Good Bye Betta

Sadly, we had to say good bye to our betta fish yesterday. Poor Betta hadn't been looking very well for the last several days - the kids were checking on him and trying to feed him but the poor little guy didn't make it. We've had him for nearly three years and the pet shop guy said that was a pretty long time for a betta fish so we were glad to hear that it wasn't anything we did. I had to get him for a correspondence science class I took and keep him alive for the semester....I never thought I'd keep him alive that long, but we ended up having to go buy a tank at the end of the semester when I had to send all his stuff back to the lab. He got pretty used to us where he would be excited when we fed him and would even eat his food off of my finger. It was pretty neat.

So, we really weren't sure what to do with Betta. The kids discussed what would be the best scenerio...what would Betta wand? They thought about putting him in the creek beside our house so he could 'swim' to fish heaven, but finally decided that we should bury him. Reegan was very concerned about all of this. As soon as Randy walked in the door yesterday she said, "Dad, will you get Betta out of his tank so we can bury him up because he died and we need to bury him up." So Randy fished Betta from his tank and the kids found a place out back they thought was suitable. Never thought I would post pictures of a funeral service but here is Reece digging a little hole for Betta and then the kids saying a little prayer for Betta. It was very sweet.

Painting Pumpkins

We finally were able to get our pumkins from Bill and Darlene painted. The kids had fun looking up different ideas on-line and then using those ideas and some of their own creations. Rylee had to do the eyeball one and also the big one with the rosey cheeks. Reeva did the big one with the unicorn on it and then the 'GOD' one that she decorated. They worked on the bat with wings together. Reece, of course, had to do Batman and Spiderman and then the green eye one that is supposed to be the little monster guy from Monsters, Inc. Reegan did the snake hair girl from Monsters, Inc. I helped her with that one then she did her little baby pumpkin all by herself. The kids thought it was so funny that she painted the stem and all.

Yesterday, we spent the afternoon out at Dad and Mom's place. Dad grilled steaks, corn on the cob and asparagas over his fire pit. They were sooo good! We also tried to figure out how to set things up for Nikki's wedding. Hopefully, the weather will be nice so we aren't all freezing! It is beautiful out there. Only two weeks to go...hopefully, I'll be able to post updates and photos as we get closer!

Almost time for class...have a great day!

Fall Flowers

Erica and Cora surprised us yesterday with these fall flowers...I wish I would have taken the picture yesterday since the flowers are starting to wilt...but it was absolutely gorgeous! They made five out of different pumpkins and gourds. They are so nice to see when we walk in the door. :)

I took the kids to pick pumpkins at our neighbors this evening. Our neighbor grows a patch of pumpkins every year and likes to grow some of the bigger varieties. The kids had a blast picking them out and packed the back of the suburban. Reegan was so cute...she ran around the patch trying to find the one....she would stop and say, "this one!" as she hugged it then she would look over and see another one and say, "nevermind!" and take off again. She finally picked a couple out and then picked the best ever little "baby" pumkin (as she called it) that she could carry herself. The pumpkins were way to big for me to get out of the suburban myself...Randy is going to have to do it so I will post photos later. I think the kids want to paint "big faces" on them. I think I'm going to have to get more paint!

Playing Catch-up

Thought I would try to play a little catch up on things around here...not a lot has been going on but we've been keeping busy with school and work and life in general. After school on Friday my sisters and I took the kids to get pumpkins and they had fun painting them. Here is a quick picture of them showing off their pumpkins...Cavan was gone and Rorri (as you can tell) was not all that cracked up about the picture - at least she's in this one! With this many kids, it is on a V E R Y rare occasion that we get all of them looking and smiling and looking like the perfect little angels that they all are. lol :)



Saturday would have been my brother, Carl's, 26th birthday and also the day that Liberty and Shaun's little Lilli passed away 4 years ago. I still miss both Carl and Lilli every single day. I can't even imagine Carl being 26 and watching Reegan get so big is a constant reminder that her cousin Lilli should be right along side her and the rest of her cousins. Mom and Dad took us girls and our guys out and it was nice to be together. We found sitters for all of the kids and went to dinner and a movie. We watched Fireproof and really liked it - the guys were definitely hesitant that we were even going to see it but I think they all liked it a lot more than they thought they would.

Well, right now, I am getting ready to watch Brothers & Sisters and work on some homework so I'd better run. Have a great week!

