Monday, June 27, 2011

Nothin' New

No new pics yet. :0( But let's do this youngest to oldest...

Wyatt- Oh my little monkey man! The boy is going to be 10 before he eats a complete meal of 'real food'. He will eat real fruit, loves raw or cooked green beans, and (shocker) loves to eat Ho-Ho's! But when it comes to things like noodles, rice, or meats you would think someone was trying to kill him with the epic fit he can pitch! Cute, but frustrating for the cook. He loves to dance, run, play ball, look adorable, and especially loves to torment all the girly monkeys every chance he gets.

Cooper- Making such great progress with the potty training. Girl has a vocab that can only be described as amazing. And when she tries to tell you a story, or ask you a question the looks she can give will drop you to your knees in instant laughter.

Cute Cooper story-We were at CVS picking up a prescription and the clerk asked for the phone number. Since Jilly knows it she started spitting it out. Not to be out done, Cooper gave her version: six, six, six (pause) six, six, six (pause) six, six, six. It was ridiculously funny, so much so that even the clerk was in stitches. Girl scares me sometimes!

Jilly-Not to much to report here. Still the little ham, loves to sing, dance, and be the ring leader.

Courtney-Has turned into quite the little social butterfly as of late. I think the record for days at home without having someone spend the night or going to someone else's house to spend the night is currently 4. She's still riding, hoping to get back into the hunter shows. She didn't really care for the dressage shows, but is putting a lot of the things she has learned to good use with Moose. Happy to report she made the honor roll for the entire time she was in middle school. Best part...she finished Algebra I with a year long average of an A-! Her hard work is paying off, and she is beginning to see for herself how good it feels to put in your best effort and see things through to the end. We could not be more proud of her!

Me-Found out today that my Ortho is retiring the end of this month, which leads me to believe that he choose not to do something proactive about my knee. I'm to the point, it is what it is and until it decides to flair up again I'm just going to do the best I can and push though each day as best I can. I have gotten some of my products from Chrissy Curtis Crafts in a local retail shop. I will find out next week how well the first round of items sold. BugnBean will be at another show on the 9th of July with new product in tow. I think some of the improvements we have made are going to make the horse world stand up and take notice.

Jeff-Has been enjoying his Father's Day present along with the kids almost every single night. We gave him the NFL Training Camp game for the Wii, and it has a 60 day challenge that he really enjoys. He told me this morning that in the last week he has lost 5 lbs. The best part is when all the kids get up there with him and start doing the drills. I'm going to take some video of it tomorrow night. it is so precious.

As we do every year at this time, we are getting geared up for our 4th of July picnic and firework viewing. Lots of cooking and baking and crafting to be done before Monday. Good news is the camera is fixed so I will have plenty of pics of the whole event.

Well, that about does it for us.

Love

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Footnote to Jilly's 5th Birthday

I happen to believe that those who have left this Earth still communicate with us. Five years ago when we were blessed with Jilly-Bean, I was outside on the back porch the night we came back from the hospital and was amazed at the amount of lightning bugs/fireflies/June bugs that were in the trees. So every year I look forward to being wowed...and every year I have been disappointed. And then it hit me this year. All the 'lights in the night sky' was the doing of my grandmother, Nana (with Pop-pop by her side) letting us know that she had her hand in bringing Jilly to us. Jillian was one of the few names Jeff and I could agree on, and was the name of my grandparents oldest daughter who passed away from SIDS. We wanted to honor our grandmothers with Jilly's middle name Grayce. Grace was my Nana's name, and Gray was Jeff's grandmothers maiden name.

I'm sitting here tonight, wondering where my 'night lights' are wishing I had the counsel of the woman from whom Jilly gets so much more than a name. I just hope I can do the Little Miss justice.

Love

Bug n Bean

This is the second time Bug n Bean has had the chance to set up a booth at a horse show.  We had quite a few sales, saw many old friends, and met new ones.

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We are looking forward to many more shows, the debut of the new website, and even getting some of our wares into a local shop.

Exciting times ahead!

 

Love

Wrap up

And that gets us up to date on things with pictures.



In other news...



Cooper decided last week that it was time to go on the potty, and has been fantastic about it.



