Easter hunts

The girls had a blast at all their easter egg hunts. It took the first hunt for Chloe to grasp what we were doing. She didn't quite get why we were picking up stuff from the grass and putting it in her basket, but when she saw all of sister's finds...she picked up quick. So on her next hunt, she was prepared.

The first hunt was at a park in Hooper. It was crazy, I don't think we will do that again. They just threw candy on the grass...well I could have done that with a lot less kids running around. But to their credit, they did have the easter bunny actually there, and that was fun.

Chloe a bit lost Laney doing her thing

The second was at Grandma and Grandpa's and that included breakfast so we were all happy. They had a blast at this one. Who wouldn't when you are surrounded by your cousins?

The fearsome crew...oh wait missing one..well two but one is Ava and she is snug in the house.

There's the missing one.

Working together...look at that.

Checking out the finds.

The third was at the church. I couldn't go to this one because I didn't want to take Ava out because it too included breakfast with a lot of people so I can't go into detail. But the girls came home proudo the their finds and Michael did a supurb job photographing it. Let's give him a thumbs up all around.

How cute is that? Setting off together.

So the girls were pretty happy with their finds. We kept the candy in the house for a couple of days then trashed it...very proud of myself. It was tempting let me tell you, but I overcame the candy call. You have to acknowledge the small triumphs in life. All in all, we had a blast with Easter, can't wait till next year!

Easter at the Rasbands

We had a pretty fun easter egg coloring session I must say. But considering that last year we had to forgo it because Chloe was in the hospital...we don't really have much to compare it to. But with a creative dad, eggs, dye and sparkles how can you go wrong?

Dad does love to get creative. Here the girls thought they had everything they needed with some dye and some sparkles but oh how their eyes were opened. They never imagined you might need electric tape, scissors and lots of time. They soon found out you don't just dump the egg in dye, you create. Here are some pics of their creations.

And here is a pic of Ava on her first easter egg coloring experience. She knows how to party:)

Adjusting to three...

You would think that after the initial shock of having one child, that it would get easier to accept when the doctor hands you number two or three. But I found that it doesn't. I still wonder why anyone would send me home with this little tiny infant. And now that I have three, I wonder to myself....ARE THEY CRAZY? And I was kind of scared...what am I kidding...I was really scared. Yes, I have some "helpers" that might make things easier but on the other hand, I have some "helpers" that try to help just a little too much. And here Ava is 4 weeks old and she has become just "one of the gang"as if it weren't any other way...now making the twosome and threesome.

But all in all, I think we are adjusting well. I don't have to tell Laney and Chloe quite so many times a day to keep their face out of Ava's. I am still afraid to take a shower if Michael is not here, but we have found ways around that. Today I thought Michael was here and was watching Ava. To my distress, Laney heard her crying and got her out of her bassinet and took her downstairs to watch tv while I was in the shower. Luckily Michael had to come back in to get something and realized my baby had been snatched :) I don't know what scares me more, her getting her out of the cradle by herself or taking her down the stairs....okay the stairs scare me most. They scare ME going down them. But the girls just love their little sister and I couldn't ask for anything more. And they take care of each other so life is going great. And they each have their duties. Chloe is on binky duty and takes it very seriously. She tries to know where it is at all times and that it is clipped to Ava. And if Ava should cry, she is the first on the scene to put the binky in the mouth. Maybe it is because she understands...I mean where would she be without her thumb? And Laney is the bouncer and music suplier. Again, if Ava should cry, she will sing to her and bounce her. That is one spoiled kid :) (I think she is praying she will live to her 1st birthday)
Watching some TV Wait, who is putting who to sleep?

What a good big sister

And it isn't as hard as I expected, maybe because Ava is really a good baby or maybe because I had myself prepped for something REALLY bad...I don't know but the adjustment has been relatively smooth (knock on wood). The hardest part is loosing my arms...but that will pass. I am just glad that I have the opportunity to hold my little one. They grow up so fast and my friend helped me put life into prospective from one of her blogs. There will only be a short amount of time that I am allowed to kiss them when I want, hold them all day long and hear about their crazy adventures. So I treasure the time and hope I can capture most of it in writing or film to come back to.

