Our Anniversary

Our anniversary was this past Wednesday, 3 years. My parents have date night every Wednesday and they like to go out to a place called Southern Junction. It has buy one get one steak dinners and country dancing with live music. The girls have seen them leave and have been asking to go, so we decided to go for our anniversary. The girls were so excited, the talked about it for 2 days. Rylie even spent some time practicing!! They had a blast. At first they were a little nervous, but once they took that first spin on the dance floor, we couldn't keep them off. Michael and I had blast watching them enjoy themselves so much. Here are a few pictures.


Here is Rylie and Michael before we left. She is really into giving "big kisses" right now.


Here is our little family. Reagan was being silly, and I love Ryie's face trying to figure out what shhe was doing!!

The girsl LOVED dancing with GiGi and Big Daddy. Everytime they would sit down, the girls would go over and ask them to dance again.

When we got tired of dancing with them, they finally decided they could just dance by themselves. I think Rylie's face shows how much fun they had. They were both smiling the whole time.

I know this picture is dark, but this is how my parents were dancing with the girls. My dad was holding most of Reagan in one arm and then my mom's arms were underneath helping too. They wouldn't take them around the dance floor a couple of times before they put them down. I am sure my dad's arms a little sore!!

Santa picture already!!

Yes, I know that it is really, really early for a Santa picture, but Rylie was willing, so I wasn't going to wait. Rylie saw the Little People Princess Castle in the Toys R Us magazine at my mom's house and said she wanted it for Christmas. That was in the middle of October. She still hasn't stopped talking about it. My mom has gotten it for her already. When she saw Santa I told her that she could go and ask him for something, like the Princess Castle, and he would try and make sure she got it on Christmas. She was excited and all but ran to get in line. We only had to wait maybe 5 minutes.

Reagan was not so excited. She kept trying to look over her shoulder, I guess to make sure Santa was going to get her!! Afterwards, he gave them a color book and again asked Reagan if she wanted anything for Christmas. She said a puppy. There happened to be a picture of a dog in the color book and when he showed her she started talking to him. She still didn't want him to hold her, but it was fun to see her open up and talk to him. She has been carrying that book around everywhere this weekend and telling anyone who wants to listen that Santa gave it to her!!

Rylie

Rylie has pretty much always been a big talker. Since she has learned to start expressing herself, she hasn't slowed down!! I can't help but tell you about the other day.

We went to a family dinner at CiCi's Pizza 2 Friday's ago. Michael couldn't go, he was working. His week had been busy, so he didn't get to see the girls much. The girls had a blast, as always with all their cousins. They got to play the candy game (the one that lets them have a turn until the win). Before I put the girls down for a nap the next day, I told them to go straight to sleep because Daddy was going to home when they woke up and we could go do something fun afterwards. Rylie told me that she wanted to take Daddy to the pizza place so he could have fun too. She want Mommy and Reagan to go too, but not GiGi or Big Daddy or anyone else. She said she didn't want anyone to talk to her daddy but her!! I couldn't help but smile. She didn't know how to say that she had missed her daddy and didn't want to share that time. I thought it was really cute and wanted to share.

Halloween and Birthday Party

I was really excited about Halloween this year. Last year we hosted a fall carnival for Reagan's birthday, so we didn't trick-or-treat. This was going to be there 1st year. All the kids met at my parents house and we actually managed to get a picture. I am going to try and list them out left to right:
Back row:
Caden, Brock, GiGi, Big Daddy, Emily, Hannah, Addie
Front Fow:
Reagan, Tristyn, Rylie
I let the girls pick out their customes and they both picked out minnie mouse. We didn't know until later that Tristyn picked that out too! They were amazed to walk out and see they were the same. It was really cute.



This next picture may not seem like a big deal to most of you, but if you really know Rylie you know how timid and quiet she is, escpecially with new things. It only took one house of getting candy for her to get the hang of it!! She was running up and knocking on doors and yelling, trick or treat. Reagan was right in the middle trying to keep up with Caden and Rylie. We had to carry her inbetween houses because she couldn't walk as fast.

Reagan got a balloon at our church carnival. She had so much fun playing with it on the way home. She was yelling and making different animals noises and it sounded so funny. She had Michael and I laughing most of the way home.

Here are the youngest girls watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse at 10PM!! My girls normally go to bed at 8PM but they were still wound up to much.


REAGAN'S BDAY PARTY PICTURES!!!

Reagan's party wasn't until 6pm so we went to the zoo to kill some time. I wasn't going to post anymore zoo pictures, but I got a really cute one of the girls. Reagan never lets me fix her hair. She looks so big in a ponytail!! She doesn't have a lot of hair on top, but has a lot in the back.

