Brody's in Preschool

The first week of September, three friends and I started a Preschool group for our 3 and 4 year olds. Lindsey, Brenda, Katie, and I take turns having the class in our home once a week. We are teaching the kids their alphabet, numbers 1-10, colors, and shapes. Today was my turn and we learned about the letter "C" and the circle. The kids are so cute-3 boys and 1 girl-and they get excited about the smallest things. Today we made Cookies that were shaped like Circles; pictures of elephants, catapillars, and snakes made out of Circles, and pulled lots of "C" things out of a bag. It's really fun seeing the kids learn new things and have fun with their friends. Brody asks me every week day if it's time to have Preschool. It's one of the only ways to get him to wear clothes instead of a costume all day!

Draven-2nd Grade!

Ok, ok...it's been a month since school started, but atleast I'm doing it! We are still waiting on Pierce to share our vacation info. with you and that was before school started!

August 17, 2009 Draven started 2nd grade. He was excited to go back, but also wanted to be home with us instead. His teacher's name is Mrs. Robertson and she moved from 5th grade to 2nd grade this year. So far his favorite subject is Music again; unless you count Recess as a subject! He's having fun making new friends and is excited about the Science stuff that he will be learning soon. Even though the TAG (Talented & Gifted) program doesn't start until 3rd grade, Draven started a one-on-one class with the TAG teacher last year and has already been seeing her this year, once a week. I think he will really enjoy the different things he learns in that program.

His class has already taken a field trip to Safety City where the kids got to drive electric mini-cars, ride bikes, go through a smoke filled house and out the window, and "walk the streets" of a mini-city. I just hope Draven can stay motivated this year and learn to slow down a little and not make silly mistakes on his work. I guess we all do that, but I still worry about it.

My Amazing Husband

Every year, on our Anniversary, I tell my husband how wonderful he is, how much I love him, and how perfect he is for me. I worry that it's going to get redundant, and seem insincere, but when you're married to the perfect man what else is there to say!? Now, he has put his sweet self out here for all of you to see too (see below), and I just have to say-Am I the Luckiest Girl in the World or What!?

When we got married I loved him, but we all come with expectations about what our marriage is going to be like, and I was prepared for some rocky times. I have been continually amazed by how magnificent (yes I'm using all the adjectives I can think of!) he really is, and how much Heavenly Father loves me, because he sent me Pierce! There is no other way I could have gotten so lucky! I know, if you haven't thrown up yet (Alice), you're thinking, "My husband is really good too, maybe better than that Pierce guy because..." But that's what is so amazing to me! I got the perfect man for ME. Heavenly Father knew ME, and gave me just what I needed. I hope you are as lucky in love!

Pierce. You are amazing as a Man, a Father, and a Husband. You continue to make me proud every day, and I don't want to be anywhere but with you. I love you more now than I did at dinner!
-Jenn

Happy Anniversary!

11 years ago, I couldn't have imagined that I would love her more everyday now than I did even then. It just keeps getting better and better...she is my best friend and so much more. I love you Jennifer....hope you enjoy the video....Happy Anniversary.

We're expecting the 4th edition to our Family!

Jennifer is 7 weeks into what will be the 4th and likely final installment to our family! We are both excited and looking forward to welcoming our baby on or around March 5th....just in time for March Madness ;o)

Draven has said that he would like to have a little sister and is ready to be a big brother once again! Brody and PJ are still a little unsure what all this means and Jedi is probably saying to himself "Oh no, not again." ;o) We would like to have a little girl as well, to mix things up a bit, but at this point we just pray for a healthy baby. All is well at this point and we will likely find out what we are having sometime in October. You will find over to the right on our blog a Baby Ticker showing where Jennifer is in the pregnancy.

Our First Broken Arm

Well, it has begun...the first broken bone in our family goes to PJ. Jenn and I always thought Brody would be the most prone to accomplishing this feat. On Wednesday, July 8th, PJ fell out of his crib and broke his arm. Although I knew it was hurt, he calmed down fairly quickly and I checked his arm for any swelling and even checked his grip. He seemed to be fine so he went back to bed and that was it. The next day we kept an eye on him and he acted normal, favored his arm a little bit but not enough to cause concern. On Friday, a day and a half later, he took a spill while running around the house with the boys and he began favoring his arm heavily...at this point we thought it to be better safe than sorry and take him to the Dr. The Doctor checked him out, very much the same way we did, checking his grip and feeling of his arm. He seamed to be fine but the Dr did a thorough job and took an xray...sure enough, he had broken it in 2 places. They were amazed that he hadn't been pitching a fit and crying in pain for the last 2 days...I guess the little guy has a pretty high threshold to pain. Mommy and the boys took him over to Children's Hospital where they put his arm in a splint to hold him over to Monday for his arm to be fitted with a cast. The Orthopedic Doctor who saw him said there wouldn't be a need to set the break as it was positioned well to heal on its own. PJ tells us from time to time "Me no want that" referring to his cast, however he's been a pretty tuff guy about the whole thing. On another note, he did want the hospital bracelet on for several days after...he did not want to take that thing off.

Now...the funny thing is, Jennifer and I literally had a discussion about 2 weeks prior to the accident about transferring PJ's bed to a toddler bed but decided to wait a little longer because he wasn't trying to get out of it at that point. Needless to say, it's now changed to a toddler bed and he is very proud ;o)

4th of July

Our family headed up to Brazil, Indiana to celebrate July 4th this year. You may remember that my Mom moved there when she married Pete. Pete is one of 12 children, so when they throw a party it's a big deal. We had a lot of fun and did all the small town, 4th of July, things you can imagine...we started with a garage sale, touring the covered bridges in the area, a carnival, and birthday celebration for 3 at Pete's brother's house on Friday. Saturday we journeyed to the Volunteer Fire House Pancake Breakfast before cooking and heading to the park for the big family bar-b-que and picnic. After dinner we played with sparklers and put the boys to bed before the fireworks started. They were so tired that they didn't wake up, even though the neighbor across the street put on a 30 minute show! Sunday was church, and Monday we headed back home after breakfast at the Sunrise Restaurant (Pete's favorite)! All in all it was really fun and really exhausting!

Saturday was the family picnic, and we brought our patriotic shirts, red and blue sunglasses, and glittery temporary tattoo to wear. What can I say, they told us there was a prize for the most patriotic! The big downer of the day was the fact that it was about 68 degrees and raining the entire day. The adults were freezing, but the kids didn't even notice; they took off their shirts and shoes and played on the water slide and with the water guns all afternoon. One big highlight was the wagon Pete made to drive the kids around. He spent a lot of time designing and building it, and I have to say I was impressed! He even drove an two hours on Friday to buy a riding lawn mower strong enough to pull it. I hope you can see in the pictures how nice it was.