Leader in Character

February 5, 2014
Jackson was given the Bobcat of the Month Award for his 3rd grade class for the month of January!  :) We got to attend the assembly at school where he was given his award in front of the school!  

And then on February 26th, he was given the Leader in Character Award for February.  They only pick one kiddo from the entire school to receive this award each month!  Pretty dang cool!  We were invited to a special meeting with the school board where each child was called up and given their award.  

What a handsome devil! He was really proud of himself, and rightfully so. We were pretty excited for him, moments like this mean so much to his tender heart!  Proud is an understatement! I may or may not have cried a tiny bit.  ;)  

He got a framed certificate, a nice gift card for Barnes & Noble and his picture in the local paper! 

And then he was spotlighted in the next Bobcat assembly, all by himself.  :)  I'm a proud mama!   

I love that he has such a big heart, and that he shows it and shares it!!  Way to go, Dude!  

Pinewood Derby

January 21, 2014
Jackson got to participate in his first derby as a Scout.  He was very excited and spent a lot of time working on his car with his dad!

He had a pretty loud cheering section!  :)  And it was fun to watch!

He didn't place, he is in the largest age group, so there was a lot of competition.  But as heartbroken as he was about it (he wanted a medal so badly), he handled it like a real sport!  He congratulated the kids that won, and even the ones that beat him in the individual races.  He tried really hard not to cry or let it get him down.  He was very grown up about it... and I could not have been prouder of him!!!  I love this boy so much!

He did get the "Cool Car" award!  :)  Don't worry, Dude!  We'll get'em next year!!  ...Or the year after that.  Or the year after that!  ;)  

Fun with the Kiddos

They just keep getting bigger and bigger!  It's crazy how long the days seem and how fast the time flies!  haha.  But they are the very best part of every second of it! 

January 2014
That moment when you realize you have enough kids to fill all the swings!  ;) 

 Brother loves... he is such a good big brother!   

 Oh the things she is learning!  How crazy is it that she is just sitting there, doing it all by her self!?!  

 He is getting SO big TOO fast!  He has decided to start doing this! 

 And he's totally crazy!  ;) 

 Trouble #1 and #2.  They are hooligans!  

 He was such a nice unwilling bow model.  hahaha.

 Love these days!!  

New/Updated Rooms

January 2014
It has taken me a very long time to put Grant's room together.  I have always had baby rooms done before they were born, but #4 proved to be the one that I relaxed a bit with.  :)  But it's finally (almost) done.  What I've been (slowly) up to lately:  Grants room

I love the owls!  It took HOURS to put up, but it made the room!  

I love his new bedding!!  

His door.  (The nickname was Patrick's idea.)

It's not quite done yet, but I love it so far.  :)

Reagan's room was due for an update too, she is a big girl now, so it seemed time.  :)  Of course her room is missing some little things too, but overall, it's coming along nicely!  Reagan's room.

We love polka dots!  :)

We plan to get her a wall mounted TV/DVD (she likes to watch the same movies over and over and over.) but this one works for now.  :)  

She lives in style! :) (This was her birthday present!) 

She seems to like her new setup.  And it's been fun getting to do some projects again!  :)

Miss R is 4

This beautiful girl is 4!  Some fun facts about her this year:
-She has now been walking for a year!  Woowho! 
-She is talking so much, she likes to have conversations with her imaginary friends, she "reads" books aloud, she even says prayers.  :)
-She can identify and sign her 6 basic colors and she is learning to identify her shapes.
-She has 3 therapists, (PT, OT-Feeding, Speech) that we see weekly.  She also has 3 therapists (PT, OT, Speech) at school, that she sees once a week.  She's a busy girl and a really hard worker!
-She has to have the ceiling fan on, her musical bear, her pink blanket, 3 books and Backyardigans playing on her TV on repeat in order to take a nap.
-She LOVES her big brothers!  Jackson is the one who watches out for her and lets her love on him.  Harrison is the one who will play with her or read to her for hours.  They are her best friends!  
-She might love her little brother someday.  Grant is not her favorite person, especially since he became mobile.  She likes to knock him down, sit on him, make him cry any chance she gets...  And when she gets caught sitting on him and making him scream she cleverly begins to pet his face and say "Nice".  So... it's safe to say she totally knows better.  
-She has to eat yogert every single day.
-She is a SUNBEAM is Primary!  Whaaat?!

It's been a big year!  She is changing and learning and growing like crazy! And she continues to be the giggles and sunshine in our home!  It was a tough year for her too, filled with a lot of new skills and trying to put them all to use, frustration has been common place.  And she has been in a lot of pain and had some chronic infection in her feet.  But she is Reagan, and nothing seems to slow her down.  Resilient, smart, tough, determined, hilarious, beautiful, crazy, hooligan!   We are so blessed to have her!  

We celebrated her birthday on January 12th, with our local "family" and Grandma and Papa.  :)  Her party theme was centered around one of her favorite things, ice cream!  Lots and lots of ice cream!  :) 

 Presents!  She was spoiled by all and had tons of fun opening them!  

The next day, Grandma found one more present she'd forgotten about. So she got to have a private opening, before they had to leave.  (It just so happened that this one was her favorite!  That monkey makes her laugh so hard!)  

 And then there was her actual birthday.  :)  January 15th.

She finally got a cake. (Because at her party, her dad declared it wasn't a real birthday without one... mostly because he really wanted one. haha.  Although, just for the record, she ate a LOT more ice cream than cake.) ;)

 We LOVE this girl!!  

Happy Birthday Miss!!