Paws for Reading

Our local library has a reading program called, "Paws for Reading" each fall. We just discovered it on the final day last year and the girls loved it! Today was the first day for this fall and we were there bright and early. They had about 10 different dogs their and Addison and Reagan couldn't leave until they had read to each one of them. Graycn read to a few and then came out to build puzzles with me. They girls get a sticker with a picture of each dog as they read to them. They are on a mission to collect them all. I know we will be headed back for the dog's day in November.

Action Shots

We are about midway through our first soccer season. It has been fun and interesting. Her poor team, The Mason Comets, hasn't won a game since the first week. They have lost the last four 1 to 0. Turns out playing 9 on 9 soccer makes it really hard to score! Her team is still a little disorganized, for instance today, at the start of our game, we only had 7 of our 10 players. 2 more trickled in late and one wasn't there. We have a handful of really good girls, but also a few that just do not want to play soccer. Their parents have them sticking out the season....but they just don't like it. I feel bad for them. Addison likes playing goalie best. She usually plays one quarter as goalie, 2 quarters of offense and one quarter as a defender back near the goal. She takes it all very seriously! The team today scored on her, and that is the first time she has let a ball in. She did a great job and blocked their first shot, but she wasn't able to get her hands on it and throw it out and they turned it right back and took a second shot on her, that one went in. She was not too happy with herself. The verdict is still out if she will play next year. Today she told me, while putting on the layers of socks and pads that she was doing gymnastics next time, because you didn't have to put on so much "stuff".


She is serious about defending her goal. And she coaches from there too. She is always encouraging/instructing her teammates when they are down the field.


She is ready to block the shot.


She got this one.


She stays attentive and ready.


Now she is headed into offense.


She was working hard to keep that ball.

Reagan 4 1/2

~Reagan had her 1/2 birthday a few days ago.....she picked out cookies for all of us at the grocery store. Hard for Mamma to believe we are rapidly headed towards five. Last week, we went to eat lunch with Addison at her school and I watched Reagan skipping down those halls knowing she will be headed there next year. Mama isn't ready for that!! I better brace myself, because her registration papers will be coming soon.

~Reagan has a new best friend at school. His name is Charlie. They are inseparable during class and so precious together. Reagan has lots of sweet girl friends, but if she is in a group setting, without one of her close friends, she will ALWAYS play with the boys. During Addison's soccer practice, I am usually on a nearby playground with Reagan and Gracyn. Reagan is just one of the group, in a pack of 1st grade boys. She plays tag with them every week and keeps right up with this crew of boys that is 2 years older than her.No one seems to ever question that she is the only girl and that she is much younger, it is just a given that she always joins their game.

~She is my most musical. She remembers songs quickly, loves to sing and plays with her piano and guitar from Steve and Nea, quite often. She is the only girl with her own playlist on the ipod. We listen to her songs in the car every day. She has quite a mix....Taylor Swift, worship music, Wizard of Oz, Annie, Lion King, Carrie Underwood and more.

~She loves hats. Her favorite is a purple hat that Grandma got for Addison at Gymboree back when Reagan was just a baby. She wears it all the time!

~She loves spelling and letters. She is learning at school to use lower case letters, she is always asking and trying to figure out how things are spelled, and if Addison brings home a really easy book from school, with lots of repetition, Reagan will read it.

~Reagan and Daddy teach the two-year-old class (Gracyn's class) at church every other Sunday. Reagan is so sweet with the little ones....they love her. She is also getting a chance to be the big sister while Addison is at school. She and Gracie are having a sweet time together, and I love watching Reagan get to be the leader.

~She is faithful with her prayers. Whenever she is worried about someone or something she always says we need to pray about it. Often she tells me in the morning, that she was praying about something in her room last night.

~Reagan and two other big sisters and good friends, Faith and Payton, come along to a bible study class for the baby sisters. Oh my, they have a blast, but the 3 of them can get a little out of control in there!!! Makes me realize how siblings often get banned from activities.

