THE WORLD THRU THEIR EYES!

Back in the swing of things.... kind of!

2012-01-15T11:09:00.000-06:00

I'm back!! I know it's been awhile since I have blogged, our lives have been crazy over the past year or two! We built a house and moved off base due to renovations that were being done to historic housing! We couldn't be happier with our decision to move off base! We LOVE our house!! more recently in our lives, Stephen has returned from his 7 month deployment, 6.5 months in Afghanistan. We sure did miss him, it was our longest time apart, and the first time he has deployed with two kids at home.. Overall I think we did pretty good, we got to talk to daddy quite a bit. Things that happened while Daddy was gone: Adriana became potty trained, Raegan started kindergarten, Raegan lost 2 teeth, Adriana turned 4, I continued with my running and ran my very first 5k, I went on to run 2 more! I really enjoy running and hope to continue it with Stephen. I have lost almost 25lbs, and have become much more confident with myself and made some amazing life long friends. This year will prove to bring many more challenges, we are looking at a possible move in the summertime, not sure of location yet. keep checking for updates! we are surprising the girls with a trip to Walt Disney World! We are so excited! They have no idea we are going! I am also going to Las Vegas for a girls weekend in April, which I am very excited about! I know this post is very random and all over the place and for that I apologize, I hope to be more consistent with posting updates about what is going on in our lives.

HE'S HOME!!!

2012-01-12T08:44:00.005-06:00

Summer in Louisiana!

2009-05-29T21:18:00.005-05:00

Just a few pictures of my girls enjoying our first day of summer!

18 months old!

2009-05-29T21:11:00.003-05:00

My baby is 18 months old, I can't believe it! Adriana is weighing in at 26lbs and 32 inches, staying right on her curve of a healthy baby!! she is smaller than Raegan was at this age I believe!!

She is getting so big! I love how she is becoming her own little person, her and Raegan play so well together, Adriana loves her sister!! She gets so excited when Raegan comes in the room, she squeals and waves at her. It is very cute!!

My little girl is becoming so grown up! She will climb up the slide and go down the slide all by herself...She is saying abotu 15 words, and she understands almost everything we ask her to do....I just love it when she squeals when daddy comes home or her sister comes in the room!! I just love my little girls so much!!

6 unimportant things that make me happy!

2009-05-29T20:53:00.002-05:00

I get tagged, you get tagged

1. days when my husband comes home from work early
2. my girls laughing and playing together
3. cute flip flops!
4. low humidity!
5. shopping online
6. cookout with the family

Tagging:
Laurel
Stacy
Andy
Marjorie
Jenn
Mary S.

Disney on Ice!

2009-04-27T20:08:00.003-05:00

We took Raegan to Disney on Ice the other night, just her and Stephen and myself! We haven't really done anything with just Raegan since Adriana was born. So it was nice. She really had a great time! We started with dinner at Red Lobster, Raegan was great! She loved her chicken nuggets and french fries! (what 3y/o doesn't love those things?) Then we ventured onto the show! We got her a crown with mickey mouse ears, and she was happy! She did great during the whole show, even waited for the intermission to go to the bathroom! What a big girl! When the show was over she was very sad, as we were walking up the stairs, she kept looking back at the stage and sticking her bottom lip out saying she wanted to go see Mickey Mouse again!

The baby also had a great night with the babysitter all to herself!!! Our babysitter said she just laughed and played, they went outside for a walk. She said Adriana knew that Raegan was not there, and took full advantage of the one on one attention!

potty training, talking and tornadoes..oh my...

2009-04-10T21:17:00.007-05:00

It has been awhile since I have blogged! so what has happened...

Potty Training...
We finally decided to get serious about potty train Raegan... and to my surprise, she took to it very easily! We started on a Monday morning, and by lunch time, she was telling me when she had to go.... I was very happy with this.. We are still working some of the kinks out, but for the most part she has it down! and we are still working on staying dry while sleeping, but I think that will be awhile! She is a very heavy sleeper!

Talking...
Adriana is getting so big.. she is no longer a baby,a fact that makes me a little sad... she is almost running everywhere, and is understanding so much. She is also starting to say lots of words. I am so proud of my baby... but sad that we no longer have little babies around the house...

