were all a little overdressed! Check out some of the pictures!
Ryan and the kids!

Looking at the Beluga Whales!

My littles!!

The kids watched some Sesame Street Friends sing and dance!

Did you know they have musical instruments at Sea World?

We're Having A Baby!

Our third little Shepherd is due to arrive to January! We are thrilled and very excited to meet him or her. This pregnancy has not gone at all according to our plan. In fact, it has been rather rough in comparison to the other two. I experienced the threat of a miscarriage twice and I have been feeling so sick at night and randomly during the day. It honestly makes taking care of M and B hard at times. I have to "take it easy" still...whatever that means! Ok, apparently I am supposed to be resting whenever possible and not even briskly walking. Strolling is even off limits at times. This is very, very, very hard for me. But the coolest thing is that we have had about six ultrasounds from 7 weeks on and have seen first hand the shape of our little one change as she/he grows and develops!!!
You are probably wondering how B and M took the news and how they found out! Well, I had to go in for an ultrasound after a night of heavy bleeding. (I have to admit that I fully did not expect the baby to still be there.) Ryan and the kids were in the waiting room and I went into the ultrasound room alone. The technician put the wand on me and BAM! There was our baby with its super strong heartbeat!!!! I was so thrilled. I asked her if I could bring in my family and she joyfully said of course and went to get them. When Ryan and the kids walked in, the baby was on the screen moving around and we told them that we were going to have a baby and that was it. M was so happy and excited!!!! B was..well at two, he didn't really get it. (He does talk about the baby now.) So M and B get to go the DR and see the baby on the screen or hear the heartbeat. They think that's pretty cool. M likes to put her head to my belly and tell me she hears to heartbeat. It's very cute! B now notices all the babies around him and will point them out.
We are 15 weeks today and could use some prayers! First, that baby grows and develops safely. Second, that the tear in the placenta will continue to heal. (Once it is healed I can walk/exercise which will help with my energy!) Third, that the morning sickness ends. Thanks so much! (And yes, this is the reason I haven't posted in almost two months!!!)