Crazy girls:)

She's finally here!

Yes..our little one is finally here. And we are so excited. We narrowly missed having an April fool's baby, but and got an April 2nd baby :) Looking back, it is funny how things work out. We had scheduled an inducement date on April 5th, which was fine by me except that Grandma Ro wouldn't be able to see her on her short visit here. On April 1st, I was on the phone with her discussing the most "desirable" thing to happen was to have the baby on Thursday, April 2nd. Little did I know, my water had "sprung a leak" the night before. Never having had my water "break" I didn't realize it and kept about my daily activities (with just a titch of unexplained crankiness) :) But when it started becoming more of a flow than a drip, we thought it was probably time to go in. Thanks to Grandma Vickie for coming over and staying the night with the girls, we are pretty lucky to have her. We love you Mom:)

Also, when talking to a friend of mine a couple weeks prior, I told her, the only thing I am really terrified of is having contractions. I don't know why but I was trying to think of ways around it. Well, this is a case of knock on wood, where is it when you need it? Ava was very obliging and did come on Thursday so Grandma Ro could see her, and my anesthesiologist was not obliging and decided it was sufficient to just numb my legs...which is exactly what you want numb right ladies? NOT. So I was lucky enough to feel all the contractions with the help of Pitosin. An experience that you can learn from but probably not want to do again. But after all is said and done, we have our little Ava Reese. All 7 lbs 6oz and 20" of her. She finally came at 10:11am.
And we are so happy to have here. We love you little Ava.

Here are some photos of her special day.

And my sister requested LOTS of pictures since she can't be here...so here you go sis! Love ya.

You gotta love those pictures right after :) This is where I peeked under the cap and found a head full of platinum blonde hair.

And Chloe just loved holding her sister. She is happy she is finally here. Laney just wants to make sure she is alright and happy. What good sisters.

Grandma Ro and Grandpa Ramsey meeting Ava.

And finally Dad teaching Ava how to watch conference properly :)

Fun day at the park...or not.

The weather has been absolutely beautiful here that the kids have been begging to go to the park. So we packed up a lunch, made plans with the cousins and headed off to enjoy a fabulous day at the park. And for the most part, it went pretty well. The kids loved playing with their cousins and running around everywhere like crazy people which probably led to the not so fun at the park.

Here's a picture of them before the accident.

Laney was running beside her cousin, Kaleb and their feet got tangled up. Laney went down so fast she didn't even catch herself. She hit her head on the ground pretty hard. Usually she just rebounds, but she looked at me with the weirdest look and on her way over to me she wasn't walking so great and when she reached me, her eyes rolled up in her head and she just went limp. She wouldn't respond to me or anything I did. Scared me to death. Finally after about 30 seconds, which seemed like forever, she started to rouse and to respond slightly. But if she tried to get up, her eyes would started going up again. So we packed up our stuff and headed up to the hospital all the while trying to keep the little munchkin awake, which became quite a chore for a while.

Luckily there was a doctor there that would fit us in. We had to get a cat scan to check to make sure no damage was done to her brain and go through some other tests. Again, lucky for us, 4 hours later, we walked out knowing our little Laney was good and healthy with just a mild concussion. We have to watch her closely for a while and make sure she doesn't hit her head again in the next week, but we feel pretty lucky. It is moments like that that you realize how many things you take for granted. I am so grateful for our two healthy little ones that can run and play and do all the things little kids love to do. And thanks so much for family. My sister was so nice to go to the hospital with me to keep Laney awake and to take Chloe while we did all our tests. Thanks Heath...your great:)

So that was our adventure for the day. The kids always keep things exciting.

Birthdays come and gone :)

When I was young, it seemed like my birthdays would NEVER come. I would wait and wait and when they finally came, they were always a blast. Mom always made them so special. We would get a special breakfast and our favorite meal and Mom would make this panda cake that I loved. I knew it took her all day long which probably made me love it even more. I actually hated to eat it it looked so good.

