Doing Good

I started a good jar, oh about 9 months ago (I got the idea from one of my friends) so that I can recognize the good things that Megan is doing, and as she fills it up she earns different rewards. She got the ice cream, and then this one she got to go to the movie theater and watch a movie. So we made a big deal about it and let her get popcorn, and we went and saw Horton Hears a Who, she really wanted to see Kung Fu Panda (I think that is what it is called) since it previews on movies that she watches, but I don't think it out yet. So I wanted to ask you guys what you do to reward your kids? I have a really hard time remember to recognize her good behavior, I would LOVE to have some tips.

A What!?!?!

On Monday I was making dinner and I see something out of the corner of my eye moving on my deck, so I look over at the door and an animal was looking back at me. I told Megan to come check it out, I grabbed my camera and came back to take a picture of it to show Josh. Since Josh told me that he saw one peek through the window in the fall when I was putting Bryson to bed and I didn't really believe him since we have never seen one since... until now. Can you tell what it is?

M.I.A.

I know that it has been awhile since posting. I have been meaning to but I just have had a lot of things going on. First of all I got a new calling as Primary Secretary which has kept me busy, trying to organize everything and get things working to my liking. Then I have also been working on putting together a book for my Mom's mother's day gift which I have spent the last 3 days working on, and nothing else. Not that I have anything really important to blog about. I have just had fun taking pictures of the kids as we have enjoyed the warm weather. I have also been trying to get a cute picture of Bryson, but haven't succeeded yet, but here are some pictures of my attempts, and of course Megan always wants her picture taken too if I am taking it of Bryson, but if I want one of her she doesn't want it.
Cute Bryson Story:
Since I have been working at the computer so much the last couple of days, Bryson started to this really cute thing. He will climb up on the back of my chair and kiss my back saying "Mmmmmmaa!" and climbs down and says "ba ba" (bye bye). He would do that throughout the whole day, it was super cute.

Lesson for Megan:

Megan had just finished watching The Hunchback of Notre Dame and was putting blankets around her trying to make a dress like Ezmeralda by using hair claws, and elastics. So when she came to have me put a blanket around her top like a tube top, I told her that it wasn't modest and that we don't wear clothes without sleeves. She threw her normal fit, left and then came back asking me the same thing but telling me that it was modest. I told her that it didn't have sleeves and she said that she would pretend that it did. I laughed and told her to get another blanket to put over her shoulders like a shawl. I never thought that I would be talking to my 4 year old about modesty, i was thinking more like when she is 8 years old. I guess you can never be too prepared to teach your kids important things no matter how old they are.

Parade of our Home Tag

Here is our home all of our rooms and then a few of my favorite wall hangings. If you want to see it better you're welcome to come see it in person!

I tag: Julia, Kristin, Jess, Natalie & anyone else who is up to sharing their home.

Tag Catch up

Okay, so I got tagged for a couple of different things but since we didn't have our camera I couldn't participate so now that our camera is back, visitors are gone, and I am a little more organized, I am doing Tag catch up.

This one is called

BAG TAG

1. Show your bag

2. Show ALL of the contents of your bag... NO cleaning it out first!

3. Explain contents:

My wallet, hand sanitizer (I don't know why because I don't think that I have ever used it), throat lozenges (I get sore throats all the time), a pen, temple card (giving me the dates and times they are open so we can do a session), keys, and spare key (I don't know what I would do if I locked my purse in the car, I guess call Josh), Chap stick & lip balm ( I hate chapped lips.) As you can see I only take this purse with me when I am going somewhere without the kids, if I am going with the kids I take the diaper bag and just put my credit card and drivers licence in my back pocket. I really am not a purse girl, but I am starting to like them more and more. My husband actually got me my first purse and my cool looking wallet, this is my second purse, but am looking for a different one since I just need a different one.

I tag: Julia, Stacie, Kristin, Kandis, Linda, Jen & Jess, I want to see it all!

Where do we Live???

This morning Josh wakes me up to say good-bye before he heads off to work and he asks me if I felt the earthquake last night? My thought process... earthquake? Are you joking, is this an April Fools joke (since my parents played one us when we were younger telling us that there was an earthquake) Then he tells me that he woke up to the bed shaking and some pictures knocking on the wall. So about this point I think that he is joking and really am not believing him. We live in Kentucky, not California. So to prove his point he turns on the TV and the news is talking about a 5.4 earthquake that hit last night at about 5:40 in Indianapolis and said that shock waves were felt all the way to New York. Not much damage happened around here, a couple of bricks and a chimney fell down on a couple of buildings downtown, but we are fine here, my pictures didn't even need straightening. I just hope that there won't be any long term damage to our foundation. Who would have thought that my first earthquake would have been in Kentucky?