Tornadoes
Well last night we had some major storms come thru, and a tornado touch down on base... Right when we were going to go to bed, we turned on the news and saw a tornado warning for base, and the radar showed a hook in the storm..(not good news) lots of lightening was happening and lots of wind. The green skies appeared, and the lights were flickering off and on... so we decided to get the girls as it got closer and bring them downstairs to the hallway and closet, the moment we got downstair with them, we lost power. The girls were so good, and so calm. The worst of the storm came thru, and it sounded fierce. once it calmed down, we put the girls back to bed, and they went down with no problems (thank goodness, but we still had no power.

we went to bed, hoping it would be back on in the morning....No luck! We didn't get power back until about 1pm. Which was alright, because, Stephen didn't have to be at work until noon due to the storm, and the weather outside was absolutely beautiful, so we went outside to take a look at the damage. and was there damage... 200 year old trees were uprooted and pulled out of the ground, and luckily they fell the direction that did the least amount of damage. 2 trees fell barely missing the cars they fell next to. here are some pictures that my neighbor Wendy took of what happened on base.

Raegan as a Flower Girl!

2009-02-03T11:13:00.005-06:00

Well we have had a whirlwind of a weekend!! We left on Wed. night for Austin. Raegan and Stephen both were in his youngest brother's wedding! Raegan was the Flowergirl! She was very excited to wear her "princess" dress! I will be honest, I was a little worried with how Raegan would act. She has a tendacy to freeze up when all eyes are on her! She did fantastic!!! She walked down the aisle with me, but did not hold my hand, and when she saw Daddy at the end of the aisle she ran to him! It was so sweet! Adriana was there with my mom, and was the perfect baby! She did not make one sound during the ceremony, and it was a full Mass wedding ceremony! My mom was in charge of Adriana for the day! We are very thankful for her driving up to Austin to watch Adriana so we could focus on Raegan!
The reception went until 8pm and I do believe Raegan danced that whole time!! She did not let up once! and for having no nap all day, that is impressive! She did pass out in the car on the way back to the house, with the crown still on her head!

here are a few pictures of my beautiful girls and family!

Going back!! this time with Children!!!

2009-01-05T20:47:00.005-06:00

Well Stephen and I never thought we would be able to have pictures like this!! We went back to Stillwater, Oklahoma (home of Oklahoma State University) while we were up in Tulsa for New year's! We just went up for the day, but we had so much fun driving around and walking around campus! here are a few pictures of our trip!
Stephen even got to go into the new stadium!!! pretty cool!!

the Christmas whirlwind!

2008-12-28T20:20:00.004-06:00

We had quite the Christmas this year, my family came up on Christmas Eve, and Stephen's family came up on Christmas day! The girls loved Christmas this year! Raegan got a Tea Set so that she can have her beloved tea parties! Needless to say we had lots tea parties after Christmas! My parents took Raegan to San Antonio with them for 5 days! She is having a blast! I do miss my baby, and it is a little strange only having 1 baby to watch right now!! But I do ENJOY sleeping in until 8am!!! I know to many that is not sleeping in, but to us that is! We hardly see the other side of 7am!!

here are a few pictures of our Christmas!

We wish everyone a Happy New Year's!!!! We are headed to Tulsa for New Year's!! we will be celebrating at the Cherokee Casino in Catoosa with my mom's famiy! It will be so much fun, we haven't been able to get up there for NYE in a couple of years! My uncle runs the place and they have a fabulous party!!! I can't wait to see everyone, and while we are there, Stephen and I are going to Stillwater, OK. which is where we went to school at Oklahoma State, we can show teh girls where mommy and daddy met!! :)

Getting ready for Christmas!

2008-12-20T15:21:00.004-06:00

We have been busy getting ready for Christmas around here! It always seems that this time of year is always crazy!! School is out for Christmas break and luckily Stephen is off of work at the same time! We have both of our families coming up for Christmas, and we are going up to Tulsa, OK for New Years! Raegan will get a mini-vacation to San Antonio with my parents! She is going to go down with them and my sister for 4 days in San Antonio. I think she will have a blast!! It will be a little weird for Stephen and I to only have 1 child for a few days, but I think we will make it! :)

Here are some pictures from our house decorated for Christmas!

12 hour visit home!

2008-12-12T21:10:00.004-06:00

That is how long Stephen was able to be home on Wed! He flew a jet back from Vegas and had to leave that night on a cargo jet, so they could be there for patch night, (a ritual that everyone goes thru when they are graduating from Weapons School, something to say "We made it!" ) and since Stephen is an instructor in WS he is there as well! We made the most of the day, we went shopping and had lunch together, and most importantly he got to see the girls in the morning and he was with me to go pick them up from school. He also got to help me with dinner! We took him back to work at about 6pm, and Raegan said "daddy is going to work, we take daddy to work!" " he is going to LAS VEGAS!" I think she is getting used to him being gone so much! He will be back on the 15th for 3 weeks! I am really looking forward to him being home. We have our Christmas party at Superior's Steakhouse
a really nice Steakhouse in town! I am really looking forward to it, it should be a lot of fun!

