Does anyone else remember...........

Does anyone else out there remember as a kid listening to Janeen Brady, and "Watch me sing" or "I'm a Mormon"?
This morning I was watching Yo Gabba Gabba with Rachel and one of the little short cartoons they did caught my attention. I was singing along but couldn't place where I knew the song from. So I called my mom and after some Internet searching found it.
It was a Janeen Brady song,"Won't somebody come outside and play". I know you are singing it now!!
While on the Brite website, http://www.britemusic.com/ I found they make all of the fun "tapes" I had on CD now. Guess what Rachel is getting for Christmas!!!!

New Trick

Tonight at dinner Rachel learned a new trick!! Needless to say dinner was a challenge. Since everyone laughed at her she wouldn't stop doing it.

Budding Artist

This quarter Brandon is taking Visual Arts in school. This week they have been doing self portraits. He did a great job. Can you see the resemblance?

This is Rachel's new favorite place to stand. She gets up here and then yells at the boys upstairs.

Big Girl Seat

Today we moved Rachel over to her "big girl" car seat. She still isn't big enough to face forward, much to her dismay.
I have been putting off moving her because then I have to admit how big she is getting!! Recently she has hated getting in the car and her seat. So it couldn't be put off any longer.
She is still not loving it, but I hope that will change when it cools down here, and she can face forward.

A Good Mom Always..........

A good mom always snaps a picture before removing her child away from what they aren't suppose to be doing!!!!!!!

It is a clean toilet! She put the toilet paper she pulled off in the toilet while playing!

She watched me switch the laundry the other day, then I put her in the family room to go upstairs to get another load,and this is where I found her(less than a minute latter). I hadn't closed the door on the laundry room or on the washer all the way since I was coming right back. I learned my lesson.

9 month check up

Today Rachel had her 9 month check up. She is doing great. She charmed the staff as usual and again the Dr. asked us if he could take her home. She had to have her foot pricked for an iron test and she didn't even bat an eye at it. She was very interested in what they were doing. She didn't really like the shot though. I think she was more upset that we had to hold her still.

Here are her stats:

Weight: 18lbs 11.5 oz (50%)

Length: 29.25 inches (95%)

Head: 17.75 (78%)

She is growing so much everyday. Discovering new things and sounds. Right now she loves to squeal, and growl. She makes lots of sounds like baba, dada, mama, what sounds like Hi, and a few others, but I don't think she is actually calling for us when she says dada or mama. That will come I am sure.

She is finally liking most baby foods, and any table good we put in front of her. Carrots,green beans, gold fish crackers and yogurt are her favorites.

She is standing up and walking along the furniture and love to push the kitchen chairs around. If there is something Rachel isn't suppose to have she goes for it all the way. And the word 'No" to her means hurry and crawl really fast or grab as much as you can.

New Glasses

Last week before school started at the kids eye exams, it was discovered that Ethan needs glasses. Well they came in yesterday, and he sure was excited to get them

He looks pretty handsome in them, in my opinion!!

I even caught another rare smile. He NEVER smiles for the camera!!

Video Games Anyone?

So I think that they boys may play video games a little bit to much.
The other night after the boys had gone to bed Rachel got her hands on one of the DS systems. It took her a few minutes to figure out how to open it, but once she got it open she knew just what to do. She even use the stylus and everything.

First Day of School

Today the kids started a new school year, I think they were all excited to go. They got ready this mornings with no complaints and we had a ton of time to spare. I know the novelty will wear off and we will be running out the door within a few weeks.

Brandon is starting the 7th grade. He only has one teacher he knows. The 6th grade math teacher from last year moved up with them. She is awesome, so he is looking forward to Pre-Algebra. He also has Honors Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, Visual Arts, and this quarter a science elective on Space- he is really excited about this. Over the other quarters he has vocal music, P.E, and another elective I can't remember now.

Zachary is going into 5th grade. He will be in Mrs. Hill's class. Brandon also had her.
His class should be a really good class this year. Of the 27 kids in his class 9 of them are LDS. Only 2 of those are also boys, there are a lot of girls his age. So he starts the year with a great peer group. I love all the kids his age they are all so kind and loving to each other.

Ethan is in full day kindergarten, he has Mrs. Schmidt as his teacher. Both of his bothers had her too. So we know what an awesome lady she is. He hasn't said much the past week or so weather he was excited or not, but he was up at 6:00am this morning. He walked right out to the playground, but his backpack where the teacher told him, and then was a little put out I made him take a picture with the teacher.
When the bell rang he lined right up, and waved when he saw I was there. No worries!!

Ethan and Mrs. Schmidt

Here are all the kids right before we left to go to school. I don't think Rachel realizes they are going to be gone all day and that she is stuck with me. Luckily her friend Kameha is going to go by this afternoon for a while.

It's hard to believe I have a 7th, 5th, and a kindergartener. I don't feel old enough to have an "almost" teenager (as Brandon like to remind us) .

Bitter Sweet

So today class lists went up and I can't deny it any more. School starts next week. :(
I am one of those "weird" moms who actually enjoys summer and having the kids home. I love having no real schedule, hanging out all day together and having friends over. It also helps that for the most part they like each other and get along really well.
I am excited for them to start a new school year, and to learn and grow, but I am sure going to miss having them here all day.

How I get things done

As I have mentioned in the previous 2 posts, Rachel has become much more mobile and into so much more recently.
She really only likes to bounce in her exer-saucer and tires of it really quickly, so any time I need to focus on something like cooking and I can't have my eyes on her, or the boys aren't around to watch her into the highchair she goes.
Usually she is armed with a bitter biscuit, a sucker, and plenty of the little baby rice puffs. As you can see she doesn't mind a bit.

Cute Video

So this is now what Rachel does when she are in the exer-saucer. As soon as she is finished bouncing she is done and yells to get out. I wish she still loved to play here like she use to. It was so nice to know that she was not going anywhere if I turned my back on her.

Eating Bugs and more

So now that Rachel is mobile(crawling) and getting pretty fast. She is getting into a lot more.(see previous post) This week she managed to eat a cricket,climb the stairs, get in the pantry, and unload all the paper from the desk.

We really do watch her but she is fast. I knew there was a cricket in the entry hall, but before I could get it she crawled over, and into the mouth it went! A little protein doesn't hurt anyone right?

Same thing with the stairs. I was standing right by her in the family room, went to put something in the kitchen and came back and found her on the 4th stair.

It's hard to get to mad at her because she is so darn cute!

Deja Vu

Rachel has found a new favorite activity. Getting into the pantry. That use to be Ethan's favorite activity too. Rachel is in the first picture, Ethan is in the bottom picture around the same age I think.

Time to keep the door shut so she stays out of trouble.