Friday, November 1, 2013

Months in Review

September was busy getting into the swing of school, homework and new schedules. I'm so proud of Adam. So are this school year he has set his alarm and gotten up on his own every day. This is a HUGE improvement from last year. I think it mostly has to do with the fact that if he's not ready in time, he has to go to school with his sister (which involves me taking him) rather than going to school with his friends. He is enjoying 4th grade and has really stepped it up...upper elementary is a lot more work!
Jenna had a rough start to first grade. She missed her Kindergarten teacher so much and just cried every day because she did not want to go to school. After a couple weeks of this and a visit with the teacher and principle, things changed dramatically and now she loves going to school. All it took was for her teacher to pull her aside and ask her how she was doing and if she was having a good day. Ever since, Jenna decided she LOVES her teacher and 1st grade really isn't so bad.
Logan loves going to preschool and I have found that I can get a lot done in the amount of time he's in school. Allie and I have great bonding time and a lot of different kinds of shopping gets done!
Also in September, Allie turned 6 months old! Time is going way too fast!

 October: Allie is now 7 months old and has found her very loud voice! We figure it is her way of saying, "HELLO!!! I'M HERE AND I CAN BE LOUD TOO!!!!"

 Sometimes all that attention makes her very sleepy!

 I love fall leaves. The kids do too. However, we do not have a lot of leaves falling from the 2 small trees we have, so the kids gather up the leaves from all the neighbors and bring them over to our yard. The neighbors love that all the kids get together and rake up their leaves and the kids love playing in the leaves. Ryan doesn't seem to mind too much that he has to rake and dispose of every one's leaves!

We got a pet. It was a cat. The thing is, Adam REALLY wanted a cat. He begged for years for us to get a cat. I hate cats. Ryan doesn't care for them. We got a cat anyway...for the kids. Ryan spent his day looking for a cat, buying the necessary things a cat would need and getting the cat settled. We named the cat Star and got her settled. The kids would kind of play with her, but not really. Oh, and this was a STRICTLY OUTSIDE cat. I was not going to have it in my house. Two days after we got the cat, we lost her. We looked and looked and could not find her. I called and told Ryan that we couldn't find her...anywhere! He told me to look under the lawn mover, which I did and there she was. How long was she under there...who knows? As a couple days went on, the kids weren't really paying any attention to their new pet unless a friend came over to see her. Ryan felt sorry for the little thing and would spend time with it when the kids went to bed. He asked me to please spend time with it during the day and get it used to being around people. I tried. I went out, tried to get her out of her box, put on a glove to pet her, she ran off, I walked back into the house. After a week of the kids not really paying any attention to the new addition, we took her back to the Humane Society. Luckily we had a 30 day return policy. 
Fast forward a few days and here we have ourselves a pigeon in our garage...it is tame and tagged. We tried to find an owner. Unfortunately before we could, the neighbor kids came into our garage to see the bird, took it out of the cage and gave it to another neighbor kid. The pigeon clawed the boys hand and he let go. Gone is that "pet." I decided we aren't pet people, unless it's a fish. And that's ok.
 
Jenna lost her first tooth this week. She was at school, eating lunch and was SO EXCITED!!!

Halloween was fun. We had a party that our nephew did on Tuesday then on Thursday we did the school party, parade and ended the day with Trick-or-Treating. Adam quickly divided his candy into what he will keep and eat and what he's going to sell. Then, I noticed he already made up his pricing sheet. I don't know if he really understands that everyone else just got as much candy and probably won't be in the market to buy for a while.





Ok, so that was a bit long!
Now onto the Holiday Season because you know Christmas will be here before we know it!

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

4th, 1st and Pre K

I didn't think I would be so sad to see the summer come to an end and see my kids off to school. I thought for sure I would be happy to watch them go out the door and not return for a few hours, happy and more educated. After all, the house would be quieter, and a lot less complaints and fighting. However, that was certainly not the case with me.
Adam and Jenna was were so excited to head to school and Logan was sad he couldn't join, but he did go ahead and packed is own lunch in his lunch box just like the big kids.
Let's just be honest, Jenna is struggling. 1st grade is different than kindergarten. It's longer, every day, a little more challenging, and the hardest part is she doesn't have her Kindergarten teacher this year. She REALLY wants to go back to Kindergarten so she can have the same teacher. She has cried every day so far and I'm hoping that soon she will be able to adjust and be happy to go to school. (This is so different for Jenna. Usually she has not problem at all going to school, or doing new things. In fact, on the first day of school she wouldn't give me a hug good-bye, she just wanted me to go.)
Adam on the other hand, loves school. He loves his teacher and although he says 4th grade is harder, he also says it's more fun. He has to really step it up now that he's in upper elementary school, but so far he's done just that. He was bummed, however, to learn on the first day of school that 4th graders no longer get an afternoon recess.