Reece's Pirate

Reece s PIRATE

I haven't posted anything for a little while and while erasing some of my old text messages I came across this picture that Randy had sent me one day. Reece had drawn a pirate in the dirt...maybe we are a little biased, but we were pretty impressed. :) Anyway, thought I would share it.

I'm the Prettiest!

Ok, so my friend Jamie pointed out that I have been slacking a bit on the blogging...Labor Day weekend was a busy one for us. We definitely enjoyed our three day weekend! Randy and I played in a softball tourney...not one of our brightest ideas since neither one of us has played for at least two years. :) LOTS of stretching going on...muscles don't recover quite as quickly as they used to! But it was a lot of fun. The kids had fun playing at the park. We went to the annual pancake breakfast on Saturday morning, visited the fundraising foodstands and, of course, went to the parade on Monday. A very looong weekend but a very fun one!

The rest of the week has went quickly. Reece lost another tooth so he can't wait to write another letter to the tooth fairy. Today was my Thursday with Reegan. We ate lunch with Randy at my parents' restaurant. After lunch, my dad came over and sat with us a little bit and we were talking with Reegan. Randy always likes to tease her with questions like, "Do I know you?" and "Who's number one?" She just laughs. So, he is asking her "Who's number one?" and she says, "Mommy!"- of course, we both want to be her number 1, so he asks, "Who's the smartest?" She says, "Mommy!" So, he says "Who's the funniest?" and she says "Daddy!" (I guess I don't do funny:) So, then he says "Who's the prettiest?" This will be the deciding factor - is mommy the big winner or is it going to be a tie? She looks at me and then she looks at him and says, "I am!" Oh, silly girl, you sure can make me laugh. :)

I thought I'd spare you the photo of Randy and I in our ball gear and instead share one of Miss Reegan during one of her tee ball games this summer. Enjoy!

Ok, I can't resist...I'd better share a couple of all of the kids from ball this summer. Have a great day! :)

Laundry and Cleanin' and....

In all the talks and excitement of the first day of school and kindergarten and a first lost tooth, Reegan sometimes gets a little lost in the shuffle of things. Reece and the girls are loving school but what that means for Reegan is that she is home without her playmates. But she is loving the time that she gets to spend with me and Randy "all by mine-self!" Since I don't have class on Tuesday or Thursday, those are "her" days with mom and she seems to love it - no matter what we do. The other night when I was tucking her into bed and told her that we got to spend the next day together, she asked what we were going to do. I said, "Well, we'll probably do a little laundry and..." before I could say anything else that I thought would sound more 'fun' she piped up, "and cleanin'!? and sweepin'!?" - she could hardly contain her excitement. I thought of that again today as she 'helped' me load the washing machine with such joy and look forward to all the fun things we'll get to do on these special days when it's just the two of us hanging out and doing laundry and cleanin' and...

Have a happy day!

The Case of the Missing Tooth

It happened today...Reece lost his very first tooth! He lost it at school during center time while he was, in his words, "wiggling it around with my tongue and it just fell out!" I, of course, had to get pictures. At first he questioned why I wanted to take a picture and then he said, "Oh, I get it, so you can scrapbook it, right?" Then he said, "How about you call it "The Case of the Missing Tooth" and you can make a "mystery mark" (I think he meant a ?) on it!" So, has the poor kid been the target of too many pictures and scrapbook plans or what?! :) Anyway, here are the pics of my big boy...he is so proud! Hopefully, I'll get around to scrappin' this soon. ;)




Isn't my little man so handsome?! I really can't believe how big he is getting. :)

Ok, I just wanted to share Reece's happy news so I will close for now - hope everyone has a great week!

Cardinal's Game

This is the picture Randy sent the kids before they went to bed from the Cardinal's game he went to last night. They thought it was pretty cool to see. Randy stayed in St. Louis after the game and then came home this afternoon. I think he had a pretty good time...I guess they left in the 7th inning since the Cardinals were ahead by so much (14-1 maybe?) but then went to a couple of casinos. I'm thinking he must have stayed out late (or early, depending on how you want to look at it!) since he came home and has been "napping" for a while now. He did say he'd take us all out for dinner this evening. :)

Since Randy was gone, the kids and I spent the evening hanging out at home....they watched a movie and I scrapped a little while watching some Lipstick Jungle episodes on-line from last season. Rebecca and Erica watch it and like it so I thought I'd see if I liked it. I finished all of last season's episodes so I am ready for the new season to start on Sept. 24. :) I finished a layout of me and Randy too.

me & you
Journaling: Some things were simply meant to be...me for you & you for me

This morning the kids and I got the house cleaned a bit. Not our favorite thing to do on Saturday mornings by any means, but it does feel nice to get things clean though. :) This afternoon Rylee and Reeva worked on these altered keychain albums to hang on their backpacks.

