updated pictures of the munchkins!!

Well, I finally took the time to get the kids in the studio and take a few updated pictures. They actually cooperated and I got some great images!! Here are a few of my favorites:

Ho Ho Who?

It has been a VERY busy and hectic week. I hope to have time to update the blog this weekend. I just had to share a couple of quick pictures!! Tonight was Noah's program at the school. It was a Christmas program - so guess who made an appearance!? Rachel was thrilled to see the jolly ol' man!! Too bad Roscoe "missed" seeing the man in red...

Does he look at all familiar?

A fun song for the next 12 days!!

I thought this was funny!!

Where has 2008 gone?!

WoW!! Can you believe it? Christmas is in 22 days and 2009 begins in less than a month. I just don't quite know where the time has gone. Lots has happened since I last updated the blog. Rachel no longer attends HeadStart. We have put her in Speech through the early education program. She goes up to Noah's school twice a week and works with Ms. C. In the last few weeks since we changed, we can already see a lot of improvement and we are very pleased with her progress. Rachel is missing being with other kids her age, so I think after the holidays we are going to put her in a Mother's Day Out one or two days a week.
Noah is doing great! He got new glasses a few weeks ago. His eyes had gotten considerably worse over the last year. They had to put a prism in his right lens. He is doing much better about keeping up with them and wearing them like he is suppose to. He is now in the Gifted/Talented Program at school and is doing really well. He seems to enjoy the extra challenge. Right now they are working on reports about wild animals. I thnk his choice of animal was the lion. So I am sure we will all be laerning everything there is to know about lions soon!!
Roscoe is still working to get the engine change in his pickup complete. Hopefully it will be done soon!! I am ready to have my husband home on Saturdays for a change. He is getting excited about finishing it up!! My husband's favorite toys are his vehicles!! :0)
We had a nice Thanksgiving. It was a fairly quiet day. There is so much to be thankful and grateful for!! We also ate lots of turkey and dressing and pumpkin pie!!YUM!!

We are now gearing up for the holidays!! We bought our tree Sunday evening. It is not decorated yet... That will probably happen this evening. The whole downstairs smells so good!! That is the best part of a "REAL" tree!! I am also going to try to get new Christmas pics of the kids today or tomorrow. I will post those as soon as I have them ready!!

I hope all are well!! I will try to do better about updating the blog! Pics will be posted soon!!
Have a great holiday season!! Have fun, and remember the Reason for the Season!!

Fall is nearly here!!

The weather the last several days has been gorgeous! Today was really nice and cool! I love this time of year. I can't wait for the leaves to start changing.

We have had a busy several days! Roscoe is still working on his pickup on the weekends. i hope it is ready soon! This past weekend I got to shoot a wedding. The bride was so calm and it was a lot of fun to shoot! Watch the photography blog for a sneak peek soon. This week we are getting ready for the Fall Carnival at Kate Haynes. Then, next week, we have a Fall Festival at the church. The kids are really looking forward to them. We are ready for all the fall festivities! Last night we harvested seven pumpkins from our garden. After loading them in the wagon for a few pictures, we picked the ones we wanted to keep. Then we loaded the rest in the car and delivered them to friends - Alissa, Paige, J.R., and Abby!! (I'll post pictures tomorrow!!)

Well, I finally have a home studio!! I am excited and hope this will get me motivated to really get on the ball with the photography business!! If you want to have family pictures done for the holidays - NOW is the time!! Give me a call to book a session!!

That is about all that is going on right now!! It is late and I am headed to bed!! I will try to add pictures tomorrow! Good night!!

Catching up!!

Wow!! Where has the time gone? I can't hardly believe it is already nearly the middle of October! Time just seems to fly by lately.
The kids are settling into their new classes. Noah has an awesome teacher this year and he really seems to be enjoying school. We recieved his progress report yesterday. As of right now, he has two 96s, a 99, and a 100. I am really proud of him!! He is reading up a storm and making steady progress in the AR program.
Rachel is learning and growing so quickly! I don't know what I am going to do with her... She is really trying to stretch her wings and testing the limits on a regular basis!! LOL! Right before school started she decided she wanted her hair cut short. I cut it one night and we all just love it. It helped make her hair look much thicker and healthier. It is also just a lot easier to take care of!

Life has been busy and hectic, but over all it has been good. Roscoe has started on changing the engine in his pickup. He is excited about that and has been working hard on getting it completed. We have also been busy at the church. We recently started a children's d.t. reograms called P.A.W.s (Princesses and Warriors) Seek and Learn. I am responsible for it. We are concentrating on teaching the kids that because they are Princesses and Warriors in Christ they must have a higher code and expecctation of behavior. We are also spending a great deal of time learning basic and age approriate Bible skills. We are working through a book, How to Study Your Bible for Kids. It is a great book. Noah is enjoying it very much. More importantly, he is learning alot about how to study the Bible. He is also hiding God's word in his heart. The memory verses are pretty meaty adn he is conqueroring them like a champ! In the last few weeks he has memorized 2Timothy 3:16-17, Titus 3:1, Luke 15:7, and 1John 3:10.

