New School Year, and finally a new post!

So I guess I took the summer off from blogging, but I've gotten enough grief about it that I decided it's time to keep the updates coming. We're in week 2 of the new school year and so far, so good. Hayley LOVES her 2nd grade class and teacher, and Garrett thinks Kindergarten is a blast! William is also in school this year - he's in the "Little Leopards" program that Garrett was in last year. I kept him home yesterday (runny nose and a cough) and he was devastated. He was very happy to see his friends again today.

Gabriel is now a technology teacher and seems to really be enjoying it. His football team had a great first week, so he's been smiling a lot lately!

Teaghan and I are trying to get a schedule set up to keep us busy - having one at home is quite a switch! She'll start gymnastics next week and we have a new MOPS group that starts up on Friday morning. Gabriel and I were also approached about becoming the 2 year old Sunday School teachers at our new church, and after the initial shock wore off, we are excited to serve the little kids this year.

4 little kids just came down the stairs, probably looking for trouble...that's my cue to end this post!

Memorial Day weekend fun!

On Friday after school we all jumped in the car and headed down to the Houston area for a weekend of fun! First stop was to Katy...after battling holiday traffic for 5 hours. Thankfully the kids did great in the car! The kids got to go fishing and take a ride on Pop's tractor...always a good time. On Saturday early afternoon we headed to Gramp's house on Lake Conroe...after they dropped me off for a much needed massage. :)

The kids had a blast on the boat (well, except Teaghan...she wasn't as big of a fan) and then we headed down the road to friends with a big inflatable slide/pool. That was a BLAST and I definitely think Gramps needs one of these for his backyard. ;-)

On to pictures!


Teaghan all decked out and ready to go:


Garrett waiting for take off!


And we're off!


Enjoying the breeze:


Mommy with a not very happy toddler!


Swimmin' in the lake




This was more Teaghan's thing!






And I just love this...here is Teaghan on 5/29/08 and on 5/28/09. AMAZING!!

Hooray for May!

I can't believe that it's already the middle of May! Everything has been so busy lately that it doesn't even feel like the end of the school year is near. We ended April with our 4th anniversary - we enjoyed a steak dinner at home this year. Gone are the days at the Palm, but we had a great evening. May brought Gabriel's birthday on the 6th...LOVE this picture!



We had a conference with Hayley's teacher last week - she's doing great! She has definitely improved in all areas since the start of the year. I can't believe how much she has grown up this year.



Garrett has been playing t-ball this year, and poor thing, he thinks it's boring! I think he'd much rather be doing soccer or something more active - that's the plan for the fall. He needs to run!! He is still loving school and is looking forward to kindergarten in the fall. He's reading skills are just blowing us away...he's our Mr. Smarty pants!



William is FINALLY potty training! He's 100% tt trained...and 0/50 on #2! Oh well, I'm just glad to get him out of diapers. He'll get it soon enough!


Teaghan is almost 20 months old and just cracks us up. Her vocabulary is improving so much, and she's turned into quite the diva. Always has to have a bow in her hair, and she's actually started picking out her own outfits. That is interesting for me...I'll take her into her closet when I get her up in the mornings and will pick an outfit out, and she'll tell me "uh uh" and points to the one she wants. Too funny!



I'm doing well - just trying to keep up with kids homework, laundry, meals, etc, etc! Last week 3 of the kids were sick, of course all at different times in the week, so I was playing nurse for a week to Garrett, Hayley, and Teaghan. They all had different illnesses, just to change things up for me. :) Gabriel and I have been job hunting for me - we have been praying that the right job comes available for the fall school year. It has been made very clear that my time at home has to come to an end, so we're preparing for everyone to be in school next year, Gabriel and I included. :-)

For my dear friend Julie!

Here's my new hair-do. I'm not digging the bangs, but they'll grow fast. I did not spend any time styling it this morning...but you get the idea. Gotta include the cute one of Teaghan in her shades from our Katy trip. :)

Leopard of the Week!

I got a phone call last Monday from Hayley's teacher...of course my first thought was "uh oh, what did she do?!". She wanted to let me know that Hayley was getting an award on Friday during their little pep-rally, so we could make plans to attend. Will, Teaghan and I journeyed to the school in horrible wind and rain, and Gabriel met us up there to cheer for Hayley.

Little sister waiting for the festivities to begin:


High-fiving "Leo" the Leopard:


Hooray Hayley! We're so proud of you!

Worn out

Spring break has come and gone - only 11 weeks until summer! :-) We had a great spring break - a fantastic trip to Katy to visit Beauty and Pop (where I cut all of my hair off - lovin' the new do!), a quick trip to Conroe, a very, very clean garage (hooray!)...and 2 very sick kiddos. :( On Wednesday when we left Katy Will started coughing, and it progressively got worse and on Thursday both he and Teaghan had fevers all day. We took them both in to the dr on Friday morning, and while Will's fever disappeared, Teaghan's has not. She is miserable! Not eating, just fussy in general. Thankfully she's started drinking more, so I feel good about her not being dehydrated, but I want her fever to go away and for her to start being a happy girl again. I'm waiting to hear back from the nurse to figure out what the next step is in getting her well.

In the meantime, here's a picture of Will with his new ride - our neighbors kids have outgrown their powerwheel, so we decided to take it off their hands. :-) He loves it!

Fun at the playground!

One of the big perks of our house is living so close to the new elementary school - we took the kids to the school playground this afternoon and they had a great time!
Let's go, mom!


Come on!

Happy 7th birthday!

Hayley's birthday is on the 17th, so yesterday we had her party...she had a joint party with our neighbors boys who also have birthdays within a few days of hers. A good time was had by all!

It's already February!

Time has been flying by! I know I have been slacking on updating - woops! Everything is going well in the Bearden household - Hayley's midway through first grade and has been doing a TON of homework and has also started taking gymnastics, Garrett is starting to get really bored in his preschool class, William is talking our ears off and loves to play with his car table, and Teaghan is still a sweet heart, and is a walker now! Gabriel still loves his school, and is starting track season now. I've been looking into possibly going back to work in the fall if the perfect job comes along...who knows!

We just replaced our carpet in the last two weeks and are LOVING our new floor! So easy to take care of, and it looks good, too! It's been fun making our house more of a home for us. We have a few more things we'd like to get done over the next few months, so I'm excited about that. Hayley's 7th birthday is on the 17th and she's having a big party at a gymnastics place on Valentine's Day. I still can't believe my Hayley bug is almost 7! WoW!!!







On Superbowl Sunday we had 18 adults and 19 kids over - here's a shot of everyone watching the 3d commercial!