Here is Reid chatting today. I finally caught him blabbing (I took several short video clips this afternoon before I finally 'caught' him talking). He is getting so vocal these days! He makes the 'ba ba ba' sound, 'da da da' sound and I am hearing some 'ma ma ma' these days. I can't believe he is 7 months old already, wow time is flying by.

So the kids thought it would funny to get a hold of the camera today and take pictures of each other. I think they did everything I said NOT to do and didn't do a thing I said to please do! Whew, what a day. Payton and Shae were on a roll today being stinkers and driving me absolutely crazy. This is the very nature of kids though right?! At the end of it all, I secretly enjoyed another day with my children---but please please please don't tell them okay?! They will think I love to be tortured!!

You know, today is one of those days that I wanted to have all the control, I wanted the kids to help me with my agenda (the same old boring chores and such). I had a lot of housework to do! When I finally gave up that control with a big fight and some yelling, I saw some truly magical moments. Payton taught Shae how to draw a rainbow, which he affectionately calls his picture of "rainbow snakes; sssss!" And Mr. Reid (we call him Mr. for some reason) finally flipped from his belly to his back several times today! All the while, I cleaned the kitchen, did the laundry, organized my closet and bathroom (who has time or energy to do this on a regular basis?) and I packed up the kids' summer clothes and organized their fall clothes. My work is complete! Oh did I mention I also made zucchini bread?! Ashley and Jeff have an amazing garden so my thanks to them for the delicious zucchini!!

We are SOOO excited to see Travis tomorrow. It has been so lonely here without him. I have spent a lot of time reflecting on our fast track life and how time away from our favorite guy brings an even deeper appreciation. He is the tick in our tock, the raspberry to our jelly, the yin to our yang, and last but not least the dark chocolate chip to our cookie! I take a lot for granted day in and day out, so I have to say that I sincerely appreciate everything Travis does for each of us. We have an equal partnership with everything we do including the child rearing. I really can't do it all by myself, although on most days I act like I can and even say it out loud on occasion. This weekend has been a humbling experience and I truly admit that I can't do it on my own! I miss my main squeeze and look forward to a wonderful fall week with my family!

okay before you all freak out, yes this is Reid breastfeeding but I think it's alright to share since you can't see me. I had to snap some shots of how he eats---he wraps his hands on me and snuggles in but as you can see; he was really interested in the camera. I think you get the picture! To me, it's an endearing and special moment in time:)

Yikes, the weather man mentioned a "40%" chance of rain for today here in Boise. Hmmmm, I heard the rain start around 1 am, woke up to thunder that literally shook my house at 8:30am this morning and didn't see the sun until the afternoon! More like 100% chance of a massive downpour ALL freaken day. Seriously, does one go to school to become a "meteorologist?" Well the rain picked back up by 3 pm and it rained so much, we collected almost an inch of rain----I think it was more than that but I didn't verify! So much for getting outside today:)

We bummed around the house ALL day today. It was nice to just hang with the kids and watch them play together. We watched the Coug game today but by the third quarter they were done watching it and singing the fight song with me at every touchdown. Some day they won't be haters:) Don't get me started on the Boise Bozos, what the hell is wrong with UO?????? Seriously, we won't hear the end of it now here in town.

Travis is gone this weekend, he went to PA (Port Angeles for all of you non-Washingtonians) to fish. We didn't hear from him today but I'm sure it was a great fishing day. We are missing him so far, tomorrow will be harder on us. Sundays are usually our family lounging day.

SNL is obviously boring tonight otherwise I'd be watching it instead of blogging. Just when I thought it was going to be slightly entertaining... The kids are tucked in my bed so I am debating moving one or just sleeping on the couch. Our slumber party was miserable last night LOL! Shae sweats like a pig so I was constantly moving him away from me only to find that he was scooting closer to me because Payton was sleeping horizontally in the bed, taking up ALL of the space! NO JOKE! I almost fell off the bed! Too funny---Reid must of slept really nice in his crib... I was jealous:)

Well enough blabbing for now!

We are the newest members of Zoo Boise! It's been forever since I have bought the family a pass so before they open their new African Exhibit here in Boise; I figured I better jump in at a good price. Plus when we move to Washington this pass gets us into the zoos there for free! What a steal!! Here are some pictures from our day. Next visit to the zoo will include big sis Patyon.

getting ready for lunch---Reid had pears, yummy yummy!enjoying lunch before exploring the zoo. I should have snapped a picture about five minutes later when he completely freaked over a Canadian Goose. This goose is so used to people feeding it food that it got way too close for comfort for Shae. I had to grab him, the food and find another spot to finish lunch, lol! Reid as he drinks from his sippy cup--he saw the camera and tried to smile with the cup in his mouth! What a ham I have the coolest boys around"What do you mean the giraffee says I'm too short???"molting----looks so uncomfortable. Good thing I don't have feathers. quick shot in front of the molting penguins It's a ___??? Whoa what the heck is that? A hybrid kangaroo or something??It's a Patagonian of course!! Not every day you find one of these at a zoo... Too bad Mom forgot to take my picture with the llamas or with the mountain goats they have at this place! here kitty kitty.... stupid squirrel!! That is one big Macaw......all done at the zoo!

Well another September week has come and gone. The weather was fantastic this week and should be absolutely wonderful over the weekend. We have temps in the high 80s with a cool breeze each day. We LOVE getting out each day, it's SOOOO nice to have a cool breeze mixed with the warmth from the sun. It surely beats 90-100 degree weather with no wind in the summer.

