Don't pee on Elmo

Yay...I am happy to say we are potty trained 99%!! I really was a lot easier than i thought it would be. I just had to realize they would do it in their own time. Fortunately it was simultaneously. We went and bought all kinds of fun undies. Rae and Ri love Elmo so who better to start out with. We also bought some princess panties in honor of our recent trip to Disney. The only negative to the whole potty training thing is their tooshies are so tiny with no diaper we can hardly keep their pants up. I have been a bad blogger I know and I promise I'll try to get better. Oh yeah the title...that's what we say when we put their panties on and they respond with "i no pee pee on Elmo...no, no." Ah, my babies are growing up.

Disney 2009

We are back from Disney. What a great family vacation. It was awesome. We had such a great time we are already thinking about when we are going back. The weather was amazing and other than it being more crowded than we had hoped it couldn't have been better...oh wait maybe it could've been a little longer. (o: I'll try to post more pics soon.

Americheer Nationals Valentine's Weekend

We had an awesome Valentine's Day weekend although it was not your typical Valentine's Day. Makenna had a cheer competition. So grandma Rita kept the twins and we were on our way. The competition was about a two hour drive from our house so since it was a two day competition we decided to get a hotel and make a fun little get away out of it. The girls did amazing. Saturday they had some mistakes but Sunday they more than redeemed themselves. Out of 9 teams in our level our girls took 2nd!!! We were so excited...they were flawless. In this picture the girls are in the middle of doing their back handsprings. I wish it was a better picture but you get the idea. It was a great weekend but we sure missed our little girls.

Chuck E. Cheese

Where a Kid can be a Kid...

won't both be able to fit in there together much longer.

Riley playin' a game...i luv how she's standing on her tiptoes

Rae loved the horsey...Riley not so much

Notice Rae won't look at the camera...completely on purpose! no joke.

Riley smiling at the camera...this my dear friends is extremely rare.
(they prefer to hide from the camera)

Rae Rae checking out Chuck up close.

Can you tell they loved it. Kenna and Chloe were there too but they didn't hang out with Mom and Dad much. They did grace us with their presence for dinner. They had a great time too. Next time they can't run off without a couple of pics first.

11 years ago

I became a mommy...something I dreamed of and thought may never happen. Today I feel so blessed that I have become a mommy to four wonderful little girls. I am also in shock at how fast time goes. My first born is 11! Say What?! In two years I'll have a teenager. UH-OH, I can't believe it. I couldn't be more proud of my Kenna Bear who by the way will probably not allow me to call her that much longer. She is definitely becoming a young lady but she will always be my baby! I never realized how much I was capable of loving until I had my children. It is the best gift God has blessed me with. I feel honored to be my girls mommy and I look forward to watching them grow. I use to be sad that my girls were growing so fast but now I am truly looking forward to seeing them turn into young ladies. Don't get me wrong if I could stop time I would but it's neat to think of all the fun stages we have to come and the few not so fun times. Hey by the time Rae and Ri are teenagers I should have it down. Happy Birthday Kenna Bear...Mommy and Daddy love you so much!!



*We loaned our camera to a friend but have no fear we pulled out the old one and I got a few snapshots. I'll try to post them tomorrow.

Milestones

i know i've been mia sorry about that things have just been kinda busy and the blog suffered. first i need to say happy belated birthday to my mom her birthday was yesterday...i luv u so much ma i hope you had a great day! now on to the girls. we are starting to hit some major milestones. reagan and riley haven't been doing the greatest with the potty training but it's day to day. they don't quite get it yet but they will and i'm not stressing. okay that's not a milestone but here are a few. rae is little ms. independent her most recent show of independence is how she will get herself dressed for the day. i'm not talking about the simply pulling her pants up i'm talking she will wander off and the next thing i know she has taken off her jammies and put on clothes...shirt, pants, shoes, coat and all. silly little girl...she is always ready to go. riley doesn't do this at least not yet...haha. they have finally decided it's not the worst thing in the world to have to get their teeth brushed josh and i are extremely excited about this one. they are strong and it was an all out battle. they are starting to try drinking out of big cups...this we will take slow whether they want to or not. ;) which leaves me to the next thing...their vocabulary. they are full blown talkers. they carry on conversations just ask gramma rita as they insist on calling her everyday! oh and another thing they seemed to have finally gotten past is the biting. this is huge

Reagan and Riley's new years resolution

....okay well maybe it's my new year's resolution. ;-) i'm ready to be done with diapers although i'm not real sure i'm ready to run to the restroom every 10 mins. i guess you gotta take the good with the bad. :o)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Kenna and one of her bffs, Tori

Chloe with her cousins Sean and Darian

Happy New Year...officially midnight! yay!!!

Christmas Cookies...YUMMY!!

what better way to get into the Christmas spirit than to make cut out cookies.
we were so excited to go over to aunt Rhonda's house to decorate cookies...they are so yummy i could seriously eat them until i get sick and i did. delicious!

