Thomas the Train

We recently went to visit the Real Live Thomas the Train!! We went with my grandma (Meme) and my sister and her family. Daddy was working so it was nice to have some help from the family on our big adventure. The girls don't actually watch Thomas the Train but they are pretty excited about trains in general. Here we are posing with Thomas.
Here are all the cousins before the train ride. Sadly, they all look a little crazy here but this is the only one I got that they were all four in! They take you on a ten minute little train ride and everyone really enjoyed it.
Reagan was pretty excited when the train actually started moving.
The girls looking out the window at the station before we started moving. I thought it was a cute photo op!
Renna wanted to wear the conductor hats they were handing out. She was pretty excited too when the movement started. Her face here cracks me up!
Me and my little ladies waiting for the train to start. We had such a fun time. Thanks for all your help Aunt Amy and MeMe. More fall adventure pictures to come.

The State Fair

We recently spent some time at the State Fair. We got to go with Grammy and Papa and our cousins to see Toy Story on Ice! It was really fun. We were a little unsure about how the girls would do because they don't watch Toy Story but they were so excited by the music and dancing. They continued to ask "where pig go?" "where doggy go?" etc...as the characters skated off the ice out of sight. They are full of questions these days and it is sometimes quite comical. I love how much they can carry on conversations with us as well as each other these days. It is very entertaining also to watch them talk to their baby dolls and say the same things to their dolls as I say to them! This is just a picture of the girls in the stroller as we were making our way to the show.
Reagan excitedly clapping her hands to the music. I know I have mentioned it before but this child loves loves music just like her momma and I often find her sitting around singing making up cute little songs. She lays in her bed at night and sings and her Sunday School teachers have commented on how she really likes to help with the singing in class. I love watching her face light up when music comes on. Lookout world we may have a little performer on our hands.
Renna and Aunt Lindsay eating some popcorn during the show. Renna usually won't let many people hold her but for some reason that evening she decided to get in some much needed time with her aunt, it was really cute.

Reagan and daddy getting some snuggle time during the last half of the show.
Mommy, Grammy, and the girls enjoying the skating.
It has become an annual tradition for us to go to the fair with some of our best friends from Vet School, Moose and Amber and their sweet little girl Paisley, and grandma Dawn. Moose was sick and couldn't join us and we really missed him but we ate some extra calories for him just so he wouldn't feel left out! In this picture we stopped to watch some Percherons pulling a carriage. It was a crowd pleaser for everyone. Our fair trip always centers around seeing all the animals (as if they don't see enough of those at our house or my parents) and eating of course!!
The girls were really excited to see the baby pigs. They look so grown up here hanging over the fence. They are such big girls lately in everything they do! Renna being a whole minute older is definitely becoming the big sister as she tries to help Reagan with everything, even when Reagan doesn't need her help. It is pretty sweet because Renna always tries to comfort Reagan when she cries, except of course when the crying is due to hitting that Renna has inflicted!
The girls loved feeding Paisley anything they could get her to eat. They all even shared some ice cream sundaes...yummy!!
The girls all loved the Ag building where they have interactive stuff for kids to play with. Have I mentioned how much the girls love chickens? Especially Renna, they feed and gather eggs at my parents house with their chickens and it has now become an obsession. Every bird that we now see in a parking lot or something walking around is proclaimed "baby chicken" by Renna. She gets so excited I haven't had the heart to correct her. This cute picture captures Renna's amazement that these chickens weren't moving. She was more than a little perplexed by it but still loved gathering the eggs. Spoiler alert: you may see some little chicken costumes in our future!!
Reagan was excited about picking apples and putting them in the sand garden.
And here are my little ladies burying apples in the sand. Did I mention this picture was taken at like 9pm at night and my little night owls were still going strong with their little friend Paisley? The girls are at such a fun age right now. Of course two has its share of challenges but overall they are playing together so much more and are starting to use their imaginations. It is really cute to hear Reagan rambling on using many words we cannot understand but then Renna gets exactly what she was trying to say. I have to use her as a translator sometimes! We have been spending as much time as possible outside right now and enjoying the gorgeous weather before it starts getting cold. More pictures of our other adventures to come.

First OSU Football Game

We recently got to take the girls back to our college for their first college football game. Some of our friends gave us the tickets and we jumped at the chance to enjoy the game, the beautiful weather, and of course teach the girls our love for the OSU Cowboys!! Luckily the girls still fit into their hand me down cheerleading outfits from last year, so we were dressed and ready to cheer on the Cowboys. We also got to go eat at our favorite restaurant with some friends from college before the game.
Renna waiting patiently on her yummy pizza. She looks so big in this photo.
Quick family photo before the game. Reagan was less than thrilled about stopping for a photo.
The girls really loved the game. Their favorite part was Bullet galloping onto the field, Pistol Pete and the large cowboy hat, and of course the cheerleaders.
Our seats were beyond great as we were on the second row. However, I am pretty sure everyone around us looked at us like we might be crazy as we crawled over people with two year old twins! I am confident they were all thinking, "what were those parents thinking?" Reagan loved standing up and clapping at every opportunity. We cracked up because there was a very very loud fan sitting directly behind Adam and Reagan proceeded to tell him several times he was too loud!! Funny enough the guy was so loud he never even heard her. I love the frank honesty of children. She looks so excited in this photo.
Renna and I cheering on the Pokes! They both waved their little hands in the air like pistols and hollered Go Pokes. It was so priceless. Renna and I even got our pictures up on the jumbo tron at the game. Renna kept asking every two seconds "Where Bullet go? Where cheerweaders go? Pete take hat off?"
They got a restless at halftime so we let them run around a little down by the concession area. You can only ask so much for two year olds. And apparently Renna is on to the smell of popcorn because before she even saw any she started asking for some...of course we had to have some after that!
Daddy and his little cowgirls. Renna looks like she is sleepily rubbing her eyes here but our little night owls stayed awake all the way home and didn't go to bed until about 11:30! They actually still had a lot of energy when we got home. I guess they were just pumped up about their first football game...and the Cowboys win of course!
After halftime we moved to some higher up seats where it was less crowded. The girls were so cute because they wanted to sit in the seat together. Here are the sweet sisters sharing their goldfish with each other...I caught them at a good moment...they don't always share this well. The adventure was exhausting but a ton of fun and we made lots of great memories. The girls always want to play catch with the football now and now have the color orange down for sure!! Thank you so much Taylor family for the great tickets, we appreciate it more than you know. Lets Go Cowboys!