And now I am the mom and look forward to making my little families birthdays so special. But I have to tell you that I was one lucky lady yesterday. I feel pretty special to just have people remember that special day and tell me. And my hubby was so good to me. He has a nack of listening quietly to my ramblings without really responding so I don't actually know that he is listening and then he suprises me. I was mentioning to him about a week ago that I would love a pedicure before I have the baby so at least one thing on my body looked good...plus who wouldn't love your feet massaged? But he just smiled and went on with the night. But what do you think I found taped to my mirror on my special day....you guessed it. A one hour pedicure....,just for me :) What a guy ey? And he found this great idea for a cake from his sis and decided to try that out and it was DE-LISH!! And my mom took me out to lunch and I had a blast. It has been a long time since my mom and I just went out to lunch. I might make it happen a little more...next time it will be my turn to pay :)

And I find as I get older my "wants" get bigger (imac, table saw,etc)....but my needs are simple. I just wanted or needed for my birthday this year to get together with my family and to chat and see what everyone is up to. It seems like it gets harder and harder to get together. It was fun to sit and talk and enjoy each other's company. We are so lucky to have family near by and good friends around us. My dear husband has to deal with a lot from me...he was hoping we could go out to eat to a nice restaurant or something, but thanks to baby #3, heartburn attacks and I stop eating at 4...so that was out. Can't watch a movie because I would be running to the bathroom ALOT. So chilling at my moms seemed like the perfect way to spend my 29th birthday....yes you heard right. Keep it on the low down. Next year will be a toughy for me...but lucky for my counting system, the NEXT year after that I will be 29 again and continue the chain downward. Who said you can't be 20 again :)

Birthdays are special for the simple fact that you can look back at the __ years of your life and see how everyone who has entered your life has touched it and made you who you are and be grateful for the years and suprises to come :) Thanks again everyone.

Just wanted to share the good news!

We had an ultrasound a couple of days ago that told us we were having a perfectly happy, well proportioned little baby. Everything was working properly and I think we may even have another thumb sucker. I am working on getting the video on U tube so that everyone can see. We also found out the gender...any guesses? Come on....is it a boy or a girl? Or maybe we found out we were having two....oh goodness no...then I would also need a nanny :) We are having a healthy little....GIRL.

We are all very excited, (we would have been no matter what) but as Michael said, "At least we don't have to change our mindset". Yes...I would like for Michael to have a little boy, but darn it he is so good with his girls. And they simply adore him so why mess with a good thing. Plus, a little confession of mine, I have issues with changing boy diapers. I know, I know, it changes when it is yours, but I really think it would take some serious adjustment for me. So we are preparing for a little girl. Michael has even agreed to a name I like...MIRACLE! The girls are thrilled to have a real baby in the house and were very excited to find they were getting another sister. Laney promises me she will hold the baby all the time...that is going to be her job. So if I take the feeding job...does that mean that Chloe gets diaper duty? J/k Yeah...wouldn't that be a great sight. She is already trying to change herself. Thank goodness for Natures Miracle!! (It's a cleaning agent) I personally think it would be easier to just skip the diaper and go on the potty but I haven't quite talked her into that yet.

I am really getting excited for the nursery but I have to get my behind in gear. Time is running out. We are going to repaint the crib so that it is black...which will probably lead to the furniture also being painted. I am going to attempt to make the bedding...cross your fingers. I can't really find what I want so why not make it? Ask me how that goes in a few months :) We also are going to repaint the room, thankfully Michael is supportive on that one. I can start the painting project, but I am not so good at finishing. And we are also looking for bunk beds. So if anyone knows anyone trying to get rid of some....you know who to call. And of course, we need to get her some little outfits. Chloe was a little rough on the clothes area, so that gives me an excuse:) And while we are paining, I thought we should paint the bathrooms too. So what do you think. Is it do-able in 5 months? SURE...why not? Actually we are limited to the good weather so the paint fumes can air out. So maybe less...but Michael is superman so I am sure he can do it!

So wish us luck:)