The girls have been really good for me while Stephen has been out of town these past 2 weeks. Aside from the fact that Adriana has developed a dislike for milk! I have a feeling she is going to be our picky eater! YAY me! She will not drink milk out of her sippy cup, or bottle. She will drink water and juice out of her sippy cup, just not milk or formula! Hopefully this will just be a phase!

I will post some new pictures soon

"I draw you momma!"

2008-12-02T20:15:00.003-06:00

Well this week has been busy already! Stephen left Monday at 4am for Vegas for 15 days! It is ME time for Weapons School and graduation time, I am sure there are 9 students who are very happy to have made it to this point and will get to see the end of all of their pain they have endured for the last 6 months! (Stephen went thru the program in 2006, when Raegan was born!) Now he is teaching at the Weapons School, and I can honestly say that having been on both sides of it, I will say it is harder as an instructor than a student in my opinion! when you are a student you only go thru it once! when you are an instructor you go thru it 2x a year for probably 3 years! That is a lot of weekends and late nights at work, and many, many, many trips to Las Vegas!

I took Raegan to the dentist today and everything went great! She let them brush her teeth, and count them and polish a few of them! She has all 20 teeth! It was a mommy and Raegan day since Adriana was at Mother's Day Out. Raegan and I went to the store to pick up some things, and then went to eat lunch and play at the BX on base. and before we went to pick up Adriana we stopped at Sonic and got a milkshake to share! It was a good day! but a very tiring one with no nap!

After we got Adriana from school, we were off to the Dr. for her 1 year appointment! Adriana is weighing in at 23lbs 2oz and is 29.5 inches long! overall a very good appointment. We just have to work on her talking, and starting to say words.

and now about the name of this post!
Raegan has her magnadoodle that she loves to draw on it whenever she gets a chance.. tonight she said she was going to draw me, and she drew a pretty decent picture! she also drew the baby and Daddy, and herself. But I was only fast enough to get 2 of the pictures! She erased them before I could get to them! Little stinker!
here are 2 of them!!

Happy First Birthday Adriana!!! and Happy Thanksgiving!!

2008-11-29T21:23:00.004-06:00

Well my little girl turned 1 on Thanksgiving Day!!! My sweet little girl! We had a house full of family, my grandfather and both sets of parents and Stephen's brothers! Needless to say Adriana was a little overwhelmed the whole weekend! She did start to warm up by the time they all left today!

She loved her cake! She tore into it like a total rockstar! I think this little girl loves all of the different textures, she kept digging her fingers into the cake part of it and banging on it like a drum! It was the funniest!
Earlier that day she also took her first steps all by herself! She took 5 to be exact! I was so glad that everyone was there to see it. I think it is just a matter of time before it becomes her new mode of transportation!

All in all I would say it was a very successful first birthday! and I still can't believe she is 1 already! Where does the time go?

Roxi's not Brown anymore!

2008-11-25T22:00:00.001-06:00

So Saturday we took Roxi to the groomers! I have been so tired of all of the shedding that she has been doing! I have to vaccuum everyday! Well as many of you may know that Roxi is a German Shepherd/Boxer Mix and is a very dirty brown color!
We took her to the groomers in the morning and took the girls out for a morning of fun! Well Stephen went to pick her up and she came in the door, Raegan looked at her, and "Roxi is so soft!" "She's not brown anymore!" It was the cutest! She went on and one about how Roxi was white now! With a brown head and brown tail!

So I included a couple of pictures! Enjoy!

Christmas Pictures!

2008-11-24T21:02:00.007-06:00

So, we ventured out on Sunday morning hoping to get pictures done! Wow, was it an experience! The last time we had pictures of both girls Adriana was too little to care about it or have an opinion about it! She sure made up for lost time today! We did get some great pictures of the girls, but it was an adventure! Adriana wanted no part of being left alone for her pictures! She was very clingy and tired! I think the teething is not helping the matter! Raegan did surprisingly well, and we were able to get some really great smiles! Stephen and I were exhausted at the end of the session! Since Raegan did so well, we took them to get pancakes at IHOP! She loves her pancakes. We got home and everyone took a much needed nap! We have had a very busy weekend!!!

But here are a few of our pictures!

our day at Sci-Port!

2008-11-22T16:25:00.005-06:00

Well yesterday was pretty much a normal Friday for me and the girls! We went to the gym in the morning, like we do every Monday and Friday, and aftewards I decided to take them to Sci-Port. Well it turns out that it seems like every elementary school in the area decided to have a field trip at sci-port. So we go in and pay, and I let Raegan go thru the moon walk and we work our way upstairs to the little kid section. That was quite the chore with the stroller and Raegan and a ton of other kids running in between and running into my 2.5 year old!
So finally we are upstairs and she had fun playing with the other kids, but let me tell you there were a lot of kids, I really had to keep my eye on her. Luckily after about 30 min it was time for lunch for all of the little kids. Thank goodness!!! It was quite amazing how quickly the place cleared out, and Raegan had the whole play area to herself! It was great!! I could finally get the baby out of her stroller and let her play with the blocks! here are a few pictures of our time at Sci-Port!

a Haunted house and more teeth!

