Are You Smarter Than a Second Grader?

(I may be proving to you all what you have suspected for some time about me - that I am not the brightest crayon in the box - by posting this, but I am taking a chance...)

Lauryn is in 2nd grade and comes home with the most bizarre spelling words. Usually out of the 25 words on the list, she has heard maybe 4 or 5 of the words before, and actually knows what maybe 2 or 3 of them mean. I have usually heard of 20 of the words (the other 5 I swear are made up - they just take the root word and add a different ending on them - like obsolete and obsolescent), and I have actually used 3 to 5 of the words before. (Probably only once though - on a day when I was feeling extra intellectual - those days are quite rare). And, every week, there is at least one word that I have no idea what it means, how to spell it or how to even pronounce it! I call them the "mystery words".

This weeks mystery spelling words are: perspicacity and perspicacious.

So, apparently I am not smarter than a 2nd grader.

I knew the day would come when I realized that my kids were smarter than me - I just didn't expect it to happen at age 7! Am I the only one that thinks these words are a little weird for a 2nd grader? And, tell me the truth, do you know what they mean? (without googling them like I did?)

You do? Sorry. I warned you, I am not very perspicacious.

What we've been up to...

Much to her mothers dismay, Brinn turned 5! She loved getting to have 4 birthday celebrations - it was a party all week! She loved having a luau party complete with a bunny cake, and loved that she got to "eat her nose" at Nana's house (Nana got her one of those cakes with her picture on it). We love our Brinnybop!

Cameron took the girls to California and Disneyland for a week. They loved every minute of it!
They were especially excited to be able to have Nana and Papa join them for a few hours each day.
This is one of 16 rides they took on Space Mountain. Apparently the rain scared away most people, so the parks were not crowded at all. No lines at all. If you don't mind a little rain, January is the time to go.

We have been enjoying this little guy. He is growing so fast! For the most part he is a very content baby. We all sure love him!

He's here!

We are so excited to finally introduce Taylor David! We welcomed him on January 5, 2010 at 12:19 pm to be exact, weighing in at 7lbs 8 oz and 20 inches. So, for the three of you that actually still check this blog, here are some pics, in no particular order:

Lauryn and Brinn just can't get enough of their new brother. They are having a hard time calling him by his name, they still refer to him as L.B.B (short for Little Baby Brother) which is what they called him the whole pregnancy. So far, Taylor doesn't mind.

At first sight, both Cameron and I thought he looked a lot like Lauryn did when she was born, but as the swelling has gone down we are noticing he looks very similar to Brinn. And yes, he inherited that famous Airmet dimpled chin... I don't think he stood a chance of not getting it!

True to Nichols fashion, this baby is bald too - I am still quite surprised at how blond he is! I guess I was expecting a darker haired baby. He is adorable!
We are so glad that he arrived safely and healthy. And quickly :D He came so fast he was almost born without us knowing! That epidural was on mega dose! It took me over 6 hours to be able to move my feet again. Not fun.

I think we are all in love with this little guy! We are thrilled to have him join our family!

A Very Jeri Version of Spring Break

Spring break has come and gone and since I have been putting this post off for way too long, and since there are a million other things I would rather be doing (or should be doing is more like it) I am giving you the 'Jeri version" of spring break:  lots of pictures, not so many words.

We headed out for a nice visit to Nana and Papa's in Southern California:  

We collected and cleaned golf balls to try and sell.  Just so you know, Chinese men do not understand "3 for $1"...  We were not very good salesman :-(

We screamed at Disneyland and California Adventure.  Not only did we scream on the roller coasters, we screamed (well at least on the inside) at the insane crowds.

We smiled and laughed. 

 

We walked. And walked.  Well, some of us walked, others got creative to avoid walking.

We watched monkeys doing silly and disgusting (I am talking totally disgusting) things at the Santa Ana Zoo.  I will not give you details, but Brinn said, "EEWW!  He had better go wash his hands really good.  And he better use soap!"

We goofed around and hugged.

We made it home just in time for Easter and new dresses.

We had a wonderful time!  Thanks Nana and Papa for all the fun and memories!