2nd Part of October 2010

The second part of October was busy.  For the third year in a row I participated in Race for the Cure to raise money for Breast Cancer research. It has become so important to me since I've had friends, especially my best friend, Elizabeth Cluff, diagnosed with Breast Cancer.  This year, Brennan, Brooke and Jadyn decided to do it with me. As always, it was a wonderful experience! They even had a pink port a potty to sign.  Jadyn wrote Elizabeth's name and Brooke wrote Sister Phyllis Nelson, her primary teacher's name for everyone to see two of our favortie survivors!



 On the 25th, our baby Regan, turned 6. It's hard to believe she's 6 already! I really don't want her to get any older.  Sometimes I wish I could stop time.  I brought her lunch at school and had a family party with her that evening. The green dress is the one her kindergarten class provides the birthday child. She loved it!

This year, Halloween was on a Sunday. So, our ward had the trunk or treat the day before. The kids had a good time. Brooke was a Cereal Killer with boxes of cereal glued to her shirt with plastic knives stabbing them. Brennan was The Doctor from Dr. Who, his favorite television show.  Jadyn was a twister board game, and Regan was a witch.  On Sunday, Halloween, we met at Jeff's mom's house for our traditional Halloween dinner where everyone brings a scary dish to share. I brought a craft for the kids to do. They all had fun and didn't even miss going out trick or treating. Good times!

Fall Break in Washington DC

This year for fall break we decided to take the kids to Washington D.C. and LOVED it!

We rented a house in Arlington, Virginia close to Mt. Vernon. The first day we spent most of the day visiting the Air and Space Smithsonian as well as the Smithsonian of American History.  You can literally spend all day there. We also got to see a few monuments. 

That night we took the Metro Subway to Silver Springs, Maryland to meet my cousins Mark and Melissa Bradshaw along with Mark's wife Jamie and cute baby Courtney. We had such a fun time laughing, remembering our dads and talking about old times. Seeing them was the highlight of our trip.

The next day we woke up and went to Mount Vernon. George Washington sure had a beautiful piece of property.  It's absolutely gorgeous. We had a good time seeing his home, teaching the kids about the colonists and slavery. It was as fascinating as I remembered.

We then drove over to Arlington cemetery. What a humbling experience it is to be in that sacred place and see the names of so many who have fought to maintain the freedom we have in this Country. Truly awesome. From there we jumped over to the Jefferson Memorial. Very cool. 

The next day we took the metro down to D.C. again and started another day of MASS amounts of walking! We first went to the National Fallen Law Enforcement Memorial where I was able to show the kids my Dad's name on the wall of fallen officers.  The strange thing about being in D.C. was that the whole time I kept having this huge urge to run over and see this memorial. I kept feeling like my Dad was there and I needed to hurry up and see him.  Tears welled up in my eyes as I stood there with my family. There were so many names of so many people who had lost their lives just like my dad and knowing there were loved ones attached to those names who have suffered like my family had. It was an incredible experience. I am so glad I got to share that with my children and Jeff.

We then went walking to the Capitol building, then the Washington Monument, then over to the Jefferson Memorial. 

You know, when you just look at them all lined up in a row, they don't look very far apart. We found out we were wrong. HOLY COW! It was major walking. But worth every step for sure. The kids were great. Regan was the only one to complain, but she didn't complain much. Thank heavens we were smart enough to bring a stroller by that 3rd day.  Afterwards we hit the Smithsonian of Natural History for our last stop.

Overall, our trip to D.C. was exhausting, but worth it. I love being in that city. It reminds me of how much our founding fathers were guided by our Heavenly Father, how much we are blessed to live here, and how grateful I am for all those who have sacrificed so much to allow us our freedom.

We LOVED Washington, D.C.

Field Trips and Other Things

October began with General Conference. Jeff gave a talk in church about ways to get the kids involved with General Conference. One of the ideas was to set up a tent like the people watching King Benjamin. So, we did. Add Halloween candy to the mix and it was a great and peaceful conference. The kids loved it.

