check back

Sorry, no pics with this update. I realized I hadn't gotten on the internet in weeks, and found that we had a signal this morning. I don't feel like taking the time to find my camera and load pictures right now though, because the connection is slow. We will officially be getting the internet friday though (I know we are way behind the times), so check back then for pictures. We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a Happy New Year! See you next year!

have you been

NAUGHTY

OR

NICE?

virginia

We went to Virginia to visit Uncle Dallas and Aunt Amber in October. We had tons of fun. We went to a safari park (I forgot my camera, so no pics of that). Basically you get buckets of food and drive through the park with the windows down and feed the animals. But the animals are huge, and they try to steal your buckets. Reagan really liked seeing all of the animals up close, even when they were wiping their snot on the windows. One of the huge camels took Amber's bucket, which was hilarious and scary. One of the animals took Dallas' too, but he got out and took his bucket back! We also went to VMI to watch a parade, went to the library, played at the park, went for a scenic walk, ate lots of good food, played games, and made up words like Cabooski. Thanks for the fun time!

Uncle Dallas and Kennedy at the parade

Aunt Amber and Reagan at the parade

Amber and Reagan reading

Reagan and Dallas playing at the park

Kennedy and Dallas cuddling

The parade at VMI

family home evening

On Monday nights we have Family Home Evening, where we have a little spiritual message and do something fun as a family. We recently heard someone say that we should read the scriptures with our kids even when they are little, just keep it short to keep their attention. So we decided to start writing out one verse each week in a large font for Reagan to read. She really liked reading it, so I decided to catch it on film. In case you can't hear her very well, here is what she is reading:

Mosiah 2:17

And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.

the girls

I don't feel like taking the time to unload pics off my camera, so here's a blurb about my two gals.

Kennedy turned six months last week! She has been sitting up on her own for a while now, which is much more fun for her. She watches Reagan all the time and laughs at her a lot. She shoves everything in her mouth, and I do mean everything. Her favorites are paper and plastic. She enjoys baby food, except for peas. She smiles all the time, and gets lots of strangers to stop and talk to us. She is really good at turning herself in a circle when on her tummy, and sometimes moves backwards. She is as cute as can be, and such a joy!

Reagan is almost 26 months now. We broke her of her binky the day after we got home from virginia. It took her about a week to start sleeping normal again, but life is great now! She sometimes says, "Want Reagan's binky!" but then she quickly says, "Reagan's binky is all gone, she threw it in the trash." She has a good memory. Some of her newest (not all that new, but I haven't posted them before) tricks include jumping on one foot, doing a somersault, she knows the alphabet in spanish, and she can hold up her fingers while counting 1 through 5. She is still reading everything. Yesterday I had the weather channel on and she read "Lansing, Howell, and Jackson." Yeah, weird I know. The other day when she was praying she said she was grateful for her enzymes. I never even thought of that! I learn so much from her, she is a wonderful child!

Thats about all the time I've got, so hopefully there will be pictures with my next post!

fall pictures

We took the girls to a park about a month ago to try to take some fall pictures of them. I rarely ever do professional because Reagan never behaves herself there. My mom uses her camera which is TONS better than mine, and we usually end up with a couple of keepers. Here are my favorites...

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I'm trying to decide which ones to actually print for our wall. If you get a chance, let me know which ones are your favorites of each!

HAPPY FALL!

we love fall

There are numerous reasons we love the fall, other than football season! We have taken a couple trips to the cider mill, picked 8 pumpkins, taken strolls to find fall foliage, done art projects, visited friends, decorated pumpkins twice, carved pumpkins once (pictures to come, I forgot my camera), went through a corn maze, and dressed up in our costumes.


Reagan's collection from our fall stroll, she had fun gluing them to paper. She also thought it was fun to glue our carpet - oh well!

We had to miss one of Reagan's art classes due to a 104 degree fever, so we had our own fun at home. Here is Reagan's piece she named "hands."

