My little babysitter

Well, I don't think Hailey is quite ready to babysit yet, but she is sure cute when she tries. This was the first time that she tried to change Lacy's diaper, "All by myself!"

Preschool Update

Talon goes on M,W,F
Hailey goes on T, TH

Both of the kids love telling me what they did in preschool everyday. After Talon's first day the conversation was pretty easy, because Hailey wanted to listen too.

But Tuesday, after Hailey's first day, when I asked her what she did, Talon kept interupting her to pipe in what he did there too, and she would yell at him, "Sannan, me talking to mommy!" I had to tell him that today was her day at school and it was his turn to listen.

Then yesterday when I asked Talon about his day again, Hailey kept interrupting with comments like, "me do dat too" and Talon got really frustrated with her...man those kids can argue in the car! I tried taking turns asking them the same questions and letting them take turns answering, and that sort of worked.

I just hope they don't get tired of telling me what they did, because I love to hear it, even if I do have to play referee. =)

Oh yeah, Hailey has started running away from me whenever I get out the rubberbands. I guess I did too much too fast. I'll guess I'll have to give her a break for a while. ;-P
Last night I cut a bunch of flowers off of their stems and hot glued them on clips, so I'm ready when she is!

Our week with the Schomakers

Now that I've finally finished this post, I realize that I should have broken it down into about 5 or 6 seperate posts, but there is NO WAY I'm going to redo it now!! ENJOY! We sure did!!

Monday, August 18:
Dinner at mom and dads.

Even though the Schomakers and mom got back from CA late Sunday night, mom still invited us over for dinner. It was crazy!! It has been a while since mom, dad, their kids and grandkids were all together. It was not a quiet evening, but it was great to have everyone together.

Since I didn't bring my camera with me that night, I decided to post a cute picture of Lacy eating cereal for the first time...she's so dang cute!! (Tawna is that your towel on the chair)

Tuesday, August 19:

Party at our house!

Mom said she wanted to watch our kids at our house so that Tim, Tina and the boys could all come with her and go swimming. When I got home from work, there was a full fledged party going on. Other than my mom and my kids and the Schomakers; Jennifer had brought her kids, Erica was there with Tyler, Aunt Susan and Shawna were there with her kids, and my dad was there too. Luckily my mom had made enough chicken and stuffing (Joe's favorite recipe) for everyone! As my dad said we have the "party house", and we love having everyone over!!

Swimming Talon & JoshMattShawna & Aiden; Jennifer & Braden; Erica & Tyler and Talon on some noodlesSydney, Lacy & HaileyLacySydney, Hailey, Josh & Matt in the playhouse

Wednesday, August 20:

Rainforest Cafe:

Jennifer, Sydney, Braden, me, Joe, Talon, Hailey, Lacy, Tim, Tina, Josh and Matt. Tina even bought two more shirts! =) Since it takes about 5 hours to get your food there, we went for a little walk around the restaurant.

Here is Josh, Sydney (covering her ears), Matt and TalonThe kids on the goofy bar chairs shaped like animals (with Sydney still covering her ears)Matt on a FrogHailey on a ZebraJosh and Matt in front of the ElephantsJennifer and Braden

Thursday, August 21:

Family pictures.

We always go to the same place...Portrait Innovations in Chandler. The people there are always really nice, and great with the kids. They always have someone working with the person taking pictures, in order to try to keep the kids entertained and happy during the shoot. After about two hours of pictures and sorting through them all. We walked across the parking lot to Jason's Deli for dinner while they were printing the pictures we ordered, and Tim and Tina went on their way for a "date night". The guy at Portrait Innovations said that he would call us when they were done printing, but instead he brought them to us while we were eating! They are so great there!!

The whole color coded gangGrandma & Grandpa with the grandkidsOur FamilyTalon, Hailey & LacyJen's FamilySydney & BradenTina's FamilyJosh & MattDavid's FamilyTylerThe girls...and the boys

Let's go eat!!

Friday, August 22:

Sadly, we didn't see the Schomakers on Friday because we were busy getting ready for Hailey's birthday party.

Saturday, August 23:

Hailey's birthday party!! We had EVERYONE over on Saturday to celebrate Hailey's 3rd Birthday! It was pretty much an open house from about 11:15-9:00pm. Joe cooked hotdogs, hamburgers, chicken, salmon and once again there was WAY too much food.

Mike, Mart (with a head this time) Diane, Courtney and EthanLacy, Josh, Matt & TimMart and Zach driving the Barbie JeepsBlowing out the candlesEating cakeHailey, that's not eyeshadow, it's lipglossDoesn't she make a great Princess?Playing with her new toys (this is my 2nd attempt at that hairdo from her potty chart picture)Hailey and her "best friends" playing with her new toys, and makeup (Thanks Angel!)

Sunday, August 24:

We met Tim, Tina, Josh, Matt, Dave, Erica, Tyler, Jennifer, Sydney and Braden at Chuck-E-Cheese for lunch. Hailey is still afraid of the guy in the suit, but she loves the rides!

Tim left for home Monday morning, becuase he had to be back to work on Wednesday. Tina and the boys are still here though, because she wanted to get the kids to a dentist here in the states. Apparently they had a horrible experience in Germany, so they wanted to take care of some cavities before they headed home. Also, Tina has had a terrible cough for weeks now, and went to the doctor to find out what's wrong. They took chest x-rays and she'll have her results on Wednesday. It looks like they are going to be here until Saturday!! Yeah!!