Roadtrip and a Rodeo

We recently took a road trip back to my hometown to see the annual rodeo. We went with my friends Amanda, Tanner, and their family. Amanda and I have been friends since preschool so it was so wonderful to see our daughters get to play and have fun together. Her parents were nice enough to let us all stay at their ranch house. Here are all the girls. Amanda, baby Ally, Ava, Renna, Reagan, and me. We were waiting for the big rodeo parade to start. The weather was pretty much 100 or over the entire weekend so you can see how sweaty we are. It was so fun to be back at my hometown for the first time in about 5 years. Adam and I enjoyed driving back to my parents land and seeing the spot where we got married. I wanted to show it to the girls but by some miracle they fell asleep in the car and I wasn't about to wake them. We enjoyed every minute of it. Thanks so much Tanner and Amanda for inviting us to come with you on this trip.
Reagan eating her first Tootsie Roll. They were throwing them at the parade and she was definitely a fan!
This is the only family picture we got the whole weekend. The girls weren't even looking...but at least we got some documentation of the girls seeing their first parade.
Watching the parade with Daddy.
Our three sweaty girls getting refreshed at Dairy Queen after the parade.
And that evening we went to the rodeo. The girls watched bits and pieces of the rodeo, but mostly they were hot and wanted to walk around. This is the face we got most of the evening...hot and wanting to do something else!
Renna watching intently...see they had their moments.
Reagan pointing at the bucking horses at the beginning of the rodeo. Her favorite part.
Here are the two mommies, very hot and tired at the end of the evening.
At the very end of the rodeo there were trick motorcycles. They did jumps and flips. Look how excited the girls are watching them. The motorcycles were the kids' favorite by far. Of course we take them to a rodeo and they get excited about the ATVs and not the animals!! I must admit I was pretty impressed myself.
Reagan loved watching the motorcycles with Tanner and Ava.
Here is the best picture I got of the whole outfit with the skirt and boots. This is Renna tired, no bows, and ready to go home. However, the boots have now become their favorite foot attire! We had a wonderful trip and cannot thank Amanda's parents, Ken and Karen, for allowing us to stay at their ranch. And we survived our longest road trip with the girls (3hrs)!! Thank goodness for Elmo on the DVD player.It was a fun trip full of great memories that might become a yearly tradition for us.

Summer Fun

We have been having a really fun summer. It is flying by as it always does. Here are a few pictures of just a few things we have been up to. We took a weekend trip to the lake. The girls had fun but got up really really early every morning and of course didn't nap. It made for an exhausting weekend but it was a ton of fun.
Family swim time
Reagan was happy just to play in the sand and drag the wagon around. Doesn't she look proud of herself here? She did get in the water but it took a lot of encouragement. I think she might take after her momma in that way and just want to tan and relax near the water rather than actually participate in the lake sports!
Renna loved playing in the sand as well but was more eager to run back and forth into the water. She is our little daredevil and wants to try and swim by herself. She will probably be Dadddy's little skier (if she can get over the fear of the loud noise of the boat of course).
We took two quick boat rides. The girls were really nervous at first but liked it once we started going. Can you tell how tired we all look here?
Most people know I competed in pageants in high school. My mom, grandma, and I recently took my niece Sara, and the girls to their first pageant! I was so excited for them. They really enjoyed watching the contestants sing and dance. They excitedly talked about the microphone and the dresses were all "cute" according to Reagan. It made me happy to see them enjoy it. I might have some future beauty queens on my hands! They got pretty wild during intermission and judges deliberation but overall they were great and made their momma proud. This picture is right before we got seated...we couldn't get one of both of them looking of course.
We have been spending time playing in the girls' new playhouse outside. The girls got it for their birthday from Grammy and Papa and no matter how hot is is outside they never want to quit playing in it. Here is Reagan playing at the sink.
Renna loves to peek out the window while she is cooking.
We have gotten to have several playdates lately with our best friend Natalie. The girls have such a great time together. Here are our bathing beauties right before we got in the pool. Aren't they precious? Look at all that curly frizzy hair they all three have! We also went to the circus with Natalie and all three girls loved it! I will find our pictures eventually and post those.
The girls played with some pop rock fireworks and watched their cousins set off a few. It was fun to see their mixed emotions of scared and excited all at the same time. You can see in this picture how attached we are to our baby dolls as they go with us everywhere. Just what I need is two more babies to keep up with!!
The girls really enjoyed watching the fireworks this year. We got to watch some on the 3rd and on the 4th with each of our families and it was so fun to see their little faces get so excited at the explosions.
We have also gotten to swim with our cousins at our house. Gage and Sara are becoming quite the little swimmers. I love watching the girls gain more confidence in the pool as the summer goes on. They love jumping off the ladder into the water.
We got to have a playdate with one of our best friends, Paisley and her momma and daddy recently. We haven't gotten to hangout much with them since our swim classes ended this spring so it was fun to get the girls together again. That is a quick summer catchup to the Life with the Laughlins. We hope everyone is staying cool and enjoying their summer too!