26JAN11

A girl and her dog... This is how I found Ryan after her nap on Monday. She never said a word I just heard a noise and went to check and there she was with Tucker. Ryan absolutely LOVES Tucker. We do occasionaly have to tell her not to bite Tucker or to stop laying on him but usually she is just trying to play with him.

Ryan is such a sweet girl. She has developed her own little personality even though she loves her big sister and tries to copy her often. We started our Letter of the week program a few weeks ago and she is loving it. We get a lot of mommy and Ryan time and I absolutely love it. Her new favorite phrase is, "snuggle one minute." Anytime I try to go somewhere with out her (I'm talking even to go take a shower) that's what she tells me and I have to tell you I don't know if I have ever said no or if I ever could! Lately she's also started saying food is DEYISIOUS (Delicious) and another favorite word that isn't as great is DANGIT. No Ryan you can't have candy... "Oh Dangit." Ya you never realize how bad the words you say sound till they come out of the mouth of your 2 year old. :) I'm not going to lie though it's still a little cute. :)I can't believe she is turning 3 next month. She is getting so big. She is learning so much every day. I absolutely LOVE this little girl.

24JAN11

I put Ryan on the wait list for the pre-school program a few months ago and she was number 22! Which was no big deal bc I wasn't in a hurry I just wanted to get her into something a couple days a week for her sake (and a little for mine! :) ) They finally called me last week and said she could start! She was SOOO excited to go to school just like Alexis and I had to really explain that it wasn't the same school as Alexis. Luckily, she seemed fine with that. We went in Thursday for orientation and to meet her teacher and she was VERY excited. Today was her first day and she LOVED it. She kept talking about her friends, and playing, and doing gymnastics (another plus, she has the same gymnastic teacher and it's at the same place she will just do it during school instead of in the afternoon.) She told me all about her lunch and going potty in the big kid potty. She was so happy and I had a nice few hours for errands. She will be going Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9:30-12:30.

Posing with Alexis before Alexis went to school.

All ready to go. She looks SOOOO big to me!

At school excited to play. I had to post both b/c I think you can tell especially in the first picture that she was a LITTLE nervous but she still cheesed for me in the second. They said she did great with no problems at all and that she was quite the star in gymnastics. I can't believe how big Ryan is. I love this little girl.

19JAN11

Back in December my friend Jessica invited us to go to The Nutcracker and Alexis and I were both excited to have a mother/daughter date. Alexis absolutely LOVED it. At the end she said she wanted to watch it again. I forgot my camera but luckily Jessica is one of the BEST photographers I know and she snapped a few for me and sent them to me. (Ya you can so tell I didn't take these I need to "forget" my camera more often! :) Anyways, here are the pictures.

10JAN11

Okay I know I'm from AZ. I realize if it ever snowed in the valley people would NOT know what to do and the whole valley of the sun would shut down. However, these people crack me up. Yesterday it was all over the news that this was going to be a bad storm. All non-essential personal should stay home. School was canceled.

We woke up to the lightest dusting of snow. The most snow we saw in one place was MAYBE a half an inch. It was barely even snow more like slush. The girls were thrilled but it was so wet they didn't stay out long.

We spent the morning in our p.j.'s followed by some shopping (with so many stores closed it was hilarious) and ended the day with dinner with friends. While at dinner we got another call saying school is canceled tomorrow too. It's suppossed to be freezing temps and they are worried about black ice. Trav had to go in at 9 tonight so he was sure to be at work in the morning. It's all a little too much precaution if you ask me but I do enjoy having Alexis home. My only other complaint is the add ons at the end of the school year but we'll just enjoy our time home.

See I'm not making it up there was barely ANY snow and this was first thing in the morning! :)

It WAS cold for sure. Warming up with hot chocolate and a movie after playing in the slush oh I mean snow! :)

08JAN11

I just absolutely love her. Tonight I was trying to get a good "bath picture with out being all nakey and exposed" for a project I'm finally getting around to. I got so many adorable/wierd/goofy/crazy shots of her. She is such a good girl. She is at the age where she still LOVES no seriously ADORES homework and chores. She is the most helpful big sister (today I had to tell her she doesn't get to spank Ryan when Ryan doesn't listen to her HA.) She is a 100% Army kid. Today she kept telling us about the MFLAC people. Mine and Trav's questions followed by her answers:

"Are they real people?" YES they have peach skin like me

"Where do they live?" Here like us

"Immigrants?" NO MFLAC

"They live in GA?" Yes every 3 months.

"They come every 3 months?" Yep.

"Indians?" *while giving us you guys are crazy looks* NO MFLAC

"Did you talk to them?" No they talked to us.

"DId you read about them?" No they talked to us.

Okay this went on for a while. We finally THINK we figured out that she is talking in accronyms. At her school they have these Military LIfe Consultant people that come in and out every few months. They are like counselors just for the military. I'm pretty sure they just told the kids the accronym. Ya another, you know your kid is an Army brat when, moment.

She is an absolute sweetheart. Always available to snuggle or talk or read books. I recently decided to try reading a chapter book with her. We are almost to Chapter 3 of The Secret Garden and I'm not joking she LOVES it. I think part of it may be b/c it's on my Kindle and she thinks it's fun to read on mom's gadget (heck I still think it's fun to read on mom's gadget!) But she is enjoying it and I ask her questions every once in a while since it's definitely not 5 year old vocab but she knows what's going on.

Just thought I would share the love I have in my heart for my oldest child. I adore her and honestly love when she gets to be home from school. I know this is totally random and that's ok. It's just on my mind and in my heart right now. :)

04JAN11

A few random pictures...

Alexis had a nightmare a couple weeks ago and since then she's had a hard time sleeping. She keeps saying she's scared and she gets up a million times. One of the nights Travis was gone and she had gotten out of bed a ton and finally asked if she could sleep with Ryan. Even though they are in the same room she wanted to sleep in Ryan's bed. I caved and it totally worked! They both slept all night long. Alexis is getting better now that she has her "sweet dream" spray but it really was adorable to see my 2 girls snuggled up together.

The next pictures crack me up! Travis said Alexis had asked him if she could use a napkin, tape, and yarn. He was working in the garage on one of his wood projects and didn't think anything of it. He told her yes and later she came down and said, "look daddy now I can be in the sawdust too!" I could not stop laughing and had to take a picture. She is so smart and creative! Oh and of course Ryan HAD to be in the picture too. HAHA.

03JAN11

My first post of 2011! :) We had a great New Year's Eve this year. We decided to have people over at our house this year and just play games. There were 7 adults, 2 teens, 5 kids, and 3 dogs! :) It was a blast. I remembered that we had leftover sparklers from 4th of July and the kids really enjoyed doing those. It was a good night with friends and family. I was even impressed that my kids both made it up till midnight this year. 2010 was the first year in our marraige that Travis didn't have to leave for more than 24 hours the entire year! I hope 2011 is just as great. :) Happy New Year everyone!

HEre are a few pics. I am so great at taking pics of the kids but I'm TERRIBLE at taking pics of adults. Maybe I should have made that my New Year's Resolution...

Watching a movie and eating popcorn! Ya ALL boys. I went from Germany where there never seemed to be any boys to here where all my friends seem to have are boys. Alexis and Ryan definitely don't seem to mind!

Wylie and Alexis. Super cute.

Ryan and Melanie (the teenage girls are our next door neighbors. They are SOOO sweet and they love my girls and my girls love them!)

Lexi with her sparkler.

Almost all the kids. Nicolai was over all the pics! This was right after midnight so they were all tired but they were great!!!