Pre-School Fashion

 On the first day of school, we were obviously taking many pictures.  But then, every morning, I just couldn't let her walk out the door without taking a picture of her!  I can't explain it.  She just looked so darn cute, and every day still seems so special.  We prepare snack, do our hair, pick out shoes.  So I figured I'd do a post on her "Pre-School Fashions" as of lately. :)  

Most of these outfits came from Mima, our stylist. ;)

  

 

Cutie on her first day!

 

Warm weather means we get to wear our summer dresses still!  And with a "bouncy pony" by request.

Striking a pose to show off her sneaks.

Okay, this one kills me.  It was pajama day.  She was standing by the stairs, and I said, "Smile, Rei!".  She saw that I was taking her picture and said, "Oh wait!" and went and posed by the wall like this.  Hand on her hip, hand on the wall, knee bent.  WHAT.  Hubby said, "Where does she learn this?!"  She kills me.

Again, with the posing!

Then, she needed to take one making "a silly face".

Pretty in peach!  (And little sickie beansie with her juice and cereal! She saw Reilly standing by the wall, and backed up against the wall to be just like her.)

Fancy in her silver belt. ;)  Evidently we weren't in the mood for posing this morning.

Pretty in her Rapunzel dress!  She loves her sparkles.

I can't decide if dressing up babies or preschoolers is more fun! Love our little big girl. :)

How Our Day Started

5:30 am.

(pit-pat-pit-pat-pit-pat)

Reilly:  Daddy?  I had a bad dream.
 
Daddy: Okay, want to come and snuggle?

Reilly: Okay!
 (Climbs in between us)

Reilly: Mommy!  I'm just gunna snuggle for a little while because I had a bad dream.

Mommy: Okay honey.

. . .

Reagan:  Waaahhh-ah-ah-ah-aha-ahh.

Daddy: (goes in to soothe her back down, songs, soothing, quiet...)

Reagan: WAAAHHHHHHH. (as Daddy tried to leave the room again)

(Daddy walks back into Mommy and Daddy's room, holding tired Reagan)

Daddy:  Well, it's party time! (Hands Reagan to Mommy)

Daddy: Okay, everyone has to be very quiet and go back to sleep, okay?

Reilly: She pushed me.

Funny things is?  I wouldn't trade that wake up for an alarm clock.  Even if it meant a few more minutes of sleep.  I love when we are all snuggled in that bed. (Don't tell the girls, we have to keep them thinking it's a special privilege!)

An Update

So I haven't posted in a week, but I have good reason.  Reagan baby had pneumonia.  And I actually couldn't bring myself to write about her having pneumonia until I knew she was all better.  It was nerve-wracking and heart breaking, and we spent a lot of time cuddling, trying to get rest, having soup, and doing breathing treatments.  The little pumpkin was in such high spirits the whole time, she just didn't stop smiling.  Her fever kept spiking for days, and we were going back and forth to our (amazing) doctor.  She had to get a chest xray, and since I'm pregnant I couldn't hold her little hands. :(  The saddest part was, she had glitter on her shirt (naturally) and so they had to take off her shirt for the x-ray because glitter interferes with it.  She just say there with her big eyes and her little belly looking so stunned. 

 This was mid-sickness...could you eat her??

 

 Reagan says, "Who says you have sacrifice style for sickness?"

 Sissys in the morning before school.

We are so so grateful to God that she is better, and I have never been so thankful for my pediatrician.  He called every day to check on her and get a report.  It felt like we had a family member caring for her, that's how much the whole office helped and so obviously cared.

This I took this morning, and told her to give Elmo huggies. :)  Happy healthy girl!!  She fell in love with Elmo while she was sick, as we would watch YouTube Elmo videos at 2 in the morning in our bed while we gave her breathing treatments.  Now he is her BFF.  :)

In other news, our newest little one is coming like tomorrow.  Not really, but I can't believe how soon it is!!  BOY OR GIRL?!  So excited to find out. 

My sister came to visit for a few days, and by "visit" I mean "completely organize every inch of my home that she could get her hands on".  She helped get every inch of the baby's room ready, make the most of every closet in our house (which hasn't even happened since we moved in!), rearranged my kitchen and cabinets, and labelled EVERYTHING with her best friend, her label maker.  Hubby and I were discussing she is actually a genius at organizing, and came up with ideas that both of us couldn't come up with no matter how long or hard we tried.  It really is an amazing talent. More pictures will come in a future post!

