We're Sicky!

Being sick is no fun. my girls had coughs that started last weekend. While i was at work on monday, my mom called to tell me that abbi's sounded a lot worse. i called and got an apointment for her an hour later. turns out her cough was pneumonia!!! (spl?) also bronchitis on top of that. they gave both her and reagan a prescription. i woke up yesterday with a horrible cold....grrr...

anyway...
Nate's parents came from michgan to visit last week. We always have a great time when they're here. we went to Philly, Atlantic City, a pumpkin farm, the park...we had a fun, full week! we plan on going there the week after Christmas.

a few pics of the day in atlantic city. it was such a beautiful day!!!






one of my favorite things to do at the beach when i was a kid was to look for shells. my dad still has a shoebox full of my collection in his shed. it was fun to share that activity with reagan.




here are a few pictures of the pumpkin farm. they had a ton of chickens that captured the girls attention forever.



Abbi had a little chicken walk going on, it was so cute! don't you love her glasses? she insisted on wearing them.





unfortunately we did not get one good picture of the girls with pumpkins. oh well, you get the idea.



we have a full weekend this week too. tomorrow night is our church's candy carnival, friday night we're going to a friend's church in PA for a huge fall festival there, and Saturday night we have a youth group hayride. i love fall activities! it got really cold here the past couple of days...brrrr!!!

i hope everyone is enjoying the fall season!

Who Would Tag Me???

So i've been "tagged," meaning i have to write 7 random things about myself and "tag" others to do it as well. well, you can all relax. i won't tag anyone, but i will post things about myself. thanks to my best buddy Gooch for tagging someone who hasn't blogged in weeks!! she's always been good at motivating me. this is for you gooch!


#1. I failed swimming lessons as a child. Who does that? me. everyone got a turtle patch and i only got a blow pop. i have vivid memories. sad, i know.

#2. I took almost 9 years of piano lessons and hated every minute of it. my brothers (as most of you know) are both very musical, i am not. i can read music, which i great, but that's about it.

#3. I cry at resturants if they mess up my order. Ask Nate, he'll confirm. Almost every time we eat out my order comes last, is wrong, and i'm too upset or hungry to send it back for them to get it right. i just sit there with tears rolling down my face.

#4. Speaking of food....i absolutely HATE hot sandwiches. The thought of eating a panini makes me puke in my mouth a little. i like grilled cheese, that's about it. no ham or anything else in it though. I think hot lunch meat is the worst. yuck.

#5. This one is embarrassing: i sucked my thumb until i was a teenager, 14 actually. i always had issues sleeping at night, and sucking my thumb seemed to put me to sleep. i tried to hide it all the time(obviously). my parents tried every incentive and reward to get me to stop, nothing worked until i began braces. they gave me an expander in my mouth that filled the roof, therefor i couldn't even fit my thumb in anymore. problem solved. only took 15 years.

#6. I look forward to Christmas all year. seriously. i LOVE the holiday season. time with family, great food (no hot sandwiches), gift giving, learning more and more each year about Jesus and why He came, excitement in the air, decorations, etc... my excitement seems to have began earlier than usual this year. i am way pumped already. i can't wait until the day after thanksgiving so i can bust out Christmas videos and cds. LOVE IT!

#7. __________________________________________ I've left this one blank for you! I'm sure you all can fill out something random about me that i can't think of right now. let me know what it is!!



Hope to write again soon....i mean it this time!!!!





did i post this already?? can't remember. it's from Elizabeth's(my sister-in-law) sister, Lauren's wedding in june. don't we look hot? it was so hot outside the camera kept fogging up.

