Pajama envy

I dug out some of Spencer's old long sleeved pajamas for Landon last night, and it didn't go over very well. They are really cute with dinosaurs all over them. Well, since Spencer is very into dinosaurs currently, he wanted them. He had a major breakdown and almost started to strip Lanny down himself. He insisted that I take them off Landon so he could wear them-yeah, he wanted to wear 18 mos. pjs. Luckily he does have another pair he barely fits that has dinosaurs, so that made him happier. What will happen tonight?

In the midst of all this, I had changed into my pajamas. They are fairly new, plain pink with lace around the neck and legs. Well, Jordan fell in love with them instantly. She kept feeling the lace and the material. She insisted that I sew her some tomorrow that looked exactly the same. She said "I want the same ones mommy." I thought this was hysterical. I told her I would look for some new pink ones with lace, but she insisted that I sew them. Like that is ever going to happen!

I am not afraid to admit it.....

I went to the Celine Dion concert! I told Darin I would love to go, and he surprised me with tickets on Saturday. I know there are closet fans out there....It was a great concert. I was also pretty exciting because our seats were in section 400-the top section in the Verizon Center. We made it up the last escalator and there weren't really too many people around us at the time. There was an employee at the top of the steps. She asked us if there were only 2 of us, so we said yes. She asked if we wanted to move closer. My jaw almost dropped and I must have looked dumb founded. Darin said yes and we were given replacement tickets to move to section 116!The seats were right behind the control booth, just up from the last row of floor seats. They must have thought they weren't the greatest viewing, but they were great!

Here's the control area with all the computers, etc. It was cool to watch the cameras change on the monitors. At one point they steamed in a video of Andrea Bocelli and there was a monitor with just him, just Celine, and one together. Celine is so tiny!! She wears very high heals and moves around with ease!! The ramps were really steep on the sides, so I was impressed with how easily she moved around. She was pretty showy and dramatic-moving her hands around, etc. But man can she sing!!! She also sang a song in French and I really liked that.
There were lots of elevator lifts that moved her and the awesome dancers up and down.

Of course she ended with the titanic song, but the audience completely ate it up. The ladies behind me saw me looking at my pics on my camera and offered to pay me to e-mail them. So I have 2 email address and one sweet girl was by herself and didn't have e-mail, so I got copies made to send her. She was sooo excited about getting to move down closer.
So there ya have it...I loved it and still love Celine:)

Oh, I almost forgot, the opener was hysterical. His name was Gordy Brown and he was a comedic singer impersonator. He made fun of a ton of singers and actors and was soooo funny. Look him up if you want to laugh.

OBX ( Outer Banks)

I have been working on this post forever, and finally get to finish it. Thanks to the help of both the boys falling asleep in the car on the way home from picking Spencer up from pre-school.

So have a seat and get comfortable, this is a long one. We were so excited to go to OBX because we had never done the beach house thing. We stayed 4 days in a hotel once when Jordan was tiny. Anyhow thanks to the preparations of Hannah Smith, we had a nice house to stay in and great company for the week.
Here is "Sea Elegance." She took good care of us for a week. Through the week, there were 6 families in and out of the house. The children had a great time playing with each other. We did so many fun things-beach fun, pool fun, visiting a couple of lightouses, seeing a rescued wild horse, shopping-for me, eating at a nice restaurant-Darin and I, playing with each other. Here are some of my favorite photos of all our fun outings. I know it's a lot, but that's me folks:)

The beach was wonderful. We had walks on the beach, built a big sandcastle, got caught in the waves, flew kits, played in sand, ran in waves-we could spend all day on the beach. So much fun!!!


Man are these two beautiful! This is Alyssa Kotter and she and Jordan were "sisters" for the week. According to Jordan-this also included Gladys Smith. Do you think she wants a sister? May be a while:)
Having fun burying mommy
I LOVE this shot of Darin....exactly what he didn't want to happen:) Sweet Lucy-what an awesome baby on the whole trip. She could sleep anywhere and always looked soo cute!!
Jordan is my sand lover-she could hunker down with the crabs:) The little boy in the top center picture was there for part of the week and one day she was looking for her "boyfriend." Yikes:) Jordan didn't like going too far in the water, but loved running and jumping in the waves.