I suppose that is enough for now....Have a great weekend!

Little Friends

Erica called last night to see if it would be ok for Cora and Carlton to come over today while she was at work. Reegan and Cora were, of course, delighted. They have been busy all morning - playing dress-up, coloring, making sure they were dressed the same, getting their hair done (they insisted on 3 ponytails!), watering my flowers for me (I'm sure the flowers are thankful!) and playing outside. I had to snap a few photos to share:



Carlton is taking a nap, the girls are playing, and I have a few minutes before I need to get lunch started so I thought I'd ramble a little.

I'm almost finished with my first week of my last year of school. :) I only have 3 classes this semester! That is such a relief - especially since I have Tuesdays and Thursdays off and only go for an hour on Friday mornings. Next semester I will student teach so that will be every day but I am enjoying this semester. I think Reegan is enjoying getting to have some one-on-one time with me too. Being the youngest, she sometimes just gets swept along in whatever everyone else is doing and it doesn't seem to bother her one bit but I can tell she is lovin' the time she gets by herself with me too. She's always asking what we're going to do...usually laundry or cleaning..and she gets so excited like it's the best idea she has ever heard! We were going to go to the park for lunch today but I think she got a little sidetracked with Cora here so we may have to do that next week.

The other three seem to be loving school. Rylee is back into her Chuck Taylor and jump roping phase...gotta wear her Chucks and has rarely been without a jumprope in her hand for the past couple of days. She gets up, eats breakfast and then starts jumping....crazy girl! Reeva is doing good too. She is the one who is ready to study anything extra that Miss S. asks them to read - I don't think Rylee would ever even mention it! But, Reeva is all over it. :)

Reece got to be the Student of the Day this week. They learned about the letters and sounds of his name and everyone drew a picture of him.

This is the picture that Reece drew of himself:



Ok, I'd better get busy. Hope you are having a great day!

Good Times

Just thought I'd share a few pics from last night. We really had a great time with everyone. The food was amazing - thanks to those that hosted! We stayed out waaaay too late but had a fabulous time! Picture of Randy and I as well as a couple from Andy and Andrea's where we had desserts.





Ok, Randy and the kids are in the car waiting for me to head to the restaurant for lunch so I had better run for now! Have a great day!

Progressive Dinner Party

Randy and I get a night out with some friends tonight. Yay! Some of our friends put together a progressive dinner party - we have done this once before and had a lot of fun. We were one of the host homes last time but this time we get to travel as guests only. :o) We start at Brett and Anna's at 5:30 for appetizers and cocktails. From there we will go to Joe and Trudy's for the main course and then on to Andy and Andrea's for dessert. We had a lot of fun the last time...I'm glad Andy and Andrea decided to put another one together. There will be 8 couples traveling and just hanging out....Libb and Shaun, Scott and Stacy, Jay and Traci, and Kelly and Jennifer. Can't wait!

Last night, I went to a crop and got a layout completed for Reece's 6th birthday. I know, pretty sad to only finish one in an evening - especially when I already had it started!! But, anyone who knows me knows how slooooow I scrap...it's my 'me' time (thanks to Randy who pushes me out the door each month while he keeps the kids :o) and I pretty much relax and enjoy it...I'm really not there to fly through the pages...plus there's lots of talkin' and eatin' to do too!! We started making plans for our annual weekend crop in January. The dad's get the kids and we all pack up and take of for a weekend of scrappin' and shopping! Fun, fun. :o) Libb has went with me the last two years and we have a great time. Anyway, here's the layout I completed last night: (I think you can click on it to make it bigger)


Reece wanted a Super Spy birthday party so we gave it a shot. The kids were so cute in their little Secret Agent outfits. :o) The journaling notes read:
Facts:
-Birthday Boyt requests Secret Agent/Super Spy Party.
-Upon arrival, agents are given code names and trained by top Super Spies.
-Agents are issued Super Spy gear and badges.
-Birthday cake is discovered missing.
-Super Spies follow clues left by cake thief.
-Suspect is apprehended.
-Cake is enjoyed by all.
CASE CLOSED

(Another) First Day

Today was Reece's first day to ride the bus and, boy, was he excited. He didn't think the bus was EVER going to get here! He kept pacing around and he and the girls wanted to go outside way early. (why didn't this happen yesterday?!) But we did have some time to take a few photos before the bus got here.