I have spent quite a bit of time lately working on the house! Tremendous gratitude and thank yous go to my friends Tiana and Sandi for all their help!! Today we cleared out what used to be the downstairs playroom. It will soon be transformed into my home studio!! I am SO excited! If you are thinking about having pictures done, please give me a call! The studio will be up and running very soon!

We are looking forward to a family get together here in a few weeks. Then it will be full fledged holiday season. I am starting to think about the holidays and making a few plans. We are doing a Christmas mini-musical at Church. I am sure there will be many activities that will fill our calender in the months to come!

It is getting late and tomorrow will be busy as usual. I am heading to bed. I will close with some updated pictures of my two most favorite subjects!!!

Here a few of the kids from a recent session:



Here are a couple of pictures of Rachel and Noah:

the final Swim Lesson

Well, the kiddos wrapped up this summer's swimming lessons this morning. They had a lot of fun and may have even learned a few skills in the process!! Here are some pictures from today final sessions:

rachel took the Water Orientation Class








Noah was in the Advanced Beginner class:

An amazing book

Last week I read the most amazing book! (Thank you to my friend Judy for reccommending it!) I would encourage ALL of you to read this book. It is a fictional story, but I promise it will have a profound effect on you. It really made me realize how we try to view God through a box and tend to place so many limitations on Him, especially when we can not understand "why" things are taking place. This book has been an important factor in my renewed desire to truly know God more! Without giving away the plot, I still would like to share on of my favorite "Ah-ha moments" from reading this book: the main character in the book is having a conversation with Jesus and the dialog turns to how hard it is to be "like" Jesus. Jesus goes on to explain that being "like" Him is NOT what He desires of us - what He wants is to for us to let HIM live THROUGH us!! Wow!! Am I guilty there!! I have tried so hard in and of myself to do what I think Jesus would want - you know - WWJD... and so often I feel I am spinning my wheels and simply fall short... How much easier is it to step back and instead of trying to do it myself, allow Jesus to LIVE through me. To me that is such a liberating realization!! So.... go out and buy the book and read THE SHACK!! You won't regret it!!!


Alright, the advertisement is over!! LOL! We are having a laid back Saturday morning. the kids are watching cartoons and I am spending a bit of time on the 'puter. Roscoe has gone over to Al's to work for the day. He is anxious to "earn" this engine and get to work on his pickup. He had hoped to do a honey harvest this evening, but after checking the haves last night, he feels it will be a few more days!

Todays "Get Real" list:

1. I HATE alarm clocks!! I am an incurable night owl and, as such, am not a morning person! So, I admit that, unless I have an appointment or some other commitment, I do not normally get up in the mornings with my sweet hubby.

2. I tend to spend way more money on Rachel than Noah. Those cute little girl clothes and hair thingys and jewelry are just so fun!!! I have said for a long time that the Lord was so wise to only give me ONE girl - for so many reasons!!

3. I pout! Period.

4. I place place too high expectations on myself too often... then feel like a failure when I can not maintain them.

5. When I start a good book, I will do nothing else but read until it is finished...

Have a great weekend everyine!!

Can you "GET REAL"?

I found a blog through another blog of a friend of a friend...

Confused yet?

...anyways, there was a challenge posed to "get real", to admit those things about life that fall so far short of perfect. The idea is to help encourage our friends and loved ones and brothers and sisters realize they are not alone. Sounds good, right? But it can be scary to admit those short comings, even those they "might" know about!! But it can be a bit liberating as well! So for the next few posts (at least) I am going to include a "Get Real" list. Why don't you get on board and join me!! As the original blog said, we can learn to be OK about it not all being OK.

So here goes my first list:

1. I love my children and my husband and my life, but sometimes I feel I have lost "my" identity - there are days I want to just be Jennifer, not "So-and-so's Mom" or Roscoe's Wife... fortunately those days are few and far between and usually very short lived!!

2. All too often I speak before I think and sometimes I end up hurting someone I care about without meaning to.

3. I tend to be very insecure about way too much... the list is too long to make, but trying to get over what other's might think is way too hard for me in so many areas of my life.

4. I have two definite addictions - chocolate and the computer!!

5. I hate staying at home all day. Even if it is just to run to Stripes to get a Dr. Pepper, I need to go SOMEWHERE!!!

OK - that is the list for today...

We have been very busy for the last week or so! We have had swim lessons and the kiddos are doing great!! Noah has finally conquered his fears and goes off the diving board and down the slide into the deep end without a second thought!! I am really proud of him!! Rachel on the other hand, has developed a new found fear of "drowning" and won't hardly jump in the pool. She will float all over and dog-paddle all over the pool. She just won't jump in... we have two more classes left- we will see what happens!

We had a great 4th of July!! We went to Derry's farm up in OK. The kids had a great time and we had a wonderful, private fireworks show. It was really nice to see family that I had not seen in a very long time and to become reaquainted!! Here are a few pictures of our fireworks.








I was really pleased with the way the pictures came out! I try each year to capture the magic of the 4th of July fireworks and feel this was my best effort yet!!

I did learn one BIG lesson on our trip: I am way too old to sleep on the ground, even inside a tent!! We WILL be purchasing an air mattress before our next camping trip! LOL!

