First Primary talk, school's about to start, Eli is 18 mo...

I have a few things to catch up on, I don't have all of my pictures ready, but I know if I don't get started I will keep procrastinating.

Sunday Kailey gave her first primary talk. She talked about preparing now to go to the temple. She did a good job (with help ofcourse), aside from keeping her mouth on the microphone the whole time :) Joel's parents happened to be in town on Saturday, so they stayed for her talk.

That's Izzy (Mavanie's pup) stretching in the background, she had been napping too.

Kailey starts school in less than a week, next Tuesday! I think she will have a good time. She has been good at jumping into new things. She got her hair trimmed a couple of weeks ago, we've done a little clothes shopping, so we are almost ready.

Eli turned 18 months on the 1st. You know what that means...nursery!! Not that I don't enjoy having Eli around, I was just very ready to not have to reassemble the bottoms of the primary bulletin boards every Sunday, and keep him away from the piano (sometimes while Sis. Gale was playing). We went this week for his check-up. He is 24 lbs. (50th percentile) and 32 inches (90th percentile) and as healthy as a horse. Our pediatrician pointed out that he has not yet been in for a sick visit, they have all just been well check-ups.

This is one of Eli's favorite things to do. I dont' understand it either.

Since I've been slacking on the blog we have been to California for the Bonnette family reunion and Eva got her ear's clipped, and I made it out of the first trimester. I'll get some of those pictures up soon.

New pup

Today we took a trip out to Prairieville, and picked up a new pup. We had been thinking about getting a new puppy for a while. Since we lost Sam a while back, Rickey has been a little lonely. The past few weeks we have had Izzy staying with us (Joel's little sister's dog), and Rickey has been really happy. They play and Rickey doesn't squeal/howl when I leave the house. One time we were leaving the house, the brakes on the car squealed, and Kailey exclaimed, "Mama, I hear Rickey."

I figured now was as good a time as any since the new baby won't be here for another 7 months; should give us plenty of time to get her house broken and settled. So this afternoon we brought home a miniature schnauzer. She is about 2 months old. We haven't decided on a name yet, but we are working on it. Kailey has given us many suggestions, her crazy made up names of course. I wish that I had written down the name that she was calling the pup tonight when she was in the bath.

I've been on a summer break

You may have noticed that I haven't posted in quite a while. I guess I was just on a summer break. My brain has been programmed to work august through may, and then shut down for the summer months. After all I was only in school or teaching school for 20 years. K-12:13 yrs. + college: 4 yrs. + teaching: 3 yrs. = 20 yrs.; I couldn't have you thinking I had repeated a bunch of grades :) I'm just glad I was able to break this in June instead of going all the way to August.

We haven't had a whole lot going on. I've just been trying to find food that I can eat without feeling ill, and trying not to succumb to the fatigue of the first trimester. This pregnancy has turned out to be a little more challenging than the previous two. All in all, it could be worse, much worse. I have seen the suffering first hand that others have endured in the first trimester, and I really do have it easy.

Kailey did a week long summer class at the dance studio, and she had a really fun time. Joel and I got to go the last night for parents night. I am so proud of how far she has come from when she first started dance. I have a couple of pictures on my phone that I will add later. (My phone and cord are in the back and I'm running out of time with the babies. I knew if i waited until I had time do both write the post and add the pictures this post might not happen for a while).

One more thing and I'll be caught up. Seven years ago, when Joel and I were still dating he gave me Cold Play concert tickets for Christmas. The concert was probably the best show that I had ever been to. Not that they were my favorite band that I had seen live, they just had the best live performance. So Cold Play came back to New Orleans and we did not hesitate to buy tickets. We went last night to the concert and it exceeded my expectations. The very best surprise was the opening band, Snow Patrol. I love snow patrol!! I knew their music much better than the Cold Play music. I would have gone to the concert if it had just been Snow Patrol.

Dress rehearsal

On Friday, Kailey had dress rehearsal for her recital. I am really excited about the recital. The theme is the Little Mermaid and she is a guppy.

Kailey and a fellow guppy, Brynn. I found out on the first night of dance class that a girl in Kailey's class was the daughter of a teacher that I taught with at Tara.

Kailey and a friend from church, Brooklyn.

This picture is terrible because of the distance and lighting, but Kailey's class in on the front row. This was part of the finale. The other pictures of her on the stage were worse than this one.

Dresses from Memaw!

Kailey's Memaw sent her some sundresses in the mail. She was so excited when she got them that she wouldn't wear anything else for days. If only I could sew so well.

Star Trek movie and a poppy seed

Last night Joel and I went to see the new Star Trek movie. As I have mentioned before, I loathed Star Trek for most of my life. It wasn't until a year or so ago that I actually gave it a chance, and found that it wasn't that bad at all. I'm no treky, but I do like star trek. I was actually looking forward to this movie.

picture from: www.startrek.com

We took our seats in the theater, and the movie started, within the first thrity minutes of the movie I was crying. I cryed 4 times during this movie. Might I remind you this is a sci-fi, action flick. {SPOILER ALERT: this next sentence might ruin some of the movie if you planning to see it and are a serious star trek fan, so read the very small sentence at your own risk} I cried when Spock of the past met up with Cpt. Kirk of the future and told him that they would be friends, what the h??? (If anyone mentions this to Joel, I might have to ban you from the blog, ok so I don't think that is possible, so lets just say we might not be such good friends for a little while). I knew something was going on. That night when we got home, as I lay in bed, I calculated due dates in my head. This morning I went straight for the pregnancy test (I only waited until morning because they say that you are less likely to get a false negative if you do it the morning; I have had a false negative in the past). As suspected, after my crying fit in Star Trek, there is indeed a poppy seed-sized new baby growing inside of my belly :)

When I told Kailey she jumped up and down for a long time, and told me that it was going to be a girl, and she was going to name her Re'Etta (I hope I got the spelling right, my years of teaching in public schools gave me advanced unique name spelling skills).

Thanks Otis!

The other day Eli and I took a quick trip to the store. In the car I had it on NPR (i'm secure in my nerdiness thank you very much), and in between segments they played a song that I believe was Otis Redding. Eli was dancing like I have never seen him dance before. I personally love Otis Redding, and was happy to find that Eli and I have this in common. I have loved Otis since I was 7 or 8 years old. Jamie and I had a Dirty Dancing soundtrack that we played a million times. Today I added Otis to Pandora on my phone and we were cooking with crisco. It is a marvelous thing to have happy dancing babies in your livingroom.

P.S. I've been away from the blog for a little while thanks in part to yet another corneal abrasion, so I'll be playing catch-up this week.