2008-11-12T20:06:00.003-06:00

So, I think my house is a little haunted... granted it was built in the 30's I think...We live on a military base in very old historic housing.. so onto my story!

I was sitting in the living room with my 2 dogs, and no one else was home, the girls were at Mother's Day Out, and all of a sudden I hear a noise. I get up to investigate, it sounds like a vacuum cleaner. I am thinking it is the guys outside maybe trimming the trees or cutting the grass. Nope. I go into the kitchen where the noise is getting louder, turns out it is our paper shredder that was making the noise. I haven't used it in over a week, so it was off.... Very strange...I turned it off again, maybe I should unplug it! I will say that I am glad it happened in the middle of the day while the sun was still out. Maybe we have a friend in our house!

and how I mentioned earlier how Adriana was getting her 3rd tooth, well it turns out she is going to be getting a lot of teeth here soon. Her other top tooth has started to push thru, and she has lots of little white bumps on her gums, they are very swollen. She has been a little cranky lately, but is overall pretty good. I am ready for Stephen to be home from Vegas so he can share in this wonderful time! (insert sarcasm here) Somehow whenever he leaves town, one of the girls starts teething! Fun times all around!

On the home front, Adriana is starting to stand more by herself, which will hopefully lead to walking by her birthday! Raegan walked 1 week after her birthday so we will see! Hopefull Stephen will be around to see it! He will be home in 2 days and then leaves again the Monday after Thanksgiving, so he may just miss it!

A Third Tooth!!!

2008-11-09T20:08:00.002-06:00

Well at 11.5 months Adriana is finally cutting her 3rd tooth! She has been very good with the teething.... just drooling A LOT! But that is to be expected! I think at this point Raegan had all 4 of her front teeth already! They are certainly two very different little girls! People are starting to say Adriana is starting to look like more like me! Don't get me wrong she is still mostly Stephen!! There is no denying he is her father!! :) But I think Raegan and Adriana are starting to look like sisters finally!!

on a side note, I think Raegan realizes that her friend Charlie is no longer living right down the street. Ever since Friday night she has been in quite the mood. She woke up every 2 hours that night asking for Charlie several times. Tonight we went for a walk and she rode her tricycle, when we got to Charlie's House! She exclaimed "Charlie's house mama!" I said "no baby that is not Charlie's house anymore", she said "yes mama it is Charlie's house!" I said "no Charlie is getting a new house", she said "a new house?" then she says "We need to get a new house too mama" I told her "one day we will baby, one day" she says "Charlie doesn't stay live there anymore?" I said "that's right baby" then she says in the sweetest, littlest, saddest voice "Oh Charlie" It broke my heart....she said she will miss Charlie.. I told he we all will!

Saying Goodbye is never easy!

2008-11-07T21:44:00.002-06:00

Tonight I said goodbye to some very good friends of ours, and a very good friend of Raegan's. They are moving to Minot, ND. I have never had to go thru this before until now. It is much harder than I thought it would be, even harder so without Stephen here to help me go thru it. Raegan and Charlie played so well tonight, they played house it was very cute! I will miss the walks Sara and I and the kids (all 4 of them) took in the evenings... we spent last summer out almost every night letting the kids play and even went thru pregnancy together all of last year! Our youngest ones are only 5 weeks apart! We spent many a Friday nights together playing games and Wii, eating pizza and drinking wine! The guys drinking their standard Jack and Coke! They are our first real friends to move away and I am taking it very hard. We thought we all be up in Minot together at this time, but things did not work out the way we thought they would... I think this is the hardest part of being in the military so far. Sorry if this is just rambling.. I just wanted to get it out there... We will miss you Sara, Ritchi, Charlie, and Baby Ben!!!

First Blog...

2008-11-07T21:38:00.000-06:00

Well I have been thinking about starting one of these for awhile, so here goes!

We are a family of 4, myself Kathy, Stephen, the husband, Raegan our almost 3 year old daughter and Adriana our almost 1 year old little girl! We are a military family! Stephen is a Weapons School Instructer/ EWO on the Mighty B-52! We are stationed here at Barksdale and have been here since 2002. I am starting this to keep people posted about our little lives here in Shreveport. We live a pretty quiet life but at times can get a little crazy!! so I hope you all enjoy the ride!!