Happy 2nd Birthday Kamryn!!

July 25, 2012- Wow where did 2 years go?!

 Dear Kamryn,

    Happy Birthday to my big 2 year old. I can't tell you how much I love you. You are a very busy girl who loves to get into everything. You have a look in your eye that says "I am about to be naughty" and you like to give it to me while you smile. You currently love Mickey Mouse, playing with barbies, playing dolls, reading books, painting (you mostly like to dump the water over and get more yourself), helping wash the dishes, brushing your teeth (4-5 times a day), washing your hands, rocking at night, petting & bothering Butters,  sitting with Reagan, playing in Reagans room, dancing, singing, & SWINGING. You would spend hours in the swing if we let you. When we go for walks you think every swing we see is yours and you get mad when other kids are in the swing.
  You are a little upset with me and daddy because we took down your crib...and got rid of your pacifiers. We put your big girl bed up 3 days ago- and you haven't been too happy about it. You sleep really good in it, it is getting you to sleep that has been the challenge. Each day gets a little easier. You love to jump, climb on everything, and working on mastering the summersault. You talk a lot and I can understand you 90% of the time. When I don't understand you, your grab my hand and show me what you want. You like to talk on the phone to everyone and say hello to ANYONE we see in public. You are a socail butterfly!!
   You have a spunky personality. You aren't afraid to go after what you want- even if it includes taking something from another child (like your sister). You like to cross your arms and make a pouty face when you are mad. You can scream very loudy and do so often when you don't get your way. You also like to talk in the third person! You also like to throw yourself on the ground when you don't get what you want. I am hoping you outgrow some of these traits!
 I can't believe you are 2... I can't wait to watch you keep growing and learning. Each day is an adventure with you around... I am excited to see what the next year brings!!

Happy Birthday Kamryn Cakes- I love you!!
Mommy

For my sister, on her birthday

Dear Kamryn,

     You are a very good sister. That you are very special to me. You are really good and I love you because you are 2 now. You are a very good girl. You are the best sister in the world, I hope you are having a good birthday. I know that you are going to be big to go down a slide by yourself one day. I hope you will be big and really tall. I love you because I like to give you hugs and kisses every night, you like to watch T.V. with me, I like playing game with you (which means with no boards or no anything). You will be the best listener someday. You can drive me crazy because when I want to play by myself you drive me crazy. Please forgive me when I don't let you play with me some days. I know you can play by yourself.

I love you because you are all in my heart!!!

From,

Reagan

Oh Reagan

So I am sitting here with Reagan during her "Quiet" time. We are watching a movie and I am trying to figure out a few things online for the house. Reagan will NOT stop talking- not even really words, just making noise. I have asked her multiple times to stop, reminding her that it is QUIET time... her response...

" I can't help it, I am just an expert at talking!!"

How do I argue with that!

Our House

I can't believe how fast our house is coming along. The top pictures were taken in the middle of June and the bottom pictures were taken this week. We found out that the house will be done about the middle/end of August. It was supposed to be done in October!! 

As of last night all the cabinets are in, the trim work upstairs was done, the siding was done, and the trim was half done on the main floor. We are now picking out our paint and working on the trim details. I can't wait for it to be done and see how all of our decisions have come together!!

June in pictures

June :

 There was a lot of progress on the house (that will be a separate post)

Jon had a week of vacation. Him & Reagan headed back on Monday night and me and Kamryn went up for the day on Tuesday. We played at the park, played outside at grandma Becki's house, realized Kamryn could climb out of her pack-n-play, had a wonderful dinner, and went to the ice cream shop!

 That same week we decided to have a little "stay-cation". We went to the Ramada Inn Waterpark in Des Moines for a night. The girls LOVED it. It was so much fun. It wasn't busy at all. We swam, ate Old Chicago for dinner, ate lots of junk food, watched The Muppets movie, swam, swam,swam....  We got up in the morning and headed back to the water. Kamryn and Reagan loved the big water slides. I didn't get any pictures because I was to busy swimming :)! It was so fun and somewhat relaxing. Reagan keeps asking when we can go back!