About Time

It's been a long time!!! I knew this summer would be crazy for us, and it is!! I have no pictures to post tonight, but there will be many to come soon. To sum up the last 2 months quickly:

June:
~Family beach day
~Nate went to teen camp for a few days to help direct
~Went to michigan for a family wedding/vacation

July
~Nate went to the amazon/Peru for 8 days
~Laura went crazy while he was gone =)
~Laura and the girls went to Virginia for a few days
~Laura and the girls went to Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster with friends (thanks Laura!)
~Youth groups trips: tubing down a river, beach, 6 flags

August
~Caleb, Laura's little brother, got married!!!!! This past weekend was very full and busy, and not over yet! My brother Chooch is still here from Ohio, so we'll be doing more family stuff the next couple of days.

Obviously a lot more has gone on in the past couple of months, but i can't remember anything else right now! I'm SO tired!!!

more to come soon, i promise!

random

You know you haven't cleaned your house in a long time when your three year old asks "Mama, who's coming over?" because she saw you mop the kitchen floor! funny how they pick up on stuff at such a young age.

Speaking of picking things up...reagan was singing "Zacceus" tonight at dinner, we look over at Abbi and she was doing the motions! It was so cute!

In case any of you have wondered Purple (reagan's birthday fish) is still alive and swimmin'. Abbi LOVES it now...she says "purpa, purpa" and tries to climp up reagan's dresser to reach it.

speaking of climbing...abbi is dangerous!! she tries to pull out the drawers of my bedside table so she can climb up to get on the bed, she climbs up the dining room chair onto the table, pulls out the kid's chair, climbs onto the kid's table, stands on that and then climbs onto the window sill (or pulls the glass items off of it). My mom found her standing in my bottom dresser drawer she had pulled out while i was at work the other day. she also walks straight off of couches and even stairs! she's working on the turning around thing to get down, but has by no means mastered it.

Reagan is into ballet things lately. she wears a little dancer skirt all day long now, even to bed sometimes! We've been watching the florida revival on God tv, she dances around and sings "fire, fire." =) She calls it watching church and "bam!" (check it out online if you don't get the God channel, God is doing amazing things)

How's that for a random post!?!?! goodnight!

snuggly girls...



Snuggly girls...with their daddy sleeping away!

Abbi's Photo Shoot

We had family pictures taken after Reagan had just turned one, then took her by herself to get some more. I wanted to duplicate the picture that was taken of Reagan with one of Abbi. Make sense? Can You guess who's who?

Pose #1



A little brighter...




Pose #2





I'm sure you could tell, but Reagan's poses are the first ones. I had to take pics of the photos since i don't have them on the computer. Pretty close, huh?

Here's a couple more of our favorites that we didn't get:





I think that Abbi was about a month older than Reagan was when the pictures were taken, but it's still pretty darn close!

Take A Bow

Cute, typical Reagan story...


While sitting down at the dinner table tonight eating the lasagna i had made, reagan looks up from her plate and says, "Mama, you made good food....take a bow!"
Nate and i cracked up, even Abbi laughed, although she wasn't sure why.

Here's the little princess herself enjoying some luxory...

Tribute to my Mother(s)

My mom prayed at my birthday meal this past week; she thanked God for giving her the desire of her heart when i was born. We joked afterwards asking if i was still the desire of her heart. =) (She said yes) My mom really wanted a girl, just ONE girl though. =) That's why i'm the desire of her heart. She has been a huge blessing to me throughout the years, especially since i've been married. probably because i have more of a appreciation of how tough being a mom can be. She has always been there for me, even when it wasn't convenient for her and she had to sacrifice things in her own life. She watches the girls for me so i can work without having to pay for child care. that is a HUGE blessing at this time in our lives. She brings me necessities like meat and toilet paper when we need it =) not to mention supplies nearly all of the girl's clothes. These are just a few ways to show that i don't know what I would do without my mom, and the example of a wife and mother that she has set for me. I'm proud to say she is not only my mom, but my friend. Mom, I love you and respect you more than you'll ever know. enjoy your day!

