Oh my goodness, she's already TWO!!!

It seems like just yesterday when Miss Alyssa Claire was born - she grew into a little girl so quickly...

Alyssa is a fun little girl to have around. She is very independent - dresses herself, tries to change her own diaper (not so fun), changes shoes often, does little chores, chatters incessantly, watches Mamma Mia! (it is actually her favorite movie, and she dances to the songs, too!), nurtures anything smaller than she is.

I am really enjoying watching her cute personality emerge - some days are more enjoyable than others!

We had a family party for her birthday last Sunday evening. I made a ladybug cake - turned out good, but it was really a pain in the neck to do! She got a new scooter (to grow into, it is a bit big), pajamas from Aunt Kristen, a puppy dog from Aunt Karen, and a little cd player (fake) from Grandma and Grandpa...

Tonight, on her actual birthday, we let the kids decorate their own cupcakes.
She got another pair of pajamas (a girl can't have too many, you know!) and a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse DVD - she thought it was great that she got her very own movie...nearly took it to bed with her! As soon as she opened the jammies, she wanted to put them on - we've got a little clotheshorse on our hands!

I can't imagine our family without our sweet little Alyssa! She constantly has us in amazement and hysterics over her various antics!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Alyssa Claire! We love you so much....
P.S. This is a picture of Emma's cupcakes (bleck)...have a little bit of cupcake with your decorations, right? We had a blast!

"I'm Gonna Die..." Poor Little Guy...

On September 3rd, we took Reagan to Vanderbilt (again) to have surgery on his throat. He has never been able to form his words correctly because of a submucous cleft palate (repaired last year) and his uvula not being long enough to close properly. This caused most of his words to come through his nose, which made it nearly impossible to understand him.

The surgery wasn't until 3:30 pm, which was pretty crummy because that meant that he could not eat all day long. He was allowed to drink juice until 10:30 am, though, so that helped a bit. We also bribed him with a trip to Target and let him pick out a few GI Joe action figures.

When we got to Vandy, he was scared. He remembered his last surgery and was not cooperative about getting his vital signs taken, etc. so they decided to do all of that after he had his "happy juice" medication that calmed him down and readied him for the surgery.

A child life specialist came in to talk to him - she had a bag of medical equipment so that she could explain things to him. She pulled out a blood pressure cuff and asked him if he knew what it was for. "I'm gonna die..." he exclaimed. "I don't want to die..." She was a bit taken aback and we pretended to take his Mickey Mouse's vital signs.

After that, they gave him his medication and he started to get a bit strange. Reagan on a normal day can be funny, but Reagan on Happy Juice is hysterical! He gets very silly, laughs a lot, and says weird things. When it really kicked in, he couldn't walk a straight line without falling over, so we put him in the bed with the rails up.

The surgery went well, it was so sad after he came out, though. He was in extreme pain and I left him about 9 pm with Clay. We expected him to be in the hospital for days like last time, but he was able to come out of it more quickly and we got him home two days later.

The day that we went to pick him up, Emma went up to him and said, "Talk to us, Reagan...Can you talk normal now, like us?" Funny thing is, Emma's concept of normal and our concept of normal are completely different! Go figure!

Happy Anniversary!

I guess this is another "time flies when you're having fun" post...On August 23rd, we celebrated our 13th Anniversary! It doesn't feel like it has been that long at all, but if you look at our wedding pics and how young we were (20 and 21) and our pics now and how old we are (you do the math, LOL!) it definitely looks like we've been married a while.

Clay brought me some beautiful coral roses. We each gave each other a trip - he got to go white water rafting with some of the other guys in the ward, and I get to go to Lexington, KY with my mom and sister next weekend to see some historical sites. I know, lame that we gave each other the gift of getting away, but whatever works, right?

This year, we were going to go to a movie, but there wasn't anything really good playing. At the last minute, we decided to go miniature golfing - it has been eons since either of us went, and we have never actually gone together. We ended up having a really good time! It was a beautiful, cool, August night and we talked (instead of watching a movie and not talking). Afterward, we went to Steak and Shake and shared a small meal (and a mint, chocolate cookie shake) MMMMMMmmmmm!

1st Day of School...

Summer came and went quickly this year...the baby really helped to make it fly!

I can't believe that Zach is already in 3rd grade and the twins are finally in Kindergarten, time flies when you're having fun!

Here are our obligatory 1st day of school pictures...

Zach's first day:

Emma and Reagan's first day:
Don't they all look big???

I didn't take pictures of the celebration lunches (yes, plural!) that Kristen and I did in order to commemorate our renewed sense of freedom! Yes, we still have little kids at home, but it is SO much easier to go and run errands, shop, etc. when you don't have ALL of them with you!

Have a great school year, kiddos!

A Baptism and A Blessing...

Forgive me for being a bit late in posting this...life has been crazy the past few months!

On August 1st, we baptized our oldest child (Zach) and blessed our youngest child (Ashleigh). We combined the events because we have out of state family and they wanted to come to both. Zach turned eight in January, but waited for this reason to be baptized.

We chose to bless Ashleigh on a Saturday because she was so little, we didn't want to bring her to church where she could potentially be exposed to a lot of extra germs.

Zach was baptized first. We had a simple little program where my BIL, Adam, sang a beautiful song and my sister (Kristen) and Dad both spoke. Of course, there were a few little snags - Clay baptized Zach in the shirt that was meant to be for him to wear afterward, the baby messed her pants right before being blessed (so she gassed the guys out), Zach's hand came up out of the water so he had to be dunked twice, etc. Actually, very minor issues to have happen - nothing we couldn't deal with!

All in all, it was a wonderful morning. Family and friends gathered together to support us in the occasion and we all had a great time!