Still a mess!

Bradley's stitch at around 18 mo.

Trent's t.p. collection at 18 mo.

Sometimes you forget how much kids get into as they grow and learn. Their curiosity is wild and their imaginations are huge! The above pictures are from the other day when I had not put away the toilet paper, so Trent decided to get them all out and put them on the floor. Then, he decided to park his trucks in them! And then, when looking back at my old pictures, I remembered that Bradley cut the top of his head in the car in a weird accident when he was 18 months old too. This is a crazy-dangerous age!

18 month check-up

Bradley at 18 months

Trent at 18 months

(no pics of Rach at 18 mo. on the computer) :(

Trenty went for his 18 month check-up today and as usual, he hated it! From the moment we walked into the room and the nurse started asking us questions, Trent was crying. He cried while he got measured, weighed and just while I was holding him and no one was touching him. After the nurse left, Rachel and I got him to calm down. Then, Trent must have felt relaxed enough to have a stinky-poopy diaper that stunk up the whole room. But, as soon as Dr. McCorkle walked into the room, he was crying and hyperventilating again...during the whole examination...which ended up not lasting more than a couple of minutes since it's impossible to carry on a conversation with a screaming baby! After the doctor finished, we had to wait for the nurse to come back with Trenty's shot and finger prick. Trent was way beyond ready to leave, though...he was walking and pointing towards the door and all he had on was a diaper. I stalled him by putting everything back on except for his shorts so he would "think" we were about to leave. Then, when the nurse came back in, he started crying hysterically again and of course, the shot hurt and the finger-prick was just plain maddening to him since he had to have his hand held and finger squeezed. Anyway, in spite of all that crying, he is a healthy, growing little boy and we're so thankful for him!

Here are the kid's stats at 18 months to compare:

Rachel- 24 lbs. 15 oz. 33 in.

Bradley-25 lbs. 1 oz. 31 1/2 in.

Trent- 24 lbs. 3 oz. 33 1/4 in.

Little Beauty

Our sweet Rachel is just growing and changing so much every day! We think she's the most beautiful little girl who just gets prettier by the minute! We love her so much!!

Ridin' without training wheels!

Nick's been working with Rachel to learn how to ride her bike without training wheels. She wanted to try this! She's doing great, but still has trouble remembering to balance and pedal at the same time. She sure does love riding her bike!!

"breaker-breaker"

best big sister in the world-

sweetest baby brother in the world!

my precious babies

don't we look alike?!

my sweet little beauty!

my little ham- just don't take his walkie!

best big brother in the world-

best little brother in the world!

see our walkies?!

10-4 good buddy.

Right now, the kids are obsessed with the cool walkie talkies we have. The walkies are actually really nice and not toys...but the kids "find" them in the den cabinet and then walk around using them. Of course, Rachel gets it...she knows how to use them and how to hold down the "talk" button and then release it when she's finished. Bradley doesn't know what button to hold down but just walks around talking into it without holding down the button. Trent doesn't get it at all and just wants to hold one or attach it to his diaper and walk around. He pitches a fit if he doesn't get to hold one. It's a fun game!

1st Grade- Learning Grove

my sweet 1st grader
Bradley's wishing her well on her 1st day

sweetheart

the coolest backpack-

ironically, she and her bf cousin both picked iCarly!!

It's hard to believe we have a little 1st grader! With homeschooling, it doesn't seem as "huge" when we begin our new curriculum in August as it would if she was leaving the house and going to a school. Rachel's been anxiously awaiting the beginning of Learning Grove ever since all her friends started back. She was so excited this year. She now gets to go to 4 classes: Science, Creative Writing, Music and Art. She was very nervous the first day, but quickly warmed up and loves each class and all of her teachers. The class has expanded from 8 last year to 11 this year...and it has increased from 3 girls to 6 girls! Rachel has to take a binder to school and it has dividers with all 4 subjects listed (in her own handwriting) on each tab. She loves her little binder. She loves putting the information sheets she gets in each class into each section. When we pick her up, she can't wait to open that 3 ring binder and show us her new handouts. She loves science and brought home an experiment sheet about things that are soluble in water and we've already done it (with Bradley's help, of course!). They both thought that was awesome! She also loves music and comes home singing everything she's learned. She LOVES to sing! She has a piece of sheet music and she loves looking at it and singing. I'm excited that she's already understanding notes and tone. She has a journal that she writes in for Creative Writing and she loves that too. We don't see the journal yet, because her teacher keeps it each week. In art, they've already created something, but again, it's kept by the teacher till the end of the year when they will have an art show to display their work. Anyway, we're so glad to be apart of such a fun group and can't wait to see what Rachel learns this year in 1st grade!!

Labor Day- 2010

We had a great Labor Day cooking out with the Lanes and Gege and Papa! It was a little chilly-the water and the weather-compared to the sizzling temps we've been used to. But, we had so much fun and the kids didn't seem to mind or notice!