Taylor Turns NINE

Okay, so this is way late... but I was hoping to find my camera to take a great picture of my NINE YEAR OLD!!! (Still can't find it!)

Taylor didn't have a party this year. Instead, Brian was able to do a "side job" and earn enough money to buy the kid a Wii.

He was so excited! He wasn't expecting it though, and was a big shocked that he actually got it!

Taylor asked us to take him out to dinner... just him, Mom and Dad. He didn't want to choose where, he just wanted to go somewhere with "atmosphere" and someplace that he could order off the "adult menu". (No kids meals!)

We decided to take him to Tepanyaki. H LOVED watching them make our food right there on the table.

I snatched my mom's camera when we dropped off the other kids, but her battery died! I only was able to snap a few photos.





I can't believe I have a NINE YEAR OLD!!!

He is SUCH an amazing kid... Honest. I couldn't be prouder of him! He is so helpful, so cheerful, and just delightful to be around. He is a fantastic student and loves to learn.

We're SO LUCKY to have him!

Bear for the evening

Each of the kindergarten students get to take home a stuffed "bear" for one night. Then, they are supposed to write what the did with the bear and take it back the next day.

The kids are able to share with the class what "exciting" thing the bear got to do with them.

Brian called "grandpa" and they took Jordan and the bear on the backhoe.



(Pictures bad due to the fact that I can't find the camera anywhere... Brian had to take them with his phone... ugh!)

Jordan had me write this for what he did with the bear:

"I took the bear on the tractor with grandpa. It almost tipped over! It was SUPER FUN!"

Then we sent him with the photos to show the class.

Jordan took great care of the bear all day yesterday. He really didn't let it leave his side. He ate dinner with it, watched tv with it... just took great care. Brian said that as they were driving home from the backhoe Jordan said "Mrs. Lyons said if I take really good care of the bear something special will happen!"

I'm excited to find out when he gets home exactly what that is!!! ;)

The shortest distance between two points...

It's a wonder that the boys make it to the bus on time.

This was their path today, and who knows what it was up the street...

Pick up and throw the Frisbee off the ground, kick the hula-hoop, run toward the slide, pass by the bike left out...

THEN we're on our way to the bus stop!


(Not thrilled that is snowed yet again, but LOVED the little footprints in the snow that show the shortest distance between two points MAY be a straight line... but it's not near as fun as running all over the place.)

"Get Well" poster

We live in an awesome neighborhood. Sometimes I just don't fit in because I'm not NEAR as thoughtful as the the people I live by.

Jordan's friend brought this over yesterday. I thought it was so sweet!


"Jordan - We heard you were doing *twix* and *rolo*-ed off the slide! Sorry we're such *airheads* and didn't get you this sooner. We need you back on the bus cuz we're the *3 musketeers* at our stop! When you are back it will be *PayDay* for us! Hugs and *kisses* - Sam

He's doing much better, and was back on the bus today.

What nice people I'm surrounded by - I'm so lucky!!!

Transitions

Reagan is making a great transition from "baby" to "2 year old".

Yes, I know she won't be 2 until October, but the last couple of weeks have been filled with temper tantrums and brat attacks.

Yesterday she was MAD and tired. She was hitting and scratching me and so I put her in "baby time out". (Basically I just didn't want to hold her while she was having an attitude.)

She was SCREAMING. (No passing out though!) And it was FUNNY. I caught the tail end of it on video. She's so tired she has to take a break to yawn in the middle.

It would have been nice to get the whole thing to see ALL the drama, but the end of the brat attack is great as well.





She fell asleep about 2 minutes afterward.

In other exciting Reagan news, she stayed with a neighbor of mine while I took Taylor and Jordan to the Dr. on Friday. It was her choice to stay even. I asked her if she wanted to go to the Dr. Her Reply was "NOOOOOO!!!" So I said "you can stay here with Lucy and Madison". She was hesitant, but it was a better option then the dr's! Apparently she did great too! (Church nursery is another story... maybe I need to ask her if she wants to go to the Dr on Sunday's)

Concussion!