Here are few to share:

Having fun before the bus arrives. :o)


They were glad to walk down the lane this morning...I'm sure there will be many mornings of them having to run the entire way trying to make it before the bus does.


Yes, I had to do this one more time (the girls couldn't believe it) but I told them that my mom did it to me so now I get to do it to them! So they smiled pretty for me. :o)


There's Reece saying hi to Mary as he boards for his first bus ride with big sis following close behind. I watched as he went about 5 seats back and sat in an empty seat. Then he turned and looked out the window and gave his momma a little wave. Thanks buddy....your momma needed that.


Walking back up the lane, I was, of course, a little sad to be sending my little guy off to school, but also very excited for him as he begins a new chapter in his life. It is a beautiful day and we are so blessed to be right where we are. You go, little man.

First Day of School

Today began another school year for the kids. Another summer break that has flown by way too fast - for me anyway. The girls were ready to see their friends and meet their new teacher. Reece has been waiting for this day since summer started. They enjoy being home and miss the freedom of summer but they are ready for another year of school. After school, Rylee promptly announced, "I LOVE third grade!!" so I guess that is a good sign. :o) Randy and I took Reece today...kindergarteners don't ride the bus on the first day of school. We took him at 9:30 and then brought him back home at 11:30 so tomorrow will be his first full day. He can't wait. When we were leaving the school, I asked him if he thought he was going to like Kindergarten ok and he said, "Yeah, I like it already!" like geez' mom!

Here are a few pictures I took this morning:


Of course, we wouldn't want to be running early so I had to snap this one quickly so the girls could run to catch the bus!


"Mom, please take the picture already!!"


Reece was so excited to find his name tag when we first arrived at school.


And then his very own desk!


Slow down!! You're getting too big little man. (sniff,sniff)


Reece with best buddy Cavan on their first day of Kindergarten. Aren't they handsome? Libb, it's going to be ok! They're going to be fine, I promise.

Ok, another big day tomorrow so I'd better go for now....

Latest Layouts

Reeva got braces in Feb. She's doing great with them. I can't believe how much difference we can already see. :)

{US}

A layout of me and Randy and what I love about us!

Beautiful

Reeva and Rylee - I can't believe how fast they are growing up.

I see U pretty girl

I adore this picture of Reegan. You can see the bit of mischief that is always in her eyes. So glad Linda captured this shot! I had so much fun creating this "hodge-podge" layout. Randy wanted to know where the "stuff" was on the rest of the page - but I love it just like this!

Little Sister

Love this picture of Reece and Reegan and the poem is perfect. Reece made me read it to him several times and laughed every time!
Poem:
Little Sister
My sister is a nuisance...my sister is a pain. If it was up to ME I'd leave her out in the rain. But don't you tease my sister or be mean to her at all, 'cause I'll stand up for my baby sis' 'cause she thinks I'm 10 feet tall. -Patsy Gant

BFF x 6

Made this layout for a class at the Scrapbook Tree! I had a lot of fun doing it and am glad I finally took the time to create a layout and journal about my sisters and our friendship.

Timeless

Little Miss Reegan playing dress up and looking absolutely adorable!

Ok, so here are a "few" of my latest layouts. Libb and I are getting ready to go on a scrapbooking shopping spree tomorrow so I'm sure I'll be buying way too much stuff. Hopefully, I'll get to have lots of fun using it!

The Journey So Far

So, I've been wanting to start a blog for awhile now but always seem to find an excuse not too. No turning back now, right?! My journey so far has been a good one....I'm excited to get back to journaling about the daily happenings as my family and I journey along in this crazy, ordinary life {that I love} of ours!

This summer has been a busy one. Randy and I celebrated our 12th anniversary. Reece turned 6, Rylee and Reeva turned 9, and Reegan will be 4 in October. School is getting ready to start. Rylee and Reeva will be in third grade this year and Reece will be starting Kindergarten! He is so excited and absolutely cannot wait! I'm afraid Reegan is going to be a little lost without her big brother at home while the girls are at school. I will also be heading back to school the week after the kids start...but the end is FINALLY in sight! I only have three classes this semester and then I will be student teaching in the spring. Yay for me!

Well, I just wanted to get this first post out of the way. :o) I hope to be back soon with some of my latest layouts to share. Did I mention that I loooove scrapbooking?! Never thought I had a creative bone in my body but there is just something about getting a little messy with some paint and funky embellishments that makes me happy!