Congratulations to Sharpe and Seretia

Aunt Seretia and her wedding dress that she made.


Kris (Aunt Sexy) and Princess Izzybee


Sauna and Allison


Grandpa and the Doodle

Saturday night we went down home for my Uncle Sharpe and Aunt Seretia's 50th Wedding Anniversary. It was so fun to see my cousins and family I haven't seen for awhile. It was kind of a mini family reunion. We should have taken more pictures but I was to busy visiting and talking. Congratulations Uncle Sharpe and Aunt Seretia!!

We're home

Thursday we drove down to St. George to visit Mom. Randy hooked up her new computer and got her all set up with her internet. He spent a lot of time making sure everything was okay, that she had virus protection and that she new how to log on and use the websites she wanted to bookmark. He was more patient then me as I was trying to help her and she was double clicking on her mouse so slowly that I had to keep reminding her she has to double click faster. I hope she comfortable with the computer and we can keep in touch with her more online.

Friday night we went to the Tuacahn Ampitheatre to see the play Annie. We had dinner before the performance and Randy took a bunch of pictures of the kids on the fountain. The theatre is so beautiful since it's outside and the red rocks surround it. There was a breeze which helped to cool it off. The play was great. Princess Izzybee was so excited to see it and had been singing "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow" the entire day. After the play when the cast was outside Princess Izzybee was able to meet Annie. Today she was singing "The Sun Will Come Out The Next Day" because she is forgetting the words.

Happy Father's Day to Randy & Dad

Number 4 is on it's way

I was surprised a few weeks ago when I took a pregnancy test that is was positive. I guess I shouldn't have been but after a couple of years I was beginning to doubt it would ever happen. This is the first pregnancy where I didn't tell everyone right away, I decided I wanted to wait until at least after my first doctor's appointment.

Yesterday I had my first appointment. I am 11 weeks and everything looked good. I was able to see the baby on the ultrasound and see the heartbeat. I am finally getting excited and feeling more confident. The baby's due date is January 4th. We told the kids last night and Z Man and Princess Izzybee were excited but the Doodle has no idea what we are talking about and she's the one I'm most worried about.

Yay for us!

Summer Reading

I have been waiting for a few months for the book Storm Glass. I really enjoyed the Study Series from this author and this new book is a break-off from the Study Series. I spent a lot of my day yesterday reading and got about half way through the book. When I showed my kids how much I had read in one day they were impressed (they don't understand that I should be embarrassed to read that much in one day because it means I didn't get much else done).

I took a break from my reading last night to sit down and read with Z Man and Princess Izzybee. It is such a fight to get Z Man to read, especially when I want to read to him or have him read his book out loud to me. Princess Izzybee was happy to sit down and read a Junie B. Jones book to me and she reads really well. Z Man didn't want to read to me, he wanted to read on his own and after listening to him read the first chapter of his Dinosaur Cove book I understood why. He really struggles with reading and in my opinion is a bit lazy about it. If he doesn't know the word he just skips over it or says a word that starts with the first letter of the word without even trying to get it correct. When he reads on his own he skips through a lot of the book. I haven't had him read to me for quite a while, I've let him read alone but through the summer I am going to make him read to me so I can hear if he is improving.

Last week I also started reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Most people who know me know that I absolutely love the Harry Potter series and have read it many times (I actually started reading the series last month again and I'm on book 5). I thought Z Man would like it but he claims he's not liking it very much, it's boring. Last night I could tell he was finally starting to get into the book a little. I'm hoping as we continue he will like it more. Through the summer I was hoping to read the first few Harry Potter books with him and then try Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing and The Lightning Thief series which I've heard is good. I just hope if I keep reading to Z Man and encouraging him to read to me that not only will his reading improve but his love for reading as well.

Last night I was trying the think of some reading incentives for the kids and thought maybe after every 10 chapter books they would get a reward like a fun activity or movie or something. This morning Randy suggested the first reward should be a trip to Chucky Cheese (they have been begging to go there but we have been putting it off since it's not our favorite place as parents). I also decided that 10 books may seem like too many so I changed it to every 5 chapter books for a reward. I hope this helps them want to read and by them I should be saying Z Man.

Does anyone else have any ideas or suggestions for kids reading incentives?

HAFB Air Show

This week has been Air Force Week and today there was an airshow at HAFB (the show is also tomorrow). A few years ago I took the kids and went with Randy's parents for my first air show and absolutely loved it. When I saw that the air show was today I was so excited to go with our family because the kids are older and I knew they would love it. We got a late start because I had a hair appointment and then the traffic getting on base is jam packed. We didn't spend a lot of time going through all the planes because the lines were so long. Luckily we didn't have to wait super long for the Thunderbirds. The Thunderbirds were awesome, I was as excited as the kids, it is just amazing. I took way to many pictures and I'm tempted to go back and watch it tomorrow.

Last Day of School

Today was the last day of school for the kids. They are so excited to not have homework, projects and a set bedtime. I am pretty happy to not have these things as well so, Yay for summer!

Princess Izzybee started her day at a friend's house with a "Last Day of School Breakfast" (fun idea). Z Man asked me to come to his class with his snow cone machine so we could make snow cones for his class which was fun. After school the kids and I planned a swimming party for their friends to come and splash around and have fun. We were afraid the rain and lightening would make the party end early but even with the sprinkles we kept swimming. The kids were already wet so they hardly noticed.

Tonight Z Man is going to the Bee's game with some friends and he is so excited. There are fireworks after the game. I am so tired so my wonderful hubby is stopping for takeout and we will watch movies and laze around the house for the evening. Yay for me.

Go Cardinals!

Z Man has been playing baseball for the Cardinals this season. This is his first year doing kid pitch and the games are more exciting. The played a great game last night that was a lot of fun to watch. We only have a few games left and we're done for the year. Z Man really enjoys baseball I've never been a big baseball fan but I have loved watching him play and improve his game.

Grape Smasher

Z Man was assigned to make a grape smasher out of 2 of the 6 simple machines he learned about this past month. Tuesday night Z Man and his dad spent a lot of time in the garage with power tools creating a this machine to smash a grape. Wednesday at school each third grader presented their grape smasher to the entire grade. Z Man said it was cool to see all the smashers.

The Doodles Haircut

I took the Doodle to Cookies Cutters this morning for a haircut. The back of her hair was getting quite long but her bangs hadn't reached it so it was still a toddler mullet. The girl bobbed her hair and french braided the very front (something I need to learn to do). Her bangs are almost as long as her hair now. I just keep hoping her hair will thicken up, but I have no control over it so I just have to be patient.