We are still alive!

I am taking a minute and posting a few pictures! Everyone is well! Rod survived Spring break with all the kiddos home and my ever so brief trip to Atlanta!

Sweet Sixteen!

I am feeling a sense of satisfaction tonight! My first baby turned sweet sixteen today! Here are a couple of videos and pictures from the big day!


The gang - Brennen, Tay, Taneur (top right) and Zoe (bottom right)
Isn't she beautiful??




And the youngest crowd - Cadence, Matthew & Reagan at lunch today!

Reagan's Writing

I have to brag! Reagan is doing so awesome in school! Everyday, the kids are given 20 minutes to write in class. They are encouraged to sound out words and write them down as you hear them spoken. So here is Miss R's latest writing masterpiece! (the drawings and writing on the first page are about liking unicorns!)

The next page is a little more clear - She likes butterflies, Ms. White, Sammie and Taylor (not her sister, her BFF as she will tell you!

Ms. White is awesome! I really appreciate her teaching style of not constantly correcting and letting them enjoy what they are doing. She is a believer that writing letters backward and spelling self correct without making them wrong! Great way to build confidence in writing at an early age!

Halloween Pictures

Just a quick update with Halloween Pictures. We had a great night and the kids has a lot of fun - adults too!

Taylor & Zoe
Matthew & Mommy
Matthew & Jennifer
Rod
Cadence, Emily & Reagan
Shelby & I
Princess Belle
Boyfriend Chance, Reagan and Vail
Matthew!

Ready, Set, Go....

Taylor won a gift basket at her orthodontist. Inside was goodies for the Arizona State Fair. We let Matthew play with the hat and our nightly ritual after dinner has to give him the hat. He puts it on and runs laps around the kitchen island - not a clue why....

We captured it on video last night - complete with his new saying...... Ready, set, go......

October Updates!

A Conversation with Matthew!

We are good here in hot, sunny AZ! We are still holding out in the high 90's during the day and probably will be for the next week or so. I am sad to see summer coming to an end. I love the hot weather!

Last weekend was HELL! The girls were out of school Thurs, Friday and the following Monday for Fall break. Taylor started feeling yucky Thursday morning, and by Thursday afternoon Reagan was ill and both were running a fever. A trip to the doctor Friday afternoon confirmed our fears - the FLU! So 2 prescriptions of Tamiflu later, we were just praying that Matthew would make it without catching it! Wishful thinking! Early Sunday morning he woke with it and the fever. Luckily we got Tamiflu called in for him and he started that on Sunday! We made it through Monday and Tuesday Reagan was up to going to school and by Wednesday all of the kids were healthy once again! KNOCK on wood, Rod and I somehow escaped it!

I completed the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure 5k last Sunday. My time was about 38 minutes or so and that was my official kick off race for my 1/2 Marathon training. I am running the PF Chang's Rock'n'Roll Marathon (the 1/2 portion :) on January 17, 2010!

Rod is well. He has a budding new career in website development! He has been putting together sites for a couple of new clients and has been doing a great job. If you know of anyone needing web services - www.rncgroup.net!

Taylor is doing great in school. 10th grade seems to agree with her pretty well. She is kicking booty in English (I can't relate - never enjoyed or did well!) I am encouraging her to think about a career in journalism. She is an excellent writer and it comes naturally for her.

I love Reagan's school! She has a fabulous teacher that seems to be a great fit for her personality. No complaints coming home and the reports so far is that she is doing great. I talked with her Spanish specials teacher and he told us how she refused to participate for the first two weeks - not Reagan like at all - but finally she warmed up and jumped right in, even knowing the stuff that they had been learning!

Matthew is almost 18 months! (Pouty face from Mom!) His new word is dinner - all meals are dinner! He can count to three (probably from the Reagan threats, You better do "X" by the time I get to three - one, tw0......, three!) And he likes to sing. Every now and then you can pick up the letters that he is saying and recgonize the ABC's! He also got his first haircut! My good friend Jennifer came over and gave him a little trim! Here is a video from that!

Back to School

Our girls started school today!

Taylor is back at Foothills Academy in 10th grade - I must have had her when I was 9!  HA HA!  Taylor has a whopping 10 students in her class.  Gotta love those ratios!  It was sad that they lost over half students from last year, but they did get 3 new ones in.  She is in for the final 3 years!  Amelia is in the other class - smart staff for not putting them together!

Reagan is at a new charter school Foothills Academy Elementary Prep!  It has been down to the wire for them to get their lease signed and everyone moved in for the year to start!  Because of a agreement with the owner of the building, they could not offer kindergarten!  So Reagan is a transitional first grader!  She thinks it is cool to have "skipped" a grade.  Since the school does multi-age classes, she will get everything she needs!  Here are pictures of her friends Samantha (one of Taylor's best friends, Zoe's little sister) and Dominick (Reagan and Dominick went to Rising Sun Montessori together last year).

  

And Matthew gets to be the center of attention for a few hours a day!  He is growing like a weed and is talking more and more everyday!  He loves to put his fingers in his ears and yell!  Very nerve wracking!  Here is a quick picture of him!