Ballet

This weekend Jayden had her ballet performance, I was so proud of her. I felt like an awful mother because I had no idea what a great ballerina she was. I finally understood after watching her why she loved dancing so much, she is a natural, I loved watching her performance. She is hoping to be accepted into a pre-professional program at her studio. she asks me to check the mail each day for her acceptance letter. I hope that we hear soon, she is so anxious

William

Well, Well, Well, I can not post everything and leave William out, what a boy! William is sooo independent that it gets him into trouble. I was exercising the other day and when I got upstairs he had opened three different types of frosting and tasted all three with three different spoons. This was not without getting it all over his face, he then proceeded to tell me that William had a snack and that it was YUMMY! I know I should have taken a picture, unfortunately I could tell stories like this all day along about William and oddly enough they always involve food. He does not come by his physic naturally he works hard at it. He is two years old and 41 lbs. he is wearing 4t clothing and he and Lewis are almost the same height. I feel so bad for him because he is just a baby, but I just can not carry him anymore.

Reid

Boy time does fly, Reid is 6 months already and is such a great baby. I do not let him lay on the floor much hoping this may stall the learning process and maybe he will never learn to crawl. He has started talking all of the time, and he is the first child that has loves the Johnny Jump up. Whether he is in that or in your arms his legs are in constant motion. (Why I am hoping to stall crawling, I do not need in in constant motion around the house). he has been so much fun, and so mild mannered, he even seems to enjoy the chaos around the house.
I am sure that you noticed from the photos, that Reid constantly has spit on his clothing, and that he's gotta wear shades.

Jayden's Birthday

WOW 11 years has gone by in a flash! Jayden got a new bike for here birthday as well, and since Lewis's birthday was just before a 5 day break from school she got her bike a few days early, they have had a great time riding around the cul-de-sac together, and I have decided that I will let Jayden ride out of the cul-de-sac, (I have to cut the apron strings at some point right) I went to Jayden's school to have lunch with her also and then we took her home early so that we could go see a movie. The kids had been hoping to see Monsters vs Aliens. WE loaded everyone up got to the movie only for William to throw a fit, the theater was too scary for him, so we hung out a Fred Meyers. IT was a great opportunity to browse the store and buy all of the things that I always forget to pickup. The following weekend Jayden had a party, what a whirlwind of a day. We left at 7:15 for her Volleyball tournament at the local high school, left there at 10:00 to drive into Portland for her dress rehearsal for her performance in the Secret Garden Ballet, Then off to her hair appointment. (Jayden had decided she wanted to go to a fancy restaurant) Finally we returned home to get her cake and balloons to head off to the restaurant. It was a lot of fun all of the girls had been told to dress in semi-formal attire, we had corsages for each of the girls and we went to a restaurant set on a hill overlooking the Willamete River. What was more exciting for most of the girls was this was also one of the locations for filming Twilight. (This is where they filmed the scenes where Edward shows what he looks like in the sun and some other scenes). SO heels and all we had to hike around the restaurant afterwards. The girls had a great time and it was such an easy party. I just can not believe that she has grown so much. We love her very much and she is a huge help to me and her brothers.

Lewis's Birthday

So I know that I have been awful at posting so I will update everything that I can. We just finished our birthday week. It started with Lewis turning 6. It was so much fun to go to his school and have lunch with him. He had requested an apple pie for his birthday so I made one of them for him and he wanted bacon and eggs for dinner. That night we gave him a big boy bike. (I mean really big) it is a 21 speed and it is 20" it is probably a little bigger for him than what it should be, but after two days he was riding it and getting on and off without any help. he just has to use the curb to make him a little taller. A few days latter we had a birthday party, it was over Memorial Day weekend so only a few boys were able to make it (I promise I did not plan that on purpose for my sanity). WE had a great time, I Let Jayden plan the party. He wanted a batman theme so Jayden wrote a ransom note from the Joker and planned a scavenger hunt to find Batman. (the pinata) The boys loved it the only problem is afterwards William keeps telling me that batman ate all if the candy so we hit him with a bat to get it back. (great lesson)I can't believe that Lewis is six and has his Kindy graduation on Wednesday. He is so much fun and such a loving boy I am so grateful he is a part of our family.

Earth Day 10k run

Me and Some of the girls decided to do a run for Earth Day and the Friends of Trees, we had a great time, and even did pretty well. It was cold, but dry. Scott came so that I would not have to jog with Reid which was really great. Jayden is playing Volleyball so I had to rush out five minutes after completing the run and to my surprise, I took first place for my age category, and 3rd overall for the women. I may never win another medal again, but it felt great. Here are some photos of me and the girls.

25 Random Things

So I have been tagged enough times that I figured I should do some soul searching and come up with 25 random things, let me tell you these are my deepest thoughts.J/K

25 Random Things About ME!

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. Make sure to tag the person who tagged you so they check out your results.