Jilly and I will be going to kindergarten orientation tomorrow where she will get to ride a bus for the first time.



Wyatt has figured out how to get up on the couch by himself. He also figured out how to move the baby gate that we now have to secure in the doorway. (We have been leaning it up against the wall so that the girls can get to the bathroom with no help...)



Courtney is studying for her final exams and gearing up to start High School in the fall. (Let the fun begin!)



We are in a holding pattern when it comes to my knee. The Ortho says since the MRI did not confirm his findings (he thinks he was sent the wrong report, but can't do anything about it) that the insurance company will not allow him to do anything for a month. My appointment with him is on the 27th, and I'm just hoping that I can hold out that long. It is almost impossible to do anything these days, especially sleep. Hopefully I can last these next two and a half weeks.



There is nothing new with Jeff, and I think he likes it that way.



Both businesses have bright futures with some exciting things on the horizon.

Hopefully we will have the camera figured out soon, the blurry fuzziness is driving me nuts!


Love

Preschool Graduation 2011

Jilly had another fantastic year at preschool.  She made a few new friends, but mostly enjoyed paling around with the same friends she made last year. The class is only 15 kids, last year Jilly was one of only five girls, this year there were six.  I love that she was able to become friends with these girls, and can only hope that since none of them will be in the same schools next year, that we can keep in touch with them and still have fun.

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Here are Brooke, Sarah, and Jilly.  They were inseparable  when it came to drop off time. 

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Here is Nicolas, Jilly’s ‘boyfriend’.  Jilly is enamored with Nicolas, but I think she loves his Mom even more!  Jilly will run to Nicolas’ Mom and give her huge hugs and tell her how pretty she is.  It is too cute!

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The kids are getting ready to start their program. The boy to the right of Jilly is Reese.  Thankfully for Nicolas, Reese is more enamored with Wyatt.  Everyday Reese has hugs and kisses and tickles for him.  Reese has a younger brother, Quinn, that will be in the same class as Cooper at the preschool next year.

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Here is Jilly and Mrs. P. getting ready for her solo.  Jilly chose to sing a song they sang for the winter concert.  She was loud, mostly in tune, and did the little dance to boot.  I really think Little Miss Jilly will follow Mommy’s footsteps and be a ‘drama geek’ as she gets older.

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Mrs. P, Jilly and Mrs. Janda after before we headed out to the playground for the picnic. 

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Mr. Jamie giving Jilly her purple bear with a graduation cap.

 

We have been truly blessed by the teachers and staff at the Douglass Community Center preschool. They have been witness to many milestones, and great guides and role models, and not just for Jilly but for all of us!

 

Love

Jilly’s 5th Birthday

*Please be advised that we have been experiencing major issues with our camera since the trip to the National Zoo in late April.*

This is the last year that I will be able to take a picture of Jilly on her birthday at the exact time she was born since she will be in Kindergarten next year. 028

We usually try to keep birthday ‘parties’ to the weekend, but this gets very tricky with Jilly being born so close to Memorial Day weekend.  Jilly asked to go to Chuck E Cheese for her birthday, so that’s what we did.  The kids ran around, played games, rode rides, ate pizza and cake, and had a blast.

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They all had so much fun, and seeing as how it was almost deserted on a Tuesday night, we will most likely be going back for Cooper’s Birthday in July.

Love

Mother’s Day photo shoot 2011

I wanted to give pictures of the kids again this year for Mother’s Day.  Here are a few of my favorites, I must say that I love being able to see the kids personalities through pictures.

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And here is what I made for my Mom for Mother’s Day using some of these photos.

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I covered a 20x20 canvas added photos of all 6 grandkids with a few embellishments.  I can safely say this is one of my crafty projects that I am most proud of.

Enjoy

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

National Zoo field trip 2011

We had a great day at the National Zoo again this year for the preschool field trip. We could not have asked for better weather, not too hot and just the right amount of sun.  This year we opted to arrive in time for the class lunch and cruise the Zoo for the rest of the afternoon.

Jilly, Cooper and Wyatt adore the teachers, and all have many friends that we chatted and walked with and saw some animals with.

I think it is safe to say that we as a family will keep enjoying these field trips even once the kids are done in preschool.

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