Well, I am off to bed! Tomorrow will be a busy day: swim lessons, lunch with Roscoe, running errands, trip to the pool for the afternoon, meeting with a client to view a wedding venue, then hopefully some family time tomorrow evening. I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed end of the week!

They discovered FireWorks!!

Well, it finally happened!! Noah and Rachel had their first up close experience with fireworks! Ever since the stand across the street opened, Noah has been begging us to get something. Last night we gave in and bought about $10 worth of stuff - sparklers, smoke bombs, etc. - all pretty mild stuff! So, here are a few pictures of our evening!!

Recent Happenings!!

It's summertime, and while life has been a bit more relaxed, it has still been busy. We have spent days at the pool, gone to the library, attended a family reunion and just had a lot of fun in general. Noah is enjoying the reading program and activities at the library. He has already turned in his first log for 5 hours of reading time and has already logged an hour on his second log sheet. Rachel is enjoying her dance class and thinks she is quite the ballerina princess.
Here is one of my favorite shots from the Reynolds family Reunion this past weekend. Rachel definitely has her own unique way of eating watermelon!!




We really enjoyed the reunion. Roscoe had a good time exploring the farm and found a real treasure in his eyes. Here are some pictures of an old car the used to belong to my cousin Butch:









I thought they turned out pretty neat! Roscoe actually liked these in black and white. We may be going back up to the farm for the 4th of July, so hopefully I will get some more fun pics. There are all sorts of neat old things to photograph up there!

Have a great rest of the week! I will try to post again before the week is over!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my Mom's 59th birthday.
She has been near my heart all day, and my awareness of her being "gone" has been very acute. That being said, I also realized today that Mom is more "with" me than ever. I see her in the strength and independence my children possess. Those are both traits she taught me and I have tried to pass along to my children. In ways I may have been TOO successful. I see her in the way I view my husband and how I appreciate the things she loved so much about him. I also see her in myself. I sometimes joke about turning into my mother, but I would consider myself blessed if that were actually the case. I find myself saying and doing things and thinking afterwards, "That was something Mom would do!!" Sometimes it is surprising, sometimes it is inspiring! My Mom is a wonderful, loving lady who taught me so much about life and loving your family and friends. I look forward to the day I will see her again and have the chance to thank her for all she taught me and just to say, "I love you, Mom." For now, I send this simple wish - "Happy Birthday, Mom!!"

Busy week!!

We have had a busy week!! Monday the kids and I ran errands and then went to the swimming pool. Tuesday we went to eat lunch at McDonald's with my friend Tiana and her three girl. From there we went to the library for their YoYo demonstration (needless to say, we had to go buy yoyos before the day was over!!LOL!) Yesterday was spent playing with cousins and just kind of hanging out. We also baked some peanut butter cookies which we took to church to share. Today we had the cousins here again. Rachel also attended her first dance class this afternoon. she really enjoyed it and is excited about going back! Let me tell you, for 45 minutes of entertainment, you need to watch a preschool dance class in which half of the girls are first-timers!! It was quite humorous! I did manage to take a few pictures and am sharing them here in a slideshow. Please forgive the quality of the images - they were taken through a window with a film over it that made it hard to see through. My camera had to be set at ISO3200, so the pics are very grainy/noisey. BUT - they are what they are : memories of Rachel's very first dance class!



Tomorrow, we are planning to visit Roscoe at lunch, go to the bank, and then go hang our at the pool for a while! Oh, and I am hoping to squeeze in a quick trip to the farmer's market!! I am so wanting some fresh tomatoes and a canteloupe!!
So, that's about it for our first week of summer vacation! I hope everyone had a great week!!!

School's out...school's out...

We did it!! We made through our first year with both of my kiddos in school!! Rachel graduated from the HeadStart Center last Friday and Noah finished up 2nd grade today! It is hard to realize that Noah will be in 3rd grade and Rachel will be in Pre-K next year. Why do they grow up so fast?! It just seems like yesterday we were picking out baby names and thinking about starting our family.

Rachel had a great year and learned so much! She made a lot of friends and really enjoyed the social side of being in school. Here are pictures of her on the first and last days of school:




Noah had a very successful year! Today at the 1st and 2nd grade awards assembly he recieved several recognitions - "A" honor roll for the entire year, "A" conduct for the entire year, and Reader Hall of Fame (he completed 3 grade levels- 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, and began Nonfiction tests) for our Accelerated Reader Program. I am very proud of him! He worked hard and made straight "A" for the entire year. Yay, Noah!!! Now to relax a bit before gearing up for third grade. Next year will bring a few challenges and changes - our third graders begin changing classes as well as take their first TAKS test.
Here are Noah's pictures from the first and last days of second grade:




I think tonight we are going to celebrate the end of a great year - maybe dinner at our favorite place and then a $2 movie (Horton hears a Who). I hope you all have a great evening. Watch for snippets of a busy active summer from the Dunn family!

My treasures, my joys....

Just thought I would share a couple of shots from today! Summer has arrived! It has been sunny and hot the past few days. The kids are ready for the pool! I am too!! Just a few mmore days before the official start of our summer vacation...