 
 Logan started preschool and LOVES it! He was upset when he learned that he wouldn't be going every day. On the first day, his teacher had each of the students (there is only 8 of them) make a cardboard car and "drive" to school. I am very impressed with his teacher and the way she runs her preschool.  
Although my kids are growing up WAY TOO FAST, I'm excited for this next chapter in their lives and the things they will learn. I'm sad to see summer come to an end, but look forward to the growth our kids will have this year!

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

More July fun, this time with the Richards

July was a very busy, fun filled month for us! We were able to see lots of family, have really late nights and lots of laughs. Here's some pictures of what the cousins did when they got together on "the farm."







 You may be wondering about this picture so let me explain. This year there have been SO MANY FLIES...so if you can't kill them all, you may as well try to see how many land on you at the same time and try to get more than anyone else in the group...and that is what they did.



I am really excited about this picture. A microwave? Yes, our new, working microwave. I didn't realize how much I used my microwave until ours went out 6 months ago. Hooray for a working microwave! :)

Monday, July 22, 2013

July already?

The 4th of July was full of fun with family and friends...


 
 Allie is now 4 months old. That went by fast, didn't it? She is so much fun and smiles most of the time. Allie can now grab onto things and they go straight to her mouth. At of 4 month check up she was a whopping 12 pounds, 9 ounces and I am now starting the supplementing process, (wish me luck).
 
 My friend Katie gave me these matching shirts when Allie was born. I loved dressing them up and Jenna loved looking just like her little sister.
 
 My mom came our way while the big boys were away on their annual camping trip. It was fun to have Kody, Hailey and Carson come along as well. Kody was a huge help with the kids and every time I put Allie down, he would pick her up and hold her.

 
 For a short time we have 3 six year olds and here they are...

June is so fun!

So much  happened in June and I haven't been good about keeping up with all of it. We started out with swimming lessons, which as a huge hit, then we (by we, I mean the kids) did some backyard camping, and since Ryan is the best dad in the world, the kids got to run in the sprinklers with their dad, along with all the other kids in the nearby houses. Ryan also came up with the idea to have a movie night outside, so he pulled out an old TV and DVD Player, set it up and before we knew it we had several kids in our front yard watching a movie in the dark. They all loved it and still are talking about it. I only got some pictures of those things...





Allie turned three months old, found her toes and likes the chair a little more.



Wednesday, May 29, 2013

More of May

We were so happy Ryan was able to have a day off Memorial Day. He went and spent some special time with Jenna, then took the 3 older kids fishing with his dad. Allie and I stayed home and took a nap!
 
 Jenna has been taking dance these last few months and last night was one of three of her dance performances. She was so darn cute, as were the other girls.

 Allie is adorable! We love that she will smile at us and is so alert!


Sunday, May 26, 2013

A month in Review

May has been a busy month for us. Here are a few things we've been up to:
 
Adam receiving "Zest" Award at school
 
 Adam's Spring Piano Recital. He did an amazing job!
 
 Mother's Day was full of loves, notes, chocolates, a new skirt :) and gratefulness I get to be a mom of such wonderful children!

Allie continues to be loved by her family. Even after 2 months, the kids still can't get enough of her (neither can Ryan and I)

 
 Allie turned two months on the 18th. She weighed 10 pounds 10 ounces and doing great. I had concerns about her being congested, but the doc says that's normal until they are four months old. I another concern that she wasn't eating enough, but the doc says she looks great and in continuing to grow, so I shouldn't worry.
Then Allie had to get her immunizations. She was NOT happy about that. Fortunately, Jenna was there to calm her down after everything I did wasn't working. Jenna has a way of calming Allie down a lot!
Allie smiles and coo's. She loves to see her daddy and doesn't mind being held by her siblings. She has only fallen off the couch once, and she survived. Allie sometimes will only be up once or twice at night, but sometimes it's 4 or 5 times a night. We're still working on that.
She's still on medication for acid reflux, which seems to be helping.
New born clothes are mostly no longer being worn and 0-3 month clothes are being worn more and more all of the time.
I originally wanted to take pictures of Allie by a big giant stuffed bear, but I decided to do this chair instead, which she hated. Sorry Allie, but maybe next month it won't be so bad.