In other exciting, news, Hubby finishes his coaching season today!!  That means, that instead of getting home at 6:008:30 (depending on if he has practice, or a game), he will get home every day at...3:30 IN THE AFTERNOON!!! I mean, seriously...it feels like he works a half day when he comes home that early.  All the girls in this house are so excited when we get to spend so much of the day with him.  I would say I am most excited, but if you saw the girls freak out when he comes home, you would see that it's really a battel of who is most excited about him being home. ;) And in this stage of my pregnancy, Mama needs that extra help and rest!  So this is all around a great week.  Health.  Organization.  More Daddy. YAY.

Pumpkins and a Corn Maze Fun!

 

 We had a spontaneously free Saturday last weekend, so we headed to our favorite pumpkin farm nearby.  We always try to go twice during the season for fresh apples (not from the tree, but you can tell they are fresh from the still-attached leaves!), pumpkins, and general farmer's markety fun. 

When we arrived, Reagan immediately started yelling PUH-KAHS! PUH-KAHS! and headed straights for the giant pumpkins. :) This farm usually has a whole field full of pumpkins, but this time had much less out.  I expressed my disappointment to Hubby (I just love when there is a whole field full!), and he reminded me that it wasn't even October yet.  And it was about 78 degrees out.  We are probably the only people who have already visited not one, but two pumpkin/apple farms already.  And we'll probably be back! :)

  (That smile!)

Disclaimer:  I realize that it seems like I must tell Reilly how to pose.  I do not.  She seriously is the most natural little model, it's hysterical. 

 HA Reilly sure loves those pumpkins!  And very weird...of all the ones there were to choose from...she picked the EXACT one that I would have picked.  Hubby and I have always had the same, very specific, opinion of the perfect carving pumpkin.  Apparently it got passed down to her.  She made us proud. ;)

The also have THE prettiest mums you ever want to see, in every color imaginable.  But this year I had to just stare and dream because I have evil deer who chomp off every gorgeous flower.  Okay, not so much "evil" as "hungry" I guess.  Whatever, they ruin my stuff.  But NEXT year...I am going to be prepared.  I'll have my pinterest-researched DIY homemade organic garden deer repellent spray ready to go! BOOM.

 The little chickies climbed up a giant stack of hay bales!  I mean, is anything better as a kid then being able to climb hay bales?  Such joy.

 Reagan cheering for herself at the top!  Ahh-YAYY!

 Their favorite part might have been feeding these goats.  It always makes us laugh that the goats are surrounded by grass and weeds, but for some reason they act like it's gold when you pull it from the ground and feed it to them.  So funny. 

 

 They have all these cute little lawn toys set up for the kiddies to play.  Love it.

 I couldn't get Reagan to look at me, but Reilly was too cute to pass up. :)

Reagan took the pumpkins to the car for us. :)  And yes, to your question - we do, on a constant basis, want to eat Reagan up for dinner.

 We set up a family shot on the hay bales. :)  Reagan wants to run around, clearly.  Reilly doesn't want to let go of Daddy all weekend.  And that view, just kills me every time. 

 Reagan and her beloved Buddy.  (Who deserves a post all to himself one day.)  Reagan backed up to this hay and sat herself right down.  She makes us laugh because she is constantly finding a corner, or a wall. and sitting against it all by herself for no reason.  Just, you know, some quiet time to herself.

 A cute little maze for the kiddies!  Reagan dominated that.  Maze?  Guys, you can just climb over.

 And this is my daughter, who is SO much more her Daddy than me in personality.  She ran across this whole field, up to a stuffed (CREEPY) fake scarecrow-type guy sitting in a chair, with a mask and a baseball hat.  He was "guarding" the corn maze.  I couldn't believe she wasn't scared to run over to him!  She came back to Reagan and I, and I said, "So what did he have to say, Rei?"  to which she responds, with a look, "Mom-my.  He didn't talk, he's just PRETEND!"  Oh, excuse me.

 Sidenote: These pictures are straight out of my camera, no retouching at all.  Look at those glorious colors!  God is amazing.

So someone who worked there suggested we go into the corn field.  She said it was just for kids so it was totally friendly, and they have a scavenger hunt list of things to find in there.  Fun!  So in we went.

Right after this picture was when my panic attack began.  Hubby was trudging ahead holding Reagan, while Reilly is busting through at her fearless-3 year old speed.  I am being careful not to trip over corn stalk stumps, protecting my unborn child.  I yelled for Hubby to slow down, because mazes frighten me and I definitely would get lost.

It was at this point that he informed me that this was not at all a corn maze, but just rows and rows of corn.

