Cha-Cha-Cha!

We did it! Secret ears are now amongst the "pierced ears" in our family! Rhea-Rhea came with me to Claire's and entertained Meadow and Heaven while Secret had the "procedure" done. We were the only ones in the store and I'm glad. I have learned that when it comes to getting a little girls ears pierced (especially a baby), people in the store (or passing by) either think you are the nicest mom or meanest mom around... and the ones that think you're the meanest... aren't afraid to tell ya so! Secret mostly cried about getting the purple marker dot on her ear. For some reason, the actual piercing wasn't as big a deal to her as that darn purple dot! The pain was forgotten and replaced with sheer joy when I gave her a sucker for being so good. She was a sticky, drooly mess and loved every second of that sucker!

BEFORE:

Irresistibly Chewy Earlobes

AFTER:

Side View

"Seriously... could I BE any cuter?"

Jare-Bear + Jen-Jen = 12 years

It's hard to believe that 12 years ago (almost to the hour) we were newly married, wandering about the temple grounds, sweating bullets. What kind of crazy people get married in August in Arizona anyways? I remember all our family was watching us from inside the Visitor's Center. It was like 112 degrees the day we got married. Poor Jared's family were here from Alaska... welcome to Arizona, here's a bucket for your sweat! Jared and I didn't mind the heat, we were just soo happy to be married!


We cruised off into the sunset (well, okay, onto a busy Main Street in the middle of the day) on a Harley. It was so fun! Jared's motorpopper (which was NOT a Harley, but WAS very cool) was one of the things (along with his VW Bus) that brought us together, so it was fitting to celebrate our happy day on a motorcycle.


Can't wait to spend the rest of forever with this guy!

Love That Love

Secret is 5 months old today! We can hardly stand how much we love her. Here's some photos of what she's been up to this last month.

The paparazzi (aka: Mom) has arrived!



I wish photographs could capture smell because I never want to forget how sweet Secret always smells...

Well... ALMOST always, except when she does this.

Scootch-ity-Scootch... trying to crawl already.

Trying...

And Trying...

Alright, already... ease up on the Paparazzi!

Okay, I forgive you. How can I blame you for wanting to take a million pictures of cute me?

Ooh-La-La... Purple Nail Polish!




The finished product. I don't know what's better: purple piggies, or slobbering all over the nail polish bottle.

Secret has picked up a few bad habits:
Like watching T.V...

And eating dessert BEFORE dinner...

"What??? She LOVES it!!!" (Direct quote by Papa). Introducing baby to food, according to Papa's book, goes like this: First cake and ice cream, if that sets right, you can move on to Diet Coke and Pizza Bones. Next you introduce things like...

Popsicles (okay, I admit, I gave this to her!)...

And Mate (don't worry, she doesn't know how to drink through a straw yet... although she is always wanting to try)

Once you are confident that the above listed "necessary to babies diet" foods have been introduced, you can FINALLY give a little Rice Cereal.

"No tiny babies here! Just a bunch of food eaters in our family!"

Meadow's Ear Piercing Memories

Miss Meadow is always posed, pretty and ready for a picture at a moments notice. The other day a little friend was asking about her earings (the friend is thinking about getting her ears pierced and is a tad bit nervous). Meadow told her all about it, "First they poked my ears, and it HURT, and I cried. Then they put water stuff on it so it didn't hurt... and THEN, I looked in the mirror and (with her hand on her hip)... foxy!"

Grandpa-The-Great

We LOVE it when Grandpa-The-Great comes for a visit. It usually means...
A Pizza Party...


and the BELOVED (almost coveted) cane...
Here's Raven trying it out

and River

then Meadow


of course Heaven wants in on the action, too.

As if pizza and a cane aren't enough to make for a great party... Grandpa-The-Great also has the BEST, most interesting hearing aides around!

A kiss good-bye from Meadow.

We love you, Grandpa-the-Great... Come back Soon!

First Day of School

River has been counting down the seconds until this very day! Raven has not. Both ended up having a great first day of school today. River did NOT want me to walk him in. He was way excited to ride with Braiden (their carpool buddy). He told me that first he walked Braiden to his class (just to make sure he got there safely) then went to his own class. When I picked them up after school, Raven was smiling and told me "It wasn't as bad as I thought... People seem to really like me!"
River (Baldy-Locks)=1st Grade*Raven (Goldy-Locks)=4th Grade

The girls and I REALLY missed the boys. You'd think with Raven being in 4th grade I'd be used to the first day of school. I just always forget how LONG they are away. Here are Meadow and Heaven smelling (and picking) the flowers. Yes, that's a side pony on Heaven... DEAD! (I'm enjoying my freedom way too much in the "hair" department lately)

Random Conversations with River about "Preschool"

*A couple of months ago, when I was painting and setting up the Preschool Room, River looked around in wonder and said, "I never knew you'd be the kind of mom that would BUY stuff like this!"


*Chatting with Papa:
River (with awe in his voice): "Papa, did you ever think that one day, YOUR DAUGHTER, would be a Preschool Teacher?"

Papa: "Ya know River, I always thought she'd be a good one!"

River: "Well... I didn't!"


*Tonight at dinner:
River: "Mom, how old were you when you when you were done with ALL of school?"

Mom: "I was 22 when I graduated from college."

River: "Hmmmm... Grandma was 50 when she graduated from college.... She must have started Preschool when she was like 10."