~She loves to draw. The last pictures are of her coloring the whole row of landscaping rocks with chalk. There are probably 150 rocks in that path and she has decorated them all.

~Love my sweet Reagie girl. She's our teensy-weensy, snuggly, happy, loving precious one!

Gracyn - 2 1/2

~She has only a few pronouns she uses....she, he and they. She might bring me her baby doll and tell me, "She want she clothes on" or "They want they lunch." Recently at the doctor, the nurse was getting ready to strep-test Gracyn and she latched herself securely to my person, buried her head in my shoulder and said, "Don't let she do dat to me!".

~Hand Sanitizer continues to be one of her all time favorite things. She calls it Han-i-tizer. She has her own and she knows to use just a "widdle-bit", but she also sneaks into Addison's backpack whenever she can and bathes in it.

~She is a sweet, sweet girl. She doesn't want anyone sad or crying. She wrapped her arms around me unexpectedly a few days ago, hugged me tight and said, "You a gooooood mama!".

~She can't get enough of her best friend Ellie-Bellie.

~At the park a few days ago, an older (8-year-old) boy was telling her she was a baby. I seriously thought she was going to TAKE HIM DOWN! The girl was MAD!!!

~She wants her bedroom door left open at night, so the hall light shines in. If I accidentally close the door she tells me, "Don't turn the dark on!".

~Nap time is no more. I lay her down, while Reagan is at school. She plays for about 30 minutes and makes all kinds of noise in there, but she won't go to sleep. Often she ends up falling asleep in the car at 3:30, on the way home from Reagan's school, which just messes up bedtime.

~If you ask her how much something costs, she will tell you, "Two and-o-clock dollars."

~She wants to be a Chedder-Cheese Sunchip for Halloween.

~She tells the girls each day who gets to "Be my buddy!". They both want this coveted position as her buddy for the day, and unfortunantly she has learned to use this to get things she wants from them.

~Love, love her. I can't believe we are on the backside of 2. She really isn't a baby anymore. So sad to not have a baby, but so much fun to have another girl in my crew to hang out with!!!

Zoo Day

Mimi came for a visit last weekend. After a very exciting flight in, that ended in an emergency landing, she had a great trip. We kept her busy. She got to have lunch at Red Robin with Gracyn and I, then pick Reagan up from school and Addison up from the bus stop. It was a bit chilly, but we played outside and she met a few neighbors. That evening we went to the park to feed the ducks and then out for dinner and Cincinnati's famous Greater's Ice Cream.

Saturday we watched Addison's soccer game and then took the girls to see Lion King. We finished the day off with yummy Dewey's pizza.

On Sunday, mom went to our church service while Tommy, the girls and I were working in our different classes. Then we headed to the zoo. It was a bit cold and rainy at times, but we had fun anyway. The girls favorite thing of the day was feeding the Lorakeet birds. We must have been in there for 30 minutes, but as soon as we left Addison began begging to go back in. They also loved feeding and brushing the goats. My kids love anything at the zoo that they can get their hands on. Finally after a long day with the animals, my mom watched the girls so Tommy and I could go out for a quick dinner.

Monday Mom walked Addison to the bus and said good-bye, then the little girls and I headed to the airport to drop her off. Thankfully her trip home was a lot less eventful. Thanks for coming Mimi!!

What goes up, Must come down

My girls LOVE to collect air-soft pellets. For those of you who haven't seen them, they are just like a B.B. from a B.B. gun, but they are plastic and come in a variety of colors. We have lots of middle school boys in the neighborhood, who love having air-soft wars, so the little colorful beads are scattered all throughout the grass and sidewalks around here. Gracyn's absolute favorite thing to do outside is to hunt for and gather them. We have tons in my house.....baggies and bowls full. You can find them in my washing machine, in the girls rooms, in the baskets on their bicycles and, most recently, in Gracyn's nose!!!

