What I do all day

About eight years ago

money started getting tight

when Bruce got some health problems.

We talked about me going to work

and just the thought of it made me sick

someone suggested to me that I could babysit kids

I love kids

and I wanted to stay home

we found our perfect solution

Honestly I love my job

it is crazy

and I am glad when the day is over

but I could not have asked for a better job

not only do I get to stay at home

but I get to watch some pretty great kids

Bruce and I always comment
how much we like all the kids
AND the parents.

Like I said

we love all these kids so much!

I am honored to be the one

that parents trust with their precious kids

Silly Reagan

I make it a habit to check on all the kids

before I go to bed at night
my dad used to do it
it always made me feel safe knowing

that I was going to be checked on
now that I am the parent
I can not go to sleep with out knowing

that all my kids are
in bed,
asleep,
covered,
comfortable,
once I know that they are sleeping like angels
then I can sleep

The other night

when I was making my 'rounds'

I found Reagan like this

it reminded me of a baby in the newborn intensive unit

under the biliruben lights

with the special glasses

she was just to cute not to take a few pictures!

I love that she will lay in bed and look at books

she loves books more than any of my other kids have
I also love that she arranged all of her ponies on her headboard

Sleep tight sweet Reagan

Owens first missing tooth

Owen has been wanting to loose a tooth

for forever!

We always told him

"Wait until you are five then you can loose one."

Well he's five

and he lost one!

We were eating popcorn for a snack

he bit one with his front teeth

he said it hurt

when I looked it was bleeding

and bent forward

well I pushed it back

felt a 'pop'

and was able to lift it right out!

He is the first kid that I have pulled out a tooth

tried with the girls

but just couldn't!

He is so proud of his new smile
he loves to show everyone,
the casher at the supermarket,
the clerk at the bank,
the lady at the drive up window,
everyone!

Man I love this boy!

Morgan and Owen

These two are either

best of friends

or

worst of enemys

I know that they love eachother

they are just too alike to get along all the time!

Owen turns 5!

Well Owen is officially five years old
for some reason five is such a magical age
I think that it is when you finally get the concept of birthdays
We have known for a long time that we wanted to get Owen a new bike
his knees were almost hitting the handle bars of his little one
we wanted to get him the biggest possible bike
that was still safe for him
and of course it had to look cool
we found this one

I left the training wheels on

because it didn't have a kickstand

he was pretty surprised to see it on the counter when he woke up

You know you did good when you get facial expressions like these!
He had to get on right away and test out the new wheels


And of course a transformer cake
Happy birthday buddy!
we are so happy that you are in our family
you are such a good big brother
you take care of your sisters
when they are hurt or sad
but you also can rough them up pretty good!

Shhh...don't tell him I am posting this six days after his birthday

4th of July Balloon Launch

We love waking up early to watch the balloon launch

we almost didn't

we had a late night and when the alarm went off

Bruce and I had second thought of waking up kids

but then Kim woke up

and everything was a-go

We met my family there

Emily had an awesome spot picked out

right next to the smokey the bear balloon

Don't the girls look so excited to be there?

up, up and away!

once they all got in the air

they did a bean bag toss

it was fun to watch

I love this tradition

even if it starts really early in the morning!

Relaxin'

After we went and watched the balloon launch
we went to the homestead to relax from getting up so early

The older girls had fun with eachother

they collected bugs

and did numerous other things to keep themselves busy

I just don't know what, because I was trying to sleep

I am glad that they all got along so well