Reagan couldn't resist a little lick

at first she wasn't real sure about the mess

Chloe worked hard and made beautiful cut outs!

all of the kids working hard

Christmas Time...

oh how i wish we had a fireplace to hang our stockings...especially when it's 20 degrees below zero!

Chloe opening her presents...she got clothes, furry crocs, brown boots, kit & ruthie (american girl dolls), a nintendo ds and accessories and games, scrabble, and more.

kenna was so excited she had been begging for a cell phone and we had her pretty convinced she wouldn't be getting one. this was probably her favorite by far but she also got a purple nano chromatic ipod, clothes, boots, ds games and more.

my Chloe she was so excited Christmas was finally here!

Rae Rae loved her chair and baby and doll and doll blanket...they (Riley got the same things) also got bouncy seats for their babies and clothes and of course there was more.

it was so cute Rae tried to put on all of her clothes she unwrapped...so cute. notice she has a jacket on that was a gift too. silly girl...she's gonna love clothes like her mama!

Riley with her twin baby and her bouncy seat...(santa brought the twins american girl bitty twins)

they loved opening gifts so much so that chloe let them open some of her gifts. :) what a sweet big sister!!

Ri Ri

A little game that's good for the soul

TO PAY IT FORWARD!

I was lucky enough to be one of the first to post on Loren's blog over @ The Dressler Family Blog "Pay It Forward" post. Thank you so much Loren!! I am very excited to play along!!
Here is how it works:
The main focus is doing an act of kindness without expecting anything in return other than that the recipient will, in their turn, pass the kindness along and pay it forward. I will send a small, fun gift to the first 3 bloggers who post a comment on this entry. In turn, those three will post this information and pick 3 people they want to send something to and then the game will continue!! If you are interested in participating, be one of the first 3 bloggers to leave a comment!! The little something you send can be something you made, bought, were given or found, anything you want!! Just a gift that will make the person's day!! You have to promise that you will then post about this on your blog, link back to me, and then send something to the first three people who sign up to play along through your blog.
So get to it!! If you are one of the first 3 people to comment on this post, please send your name and address to my email! realtor_hunt@yahoo.com

*OH and if you have never seen the movie Pay it Forward....you must go rent it now! It is awesome. Get some tissues too cuz your gonna need them.

S-L-A-C-K-E-R

Yep, that's me. I'm really sorry...I don't know what's wrong with me I just don't have it in me lately to blog. Maybe it's the busy-ness of the holidays I'm not sure but I'm gonna try to work myself out of it. We all go through it, right?! Riley is so sick right now poor little baby. Rae is learning how to throw major temper tantrums and in the meantime their vocabulary is growing off the charts. They are little people who just talk up a storm. They LOVE to call their gramma Rita and will pick up the phone and ask..."i call ma?" that's what they call her. We have a police officer statue that sits on our end table next to our couch. I put a random (by that I mean I found it laying on the floor) ponytail holder with a bow on it that belongs to one of the many baby dolls in our house and Riley walked up to it the other day and said "daddy have a bow!" They call it daddy because it's a policeman how cute. We never called it that they came up with it all on their own. Anyhow, I received another award ...I know I can't believe it either especially with how bad of a blogger I've been lately. So I will try to post about that within the next couple of days and I am also participating in a very cool pay it forward thing. Loren is so awesome I found it on her blog and I can't wait to do it myself. I. love. the. elf. We so didn't have one and I cannot wait to start this new tradition with my girls. So anyhow other than trying to find the perfect gifts there has just been a lot of the usual running around like crazy going on here. I promise I will try to do better. Oh and as soon as I get my lights working again on our Christmas tree I'll post some pictures. I hope you are all doing well and I promise to post soon. Please keep an eye out for the pay it forward...you won't want to miss this one! :)

Thanksgiving...WOW!

Thanksgiving...what a great day. We missed some of our family that couldn't be there and no doubt it would have been a better day had they been but it truly was a blessing to be around so much family. My parents live in Florida so we don't usually see them during the holidays. Good thing my honey has such a big family. This year we use the gym at our church becuz seriously with 100+ people having Thanksgiving together it really doesn't matter how big your house is...it ain't big enough. There was soooo much food and more importantly so many desserts! ;)

2 tables of desserts with some duplicates in the frig...did i mention there is a best dessert contest??? did i mention i won 3rd place and didn't even officially make anything...i'm just that good! ha! any ideas how i won and didn't even make anything??? anyone??? hmmm???

if you look real close the cake in the aluminum foil pan is shaped like a turkey. how cool is that!

my mother in law is one of 17 children...yes you read that right...17!!! here are a few of the bunch. oh yeah and no twins...imagine that!

Santa comes to our family Thanksgiving every year. Look who couldn't wait for him to come!
They line up around here...don't have to tell them twice. :)

do you see why i don't even bother takin' my kids to the mall to have their picture taken with Santa...i took several, look at Santa's face and THIS is the best one I got.

now she wants to smile...Riley what a little turkey!

i think this is Rae and Abby...she kept saying, "I wanna see Abby."

so cute.... no doubt they were discussing their Disney vacation plans for March.

