Reiny's Christmas Program

So every year the elementary school has a Christmas Program where the little ones perform for the community. Since Reiny's in preschool now, she got to be a part of it this year. I guess that this is one of the perks of living in such a small community, you can sing of Christ in school without any repercussions from any "politically correct" members of government chastising you on the 6 o'clock news. They also had a nativity scene made up of the elementary kids complete with Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, wise men, and an angel (Reiny was a donkey). It melted my heart to see how hard Reiny was trying to sing out loud enough for us to hear her! I just feel so lucky to be a part of this great community!

My Funny 4 Year Old

Reiny,

You just turned 4! I still think of you as that brand new, adorable glow-worm I fell in love with on a snowy December morning.

You have become a beautiful young lady. You are so smart, funny, and loving that I can't even remember what life was like before you came along. This last year you've become such a wonderful older sister. Ryann absolutely adores you! You're a huge help to Mommy and "babysit" your sister more than I realize.

You know all your letters now and can write them as well (we're still working on the lowercase letters!)

You love to dance and sing, but mostly you love being "Mommy" to all your dolls and animals.

You play volleyball with Mommy a lot now. You can pass a ball as well as any junior high girl, and are learning how to spike the ball too.

I'm amazed by how smart you are! You are so observant and see and understand things that just don't seem possible for a 4 year old!

You went ice skating this year for the first time and loved it! You pushed that little walker around the ice and must have ran about 10 miles that night.

You love going to work with Daddy, driving in the semi, and changing water with Mommy in the summer.

You are getting braver everyday and are always willing to try new things, like swimming by yourself and putting your head under the water!

You are amazing! You are the light in my life, and love me even on my bad days. Thank you for being the wonderful little girl that you are! I love you so much...my heart is forever full with you in it.

Mommy

Thanksgiving in New Mexico

This Thanksgiving we went to my parents' home to spend a little time with them. We always love going to New Mexico. It's so different from where we live and everytime we go we try something new. This time we took the kids to the Natural History Museum in Albequerque. Reiny loved the dinosaurs, but mostly loved this hands-on room where they had a huge sandbox with stamps made out of different animals' feet. She would stamp the sand and say "Mom, look! I just made a bunny track, or a fox track, etc."




We also went to the park close to their home. The girls love playgrounds and Reiny just had a ball!





We only wish they were closer so we could see them all the time! Maybe some day...

Birthday Parties!!!

Well, Jordan and I have amazing timing when it comes to planning our children's birthdays. Reiny and Ryann are about 2 weeks shy of being 3 years apart, which means we also get to have 2 birthday parties each year about 2 weeks apart! When they get older, they better get used to the idea of sharing party dates!!!

In any case, we had an amazing time celebrating Ryann's 1st birthday with a ladybug-themed party...complete with ladybug cake, and celebrating Reiny's 4th birthday with a princess-themed party...complete with castle cake made by yours truly! (side note: this will probably be my last attempt at a cake of this magnitude, but thank you Jess for the idea and cake pan!!!)

The pictures pretty well speak for themselves. We had an awesome time and had all of Jordan's family (minus April and fam) and some good friends, Jayde and Erin, to both the parties. The girls loved it and of course were spoiled beyond belief!

Ryann's Party-The Ladybugs






Reiny's Party-The Princesses





(All the work was kinda worth it to see how much Reiny LOVED this cake!)