December Catch-up

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Since I am way behind on my blogging I have decided to skip right over Thanksgiving and just do a December catch up. We had a busy but wonderful month with lots of holiday fun. These first few pictures are from a photo shoot I tried to do by myself one morning with the girls. Lets just say I got a few cute ones out of about 200 photos! Two two year-olds are not the easiest to photograph and I never managed to get one of both of them smiling. Anyways here are a few of my favorites...look how sweet they are kissing here. They have really started becoming good little playmates and friends lately. They of course have their fights but they really seem to be looking out for one another a lot. So precious!
Renna holding our Merry Christmas sign on the front porch.
Reagan excited about seeing the outside Christmas decorations. That is pretty much it from my photo session. I don't think I will be leaving my day job for photography anytime soon.
We had a really fun playdate with three of my friends from college and their children. Shelly hosted it and we all had a great time. We made Christmas ornaments, had some yummy food, and just enjoyed watching the kids play. Amber got all of the girls matching shirts for Christmas and little Briggs (the lone boy) a new shirt too! What a ladies' man!
Here is Reagan, Shelly, and I making her thumbprint reindeer ornament. They came out so cute. Thanks so much for the fun crafts Shelly.
Here are all the kids eating. I had to post this picture because it seems pretty amazing to me that there are four two-year olds, a three year-old, and a 14 month-old all sitting at the same time! It is so fun to get together with girlfriends/roommates from OSU and see our children becoming friends as well.
Renna and Piper playing. The playdate was at Piper's house and her and Renna have become such good friends since they recently moved here. Her mom and I have known each other since high school and lived together in college as well. These two together can sure get into trouble fast! Renna definitely keeps this momma on her toes as she can find anything that isn't baby proofed and quickly get into it (even a lot of the baby safety stuff she has mastered). Never a dull moment with her!
Our next December adventure was to go see Santa. We put the girls in their Christmas dresses and met up with my best friend Sonya and her little girl. I had grand visions of beautiful pictures...how quickly I forgot my last photo session attempt. Here the girls are seeing Santa for the first time while waiting in line. They were so excited about seeing him this year but things would soon change...
More photo op attempts...Renna of course went right under the chain barriers and quickly convinced her sister to do the same. Don't they look so precious in their dresses? This is about the best picture I got of them together.
My best photo of Reagan. She was in awe of the big Christmas tree. Our little Pickle is such a sweet girl and is my little snuggler. She still loves singing about anything and everything and it is usually accompanied by some dancing as well. I love hearing her singing in her bed or when we are driving in the car...she makes up the cutest songs. It makes this momma so proud. She is very independent and enjoys playing by herself when we are in a large group.
Sadly my best photo of Renna. She was clearly annoyed with my pleads for smiling and multiple attempts at the perfect photo! Our little Pumpkin is growing up so much. She is beginning to have conversations like a 5yr old and never misses a detail of anything we discuss. I am also proud to announce she is now wearing big girl panties! What a huge accomplishment for her and us.
We went to see Santa with the girls' best friend Natalie. We had bought them matching Christmas dresses and Sonya and I of course wanted to get some cute pictures of the girls. Again, try taking pictures of three two year-olds. This one came out cute as they were so excited to look at the train.
Renna briefly sat on Santa's lap by herself. She seemed to like it until I tried to put Reagan down on his lap and Reagan began screaming which quickly resulted in Renna deciding Santa was scary too!
We tried to convince them Santa wasn't so bad. They had been talking about him for months but talking with him is something different entirely! They did both manage to tell him they wanted yellow presents with pink bows. Renna started this statement about a month before Christmas and Reagan also thought it was a great idea and began repeating it as well...I guess great minds think a like.

So...we all four took a photo with Santa!! Reagan would not quit covering her eyes in fear. So hilarious. She did manage to peek at him right before we left and quickly say "Thank you Santa" before covering her eyes again. Too funny!
We made Christmas cookies with Grammy. The girls really enjoyed it this year...and actually made a lot less of a mess this year.
Reagan was so proud of her cookie making.
Hard at work on the cookies...what fun!
Renna cheesing it up for a little Christmas cheer!
This was the first year we got to open Christmas gifts with my whole family and the girls!! It was so wonderful to see all of the cousins playing and opening presents together. Here they are enjoying a little couch jumping at Grandmas.
My parents got the girls their very own jeep!! Here they are getting in for the first time. They love it but still can't get the hang of the steering thing...they have the gas pedal down really well. I think I will be getting lots of exercise chasing this jeep.
Renna on Christmas morning seeing what Santa brought.
Santa brought a kitchen which of course was wrapped in yellow with pink bows!! It as well as the shopping cart with the babies was a huge hit.
Reagan doing a little cooking. You can see the shopping cart and baby are never far from their reach.
Renna opening her stocking and trying on some headbands.
Reagan digging in her stocking.
The girls on Christmas day at Grammy and Papa's house. They are watching this dancing baby that they got. It is so cute! We all had a wonderful December and were very blessed to get to do a lot of fun stuff and spend a lot of time with friends and family. Adam and I truly feel blessed beyond what we deserve. We hope everyone else had a great holiday season. I will try to blog more frequently now...sorry about the really long post.