The water was wonderful-not cold at all. I went really far out and it was so nice. I would float in the waves, it was so fun. Had to be careful with the kids, though because it was a pretty good surf.

The boys like the sand as well.
Walking to the beach. It wasn't a bad walk from the house.
Spencer
One night the wind ws blowing really hard. Look at the hair-can you say Jason Priestly in the 90210 days?

The day after we got there we celebrated Spencer's 3 birthday. I held this stinking cake for 3 hours in the car. We stopped to get it at shoppers because we weren't sure what we would find when we go to Duck. Lesson learned: If we go the same week next year, Food Lion has lots of nice, smaller cakes:)

We went to the Aquarium the day it rained and had lots of fun.
Sometimes I just can't believe how cute this kid is!! Am I a biased mother or what?

Few more random shots at Currituck Light house in Corolla.
Phew, I made it. What a week. We had so much fun, at the best food, and decided we are going back. Have the real estate books and are starting to plan. Who's in?

Spencer is in Pre-school!!!

We weren't sure if they were going to let Spencer start today for sure because of his physical being just a week over a year ago. The ladies in the office were super nice. I did all the paperwork, then ran to the doctor and copied his shot record and took it back to the school.

So, here is our new preschooler!! Wow, he looks like such a big boy-I can't believe it!! The backpack is as big as he is!!
My Two students off to school. I was taking Spencer's picture and Jordan wanted in on it as well.
We found Spencer's shape on the wall. I am not sure that at this point he really know what was about to happen, but when I turned him over, he walked in and didn't look back!! I think I cried more then than I did leaving Jordan in kindergarten. I know he is ready,but I just worried that he would be scared. He has the same teacher that Jordan did-Ms. Sally; but a different assistant-Ms. Mary. I know her pretty well through a friend in our ward, and she is wonderful.She has a grandchild the same age as Landon. He is pretty good hands:)
Here's my happy boy! All ready to go. I was very happy to get a glowing report when I picked him up and my worries were for nothing!! He told them when he had to go to the bathroom so he had his original clothes on. Here are some highlights from the teachers:
1. He told them when he had to go to the bathroom-yeah!!!
2. He held a little boy's hand when they were walking outside, and the little boy was crying. On his own, Spencer said "you don't have to cry." Spencer sat by this boy at lunch, and the boy didn't cry as much the rest of the day.
3. At lunch, he said to the assistant "I smell poopy." She asked him if it was him, and I guess he very emphatically said "nooo" and sure enough another little boy had a poopy diaper.
4. Miss Sally wrote in his book that he did really well and will be a wonderful addition to the class.

Yeah Spencer-way to go!!! Mommy is so proud!!

For Jill and Andrew

We were so excited to get a call yesterday morning from Andrew telling us that Jill's water had broken. They brought Lizzie over and she went to school with Jordan. We were thrilled to hear that baby girl Nielson arrived safely and that she and Jill are doing well. We can't wait to meet her and Jordan is especially excited to pick out a present for her!!

We had a really fun day yesterday so here are some pics for mommy and daddy to see. I don't know if you will be able to see them today, but they are here when you are can look!!

We tried having a "slumber party" but after a few attempts to quiet the girls, we put Lizzie to sleep in our bed. Lizzie cried a bit because she missed her mommy and daddy, but she feel right to sleep after I put her in our bed.

Right after getting tucked in. A little play time after taking baths. They were thrilled to wear matching nightgowns.
Having some lemonade and watching a little TV after coming in from playing outside after school. They were hot and "sooo thirsty"
It was really cute when we gathered for our family prayer. I told Lizzie "you are a big sister." She had a huge smile and gave me a big hug. She is really excited about her new sister.

