All Smiles!

I hardly ever get a picture where all three of my kids are looking towards the camera and smiling, so I just had to post this one. The only thing that would have made it better is if I had thought to take that darn pacifier out of Meg's mouth!

Preschool Gym With Attitude!

I finally remembered to take my camera to Zach's gym class. I took Rece to these gym classes when he was Zach's age and it is so interesting to see the difference in their personalities. Rece was the one who followed the coach's instructions exactly, waited his turn, and so on. Not my sweet little Zach. He refuses to do warm ups until they get to the point where they use the parachute, and the rest of the time he joins in but his coach is constantly having to remind him to wait his turn, move on to the next activity, or hauling him away from something else that has caught his attention. It is entertaining to watch, he is such a funny kid!

So much fun!!!

Basketball!

Rece is playing basketball this year. He is on a team with his friends from school and church; and our friend, Megan, is the coach. When we signed him up, he was a little worried because he had never played before, but he is making great progress and having a lot of fun! These kids are so cute, we even cheer for the other team!

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Happy Birthday Sweetie! I couldn't let the day go by without saying a few things about the great guy I married. You are a fantastic father and I love that you love to spend time with our children. You are a wonderful husband and friend to me. Thank you for your example and all that you do for our family!

We love you! The pictures are getting kind of dated, but I am resolving to be better at taking pictures this year. I hope you have a great day!

Friends

These are my high school buddies - Mindy and Michelle (a.k.a. Min & Shell). We have an annual tradition (usually the day after Christmas) when we meet for lunch, chat, and exchange gifts. I think there was only one year that we missed when Min's daughter became deathly ill and they had to go home early (correct me if I am wrong girls!). By the way, the clock works great even after sitting wrapped in a closet for two years Shell! I look forward to it every year and can't wait to see you both next December (if not sooner!).

Christmas 2008

Christmas this year was great! Ryan had almost two weeks off from work, and we all loved having him home. We spent time with family and with each other. Ryan and I even went out on a couple of dates (thanks Jill)! Christmas morning was so much fun. We were up extremely late and received the best Christmas gift of all when our kids slept until almost 9:00!

Rece's only request from Santa this year was a light saber kit. But Santa just couldn't help himself and he also received a clone trooper helmet, a scrabble junior game, and a new game for the Wii. He is the biggest Star Wars fan I have ever met. He lives and breathes it. He was so excited for Christmas this year and the only thing that dampened his mood was the stomach flu. The poor kid got it twice. He is such a trooper.

Zach never had much to say when we asked him what he wanted Santa to bring him, so Rece put in some requests in his behalf. He got Cars mega blocks, lincoln logs, and a Star Wars ship. He doesn't look very excited about these pajamas, but they are so cute. I guess clothes probably aren't that exciting when you're surrounded by toys. He kept getting presents from under the tree and opening them whether they had his name on them or not. I didn't realize this until I found something for me I didn't remember opening. Apparently, he was opening them and giving them a toss if what was inside was not interesting enough. What a funny boy!

Santa brought Megyn a baby and a stroller. She was so excited! She loves babies! It was so fun to see her get excited about the presents this year. What a difference a year makes! She was so good about leaving the tree, ornaments, and presents alone which really surprised me because she is always into something she shouldn't be!

The kids got extra spoiled by their grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles. Thanks everybody! Oh yeah -- Ryan and I were pretty spoiled too. I realized while trying to find pictures for this that I didn't do so good taking pictures. That is going to be a New Year's goal for me. Take more pictures!

She's Walking!

After months of physical therapy, Megyn is finally walking! She has been taking a few steps here and there, but tonight she really took off. This is a huge milestone for us and her. She has worked really hard and we are so proud of her!

Finally!!!

We finally decorated our tree last night. I usually like to have it up the day after Thanksgiving (never before that), but not this year. I think we actually put the tree up last Tuesday, but I spent about one day "shaping" it and trying to get all the lights to work. A prelit tree is nice, but this one has a lot of plugs. Anyway, it sat there for a couple of days undecorated and it was driving Rece crazy. I wanted to wait until we were all home to decorate it and that didn't happen until Sunday after church. It didn't take long for the boys to hang all the ornaments. I have for the most part left everything they did "as is", except for the ornaments that are low enough for Megyn to reach. We had to move those to higher ground. They did a great job!

A Very Good Month

So November was a very good month for us. After a very long ordeal that started almost nine months ago, Megyn is finally no longer wearing a helmet. We thought it would never end. Yea! So we have gone from this...

to this!

Helmet or no helmet we think she is gorgeous and we are so blessed to have this sweet little girl in our family.

Rece lost the first of his two front teeth. It was getting pretty loose, so one night Ryan just popped it out with a piece of dental floss. It makes me cringe just thinking about it, but Rece thought it was great and was excited for a visit from the tooth fairy. The price of a tooth has definitely gone up since I lost my baby teeth.

I love this smile!

Last, but not least...Zach! We finally got him enrolled in a preschool gym class. I don't have any pictures yet, because I keep forgetting to take my camera so those will be forthcoming. But he loves going to gym. It's a really small class so they got lots of individual attention which is great for him, and it's a great way to use up a small bit of all that endless energy! I thought this was such a cute picture. He loves these vampire teeth he got at Halloween.

He has the best sense of humor and such a great laugh. He asked me one night to take a picture of him and his best friends, so here it is. Three good looking guys!

It's Been Awhile

I haven't posted forever! We were having some "difficulties" with our computer. First, a virus. Then e-mail was all messed up. Finally, something to do with the http was not working. Obviously I don't speak computer. All I know is I was unable to post, comment, or even sign on to our blog. Very frustrating. But fortunately for me I am married to a computer nerd and he got everything up and running again. What a sweetie!