Schools Out for Summer, Day ONE

I must be sick in the head or something, but I really enjoy having my kids out of school for the summer!!! Maybe all that will change once they're in jr. high...

When Brian got off of work, we decided to make a quick "field trip" to Wheeler Farm. Madison has been DYING to go since her preschool canceled the trip due to rain, so we thought we'd surprise her with our own field trip there.

(Also, we had to have some excuse to try out the "new to us camera"... Brian did some extra work for his former boss in trade for the Cannon Digital Rebel... I'm excited to use it more!!!)

Just as we get there, we take the opportunity to snap a photo. Reagan could see a bunch of animals in the distance, so she just couldn't stop pointing. :)

"COWWWWW" Reagan says the entire time we're by them. Then it's "BABY COWWWWW" when we see the calf. You ask: "Reagan? What does a cow say???" and her reply is: "COWWWWWW".

Jordan on the Tractor. He's such a CHEESE.

I loved this shot of Jordan and Madison. Brian took it (of course... he takes all the "good" photos...) They were having such a good time together.

Madison's Tractor shot.

Serious Taylor. (He was concentrating hard on the road ahead of him... Nobody tell him it wasn't moving...)

Madison on the OTHER Tractor. One tractor just isn't enough.

The kids thought the goats were stinky.

This is Reagan's sign for "Pig". Great shot, again thanks to hubby.

Reagan didn't have a tractor picture, so she gets one alone in the "clubhouse" instead.

Snapped a picture of Brian and our kids together. He's such a great Dad.

Some song about Monkeys in a tree comes to mind... Love the photo of just "my boys".

Time for a photo of just the girls. If I would have known I was going to be in photos, I would have maybe showered and done my hair. OH WELL. We're making memories here and I guess the kids "normally" don't see me with my hair done nice!!! ;)

Madison took a nice spill out of the tree. It was only fair to take some extra shots of her because we felt so bad.

Hey, come to think of it... if I would have known we'd take so many photos, maybe I would have done EVERYONES HAIR! Madison looks like a rag-a-muffin!

So here's a great story. Since we were all together and having fun with the camera, we decided to "try" and get a family picture. Brian was setting the timer and ready to run up to the tree when a cute couple came walking down the road. Brian isn't shy about asking people for things like I am, so he yells over "Hey! Do you mind taking a picture of our family??"

The guy starts to chuckle and the girl walks over happy to help out.

Brian picks up the camera and before handing it to her says something like "I don't want you to be intimidated by the camera - I'll set it so you just have to point and shoot." She laughs and says: "I'm a wedding photographer".

She put us all in position in the tree and snapped the following photos for us. (At this point I'm REALLY wishing my hair was done, AND that we were wearing something other than "everyday" busy clothes!!!)




I think she did a FANTASTIC job, and if I could ever find out where she works, I would totally send her some hair bows or *something* for her 17 month old, Olivia! (Anyone know a Michelle Taylor in the Salt Lake area???) A HUGE thank you to her for taking time out of her "date night" to take some photos of a grubby looking family!!!

Doesn't this make you drool???

After visiting several blogs today and seeing THIS and THIS... I'm trying to re-focus and make myself believe that THIS: Will taste SOOOOO MUCH BETTER.

Who the heck am I kidding???

Taylor's First Piano Performance

Taylor had his first piano recital on Friday. He did a fantastic job!


We are totally in love with his adorable piano teacher. He loves going to his lessons, and we're so grateful that she's made it such a positive experience!



It was a short and sweet performance - only a handful of kids, all just starting out with the piano. It lasted 15 minutes which was PERFECT because the other kids were well behaved!!!




Afterward they served some great cookies and let the kids play on the swings/slide. Reagan enjoyed that part most of all!




Taylors Performance:

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Great job Tay! We're totally proud of you!

A little bit cat obsessed

This week has been pretty much all things CAT.

Nigel is fitting in just wonderfully - we think he's a GREAT kitty! The kids wear him out every day, and I think he LOVES IT!

Reagan calls him "my cat" or "Nige". It's not uncommon for her to scream his name when he's not in sight.




Jordan races home from school to scoop him up for an afternoon nap in his lap.



The dog is adjusting.

Jordan's Last Soccer Game

Still so behind and trying to play catch up....


Jordan had his last soccer game of the season. I can't even begin to tell you how much he likes soccer... and it's SUCH a good outlet for all of his ENERGY!!!


