Surprise!

The girls and I spent a wonderful week in Florida last week enjoying family and friends! On Wednesday it worked out for my mom and I to surprise the girls and take them to Disney World! I was so excited to see their faces when I told them how we were going to spend the day! They woke up to Minnie Mouse shirts and breakfast waiting for them. Our first stop was Animal Kingdom where we went on Safari, scaled Everest, dug for dino bones and barely escaped the bug show!! Next we were on to the Magic Kingdom where we saw princesses, ate Mickey Bars, went on Splash Mountain, a magic carpet ride, climbed Swiss Family Robinson's tree house, sailed through the Pirates of the Caribbean, took a train ride, and more! The girls had a blast and I enjoyed watching them and riding with them and was so glad Mama was able to come, too! Today they have recreated the rides and spent all afternoon reliving their trip to Disney!

VaCatIon 2011!

Seeing Mama-Vero Beach-beautiful-sand castles-fun snacks-playing in the ocean-Reagan on the boogey board-Jordyn twirling in the water-Sydney splashing in the waves-Sydney chasing the birds and snatching their fish-playing games-talking about what we are grateful for-holding Steve's hand and watching the tide roll in-walks on the beach-long talks with Steve-swimming in the pool-racing with Steve-watching Reagan dive for discs in the pool-looking for crabs-reading, praying and journaling on the balcony-diet cherry dr. pepper-food network with the girls-pre made meals-reading while my feet are in the ocean-lots of giggling-painting nails-eating pretzel m&ms-no internet for a few days-quiet and peacefulness-lots of rest-warm breezes-dinner and fun at olive garden-trip to the mall-playing in the pool-watching tv in the middle of the day-story time-Legos-puzzles-seeing manatees on the shore-jellyfish-family time in the ocean-blue skies-summer storms-warm sand-sister time-watching Steve catch some waves-playing ball with Reagan in the pool-monkey in the middle in the pool-getting caught in the middle of a storm-Reagan made a visit to the life guard station to be treated for the jellyfish that got stuck in her suit-sitting on the balcony-popsicles-warm blankets and snuggling-movie time with the hubby when everyone else is asleep-playing Trouble-finding shells-little flip flops by the door-a full week with just my girls and favorite man-lots of fun memories!

March...April...May...June...Where is the Time Going?

This year is zooming by and I wish I could record day by day the funny sayings that the girls say, the ways they are growing and changing, the progress on our house, the many memories we are making, but I blink and another day goes by. I actually began the first sentence of this particular post three days ago, but quickly was interrupted by a little girl who wanted me to read "Charlie Cheese 1, 2, 3". It was only her and I here at the house, which is extremely rare, so I wasn't about to miss a few moments with just her and her little stack of books and Little People. Then, by the time I sat down again, I looked at the clock just to realize it was time to begin dinner. So, that's where the days go, and ever so quickly. It's quiet time and coffee, breakfast and dishes, getting dressed and reading, play-doh and grocery stores, swim lessons and VBS, time to work through conflicts with the littles, yard work, house projects, remembering to water my two living plants, tickle times, lunches, dinners, laundry and more dishes, exercising, snuggle time, game playing, prayers and lights out. Then going back in for a last peek at exhausted little girls who are snuggled up with their blankies - one in particular still talking in her sleep!

So, here's a few pictures from the last few months that show some of what we've been up too!

March

Steve took Reagan and Sydney camping in our woods!
Finally warm enough to go to the park!

Sweet sisters!
Mud - from head to toe!
This is what it looks like when you get to girls together to make two freezers full of meals and someone bursts the water line in your front yard!

We had some dear friends over for some good food and friendly competition!
The little stinker (the one in the pink) and our family morning out fishing.

Everything looks so peaceful, right!?! This was the trip when I tangled three poles, Sydney dropped her pole in the water, Steve slipped in the water going after the pole, he ran over his new tackle box, and we didn't get a single bite...all in under an hour!!

We began redoing the kitchen!!
Steve had his first meet!

Too cute!
Worship time in the kitchen to some Daryl Evans!
More kitchen remodeling!

April

May

June

Beach Vacation 09 - Part 2 in Pictures!

Quick Vacation Post!

