Chris was still home earlier so we were having a great Sunday family lunch together.  For some reason, Zac says “If Reagan was ever stolen, I’d give  a million dollars to help find her.”  I said “That’s great sweetie, but you have to HAVE a million to give a million.”  So Zac then says “Well, then I’d sell my Nintendo DS and the Nintendo 64 and all the games to help get her back.  I would just have to get Reagan back.”  You have to understand that his video games mean more to him than just about anything.

So then Reagan pipes up and says “If Zac was stolen I’d give….  ummmmm…..  uhhhhh…..  um… an ornament to help find him!”  Looking around the room and settling on the Christmas tree ornaments.  Zac looked at me with a disbelief and asked Reagan “You wouldn’t even give Quackers?” She immediately yelled “No WAY!!!  Not Quackers!  He’s my favorite!”

I guess we know where her loyalties lie right now!!!

Ok, it’s been over 3 years since we had a family picture taken.  Reagan was 9 months old!  So we had one this year.  FINALLY!  I didn’t want a formal picture seeing that we don’t wear formal clothes.  Just something casual but holiday looking.  I am happy with how it turned out.  I hope we don’t have to wait 3 years until the next one!!

Zachary’s 4th grade picture Sept 2009 and Reagan’s Pre-school picture Sept 2009.  They are 9 and 4 yrs old.

I came across these random paper notes today.  I normally jot down Reagan/Zac’s funny sayings because I can not remember them unless I do this.  I like documenting this stuff so I can look back later.  Here is what was on those notes:

–> 7/16/09 Reagan was playing Legos with Zac.  The Lego guy she was playing with had red hair.  I heard her say, in character, “I have red hair.  I know because I ate a volcano taco.”   (If you didn’t know, Taco Bell has a Volcano Taco in a red shell.  It’s the only thing I have if we eat at Taco Bell.  She has obviously noticed.)

–> 8/19/09  Full of spur of the moment thoughts, Reagan said to me “I tooted from my buttocks.  Wanna smell it?”

–> 8/24/09  It was a very rainy day.  After getting ready she asked what we were going to do and I said I didn’t know.  She then says “Well, we can’t go shopping with Miss Von.  She’s already at the grocery store.”  ????  This is not really funny in print, but it was so off the wall and didn’t mean anything I laughed when she said it.

–> 8/27/09  We had a betta fish named Tony.  He was in a small fish bowl after we bought him but he was not very active.  One day while observing him, Reagan says “He’s nauceous.  It means he has a small tank.”

Yesterday was a banner day for Reagan and her 4 yr old comments. Sadly, I can’t remember them all. However, here are some that stick out.

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Reagan asked me “What’s your favorite kind of horse?” I said “Palomino”. She then asked “What’s a Halopino?”

The funniest part of that is that Catherine, a friend, commented on Facebook:  Halopino= a really spicy horse!

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So, my dad calls and Reagan answered the phone. She recognized it was him and said “Hi Papa Randy. It’s Reagan. You know, the girl you slept with!”

The previous time my dad had come through, they slept on the hide-a-bed together.  What’s even funnier is that Reagan fell asleep in her own bed and I moved her downstairs when it was time for the rest of us to go to bed so she could wake up with him and know she slept beside him.

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Chris “tooted” at some point in the day and Reagan, with her brilliant wit, says “Ewwww.  The ladies don’t like to smell that!”

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While playing with her little miniature Christmas tree, Reagan was singing a song.  “Deck the walls with thousands of Mommy”.

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Speaking of Christmas trees, our tree is up as well.  This was done by Friday evening.  It’s just too much work to put up for one month.  I love the Christmas season.  And having my kids enjoy it is just icing on the cake.

While putting up the tree, I turned on the music channel on our cable tv.  It’s not MTV, but a radio with no commercials or talking.  It was Christmas Sounds of the Season.  They were playing  a version of “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” and next thing I know, Zac is downstairs.  He’d turned off his video game upstairs, joined us and said “You know… something about this song just makes me happy!!”    That’s one of the reasons I love this season!  It makes people happy.

Reagan had her hair cut last Friday 10/16.  I was surprised she wanted to go as short as she did.  She now thinks she looks like Emma (my friend Von’s daughter).  She loves the comparison.