Poor Jordan!

He took a nice spill off a slide onto concrete at our place yesterday. Ended up with a concussion!

This is an hour after the accident:




He slept for several hours before he woke up. He was pretty disoriented.

It was at about 8:00 that he started throwing up, and we were out the door to the hospital.

After talking to a nurse, we ended up bringing him home and watching him all night. We would wake him up every two hours to ask him questions, and make sure his condition wasn't worse.

This is what he looked like this afternoon, after another dr. visit:



He's doing a lot better, but he's confused about what day it is.

His head is hurting and he's dizzy, but I can't give him any pain meds that might "mask" the symptoms of the concussion.

Poor little thing!!!

Not much to blog about....

So we'll do a quick update:

Reagan has double ear infections AGAIN... she seems to get ear infections every time she's teething. Thankfully, most of her teeth are in! We shouldn't have to deal with this much longer!

Madison went on her first ever field trip and I think riding on the bus was the best part! I didn't even think about taking the camera with me though, so no photo documentation. She got to take a lunch and everything. She had a BLAST.

Jordan had a field trip today to the Children's Museum. He wishes he could live there.

Taylor is still busy with scouts, piano, and being a Mr. smarty pants at school. He also loves taking "adult food" for lunch to make his classmates jealous. They say things like "awww man! All I got was a pb&j sandwich!!!" as he sits there eating "leftovers" from dinner the night before. I need to find a good Bento box for next year... then we can get REALLY creative with lunches... ;)

I'm just "normal" mom...

Brian's just "normal" dad this week...

And just to clarify... we did NOT go to Arby's for our anniversary. I wanted to take Brian to Park City for the day, but he had too much homework. :( We DID have a great time "around town"... we went shopping at Tai Pan Trading and then over to Gardner Village... Then we ate dinner there at Archibalds. It was nice to just "hang out" together. :)

Back soon when Reagan isn't so time consuming! :)

13 Years

Happy Anniversary!!!

None of our photos are digital from our wedding... that's what happens when you get married just before the digital craze!!!

Happy 13th Anniversary! Love you so much!!!!!!!!

Rules for a Soccer Mom

If you want to be a great "soccer mom", you need only follow ONE simple rule. And that is:

To actually TAKE your kid to soccer practice!

Jordan's first soccer practice since Fall was last night, and I FAILED to take him!

So sorry buddy!

Walt Disney Time Line

For his book report this month, Taylor needed to choose a Biography. He decided he would read a book on Walt Disney. (Hey, what can I say? We've trained this kid right! ;) )


The list of ideas for the book report included doing a time-line. We figured that would be a GREAT one for a biography!

Taylor started reading, and he kept a notebook along side him to write down important dates in Walt's life.

Then, when he was finished, he googled all of the "events" to find the pictures he wanted on the time line. (Brian helped him with just a couple - he did it all himself really.)

He put everything in order, and Brian helped him type up all of the dates.

Then, everything was put in order.

He did a fantastic job!




Comments from his Teacher:


Good going Taylor! You did AWESOME and we're so proud of you!

Flour Girl

I think it might be time to find a different location for the wheat grinder. Reagan enjoys eating "wheat flour" leftovers. SICK!

And the sad thing is? This isn't the first time she's done this. The other sad thing? These pictures were taken a few days ago and the wheat grinder/flour container is STILL in the same place.


If it would only fill her up to help her sleep longer!!!

Happy Easter!

Easter Egg Hunt

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

It's SPRING, dang it!!!

My children are convinced that it's time to break out the shorts... (It's SPRING MOM!!!) HELLO white legs! And why on earth doesn't their Mother get their hair cut?!?!



And no matter that it's cold outside... we'll sit out there and blow bubbles anyway.

Sushi!!!

Thanks to our neighbor (who by the way runs Yoshi's which is yummy, yummy and you should try it out...) Brian and I can now make Sushi!