Ah, we are at the beach. (Sorry I haven't called, Mama =)! We are still alive and well!!) I decided to give up the computer for as much time as possible for our trip, so I've been playing, reading, jogging, eating, playing, sleeping, resting and trying to soak in the sun for the last few days! I have a few minutes until Steve and Reagan get back with Slurpees and we head back down to the ocean so I thought I'd try to post a few pictures!

Our place is gorgeous! The beach is beautiful and there are very few other people here. (Thankfully there was a kind couple here yesterday when we locked ourselves out and everything else inside the condo at 4:30 PM!) Steve and I had so much fun the first two days. We went out to eat, took a long walk on the beach, enjoyed the hot tub, didn't have any sand put on us when we sat down at the beach =), slept, ate out again, went kayaking...ah, it was such a refreshing couple of days! I've been reading a lot and enjoying watching the girls play together!

Reagan is almost fearless in the ocean. She's loved going out with Steve and playing in the water. She is also like a fish in the pool! Sydney loves being able to have snacks and Gatorade at the beach =)...she also has been enjoying playing in the sand and finding shells! Jordyn is a little better than what I was expecting. She had a better day yesterday and has been a little rough today. Hopefully she'll enjoy going out this afternoon!

I am so grateful that the Lord gave us this opportunity and that my wonderful husband has taken time off to vacation! It's a lot of work with three little ones, but so worth it! It's been great to get away from "normal life" and spend extra time with each other! It's been fun to give the girls little crafts to do and surprise treats! I'm hoping that we make many fun memories and grow in our relationships with each other and with the Lord!

Here are a few pictures! Gotta go...Slurpee time!! =)

Disney World!

We took the girls to Disney World a few weeks ago. Steve took off on a Friday and we had a blast! The girls loved it! Reagan is big enough to ride Thunder Mountain Railroad and she and Steve rode the cars, too! Sydney cried for the first 1/2 hour we were there, but other than that, she had a great time, too! They did great and we were so grateful to have some fun family time together! Oh, and if you go anytime soon, you have to get one of their cream cheese stuffed pretzels...they are super yummy!

Day 3!

Today we started off with some super yummy donuts at the Donut Hole and then, with the kiddos loaded up with sugar we headed back to the ocean! Reagan wanted to swim in the ocean, so in we went. It was pretty chilly at first, but so beautiful! We enjoyed it so much! Sydney was quite whiny today, BUT once we got back to our room and went to the pool she was HaPpY! She even went under a couple of times! They got to stay up about 2 hours late tonight since we were busy packing up! Reagan thinks she is pretty big these days!

This was such a wonderful getaway! I've been able to rest and enjoy the girls and have even slept well the last couple of nights. I'm so grateful that JJ brought us along with her =)! We'll be back in Orlando in time to pick up Steve from the airport tomorrow! Reagan didn't even hesitate about leaving when I told her we were leaving so we could go pick up her Daddy!

Here's some pictures from today!

Day 2!

Today was another beautiful day at the beach! JJ and I got a little too much sun yesterday, so today we opted to run to Wal-Mart and get a handy-dandy umbrella! The girls on the other hand spent about 4 hours enjoying the sand and sun. Reagan made more new friends and even was great at going down to the ocean to fill up buckets of water. She was so sweet sharing with Sydney and when I told her she needed to come over and play with her sister (and leave her new little friends) she ran over and played with Sydney without even hesitating! Where we are staying has a little putting green right outside our door, so after dinner we went and goofed off a little bit. We ended the evening with some special s'mores. Now the girls are whipped, although Reagan is snuggled up next to me trying to wind down...I think she may just sleep the whole ride home on Friday! She's been so excited since she's been here I don't think she quite knows what to do with herself!

Tomorrow we are headed to the Donut Hole for breakfast and back to the ocean!!!

We are at the Beach!

Steve is working in North Carolina this week and someone blessed us with an opportunity to go to the beach 'til he comes home! So, yesterday afternoon, the girls, JJ and I packed up the van and headed to Destin. It is gorgeous up here. We spent all morning at the beach and the girls had a blast! They even made a couple of new friends! Reagan decided she liked the ocean, too! After dinner we went down to the boat docks to see if we could see them bring in some big fish, but we were a little too late. But we did see some skinned sharks (sorry, the pictures are probably gross, but I thought Steve would like to see them!) . It was such a fun day! Here are some pictures...

Hey Ya'll!