25. I just had my first epidural with my fourth child, I loved it

24. I can;t wait for my kids to all bein school so that I can go back, I love learning

23. I love to read, just about anything, I think you can learn something from everything, but my favorite book is Blink

22. I would travel nonstop if I didn't have kids, it doesn't matter if I am in Oregon, New York, or another country there is always something to learn

21. I wish that my spanish was better

20. I had a cat named toes, because she had a sixth toe

19. I hate how difficult it is for me to come up with 25 things, who knows me better than me

18. I love that I can keep in touch and catch up with friends on Facebook

17. I can not stand clutter, it is really hard form to relax at night, if everything is not is it's place

16. I wish my photos that are stuffed in boxes would magically get scrapbooked

15. I hate crafts

14. Chocolate Eclairs call to me at night, I love them

13. Cooking is one of my favorite things to do, I just hate the cleanup

12. I love Mexican food

11. Playing the piano is one of two things that can calm me down

10. There is nothing like sweating out your frustrations (see # 11)I love running and my cross country ski machine

9. I just ran my first half marathon 20 weeks pregnant, and just starting training for my next.

8. I do not have any desire to run a full marathon. 3 1/2 hours of running would get boring

7. In Highschool Red Hot Chilli Peppers was my favorite band, I carried a laminated photo of them around with me in my wallet.

6. I have lived in Oregon longer than anywhere else, I guess that makes this home

5. In good weather I like to target shoot with my bow and arrow

4. I do not like pets but I have a horse, dog, and a fish

3. I am terrified of my horse, but think that my kids should learn how to ride her

2. I do not like to eat anything that lives in water

1. I love being a mommy, the miracle of my children never ceases to amaze me

one for the books

or at least for my journal, (does a blog count as a journal) With all of the Snow we had in December the kids did not have school the week before Christmas break, the first day after returning to school Lewis came home with a wrapped present. He pro ceded to give it to me. It was wrapped in three different types of wrapping paper placed in random places on the package, I could see that it was a box of wheat thins. He told me I had to open the gift, that he had made it just for me. I unwrapped the package and opened the box. To my surprise it was empty. Lewis asked do you like it? I made it just for you, it's to hold your food. No you didn't miss anything apparently I have a lot of food and needed an empty cracker box to hold it all, and Lewis made it just for me. You gotta love him

Spirit Week

This week at School is Spirit Week and Jayden has been so excited, Lewis is done with it all. Monday was Pajama Day, Lewis did participate, but beyond that he wanted nothing to do with it. Wednesday was wacky hair and hat day, usually Lewis fights me on doing his hair, I though great I do not have to do his hair today, but no he wanted it done, and of course today when it is not wacky hair day he fought me once again. Today is 80's day Jayden wanted a picture then cursed me for my lack of pictures in the first few days, maybe we will have a reinactment. Jayden told me they chose the 80's becaus emost of their mom's were in high school for the 80's I told her I was only 1 year from being born in the 80's, but that the kids now are already dressing like the 80's, her outfit was far to easy to come up with. Here are the photos of Jayden for 80's day.

Nutcracker

Jayden decided this year that she wanted to begin focusing her dance more on ballet, so we changed studios and she is training in Classical Ballet. Each year the Studio puts on The Nutcracker in Downtown Portland. I was so disapointed that I was unable to attend, she performed the first weekend of December, and Reid was only two weeks old. Thankfully Grandma and Grandpa Bever were able to attend with Scott on Friday night, and Grandma and Grandpa Smith went to her Saturday performance. This is the video of some of the performance. I look forward to seeing next years performance. Jayden is the second dance to come onto stage.

Christmas 2008

Christmas was great this year, we spent a lot more time together, because we couldn't get out much with the snow. The kids got a wii this year and due to the weather it did not make it in time. (I think that the mail was not delivered for 3 weeks) Needless to say the gifts that were here were somewhat sparse, I was so happy with the kids reaction, there was no complaint about not getting enough, or not getting what they wanted, It was a proud parenting moment, and made me happy to give them the wii when it did arrive. Lewis is at an age where we can not get a normal smile, and William had other things he wanted to do. (taking pictures was cramping his style) I hope you all had as nice a Christmas as we did, and that it is a happy new year

Gingerbread Houses

Every Christmas we love to make Gingerbread houses. This is the first Year we let William make one also, I think he just liked the candy. He looks like he may have eaten a pepermint in his picture. I am always amazed at how creative the kids are, but with a dad who builds homes they knew they had to start out with a foundation. Jayden Wrapped her house for Scott for Christmas, what a great gift

Snow, Snow, and more Snow!

This year in Portland we had the whitest Christmas in recorded history, and the first white Christmas in the 9 years we have lived here. The kids loved it they played outside everyday. The photos of the snow were taken before the heavy storm hit. When the storm was over we had 20 inches of snow, and the kids had an extra week of Christmas break.

Reid is growing too Fast

I can't believe that Reid is almost 2 months old! He is a verey sweet little boy. We took him to the hospital on december 30th to run a number of test, and fortunatley we got the type pf results we were hoping for. We were able to take him off of his medication, and the concern of Kidney failure is very minimal. He has a 90% chance of healing on his own without Surgery. We feel very blessed. We will still need to have ultrasounds every few months to watch his kidneys to make sure that everything continues to progress in a positive way, but for now it appears that things are moving in the right direction.
Reid has started smiling, and in the middle of the night, I think all mothers dwell on those moments.