Stella Marie is 5!

5 years ago today Jason & I had a baby girl! I can't believe she is 5. It seems like it was just yesterday that she was crawling around. Now she is almost ready for kindergarten. Time flies. Stella has brought so much joy in our lives. Her smile can light up a room! She is all girl and proud of it! She has really opened up a whole new world to me. I was never much of a girly girl. I enjoy watching her dress up, wanting to make her hair pretty, putting on makeup and doing our nails. She is a smart, funny, artistic, and beautiful girl and we are blessed to have her as our daughter. Happy Birthday, Stella! We love you!

7 Months...a little late!

Oops! We are so behind on our updates on Drake! He is now 7 1/2 months old. Despite having trouble this winter with sickness (pneumonia, bronchitis, & ear infections) Drake's development amazes me. I forgot how exciting this time is. Every day he learns/experiences something new. He is so happy all the time. Even if he was hungry, poopy, and hurt you could still get a huge smile out of him. So, when I took him to get shots he was right at 7 months and he weighed in at 15 lbs. 2 ozs. We didn't measure so I'm not sure about that. I know he is a shorty! He is still small but has picked up some serious weight in the past month. He loves to jabber. He can now say mama, dada, ball, bath, pop-pop, & "Bob". We don't know who Bob is but it sure is fun to here him say it. Even his doctor was amazed at his talking. He waves to people all the time. He's trying so hard to clap his hands! His new thing this week is wanting to stand holding on to something. He has absolutely no interest in crawling. He was scooting a bit like a month ago but now thinks it's funny to just roll as soon as he's put on his belly. He rolls to get to things. He's going through a phase right now where he is not sleeping so well at night. Ugh! He takes a great 2 hour nap in the morning. Hopefully he will start sleeping well again soon:) Oh and Kyle & Jill noticed him grabbing his diaper when he goes pee-pee last week. He does it all the time now!

Now we are just waiting on his two new cousins (Twin girls) and his little girlfriend (Jill & Kyle's baby) to arrive in the next month or 2! We are so excited and I will post an 8 month update in a couple weeks!

The next David Beckham???

Now that I've caught up on vacation, showers, & Easter, I would like to share that Riley started playing soccer and has done amazing in all of his games. He scores 2 to 3 goals in every game and defends the ball so well. His team is undefeated! I am actually amazed at how good he is. He handles the ball quite well for 8 and has a few tricks as well! I don't know much about soccer...never played myself, but we've had a few people come up and tell us he's good:) WOO HOO Riley!!! We are so proud of you! I will try to get pictures at the next game. The last game was muddy, rainy, and we were completely soaked by the end of it!

Easter!

We enjoying another Easter with family. Celebrating the Resurrection of Christ with my kids is so special. I was amazed at how much my 5 year old knew and understood. Stella also accepted God in her heart on April 8th, 2009 at school. I am so proud of her! What a Joy! Jason & I are blessed to have such wonderful children. I am overjoyed that we can give them a good church family the way my parents did for me growing up.

Back to Easter Sunday! We enjoyed Easter service at the church I grew up going to. All of my family was together. It was also my sister, Courtney's 30th birthday! We enjoyed the day hanging out all together. We ate ribs for lunch. YUM!!! Once again...I am blessed with an amazing family!

Courtney's Baby Shower!

So we gave Courtney her first shower for the twins on April 11th. The day before her birthday! It turned out wonderful, good food, and we had a great turnout. I think Courtney enjoyed spending time with everyone, including some friends she hadn't seen in a while. She received a lot of great gifts. A lot of the gifts were very personalized, hand-made, and very thoughtful! Courtney is going to have the most stylish little girls! I'm getting really anxious for their arrival!!! Here are some pictures from that wonderful day!

More Vacation Stuff...

So, the rest of our vacation was spent at Animal Kingdom, Disney Hollywood Studios, and by the pool! We had a great time & one of my favorite things was the new American Idol Experience. It was great! Here are more pictures to enjoy from our trip!
















What were you saying?

What do you think they are talking about!

We also had breakfast at Chef Mickey's & enjoyed seeing all of the characters! The food was great & it's so fun to see all the kids get excited about seeing Mickey and friends. My nephew, Will, amazed us that he was frightened by them. He loved it! So much fun!

Magic Kingdom

So, on Monday we spent the entire day at the Magic Kingdom. We started out doing the teacups, dumbo, Small World, etc... Then Stella, my mom, & I had a date with Cinderella at her castle for lunch. We entered the castle & Stella got her picture with Cinderella. Then we walked up the windy staircase & entered the dining hall. There we ate a fabulous lunch & met some of Cinderella's princess friends. Stella was in complete awe the whole time. It was really special to be there with her.











We did just as much as we could do that day at Magic Kingdom. We stayed for the Parade of Lights & Fireworks as well.