Winter???

We've been having an unusually mild winter here so far, so we've been able to spend quite a bit more time outside than we normally would be doing in January. Raegan and I (and sometimes Zane and even Luke!) have been going on quite a few walks. A couple weekends ago Luke found the sidewalk chalk, so we took it outside for Raegan to use. She absolutely loved it, and asks for it all the time now.

I've been taking a lot of pictures with my iPod lately, so they aren't the greatest quality. :)

Laughing at something Daddy was saying

Dirty booty!

Wichita Zoo

Last Saturday we took the kids to the Wichita Zoo. It's probably my favorite zoo in Kansas (and really, probably the only zoo I like more than Wichita's is Omaha's!) We got half priced admission thanks to our membership to Rolling Hills here in town, so that was pretty nice. It was beautiful weather for the zoo, and Raegan held up pretty well, even though she didn't get down for nap until we got home a little before 3:00.

They had fun entertaining themselves on the car ride down.

Baby chimp!

Luke and I both swear that this bird talked to us. And mooed. It was pretty awesome!

Giraffe looking for a handout

Strange child....

My best attempts at getting a picture of the kids together.

Yuckyuckyuckyuckyuck! Giant spider in the Asia exhibit. Ugh.

I have some really cool videos that I'm going to post once they all load. The baby chimp was being absolutely adorable, and I got some good footage of the keepers training a couple elephants. :)

New addition

Here's the newest addition to our family's collection of toys:

The pictures don't really do it justice, but with the chance of rain all weekend, my husband hasn't wanted to take the cover off of it. :) Luke's been searching for a bigger boat all summer. I was really pleased, because he got this one for almost $1000 less than what our top limit was, and it's in really good condition. I only wish he would have found it sooner, because with the cooler weather upon us, I really don't think we'll be going to the lake anymore this year.

On Friday, the kids had a lot of fun playing in the boat with the cover on it. It's practically a huge tent for them!

Jet Skis

The last time that Luke went to the lake with his brothers, he brought one of his brothers' Jet Skis back with him. Raegan really enjoyed sitting on them and pretending to drive them!

Raegan's 2nd birthday party

We did Raegan's birthday party yesterday. Even though her birthday isn't until this Thursday, we did it over this last weekend because it's the weekend that Zane was here. :) All weekend long, whenever we asked Raegan what she wanted for her birthday, she always said, "Cake!" She seemed like she kind of understood what was going to happen, because Saturday night she asked me to sing "Happy Birthday" to her a bunch of times while we were singing and rocking before bed. At first she was kind of overwhelmed by all the people (21 people including all the kids!) but she got the hang of opening presents pretty quick. And she absolutely flipped out when she opened the lift the flap Sesame Street book that Luke and I got her. She was like laughing hysterically and kept saying, "Abby! Elmo! Big Bird!!!"

Some of the pictures are a little blurry because the lighting in my basement always messes up pictures. I posted some of the slightly blurry ones anyways just because Raegan looked so happy in them!

Reading a card from Great Grandma Marie

Yay! A book!!!

A laptop from Granny and Papa J.

So happy!!

Something must have been funny.... :D

Raegan was super excited that Luke and I got her a little stuffed Abby to go with her Elmo and Cookie Monster.

Who's that crazy person opening presents with Raegan? lol

Elmo!! Do you see the kind of handprint off to the right side of Elmo's smile. When we slid the cake in Raegan's general direction, she immediately stuck her hand in it. It was hilarious!

Oh yeah....

The sugar is starting to hit her now....

Apparently Mommy had a lot of sugar too.

Raegan was super excited to play with her cousins Khloe and Koen. She kept calling Koen "Khloe" which was cracking me up!

Do you see Zane opening Raegan's wooden cookie set? Him and Keenan were O-B-S-E-S-S-E-D with it. They were like super excited about it, and even went so far as to go bake a set of cookies in Raegan's play oven. :)

Raegan and Granny J checking out her jewelry box.

More to do with the cookies....

Raegan LOVES her vaccuum cleaner! Today as soon as we got home from daycare she said, "I daccuum?"

Again with the crazy eyes. I don't know what I was doing! lol

Silly girl!

Baby Ryan

Raegan looooves Baby Ryan!

Lake fun!

Today was the first day that Raegan and I went out on the boat this year. Raegan was super excited about the lake when we drove up ("Wa wa? Wa wa!!!!") but she was a little iffy about the boat at first. I think she wanted to be in the water, not in the boat! We anchored and walked over to one of the beaches so that she could have some fun (and Mommy could not worry constantly about how deep the water was). At first, Raegan was all Miss Priss about the waves (just like last year) but Luke did some handstands underwater and snuck up on her to entertain her. Luke and I sat on the edge of the water for awhile and Raegan discovered that one of her favorite outdoor toys is also at the lake: rocks! THEN she was nothing but sunshine and smiles.

We drove around in the boat for awhile longer (which Raegan enjoyed much better this time around - we even heard a couple "wheeeee!"'s from her) then dropped anchor and ate lunch. It was pretty hot out and very sunny, so we decided to call it a day, because at that point we had been out for about two hours. I think because we put towels up to provide some shade, Raegan didn't end up burnt. My legs were pretty red, and my chest, which is ODD, because I put on sunscreen. My guess is that the breeze kind of blew it away while I was spraying it on. Who knows? I'm just glad she didn't get burnt. I'm slathering on lotion and aloe like a crazy person right now so that I don't peel. I hate peeling.

Here's The Big Cheese on the way to the lake. Love this girl so much!

Chilling out on the boat.

As soon as I pulled out the camera a second time, she started saying "Cheese! Cheese!"

Hot and tired, but having so much fun!

Branson Vacation, Day Three

Raegan slept much better Thursday night. I figured out when she started the party in the middle of the night again that she couldn't settle down with someone in the bed with her. So I moved to the floor, and she went right to sleep. I had to do it twice, but for more sleep, it was worth it. I did discover when I woke up at 6:00 in the morning to crawl back in bed that I'm not as young as I used to be. :)

We enjoyed another delicious hot breakfast and checked out of our motel a little after 10:00. Our first stop was the Branson Auto Museum, which Luke was really wanting to go to.

I thought this quote was pretty funny!

The actual car from Men in Black.

This was one of my favorites. I think I would feel very elegant tootling around town in this!

Zane with the Batmobile.

What a cute little piano!

My cuties!

Our final stop before we left Branson was at a putt putt place with a dinosaur theme.

Raegan's first game of putt putt golf!

A little lesson from Daddy.

It was a very pretty place!

I ended up winning, and made 3 hole in ones. Woo hoo!

The volcano there actual spit out fire at random intervals. You could feel the heat from it!

Zane is a smidge taller than me now. Yikes!

Kind of got Raegan in the picture

Do I like this dinosaur?

Beautiful girl!

On our way home we stopped in the afternoon for gas and snacks. Raegan loooooooves cheese crackers!