Here's the beautiful big sister!

Another try at tucking them in. Lizzie said "I'm not tired."
Ah, sucess. This is Liz when I put her in Jordan's bed when we went to bed. How sweet!! I had a pic of them sleeping this morning, but Landon is on my lap to avoid scraming at the top of his lungs, and all of a sudden the picture is gone.Here they are when I went to wake them up at 7:00 this morning. Lizzie jumped right up.

Off to school!!
Lizzie was an angel this morning. She was hungry right away, ate a good breakfast, picked her outfit with relative ease, ( I told her it was a shirt and leggings but she quickly corrected me because it is a dress and leggings!!) and sat still when I did her hair. I thought that she did great, considering she was up a couple times in the night crying for her mommy and daddy. One time she woke up and realized the lamp was off and needed it back on. She fell right back to sleep when I turned it off. This was in between the times Landon decided to wake up as well. I heard Jordan moaning and wandering around about 4:30 am and apparently she had fallen out of bed. I put her back and moved Liz closer to the wall. Jordan is used to sprawling out on her whole bed so I guess having an other kid in there cramped her style:) I don't think she even remembered it happened.

We love having you Liz!

Kindergarten here we come!!!

It is finally here....the first day of school. Jordan is now officially and elementary school student!! A whole new chapter in her life! We had been talking about it our whole vacation and the night before, so she knew what was happening. I set out some outfits, and to my surprise she picked the shorts instead of the skirt. Anyhow, here we are getting ready to leave. Off we go, getting into the car. We get to drive her everyday since she is going to a school she is not assigned to. And today we got Spencer in preschool at the same school, so I will be there morning, noon, and after noon! They had all the kindergarteners sit at tables in the cafeteria. At this point, Jordan seemed a little nervous. We didn't think we could see her room, but then they announced that we could follow them to the class.
Here she is lining up to get goin to the class.
It's official Jordan-you are in Kindergarten!! This is the sign on her classroom window. Her class is the first one right at the end of the hall you walk down. She has english in the morning with Mrs. McDowell, and Spanish in the afternoon with Mrs. Hoo. ( I know, funny name for Spanish teacher.)

They had to find the desk with their name on it and put on their nametag. Jordan is a green rectangle.

These are for Jill, who didn't realize she could come in with Liz. I was previously told that we couldn't go further than the hall way and we didn't have our cell phones to call Jill....anyhow here is Lizzie when whe found her seat. She and Jordan are in the same class!!
Jordan was excited to see me when I picked her up. She didn't really give too many details right away, but did seem disappointed when she said "we didn't even get do any homework." She mentioned playing on the playgound, and remembered the name of one little girl in her class. Can you imagine trying to learn the names of 24, well for Jordan and Liz 23 other kids and 4 teachers? WOW!!

Here we go into the world of elementary school!

A Father's Blessing

Warning: Sappy mother of a new kindergartner typing this entry!!

We have been discussing the start of kindergarten for some time now. I think today Jordan really began to understand what will happen tomorrow. I went through it step by step and I could tell she was just thinking. She just put her head down on the bed. I got the feeling she was a little nervous. She has had a fever the last couple days and hasn't really been up to par. So we had family prayer and Daddy went in to put her to bed.

They waited for me to come in and then I was witness to one of the sweetest things for an LDS mother-I was able to see Darin administer her first Father's Blessing. She was so cute-a girl who is usually squirmy in prayers and likes to take nibbles during meal blessings. She sat on her chair and folded her arms so cute, put her head down and closed her eyes. I couldn't help but watch her during the whole sweet blessing. Darin gave her many blessings, most importantly that she would be able to learn listen to her teachers, learn Spanish and make friends. She opened her eyes a couple times, but closed them quickly. After the blessing she looked up at Darin with the sweetest expressing and layed her head on his lap. OH....my heart was so full I just wept. I know she was feeling the spirit as I was becauses he was so calm. She said sweetly "I opened my eyes a couple times, but then I closed them." So sweet!!!