Reagan is in the purple shirt and Emma is in the striped shirt.  Emma’s was taken in 2007 and her hair has grown lots since then.  But for some reason, Reagan thinks she looks like her. 

Reagan had been wanting to make a milk jug bird feeder for a while.  She picked the milk jug she wanted (it didn’t matter but she had a specific one, with pink labels) and we got it all washed and aired out.  We went on a search for items to decorate it with in our yard.  Thankfully, we have two fir trees and they have lots of goodies to donate all year round.  We cut the holes and glued on our decorations.  It’s very “woodland-y”.  We had to wait for the glue to dry, it actually took 24 hours.  Then we filled it with birdseed today and hung it in our front tree.  It’s the lowest branch that we can see from our windows.   We hope to see many birds who need our seed.  It would be great for Reagan to see that her project is helping the birds who stick around in winter.

I hate the cold.  I hate winter!!!  It’s barely fall and the temps have forced our winter coats out.

What I am even more bothered by?????    All those people who screamed and cried for the end of winter and wanting warm weather.  THEN… those same people saying “UGH!!! It’s too hot.  Can’t wait for fall.  Wish summer would end already.”

Just look at the green.  It’s gorgeous.  Who would want this covered with snow???

This picture was taken at my moms.  Standing in her backyard looking toward the back of her property.  My kids and I love it there!

Zac had his 5th (out of 8 ) fencing class last night.  He seems to really enjoy it.  One of the teachers was happy to hear he likes it and would like to continue but said that Zac just needs to try and focus sometimes.  I’m just thinking “You don’t even know, dude!!”   I think Zac is doing very well considering his meds have worn off by the time we get there.

He’s also doing amazing in school.  Not one single bad day this school year.  By this time last year he’d already had 2 in-school suspensions and numerous notes written back and forth between me and the teacher.  I am so very proud that he has finally grown or that my recommended male teacher tactic is proving true.  I just LOVE being right!!!

Reagan’s fever from yesterday broke before noon yesterday.  So I did not deal with a sick kid all day.  That was a blessing.  However, I kept her in her pj pants and a t-shirt all day instead of putting her in jeans.  They were much softer around her belly.  It all made me wonder why I don’t have any pj pants like that!!!  They look amazingly soft and comfy.  I was jealous that I could not wear my pj pants I do have (very thin cotton, like sheets) all day.  

The rest of our day yesterday was just the same.  Quiet, decently behaved.  No real tragedies or humerous events to discuss.

I must add here, though, that my oldest nephew, Alex, was actually diagnosed with H1N1 a few days ago.  However, yesterday morning early his fever broke and he’s doing much better.  When the doctor gave him the meds early in the week, he told Marissa not to expect much until closer to the weekend.  I’d say he hit that spot on!   So we are very thankful for things to be looking brighter up there in Wisconsin.

Alex 2008

Yesterday, I was part of Reagan’s preschool class going to visit a pumpkin patch/farm.  The weather did not cooperate.  It was cold and drizzly.  I didn’t think to give Reagan gloves and her little hands were red with cold.  I ended up giving her my gloves which she managed to get her fingers in the right spots.  Poor thing.    She did get to pick out her first pumpkin ever.  All were rather small and I can tell by the way hers looked she picked the cleanest one she could find.

Also, my mom made Reagan’s costume this year.  She is going to be a penguin.  Reagan didn’t ask for this costume, but rather, Grandma found the pattern and wanted to make it for her.  Rea absolutely LOVES it!  She loves being able to dress up and really become Quackers mommy!!

Zac is going to be Indiana Jones.  He tried his costume on briefly but is not allowed to wear it yet due to his history of ripping or breaking costumes during play before Halloween.  I will have pictures soon of him dressed in it though.  It’s too cool!

*****

On a sad note, Reagan woke up at 4am vomiting and had a fever of 104.  I gave her tylenol and she fell back asleep.  This morning, her fever was down to 100-101.  And she has more energy.  This is not a normal school day so she doesn’t have to worry yet about missing school.  But if she doesn’t break her fever today, she can’t go tomorrow.  That will just break her heart.  I had to keep her out once due to diarreah and she cried.  I told her she wasn’t allowed to go and we can’t pretend she didn’t have it.  She said “Yes I can!  I can tell Miss Linda that I’m pretending not to have diarreah!”  She said this like it was the greatest idea she’d ever had.