Reagan's 1st Haircut!

Today I gave Reagan her first haircut! It's awkward to keep letting the back of her hair grow since the front is so far from catching up. So, today I trimmed those crazy stray hairs that were making her little baby mullet look a little wild.

Those little pieces of hair in my hand are the first hair Reagan grew, and now they will live in a little envelope in her baby book.

Now she has a more put-together looking baby mullet! ;-)

Congratulations Reagan, on your very first haircut! You did an amazing job keeping your head still for mommy!

Messy Fun!

Jocelyn BEGGED and BEGGED to paint the cardboard playhouse that Santa brought for Christmas. After days of me trying to get her to settle for markers and crayons, I finally gave in. We moved the house to the basement (a much more paint-friendly environment than the carpeted living room)and I got out the paint.

They both enjoyed the experience immensely!

Reagan made a much bigger mess than Jocelyn did--especially on herself!
The really fun part for mommy came when it was time to clean up and I had to get the two paint-covered monkeys UPSTAIRS to the bathtub. We made it without covering the rest of the house (minus the bathtub) with paint. The girls were intrigued with the color the bath water turned and I was intrigued with how the "washable" paint stained their skin! After soaking and scrubbing, Reagan looked like she was covered head to toe in bluish bruises! Oh well, nothing a couple more baths won't take care of! The girls had fun painting their playhouse and that's all that matters!

Jocelyn's 4th Birthday Party!

On January 8th we celebrated Jocelyn's 4th birthday!

This year, Jocelyn wanted to have a dress-up party for her birthday. She was diligent and her desire was unchanging over many months, so I moved forward with the party plans. Her birthday was on a Sunday, so we got to celebrate with her friends and family on her actual birthday!

The party was WONDERFUL! Jocelyn picked out a Belle dress and she was truly the "Belle" of the ball. She looked like a real Princess! She was so excited for her party and to see all of her friends come all dressed up.

As her friends arrived, all the little girls (and one little boy)gathered together. They looked like a beautiful splash of every color of the rainbow. They were all excited and ready to party!

I created several different dress-up stations. One was for hair, where they got to pick out a colorful hair extension to pin in their hair. The next was Make-up, where they applied eyeshadow and lip gloss. Then there was a variety of jewlery available to chose from: Earrings, braceletes, rings, and necklaces. The last station was for their nails. Each girl was able to chose two different colors and paint their nails. All of their "goodies" could then be stored in their very own purse goody bag.

After getting all dolled up, the kids had a little bit of time to eat before it was time to read some stories, play some games, and do some movement exercises with Jocelyn's favorite Librarian, Miss Dolores. Miss Dolores really did a wonderful job. All of the children were actively engaged, interested and having a "ball" the entire time Miss Dolores entertained them!

Afterwards, it was Jocelyn's big moment! Cake time! The kids gathered around and everyone in attendance sang "Happy Birthday" to Jocelyn. Cake and ice cream was passed out, the kids got their sugar high, and then Jocelyn began opening presents! Jocelyn received so many nice gifts from everyone! It was like Christmas all over again. Jocelyn truly love each and every gift.

After this, the party concluded. The kids all seemed to be nice and ready to get home and take a long nap after so many festivities!

Birthday party #4...SUCCESS! Jocelyn even thanked me without being prompted. Now that will make any mother's heart melt and make all the stress of planning worth every second!

Happy 4th Birthday J-Bear!!! We love you!!!

Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! We were especially lucky to have been able to spend it with my Mom and Dad, who up until recently could never travel to Pittsburgh during winter weather at Christmastime. This year, they only had to drive from CLEVELAND, so they were able to celebrate and join in all the festivities!

We spent Chritmas Eve at the Weaver's home. It was a great time with family, friends and yummy food! The girls (and Todd and I as well) really enjoy spending time with everyone so much this time of year.

We made it home before Santa landed in Pittsburgh, thank goodness! Just look at the beautiful display he left for the girls!

Jocelyn opening the #1 present on her wish list. Bakepops!

And I hear Reagan must take after me...she got this gift from my Aunt Beth (the clothes she is wearing). She had to put them on immediately.
And then, when they thought it was all over, Todd and I surprised the girls with their present from us! The best part of this gift was that I made a VERY lucky Craigslist find back in October!

It was a very fun Christmas!

Trip to See Santa

We took the girls to the mall to see Santa...it wasn't a great success. Reagan won't go anywhere near Santa, and Jocelyn didn't want to sit on his lap either! We did get a picture of Jocelyn sitting next to Santa in his chair, but compared to years past it was a disappointing picture. Not a huge deal for us, maybe next year we will skip out on the whole process altogether. We will have to see how Jocelyn feels about it. We did get a couple of cute pictures of the girls while we were there, though.

Ice Skating!

Todd took Jocelyn to Ice Castle for her very first time ice skating! Jocelyn was upset that there weren't any other people there, but had a great time with her daddy!

Gingerbread House Making

The Brentwood Library had a Gingerbread House workshop this year!

Reagan made one...(well, she ran around while Todd made it, but when the candy came out she was suddenly more interested).

...and Jocelyn made her first one all by herself!

The final product:
Reagan's

Jocelyn's

LOVE THEM!

Todd's 30th Birthday!

This year Todd FINALLY turned 30! I had to hear how "old" I was for the last 1 year, 3 months and 14 days because I was in my 30s and Todd was still in his 20s. Well, no more of that. I guess I will have to deal with his antics once again when I turn 40, but that's not for a LONG time. For now we are BOTH in our 30s!

I really wanted to have a big party to celebrate Todd's 30th birthday. I am so thankful to have Todd in my life. He's a wonderful husband and great father. He works hard for our family so I can stay at home with our girls. He does so much for us, so I wanted to do something special for him. You only turn 30 once, so I wanted to be sure to celebrate this milestone birthday! I had planned for quite some time that I would throw a bowling party for him. Todd and I used to bowl monthly before we were blessed with our children. I thought this type of party would be a fun way to celebrate with our friends and family!

Happy 30th Birthday Todd! I love you!

This free slideshow design created with Smilebox

A Thanksgiving Blessing

Thanksgiving dinner has been held in our household for a few years now, however, this is the first year that Todd and I actually cooked the Turkey ourselves.

Usually, my parents are here and they do most of the work. Okay, maybe they do all of the work. This year, Thanksgiving timing didn't work out so that my parents could be here. They sold their house in NC and are moving to OH and had too much stuff going on to make a trip up right at that time. Although we aren't much help to them when they are here for Thanksgiving, at least they know we must have been paying some attention to what they have been doing in years past, because this year we pulled off the entire dinner all by ourselves AND we did it well.

There may not have been homemade turkey gravy, but there was homemade stuffing and mashed potatoes. The turkey was cooked in time, and was a pretty good one if I do say so myself. The entire family got here on time and we were sitting down at the table eating by 5:15pm. A Thanksgiving miracle!
This year was the first year Reagan could actually enjoy the food at Thanksgiving. She liked the broccoli and cheese, the corn, and the roll best of all. The turkey was her least favorite with the stuffing a close second. She didn't touch the mashed potatoes.

And Jocelyn said the Blessing! She was adorable!

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving...wish you were here with us Mom & Dad!