Payton had her first spelling test today. I look forward to seeing her 100% score when she gets home in an hour:) Not to toot my own kid's horn; okay hold it! I will toot her horn, pat her on the back, and say this first grade stuff is TOO EASY!!!! Seriously; her goal this week, to work on perfecting her d'nealian handwriting not memorizing the spelling of the words on her list. The words were far too easy for her (ie: am, ham, had, mad, etc). This is where I struggle with public school but I try to stay positive when going through her homework. D'nealian, smamealian handwriting, BLAH! She has beautiful handwriting the way it is and here I have to stay on her butt like a pit bull to write bigger using silly lined paper. Oh well, we make sure to switch it up for her and keep her on track with what she was doing at Montessori since she at this point is light years ahead of the game. I'm not saying by any means she is smarter than the average first grader, really I have no idea. She comes home with math sheets that has pictures of objects in which she must count the pictures and write the total number of items next to it. Now this is a slight change from triple digit addition problems!!!

Shae and Reid had a great week at home, or at least I'd to think they did! Shae has two new favorite shows on PBS that we watch every morning and then we intermix the ideas and themes into our day. The first show is "Sid the Science Kid" that is about a preschooler who loves science at school. We both learn so much and usually try some of his "experiments" during the day. This week we learned to measure, turn ice into water, and how cooking is really chemistry. His other show is "Super Why" which is all about reading. He loves guessing the letters in the alphabet and reading stories with the characters. I even find Reid watching these shows too!!

Reid is coming down with a slight cold. I feel so bad for the kids when they are sick. He is super congested and is constantly sneezing or coughing to loosen the ickies in his nose. LOL, as I just typed this, he sneezed and had a huge trail hanging out of nose!! GROSS!!!!! Despite the cold, he is his usual self, happy and chilled. He now has four top teeth and two bottom teeth and yes still breastfeeding.

Travis and I are tired this week!! We have been staying up so late each night playing online. He has found some seriously funny videos online (on Comedy Central) that cause us to laugh so hard we both tear up. Talk about late night humor. When he's not sharing the laptop with me, he is most likely researching salmon fishing or applying for jobs in Washington. He heads to the Peninsula next weekend to go fishing with Kyle, Clayton, and Angie----and he isn't at all excited to go!!! He has been very aggressive in looking for a new job. He is going to help me with my resume and then I will start looking for a head hunter agency. I worry that my work with kids with Autism is too narrow of a field to branch out into a different area of social service; or perhaps may hinder me in getting out of social service. We'll see as the weeks progress.

We found out this morning that we have creepy crawlies co-habitating with us in our house, in our bedroom no less! Travis woke up several times last night stating he had bad dreams. When I woke up later on in the morning, I discovered a brown spider about the size of a fifty cent piece on the wall just above my head---AHHHHH!!!! I called Travis about his bad dreams which yep, you guessed it, was about spiders. He dreamt that he was trying to kill a spider crawling on the wall which is so gross that it really was there. The pest control service is coming on Monday. We did our homework and these are hobo spiders making their way in (we found a few others earlier this week in our bathroom). These are aggressive and dangerous spiders so we are freaked out.

This weekend we must work on cleaning up our yard in preparation for fall and to get it ready to put on the market in December. YAY, yard work! We will be working on our outdoor living space/patio area after I hack the hell out of butterfly bush out front. I will take before and after pictures of this bush that has become a tree! It took over our front flower bed this summer.

Okay enough blabbing. I hear Shae rummaging through my fridge for his seventh meal of the day! Reid is happily playing with the new toy Shae and I bought him this morning. Payton will be home in half an hour! Have a great weekend!!!

Well today is our 4th wedding anniversary! Amazing to think that since our wedding day we have had 2 babies!! Time flies when you are having fun:) and I must say that our marriage has been nothing but fun and full of deep love. I am so blessed to have a wonderful husband. Travis and I have been best friends for a really long time now, so crazy to think that we met at 19 and 20. We have lived through our 20's together, okay okay Travis is STILL in his 20's but not for long!! Woa I am getting side tracked here.

I just wanted to post a blog to say that today is a special day for us, a day in which we get to recognize our wonderful marriage, looking back on our challenges and our successes thus far. I look forward to our many years together.

Thanks to all of you who came to our wedding to celebrate this day with us----I look back at the entire weekend so fondly and cherish those memories.

The night before school--our annual tradition; a big feast and celebration cake.

okay mom, to make you happy I will stop for a quick picture but LET'S GO!! I'm so excited for my first day of school!!!
one last picture before walking to the bus stop
Off to school in the yellow bus

I had to add this one---Reid in his new high chair

Chilling at our camp

Daddy and Daughter

Nanny and Papa with the babies

Ang and Clayton taking a swim

The Cockrum family---Duchess included

The sweetest Mom around

Mommy/Auntie Angie and Daddy/Uncle Clayton with a boat load of children

the family braving a wild storm---hurricane Chelan

the boys

Reid and Katelyn; the dynamic duo!

the cousins hanging out

Reid; 6 months old and trying solids for the first time 8/22/08 while on vacation!

Let's go swimming!

first time at Lake Chelan

Just a quick note to say that I read 'The Shack' and really loved this book. If you do not have a book in hand at the moment, find this one and read it! That's it!!