Look whose 14!

Even though the kids have been on summer break for a few weeks, some longer than others, the kids schedules have not slowed down. Unfortunately (and lucky for us) poor Jordyn injured her knee during cheer leading practice while doing a back handspring. She was fortunate enough to have softball practice right after cheer leading and one of the athletic trainers confirmed she had done a bit of damage to it and was instructed to see an orthopedic the next day. Her diagnosis (thus far - more tests to be ran later this week to fully diagnose her), torn meniscus! So she is not able to cheer or play softball (and here is where the lucky us comes into play) so she was able to make a road trip with her grandma to come and visit us.  Grandma was coming up this weekend to help out as Eric had emergency surgery to remove his appendix on Thursday.

Since Jordyn was able to come this past weekend, Grandma decided to get her a cake and I made her requested birthday dinner of Boston Butt, Mac&Cheese, mashed potatoes, and fresh green beans. Dinner was followed by a cookie, whip cream frosting, chocolate cake, topped with chocolate ganache (sounds and looks gross, but oh my goodness it was delish!) And because we are an obnoxious family the happy birthday song was of course sung 'Reynolds style' (off key, off pitch, different rhythms, and different versions), followed by tons of pictures of everyone stuffing their face! For gifts, Jordyn wasn't sure what she wanted from us, so she decided she'd like to start a savings account, and grandma got her some pink gingham luggage.

Eric made her help light her own cake

Embarrassed by our singing style

Took three tries, but she finally got them all blown out

She really wants to eat cake!

The cake

She wanted the flower, she got the flower

Christmas lists

This year we are trying a new approach to our kids Christmas lists and the kids time frame of getting us their lists is closely approaching. The kids were given the following, and instructed to list only one thing per line.

For Christmas this year…

I want:

I need:

I will wear:

I will read:
For fun, and for memories, I thought I'd share the kids lists this year.

MyKayla
I want: Rico Reserve Bb Clarinet mouthpiece XO
I need: jeans
I will wear: long sleeve shirts
I will read: Hourglass series by Myra McEntire

Jarom
I want:
I need: College supplies/ necessities
I will wear: soccer gear, including a light jacket
I will read: Chronicles of Nick series by Sherrilynn Kenyon

Breanna
I want: Chair for bedroom
I need: School uniforms
I will wear: sweatshirts
I will read:

Joey
I want: Nothing
I need: Batting gloves
I will wear: Button down shirts (prefer solid colors)
I will read: Dance with the Dragons by George Martin

Jordyn
I want: iPhone life proof case
I need: Softball bat
I will wear: Sanuk (size 9)
I will read: Divergent series by Veronica Roth

Jayson
I want: Minecraft for the xbox
I need: Pajamas
I will wear: Alabama football jersey
I will read: Magic Treehouse books

2013 Homecoming Court - Central Baldwin Middle School

Jordyn was nominated for her 8th grade Homecoming Court and we were lucky enough to be able to arrange work and school schedules the night before to be able to attend and have Eric escort her at the football game.

Waiting for the second quarter to wind down

Jordyn, being escorted by Eric, announced to the crowd

Walking down the 50 yard line while being announced

The princess and her escort

Jordyn and Eric

Although she did not win the title of Queen, we are so proud of this young lady!!!

Last weekend together....for the summer

Last night at home (Saturday) and they chose to play video games! What else is new!!! But at least they spent it together and even Bre got into some of the dancing (hopefully I will be able to upload the videos at another time!)

Our last day together, Sunday, and we were able to stop and pick up Jordyn so she could spend at least one day with all of us this summer. We decided to take the kids to the beach to allow all the kids who have been at our house to get some sun, they only saw about 5 days of sun the entire summer.

And of course the only picture I get of MyKayla my finger is in the way

Sand chair

Monkey see, monkey do

We have another teenager!