 There's a man in our ward named Phil Coley who was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Garrets disease). He and his sweet family have been suffering a lot. His wife Stephanie put together a team to do the race for ALS cure.  We thought it would be a great experience for the whole family...and it was. It was incredibly moving to see those suffering with the disease in their wheel chairs participating as well as the people walking in memory of those who have passed because of this horrible disease. I'm so glad we did it. 

This is Regan's baby named Molly. These past few weeks she has informed me that I am her Grandma and I am to take care of Molly while she's away at Kindergarten all day. I have to report to her at the end of the day all the things I've done with her. Regan even gives me instructions of how to take care of her. Very cute. But I wasn't expecting to be a Grandma so early.

Brooke had a field trip with all of the 5th graders at her school. We took tour buses to downtown Memphis. We got to see lots of the historical sites of Memphis including where Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and St Jude's hospital along with many other stops. We stopped for lunch at a park that was close to Jeff's work, so he was able to join us for that. One of the traditions is for the kids to go to A. Schwab's store where the kids all picked out goofy hats to wear. They loved it. It was a very interesting trip, but long. It totally wiped us out!

Regan had clown day in Kindergarten. I completely forgot about it until the last minute so this is what we ended with.  Brennan had dress up days every day of Homecoming week at the High School. He really got into it. This was his choice for tacky day.  Silly kid.

Regan's Kindergarten class also had their first field trip. Regan was so excited to go on it and on her first bus ride. She woke up at 4:30 in the morning because of it.  We went to the zoo. 

 The zoo was decorated with all of their Halloween stuff. The weather was absolutely gorgeous that day. We had a wonderful time.

Jadyn and Regan had parent night at the dance studio where we were able to come in and watch them. The girls just loved it. But poor Regan was still suffering from lack of sleep and the trip to the zoo. That girl was tired. She sure did fall asleep quickly that  night!

I ended up rushing home to put her in bed. When I got back to watch Jadyn, I completely forgot to take a picture of her. Sorry J.J. That girl is fun to watch. She sure has some good hip hop moves and really knows how to shake her booty!

Words of Wisdom Continued

I wish I was a grown up or a Grandma because then I wouldn't  have to be careful because they're perfect. At least most of them....or some of them. Ask your phone how many people have made it to the Celestial kingdom. - Regan 

Words of Wisdom

It's later than a pickle in a pineapple!  - Regan age 5

More of September

Now that we're back to a schedule, we're also back to running around like crazy to all the activities we're all involved in. The kids have started piano & choir again which have us running before and after school. Jadyn and Regan started dance class. Regan started a tap/ballet combo class that she just absolutely loves. Jadyn started a hip-hop class so she can shake her little booty. J.J. just eats it up when the teachers pick her to dance in front of the class. They both seem to be enjoying it a lot.

I've been super busy running everywhere, being room mom for Regan's kindergarten class, and volunteering down at the school.  This year for the school fundraiser they did a read-a-thon. One day the girls got to dress as characters from a book. Brooke picked the girl from "Because of Winn Dixie". Regan picked "Fancy Nancy" and Jadyn picked a pirate from a story she made up. (Creative Girl!) Another day, they had everyone come in their pajamas. They also asked for volunteers to come in their pajamas to read to the classes. I went and read in Jadyn's class.  The kids seemed to really enjoy seeing parents be silly.

September 20th was the anniversary of the day my dad was shot and killed as a police officer in the line of duty. Although it has been 23 years since he died, it is still an extremely difficult time of year for me. I miss him terribly and wish he were here to see these grandkids of his and be involved in our lives. He would absolutely love this time of his life. I was really emotional this year about it and don't really know why. I guess even though years and years go by, it still doesn't take away the sadness of what could be and what I miss. But this year I decided to celebrate my dad's life.