The team:
Silly boys:
"The End" (thanks for that, Jordan....)

Nigel is HOME!

We were able to pick up Nigel last night! His mama and sister are living at my parents house, so we stayed over there for a bit to "play". We got home late, so it was off to bed for the kids... and Nigel!

We're keeping his food and litter box down in the laundry room. Since he's unfamiliar with everything here, we decided to move his bed down there too - so everything was right there for him.

Brian had a little "night light" for him and everything... we tucked him in, said good night and we were off to bed.

He was unhappy for about 2 minutes... (man, this cat can MEOW!!!) But he settled right down and didn't make a peep the entire rest of the night!




When I checked on him this morning, he was laying in his little bed, and totally excited to see me. He has the loudest purrr ever.

He's spent the morning exploring his new home, and the kids are totally IN LOVE with him. He's been GREAT! He likes lots of attention, and with the 4 kids, it's easy to get enough of it. (Aren't his markings just so pretty??? er... HANDSOME?)



Welcome home little Nigel!

Madison's Dance Performance

Madison has waited WEEKS to have her final dance performance. She asked daily how much longer she had to wait. Well, FINALLY, we had our dance revue on Friday May 16th. She was so excited ALL DAY LONG!!!



She had two dance numbers, plus the finale. I need to get photos of her in her other costume - I only have her in her "duck dance" one. (Which, by the way, Stacie made the duck costumes and won first place in the costume competition! Way to go Stacie!!!!)

Madison and her cousin, Lauryn:



(I had to put the videos in my smilebox account... for some reason, blogger wouldn't let me upload them... so there is a bit of a delay since you have to open them this way, but still worth it in my opinion... *winks*)

Dancing Duck:

The Circus is for me:

I think we have a name!

Our kitten (who will be home in just a week or so... YIPPEE!!!) has a name!

We narrowed it down to THREE:



Figaro
Oliver
and Nigel


He just doesn't look like a Figaro to me...

Oliver was last on Brian's favorites, but first on mine...

But the more I look at his sweet little face, the more he looks like a NIGEL to me. (I have to admit... I was sad that Brian didn't like Oliver that much, but I now think Nigel is the purrrr-fect choice! *winks* )




Madison is already dancing around the house saying "I can't wait until Little Nigel comes home!"

Speaking of the name... Do you like it better spelled the traditional way? (Nigel) Or the *different* way? (Nygel)

Current Photos

You've seen their baby pictures a few posts down...

Here they are NOW! (As in, these pictures were taken today!)


Taylor, 9 years old
Jordan, 6 years old
Madison, 4 years old
Reagan, 19 months old

Another finished baby quilt

I'm so excited for these "neighbors" to have their sweet little boy! (They've waited so long!)

Here's the card (thanks for the use of the Cricut Stacie!!!)




And the quilt:

Cat names

We are (hopefully) getting a Bengal Kitten in the next 4-6 weeks.

It's a boy...
He's the runt...
And we have no name ideas as of yet.

Suggestions?

Here's a picture my sister took of him at the breeders home... (I want my kitty HERE!)

My, how they change...

Taylor at 3 Months:



Jordan at 4 months

Madison at 3 months




Reagan at 2 months


Why did they all grow up so quickly?

Chicken Coop

We (and when I say "we", I mean Brian...) have been working on our chicken coop today!

No photos of the actual coop (since the camera is STILL MIA...) but since I haven't posted pics of our chickens yet, here they are when they were babies!





They are SO much bigger now... I can't wait to either find our stupid camera or get a new one to post photos of them!

Hooray for chicken coop progress though! Another couple of evenings and it should be DONE! :)

My Madi

Madison just turned 4 the end of February, but she's already talking about being FIVE.

"I'll help clean the house when I'm 5, not when I'm 4. It really is a 5 year olds job."

"My legs are hurting because my body just can't WAIT to be FIVE!!!"

"Do 5 year olds get to go to dance AND karate AND soccer AND girl scouts?"

"4 year olds try new things, but 5 year olds eat more vegetables."

Still can't find the camera

I'm worried that maybe the camera was thrown away.... Reagan doesn't throw a lot of things in the garbage, but it DOES happen on occasion. I can't seem to find the camera anywhere!!!

Since I don't like to blog without photos, it's gotten boring around here.

However! I found some old photos from my Mom's memory card -

Here are Grandma and Reagan feeding the chickens!