This was taken last mother's day:


Couldn't resist this one:




Most comments about mother-in-laws are negative - not so in my case! God has blessed me with the best mother-in-law in the world. i could not have ever imagined having such a great relationship as i have with Mom Norman. She and i have always gotten along (as far as i know) =) and have enjoyed the times we have been able to spend together - like getting lost in jackson when nate and i were engaged. (good one mom)


She has been an encourager, partner in crime, prayer warrior, mentor, laughing partner, friend, and so much more to me over the past 4+ years. i love you mom and miss you so much...see you soon!





To all the mothers and mothers to be out there: HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

Thank You!!

I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who blessed me with gifts on my birthday. i love birthdays, but more importantly, love each of you. It was fun checking the mail all week long and getting phone calls and emails. I had a low key birthay, but it was special in its own way, as they all are. Thanks again to everyone who made it special.

This is one of the very few (and obviously not so great) pics that were taken at my mom's house during the birthday festivities.



flattering, i know.

**You did good this year Nate, i'm proud! thanks for the THOUGHTFUL gifts. ** =)

As usual, abbi enjoyed the cake more than anyone else!!



Thanks again!

Weekend at the Beach

About time, i know. i was waiting for nate to transfer some pictures onto a cd for me...that was the holdup. =) It will be worth the wait, i promise. we got some REALLY cute pictures of the girls.





In case i didn't mention it, we had the pleasure of going to the beach a couple weeks ago for the weekend. Friends from church sold their beach house and wanted to get the most use out of it while they still had it, so they offered it to us for the weekend. Wah-hoo! Reagan was SO excited to go, abbi wasn't too sure about it but followed Reagan's lead most of the time.



We left Thursday late afternoon and headed straight for the beach after dropping our stuff off at the (gorgeous) house. THe weather was perfect, we couldn't have asked for a better day. We headed home for pizza, then back to the beach for more pictures.




It was really hard to get good pictures of Abbi - she kept walking either towards the water, or away from us. Luckily we got a few cute ones.



Reagan, on the other hand, was a total cheese ball. she was all about the poses.




Friday we hit the beach again off and on during naps and meals. it was a very relaxed day for Nate and I, we had 3 hours to ourselves while the girls napped. what do you do with all that time?!?!?! we got a little bored, but it was a good bored. we laid out on the back patio, i actually got a sunburn - first of the season!





We left Saturday morning earlier than we thought we would. The girls were up and we decided it was better to get home and be relaxed there for the rest of the day than to get home late and it be crazy.

It was a great weekend, too bad the house is sold!!!





This weekend should be pretty low key - no major plans. we'll be at my mom's house tomorrow for a little for my birthday dinner, then nate and i are attending one of our youth's concerts at school(happy birthday to me). Reagan has a birthday party to go to friday morning and my future sister - in - law has a graduation party on saturday.

Goodnight!

Beautiful Days are Here at Last

We had beautiful weather the last day mom and dad were here. Unfortunately I was battling a migraine headache thursday night and lingered until friday afternoon, so i missed out on some of the fun stuff with them.



i was feeling better by the afternoon, so i met everyone at the zoo. we are blessed to be in walking distance from the wilmington zoo. it is really small, but perfect for our kids right now.




I may have already mentioned this, but Abbi LOVES animals. doesn't matter what kind. she oohs and aahs over them in commercials, books, toys, and face to face. it's so cute.



I couldn't pass this picture up:


And another cute one of abbi:


The area by the zoo is our own "central park" right in the middle of wilmington. There is a beautiful creek/river?? that runs through the city with gorgeous trees.



you can see nate's bum sticking out as he's holding abbi up there...oops!




Thanks again mom and dad for a wonderful visit, can't wait for the next one!

Nate and the girls and I are heading to the beach for the weekend today. friends from church offered us their house, so we're taking them up on it! reagan is soooo excited, she can't wait to play at the beach!! i'm sure i'll have a super long post sometime next week, hopefully you're not sick of pictures of us by then! Have an awesome weekend!