The Baptism

Last week we got to hang out with Ella and her Mommy for the day! So much fun, Reagan has been talking non-stop about her BF Ella. It is always good for the Mom's to have a little time to hang out and not talk just to a 2 year old for a couple hours.

Saturday was a pool party at a friends house and the girls spent 3 hours in the water, they were little prunes. Sunday was the baptism of Jeimy and Jeff, Irene's kids. Irene has been watching Reagan for 2 1/2 years now, she seems like family. The baptism was at our church and then they had a fiesta at their house. We left around 7:30, but Irene said the party lasted until 2 am, WOW! Lauren apparantly is ready to move onto more solid foods because she grabbed an entire chicken breast off my plate and started munching away.

Lauren has just learned how to clap and she and her big sister spend hours clapping and laughing together! I love it!

Hills anyone....what is up with Spencer, please get him off the show already. Kinda reminds me of this guy my friend dated in college...:)

My Little Fashionista

My little darling found a box of dress up clothes in my closet that I was saving for a rainy day...well it may not be
raining but we are loving it! This is before heading to the grocery store, notice the sparkly shoes! We even had to buy hangers just for her new dress up clothes! So everyone is back to healthy in the house except for Mommy and Lauren. Poor chunky Monkey, she has had a runny nose for 6 days now! At least she is sleeping well otherwise I would be in a rotten mood! Today is concrete day at Casa Paulson. We went over this morning before heading to a friends house and the new porch and summer kitchen are going down! Yeah, it is so wonderful to see some progress. Now I have to start working with my decorator on the inside stuff. More shopping for me, Yeah! I think the girls room is going to be so cute, can't wait for it to come together.

Ranch Weekend...kinda

We headed to the Paulson Ranch this weekend for a little quality time with Granny and Grandfather. Steve had been to Corpus for a TOR Board meeting the week before, so the girls and I drove on Friday afternoon. I noticed their noses were a little stuffy but thought it was no big deal. We got to bed pretty late on Friday because the boys decided to break a water connection on the water heater at about 5:00 on Friday evening. Which meant waiting for dinner until about 9:00. Reagan basically lived on cereal for the weekend! She loved it! The girls could not sleep that night, I don't know if it was because it is so quiet and dark in the country or because they were not feeling well. So Saturday morning Steve wakes up very sick. He had a fever and was not keeping anything down. I think that is the sickest he has been in our 5 (almost!) years of marriage. The girls and I hung out with Granny and Reagan even got Granny to be in her marching band! It was nice for Granny to have a little one on one with each girl. Saturday was another very long night, the first time I have gone from one room to another trying to comfort and keep from crying too much. Then Steve woke up around 3 am because he had not eaten in about 15 hours, so we had a mini party at 3 am! Needless to say, Sunday was definitely a dr. pepper day! We had an open house for the house on Sunday afternoon, we were a featured showcase for the Chronicle. The other house is really coming along. They started re-pitching the roof last week and I finally met with a landscape architect who might be able to tame our wildness!

Paulson Family Reunion

So...every other year the Paulson family gets together for a week to hang out. They do such fun and cool stuff! 4 years ago we went to Colorado and hiked and horseback rode in the mountains. 2 years ago we headed to Bandera, Texas to a Dude Ranch for lots of horseback riding and hanging out. This year we spent the week on Padre Island at a very cool pool and water park resort. We spent most mornings in the pool with the family and then the afternoons were spent napping, such a great vacation!

My father-in-law, Bernie, turned 80 and they had a fabulous party for him at the Corpus Christi Art Museum, the weekend before we headed to the Island. Steve had to go to St. Louis for work so he missed out on the festivities of the Island. Luckily, my mom came to Corpus and drove home with me because I don't think I could have packed up the car and gotten so turned around by myself!! Love you Mom!

My mom ended up taking Reagan to Oklahoma with her for the week. It is amazing how quiet and lonely the house is without my little chatty kathy here to keep me company. She has had so much fun though! Last night she caught another catfish with Pops and earlier this week she rode ponies at cousin Courtney's house.

This week alone with Lauren has been so wonderful, she is such a happy girl! She started crawling two weeks ago and is really on the move now! She cut her first tooth last week while we were in Padre and I didn't even realize it! She wasn't too fussy or cranky, nothing like her big sister... Her big thing right now is to pull up and stand. She loves to hold onto someones hands and pull up, we spend most of our days working on that! So exciting! Her daddy has been able to spend a little more time with her these past few days which is so good for them since Reagan usually gets daddy when he walks in the door.

Where is the time going??

We have finally kicked off work on the new house. Demolition began last week and the tennis court is officially gone (oh the things we do for the men we love...)! The target date for the interior to be complete is October 15th, I don't see that happening but it gives everyone something to hope for! Reagan has so much fun going over there especially since it no longer smells.