So, for dinner we had medium rare steak, loaded potatoes, and salad which is a meal my dad made on special occasions.  I talked about memories I had growing up with my dad. One of those was going tubing down the Salt River with him. We floated down the river with big inner tubes and my dad would toss us pop and Ding Dongs and other junk while we had fun. So for a snack we ate Ding Dongs in his memory. We sang some of the songs my Dad would sing with us while camping. We played Swat the Fly like we used to sometimes for Family Home evenings. And, we danced around while we listened to my Dad's CD of the group he sang in when he was in his 20s. 

I'm glad I got to share those memories with my kids so they could know their Grandpa better. I'm pretty sure he was laughing with his crazy laugh as he was watching us from heaven.

Everything Since Then

As soon as we got back from Arizona, we came home to find the Skipper cousins in town!  The kids had so much fun being together again.  When Laurie and Dave and the kids lived here, these kids were very close.  Each one of Laurie's kids has one of our kids close in age. They love being together and are super goofy!  Demonstration below:

Here's McKay and Brennan doing their usual...video games. Actually, we were quite impressed with these two boys. When we got back, we had temperatures of 104 and tons of humidity. David was building a deck in the back of Jeff's parents' house and asked them for help. They were very hard workers despite the horrible weather! As always, we were so sad to see them go back to North Carolina. We miss having them live by us.

Just a few days after that, the kids had their first day of school. Brennan started High School (which I'm still in denial about), Brooke 5th grade, Jadyn 4th grade and our baby Regan started Kindergarten.  What a spread! Regan was so excited to start school and was very ready. She even had me just drop her off at the curb outside of the school as she walked in.  She absolutely loves school. She's a little torn because she misses all the mommy time she's used to having, but she loves being there.  

I am experiencing a bit of an empty nest syndrome.  My house seems so quite and lonely without the constant chatter and singing that she does.  Everyone keeps asking me what I do with all my free time.  I just laugh and say, "What free time?"  Between getting up at 5:30 every morning to take Brennan to early morning seminary, being room mom, volunteering, kids before and after school activities, all my other daily chores and gym time, I still haven't found free time. That's okay though. I like staying busy.

On August 15th, our little Jadyn Joy turned 9!  Boy how time flies. She ended up having a birthday weekend. On Friday of that weekend she had her friend Melissa Ault over for a sleepover. I took them to get candy and a movie. They had pizza and painted their nails and had lots of fun.  The next day Jeff and I took her clothes shopping, to lunch and then to get her ears pierced.  Sunday was her actual birthday. She had lots of yummy food to eat all day, had Grandma and Grandpa Danielson over for dinner and had homemade German Chocolate Cake.  I think it was a successful birthday weekend.

One weekend we were bored so we went to Jackson, TN which is about one hour away just to do something different.  We went to lunch at an AWESOME Mexican food restaurant and spent time at the family fun center bowling and playing miniature golf. We then went and had banana splits and shakes at the old time ice cream parlor. It was a nice change of scenery.

These past few weeks the weather is finally cooling down and we've taken full advantage of it.  We've done lots of hiking and family walks and picnic.  Last Saturday we went to Herb Parson Lake for a 5 mile hike that ended up being a 7 mile hike. Don't know how that happened, but we enjoyed it anyway (for the most part). And the kids were troopers! 

Saturday night Regan kept complaining about being itchy. I just assumed she got attacked by bugs while on the hike. But by Monday (Labor Day), she had more and more spots in more and more places that looked a little funny. As we examined her closer, we realized that they weren't bites at all. Our poor baby had Chicken Pox.  Jeff took the other kids over to his parents' house for a BBQ and Regan and I stayed behind.  All week she kept getting more and more spots despite the two vaccines she had to prevent it. Luckily it wasn't that bad of a case. She was very itchy but never got sick.  I think we both enjoyed having her home from school.  We did lots of reading, snuggling and playing games.  I hate that she had chicken pox, but was glad to have some chatter in the home again.