Yeah Hailey!!

Hailey is finally potty trained!! Here she is showing off her princess dishes she got for completing her potty chart.And here is a shot of my first attempt at a new hairdo we tried that night. I missed an entire step, but it was still cute

Right now Hailey is at her first day of preschool. She's been doing so well, and I'm pretty confident that she won't have any accidents while she's there, but Joe was going to have her go potty right when she gets there just to make sure. ;)

Talon did great yesterday at his first day! He said he had a good time and brought home a picture that he colored and some worksheets he did. He said that they learned the letter L and he ate a ladybug cookie.

I'm working on the post about the week with the Schomakers, but it's a long one...

First Day of Preschool

Today is Talon's first day of preschool. He is so cute. We went to meet their teacher on Friday and she gave us some questionnaires for the kids to fill out, so that they can get to know each other on the first day. Yesterday I told him and Hailey that they couldn't go swimming until after they finished their "homework". Talon told me that he wasn't going to know how to do it, so I told him it was going to be easy - all he had to do was answer some questions. He said that he wasn't going to know the answers. I asked him the first question...what is your name? He brightened up and said Talon Reed Dairman. We went on with the questions and after a few he said, "I AM good at this!" The answer to his favorite song was the ABC's, so when it was Hailey's turn to answer her questions she kept saying ABC's for EVERYTHING, and I had to ask her everything two times to get a real answer from her. Frustrating, but cute. Hailey will have her first day tomorrow.

I am so far behind in posting! My sister Tina, her husband Tim, and their two boys were home from GERMANY for an entire week, and we got to see them almost everyday!! I'll post about the whole week when I have the pictures downloaded to go with them.

Since they were in town, we had Hailey's birthday party a week early so that everyone would be able to see the Schomaker's before they have to go back to GERMANY for THREE MORE YEARS!! The kids had a blast together. Hailey got some great "girly" presents and had a good time sharing them with her friends. Thanks to everyone who came, and especially to those who helped clean up!! Maybe we'll be able to get our house back to normal by the end of the week. :-D

Diving for toys

Talon, Sydney and Hailey were sitting on the love seat at the deep end of the pool. Talon was dropping his dive toy and then "practicing" jumping off the seat and diving down to the bottom to get it. He's getting really good at it, and comes up with it just about every time. Sydney said that she wanted a turn and Talon said no, so after I told him he had to give her a turn, he reluctantly let her go. She jumped off the seat and swam around, but never really got more than about a foot under water. Talon laughed, and then took his turn again. After he came up and dropped the toy again, Sydney said it was her turn again. Talon laughed and said, "OK, go ahead duffus!"

Memories...

A friend from high school came over this weekend and while we were talking some old memories came up that were hilarious! I had a great time with you Tawna, and your kids were adorable! We'll have to do it again soon. :-) Plus, I still need to give you those flowers for your preschool, because I'm a scatter brain and forgot to give them to you Saturday.

I've seen this on other people's blogs recently and thought it would be fun. I hope you all play along.

Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together (or my husband). It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Lacy - 4 months old

Lacy turned 4 months old on Saturday, and went for her immunizations this morning. She is in the 25th percentile for both her height & weight, and all is well. The doctor said that we can start introducing cereal and oatmeal to her any day now to see how she does. I'm excited that she can start filling up on something other than her formula - made from crushed up $100 bills. =) He also told us that, not only is there no milk protiens in the formula, but the people at Neocate cannot even have milk products within 4 hours of going to work. I guess they are afraid of a sneeze or something contaminating the formula. Isn't that crazy? I guess they are pretty careful...but for the $35.00 they charge for a 14oz can (not including shipping charges), they should be. I'm just happy that there is something out there available to us that can help her be such a happy, healthy little girl.

Happy Birthday Mom & Dave!!

My mom and brother share a birthday on August 9th, so since neither of them have a blog I can sabotage, like Jennifer's, I just wanted to take a moment to let them both know how great I think they are.

Dave - 5 things I love about you

1. You have been a wonderful, loving father ever since the day Tyler was born.2. You always put family first, and were one of the first people to come over when we brought each one of our kids home from the hospital.

You & Erica with TalonYou & HaileyYou & Lacy

3. You are very hardworking.

4. You are always there when I need your help. Like when, while we were out of town, our HUGE tree fell on our house. You came over with dad and helped Joe get it off without completely ruining the roof, although I think you were trying with that rock! And you always make time to come work on our computer when it is sucking.

5. You are more like dad than even you know, and hopefully Tyler will get some of the sense of humor and honesty that you both share. What a great little man you are helping to raise!

Mom - 5 things I love about you

First of all, wow, it was hard to find some pictures of you. I guess you do stay behind the camera more than I thought!

1. You have set a great example to your children and grandchildren about how important family is. 2. You take wonderful care of your grandchildren. I don't know how we would do it without you!3. You have taught me to be thrifty, and not live beyond my means.

4. You always put others first.

5. You love it when I meet you for church, but are very understanding when I don't make it.

Thank you both so much for being the wonderful people that you are!! I hope you both had a wonderful birthday!