This was our dinner tonight, and Brian's lunch for tomorrow. (Tuna/avocado rolls with spicy mayo :drool: )

We made some chicken/avocado/cream cheese ones last week that were yummy too, but really? Nothing beats raw tuna!

Easter Dresses

I *love* Easter. I love the tradition we have of new Sunday best each year.

I decided to make the girls their Easter dresses this year. (Last year Reagan was just still too *stressful* to make them.) I had so much fun deciding on patterns and choosing fabric.

I was able to cut out the pattern and the pieces a few days ago, but didn't get around to sewing anything until last night and today. They are FINISHED! Well, except for the little thread trimming I need to do, and ironing of course. *winks*

I'm happy with how they turned out, and I'm excited for the girls to wear them on Sunday!

(The boys have new clothes too, but since I purchased them, I didn't feel they needed their own little blog post. ;) )

Front of Madison's dress: In the picture it looks rather plain! You can't really see the round collar or the sash... Maybe I need to "embellish" it more. Gosh... the more I look at it, the more I don't like it! I might have to re-do Madison's.....)


Back of Madison's Dress:


Front of Reagan's Dress: (I LOVE how hers turned out! No re-do's here!)



Back of Reagan's Dress:

She just wants to be outside.

This is Reagan, most of the day EVERY day. She just wants to be outside!





I really *do* take her out... She just likes to make me feel like I'm ruining her LIFE by not having her out from sun up to sun down.

Happy Birthday Brian!

Yesterday was Brian's Birthday!

The kids and I had a nice little scavenger hunt to help him find his gifts.

We dropped the kids off in the afternoon and had some "free time". We went shopping for "sushi items". (We had a sushi class Friday night that was AWESOME and we're dying to try our new skills!)

We ate lunch at Hoppers (wasn't our first choice but the place we were going to ended up being closed for a private party! arg!!!)

And then we had a lovely evening with extended family over for dinner!

After Brian opened his gifts, Jordan disappeared into the other room for a bit. He came into the room with a handwritten card for his Dad -In Jordan translation, it says:
Happy Birthday to You

I thought it was so sweet, I cried for like 5 minutes.

Do You Like Green Eggs and Ham?

I wouldn't say our family eats "unhealthy" really... but there are certainly things I would like to change about our diet.

So I've been eye-balling this little gem of a book, Deceptively Delicious, by Jessica Seinfeld. I finally splurged and purchased the thing last night and decided to give it a whirl this morning.

It's all about being "tricky" and sneaking good foods into stuff your kids already love to eat. I must admit, my boys are really good about trying new things - they're not the problem. (My LITTLE boys that is... this does NOT include Brian.) Madison, however, is AWFUL. She is extremely picky (much like her father) and does not try anything new.

So this morning I announced that we would be having "green eggs and ham" for breakfast. The children were all excited because it *is* Dr. Seuss week at school...


It's made with pureed spinach, eggs and egg whites. (a little milk, salt and pepper for good measure.)

I wasn't worried about the boys because they'll actually EAT spinach in salad. But I was terrified that Madison would turn her nose up at it.







Since everything was pureed that might even be considered *icky*, it was just coloring to her, and I am happy to report that not only did she eat all of what was on her plate, SHE ASKED FOR MORE!

So this afternoon, I am making homemade mac & cheese - with hidden cauliflower.

I'm so THRILLED that the green eggs went over so well!!!

The Calm before the Storm

Last week was "crazy busy"... this week is back to "normal busy".

But it leaves me wondering what's going to hit next.

Am I the only one that ever feels this way?

The house is in pretty good condition right now. Meaning, if anyone stopped by unannounced, I wouldn't be having a panic attack at the front door or hiding in my bedroom so they would think nobody is home.


The kids are getting along great.





Reagan has been taking a nice afternoon nap for the past few days...




Things are going good! Maybe a bit TOO good! When this happens, I start worrying about what is going to hit next! I'm sad to think that I actually AM a "glass half empty" sort of gal!