Getting some Zachy love

Yesterday I watched Zach and Jo for Steff while they went to see a movie with Ted's brother. Zach and Piper were so cute together... they were so friendly and loved hugging on each other. :)

Drama camp

This week Chandler's had drama camp in Tyler. It's a pre-school camp, and they're putting on The Golden Goose. All the kids have one line and act out the narration for the majority of it. It's really cute. It has been very fun for Chandler. It's right up his alley and he's done such a great job with his part. Today was the dress rehearsal and I was blown by how well he did. He'd been saying his line over and over again this week, but out of context it sounded very wooden. :) In the play he was very dramatic and added lots cute things to his part. I know I'm a little biased, but Chandler and his friend Joseph (they play two brothers) totally stole the show. They had the best acting and knew their cues well. The performance is tomorrow at 10:00 at Roger's Childrens Theatre near the Tyler Rose Garden. Come see our little drama king in action! :)

Heading out with his bread and wine......

Chopping the wood -- and he cuts his leg.....

"Ooooh ooooh, my leg, my leg! Mama!!!"

Cast party time! -- Pizza with Joseph

Family Night

Tonight we all went to dinner and bowling with Tom's mom and dad. We had dinner at Joey's-- so good! The coconut shrimp is awesome, btw! :) We had so much fun bowling. The kids really had a blast, though Chandler was a little restless between turns. :) I bowled a 119! Tom tied with Taylor for 91 and Pam won the set with 120. :)

Painfully slow roll to the pins........ :)

Brayden got very into the game, just like with the mini golf.

His first spare! So excited. :)

Taylor got three spares, I think. She did great for her first time bowling! Again, she tied with Tom.... ;)

The ball return was the boys' favorite part. :)


Her first spare! Five from grandma. :)

Art Class

Taylor's had art class all week. Her teacher is a homeschool graduate from our homeschool group. It's been so much fun for her. She LOVES to draw and paint. I'm just not into that aspect of art -- my thing is photography, if you can't tell :)--- I'm really glad she has this outlet.

So many BEAUTIFUL pieces!

New stuff

Brayden handed me the camera and said, "Here Mommy, take a picture please." :) I asked what he wanted me to take a picture of and he said his new shoes. " I likey my new shoes, Mommy" He and Chandler got matching sandals... I really wasn't going for matching this time, but Chandler was very decided that he did not like the ones I had picked out first, he wanted ones like Brayden. :) Alrighty then.

New shoes and new haircuts. Oh and new shirts too, I guess. Chandler just reminded me. :) The shirts I did plan. :))

It's funny how many times I've paid for haircuts and then I don't like how it ends up. The times I've been most satisfied with their hair is when I do it myself. :)

Loveable brothers.

Swimming

Yesterday evening was the last night of swimming lessons for the kids. They've really been enjoying them and they all learned so much! Two weeks of lessons and I never got any pictures :) I was always in the water with Brayden so I never got a chance. Last night was parents picture night, so Tom came and got some cute shots. :)

Brayden doing the doggie-paddle.

Chandler was already doing most the things they taught the class last year on his own! So he must mostly worked on his listening and focusing skills. :)

Taylor getting ready to dive. She learned the butterfly stroke, how to dive, and several other strokes that I've forgotten the names of... :)

They all got to go down the big slide. It was a treat for the boys because the little ones don't get to slide during normal pool hours. They loved it! Taylor looked a bit bored... lol

Baby Reagh

Here's the first pictures of our little one. The ultrasound went great... everything checked out and my due date is Jan 13th -- My sister, Hannah's birthday! She's very excited about that. Of course, that's the day before Brayden's birthday! I was estimating about a week earlier, so it's a bit of a mental setback. :) I liked saying I was 4 months already! hehe

As far as boy/girl goes..... it could still go either way, but my very educated opinion is that I was seeing BOY parts! The technician agreed with me, but told me not to buy out Target of their boy department just yet. :) It's still very early so we'll find out 100% at the next sonogram. Stephanie said I'm handling it really well, but I'm just not dealing with any disappointment. I'm glad. I did want a sister for Taylor and I feel bad about that, but she is fine about it and still hopes to be surprised! :) I had it in the back of my mind that I was having a boy, despite my girl planning and girl talk, so it wasn't a big shock. Just like Steff was saying about her and Amara, Taylor and I have such a special, close relationship, it's fun because it's just us and something that only she and I get to share.

Plus, boys are just easier! No mood swings, hours on the phone or hair drama..... :)

Check out our little cutie.

Such a sweet little nose. :)

Jam session

The kids and I like to rock out to our favorite tunes every once and awhile.... :) We crank up the music, jump around, play air guitar (or toy guitars) and head bang like rockstars. Once I had the black guitar Brayden's holding and I jumped up on table singing Kelly Clarkson at the top of lungs. The kids gasped and then cheered. :)

It's fun being a kid. :)

This kid is totally going to play guitar for real someday. He's such a natural even at 2. :)



Rockstars

Splash Kingdom Fun

We had a blast at the water park last night. We were having so much fun that I only got a few pictures at the very end of the evening.

The Hubers were there (Yay!) and I have to really give them a great big thank you. Tom and I wanted to try the slide so we asked them to watch the kids for a few minutes. But it was so crowded, a few minutes turned into 20 and I felt so bad that they were strapped down with 6 kids all that time. So THANK YOU DANA! The slide was great, we went in a double tube and it's much more fun that way. There was a sign that said no pregnant woman(as well as heart conditions, etc etc), but Tom let me go anyways. :) :) It's so lame that they say that, it must just be a liability thing. The girls liked the wave pool and lazy river, I never could talk them into the big slides. Chandler just loved it all. :)

Two hours was not enough at all.... especially with it being so crowded. The word really spread about this thing! I highly doubt everyone there was a KVNE listener. Tom and I got to talk to the evening DJ from KVNE in line behind us on the way to the slide and she was glad that there were other people there. It really was good evangelism tool.

Tom really surprised me. He wasn't the most on board person about this trip :)... but he really liked it and he's already planning to go back! Hehe... I'm turning him into a fun loving kid at heart in spite of himself. :) I love you, baby. :)

Oh, and we left Brayden with the Growdens... sniff sniff. That's why he's not in any of the pictures. It was hard leaving him alone.. in the past it's always been with siblings. He did great though... he waved goodbye (he's getting too big!) and was excited about going in "Growma's car" That's what he calls Jessica. :)

Celebrating the 4th with family

Tonight we had pizza and did small fireworks with Tom's family. It was a lot of fun. The kids loved doing the "hands on" fireworks. :)

We missed you, Pam!!

A few more of the night

We had a fountain tip over and one flare caught Brayden on the hand. Poor boy. :((( Good news though: He forgot about it about 2 minutes later, so I guess it wasn't too bad. :)