COUSIN TIME!!!!!!

It has been a year and a half since I have seen my brother Chad and his family. They came to Iowa for a week in June. My sister and her family just moved to Kansas so she was able to come up too. I haven't seen them in 6 months. My nephews are getting so big- I know have 7 nephews from age 17 to 3 months. LOVE THEM ALL!! It was fun to get to spend some time playing with them. It was a little chaotic, but I wouldn't change that.  We went swimming, played outside, played inside, went to the cupcake shop, and hung out. We went up to my Grandma's house for a bbq on fathers day. It was fun to see all the kids interact together!!

Jacob age 1

 Weston age 2

 GG and most of her great-grand kids

 Reagan holding Nathan- 2.5months old. Reagan could NOT get enough of holding this sweet little boy

 Jacob & Kamryn- Blanket Buddies

Owen- almost 4- we built a cool maze

Michael- 5 years old

 Mana & Papa and 7 of their 9 grandkids

We were glad to have them all here for a bit and we cried a lot when they all left. Reagan wished they could be here all the time!

7 years and still going strong!

We celebrated our 7 year anniversary on June 25. We celebrated like any older, boring couple building a house would do- we went furniture shopping. We went for a romantic walk down the aisles in Homemakers and American. We did go out for a nice dinner at Granite City. We came home and put the girls to bed then headed up to the new bar in town for a drink. We left at 8 and got home at 12:30. We went up with some friends and ran into a few more friends. We had fun just chatting with adults and Jon kicked my but at Big Buck Hunter. It was a wonderful way to end the night, made us feel not as old (until the next morning :)

I am NO Dance Mom

We ended May with Reagan's Dance recital. WOW! I am not cut out for this dance mom stuff. I can't believe how MUCH work goes into a dance recital. We got a 10 page handbook with the rules for recital; Hair in bun, left side part, red lipstick, no food while in costume, blush & mascara, etc...

 Reagan LOVED it and she was very good. She only performed one night (thank goodness!). She smiled and giggled with her friends the entire time. At the end they jumped over some flowers and did twirls. She did awesome and we are SO proud of her. I was a dance room mom for one of the rehearsal nights-  I think if she chooses to do dance again, we will pay the $50 bucks instead of me volunteering! I guess next time I will be more prepared!!

We stopped to see Jon at work and get a quick picture- He got there right after the recital started. Lucky for us Reagan was in the second group of acts. Everyone left at intermission- 7:30pm. Reagan and I stayed to watch the rest of the recital and got home around 10pm! It was a long night!!

Hello JuLY... Back to MAY

I have to go back up a little- can't believe I haven't posted since April! Wow what a slacker!!

MAY:

 The is coming along....

Preschool Graduation:
 Reagan graduated from her preschool class. It was in the afternoon at the Ballard West Elementary School. She walked out with her graduation cap on and a big smile on her face. I can't believe she is old enough to graduate preschool!! They sang songs, played a slideshow with pictures from the year and asked each child what they wanted to be when they grow up. Reagan said a teacher! We are SO proud of her. Kamryn was given suckers and fruit snacks to keep her happy for the graduation- it lasted 15 minutes!! She was then taken to the back of the room where she danced and tried to run away! We celebrated at Hickory Park!!

Dresses made by Ms. Nicole, a friend of mine and the girls favorite baby sitter!!

Cousin Time:
 My sister in law and boys came up for a long weekend over Memorial Day. Reagan and Kamryn LOVE their cousins. The boys are now 17 and 13 and are great with the girls. We went swimming, to a trampoline jumping park, and played at my mom and dads. Aunt Angela introduced the girls to a bubble popping game on her phone, won Kamryn over every time. Kamryn wasn't haven't much when I tried to take some pictures (weird I know!) They were o Is a great time and we were so glad we got to see them for a few days!

Slip-N-Sliding Fun:

 We bought a slip-n-slide this year. Jon and I both agreed we were scared to demonstrate to the girls how it worked, we aren't as young as we used to be :)! Jon took one run and down he went- one was enough. The girls have had a blast with it and the weather has been accomodating for it!!