Happy Irish Day!!

Irish gear: shirt and Hello Kitty PJ's......great start to St. Pat's day!!

Not So Happy Birthday

A birthday is supposed to be fun filled. Her 3 year old birthday was not. We did the best we could, but with 103 temp and a very runny nose most of the day, it just wasn't easy. She cried while trying to open presents, slept off and on all day, and at the end of the day she told Dora her one birthday wish was her M&M ice cream...so we made it happy before she went to bed. M&M ice cream with three candles. She blew them out, ate about half, then wanted rocked and went off to bed :(

Getting Warmer

Thinks she is big stuff!

Loves the swing

The girls of the family :)

Before the 70-80 degree days set in, we went out for a little fun.....still needed coats and hats, but we had a lot of fun and smiles. Stella is so on the go....she is going to be all over the place this summer! Can't wait!!

Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

Our laptop keyboard broke, and then it went downhill from there. In order to use it we had to connect and external keyboard, along with an external mouse.....so the laptop become a desktop that locked up ALL the time. So Office Depot was having a great sale for basic laptops....nothing fancy....so I am back in action! Woohoo! Love it.....the battery even lasts longer than 15 minutes like our old one...lol.

So anyway, hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day!

Winter Days

With snow not lasting long, we have to get out while we can to enjoy it! The other weekend Brian had a lot of homework, so the girls and I ventured to Mom and Dad's to spend the day in the snow. It was fun, but by the evening the snow was melted so I am glad we got out when we did!

Little redneckish snowman.....washers for eyes, clothespin for nose, wire for mouth, and oil funnel for a hat....seriously???

Making some snow angels..

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Three pretty girls :)

I can't believe Violet fits in this snowsuit already :( She is growing up too quickly! I remember taking a picture just like this when Stella was a baby!

Ready for Spring and Summer!!!

Christmas!!

The pictures posted a little out of order, so read for details :)

Violet got Stella some new flannel sheets for Christmas. We opened family gifts Christmas Eve night. Of course, Stella LOVED them. Rolled in them, cuddled in them, and then said, "Look mom, I'm Jesus' mom..." Loved it.

She isn't a huge cake or cookie fan, so we had ice cream sundaes Christmas Eve night to celebrate Jesus birthday.

Stella got Violet a baby pillow pet to match her "big girl" one....

We went in to get Violet up Christmas morning. Stella loves waking her up. They love hanging out in there. I love their eye contact here....Violet watches her every move, and Stella now calls her, "Sweetie."

She opened her new baby stuff and instantly had to gather all of her babies to put in everything.....

Christmas evening we headed to Gma and Gpa Butcher's house. Stella got some adorable monkey PJs, slippers, and robe....too cute!! (And of course she wouldn't put down the baby....even though it was Violet's....)

Pictures and comments from the Ringger Christmas are coming in a couple weeks!!! Can't wait :)

Christmas Eve Eve

Well, this is how the morning started.....a little grumpy....

However, it quickly turned around as we got ready and headed to the mall. We go to the mall on Christmas Eve, but this year we went a day early since we had plans on Christmas Eve. So the trip began....

Next, we headed over the play area and let Stella run off some of her energy. I think she could have entertained herself for hours on this rock....

Violet was perfectly happy just watching :)

Next, we hit up the carasoul....Stella loved the "reindeer" and couldn't take her eyes of the bells he was wearing....

Lunch in the food court shortly followed....Burger King for Stella, Sbarro Pizza for mom, Chinese for dad, and a big ole' bottle for Vi...

A long morning and it was clearly close to sleepy time.....

She caught a cat nap on the way home was was ready to play when we got home!

My little cuddle bunny...

Then it was nap time!! Woohoo!!

Wow...

We had such a great Thanksgiving. It started Wednesday evening. After work, we celebrated Thanksgiving with Brian's parents. Brenda made her famous homemade pizza, which was, or course, delicious!! We spent the evening with Brian's parents and brothers and Stella entertained us all!

Thursday morning we took off for Indianapolis to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. We had a blast. Lacey and Jerome were excellent hosts! They had a houseful of people in their brand new, beautiful home.....thank you guys so much!!

Throughout this weekend, it just became clear how much we truly have to be thankful for. God has blessed our family. Some things that we are so very thankful for:

1. Our two little girls who make us smile each and every day.
2. Each other.
3. Our parents. Knowing that our parents will be there for us whenever we need is so very comforting.
4. Our siblings: we love all of them!!
5. Our nieces and nephews. I can't believe how quickly they are all growing up. Each and every one of them has their own personality and I love them all!
6. A house we can call a home.
7. Jobs. Not only jobs, but jobs that we enjoy and provide for our family.
8. Our health. This is probably one that we take for granted and can change so quickly. I have been reminded to thank God each and every day for each day that my family has good health and that we can be together creating memories.
10. My grandparents. I know I am fortunate to have 3 grandparents left that my kids to get meet and love.

As you can see, this list goes on and on, and I could keep going! We had a blast this weekend. Christmas will be here before we know it, so we better get ready!

As you can see below, Stella couldn't wait to begin playing with her "Christmas at Thanksgiving" presents!!!

Party Weekend!

We attended a great birthday party this weekend for my niece, Madeline! It is always fun to get together with my siblings (and spouses) and to have all the cousins play together. Every time I get to spend some time with my Grandma and Grandpa Ringger, I realize how lucky I am to still have them around. Not many kids get to meet their great-grandparents, and I am so happy that even though my kids may not remember, I get to take these pictures to one day show them....

The bouncy house was quiet the event: we had hurt fingers, hurt toes, hurt noses, and the list could go on. Dad decided to play a little trick on Lacey and her boys as they were enjoying the bouncy house Sunday morning....if only I could have caught Lacey's eyes on camera as all three of them dove for the door....

After getting home on Sunday, we were all tired. We had lunch, and had some fussy girls.....some Praise Baby seemed like a great Sunday movie to calm us all down. And it worked. The girls loved it, and nap time followed. They each took an almost 3 hour nap....and I even got to take a nap too!

After we had our naps, we had a little energy kick....so we decided to get the Christmas decorations down! The girls were great, and Stella loved helping off and on as she played with the huge mess everywhere. We looked over to check on Violet, and found her wanting to help decorate as well!! She was moving all over the place!

Woohoo!!

She wrote her name!! Maybe I am just so excited because I am a teacher....lol....and maybe others can't read it, but I can!!