We had Reagan's bday party at Mcdonalds. Just with invited our immediate family and 3 other really close friends, we had 18 kids and about 16 adults. Since we are still with my parents and they are remodeling, we didn't have room. The kids had a blast. Reagan is almost always smiling, but at her party she was running around laugh and giggling. She really had a blast. All day she kept saying, "it's my party day, it's my party day". She has been waiting for her day since Rylie's party.

We didn't get a lot of good pictures, she didn't stand still long enough!! She only ate about 3 fries and 2 bites of chicken. She McDonalds we went to is really cool. It doesn't have any tunnels, just stairs so it made it really easy for the small ones. Everyone had fun. We were the only ones there so it was nice.

Reagan has talked about her McDonald cake all week. The funny thing is she doesn't like cake!! She won't eat cake, cupcakes or cookies. She enjoyed the idea of it and that everyone was singing to her though.


Her favorite present was the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse set. You can't see it in this picture, but she was beside herself with excited. It was a big box, but some how she managed to hug it and carry it around. My parents left first and took the presents. We stayed to let the girls play a little more, but when Reagan noticed her mickey mouse was gone, she started asking to go home. We set it up for her when we got home and she loved it!! It is always neat to watch them really get into something.



She also liked her barbie that she got. I was really surprised. As soon as she opened it she held it up and said, look, my barbie. I didn't know she knew what a barbie was. She has 2 of the disney princess ones, but she has always called them a princess. She loves the brush the hair.


Here is just Daddy and girls being silly. She got so tickled that Daddy looked like Mickey Mouse. Only if they would stay that easy to entertain for a while!!

If you can't tell from all the posts, the girls love the disney princess and mickey mouse. At the end of the month we are going to Disney on Ice. We got to buy tickets before they went on sell because we shop a lot of the disney store. We have front row tickets and I can't wait. I think they are going to love it!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY REAGAN!!!

Reagan is two today!!! She is really excited. For the past week we have been asking, who's birthday is next? She raises her hands and says, mine!! You ask her how she is and she says three, laughs and then says two. We are still working on that.



Reagan is my firecracker baby. She is soooooo stuborn it is going to kill me. She is generally a happy, happy girl, but if you ruin her plans she gets mad quick!! My mom is always amazed at how mad she get so quick, but, she can get happy just as fast. She has grown up so much faster then Rylie it has amazed me. She sat up at 4 months, crawled around 6, and walked around 11 months. She started talking around 9-10 months and by 18 months was in full sentences.




She LOVES to sing. We have several "bible songs", as the girls call them, in the car. Some of her favorites to sing are, This little light of mine, Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, B-I-B-L-E, Father Abraham, and Who did shallow Jonah. She knows all the words the chorus and is getting better on the verus. She has learned a ton more songs at school. Her favorite school songs are Where is thumbkin and Old McDonald.



I know every parent thinks there are kids are the best, so thanks for listening to me brag on my baby on her birthday!!


Here are some pictures of Reagan. Hope you enjoy the walk down memory lane.

Reagan at 19 weeks:




Me at 25 weeks:



Reagan around 3 months:

Reagan around 5 months:




Christmas of 2007


In April 2008

In October 2008

Petting Zoo

We went to the petting zoo with a good friend of ours, the Liz and Sean. The have a daughter, Makenna, that is 3 and another little girl, Kaylan that is 16 months.

Here they all are, starting left to right: Reagan, Rylie, Makenna, Kaylan!! Aren't the cute?



Here is a picture of all of us girls!! We wouldn't know what to do if any of us had a boy!!

Reagan milked a cow at the petting zoo!!! I couldn't believe it. She was a little nervous at first, but the lady was really patient.

Here they are in the pumpkin patch. They each got to pick out a pumpkin. Reagan is still carrying hers around!! They loved this part. They also went through a maze. I was surprised how well the girls did.

Here is Rylie and Makenna. They are really starting to enjoy each others company. We started having play dates about once a week when they were just 3-4 months old. Know it is less then that, but they are old enough to play together. I hope they stay good friends for long time!!!

(Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to rotate the picture!!)

Trip to the Zoo

We have season passes to the ft worth zoo (in case you are wondering why we have some post with zoo pictures!!) We also have fun and try to go once or twice a month.

Reagan LOVES alligators!! I am not sure why, but she loves to read about them and talks about them a lot. This is the first time we have seen the alligator this close and she loved it. His nose was right up against the glass. It was really cool.


Rylie is normally really timid, so for her to feed the birds was a really big deal. This is the first time that I had even been able to get her to go into the bird cage. You can tell she is not 100%, but she was so proud of herself afterwards. She talked about it for days. You can see Reagan in the corner or the picture covering her head. A couple of birds flew by and hit her a little so it freaked her out. She is normally my brave one!!

