Take the Good

We had a couple BEAUTIFUL days last week, Friday being one of them.  It was so nice and we played outside a good portion of the day!  It was one of those days mornings, where everything was going so well and we were just having so much fun together...



Reags took Bais for a quick walk up the street...the girls enjoyed some playtime outside while Bubs was taking his morning nappy!

Then this sweet sugar woke up...



Yes, she still has a binky...not for too much longer though ;)  Anyway, she loves hanging out in Landon man's crib with him...

can you tell he is pulling himself up to sitting...he wants to be "big" soooo bad!

after naps we went for a lovely walk around the neighborhood!

After that is when it all kind of went south...actually I don't even think Reagan slept that afternoon, I can't remember now.  I do remember her peeing all over the floor (which she hasn't done in forever!) right as I started feeding Landon his dinner, so that was special.  It was just one of those afternoons where I literally was about to pull my hair out, as I know lots of you can understand.  I can usually count on either the morning, afternoon, or evening (atleast one, if not more) being nothing but pure chaos...I pretty much prefer it to be the morning, just to get it over with :)  Needless to say by the time Keith got home I was ready to hand in my towel...

At the end of the day, when it was peaceful and I had two glorious sleeping children, I remembered to take the good with the bad...we had a great morning together and most of the afternoon...everyone had just HAD IT by the evening.  It happens!  I have found myself saying over and over again "she is 2 and he is a baby." It is the little things that help you get through some of the rougher moments of parenting!

New Toy and "Ballet-Tard"

Now that this little cutie is sitting all by himself, it was time to bring out the big boy toys!  I can say that Landon is loving this toy just about as much as his sissy did...

Look at that sweet little girl...where on earth has the time gone?!  Reagan had just turned 7 months in this picture, so pretty darn close to LTK...unreal!

Busy checking her emails, but was kind enough to pose for a quick pic!

Remember how I mentioned that Reagan's real motivation for being potty trained was ballet lessons?!  Well, we upheld our end of the deal and have her signed up to start in two weekends.  She can NOT wait!  We ordered a couple leotards online the other day, but on Sunday I ran to Kohls and saw this beaut on clearance and had to pick it up.  This "ballet-tard" (as it is called in our house) has NOT left this girl's body easily since she got it.  She hasn't even worn a princess dress since Sunday because she has had this on...it takes an act of congress to get this girl dressed anymore...she either wants this on, her princess dresses, or a t-shirt with leggings.  Thankfully she knows for school that Mommy picks out her outfit and she can put whatever she wants on as soon as she gets home!  It is pretty cute to watch this little "ballet-tard" prance around the house :)  I don't know who is more excited for ballet though...the ballerina or her momma?!

Milestone...

Yahoo!  Breakfast!!  Yesterday we officially took a bottle away and are now eating oatmeal and a fruit in the morning.  Landon still likes a little bottle before his nappy, just to top off that belly!

Landon is settling in very nicely to a new schedule, that he decided on once we got back, and it is great!  I love our playtime together in the afternoon when sister is still napping.

And sweet sugar...this is just what is going to happen when you have a very girly older sister...I have a feeling this is a very tame version of what is to come :)

Marbles!!

Today we ventured downtown with Reaggie's sweet friend, Brooklyn, and her momma to Marbles.  It is such an awesome kid's museum and it surely didn't disappoint.  We were there nice and early and the girls could hardly contain their excitment!!

precious

This cutie was pretty excited too!

Taking care of the animals at the vet

getting SOAKED at the water tables!

Cooking us some yummy treats (in a dry shirt that I thankfully packed in fear of an accident...I'll take wet from water table over an accident anyday!  However, still rocked her black leggings, she seriously looked like a raggle muffin, but whatever!)

With our sweet nephew's Flat Stanley that came all the way from Rochester!

Even Bubby had a little play area...he liked getting out of that stroller!

I have to say that I really do like going to fun little places with the kiddos, BUT it throws your whole day for a loop, you know?  Landon didn't sleep as long this morning because we had to go and therefore was so sleepy, but did SO great while we were there.  He then fell asleep in the car on the way home which messed up naptime, which was fine, he just went down a little later.  Reags was all pumped from having such a fun morning and I think she FINALLY has fallen asleep for her nap, 2 hours after I put her down!  I am a schedule person...it's the teacher in me...my kids do SO much better on a schedule/following a routine too.  I really have to tell myself, if naptime is thrown off a little it's OKAY!  Seriously, I have a problem, I know :)  We had so much fun though and even with Reagan's five pounds of snot, it was still a very fun morning at the museum!

PUNTA CANA!!!

Ahhhhhhh....looking at these pictures makes me want to go back stat!  We left last Wednesday VERY early for Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.  It was AHHHH-MAZING!  Before I get to the trip, here is a little back story...

Last year, when we were in St. Louis for MLK weekend, Elle and I decided that instead of a party for our 30th birthdays we wanted a fun trip, just the 4 of us.  That would have been January, so by about November this year Elle and I decided that we should probably go ahead and start planning our trip because clearly the boys weren't doing anything.  We were SO wrong!  They had been talking, emailing, researching, trying to figure out where we should go.  The original plan was for Ellen and BJ to fly here (so they could meet Landon man), then we all drive to Savannah, and do a cruise from there to the Bahamas.  Well, flights started getting pretty expensive for them and then the boys wound up having to tell us about their plans.  One night we were all on speakerphone together on computers, iPads, phones, any internet search device and were searching trips.  After a great suggestion from BJ's family travel agent we decided on PUNTA CANA!!!  Keith and I had slight heart attacks when we couldn't find our passports ANYWHERE, but thankfully found them and booked this trip.  We had six weeks to get ourselves in shape and to prepare for our trip.  Obviously that meant a few trips to the mall and outlets too! ;)  February 15th arrived before we knew it and we were OFF to our week in paradise!!