Surprise!

Josh called us yesterday and said that he is coming home from work early and to get the kids ready so that we could all go to the zoo, since he has never been. So we packed up the kids and headed to the zoo. We had a lot of fun there seeing all the animals and having Daddy there to share it with. The highlights of this trip was the Bald Eagle walking around, the goat that performed for us... if you look in the middle picture the goat is waving, it was pretty cool, this guy tells him to pose for a picture and he jumps up on a stump and then he kept moving his head around as if posing for a picture, then he had him wave, it was cool. Then we actually saw the crocodiles swimming around and not just laying there. But we did miss some animals since we went at the end of the day when the zoo was closing. But it was a great surprise to have Josh come home early, but the traffic coming and going could have been better.

School Pictures

Here is Megan's preschool picture, I am making copies so if you would like one please let me know and what size, a wallet or something bigger.

Megan's Preschool Class

Top Row: Mrs. LeAnn, Zachary, Megan, Jasmine & Mrs. Kara

Bottom Row: Jackson, Josie, Catera, Terrance & Tatum

Megan LOVES her class and has been blessed with a great class, 2 of the students are in our Branch too, and her teacher is awesome and Megan just adores her. Megan is doing great at school and is growing and learning so much, we love our little preschooler!

What an Amazing Week!

We had a wonderful week of fun with Grandma Kelly here. We had beautiful weather when Mom arrived and were able to enjoy it by going to the zoo the following day. Then the weather got rainy then COLD, just in time for Thunder over Louisville. We had a lot of fun shopping for much needed clothes, doing a Sam's Club run and going out to eat while the weather was bad.
Then the weather warmed up yesterday just in time for Mom's Birthday!! We took a long walk in the morning, went to lunch, did some yard work enjoying the sun, then had Chicken pot pie for dinner with some delicious birthday cake. After singing Happy Birthday Megan asked Grandma how old she is...
Grandma: I'm 53
Megan: You're old Grandma, you're going to die.
You got to love what kids say! (Megan lately has been obsessed with death, I think because President Hinckley died.)
After dinner Mom and I went to my neighborhood Bunco game night and Mom even won the Boobie prize for taking last place, go Mom! (She will be posting a picture on her blog of the prize once she gets home.)

We had a great visit from Grandma and already miss her. Thanks for the fun time, the laughs and the great advice Mom.
So who's coming out next??

THUNDER!!

Saturday was the day we had been waiting for... THUNDER over Louisville! It is a huge deal here and an AMAZING show. We are so glad that Josh's Mom came out for this event and hopefully next year more people will take us up on the offer. I know that Mom LOVED it and says that we should do a family reunion around this event... it is THAT good!

So the day of Thunder unfortunately was cold and not really outdoor weather for a day of outdoor events. The event started at 2:30pm with the first plane flyover and continues till the firework show with different planes flying over every 10-20 minutes. So we decided to stay home till 6:00 so that we wouldn't have to be outside too long. We headed down to party with our neighbor's work's pot luck BBQ which was down by the river. When the planes would fly over Bryson would get so excited and watch them and he would make sure that someone else was watching with him. Check out this cute video...

After eating and hanging out for awhile we decided to walk down closer to the bridge so that we could see the fireworks better, plus to keep moving to keep us warm. We walked down and got GREAT seats on the lawn right when it started to rain, luckily it only rained for a few minutes then we bundled up in blankets and enjoyed the show!

The very beginning of the show they had 2 astronauts in space count down to the start of the fireworks and then the amazing show started... but unfortunately I recorded too long that I can't upload it on, but here is the very end of the finale, it was AMAZING! You really have to be there to understand just how amazing it is. You can just feel it, it felt like the whole ground was just shaking. Josh said that this beats the Rocklin Jubilee by a long shot.

Thanks Mom for coming out to enjoy this fun time with us! Next year we hope that we can have more people here and better weather!

Recent Adventure

So i can't figure out why I can't update my pictures in my slideshow, so for now here is the link to our thunder & air show pictures... I will be posting videos later and telling you about it, but with the short time I have just check out these pictures... THUNDER!

Zoo Trip

Yesterday we took another trip to the zoo, this time with Grandma Kelly. The weather was great, overcast and warm. We wanted to go before the cold weather and rain came and we chose the perfect day! We took plenty of pictures so here we go...