The TAG picnic was a couple weekends ago and Reagan had so much fun with Cousin Jim and Jess, riding a pony, doing sack races, paddle boats and beating the heck out of a pinata!

We are leaving in the morning for a week in Corpus Christi/Padre for the Paulson family reunion. Steve will leave on Sunday to head to St. Louis for a conference, it was a huge honor to be chosen but bad timing.

Why is it that I love a naked bum on my kids!! How cute is that! The girls were hanging out together after bath time tonight and I couldn't resist!

Poor Lauren, she actually fell asleep in her Bumbo while I was cooking dinner the other

night. There is no way that would have happened with the first....

Crazy Travel Month

Sooooo...we started about three weeks ago with the non-stop travel. Steve's nephew (Steve) graduated from high school in West Lafayette Indiana over the Memorial Day weekend, so we headed up there for the big celebration. Reagan and Lauren had such a great time, Granny and Grandfather were also there so she got lots of quality time with them. It was Lauren's first plane trip and she did wonderful! Reagan was super excited because we bought a portable DVD player so she could watch the Chipmunks on the plane.

Then the day after we got home, my mom flew down and drove with the girls and me to Oklahoma to see my family. It was the first time for my grandparents and my cousin Courtney and her girls to meet Lauren. Oh what fun we had! Shelby and Rebecca (Courtney's girls) were so wonderful with Reagan and Lauren! Reagan also used one of her Christmas presents from Grams and Pops....her Barbie fishing pole. That's right, my daughter went fishing. She and Pops had so much fun, they even caught three catfish for dinner.

Last weekend we headed to Dallas for niece Katie's graduation from high school. Reagan has been talking non-stop about "cool cousin katie and kristen". She had so much fun swimming in their pool and hanging out with all the big kids during Katie's party.

Last day of school

Yesterday was the last day of Mothers Day Out for Reagan at our church. She has had the best time over the last year. They do some of the coolest stuff and have a blast every day. I don't know if she or I will miss it more! After I picked her up we went to Baskin Robbins with Jacob, Hannah and Julie, just like my mom did with us growing up. It's funny how some traditions continue (especially if it involves eating...).
Such a crazy couple of weeks coming up, my mom gets in town tomorrow for a couple days (YEAH!). Then we head to Indianapolis for nephew Steve's graduation (I keep telling him about the pretty girls at Baylor..), then up to Oklahoma for a couple days to introduce Lauren to the fam. After that we are off to Dallas for Niece Katie's graduation. I love the crazy summer months!

Lauren's attempt at solids

I remember the first time Reagan tried cereal. It was a Saturday (that way Steve could be there), I spent half an hour preparing the milk, measuring the amount properly and adding it to the cereal, getting everything set up just right, making sure her outfit was an old one since I just knew it would get messy, had paper towels ready, the camera ready and a bib in place. On Monday I decided that it seemed like a good day to start, plopped Lauren in a her Bumbo and barely got the chill off the milk and started feeding her. I had much smaller expectations this time...
Her big sister did want to try a bite, which she proclaimed to be "DELICIOUS!!" Such a little drama mama...

Mom's Day at the Ranch

It is so hard to get these two together long enough for Mom to try and snap some pictures! We took this after church on Sunday in George West. We spent the weekend at the ranch with Granny, Grandfather, Jim, Jess and their two dogs. Reagan is madly in love with their pomperanian, Bubbles (which is a boy...). She spent most the weekend chasing him around the house and trying (successfully) to ride him.

Lauren was just happy to have the pac' n play so she didn't get trampled by one of the three dogs running around.

We love cream cheese

One thing I can say for Reagan, she loves to eat breakfast!! Especially anything slatherd in cream cheese.
We had a playdate with Jacob from church yesterday at the house and weirdest thing...his mom (Julie) and I lived in the same apartment at Baylor! She moved in after Olivia and I moved out to live with Wendi and Lauren. Julie even came by the apartment to see it before we moved out; it is amazing how small a world we live in!

Stylin'...

I don't know where she gets her fabulous sense of fashion....this is just to wave bye to her daddy on Friday morning...imagine what she'll wear when she realizes she can pick her own clothes at the stores!!

My Girls

This was taken when Lauren was 7 weeks old.
She has grown so much in such a short time!
Reagan is such a big helper!!

Lauren's Baby Picture

Here is Miss Lauren Grace! Wow, I never knew babies could be sooo happy. She loves to lay on the floor and kick while her sister runs around like a wild child. She recently turned 4 months and is doing of great job of tummy time and holding up her head. I'm just praying we don't start teething yet....