We arrived in Punta Cana on Wednesday afternoon and their airport is about the coolest thing ever...seriously, how could you not be happy in a place like this?! After leaving the airport we were off to our resort on a stupid bus that stopped at 4 other resorts along the way...mental note, just take a cab! I was STARVING and started to feel very carsick, it was terrible. I was thinking this trip was not off to the best start, but then we saw Elle and BJ in the lobby and it was smooth sailing from then on out!

We did a whole lot of nothing, correction...a whole lot of EATING! Oh my gosh, the good thing about an all inclusive is you get to eat and eat and eat, that can also be a bad thing too! This was our favorite lunch spot...it was right next to our pool. There were DELISH nachos, a great chicken sandwich, hot dogs, and yummy chocolate cake. Lunch of champions right?!

Yup...we did a lot of this!  It was GLORIOUS!!

All fancified going to dinner...this night we went to an "Italian" restaurant.  It was pretty good, however I have to say Maggiano's is MUCH better :)  Can I just say that I love my kiddos beyond what I can even write about, but it was SO nice to get dressed up for dinner, not have a child on my lap, only cut up my own food...it was just such a wonderful treat.  I enjoyed each second of it!

We hit the beach one day...this was our pretty overcast day.  This is also a day Elle and I will NEVER forget...

So pretty!

...this is why Elle and I will never forget this day...we went to the spa to have a lovely massage...ahhh!  We couldn't wait!  I will spare you all of the details, but I will say that neither of us have every laughed as hard as we did.  We were told to take EVERYTHING off and put on our robe, we then were put in a "couple's massage" room (good thing she is my best friend!), and we were told to put on a "mesh thong."  Seriously...I am like peeing myself writing this.  It was HILARIOUS!  The Dominican culture is not shy about their bodies, quite the adjustment for us.  SO we put those beauts on and had our massage...it was relaxing, but I have to say I was laughing throughout the massage thinking about what the heck we were "wearing."  After our full body (not exaggerating) massage was finished, which they ended with a lovely head massage that used about a bottle and a half of oil, we were looking SO pretty!!  Oh my gosh...I am not typing this to even come close to the hilarious-ness, but it was a memory I will NEVER forget!!!

Before dinner the night of our massage...we both had to wash our hair like 10 times to get all of the oil out!

Elle and BJ

We had a fancy contraption to set the camera on to take our group shots!

BEAUTIFUL!!

Let's bake!

LOVE this girl!!

our last night...boo hoo!

Do you see that sky??  This was the day we had to leave...

We left on Monday afternoon and had a layover in the ATL which got us into Raleigh at about midnight.  It was a long day, but such a wonderful trip!!  We all decided we need to do it more often...after we all win the lottery and all of our children are sleeping through the night ;)  (right mom?)

We couldn't have done this trip without our wonderful mothers and grandmothers watching our kiddos...gosh, what a job!  THANK YOU SO MUCH Mom and Gran (and Gramps!). 

Ellen...Happy ALMOST 30th Birthday!  The bar is set pretty high for #31 huh!? :)

Catch Up and Valentine's Day

Time for a little catching up...

This sweet sugar is just getting a little too big!  He has now mastered sitting by himself and I can even leave him alone...he is REALLY starting to reach forward, SOOO I'm wondering when the whole crawling thing is going to start...not rushing it, that's for sure!

Happy Valentine's Day!! 

Valentine's Day fell the day before we left for our trip, SO I tried to have as much of our "prep" done so that I could enjoy the day with my sweeties.  Reaggie woke up to open two of her treats and Bubby got to open one...

poor kid...a) playing with Strawberry Shortcake and b) he got to open a new pair of socks...I promise next year will be a little more exciting :)

Little Miss got "The Little Mermaid"  LOVE it!  (both of us!)

...and some Belle shoes to match her dress :)

I went to Harris Teeter on Monday night to get the last of our groceries for when we were going to be away and realized, once I got there, that my wallet was on our desk!!  To say I was mad would be an understatement, but what can you do?  THANKFULLY I had a $20 bill in my purse, so I had to do some SERIOUS budgeting at the grocery store.  I did budget $3 to buy Reaggie, Keith, and I a donut for Valentine's Day breakfast.  We were going to make pink, heart pancakes, but R decided she didn't want them, the donut was enough...fine by me!

Cuteness!!  Another cute creation from Aunt Ellen!

Posing with our heart cake...I realize the icing job looks awful...it wasn't quite as bad as it looks I don't think

After naps Keith arrived home with Gran and my mom to start their "vacation" of watching the kiddos for us while we went away...

Daddy came home with some beautiful flowers for his princess...precious!

Look at those happy, well rested, so happy to see the kiddos smiles :)  This was the "before" shot!

a few more treats after dinner

I know Bubs, more socks...ha!  He was in desperate need...the kid is growing WAY too quick, I can't keep up!

It was a very fun Valentine's Day, but the anticipation for the next day was SOOO exciting!  First thing in the morning on Wednesday we were off to PUNTA CANA!!