A Great Big THANKS

Four Girls and their Prince was remolded by my very talented and creative friend, Becky Jo. I love the new look. It suits us very well. If you like the look, take a look at my "Friends who Blog" list and click on I'm still Clay and Sweet Abundance to see more of Becky Jo's handy work. When Becky Jo was working on this for us, I just had one request, no more pink. Nicole has spent the last 6years of her life(as soon as she could have an opinion) wearing nothing but pink. Miraculously, she wants little to do with pink this past year so I can move on to bigger and brighter colors. The ironic thing is, before Nicole was born, I told my mom how much I really didn't want a lot of "pink" for my baby shower. I had her spread the word that even though I was having a girl, I would "appreciate" other colors. God was laughing at me that day, (and mom ever since) because how could I know I would have a daughter who would only wear pink!!! Thanks again, Becky Jo, you're the best.

Welcome Fall

My favorite time of the year is here. Fall officially arrived at our house this past Thursday, when the girls hand picked our 100 or so leaves from one Maple tree in our yard. They put them in a pile and took turns "jumping in" the pathetic looking pile.
Then dad had to get involved. This is one of the draw backs of having a new home built on an old farm. NO MATURE TREES. Now I am sure those of you who have to rake all Fall long will disagree, but we miss out on some of that Fall time fun/work!

QUOT ABLES

Here are few recent quotes from the girls that I got a kick out of:

When driving by Oakland University recently, the girls said, "there is mom's college". Then Rachel said, "Can I go to college?". Rachel is always wanting to do what everyone else is doing. Dad talked her into staying in preschool until she was at least three!

Over a free ice cream cone the girls received from a walk-a-thon this week, a discussion started about marriage(don't remember for the life of me why). When we asked Morgan, the romantic, who she wanted to marry, she started her description like this. How tall should he be, Morgan? "About as tall as dad". What color hair should he have Morgan? "Blonde" What color eyes? "Green". Do you think he should love Jesus? "Of course". Then Morgan was asked again, so what should he be like? Morgan replied, "Just like dad!" Dad, blonde, green eyed and medium height, was very pleased.

SISTERS

I can see the benefit of having sisters. I love my two brothers, but I am loving watching Nic, Morgan and Rachel grow up together. Now along with having 3 girls comes lots of whine and scream , but recently I have been privileged to see how special a sister's bond can be.
Morgan loves to involve Rachel in any type of pretend play she may be participating in. Tonight they had their swimsuits and goggles on and were "swimming" through the Dora tunnel. Morgan is patient and directs Rachel's play, and Rachel just loves it.
Nicole has been helping Rachel with getting dressed in the morning and getting her breakfast. Nicole has also been tolerating Rachel's obsession with Dora lately. You have to know Nicole, to know, that she is our TV watcher. No one can get her to change "her station", but Rachel apparently can.
Rachel has a sense of humor. Today, we were driving the girls to school, and not having such a great start to our morning. All of a sudden Rachel says, in a very serious voice, "Nikki no sauce". It sounded much like a rhyme out of nowhere in between bickering. But we all cracked up hysterically. Just what we needed to clear the air. Nicole replies, "thanks Rae, we need to do this every morning". Now, Rachel was just commenting on Nicole's dislike of sauce on pizza.
Loving the fact that God choose Mike and I to parent three special girls.

Piano Update

Morgan's piano skills are moving right along. Just thought I would share a little clip of her playing piano with Christina(Ken's girlfriend). Morgan still loves to practice and will wake up many mornings and play the piano while her sisters watch TV.

Kelbert Football

My family-the Kelbert side-is a football family. As much as mom would like to deny it, we are. As long as I can remember, I have watched it on T.V., my brothers have played it and it is my favorite sport to watch. My brother, Chris, is the head varsity coach for Livonia Franklin. So you can find us, the Nugent's, most Friday nights in the fall on the west side cheering on the Patriots. I, Kelly, tend to get pretty crazy, jumping and carrying on. I am not alone in this. Jen, my sister-in-law, usually has a stomach ache. Dad is biting his nails in anticipation, and mom is a nervous wreak most games. The girls have been going to the games since before they were born. Mike has been a gracious convert to the sport as the popular NY sport was hockey.

My nephews, Jacob and Drew, are big fans of coach dad and his team. They are at every game cheering on the team. It is a family affair.
My brother, coach Kelbert, was telling a story the other night about Friday's game. My dad isn't able to stand on the sidelines this season as is his tradition. But Chris told dad he could still hear him yelling, "Go Offense" through the large crowd. Chris said he looked up and was able to pick dad out of the crowd by his voice. I guess you'll always recognize the voice that has always been there, every game, every loss and win.
Brother Ken is the stats keeper and Christina now has been dragged into the families' crazy Friday nights. By the way, the Franklin Patriots played awesome. Chris had lost 4 starters this past week and they weren't predicted to win. But they did win with the most points Chris' team had ever scored in a game. Go PATS!

First Day of School 2008

School has officially started. The last two days have been successfull ones for all three of the girls. Rachel started at Creative Preschool this morning and seemed to fall right in line with the schedule. She said she "wants to go back"! She met a friend named Gianna. Gianna's big sister went to preschool with Morgan.
Rachel takes time to pose with teacher Ms. Debi.

Nicole and Morgan started school on Tuesday for 1/2 of a day and went full day today. There were some anxious moments on Monday night for both girls and the thought of having to go to a new school was catching up with them. Nicole quickly realized that some of the children in her class were from her kindergarten classroom at New Haven and was already invited into a "butterfly club" at recces??(we'll talk later about clubs-help anyone).
Picture taken at new school Beck Elementary which is exactly 2.25 miles from home, a 5 minute car ride-YIPPEE.
Morgan had fewer concerns about starting a new school and didn't know anyone in her 1st grade classroom. But when she got home she assured me she had made two new friends without difficulty. Morgan actually kicked Mike and I out of her class before she needed to.
Nicole's teacher already had a theme set up for her first experience in second grade. A tropical travel theme.
We bought Rachel a new backpack for school and when we asked her last night which backpack she wanted to take to school, she replied "Dora" which was Morgan's old backpack for preschool. This is where my early planning doesn't pay off.

Our Version of the Peach Queens

Today we took the girls to Romeo's Peach Festival. We managed to catch a parade, which is one of the girls' favorite things. I think the candy being handed out is the main reason they like parades.
Then we headed over to the carnival rides. I tried not to look at the amount of money being spent on the rides. I didn't buy them or else one ride per girl would have been the extent of it. The girls picked bumper cars and Rae went along for the ride.
Big sister Nicole was laughing as she slammed Rachel into Morgan's car.
Rachel and dad went on the carousel. Rachel picked the tallest horse to ride on.
Rachel ended the afternoon on the "Choo-Choo Train" here is a clip.


We had a nice afternoon to celebrate the last day of summer vacation. But, no one was interested in the peaches!!