Rae Rae...no smiles for mama...no way!

Santa brought the twins Dora coloring books and crayons...their favorite! now if he woulda just brought our dehumidifier from our basement they would have had there favorite thing to color on. :)

everyone opening their gifts

Chloe and Riley..."hey, who gave Riley a sucker???"

the next day we skipped Black Friday and headed to the movies to see Bolt...what a great movie! this was Reagan and Riley's first movie so of course I had to get a picture. i really didn't mean to blind the guy sitting next to them with my flash 2 minutes before the movie started...oops! we had a group of about 30 with us for the movie and then we headed to McDonald's. they never saw us coming!

best pictures i could get from my seat (right next to them) i didn't want to get too close to the blind guy he may have hurt me! i did say i was sorry like 10 times and actually he was very nice.

then it was off to Amazone where they had a great play area and laser tag! can you believe my husband the one i love shot me 9 times!!! uh huh...he said he didn't know it was me. have i mentioned we've been married 14 1/2 years!!! he won first place and we had 25 people just in our group. i think the policeman had an unfair advantage!

thank you so much aunt Rhonda you did it again!

Okay now I'm getting a BIG head...

Look what I got. I am so honored that someone would think of me and want to give me a bloggie award. Loren you are an amazing young woman who is going to make a great mama...thank you for thinking of me.

The qualifications to receive the award are:

A. Display a cheerful attitude.

B. Love one another.

C. Make mistakes.

D. Learn from others.

E. Be a positive contributor to the blog world.

F. Love life.

G. Love kids.

The Rules:

1. Must link it back to the creator

2. Post the rules

3. Choose 5 people to give it to

4. Recipients must fit the characteristics above

5. Create a post to share this

6. You must thank the winner

The only thing I dislike about awards is that I have to decide on a select few to pass them along to. :( It is so difficult! My list of favorite blogs just keeps growing and growing!! ( i copied this from Loren's blog but it is so true!) So here it goes, in no particular order:

1. Jen @ http://joshlauren.blogspot.com/

(i know i gave you girls the other award but when i read the first rule of receiving this award I pictured both of your beautiful smiles...you are always smiling and I love you!)

2. Janeen @ http://www.littleski.blogspot.com/

3. Lindsay @ http://www.adam-andrew.blogspot.com/ (you are an amazing woman with such a

glowing love for the Lord)

4. Kimberly @ http://adventuresofsugarmommy.blogspot.com/ (i am so glad i "met" you!!)

5. Tara @ http://mommy2lboys.blogspot.com/ (i love your blog!)

Thanks again Loren...i love your blog and will read it forever!!!

okay ... i wasn't gonna do it but i have to cheat a little because Candice is so deserving of this award too I can't leave her out!

Suggestions Anyone???

Watch out Disney here we come...in a couple of months! We are planning a trip to Disney this coming Spring and how cool is it that just as we were scheduling our reservation they offered a great deal. Buy 4 nights and get 3 FREE! They are also giving a $200 visa card to spend at the parks however you want...CAN'T. BEAT. THAT! Josh and I took the big girls the summer before I got pregnant with the twins. About 2 1/2 years ago. We knew we would go back and kinda had it in our minds to go back in a couple of years. After the twins were born we decided to wait until they got a little older not that they'll remember any of it but they are still free (until they turn 3). We also didn't want to go back in the summer becuz it's way too hot and very crowded. Spring sounds just right. Anyhow, when we took the big girls we only scheduled one character meal which of course was "Cinderella's Royal Court" well this time we would like to schedule one for everyday or at least 5. I need suggestions...I really have no idea where to start but I do know that I have got to get our reservations scheduled asap... they fill up quick. So if you've been to Disney what was your favorite Character meal?... or even one that may not have been your favorite but that you would definitely do again. Please I would love to know...don't be shy. Oh and any other tips for taking little ones would be great too. Kenna and Chloe were 5 and 8 at the time. Thanks!

sNOOOOOOw

i am not ready...i am not ready...i am not ready. so any of my bloggie friends in those oh so toasty states have say 4 extra bedrooms? hmmm? it's way to early for this, i mean after all it's still fall according to my calendar.

Pictures x's 2

My Babies

(they look so much alike in this picture)

Riley and Reagan

A couple of weeks ago I took the twins to get their 2 year old pictures taken outside. The weather was so nice and I thought autumn pictures would be so pretty. Just one problem...they are not into getting their pictures taken at all and it gets dark really early now. I hate that part of fall...the time change. Anyhow, Julie did a great job considering there is zero cooperation of Reagan and Riley's part. They did pretty good considering we were at a park and all they really wanted to do was run around and play. We may have to taken them to an indoor studio next time. Here are a couple of cute shots.

This didn't last long Rae kept trying to push Riley's hands off.

they love to give each other kisses (most of the time)