Happy Birthday Paul!!

Happy Birthday to the best daddy and husband ever.  We celebrated with mint chocolate chip ice cream!!

RAIN!!!!

This evening at bed time, while we were reading books, it started  to get dark and the lighting and thunder started.  As the clouds moved in Nathan was getting excited about the prospect of  rain.  The kids kept looking out the windows and watching the lightning and listening to the thunder, it was a welcome sight.  At least I thought it was a welcome sight.  The kids excitement turned into fear as the thought of going to bed with the lightning and thunder finally hit them.  Emily was the first with the tears and crying about "it's too scary"  This then upset Maddie and Nathan started complaining that it was too scary and he could not go to bed.  Maddie settled down quickly, but Emily kept on (she is the dramatic one).   This upset Kayla because she wanted Emily to stop crying/screaming about the rain. After a while everyone settled and fell asleep, but what a night!!  No Reagan did not sleep through it, she was awoken by Emily.  It was a nice rain fall and we had almost 2 inches of rain.  HOORAY!!

Updates

Air Conditioner~
      The day that the repairman was here he fixed the air conditioner in 10 minutes.  It was a part he had on the truck and fixed it quickly.  The best part was there was NO charge.  The part was under warranty, but we thought for sure we would have to pay the service call fee, but no it was waived or as the man said, "Davis and David Weekly are going to take care of this bill for you".  I was so excited I think I thanked him and shut the door, maybe in his face!  Sorry!!  The girls were upset that this meant we would not be going to Mrs. G's house to sleep that night.  Emily even wanted to know if she, with Kayla and Madeline could still spend the night.  It was so nice to sleep in an air conditioned house.  We are so spoiled. 

Bella~
    The last few weeks that we had Bella here at the house she was slowing down, would roll in her ball for about 5 minutes than just sit there.  She did not eat very much and was just not the same gerbil we brought home in May.  I warned Ms. Ross that Bella may be coming close to the end of her time.  Well, this morning when dropping the kids off I saw the assistant teacher and she informed me that Bella had died.  The kids handled it well and asked where Ms Ross buried her.  I did not have the heart to say " In the trash", so I just said "I don't know where they buried her" and that was the end of the conversation.  I have to say a gerbil was a pretty easy pet. 

clappping...

Reagan has started clapping.  It is mainly when she gets excited about something. No we did not teach her this, it is just something she figured out one day.  She has always slapped one hand on the floor, a door, a wall, anything, I guess she just figured she would slap her hands together.  A genius, this baby!!

First Day of School!!

Today was the kids first day back to school. It was a great day.  When I dropped them off Nathan and Kayla walked in with no issues, Emily on the other hand cried and was upset.  As her teacher peeled her from me I ran for the door.  Since she is the third child that I had to have peeled from me as I ran out the door, I have lost all emotional involvement with the situation, when I hear of the mom that cried when taking their child to the first day of school, it blows my mind.  WHY!!  Drop them off and run, sure they are sad and upset, but in 10 minutes they will have COMPLETELY forgotten about you.  I am just lacking the sensitivity gene I guess...

When I picked them up from school they were all smiles and had a great day.  It was nice to hear that they had fun and there were friends in their classes from the previous year.  the best part of the pick up was NO homework!!  I think I am dreading t hat more than the kids do.  I am looking forward to a good year.  My goals is to be more involved in the activities at the school, lets see how it turns out! 

Bella

This summer we have had the kindergarten's pet gerbil, Bella. Originally there were suppose to be 2 but on the last day of school when we were to be bringing them home the other one, Shadow, died. Bella is a good gerbil, I am not sure how one could be bad, she (I call her a she, but in truth am not sure if it is a boy or a girl) will bury her food and enjoys being put in the ball where she runs all over the place. It is pretty amazing the way she is able to control the ball and is pretty good about not running into anything. Her lid to the ball comes off regularly so we have to be careful and watch that Sally does not get a hold of her. Sally does enjoy "playing" with her when she is in the ball. Sally hides behind one of the columns and will pounce out at the ball, funny to watch. A friend of ours told us they use to put toilet paper rolls, empty, in the cage for their gerbils to chew on and run through. the kids thought this was great idea and the next day in went one. Bella had a great time shredding it with her teeth and just adding to her bedding. I expect that the toilet paper will last longer once Bella is returned to Mrs. Ross. It has been fun and now a pet gerbil has been added to list of possible pets...


Notice in the picture the lid came off and Bella is trapped under the ball.  (no I did not stage this!)

Funny!!

The other day when it was 90 something in the house Maddie was playing with Reagan. I am not sure why but Maddie s the only one that can make Reagan REALLY laugh!