Reagan's Valentines

Reagan made crayond for he class this year for valentines day.

We stapled the tag to a plastic baggie

and tied on a few ribbions.

For her teacher, we took a blank journal and added her initial with a sparkely sticker.

Then we added ribbon, of course, and VOILA!, a cute, personalized journal.
(ignore the sick, cold camera feel. it still must be winter here)

Not Tired

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Sweetest Christmas Card Ever

This was my gift from Rea. It was a handmade card and bag in one. She bought me a small bear and made a picture frame at school.
The note is what choked me up though. I am thrilled that she loves school. After watching Payton struggle with missing his family his whole kdg year, it is such a relief she its loving her first year experience.
As for Payton, he is doing just fine at school these days.

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one birthday girl

We celebrated reagan's birthday in cupcake style. the boys wished her a happy birthday and she was happy to make a wish of her own!

girl friends

These girls have been friends since they were born.

They are 1 day apart and love each other so much.

As they enter school together in the fall I pray they will continue to trust each other

and stick up for each other as they do now.

Everybody needs a best friend.

Blackhawks Parade

BLACKHAWKS PARADE

we took the kids out of school (shhh!) and jumped on the train to see the Blackhawks, the mighty Blackhawks, travel down Washington Ave. in celebration of winning the Stanley Cup.


the anticipation was immense



commit to the cup, B


find a light post and climb up so you can see



celebrate till you can't stand it anymore.

... thanks Hawks.

this girl

yes, this one...

the last (pre-k) graduation

Here are some late pics from rea's graduation. I can't believe I have a kindergardener! I have 3 babies (an yes, that's what they still are, babies) in grammer school now. 3 in K - 8.

Not for long, but for 2 more years, for almost 20 months, I will not have a high schooler. Oh Jimmy, to be shown in another post...

On our way to graduation. Rea was excited.

She sang great and said she would like to be a fashion designer when she grows up...

I thinklike Fancy Nancy.

I am so proud ofher, and them, and yet wish they would slow down b/c the time is flying by. It's going too, too fast and I can't stop it, so I must embrace it.

Here is embracement... is that a real word?

rea and her boys...

rea and her daddy and grandma.

baseball 2010

 a small sample of the fun of the season

Dancing starts a morning good

thanks for the phone mom! Payton won't put it down. It's no problem that it doesn't make or receive calls because he just plays the ringtones and takes pictures with it. He even charges it at night so it doesn't run out of batteries.
This is the fun he is having with it. I'm starting to hear the Russian sounding ringtones in my sleep or any other moment of silence I have.
I do have on question though, we really want to know who is 'Snake'?

my bee

a glimpse of what is to come. this is the first picture lately that strikes me as 'older' girl. I see her face changing in this pic. She is more mature. She knows more and has seen more things. Why does she have to be 5 going on 25 and what can i do to stop it?

On the road again... Move on cold weather. Spring is here!

goodbye cold weather and winter and snow! take a trip till next year... we'll miss you so.

and not to jinx myself, but tonight when i fold up the snow pants and put away the scarves, i will forget that it still is only April here in the Midwest and we are still at risk fo scarves and glove weather. But we must choose to move on and if we perchance get 2 in of the fluffy white next week or in a month, we'll have to suffer through it and think sunny thoughts!

Paint the Day Away

I think these kids asked me if they could paint at least 30 times. At least.

Saying yes was a celebration moment for sure.

Paint. It does a child good.

(Payton wants you to notice his muscles)

Go PAINT!

Happy Birthday Baby!

5 years ago today I was the proud mommy of my first baby girl.

And now, here she is, 5 years later and growing fast. Who could have thought she could get any cuter than these sweet baby shots?

Happy Birthday Reagan! I love you more every day!

ear piercing

Reagan got her ears pierced today! she was so brave. she decided today was the day after payton was invited to a painting party at the mall and she was upset she wasn't going to it. we were just walking around the mall and she saw the ear piercing place and said, "mommy, today I want my ears pierced. For my birthday."

She has been going back and forth about getting her ears pierced for about a year now and hasn't been reay to do it yet, so today was the day she made up her mind.

The picture above was the after pic. Her eyes were red but she didn't cry, just teared up and didn't talk for a few minutes.

This was before, she was excited but a little nervous.

Good thing Jimmy was there to hold her hand.

One ear done, one to go. This was NOT the highlight of the experience.

Two ears done and still, nothing to smile about. I wonder if she is thinking, "This isn't all it's cracked up to be."

But she made it... it took about 15 minutes to see a smile after this, but seeing Santa made it all better... and the thought of wearing earrings for her birthday and Christmas!

Go Rea Rea!