4th of July

We laid low this year and even though Jeff had a 4 day weekend, we enjoyed the long weekend at home.  We made star sugar cookies and the kids loved helping.

We spent some time at the pool over the weekend and some time in the backyard.

 We even got some sparklers and small fireworks to enjoy.  (Luckily Raegan was in bed and asleep when it all started...she was not a fan of our trail runs earlier!)

It was a nice, relaxing holiday weekend!

Summer Randomness...

 Just some pictures that don't really need their own post, but some things we have been up too.

Harrison and I went on a date one night.  We got milk shakes, looked at toys and just took our time.  I think he had fun!

Why does she think this is funny?  Gross!!!

 Love this face and it is one we see a lot!  The scratch over her eye is a type of rug burn from the couch.

 Yes, her dress is falling off, she has something around her neck that could probably choke her (plus a dinosaur hanging from it!) and is wearing her brother's shoe.  This is all pretty typical at our house.

 Enjoying snack time.  I love this face!

 I tried a new way to paint with Q-tips.  It was a lot of fun for Harrison...

 I just love the concentration...

And of course, Raegan has to be involved.  She did pretty well until the Q-tip went in her ear and then she had her hands in her hair, but that is why we used washable paint right?

 We spend quite a bit of time at the pool in our back yard and neighborhood too, but I don't get the camera out for those much.  We are having a fun summer!

Raegan-18 months

 18 months is such a fun age.  I can't believe Raegan is already there and other days, I wish she would be more grown up (but that is just because I am getting more and more scared to have her only be 20 months older then this next baby!)  We are enjoying our little diva though.  She has a lot of spunk and personality and we love her for it. 

She talks some-words include hi, nigh-night, bubble (bubba), mama, dada, woof-woof (dog).  Everything else is some form of A-da, used in different tones to mean different things.  She does really well with sign and we have almost stopped teaching her new signs because she will just sign and not even try to say the words.  But the signs she has are more, all done, eat, bird, airplane, bath, milk, water and I'm sure I'm leaving off one or two more!

 She loves to play with other kids and especially her big brother.  She loves her dolls, legos, trains and trying to color.  Her favorite thing is probably books.  She loves to look at books and be read too, but often doesn't sit still for a whole book.

 She is a good eater.  Not a big fan of meat, but loves milk, yogurt, cheese, all fruits, some veges, black beans, tortillas, noodles, peanut butter, cereal, oatmeal, eggs, water, milk and just about any snack cracker.

 She is walking, running and enjoying trying things her big brother likes.  She will climb up stairs, swing, try to ride the tricycle, but is still scared to go down slides without a hand to hold on to.  She is an active little girl and loves to be outside.

 Raegan is a good little sleeper too.  She has recently pushed her bed time back from 6:30 to between 7-7:30pm and is still waking up about 7:30-8 most mornings.  She has nights here and there where she wakes up crying but all we have to do is go in and lay her back down and she is usually right back asleep as long as she isn't sick with something.  She also takes about a 2 hour nap each afternoon. 

 Raegan is a momma's girl though.  That is probably the hardest thing for me.  She started nursery (her first day is the picture below) and although the first day went well, we have not done well since.  She screams for me pretty much the whole time.  Guess I will be spending my Sundays in nursery helping her adjust until this new baby comes!  She is getting better with being at people's homes playing and doesn't mind being left with daddy anymore (thank goodness for that!) so I know we are making progress!  She will get there though and I just hope with the new baby coming, I don't go crazy!

We love this little girl so much and the joy she brings to our family is amazing.  We love our sweet baby Rae!

Swimming Lessons

We put Harrison in swim lessons through the YMCA in June.  He really loved his lessons and learned so much.  I still make him wear floaties when I am alone with both kids at the pool, but he can swim about half the length of the pool by himself now.  This is his first day.

Raegan kept herself entertained with goggles and lots of snacks.

 By the end he was loving it.  I guess goggles make him feel safer.  He will try so many new things with goggles.

 Almost every time he did a good job with his teacher, we would sit on the steps and give me a thumbs up.  He was pretty proud of all the stuff he could do!

 I love this boy and watching him grow up.  It is amazing to think how fast they grow and change.

Chicago Trip-May 2013

So, with the baby coming in August, I figured we would do our Chicago trip in the early summer (I was sad not to miss out on more of the Houston heat) and we had a great time.  We came in just in time to see my brother graduate from High School.  Can't believe my little Drakey-Bakey is going to college.  My mom had lots more pictures from that day that I forgot to get, but I got one of the graduating class. He is up in the front. 

 Then we had a fun party for him, during and after which, just about everyone in my family got this horrible stomach flu that started with Raegan days before.  She got over it so fast, I thought she ate something bad, but then 2 days later, my dad got it, Harrison got it, I got it, my mom and the rest went down like flies...it was fast and horrible, but the house felt like the movie Contagion for a few days.  Once we all started feeling better, we could actually get out and enjoy some stuff.

We went to the Lego Discovery Center.

 We found a mall playground-Looney Tunes themed.

 We got a tour of the police station from Grandpa and Harrison got to sit in the car with the lights and sirens on.

 Raegan wasn't as excited about all the noise.

 We also found grandpa's retired star.

 We walked to a police station close to my parents house as they were pulling out and they did lights and sirens on the truck for us as they left.

 Harrison had a wipe out on the walk so Raegan lost her seat in the stroller and we pushed Harrison home.  She enjoyed the swinging with Aunt Dillan and Uncle Tyler though.

 Another day we went to the Shedd Aquarium.  It was a really fun trip for the kids and I hope we can go back again soon.  There was a place to pet sting rays and you can see my kids are wet in the next picture.  You are supposed to reach down and pet the top and that worked for everyone  But when I reached Raegan down, the one we were going to pet, came to the top and slapped its flipper thing and soaked us.  Raegan was not happy at all (it was salt water too!) and Harrison thought it was pretty funny.

She liked the penguins much better.

 Penguin suits.

 Watching dolphins.

 Checking out the jellies.

 We ended with a show.  Luckily it was only 30 minutes.  The kids loved it, but I don't think they had it in them to sit much longer.  They loved the whales and dolphins jumping though.

 My favorite city...

 Another day I got brave (or crazy) and me and the kids rode the train into the city.  It is about an hour in and it was rough.  Harrison loved it for the first 30 minutes and Raegan was happy for about 5 minutes, but we made it. 

 We stopped at the river and Willis Tower.

 We had lunch in the train station and headed back.

 And I bought extra snacks for the ride home.  Nothing like M&Ms and gummy bears to pass the hour ride home.

All in all it was a great trip!  We loved seeing family and spending time doing new things.  Next time I take on Chicago, I will have 3 kids and that is still crazy for me to wrap my head around!