Some Pictures and a Project

I told you yesterday I hadn't taken any pictures but I was wrong. Here are a few from the past week. Faith looking especially cute and stylich. Olivia dressed up and ready to go...somewhere??




















Now for the project. Faith and I made these letters for Mrs. Nay (Faith's teacher) for her birthday. We had fun decorating each letter with ideas that are special about Mrs. Nay!!

Where Does Time Go?

I don't even think I've taken a picture in two weeks. But plenty has happened - so I thought I'd just write a quick update. First, Brad and I took a much needed vacation. We went to Las Vegas to celebrate our 9th anniversary. Can you believe it's been 9 years (15 from the time we started dating!!) We still love each other so much too!! We missed the girls but it was fun to sleep in, eat long dinners and get a little pampering at the Bellagio Spa. While we were away Faith got her first homework infraction. That's "Reagan Talk" for bad news. She has had a fairly difficult time remembering to gather all her stuff at the end of the school day. And if you forget an assignment (or in this case - her notebook) you get written up. We were striving for the perfect homework award - but oh well!! Maybe she needed this to help her get organized. I think the biggest problem is that the other students had an entire kindergarten year to learn this process. We're kind of playing catch-up. I guess if this is the worst thing that happens we
re in good shape. Brad was sick all week when we got home. But now he's nice and rested so that's good. Olivia is just - Olivia. We're still busy playing soccer (Faith was removed from the game this week for slide kicking - oops!!). And dancing. And church. And gymnastics. And Volunteering at the school. And being room mom. Oh and work full-time plus raising two great kids. But life is so good. Thank you Lord for all the blessings.

Neglect (but not of my children!!)

Oh Blog!! How I've neglected you. It's been a busy time getting Faith back in school and getting us all back on schedule. So I'll try to catch you up pretty quick so I can get back to work - doing a billion things. First, I had oral surgery yesterday, so that pretty much knocked me out for the rest of the afternoon. Not too bad actually - just a little sore. Otherwise Faith and Olivia have been busy too. Here's a sample of their latest activities!

Faith had to decorate a shoe box to house some of the paper books that she reads and then brings home from 1st grade. Ok, so ours looks more like Mommy did it - but we really did work together. She helped me select the paper (from my scrapbook stash) and she placed the stickers and chose the "fairy tale" theme. We thought it turned out pretty cute!














A closer view.















So one of the goals I set for our family this summer is sort of accomplished. We wanted Faith to learn to ride her bike without training wheels - but it's not a done deal. She's pretty tentative about the process and not really very stable. And, it's really hard work for the parent who's running beside her. Whew! Meanwhile Olivia just strolls around behind us, enjoying the fun.


















This is what Olivia does EVERY DAY.










She dresses in Faith's old dance outfits and then performs for me all day. Singing at the top of her lings (usually a made-up song about "The Sky". Even when you prompt her with other song ideas - it always revolves back to the sky. But before she starts, she has a very specific process of laying all the "High School Musicals" (that what she calls the dress up clothes) out on the floor in VERY straight lines.














And finally to show how fast Faith is growing - one of the pictures I took before she headed out to school this week. So cute, and stylish, and independent. I LOVE her!!

First Grade!!

Here she is....



















Faith looked darling for her big day in a cute yellow dress that she chose herself while we were shopping this summer. We all four loaded up to take her to the first day at Reagan. She was a little nervous (I think) but excited. Here are some pictures that give you an idea of how our morning went.

The Next Step

School starts tomorrow. I have mixed feelings. Excited - for Faith. She's at a great school, with lots of her friends. She's getting bigger and smarter everyday. And she loves to learn. How can you NOT be excited about that? But I'm also sad because the lazy days of summer are over. We had so much time to "hang out" over the past few months and I got spoiled. I'll miss her - tons. Here are some pictures from "Meet the Teacher" night at Reagan. She has Mrs. Nay (who's supposed to be fantastic!!). She got all of her school supplies and saw her desk. And she broke an apple shaped timer on Mrs. Nay's desk within five minutes of stepping inside the room. Oh well...so much for a great first impression!!



Faith and I love to make things for her teacher. I found this idea last year in a scrapbooking magazine. It was a big hit and totally fun for us. So we made an "Emergency Kit" again for Mrs. Nay. It's filled with goodies like supplies and candy and note cards, etc. Brown-nosing? We don't think so. Just family fun that honors one of the most important influences in Faith's young life!



We have also had some fun with friends. Meacham Sewell had a great birthday party at the Petroleum Museum. It was a "learning" opportunity as well as a chance for fun. The kids learned about rocks (Meacham is obsessed with rocks) and Faith even got to crack open her own Geo. Olivia had fun too. Not a lot of "learning" but socializing - for sure!





And finally - the commercial. Faith shot a spot for our CBS 7 Sports Department and the "Pigskin Preview." Her line..."OOOOO - I'm telling." It was really cute and she did great. She honestly not that impressed to be on TV. When I made her watch the finished product she just said, "Mommy I don't want to watch that any more." So much for a career on the small screen.

True Beauty (Art, Soul and Lemonade)

We have two beautiful girls - inside and out. This has been a busy week. First Faith has a new "job." She's employed by Logan Rose whose dad built her a fantastic lemonade stand. They sell chips, pink lemonade and cookies at "The Snack Shack." And they give away flowers for free. So far Faith's only picked up one shift but she made $2!!!

Faith was enrolled n Art & Soul Camp at church last week. They went every morning and learned songs, did cute projects and ultimately had a show to display all the creative endeavors they've mastered. She was very animated during her performance - and she can really enunciate with the big open space where her front teeth used to reside. Isn't it cute? Oh, Olivia played the role of precious and very supportive little sister!!

Not One But Two!!!!

She's really a snaggle tooth now!! Today Faith was eating some sticky candy (which she earned by being good at Art & Soul camp at church) and her second front tooth fell out. It bled a little and the weird red pulp was still hanging down (kinda gross!). But it's out and it actually looks better. So here's a picture of our new snaggle tooth. Oh, and I included some of Olivia's art work from school. Hope you're having a great summer.

Schlitterbahn 2009

WOW!! Our first trip to Schlitterbahn...and it won't be our last. We drove to Kyle, Tx to see our good friends Kesa and Lucas Larson (and Logan & Levi) and my mom's best friend Judy Thomason. They do Schlitterbahn a lot - so we've been talking about a family outing for months. Well, we finally did it and we had so much fun. Downside? Brad couldn't come! So mom had to take care of both girls - which is a lot harder than it may sound. Boy do I appreciate super dad even more now. Also, mom was a LITTLE bit (ok, a lot) overprotective. But Faith did great and wasn't scared of much. And Olivia was fun too. She loved the slides and even rode with me on a Roaring Rapids ride that was just a little too much. Some highlights you'll see in these scrapbook pages(which I created digitally with my new much easier than Photoshop software and personal hand-holding from Kesa!!)include Olivia's nap - she slept for more than an hour while we continuously circled in the lazy river. Also, Faith's "thumbs up" as she slid down a slide. And my mom's shocked expression when she rode the rapids. Oh so fun.