I'm still here...

And i update when i can! I love reading back through my posts from time to time when i am trying to remember a bit more deatil about something and it always reminds me that i should be much more dilligent in journaling things-whethere that is here or elsewhere..there are so many details i forget if i don't jot them down somewhere...

Riley and i are part of a preschool co-op again this year. There are 6 kids and 5 moms (two of the girls are twins). Each mom is teaching for 7weeks, twice a week, for 2 hours. I did the first rotation and it went great. We have it structured but fun (i hope it's fun!) we really focus on letters and letter sounds, a bit on numbers, writing and reading stories but we also have an underlying theme and lesson...My "value" for my rotation was respect, so we talked about what this word means a little each week and my "theme" was "how things grow" so we leanred about how plants grow, and they kids got to grow sun flower seeds in a baby food jar so they could see the roots, etc, then we talked about how butterflies develop and then frogs...Next up is my cousin teaching, she is planning on teaching about the different seasons and also doing a thing on cooking/baking/measurments, i think. should be fun for the kids!

Riley really is doing great. She has been able to write her name since last year, so her favorite thing to do with letters right now is write random letters then ask me what it spells/says. She is getting good at her letter sounds and knows maybe 90% of them.  She is working on recognizing her #'s, she has issues with 6,9 and 10. But she can count to 20 (always says 18 for 15 tho-argh! we are working on it!) She is a master scissor girl, she can cut things out pretty dang good, if i must say so! She enjoys preschool but is not looking forward to having a new teacher, i hope she gets over that soon

These are riley on her first day of preschool-one of the mom's was nice enough to do such a great job! i didn't upload the one of her entire class b/c i wasn't sure which mom's were okay with that...but it's 3 girls and 3 boys, all cute and good learners.

 Someone from the city came and checked the fire hydrant...he let it flood for a good 15-20min or so...Riley and my mom had a blast splashing around in our flooded culdesac. Nice cool way to end the summer.

 Braden's 2nd birthday

Braden is VERY into "woody" from toy story...every morning he goes down stairs and says "watch a woody?" meaning , can i watch toy story?

Josh and i decided that the Rodeo would be the best way to celebrate his 2nd bday and his love for cowboys...We even tail gated before hand...hot dogs in the back of the truck, a cool cake, presents and off to the rodeo with family...

 He got a woody doll and stared at it for a very long time...he LOVES this doll.

 Josh turned a very plain 9x13 cake into an awesome rodeo cake!

 Braden, lovin' some cake in his new cowboy boots before the rodeo started.

 Braden got these awesome hand-me-down woody p,j's...could this kid be any happier?!

 I got a cheesecake factory gift card awhile back and invited my parents to come to dinner with me, josh and the kids one night...my mom decided to spoil the little ones a little with a carrage ride...riley thought she was the luckiest girl in the entire world...the horse's name was even princess.

 these 2 are inseperable...my mom is so good about spoiling riley with attention and love and riley appreciates and loves it all.

 I went for a walk and decided to wear this shirt since i knew it wouldn't fit for much longer...happy early halloween people! NO that is not a pumpkin in there...(mind you, this was taken on sept. 15...it's been over a month since then!)

 Braden slept the entire night with riley one night...too cute!

 Braden has a new love of scissors...a little scary, but we give him the ones with no blade on them usually...he can sit for about and hour straight and cut, cut, cut! he never wants help, and he has done pretty well!

 I'm so in love with this boy. He makes me ready for another baby though since he is getting more mature..Man, he can be S-T-U-B-B-O-R-N like you can't imagine, but he can cuddle better than anyone too and he tells me "luf you mommy" all the time awww melts my heart.

 Preschool field trip to the pumpkin patch

***pregnancy update. I am 31 weeks pregnant today! woohoo! Still have contractions all day long, they are not painful, they are getting more uncomfortable...but they don't bug too much. I saw the dr1.5weeks ago for a check up and i was measuring 4weeks ahead again. SO frustrating, i did another ultrasound the next day and am waiting to talk to dr this week to find out results and info on what we do...i think we are just at the "watch it" stage...no other problems besids this crazy rash i got...Braden got a rash on his face, arms and legs then two days later my belly had a HUGE, red, crazy rash, followed with a nice fever, trip to urgent care. all blood tests came back normal, dr said it must be a weird virus...almost a week later and it's deciding to clear up...thank goodness. It was strange. Braden's is still going away but it never got as bad as mine...

I WILL take a belly picture and get it posted this week...it's getting big! I am SO SO SO SO excited to hold this baby and see if it's a boy or girl, and just love on this baby with all my heart!