Our Silkworms

We inherited silkworms from Connor's Enrichment teacher at Sunshine School! She told me Connor loved them and we should take some home to watch. Well, I did and we are enjoying watching them grow and grow and grow! They only eat mulberry leaves and we are raiding a neighbors tree daily to keep up with their feeding habits. They started out smaller than our fingernail and have more then tripled in size in a week! You can actually hear them crunching on the leaves while they eat.

When they get large enough they will spin themselves into a silky cocoon and I'll post pics then!

From what I remember of them from teaching 1st grade, I need to make sure closer to spinning time that the box is covered or they will climb my wall to spin!!!

Connor's Neigh Neigh Party

Connor has always loved horses. He yells neigh, neigh every time he sees one and loves to feed the horses at Memaw's carrots. So, when we began to talk about him turning 3 I asked him what kind of party he wanted. Thinking he would say something like Backyardigans or Superheroes, but no, he said from the beginning he wanted a neigh, neigh party. I started looking online for horse barns that hosted parties and found a great one, but it cost a great price too! So, back to the computer. After searching for a while I happened onto this site called Dallas Pony and I knew it was exactly what I had been looking for. They bring a pony, catered to your party, for the kids to ride. We rented Prince for an hour and they actually put blue glitter in his tail and mane and painted his hooves blue with glitter too! Everyone loved riding Prince, especially my two older kids who wanted to ride every time! We invited Connor's preschool class and a few other friends from church and had a wonderful Cowboy party in Mimi and Papa's backyard. It was a perfect day and a perfect setting. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect party for my special 3 year old.

Words can not express how truly blessed we feel each and everyday by this miracle that God gave us. We love you Connor Reid!

We are so Blessed!

This is not Connor's birthday blog, that will come later. First, I need to praise God and count my blessings as Spring begins! Two years ago we found out our sweet baby had this really random, scary illness. We didn't understand it because he seemed so healthy and happy and it hit him like a ton of bricks! After being in and out of the hospital with him having everything from pneumonia several times to lung infections and ear infections and being severely dehydrated from stomach flu we have made it this whole winter without one trip to the ER or hospital!!! His white blood counts have maintained a "good" level all winter and he was able to fight off several colds that last year turned to pneumonia overnight. We go to the Oncologist next Wednesday and we will know how his blood counts are then.

So, as Spring begins and as Connor turns 3 we are praising God and counting our blessings at our home!

The Aggie Experience

We packed up and headed to College Station this last weekend. Well, all but Connor, we left him here with his Aunt G to have his own fun. We were going to a Veterinarian Dinner and Fund Raiser/Auction. Since we were going this weekend I got online and looked for sports events to take the kids to. Instead I found a FREE Football camp for Jack. The boys got to watch the Aggie Football team hold their spring Offense/Defense game then they toured the facilities and received a whoop towel. After that they got to run onto the field through the end zone with the band playing. All the players slapped their hands as they ran onto the field. It was truly an amazing experience.

Then the players and position coaches ran the boys through drills. He had a great time tackling the players.

He got to catch some balls too. It was obviously just as much fun for the Aggie players as for the kids! We will definitely try to go again next year.

We also walked around a bit and took some pictures with the 12th man.

And saw where all the Reveille's are buried.

Sunday Papa took us to the Vet school for a quick visit. Our Bailey says that she really wants to go to A&M and be a vet someday. We love to hear her say,"It is so... good to be back in Aggieland!" Maybe someday...

Rock 'N Roll Dude

Today was 50's day at Preschool. Connor wore his best Fonzie outfit. Isn't he cute?

More Surprises!

Friday's surprise was a trip to Dallas Blooms with Mimi. The flowers were amazing this year and they have these cute Storybook houses set up all over the arboretum for the kids to walk through or just hang out in. Each house is based on a famous storybook. It was lots of fun to tour these houses as well as see all the beautiful blooming flowers. It made me antsy to go out and buy flowers for our flower beds. I think our favorite houses were Alice in Wonderland, The Jolly Roger and The Lorax. Here are a few of my favs from this years trip. Each kid wanted to take some pictures also and I let them. It kept them happier and I got more pictures of them by letting them take some too! This one Bailey took right at the end of our trip. These tulips were so bright and beautiful.

