Reagan

Since the house is almost finished being built, I thought I would switch gears on this blog and talk about more important things like our kids! =0) I only have time for one child update today, and since Reagan is the oldest and has been changing so quickly I'll start with her. Here are a few pictures that I've taken the last couple days - one in daddy's shoes, sunglasses and hat, and the other with her pal Caleb at pre-school.

Lately, I've been amazed at all the changes that have been taking place in Reagan. Every once in awhile it seems like kids change overnight. I'll wake up one morning, and they look taller, or they've lost that cute pudgy baby look or they start acting more mature... It's exciting/sad watching them grow up before your eyes. In the past week Reagan seems to be learning and growing so much. She's starting to get the hang of addition and subtraction, finally mastered the monkey bars, and I find her lecturing Josiah all the time about how God wants us to be kind... she's growing up so fast! I can't believe she'll be in Kindergarten in a few short months! God has been so good to us with the sale of our home, and the timing of building our new home too. Our new move will put Reagan in one of the best elementary schools in Coeur d' Alene. I think all of you have heard me mention at one time or another about my mixed feelings of sending Reagan to school. I'm sure they've followed the same thought pattern of any mom about to watch her first "baby" leave the nest and spread her wings. I wavered DAILY (literally) on home-schooling or sending her to a public school. Neither Brad or myself were home-schooled, but it has been so much fun doing pre-school at home, that I was really tempted to keep it up! It's so rewarding! After much deliberation we finally made a decision to register Reagan at Skyway Elementary. Our friend Cindy Marks who we went to college with and also attend church with, is a teacher at Skyway Elementary. It's been so reassuring talking to her! The school has high morals and is pretty conservative. The Vice Principal is a Christian, and there are a lot of Christian teachers too, so that will be nice. Even then, I was still having hesitations all the way up until I registered her a couple days ago. But as soon as I opened the doors and started walking down the hallway a flood of memories from my own elementary school came back... all the excitement on the kids faces, the scurrying of little feet... I knew Reagan would not only love going to Kindergarten, but was ready for it. She already knows our next door neighbor who will be attending there also, so hopefully that will ease her nerves on the first day. We've been having church services lately about getting involved in our community, and building relationships with people around us so when I saw tons of other young mom's milling around, I started getting excited about making new friends too! I took Reagan back later that day so she could see where her school would be and her face literally beamed! She's already talking about riding the school bus...yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be the only one crying on the first day of school! Thankfully it's only 2 1/2 hours a day, and a couple days a week.

House Update

Things are getting done so fast in our new house! The linoleum, cupboards, and landscaping are finished. And they've started laying down the carpet pad, and working on the closet organizers... hard to believe we do our walk through in a week and a half!

1st and 2nd picture: landscaping
3rd picture: kitchen
4th picture: bathrooms (all have double vanities except the half bath downstairs)

Reagan had her last soccer game today! Today she told me that she wants to try piano lessons next year instead. We'll see if that changes as time goes by... Her coach wrote her a really sweet note that I thought I'd share with you:

"Reagan,
I had so much fun with you this season! Every time I saw you I was greeted with a smile and a story of what you did that day! =) You were quiet and shy, but when you kicked the ball you had the most accurate shot on the whole team! =) I hope to see you next year! Coach Alexis"

Isn't that sweet?

House Update

We checked out the house again today, and thought we'd post some new pics. They have the trim, doors, lights, and linoleum in already. I think they'll be working on cabinets and carpet next... things are going quickly! Hope you enjoy!

First Pic - great room, kitchen and dining room
Second Pic - upstairs loft area
Third Pic - Master Bedroom
Fourth Pic - stairwell
Fifth Pic - entry area

Madelyn learns to crawl.

Since I'm posting a video of Madelyn crawling, I have to be fair and post a video of Reagan and Josiah too. This was actually taken this morning when Reagan put on a magic show for us. She did such a great job the first time around I was actually wondering where the coin went! I said, "WOW! Reagan how did you do that?!?" It was so cute when she proudly said, "A magician never tells his tricks!" I was so impressed I tried to video tape it, but of course as soon as I turn the video camera on it's never quite the same....This morning was the exception because Josiah all of the sudden decided that he wanted to be a magician just like "sissy"... after his attempt at magic he proudly tries to say the same line as Reagan, but instead says, "A MAGICIAN DOESN'T TELL THE TRUTH!" So funny! He's always cracking us up!

Madelyn learns to crawl

Maddy is in a really fun stage! She's starting to imitate a lot of things (even crying)! Reagan and Josiah were in trouble last night, so both of them were crying... Madelyn looked at them for a while, then her lower lip started quivering and before I knew it I had three crying kids! Such a sympathetic soul! She can also imitate things that are a bit more fun to watch... like giggling, clapping, waving "bye-bye", and just this past week she has progressed from army crawling to actually crawling on her hands and knees! I'll post a video of her crawling once I figure everything out.

House Update

We just found out we do our final "walk through" for our house June 5th, and we close June 12th! Yay! We're so excited! Especially because we'll have plenty of room for all of you when you come visit us this summer...right?!?

These pictures were taken last week... they finished putting rock outside and were working on trim. The second picture is of the view when you walk through the front door (kitchen and dining area). The third picture is of the view from the dining area looking at the front door. I'll try to get some new pictures of the house up this weekend.

Reagan's new haircuts!

Almost a month ago, Reagan decided to try cutting her own hair for the first time. I came upstairs and she said, "Don't I look beautiful now?" At first I didn't notice anything different and thought she was talking about her outfit so I said, "Uh huh, you always look beautiful Reagan." When I looked down and saw her hair, I said, "What did you do?!?" Without batting an eyelash she said, "It was just getting in my way mom. I cut it so I'll look beautiful!" The way she said it with a great big confidant smile and beaming proudly like she knew without a shadow of a doubt that she looked so much more beautiful with her new haircut than she did before, was just too cute. I didn't have the heart too berate her too much. It really wasn't that terrible, I've definitely heard much worse stories about haircutting. My only question is why when kids cut their hair do they go right for the middle? There really is no way to salvage their hair (short of chopping it all off evenly). I'm sure most mom's do go for the even haircut, but I opted for the, "oh well, what's done is done, you can just have uneven bangs" look. (the first picture is of Reagan's own hair cutting skills)

The next major haircut came after a particularly rough day brushing her hair. I mentioned that if she really thought it was so terrible having her hair brushed she could just get it cut. Unfortunately she took me up on the offer! She said she wanted it chopped all the way off so she'd never have to brush it again! Thankfully I talked her into shoulder-length hair. The lady who cut her hair also tried to make the bangs not so noticeable either... Although, I miss her long hair, it's pretty cute short too!