Running everywhere

Jack is off to the races! Walking bordering on jogging. He needs a bit longer, but it's not long now...dang it. Lauren can keep up with him, but we barely can and he knows it. He got a temporary reprieve today at Target when he was sprung from the cart. He laughed and "ran" from us for 10 minutes. He is SO darn cute!!!

I'm not one to brag, but this IS my blog...

Lauren is a genius! One of the most intelligent in her class (according to her parent/teacher conference) and she is "sparkly"! She counted the highest when asked to count, can hop on each foot, skip, walk backward, copy shapes (pre-writing and pre-math skills), write her name with a capital letter followed by lower case letters, knows her capital letters (and said them as fast as she could) and all of her lower case letters (except for the funny looking 'g' just like that one that she told the teacher did NOT look like a g...) and she has a lot of friends and interacts with them all very well. Her one thing to work on is to wait to talk. "...she is just bursting with information to share and she has a lot to say, but thinking 'is it my turn to talk or my turn to listen?' is something they will be working on for the next 3 mo." I am SO proud of her!!!

I know. It's been a month...sorry

We have had a LONG vacation. It was great, but LONG in case I didn't mention it. We went to the beach, to Mark's wedding (it was beautiful, btw!), and to Walt Disney World. The kids loved it. We did too. 4 is a magical age to go to Disney. 1, not so magical. Bored. He also wanted down A LOT and he is SO strong. We did get to take him on 2 trains, the Carousel of Progress, The Transit Authority and a few others. He did like the fireworks each time, but slept through Fantasmic. Lauren was thrilled to meet Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, Leo, JoJo, Goliath, June, Cinderella, Prince Charming, the wicked step mother and sisters and WOODY from Toy Story.
Look at my www.flickr.com acct. if you want to see pictures.

The big ONE

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Originally uploaded by The Joys of Motherhood

So, Jack is now 1. Wow. I swear, time flies when your having fun. Or, when days drag on and on and on and you think the day may never end and then you look and it's been so long you think, "How did we get here?" A friend told me that she was told, "The days are long, but the years are short." No truer words were ever spoken. Happy Birthday little boy!
Love,
Momma

Blue and brown

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Originally uploaded by The Joys of Motherhood

Aren't they just cute enough to eat? We are getting ready for our trip to FL. We are going to be gone a while. Packing, or just the thought of, is enough to make me shake and sweat. I know we will have fun once we are there, but the trip may be the hardest part. Jack isn't quite the traveler that Lauren always has been. I am taking snacks, bribes, movies, toys etc., but he will just want out of his seat and down on the ground to move around. Not likely. Poor kid. I hope I have it built up to be way worse than it actually will be, but I bet my fears are spot on. Wish us luck! I'll try to post again before Christmas, but if I don't, Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Happy Turkey Day! (almost!)

Today was Lauren's Thanksgiving program at preschool. She was a turkey who sang and danced. Actually, her entire class played turkeys. It was very cute. When the turkeys had to gobble, gobble, gobble, she would work the beak and make it gobble. Then we ate pumpkin muffins the kids had made the day before. Granddaddy and Aunt Rebecca and Jenna came, as well as Momma, Daddy and Jack. It was a great program!

My neice!!!

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Originally uploaded by The Joys of Motherhood

I would like to introduce Jenna Eloise to the masses who read this (hee-hee!). She was born on Oct. 17, 6 pds. 15 1/2 oz., 21 in. long. She is as beautiful as you would imagine and so sweet. She make Jack look huge and makes the sweetest little baby noises. Lauren loves to hold her and says over and over, "She's just so sweet!" I forget how small babies really are. Heck, neither of mine were ever this small on the outside of me, so that explains that. She is perfection. Congrats to her momma and daddy for a job well done!!!

Goebel Farms

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Originally uploaded by The Joys of Motherhood

We went to the pumpkin patch over the weekend with friends and it was hot, but great. We got to see lots of pumpkins and gourds and we saw the coolest chocolate lab who fetched sticks out of the lake.

Update:

Pre K is all we hoped it would be and more. She loves school and cannot wait to go everyday. Good sign of things to come!

We have all had the nastiest stomach flu over the last few days and it sucked. Jack is the only one still dealing with it. Hoping it is on it's way out since it is nutclub time again. Off to try fried Coke...I'll let you know what in the heck that is when I find out.

Tomorrow starts PreK

She has been 1 day so far and LOVED it! She has 17 kids in her class, 2 sets of twins and she is the funniest one, according to the other moms. Nice... I have the funny kid. I'll let you know more tomorrow.