This was Jack's favorite he took. He has always liked cactus. I love bluebonnets. He did a really good job.

This walking away pose was Bailey's idea. Just wish there were more flowers in this section.

This believe it or not, was Connor's picture! He needed my help only to find where to push the button!

I like this one the best, I loved the orange tulips, they were spectacular.

Bailey took this one too. I think my kids might be good photographers!

And yes, Connor is bald! You would think after so many boys haircuts that I would know not to ask for a 1 1/2 and 2 inch blade at this time of year. She actually only used the 1 1/2 and it is short!
All in all it was a nice relaxing Spring Break! Now we jump into the rest of school. It is so busy from now on, it was nice to rest a little this week.

Spring Break Surprises!

This year for Spring Break all kids were out at the same time so I planned a few surprises for us! Last Saturday we met Memaw and G-Dad in Greenville and dropped off the older two kids for a few days of fun on the farm. We also let Aunt G. take Connor home with her and mommy and daddy had a little Spring Break for ourselves! We took in a fun Clint Eastwood movie and dinner. Wednesday afternoon Aunt Stephanie traded her kids for mine and delivered them to me in a McDonald's parking lot. From there our adventures began. I took them to see Race to Witch Mountain. An awesome movie, all three kids were mesmerized. And I like looking at The Rock!
The next morning we packed a lunch and headed to the Dallas Zoo. Yes, we go there a lot. Not much of a surprise, but the zoo had gotten several new animals this month. A new cheetah family, two new giraffes, a new baby monkey, and two new albino alligators. Here are a few of our favorite pictures from our Zoo day.

A Quick Recap!

The month of February really flew by. This month saw 4 of us sick, 3 Valentine Parties, 1 of us with a new job, basketball and cheer leading finally end, soccer for 2 of us begin, 1 of us very busy with PTA stuff, 1 of us taking a gifted test at school, numerous play dates and sleepovers, lots of tears and lots of smiles! Bring on March...

Valentine Concert!

Our three wonderful kids planned a fun "rock" concert for us after dinner. They made a poster and taped it to the front window so daddy would see it when he came in. It told us the time and music that they would perform. All the songs were ABBA songs! A favorite around our house. They really thought out the costumes and each instrument.

Bailey was the singer/pop star!!! She really dreams about being a pop star, too funny!

On guitar, Connor Reid! He told us, "I cool, mommy, I cool!"

On drums, Jack. He is crazy!!!

What a fun way to end our Valentine celebration.

Valentine's Parties

We started our holiday with a party at Connor's pre school on Thursday. I am the room mom and had a fun little party planned for our sweet kids. First, I needed to take a picture of each child's face up close for our craft. These are what I got from my "sweet" child! "cheesy" and "grumpy"

I actually chose the grumpy because that is the face I see all the time.

We had yummy valentine donut holes, strawberries and blueberries, sunny D's and a red rice krispy treat. Our craft was this fun picture frame that all the moms helped the kids glue red and pink buttons on. I took the pictures, had them developed and ran back up to put them into the frames. They turned out so cute!

Here is Connor's fun class. Really sweet kids and we are so blessed to have our Connor surrounded by wonderful kids and families.

Friday I got up and took Connor to Mimi's for a fun day and I headed to pick up lunch for both the older kids teachers. I just hung out in Jack's class until party time. I love, love, love Jack's teacher, she is a wonderful young lady. And, she loves Jack, which helps when he is in trouble!!!