Last week I took the girls to Louisiana to see my dad and to go to Curt's high school graduation! Thankfully my mom went too, so I had lots of help on the plane! I couldn't have done that without her. Reagan has flown before, so she was so excited to be able to fly again. She even carried her own suitcase through the airport! Sydney did great on both flights. She was 90% recovered from an ear infection, so I was a little concerned that she may scream the whole time, but she didn't! They kept us busy, but they were great!

The girls and I went to my Aunt Pat's as soon as we got off the plane and my dad was waiting for us. The girls just loved on him, and to my delight Sydney even went to him and giggled and laughed and played with him! She's been quite a "Mommy's Girl" these days, so I was expecting the worst and hoping for the best. By God's grace she did wonderful! She did scream almost every time my poor Aunt Pat tried to pick her up! We spent a couple of days with my dad and Aunt Pat and then headed to Alexandria for Curt's graduation and Mother's Day.

Saturday we had a super yummy crawfish boil for Mother's Day. Oh my! I ate until I couldn't eat any more! Reagan tried them, but I think I enjoyed them more than she did. Thank goodness for microwavable hamburger helper! Chantelle and Rodney have a couple of horses and it was so cute - while we were eating crawfish and visiting, Reagan ran over to swing over by the fence where the horses were and one of them came over and grabbed the back of the swing and started swinging Reagan!

Sunday we went to Curt's Baccalaureate (which was at 8 AM) and we had to try to control ourselves when Reagan tooted really loud on the wooden bleacher. Thankfully she belted out a sweet "excuse me" for if she hadn't no one would have believed it was a child. She also couldn't wait to tell Curt how beautiful she thought his purple dress (robe) was! We spent the rest of the afternoon celebrating his graduation with a party at their house and then the girls and I went out to Aunt Patti's and Uncle Mickey's for the evening!

Monday Telle and I took the girls to Chuckee Cheese's for lunch. Reagan had never been before so she was quite amazed! It took me a while to explain to her the name of the place is Chuckee Cheese's NOT Chuckee Jesus'!! She and Harley played and were so cute to watch. Sydney had fun riding in the little cars, too! That night Aunt Patti and Uncle Mickey watched my girls so I could go to graduation. It's still hard for me to believe that Curt has graduated. He is doing so well! I'm so grateful I was able to be there to celebrate with him and see him take another step in growing up!

Tuesday we headed back up to Shreveport and we were able to visit with my cousin Lindsey and Aunt Bertha and Uncle Wayne as well as with my Dad and Aunt Pat some more. Oh, and Aunt Pat has a sweet friend named Charlene who has an adorable little girl and they came to play, too! It was a good trip and I was totally exhausted when I got back home - the girls and I slept until almost 10 AM Friday morning!

Steve had a business trip the same week we were gone and he flew back in on Friday afternoon and boy, were we glad to see him!

Here are some pictures from our trip!

Where in the World (or should I say U.S. =)!) have I Been?

Here's where I've been able to travel too! Hopefully Steve and I will be able to fill in many more countries and cities as we travel together!

Where in the World has Steve Been?

I found this cool mapping sight through a friend's blog! Here are all the places Steve has been so far!

New York City, Baby!

On March 10th, Mama, Sissy, Mom, Amy and I set out for the Big Apple! We had so much fun! The weather was great (just a little cold for us southerners). We hit the city running and didn't stop! Even when we had just an hour left before having to have our bags in our car to head to the airport, we found the subway we needed to take, made a transfer and quickly saw Rockefeller Center! We saw the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Grand Central Station, Ellis Island, Trump Towers, 5th Avenue, and walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. We went to Ground Zero, ate in Little Italy and shopped in China Town. We went to SoHo and had fun in the huge FAO Shwartz Toy Store. We saw Wicked which was fabulous and ate at the famous Sardis after that. We laughed 'til we almost cried while enjoying dinner with each other. We went on the Harbor Boat Tour which was really neat and gave some interesting facts about NYC! We also went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and for all of you Seinfeld we ate a couple of times at the Original Soup Kitchen! Can you believe we did all of this (and more) in just four days?!?! I can't wait to go back! =)

PS Steve took off work and watched the girls all by himself and did a great job! I came home to happy girls, a picked up house and clean clothes and dishes! What a wonderful husband I have! Thanks again, honey!