Merry Christmas!

Just that fast, Christmas has come and gone, but it was a very memorable one!  Reagan's 2nd Christmas was a total success!

Helping Mommy pack in one of her four adorable Christmas shirts that Aunt Ellen made!!

We left on Thursday afternoon to make the trip to PA.  Traffic was horrible in VA, so we stopped for dinner and then continued on our way.  Eight and a half hours later and we were finally home!

On Christmas Eve we relaxed, wrapped, got our new pj's, and went to visit Grandpa!  Reagan loved helping him open his "prizes."  We then went to the usual, Outback, for Christmas Eve dinner.  Reagan was in somewhat rare form at dinner, which made it super relaxing for all of us...ha!  Oh well...that's how it goes with an almost 19 month old. 

Sporting her fancy new robe from Mum-Mum and Pop-Pop

Helping J.J. open her pjs!

Dinner at Outback!

Christmas Day was fun filled with lots of wonderful presents!  We are all so blessed!!  It took Reags forever to open and didn't finally finish until the day after Christmas. 

Mum-Mum showing Reagan her new playhouse!  We still aren't totally sure where this is going in our house!  Reaggie LOVED it!

Cooking for Pop-Pop

JJ got her only requested gift, a sweatshirt with Reagan's picture on it!

Opening with Uncle Mike

SOO excited to see her Gigi...she was ALL about Gigi!!

Yes, we were sitting in the playhouse and Reagan was "cooking" for us!

The day after Christmas brought snow to the PA state, but not nearly as much as they were calling for.  Sadly, this put a halt on mine and Heather's usual "26" shopping extravaganza.  It was a nice relaxing day though and we celebrated Christmas with my dad on Sunday night!

Thank you Grandpa for the new keyboard with microphone...Reagan LOVES to sing in it!

Trying to put on Grandpa's new comfy pants!

Reagan's new Kai Lan car!!  Oh my, she loves this!

We were all set to head back to NC on Tuesday, but bad traffic caused a detour onto the highway we take to Gran and Gramps' house.  SO Keith said, why don't we just go stay with Gran and Gramps...I called, they had a free day, so we decided to go see Gran and Gramps.  I said, "Reaggie, do you want to see Gigi or go home?"  Of course her answer was "Gigi!"  We are not impulsive people, ha, so we were proud of ourselves to do something a little different.  We went out to lunch, out to dinner, and out for breakfast!  Reags loved playing with Gigi's baby dolls and rocking them oh so gently in their cradle. 

Wednesday morning we hit the road, for real!  We are glad to be back, but unpacking, HOLY MOLY...I think I have finally gained SOME assembelance of our house back.  12 loads of laundry later and rearranging all of Reagan's toys, we are getting there!

We hope you had a very Merry Christmas!! :)

Baking Fun!

(FYI, all posts below now have pictures!  Be sure to check out "visit with Santa!")

Last Thursday we had our first "snow day" of the year, so it was the perfect time to start some Christmas baking.  Reags and I made cut out cookies, which are Keith's fave!

  The other night we made some chocolate covered pretzel sticks and let me say, they are not only very tastey, but SO easy!!  All you do is melt a bag of chocolate chips, milk chocolate, in the microwave and then use a spoon to cover the pretzel sticks.  Decorate with sprinkles and let them harden on a cooling rack and you are set! 

Merry Christmas!!  I can't believe today is the 22nd....just 2 days to go!! :)

Christmas Came Early...

This year we wrote a note to Santa asking him if he could please come to our house in North Carolina the weekend before Christmas.  Thankfully Reagan had been a VERY good girl this year because that is just what Santa did!!  He came on Saturday night, which meant waking up on Sunday morning to SEVERAL "prizes" under the tree! 

Saturday night, Reagan opened up her new pj's!  We always had this tradition growing up...Reags loved her snowman jammies!

Reagan was so excited with all of her goodies!  There was a common theme of Ni Hao Kai Lan, Dora, and Elmo.  Coloring books, books, dolls, stickers, bags, toys, a tent and tunnel, and so much more!  Reagan was so cute opening all of her gifts, but she wanted to play with it as soon as she opened it, which was fine.  It just took us 4 hours to open all of her gifts!

She was pretty cute though because Santa left a little bit of a cookie on his plate, some remnants of the carrots for the reindeer, and just a little bit of milk left in the glass. Well Reagan thought she should fnish the cookie as her breakfast and give Bailey the leftover carrots. She will always tell us when she is ready to eat in the morning, but this morning, she wanted a cookie and opening presents! Hello, it's Christmas! :)

Keith and I exchanged gifts too this year for the first time in probably four years...in the past we have bought an electronic and last year we were in the Bahamas, so those were our gifts to each other.  We set a budget and didn't go crazy, but it's fun to shop for each other and have a little something to open!  Keith's favorite gift, by far, was his NC State Snuggie!  I told him that might be one of those gifts that I later regret giving him because he has already put it to good use.  :)  I would have to say my favorite gift was a total surprise....I got my first piece of David Yurman!!  What a sweet hubby!