Here is her piece called "apples." We cut apples in half and used them as stamps.

This was Reagan's last piece from art class. I think this one is my favorite.

We went to Spicer's Orchard with our good friends, Melissa and Alan. Here is a shot of Melissa and her little cutie, Cameron.

I just thought it was really pretty at the pumpkin patch with the sun setting.

Kennedy wanted a little snack, apparently.

Mmmm, that was tasty! Now that my tummy is full, I will smile!

Reagan just likes to watch the other kids pick out pumpkins.

Watching daddy run through the corn maze. We took too long trying to find the seven hidden symbols, so after we found two we headed back out while Daddy ran and found the rest. Good job Daddy, we got free cider and donuts because of you!

Here are the slowpokes... I didn't get a good shot of Daddy because he was so fast!

We went to Lowell to visit the Rolls, and got to see Austin, Kara and Addie too. We dressed the kids up in their costumes, and had a little zoo. Two giraffes, piglet, a monkey and a kangaroo.

Isn't she the cutest little piglet you have ever seen?

Poor Mason felt left out without his Skyler...

Adam took advantage of time to cuddle with my little sleeping beauty.
She got her shirt all wet, that is why she is topless.

Our little pumpkin artists. Reagan, Mason, Hayden, and Addie.
At home we decorated our own pumpkins, because we didn't want to carve them too early and have them rot before Halloween. Here's how they turned out.

And a few more...

Okay, now you are pretty well caught up. I will post pictures from our trip to Virginia when I get another break.

first time

Reagan pooped in the potty! Yippee!

pumpkin time

We went to a cider mill with my parents on saturday. I was definitely not impressed, next time we are going back to Uncle John's. What kind of a cider mill makes you pay to go to the pumpkin patch? I understand paying for a pumpkin afterward. Anyways, the line to pay was over an hour, so we went to Kroger for pumpkins instead. Talk about a bummer. The girls enjoyed it though.

Here is Kennedy in her little pumpkin hat that Grandma picked up for her. I know I am biased, but she is so photogenic!

My big girl taking in the sights from the top of a huge pumpkin.
Told you Reagan thought is was so much fun! Dad is in the background in a wheelchair. Yeah, and totally not handicap accessible in any way!
Reagan liked looking at the pumpkins that weren't for sale.

abrakadoodle

One of Reagan's birthday presents is an art class called abrakadoodle. It's only four saturdays, which we thought would be a good start for her. She really loves it. They practice motor skills first with puzzles and play dough and coloring. Then they have a short lesson related to their project. Two weeks ago was Monet and they did their own version of Waterlilies, with glue and tissue paper and coffee filters and paint. Last week they learned about shapes and made pictures with their shapes.

Reagan with her puzzles.

Reagan sitting by Ms. Karen for the lesson. Everyone was impressed that Reagan memorized everyone's names!
Reagan with her shapes masterpiece. She said they are planets and the sun and moon.

home is where the fun is

Getting a reliable internet connection is always interesting, since we just pick up signals from our neighborhood. That means I rarely get a fast enough connection to post pictures. Therefore whenever I get a good connection I post a ton. Here is what the girls have been up to at home...

Kennedy fell asleep in the middle of playing with her toys. She doesn't normally do that, so I thought it was super cute. She normally growls at her toys, so when she got really quiet I turned around to find her dozing.
Reagan and Kennedy having fun in their new car (courtesy of Beth and Rob). Reagan's hair is standing up because of static, Kennedy's hair is standing up because it always does!

Trying to get a shot of my girls before Kennedy doesn't fit into her little sister shirt anymore. I think they have the same nose.
Kennedy decided to stop sleeping well at night, so we decided it was time to give her a little cereal. She loves it, and slurps it all down.

This is what the back of Reagan's hair looks like. Odd, huh? The sides are super straight, but the back is fairly curly. I don't know where she got it from, but I love it!