Merry Christmas!  We had a wonderful time at Nana's.  The kids loved their Santa gifts.  Austin had to open the rest of his presents inside his Hot Wheels car.  Aiden took guitar lessons from Papa Boyd and Taylor plays with her new Barbie house everyday.  I think we could have stopped there and they would have been happy.

Our house is for sale... finally

We have been considering putting our house up for sale for the last several years.  Today we finally did it.  There is a sign in our yard and the house is ready, well almost.  We have a couple of finishing touches to complete before our first open house on Saturday.

I love the way our house looks, we got new carpet, granite counter tops and de-cluttered the house.  It is so relaxing walking into a perfectly clean house.  The challenging part is keeping the house clean with three kids.  We took most of the toys to storage to help keep everything clean.  I tend to be a perfectionist so I want to walk behind the kids and clean every fingerprint and straighten the blankets, but it is not practical.   

In the past we have sold houses very quickly.  I am hoping for the same results at this house.  We love our house and are so sad to leave.  However we have outgrown the space.  Thad and I moved in eight years ago, this was before kids.  We did not have enough furniture to fill the place.  Now we are bursting at the seams.

I am sure another family will love this house as much as we do.  Here is to hoping for a quick sale!

 

Austin's Favorite Chair

Austin loves sitting in a chair.  He has two favorite chairs in our house, which just happens to be the perfect size for him.

1. Aiden's red reading chair with ottomon
2. Austin's camping chair.

Austin will climb over anything in the way to sit in his chair. Last night he climbed into his chair and lounged back to eat popcorn and watch a movie.  He is growing up so fast!

Jasmin's American Dream

We have had an amazing year and I am so sad to see it end.  Jasmin has been with us since October 1, 2010.  She has been absolutely amazing with the kids and our family. Her last day with our family is September 24th.  We are going to miss her so much.

Last night we went to get photographs of her and the kids.  We have had so many great times with Jasmin as our au pair.  I want to make sure both Jasmin and the kids remember this time together.  Here are some of the pictures.

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures of just the kids.

Fun at Nana's

Nana has been watching the kids almost every Saturday afternoon.  It has been so much fun for all the cousins to get together. The kids know they need to bring their swimsuits, even Austin.



Popsicle Delight

Austin had his first Popsicle this last week.  He loved it and made a huge mess!

Aiden is in First Grade

Aiden has finished his first week of first grade.  He is so amazing.  He has had homework every night which consists of the following:

1. Reading University: Reading for at least 15 minutes every night from a list of approved books.  My favorite so far is "Click Clack Moo, Cows that type".  I usually read this book to him, it was fun to have Aiden read it to me.
2. Reading Fluency:  He has the same paragraph he has to read each night.  The purpose is to try and read is faster and with less mistakes.  Last night he was reading at 70 words per minute. The goal is 47 words per minute.  I am very proud of my big guy.
3. Math worksheets
4. English worksheets
5. And various other worksheets from one of the 7 subjects he is currently learning.

While attending back to school night for the parents I saw a paper on Aiden's favorite subject.  To my surprise it is Art.

An Evening at the Park

Last night we rode our bikes to the park.  Since it was a school night we did not stay long.  However, we did learn that Austin loves going down the slide with his big brother or big sister.  All my kids are so lucky to have such amazing siblings.

My Funny Sleeper

Last night Thad checked on the Aiden and Taylor to make sure they were asleep.  As I was checking on Austin, he called me into Aiden's room to see Taylor and this is what I found.

She was hungry after we read books, so I got her some apples.  I guess she was too tired to finish eating her apple and fell asleep with it in her mouth.  I love my funny little sleeper!

Photos Galore

We wanted to get some pictures of Austin for his first birthday. I had it all planned out and decided we could get some family photos as well.  I had seen quite a few people post pictures on Facebook from Foto Fly so we decided to give it a try.  We absolutely loved it.  The pictures are great and it was so easy to get all different kids of pictures.

 I had no idea what to have everyone wear, so an hour before our pictures we ransacked Old Navy and came up with this cute combination.  Unfortunately Old Navy did not have a black or pink shirt for Austin. 

 Aiden was amazing. he did everything the photographer asked and absolutely loved it.  He could live in front of a camera.

 Taylor is my princess.  She was a little nervous at first and smiled the whole time, but would not talk to the photographer.  She is getting so big, what happened to my baby?

 Austin refused to take much of a nap today, so this was not the perfect day for his pictures.  He was so scared of the flash.  He would start crying during every picture.  We did get a few cute ones.

 Austin is wearing his superman shirt and cape.  I am trying to make 23 capes for all his friends coming to his first birthday party.  The party is tomorrow and I only have two complete. 

 This is the only way we could get him to smile.  He is my adventurous boy.

 Thad had to spend a good 20 mins to get Austin to smile for this picture.  He is an amazing little boy.  I can't believe he is one.  Where did the last year go?  He has made such an amazing difference to our family.  We all adore him.

We have been married for over 12 years, know each other for 13 1/2 years.  We have three beautiful children.  We are so truly blessed. 

I Read My First Sentence

Taylor has been working on learning all of her sounds and starting to read. She has been able to read quite a few 3-4 letter words.

Last night she read her first sentence. "See me eat." She is doing so amazing and learning so much. We have been using the book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. We practice every night before bed and she just finished lesson 13.

We found out about this book from Aiden and Taylor's school.  It is the way both the preschool and kindergarten teach the kids to read.  It has been easy for me and Taylor has picked it up so well.  By the end of the summer she is probably going to be readying books. 

I am so proud of my little girl!!

The Joy of Being a Mom

 I absolutely love being a mom. It has been my greatest achievements. My children bring so much joy and excitement to my life. I would not change my life for anything in the world.

I can't even put into words how amazing life is with my children.  We laugh over silly things, can spend hours playing with chalk on the driveway, and cuddle up to watch movies.

There is no manual to being a mom, and it is fun trying to figure out what works best for each child and our family.  I love my children with all my heart and miss them every moment we are apart.

Ice Skating

My niece, Samantha loves ice skating.  She has been in several competitions and has been in the top three every time.  For her birthday, she had an ice skating lesson for the kids.  Here are some pictures from this fun event.

Kindergarten Graduation and Field Trip

My baby boy, Aiden, is growing up so fast.  It is very difficult to believe that he has graduated Kindergarten.  He has had a fabulous year at his new school.  The teachers have been amazing and helped him progress so well.

 I had to opportunity to be a chaperon at his year end field trip to Hogle Zoo.  It was a lot of fun to meet the other kids in his class. 

It is hard to tell but Aiden is the third from the left.