We had a great, relaxing day.  In fact Reagan stayed in her pj's all day and I finally changed out of mine around 4 to run to Wal-Mart.  When I got home, Reagan was sporting a new pair of pants on TOP of her jammies...she was lookin' cute!

It was a great first Christmas of the 2010 season!

18 Month Pictures

I can't believe it's been 6 months since I had Reagan's 12 month pictures taken! I have been meaning to call to make an appointment for Reagan and just kept forgetting. Finally on Saturday morning I called to see if they had any openings for Sunday...lucky for me they had just had a cancellation for 8:40am. I took it!

By the time Sunday morning rolled around, I really wasn't in the mood to drive 30 minutes to take Reagan...but I knew if I didn't, these pictures wouldn't get done before Christmas. So we did it! I was really happy with how they turned out, especially because we started with some tears and not wanting to let go of Mommy.

Six more months until this big girl is TWO!  Please tell me there is a time when this slows down just a little...I'm sure it's the teenage years when you are READY for them to speed up and go to college! :)

Visit with Santa

We had a great weekend!  Friday night was my work Christmas party, which was a lot of fun!

Saturday we were up and at 'em to go see Santa at the mall.  The Mills went with us and THANK GOODNESS for the "Santa Fast Pass."  You pay an extra $2.50 online and get to go to the "fast lane."  Best extra $2.50 we ever spent!  We waited just a couple minutes for Morgan to read Santa her list and sit so nicely on Santa's lap and smile for her picture.  Reagan loved watching "MoMo" with "HoHo."  :)  Then it was RMK's turn...at first she was okay, then she wanted me to pick her up, then we put her on Santa's lap and the tears/screams began.  I am sorry, but it was hilarious!  We were laughing, but feeling bad, and I kept hearing people in line saying, "awww."  I picked her up and tried to sit next to Santa with Reagan, but that wasn't good either.  More tears!  Finally the very sweet Santa, gave Reagan some snowman stickers and that made her happy.  She was OVER seeing Santa.  So we paid $24 for this picture...however, I think it is classic and SO worth it!!  Poor Reagan, one day she'll probably be mad at me for this one!

Excited to see Santa!

Reags, me, Margaret, and Morgan

Our little family!

The Mills Family

Morgan reading her hand written letter to Santa...precious!

"Reaggie, say hi to Santa"....

Merry Christmas...haha!  I just LAUGH everytime I look at this picture!

We rounded out our fun filled morning at the mall with time for the girls to play in their play space and then lunch at Chic-Fil-A! By the time we got home it was just about naptime...for all of us! :)

18 Month Stats!

Last Tuesday I took Reagan to the doctor for her 18 month appointment.  She did really well and thankfully only had to get the flu shot.  The doctor was looking in her ears and said, "is there a doggie in there?"  Reaggie answered with "woof woof."  The doctor looked in the other ear and asked, "is there a kitty in this one?"  Reaggie answered with "murow, murow."  It was pretty cute!!

Weight:  27.7 pounds (88%)

Height:  34 inches (>95%)

Head Circumference:  49.2cm (>95%)

She is such a big girl and so healthy and happy.  We are beyond thankful for that!

Last Week...

Well technically two weeks ago, my sister made a BIG move to an awesome assisted living facility in Delaware!  This was a HUGE move for her, and our whole family, but she is transitioning really well.  When we got news about a month prior, that a spot had opened, I knew it was something I wanted to be there to help her with.  Reags and I flew up on Friday, December 3rd to stay for the weekend to help make J's room as comfy and cozy as possible.  She is sharing a room with another woman, so there isn't a TON of room, but it is coming along!  We set up a Christmas tree and some other Christmas decorations to help make it feel more homey.  On Friday night I picked up some take out for us and then we went to the "Buddy Ball."  Since Jamie had just moved in, she didn't have a "buddy" yet, so I nominated myself to be her buddy :)  We had a good time, but were both yawning by 8:45, surprised?? :)

Reaggie holding "Jay-Jay's" hand!  So Sweet!

We spent Saturday and Sunday relaxing and shopping!  It was so wonderful to be there to watch Jamie handle this huge move as well as she did!

Jamie, I am SO proud of you and know this is a great move for you!!!  I love you so much!!