Oh.  I knew that. In case you were curious, rows and rows of corn are MUCH MORE FRIGHTENING than a maze.  Allow we to explain.

The corn rows are dense.  The corn is constantly in your face.  You are never free of corn in your face.  You can just walk through, but there are leaves all the time surrounding you.

 The density.

 The rows GO ON FOREVER!  There is no end.  None.  And hubby thought it would be funny to state how infinite the rows looked.  It is horrifying.  Every step we took to complete our fun little "hunt" was another step into the abyss, and all I wanted to do was turn around and head back out.

 Reilly looking effortless and carefree in the corn hell.  Sure, take Daddy's side. ;)
Also, do you see that pink behind her?  That's Reagan's jacket!!  That's how far behind I was being left.  Do you see the corn closing in until you can barely see them anymore?  Do you feel my panic yet?  Don't you just want to yell WAIT UP! for me right now?  Thank God we were wearing neon.

I asked Hubby to wait for me once more while I caught up, batting corn stalks out of my face, and when I approached I asked if he thought the corn was taking all the oxygen and was he also having trouble taking deep breaths?  It was at this point that he thought he should photograph me in the corn field.

I literally felt like we were in a sauna and all I wants to do was leave and breath air.

I also kept picturing the movie Signs, and the alien foot.  You know the alien foot.  Ugh.  It is probably clear right now why I never attempt haunted houses.

 The tops were pretty, though.  As I dreamed of breathing the air above us.

 We needed a little snack before heading home, so we had cheddar kettle corn, apple cider, and honey sticks.  We were devouring it.

Reilly, always giving Sissy bites. :) 

So, that was our pumpkin adventure of 2013!  And now we have a pretty little front door area, with pumpkin and corn stalk decorations!  Best days. :)

On Manners and Chivalry

People are always commenting on girls and boys, and how different raising each one is.  "OH man!  You have 2 girls!  That's rough!  Good luck in their teenage years!  Boys are so easy!"  Or sometimes I hear, "Boys are so wild!  I can't believe how different girls are!"  Either way, there are apparently differences between raising the two, although I currently wouldn't know. ;)

But the other day something happened, that made me realize it really isn't very different, raising girls and boys.  We were walking into a store, and there is a college right near.  There were 2 boys walking about 10 steps ahead of us, who were clearly college students.  We were both approaching the door from different angles, so although ahead of us, they definitely saw us and knew we were there.  An 8 month pregnant woman, her mom, a 3 year old, and an 18 month old.  They walked through the door.  As we reached the door, it had not even fully closed from when they went through (that's how close we were to them).  Reilly said, out of nowhere - "Mommy, why didn't those boys hold the door for us?"

So interesting, I thought.  I looked at my mom, and said, "I don't know, honey, that's a good question.  It's polite to hold the door for other people, isn't it?"  Now you might think I'm about to talk about how chivalry is dead, and boys should hold doors for girls. Wrong.  I believe everyone should hold the door for EVERYONE.  I would be just as annoyed if a woman had not held the door for us too.  I mean, how rude.

I fully expect that the boy Reilly and Reagan will marry one day will a door-holder.  Their Daddy is a door-holder, and this will be the standard to which they will measure the ones they meet.  It's one of the things that first drew my attention to their Daddy - he was a gentleman.  He opened doors (for everyone, all the time - not just me), he opens my car door, he pulls out my chair, he brings the car around in the rain.  Or the cold.  Or when I'm in really high shoes.  I am so happy that this is the man who God chose for me - and the man who God chose to raise our daughters.

Have the door held open for them - it's what they deserve, it's what they have seen, it's what they have learned to be acceptable and polite.  But do you know who else they have seen hold doors?  Their Mommy.  I hold doors for anyone behind me, male or female, as I think everyone should. Manners do not go by gender, and even a three year old can see that. 

But the interesting part is, they learn these things young.  Like, really young.  She already knows that not holding the door for a person is rude, although I never even said those words to her.  She just watches - observes.  She sees how people react when we hold the door for them, she sees how appreciative Mommy is when someone holds the door for us.  (And she sees how peeved Mommy gets when someone waltzes through pretending they don't see the pregnant woman with the toddlers and the stroller.)  Either way, raising boys and girls is not that different.  I act how I want them to act. I speak how I wish they would speak. I try to be who I wish they would be.  And then I pray that they imitate me. I hope that they will always have a door held open for them.

And even more, I hope they will always hold the door for others.  They better or Mama's gunna remind them of this story. :)