Rylie has gotten into wearing handbands, so of course, Reagan has too. Reagan will not let me put them on her, she does it all my herself. Being Zoo members we can get an all day pass on the train for $4 for all of us. We we also have to make a couple of rides. The girls love it.
For some reason the wanted to set on all the little animals and take a picture. I have like 3-4 of these. It was funny. They kept posing and say, take a picture of us, take a picture.

Mine & Rylie's Bday

Rylie's birthday was last month, she is 3!!! We didn't really get a lot of good pictures, but here she is with her cake. She had a lot of fun. We had a princess bday party. She decorated a crown, a wand and played a few games.




My birthday was the 9th, I turned 26 :( It was a little sad for me, it is my last year in my mid-twenties and it made me feel really old for some reason!! Michael and I went out the night before. The girls helped me bake and ice my cake. We had a lot of fun.

Quick Update

I know it has been FOREVER since I have posted anything. I find it is hard to find even 20 minutes when I can sit down!! Our summer was pretty boring, we didn't take any big trips. In April we drive to Austin for the weekend and we to the drive thru zoo and in July we went to my sister's in ok for a few days.







For about 2 months now I have been M-F 9-5. It is hard because I don't get the see the girls as much, but I final get to see Michael!! We were really missing each other. In August we enrolled the girls in a private preschool. They are both loving it!!! They come on everyday with new things they have learned. It has amazed me how much Reagan has learned. Since she is just almost 2, I didn't except her class to do as much. They are learning shapes, colors and the Alphabet just like Rylie is. The first week they talked about circles. All weekend long the girls were drawing circles, and saying, "round and round, round and round". It was really cute.







Here are a few random pictures:





Me and the girls on our trip in April. We also went on a glass bottom boat ride. It was a blast.

This is Mike and the girls in February when we went to go see his parents in February. They got the princess costumes for Christmas. They love the put them on a play!!!

This is just the girls being silly for the camera!! They love to pose!! This was taken in April too.

These two pictures were taken during Breakfast before their first day of School!!!

Brook, my baby sister, got married in St Thomas in August!!! She married a wonderful man named Heath. Here are a couple of pictures from their wedding. We were very sad to have to miss it. Brook has been a single mom now for a little over two years. Heath loves Tristyn very much and we are sooo excited to have him in our family!!!

The last bit of news is that WE ARE FINALLY MOVING!!!! We have needed more space for a while now and we finally found a house. We are moving to Mansfield next week. We close on our house on Friday and on our new house next Tuesday. We are staying with my parents over the weekend. We are moving from 1400 sq ft to 3000 sq ft and we are very excited!!! Since Michael works from home he needs a little space to work and talk on the phone and not have to girls playing (loudly) in the background. I will post pictures and more information hopefully next week once we get moved in!!

Do I need to say one more time how excited we are!!!! We have looked for a house for over a year so we fill that it has been a long time coming.

Update on my babies!!

It is has been a week since our the girls had the tubes put in. First of all, Cooks Children's Hospital was AWESOME!!! The girls couldn't have anything to eat or drink after midnight the night before and I was worried about them being thirsty and hungry the next morning. Cooks has the check-in & waiting area set-up perfect. The girls only asked for something to drink twice. I was shocked.

If you know my girls (or me!!), you would know that they don't do well with change. They can get freaked out pretty easy and they don't like strangers. The nurses were great. The girls didn't care about the gowns, bracelets or anything else - not even leaving Mike and I. From other trips to arlington memorial, I couldn't even imagine how well everything went.

Afterwards is a completely different story. A lot of my friends have told me that their kids were back to normal after a long nap at home - not my babies. They cried from the minute they woke up and didn't stop for almost three days!! Finally I called the dr and asked if this was normally or if I should be worried. I told me that the girls a lot more fluid in their ears then is normally and having the clean all that out was causing all the extra pain. Basically they were just really, really sore. After about 4-5 days they were back to there normal activities and doing great.

Reagan was estimated to have lost 65-75% of her hearing and Rylie was estimated at 50-60%. The dr couldn't believe how well they were talking. Neither one is completely clear, but they both have huge vocabularies. Reagan can say well over 65 words and is even putting 2 & 3 together. It is amazing what having an older sister is teaching her!! Lately her saying has been, "by myself" while pushing my hands away!!! I can already tell a difference in how the girls are starting to completely finish words. It is excited to see a noticeable change so quickly. I am excited to see how good they will be talking in just a few more weeks.

We go for a follow-up visit on wednesday, but I think he will say everything looks good. Thanks for the prayers - I was one nervous mommy!!!

