Painting

Michael made this toy box a while ago for Raegan's abundant collection of toys. It is way cuter than what I had been using (a giant tupperware) and it's bigger. He mentioned that he thought it looked like a baby coffin and now that's what I see each time I look at it. How pleasant. But I do feel so lucky to have such a skilled craftsman for a husband. 

You can't really tell in the picture (she would NOT cooperate) but she is wearing a pair of my knee high socks. She pulled them all the way up to her underwear and it was cute.

I got the idea from pinterest to let Raegan paint on a cookie sheet and then transfer the picture to a paper. She loves painting and thought it was super fun. It took a lot of supervision though, so we haven't done it since, even though she keeps asking to.

She likes making "turkeys". At Thanksgiving she made turkey handprints on oven mitts and aprons. Now she thinks she always has to make turkeys (handprints) out of everything. This made for even messier painting than you might expect.

Zoo Much Fun

For Christmas Uncle Tyler was thoughtful enough to give grandma (Carolyn) a pass to the zoo for her and her two grandkids. So this was like a present for all of them. Raegan LOVES going to the zoo with grandma and Jonas. There will surely be more pictures to come as more trips to the zoo happen, but the first trip was a fantastic success. 

 Grandma even let them ride the camel! Raegan thought it was great and talked about it forever.

 I love this picture with the goat for some reason. It's like they're playing peek a boo.

 Raegan really liked milking the cow....

 .... and riding the tractor. She should have been raised on the farm.

 But the cous de gras (is that right?) was the carousel. Raegan LOVES the carousel and talks about it non-stop. I had to take her to the one at the mall because she loved it so much. She always wants to ride the tiger. By the way.... Is it worth it to pay $3 for a short ride and then have to hear crying and whining for more carousel for the next 30 minutes? I say it is not.

 Thank you Grandma! (And Tyler)

Run for Ryan House

This was my first half marathon, but hopefully not my last. It was really fun and I am so happy I did it. My time wasn't great.... it wasn't even good.... but I finished! My time was 2:31:58 to be exact. My goal was to be under 2:30, so I failed. But the hills made it harder so I give myself some credit. Next time I will be better. The weather was perfect, the views were amazing, the desert was gorgeous. If you've never done a race, you should seriously try it. It is completely different from just running by yourself. It is so fun and exhilarating. 

Here I am crossing the finish line in supreme style. (Not at all)

Here is Raegan braving the wind and being super excited for her mommy.

 The best part of the race was seeing Michael and Raegan waiting for me to cross the finish line. Michael had made shirts for them with my head on top of a robot that said "come with me if you want to live" and underneath said "My mom/wife is a machine". Michael is so thoughtful and supportive. 

Fancy Nancy

Lots of swinging with Mack, a favorite thing to do. Both Tracy and my friend Sarah were pregnant and had doctors around the corner, so Raegan and I were lucky enough to have lots of fun weekly visits from Mack and Avery. Seriously, we loved those visits and miss them a ton. Why did you have to have your babies? 

 The inspiration for the post title. Grandma gave Raegan a Fancy Nancy dress. If you haven't read those books, you should. They are adorable.

 Valentine's Day. Grandma and Grandpa brought by some balloons and pillow pets and other fun stuff to make their Valentine's Day fun. Nonnie and Papa also mailed a package that was full of cookies and sticky suckers.

Snow Day

I am not sure where my children come from, but neither of them seem to mind the cold. Raegan in particular LOVES the snow. She likes crunching it with her little boots. Sledding was her favorite thing to do ever! Too bad her mom refuses to live anywhere with snow. But lucky for her she has grandparents who do. 

I am pretty sure Michael had just as much fun taking his daughter sledding as she did going. They started out on this little hill (There really was hardly any snow in Utah at Christmastime) then Michael found a bigger hill. It was actually really good except for some tree roots sticking out at the bottom. They took out both slides within the first run down. We bought more sleds later, but we could find another good spot.

Yes, I did venture forth. I am a good mom.

Snow pictures have been delayed.

Here is my darling baby boy. He was just too tired. Update on Weston.... he is nearly 6 months, he can sit up by himself, but frequently topples over. He wants to crawl really bad. 

Over Thanksgiving we were able to drive over to Escondido for my Grandma's funeral. Here is a picture of the kiddos with Uncle Ryan.

Michael decided to take a break in the mother's lounge during the funeral. He pretended Weston was the excuse, but how could this angel boy be any trouble?

Please disregard the fatty on the right.

There is no place Weston is happier than in his swing. He could seriously stay out there all day.

Raegan decided to puke up all of her morning cereal. At least it wasn't really digested. :)

Christmas

Here are just a few Christmas pics.... I will post a few more of the snow some other time. We were able to fly up to Utah to spend our first Christmas at my parents new house. (Thanks mom and dad!) It did not disappoint. The only bad spot was that my bro and his family couldn't make it. And the snow.... always a bad spot, except Raegan really seems to love the stuff.... (go figure).

Making candy houses with Nonnie. She was a sticky disgusting mess afterward, but she enjoyed herself.

A much loved gift from her Tennessee cousins. It makes a lot of noise, so it's an automatic win.

This is at the carousel at Bass pro shop. We went there to see santa before our plane left. The line was hours long (only slightly exaggerating) and we had to catch a plane so the guy got us to the front of the line. It was awesome!! Huge shout out to the elves at Bass Pro. She didn't like Santa very much, but she really liked the moose carousel.