Here are a few of the animals that we saw... the UGLY wart hog (or Pumba to the kids), an Addax, the Bongos, and the Elephants.

Us with the animals

Of course Megan had to get on all the statues, I talked her out of a couple of them, but here are the ones that we got, the Buffalo, Giraffe, & Gorillas.

They have a fun petting zoo with the goats, so we went in and Megan had to touch every single goat and Bryson had fun just touching a couple, I think he was more excited to be out of his stroller. And this white goat looks like it is sun bathing and smiling.

Pictures of the Gorillas and Orangutan...

The Orangutan was really entertaining to watch swing around, he would swing right in front of the window, go around the outside and then circle around again, he also looks so interesting, we just felt bad since he looked so lonely watching everyone walk by. The Gorillas were also active chasing each other around, it got a little heated, then they took it outside. These animals are huge.

Bryson just LOVES Grandma, he runs to her and always wants her to hold him, it is so cute, and also a little break for me. So here are a couple of pictures of them hanging out together.

It was a great day at the zoo and hanging out with Grandma!

It's Back!

Yesterday we got our camera back and it is working the way it is suppose to. I was a little bummed that it didn't come before our fun trip to the zoo, but at least it is here before Josh's Mom arrives. I am also bummed that our weather that has been so nice the last couple of days is going away since it is going to rain tomorrow. Yesterday we were at 76 degrees, I even got burned at the zoo yesterday, we have been spending a lot of time out doors. Megan's Spring Break started yesterday and we celebrated our first day by going to the zoo with a lot of friends from our Branch, it was a lot of fun and was dieing the whole time without my camera, so you can just picture Bryson's expressions seeing all of the animals for the first time, and riding the train, he had to sit by himself and not on my lap, he looked like such a big boy. And Megan running around with her friends, climbing on all the animal statues and getting into everyone else's pictures. It was blast, but I am glad that our camera is back so that I can start taking pictures again! HURRAY!!

One of my friends sent me a couple of pictures from the zoo, the cute girl next to Megan is Emma from Church (Megan has a couple Emma's that she knows)

Conference

What a wonderful weekend we had watching conference, trying to entertain the kids so that we can listen, playing Where's Wayne whenever the Tabernacle Choir sang. I had a friend e-mail me this cute conference packet for kids so Megan colored ties for all the apostles when they spoke, Bryson would fold his arms after every song and when he would hear someone say 'Amen', and conducted the music whenever they sang. I really enjoyed watching conference, but I think that my favorite sessions were the first and the last, maybe partially because I was actually able to listen, but I loved Elder Nelson's, and Elder Ballard's talks. I am grateful that I was able to watch and sustain our new prophet, Thomas S. Monson, what a wonderful man he is, he has always been one of my favorites, (not like you can really pick one since they are all great) I love the stories that he tells and he reminds me of my Grandpa. And to all the married women out there if you, or your husband missed Elder Ballard's talk in the last session, you better sit down and watch it, you won't regret it. Every man needs to watch/read his talk. When we were watching it Josh leaned over to me and said "I guess I am doing alright!" And I would have to agree, I have a wonderful husband!! I hope that you guys enjoyed your weekend as much as I did mine, what did you like best about conference?

Family Sport Night

Last night Megan's preschool had a family sports night that we went to. It was very interesting observing Megan and Bryson in the same situation. There were plenty of activities going on... bean bag tosses, hula hoops, parachute, lots of balls, golf, tunnels... Megan went running in and went running from one activity to the next as quick as she could. Bryson just stood there and watched, he wouldn't move. Here is the only picture that we got (since we are still using our old camera which we had to tape to keep the battery compartment shut, I can't wait till our new camera is back.)

Megan loved running around and would try and show her teacher EVERYTHING. Nothing amazing, just "watch me, watch me" and then she would run in a circle and wait till her teacher told her that she ran super fast. Then she would hula hoop, throw balls, whatever she could to get some attention. Megan LOVES her preschool teacher, I hope that she will love her Kindergarten teacher just as much.

Bryson eventually got entertained with the soccer balls, he would get so excited when one would come by him and would chase them everywhere. It was a fun night and Megan was exhausted and ready for bed, unfortunately we had a thunderstorm last night so Megan was up on and off throughout the night going from our room to her bed to the couch, to her bed to the couch, then finally back to our bedroom on the floor, in hopes that we would get some sleep, unfortunately the thunder kept waking us up last night, I think the only one that got some sleep last night was Bryson.