Prayer Requests!!!

Please lift up my Friend
A very dear friend on mine, Charity lost her Uncle Ron today. He was a very important role model in her life and they were very close. Her oldest son was also very close with him and is only in 1st or 2nd grade. Her uncle was married and had two girls, one who graduated high school in the last couple of years and one who is either a junior or senior in high school. I knew him and know that he was saved. Please keep his family prayers as they go through the next few weeks.

Please lift up my babies
Both of my girls are having minor out patient surgery to have tubes put in their ears first thing in the morning. They have battled with ear infections, colds and sinus infections since they were about 4-6 months old. Hopefully this will finally give them some relief. In the process we also found out that they both have lost quite a bit of hearing due to fluids in the ear. Please pray for a successful surgery and that we will see the benefits!! I have been told by several other parents that this is a minor, no big deal thing, but it just doesn't feel like it when it is my babies they will be putting under!!!

Thank you for your prayers!!

Few Random Pictures :)

WHEN DID THEY GET SO BIG?!?!?!?

I have been wondering this week where my babies went!! They are getting so big and I am excited and a little sad at the same time. Reagan is already asking to use the potty. She loves to go over and sit down after Rylie gets done. Rylie had a bladder infection so we had to pull out the baby potty to get her to use it again. Reagan is almost 15 months and that is right at the same age that Rylie ask to go for the first time. Rylie was potty trained at 21 months so I can only hope Reagan is that easy!!!

I know I can be crazy, but I took a picture of Rylie's DoodlePro drawing a few days ago - she drew a boat and it has a flag and everything!! She is always asking me to draw things for her and I draw a simple boat as a half circle with a little flag. I was so blown away by her I couldn't help myself. Earlier this month she drew a smiley face with 1 line coming down (body?leg?) and said it was PoPo (Mike's Dad). She then scribbled all over it and said "PoPo broke". He fell in Oct and broke is hip and she still thinks he is broke. It was really funny.

Here are the girls eating bananas. I started to cut Reagan's up and she yelled at me No!! I just looked at her and she held her hand up in the air. She ate almost the whole thing like Rylie does. I wanted to cry!! She won't even let me cut her food up anymore. She will throw it on the floor if you cut hers & not Rylie's up. She looks at her plate and then at Rylie's to make sure it is the same!!! How fast they learn and how fast they want to be like everyone else. She was so proud of herself too. She would take a bite and then just look around and smile.

Here they are playing with their little leaps abc fridge set. They set their for over 20 minutes and actually took turns trying to stick letters in and pushing the song button. I was so impressed.

I am going to miss my babies!! It is sad to think that we are already done with that phase in their lives. It was just over a year ago that I felt like I had been pregnant for YEARS and now I have a 2 year old and a toddler, what happend?!?!?

Christmas Update & Pictures

Better late then never, right?!?!

I am not sure what I was thinking getting just Rylie the Disney Princess Bedding (from the prev post). It was the only thing we bought at Christmas that we didn't buy two of and we ended up going on Dec 26th to buy a 2nd one!!! As soon as we opened it up & put in on Rylie's bed they both started getting excited - Reagan just as much as Rylie. Reagan started laughing and ran over and kissed the princesses on the bed. I felt like the worse mother ever!! Now the both have matching beds. Mike & I keep telling each other it might of been easier to have twins!! We are buying two of everything anyways. Rylie even gets upset if they are not wearing the same things - down to the shoes. They are a complete mess, but quite a cute one!!

We had the best Christmas. We went around to see Christmas lights 3-4 times. Both girls were really excited and loved to go. One of the state parks out here sets up big displays in their campgrounds in Dec and that was our favorite. They have a light-show and santa with a few rides and we went twice and had a blast both times. Here are a few pictures:

This is what you drive thru at the end - my fav part!!

This is the girls watching the light show; 20 minutes and they loved every minute

Just a few scenes we saw as we drove thru. Really cute!!

Here are pictures from Christmas morning:

These are the big things the girls got, a princess fold out coach/bed & baby high chair

They love the coaches!! It was Mike's idea and I didn't think we would use them as much as we do, good idea baby!! They love to feed their babies and themselves. We have fun feed and taking care of our many babies!!

Here is Reagan opening presents (I am not sure what she is smiling at, we had to fight her to open her presents!!)

Sorry, didn't realize it was flipped!! Here is Rylie in her disney princess dress-up clothes, HUGE HIT!!!! She loves to be a princess and has fun we play dress-up. You can see in the bottom of the picture is a disney princess baby doll. She sleeps with that doll know too!! We got her dress to match her dolls and that was so cool to her. I think it really made her feel like a princess.