For Jack's party the other two room moms and I got together and planned all the parties this year. It helps to have others to bounce ideas off of. We planned an ice cream sundae bar for this party. We lined tables in the hall and had tons of toppings for our ice cream. The kids loved it! All third graders want to do it eat and talk! So, we gave them what they wanted, it is their party after all. I only got to be at Bailey's party for 10 minutes at the end, but she seemed to have a wonderful party too. After school we ran to Jack' old school to visit with his first grade teacher. We still take her treats and visit her often. She was a great influence in Jack's life and the only good thing we remember from our days at the old school! We are thrilled for Ms. Cannon she is getting married over Spring Break! Then we grabbed Connor from Mimi and ran to Chick fil a. They were having free snacks all last week and we wanted a brownie! After a yummy snack, we ran into Target and did our annual Valentine shopping for daddy. Our fun tradition we started 3 years ago. Each kid picks something out for daddy for V-Day and we make him a fun dinner too. This year Connor picked out some boxers with puppies on them, Bailey got him a new book to read, and Jack found a vintage Rolling Stones t-shirt for him. We decided to have our dinner Friday because daddy wasn't going to be home Saturday so I cooked sausage, homemade macaroni (kids fav), baked beans, strawberries and more brownies for dessert! It is one of daddy's favorite meals and he really loved everything the kids got for him...

Our after dinner entertainment in next blog!

Mommy's Scientist

Jackson won at his school's Science Fair for the second year in a row! Jack and his buddy Luke were both picked out of his class to enter the Science Fair and they both came away with a ribbon. Jack loves science and all things science so this is right up his alley. Mommy and Daddy were so very proud of our little science man!

My Little DJ

At 8:30 this morning, standing in a line of around 400 children I thought I'd lost my mind! But, no I hadn't. I was doing something with Jack that we could always laugh about later!
This year at school Jack is the morning announcement person. He loves his job and many, many teachers have commented to me how good he is at it. One day a few weeks ago a teacher at his school sent me an email and told me to take Jack to the Radio Disney tryouts. I just laughed at her. Then another teacher told me I should do it and several others agreed. It stayed in the back of my head but not considered very seriously. Then when we got up this morning Greg asked me if we were going to go. I quickly asked Jack and he was excited about the idea. So, off we headed to stand in a line. We were about half way in the long, long line. We were actually in group 23. Each group had 10 children in it and there were at least as many behind us as in front so I figure around 400. As we registered I quickly realized how serious some of these people were. They all had head shots of their kids and resumes!!! Head shots for the radio, really??? So, after waiting for quite a while it was our turn to get our script and practice to head into the audition. We found a seat and he read through the script a few times. It was really short blurbs and info type sentences that they actually use on the show. He was really pretty cute reading them and didn't seem nervous at all. Then we headed into the audition! He was number 2 and a lady had them introduce themselves and then tell their age and then she chose a number off the script and asked them to read. All of a sudden I could tell he was a little nervous. Not too bad but he didn't read with as much expression as he had to me. He was the youngest in his group of 10 but he held his own really well. After we walked out of the audition a DJ was there asking kids questions and letting them "audition" for him on the radio. He asked Jack to "audition" and let him pick the number to read. He actually tried to talk Jack out of #8, Jack's favorite one. I think the DJ thought it was too hard for Jack. Well, he showed him. He blew it out of the water! People clapped and the DJ and another Radio Disney personality were very complimentary. They asked me if he got his talent from me, to which I quickly answered "Absolutely Not".

Do I expect a call back? No, but this is an experience Jack will always remember. Hey, mom, remember when I got to talk on the radio? Yes Jack, and I was so very proud of you!

We're Playing Basketball!

Our basketball and cheerleading season has officially begun! Jack is playing for Upward again and Daddy is coaching him again. We really enjoy Upward, it is a Christian based league that emphasizes fair play, teamwork and has scriptures and devos at the games. A nice change from some of the leagues we play in. This year Bailey decided to cheer for Upward too. It was so fun because Jack's first game Bailey got to cheer at. Sort of a two for one deal for our family! Her cousin Emma is cheering too so we get to see all our family at one time. Brooke and Connor just seem to enjoy each other's company more than the games!

Here is our wonderful basketball player. He loves, loves, loves to play and is in the driveway shooting baskets whenever he can. He has shown lots of improvement this season already and his daddy is really proud to be coaching him.