The Brady Bunch house is happy to share that we have another teenager in the house! Ms Jordyn turned 13! Her birthday didn't start off quite as she wanted, Jayson had a scheduled baseball game, which about an hour after she arrived was cancelled due to heavy rain.

In hopes to make her day a little more for her, we took just her (well Bre too) for some frozen yogurt. But our first stop was to Eric's parents so she could get her presents from them, which was a silver charm bracelet and a pearl bracelet.

The staff made her a flower for her birthday

Its that time of year again...

 

Having six kids in different grades, going to different schools, in different states not only means different start dates and times but also different opportunities and classes.

Breanna actually graduated from high school last year and just celebrated her 18th birthday but since she is handicap, she allowed to attend school until she turns 21. School in Dothan started August 20th, but she hasn't started school yet because we are still living in a hotel and need to find permanent housing before we can enroll her into a
school here.

Joey started his junior year of high school on August 20th and is taking the following classes:

• AP Physics
• AP English
• AP History
• Pre-cal
• Tech

Jarom started NUAMES and Weber State University on August 27th and is participating on the VEX Robotics team again this year. He is taking the following courses for first term:

• History (Weber)
• Intro to Psychology (Weber)
• Aerospace (NUAMES/ Weber)
• AP English (NUAMES/ Weber)
• Pre-Cal (NUAMES)
• Chemistry (NUAMES)
• Seminary 

MyKayla will be starting her final year of junior high school as a 9th grader on September 4th. She lucked out being the last one to start school this year, however she will also be the last one out of school next summer. Today she received an invitation to study abroad next summer (2013) in Italy, France, and Austria. Her classes are:

• Spanish 3
• English
• Honors Geography
• Symphony Band
• PE
• Mathmatics
• Earth Systems

Jordyn started 7th grade, her first year of junior high school, on August 20th. She is participating on the 7th grade volleyball team and is taking the following classes:

• English, her favorite class so far
• Math
• Science
• Literature
• PE
• Citizenship (History)
• Technology

Jayson started 2nd grade this year and this is the first year he is in school without any of his siblings. He has the following classes:

• Math, his favorite class
• History
• Reading
• Science

Parting is such sweet sorrow

We knew the time would come and we knew it would be soon, but we didn't expect our time with all the kids to come to an end so quickly.

Jordyn had been away from us since July 31st so she could try out for volleyball August 1, 2, and 3rd. Although we hoped she would make the team, we secretly hoped she wouldn't so she could spend the remainder of the summer with us. Unfortunately the distance between our hotel and her mother's house was far enough away (3 1/2  hour drive each way)  that we couldn't just pick her up when we wanted too.

Jayson and Joey both had school events on August 16th and all three of them started school Monday, August 20th. So on the 15th we packed up Eric's kids belongings and started moving all the kids items from their hotel room to ours, as we would be checking out of one of the rooms on the 18th.  Eric got off work about 1:30pm and shortly later, we all loaded up in the Brady Bunch mobile and headed to Loxley. We made arrangements to pick up Jordyn so we could have one final dinner with all the kids and allow everyone some time to say their goodbyes.

Since Eric's kids eat out all the time...and I mean ALL the TIME, we tried to come up with a place to go that they didn't go to too often. We decided to go to Baumhower's Wings in Daphne, which is similar to a Buffalo Wild Wings. We were seated in an over-sized booth and for fun we put all the boys on one side and all the girls on the other, which allowed MyKayla and Jordyn to reconnect and fill each other in on what had taken place during their separation. Of course the time flew by quickly and as much as we wanted to stay as long as possible together the rest of us had a long drive back to the hotel. So we all piled back in the car and the kids crammed in their last conversations they would have face-to-face for the next few months and we all finally said our goodbyes. The car ride back to Dothan was the same as always, kids sleeping almost the entire way. But once we got back to the hotel, I think it hit everyone that half of the kids were gone. Now we are all counting down the days until Christmas break, when we can all be together again!!!

The Brady Bunch kids watching television while we wait for our booth.