Hi fam! I found this cool baby ticker on a blog and I thought it'd be fun to post it here. Crazy how many new babies will join us soon! Regan & Rachel, I took a fairly random guess on your due dates, so email me (or leave a comment here) what they really are and I'll adjust the baby tickers to be more accurate.

Aren't all the little babies floating around so cute?

Primary Program Assisstance Requested

The Primary program is coming up as you well know and Jacob has been asked to give a one minute talk on the President Monson as the Prophet of our church. We thought it would be cool to have each of you give your impressions and feelings of the new prophet. Then Jacob could base his talk on this. I know some of you (Uncle Ted) may have had the opportunity to speak with this great man in a more personal setting. I hope you all can help make Jacob's talk great! Thanks

TJ and Truman have voted to go to public school.

I am still a homeschooling mom at heart and in principle -- I'm just letting them have a "trial run" and hoping they'll choose to hang out with me instead.

I always thought I was giving them a "gift" by not making them go to school... but right now they don't see it that way.

I feel confident that they'll excel no matter where they are -- I just think maybe they need a little "opposition" to realize how good they have it at home...

We're trying to get them into a couple of different charter schools -- I put in applications, but so far haven't heard anything definite. It's based on a lottery system rather than credentials or else we *know* they would get in. (the little smarties)

I made up this little agreement and made them each sign it!

I __________________ hereby declare that I have personally chosen to attend public school, starting in August 2008.

By signing this piece of paper, I agree to:

• Have a good attitude at and about school (things like getting ready in time, doing homework, being friendly to everyone, and so on)
• Stay in school until Christmas 2008 OR
• If I want to leave school BEFORE Christmas 2008, I understand that this will be a permanent decision and I can’t KEEP changing my mind.

This is out of respect to myself, my mom, and my teacher, all of whom need my consistency and cooperation in the ongoing efforts to help me gain an education.

_____________________________ _______________
signature date

_____________________________
printed name


I, mother of above signor, accept this agreement and will do my part to help him keep his agreement.

_____________________________ _______________
mom’s signature date


As far as the "opposition in all things" phrase that keeps going through my head, it started when Truman was running around with some kids on the playground -- he ran over to me and grumbled, "I'm not going to play with THAT kid anymore." I said, "That's fine! You get to pick who you want to hang out with!" But my curiosity got to me and I HAD to ask... "So, what did he do?" Truman reported: "He said that if I run after that girl, my penis will stick up. Kids shouldn't talk about penises on the playground!" I assured him that he was right and I was glad he knew how to handle it. This kid wasn't older than 6 or 7. Crazy.

Back to School

Are we the only ones who send our kids to public school now? Jacob is off to second grade and Abby and Elliott are playing nicely, so I thought I would try the blog thing. This summer has been a whirl wind of stuff! At this point I can't even review all that we did, I'm just ready to move on! So we are back to a schedule, finally. I get up three days a week at 4:45 to go work out, come home, shower and get ready for my day. Jacob gets up and gets ready for the bus which picks him up at 8:10. Then Abby, Elliott, and I will hit the road to go to work and Preschool. Abby will go every day from 9-11:30. I am still trying to get Elliott in, but he is on a waiting list. On Tuesdays I will teach a parent and child art class for 18 to 36 month kids, then go to my home school P.E. class from 1-2:30. Other than that, I am in a child care area. So far Jacob loves school! So it has only been one day, but I think I'm going to love this teacher as well. She is very neat and tidy (something I find that I love a bit too much sometimes). Last night when Jacob was going to bed he said, "Mom, I know Mrs. Davis-Huff is going to like me because she smiles at me all the time and always talks really nice to me." That kid is so cute! I am happy to be back on schedule that's for sure.
We are loving the new (used) house. It is much bigger and has lots of character, which we love. I am really hoping to buy it, but we'll see how that all pans out for us. Richard's job is going well. He is really busy and gets really stressed sometimes, but I think that what he likes, well being busy anyway. The new ward is fun as well. We are with the Futrell family and Kim Roache. Some of you may know those names. Well, dishes are calling, Gotta get back to reality.

Camping Time!

TJ, Daddy, and me went camping. We had a fun time! I saw bulls, cows, and horses. It was a very, very long drive. We ate dinner and breakfast. On the way home, we went to Wendys for lunch. I'll put pictures on later!

Ranell's Other Blog ... Part 2

Okay, I guess I probably should give you the blog address if I really want you to be able to look at it! Here it is: www.willfamtales.blogspot.com. Have fun!

Ranell's Other Blog ...

Hey family, we have a family blog just for our little family, too. So check it out! I love love love it when people comment, so try to do so for my sake!

Taking Polls

TJ is very interested in having people answer questions so he can learn more about them, kind of like taking a poll. Here goes the first one:
Who is your Favorite Superhero(es)?
TJ's answer is: Sonic, Shadow, and Silver.
We even have a dog named Silver!
So, to answer this question, leave a comment!
Here are some choices, but you can also leave your own:

Transformers
Speedy Gonzales
Roadrunner
Superman
Spiderman
Wonder Woman
Wolverine
Incredible Hulk
Fox
Zelda
Link
Toon Link
Falco
Wolf
Young Link
Pikachu
Inuyasha
Jigglypuff
Megaman
Lloyd
Mr. Game and Watch
Captain Falcon
Samus
Pichu
Peach
Mario and Luigi and Yoshi
D.K.
Baby Mario
Baby Peach
Kirby
Sonic, Shadow, and Silver
Knuckles
Tails
Blade
Espio
Mighty
Amy
Cream
Metal
Vader
Rouge

Our children were in a parade up at Brighton along with their friend Seneca (and Daddy, the designated wagon puller).
Here's TJ on his scooter getting some air! (Mommy caught this on her first try)

Special News: Your Reward for Coming to the Family Website!

Please read this for yourself and DON'T TELL anyone else (you can tell them to come to the website, but don't tell them why)...

This is your special reward for coming!!!

On Thursday night, July 31st, almost a week late, I decided to take (another) pregnancy test and very slowly the magical "positive" line appeared!!!

So... barring any issues like my sweet sisters have had to deal with (miscarriage), we're hoping to have a baby (though we'll take more than one) next April.

I just barely decided to tell you, because if we were to miscarry I wouldn't want to go looking for sympathy where I hadn't chosen to share my joy.

However, as you may remember from previous pregnancies, I don't really like to talk about how crappy I feel, so kindly refrain from asking.

I also would NOT like anyone else to know until I am showing. And no, I'm not showing right now, I've been purposely gaining weight because I read that women who are overweight are more likely to have twins and I decided that I'd "risk" the delight of two babies for the price of one pregnancy!!! But I just did natural things like eating yams and more dairy/meat -- no Clomid or anything crazy like that!!!

Just as a side note, it was at the last general conference that I felt a very strong impression to attempt to add to our family and I think it's kind of cool that I end up being due right around general conference the following year!

Thanks for reading. Remember, if you want to share this news with immediate family, have them come to the website themselves.

We're not telling our two younger children right now, either, as we're not really sure they understand the concept of not telling...

We love you guys and feel blessed to have such a great family -- you're awesome!!!!