Belated Halloween Treats

Here are my sweet little chicks!! We had a very very busy Halloween WEEK!! We went to four different events where the girls got to wear their costumes and they loved every minute of it. The first thing we went to was the Storybook Forest around a lake near our home. They act out several nursery rhymes and the kids walk around to each one collecting candy. The girls loved it but anytime a costume or something made them nervous they would hold hands. As you will notice in the rest of the pictures, Reagan refused to wear her hat and Renna pretty much never took it off. So get ready for Halloween picture overload...
Their favorite was Humpty Dumpty. My curious Renna even pulled his leg off!
Some excited girls waiting in line to get started trick or treating at the forest. I took them with me to pick out Halloween buckets and I was thinking about a pumpkin or something, of course the search was over as soon as they spotted Elmo buckets!
I love this picture of Renna because it shows how genuinely excited she was to wear the chicken costume...the girl loves chickens!!! She loves gathering eggs, petting chickens, dressing like chickens, feeding chickens, and even eating chicken! She was so proud of herself in her costume and didn't want to take the hat off even when we were indoors and she was sweating.

Family photo time at the Storybook Forest. I was actually surprised as this is the first family photo in months (or maybe ever) where everyone is smiling and looking at the camera. Yeah!
The next day we went up to my sister's work and participated in their Halloween celebration. They put on a huge party with iced cookies, games, a DJ, and decorate floors of the office building for the kids to come around to get candy. The kids had an amazing time going through the floors of the offices and seeing all the decorations and of course getting candy! Here is the only picture I could get of all 4 cousins. Notice we had Gage and the girls dress alike...they are such good friends and it was fun to see them be little chicks together! It is funny because we always get asked when we are out with them if they are triplets (they are 7mo. apart) and that is totally magnified when you dress them alike.
Reagan loved the idea of carrying her basket and getting candy...even as she got overloaded she wouldn't let us help her carry anything. She was all about the buckets.
Here are the 3 little chicks getting their candy. It was precious to see them actually say Trick or Treat this year and then hear them say thank you to everyone.
Daddy and Renna eating their sugar cookies.
They had a DJ and we couldn't pull Reagan away from the music!! She wanted to stay and dance, this shot is of her dancing in action. Notice the hair flying as she spins and shakes! We definetly have a little performer on our hands...which I must admit makes me pretty proud.
We tried to get a group picture with Aunt Amy and all the kids but Renna wouldn't cooperate. Thanks so much Aunt Amy for inviting us. We had a great time!!
On Halloween night we went to a Fall Carnival with my best friend Sonya, Natalie, and her family. My mom got to come with us too so she could see them in their costumes. Thanks mom for coming and helping out. The girls had so much fun playing games. This is the best picture I got of them together. I was shocked we got them to both sit there for a few seconds. Look at those long legs!
The girls loved all the carnival games! I don't think they really even cared about the candy they just wanted to play. We also went to a great fall carnival at our church but I failed to get pictures since I took the girls by myself...try taking two two-year olds to a carnival alone and see how many photos you get!
This is the only photo we managed to get of Natalie and the girls together. Natalie was an adorable ladybug, this was at the end and I had to make the girls take their costumes off because they were sweating so badly. Thanks so much Scott family for inviting us. We all had a wonderful time.
And last but not least what Halloween is complete without a bounce house? We literally had to drag all 3 girls out at the end. Once they got in we could not get them out. Needless to say everyone slept really well that night. Now the next question is after all this Halloween fun, what are we going to do with all that candy? We had such a fun Halloween week this year I am thinking it may now become one of my favorite holidays, it was even the first year that Adam and I haven't dressed up and I didn't miss that at all because I was having so much fun watching the girls enjoy it. So Happy Belated Halloween everyone.

Pumpkin Patch Adventures

We recently took the girls to visit a pumpkin patch on Adam's day off. Grammy came with us too and we had a great time. The weather was above 80 so we wore our summer clothes for our fall adventure! We loved the weather! I tried to get a cute pic of the girls posing together with some pumpkins but they had nothing to do with that. I did think this was pretty cute of them off to look at the pumpkins together. I see them holding hands a lot more now especially when they are somewhere new or get nervous about something. It melts my heart to see how much comfort they get from each other. So who needs a good posed shot when you get some serious sister love in action?? Too precious for words!
This was when I was trying to get Renna to pose...she thought it was a ridiculous idea!
Reagan didn't want to stop climbing in the pumpkins.
Reagan carefully surveyed the patch before choosing her pumpkin.
Renna dove right in and started grabbing pumpkins! She is carrying three in this picture. We had to convince her we could only take one home.
They loved climbing in the wagon of pumpkins.
Reagan loved milking the cow!
Reagan and Grammy riding the carousel, we had to ride it twice!
Renna loved the carousel too but only wanted to ride with her daddy...def a daddy's girl!
There was also a little bouncing area, which they loved. It was a great workout.
They also got to go on a pony ride. You would think we don't have our own horses at home as excited as they were. I think they liked being on the smaller horses. I was pretty proud of how excited they were.
We also took a train ride around the farm.
Reagan riding the horse. She did not want to get off...like mother like daughter I guess.
And finally it was time to take our pumpkins and head home. You can see how windy it was so it took some effort to carry their pumpkins. And can you believe after all that activity they did not nap at all that day?? These girls need shockingly little amount of sleep. I guess they get that from their parents, but seriously I was exhausted after this adventure. We sure are on the lookout for pumpkins now. Everywhere we go Renna likes to point them out and count them. What a fun fall adventure! Thanks for taking us Grammy!

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.