Gracyn and Reagan were playing downstairs yesterday, while I was up in my room. Gracyn came upstairs and said to me, "Get my "bead-treasure" out my nose. It is huwt-ing me!". This was a parenting first for me, as my other children have never stuck anything up their nose. I looked and looked, examining her and couldn't see anything. But, she continued to say that she had put it up her nose, that it was hurting and she was getting more and more upset about it. I called our pediatrician and she had a lovely suggestion. She told me to plug Gracyn's other nostril with my finger and then blow fast puffs of air into her mouth. We tried this off and on for thirty minutes with no luck.....only increasing frustration from her. So, we loaded Reagan and Gracyn in the car, picked up Addison at the bus-stop and headed for the Cincinnati Children's ER. I was laughing on the way there, that this is how we would end up with our first ER visit.

Upon our arrival at the hospital, we made a quick stop at the bathroom. While in there, Addison began her inspection of Gracyn. "Yup mom, she put one in there. I can see it, it's green!". Reagan checked her out again next and confirmed it was green. Finally I got a look and saw that yes, we could now see the "bead-treasure". That was progress. At least now I know for sure that she did put it up her nose and we can skip the x-rays. I tried blowing in her mouth a few more times, but couldn't get it to come down any farther.

A few minutes later we were at the registration desk, completing the check-in process. They had just gotten all our information and were about to put a hospital bracelet on her, when suddenly the green "bead-treasure" just sort of slid out. It was nice and slimy, but on the outside again! There were many young boys watching with fascination and she was quite the hit with the nurses.

I kindly asked them to cancel our ER visit, and please don't bill me and we headed home. We have now exhausted the "Don't put anything up your nose conversation" and I don't think it will be happening again anytime soon. There is never a dull moment around here, that is for sure.

Let the Soccer Begin

Addison signed up to play with the city soccer league this year, and it is our first venture into team sports. We had a rocky start, with a coach who had quit and was replaced by someone who hadn't really planned on coaching. We had no information about the team, until nearly one month after we expected it and the girls were 3 weeks late getting started on practice. However, none of that mattered on Saturday. They showed up for the first game and did great. Despite never having more than 7 or 8 at a time show up at practice, they had 9 players (which is how many you need to play). In keeping with the disorganization theme, the girls never really chose a team name, or got around to getting their names on their shirts. Team names that were suggested ranged from Yoda, to Green Grass (suggested by my daughter), Green Dogs and many more. Addison is number 8 and she played great. The nameless team in green ended up taking the game with a 1 to 0 victory. They were so cute and so excited when the scored. We were proud of Addison. She can't wait for next Saturday.

#8, Pre-game

Little sisters on the sidelines. Who needs to watch soccer, when you have an iphone.
Addison, taking the ball towards the goal.

Cheering for our girl.

Daddy can't sit....he is much to nervous and paces the sidelines. This picture makes me laugh. The camera focused on her feet. Not my intention, but pretty cool.

Addison played goalie for one quarter. She made sure not to let the ball anywhere near the goal.

Victory line.

I guess this officially makes me a soccer mom.

In There Somewhere

Gracyn napped like this one day this week.

This, That and alot of Other

~Courtesy of the movie Rio (G-Rated, by the way). Gracyn told Reagan to "Shut-up!!!" last night. After we talked to her and told her not to say that we sent her to apologize. She did the reluctant, head-down, walk-of-shame back over to Reagan, gave her a hug and said, "Rea-Rea, I sa-wee bout da shut-up!!!". Not glad she said it, but the apology sure did make us laugh.

~Courtesy of Pocahontas, Gracyn was wrestling with her Daddy and sisters last night when she suddenly yelled at them, "Savages, Savages, Savages!!!".

~Now I feel like I should explain that my home TV is almost NEVER on. They watch these movies in the car. When we lived in CO, the car TV was only for long trips. Here, everything is so spread out, that school drop off and one or two errands can easily result in an hour and a half in the car. So, once or twice a week, I give in and turn the TV on.

