Our potty life.....................

With Reagan pretty much potty trained throughout the day we spend a lot of time in the bathroom. Even Abby is in on it now and has a seat.

Abby is really just waiting for no one to notice her unravel and shred the toilet paper. Seriously, she must have been a cat in another life. But sometimes she just likes to sit with Reagan and be sweet.

Who knew potty training was such a family event and/or a spectator sport?

Go Stros ?

We weren't going to do it. We were actually going to go a whole season without going to a game. I couldn't tell you the last that that happened. And then Reagan repeatedly started asking to go so we decided to do for it. The girls and I met Dad up at the office on a Friday night to pick him up and headed to the game. Luckily right now they have kids tickets for free and we may have bought the cheap seats so we weren't too concerned about how early we went. Abby screamed the whole way from the office to the game. It was fantastic. Really she had done that all day. But we got there and immediately headed over to get the kiddos some food and of course to see Mickey.

With some food things got a little better:

Reagan is a fantastic little baseball team and cheered her little heart out:

Turns out where we, um, decided to sit was right by Blue Bell. So the kids got their first sundae in a ball cap. Bet you can't guess what color cap Reagan picked out...........

Abby is a HUGE fan of ice cream. She hasn't met a flavor she doesn't like yet.

Despite this face we had a good time:

We made it til the top of the 8th. As we were walking out we heard the train and missed Carlos Lee hitting a home run that would win the game. Too bad since Reagan was really excited to see the train. Maybe next year...............

Uncle Craig..................

We love you!!!!!

And miss you!!!!!

Abby - 18 months

Somehow someway Abby is now 1 1/2 year old!

We went to see our favorite Dr. today and here are Abby's stats:

weight - 21lbs 12.5oz - 15%
height - 30.5in - 15%
And her head is still a whopping 75%

She only had to have one shot today and Reagan held her hand during it. All is well and they are happy with her progress and that she still on the charts. She's still tiny and wearing 6-12 month clothes though. She still doesn't have a lot of words but who needs them when she has Reagan talking for her all the time. I imagine once she starts school she'll be able to blossom on her own. Yes, that's right. Abby is starting school with Reagan in just a little over a week and we are all so excited!

Reagan Love

Reagan has had a really bad experience with the dark. She is afraid, very afraid. We thought it may be a ploy to stay up later but she is truly afraid and sobs and sobs. Some times she shows up in our room in the middle of the night crying, sometimes we hear sobbing and find her on the stairs, etc. It's never quite the same. For the past week only Dad can put her to bed and usually get her to stay there. She is currently sleeping with a flashlight that Dad has gifted to her and she can point it at whatever is scary to see if it is scary with a light on it. This has kind of worked. She also has a night light, we've tried leaving a lamp on, etc. We know it's just a phase that needs to pass.

The other night when Dad was putting her to bed she asked if I could come up. I can remember the moment as I was a bit annoyed and went up the stair. We talked for a bit and then I asked her to close her eyes and think of something that makes her happy. She closed her eyes and smiled. I asked her what is was that makes her happy and she opened her eyes and looked at me with a smile and said, "You Mommy."

I melted! I told her to dream about us having fun. I may have also had to make a promise to play Mario with her the next day. ; )

Lake of the Ozarks – Part 5

On the 5th day of Christmas vacation brought a Mommy Shopping Trip.

Every morning was spent first out on the porch. It was the safest place to take a kid to play so as not to wake everyone else up. On this particular morning Joe found himself in time out and I just couldn't help but get a picture.

I'm not too sure he was thrilled with the idea. 

I've never seen so many hummingbirds at one time! 

Did I mention that this guy went running every.single.morning??

While we were gone the Dads took the kids out on the boat.

Beautiful bruise huh?

After we got home we weren't quite sure what to do and finally decided to boat back over to the Paradise for our last dinner.

Paradise - Take 2 (this time with a live band!):

The best we can do with 5.

You might note Reagan slight outfit change. The inevitable happened and she had her first accident. The real kicker is that I had given Sarah the shorts I had for Reagan in the diaper bag the day before and not put them back in. So we were without a change of clothes. Luckily Sarah was nice enough to share her little cover under her skirt with Reagan. So then Reagan basically ran around in hot pants!

The house!

The next morning we headed home at 7:00am. Another 2 potty stops, another lunch at McDonalds and we were back to Ft. Worth. The next morning we headed out really early to Houston and to conclude our adventure. 

Wonder where next year will lead us??????

Lake of the Ozarks – Part 4

Day 4 was family day! That morning Sarah & Jonathan came to visit us since they only live about an hour from the Lake. It was great and we had not seen them since Thanksgiving! We all decided to head out to a park to let the kids run crazy.

Jacob & Abby are going to get married today. Just in case anyone was wondering ; ) 

Reagan is always so sweaty! 

Our Pop - arazzi

They are the reason we're all friends!

Sarah (Matthew) and Scott! 

This is what happens to 3 moms with 5 kids combined: 

Nah! We love it!

Later John's sister and niece (another Abby!) came over for dinner and we had a small pre-birthday party for Jacob: 

It was a great dinner with great company. It was really special that we got to see Sarah & Jonathan. Reagan is slightly obsessed with her soon to be cousin Matthew. She even asked if he could come out so she could give him a kiss before they left! 

After all the guests left we threw the kids in the bath(these pics will be saved for black mail at a later date): 

And later when all the good little boys and girls were asleep and the rebellious Sarah & Reagan were still asleep we had a silly little photo shoot about emotions.................

Oh my do we have a couple of drama queens on our hands.