~The Dance Jam class at lifetime is one of my new favorite things. What better way to start a week, than with an hour of fun music and hip-hop. I am probably making a fool of myself, but no one is watching!

~First grade. WOW. I was not prepared for how the full-day schedule was going to affect everyone in the house. Nor was I prepared for the reality of handing my baby over to someone else for most of her day. It has been a rocky start.... not for her, for us. She is fine with school and comes home happy, for which I am so thankful!!! Her Daddy and I have had a bad experience with some miscommunication and some unexpected uncertainties. If Addison knows about any of our concerns, she sure hasn't expressed it. We are trying to move forward, hopefully gain some trust and respect for her teacher and have a good year. Honestly, 3 weeks in and I am longing for summer!

~We have had 6 straight days here of rain, gloom and weather in the upper 60's. I need some sunshine.....not sure how I am ever going to survive a full winter here. I better learn to like the color gray!

~So sad that for the first time in 6 years I am not participating in a Women's Bible Study. I was especially interested in taking Priscilla Shrier's study on Jonah. But, I just can't make the schedule work with everything else we have going on. Maybe in the spring! Instead, I am hoping to get some extra reading done, starting with Angie Smith's new book, What Women Fear.

~I have a newly restored appreciation for Maggie the Dog. My kids are loving her right now and she is so, so sweet with them. Addison recently has taken to walking her and she behaves so well on the leash for her. This might surprise anyone who has ever seen me walk her, since she DRAGS me all over the place!!! Maybe she has just finally figured out she can get out more if she will mind her manners, or maybe she is just being extra gentle with Addison. Either way, I will take it. She walks with us to the bus stop each day. Addison takes over when she steps off the bus and takes her for a walk around the cul-de-sac.

~I found the cutest little lunch box notes at Hallmark. They are ice-cream cones and they all have different little sayings. I have been putting them in Addison's lunch box and asked her about it a few days ago. Her response, "Mom, I don't read those. Lunch is short. I have to eat and I want to talk to my friends, I think I threw them all away!". My poor, poor heart, she stomped on it!!! So different from last year. In CO she went to lunch at school 2 days each week and she saved every note I gave her!!!

~As if my heart wasn't already hurting enough, she won't wear a bow anymore. If I put it on her, she takes it off on the bus and puts it in her backpack. :(

~Reagan had a fun day with Mommy last weekend getting ready for school. She wanted to get her nails done and shop for clothes, so that is what we did. We also got stuck in a crazy downpour and I couldn't find my car, so we came home soaking wet!!! She loved it.

~Love Addison's compassionate heart. She has a girl with autism in her class. The teacher's have paired Addison to buddy with her. In the morning, Addison stays on the bus with her, until her aide arrives. So glad that my girl has such a caring heart, and thankful that her school recognizes that and puts it to good use.

~Gracyn has more successful potty trips everyday. I am hopeful that we will be diaper free in the next few months.

~Reagan is going to start singing in a choir at church. She loves music and I think it will be a great activity for her.

~Next week, I must do a better job of having my camera with me. Life is going quick, and I haven't been to good at taking pictures of it lately.

Reagan's First Day of Pre-K

Today, Reagan finally had her first day back at school. This girl was ready. She ran to my room at 6:30am back in May, on the day after her last day of pre-school asking if it was time for her 4-year old class. And, despite the fact that we have had a fun-filled and busy, busy summer, she always says, "I miss school!". This morning, she had her back-pack on and was ready to go at 9am. I had to break the news gently that her class doesn't start until 12:30.

Daddy met us at school and we went into class with her for the first few minutes. The teacher read The Kissing Hand to all of us and then Mommy and Daddy said good-bye. I am picking her up in a few minutes and can't wait to hear all about her first day in the Raccoon class.