The Ivy Family

Ivy Christmas

2012-01-19T15:54:00.000-06:00

Someone got caught wearing Pappy's boots...looking a little guilty Ra!!

All those cute cousins!!

Pappy and his girls.

Raleigh modeling one of her new "princess dresses."

Her new Minnie outfit...So precious!

Minnie Mouse cuteness has doubled!!

The two David boys.

Super fly Thaddaeus!!

Grammy does such a fun job of finding fun presents!! Yay for Rudolph suckers that light up!!

We had Christmas with the Ivy side of the family back at Thanksgiving, but I wanted to post our Christmas pictures with the all the others. We had a great time celebrating the dual Christmas and Thanksgiving. It is so fun to watch all of the kids interact with each other.

Christmas in Houston

2012-01-18T15:38:00.000-06:00

We had a great time making a quick trip to Houston for the holidays. I always feel so bad because by the time we get finished with all the Christmas festivities with Clint's job, we are pretty tired and my family tends to get the tired, worn out Ivy's for Christmas. We had a good time, although we didn't get to stay as long as we liked because we had to come home to finally move into our new house!!!

My dad trying to read a Christmas story to all the kids before we opened presents. Everyone had someone from the nativity scene to hold...somehow baby Jesus got lost, or maybe was being fought over.

Sweet Raleigh and Pop.

Yippee!!! Her very own camera.

Raleigh and Daddy painting nails after opening presents.

Christmas at our House

2012-01-17T14:59:00.000-06:00

I am so excited that we seem to have traditions taking form with our immediate family at the holidays. This year we added onto our Happy Birthday Jesus and pajamas party cute special stocking stuffers (everybody got underwear...that's right...underwear). Raleigh also understood a little bit more the three presents thing after daddy read to her about Jesus and his first birthday. I really wanted to do an advent tree, but we barely got a tree up for us with the "moving game" we were playing (We had no idea when we were going to close on the house).

Raleigh opening her pajamas at our "Birthday party"

The pj's that Raleigh picked out....yes, that is a cat with sunglasses!!

Thad's pj's.

Raleigh opening her Rapunzel doll.

Thad is showing off his new clothes. Honestly, he is just happy to be here. Love that boy!

Clint's new watch. It is named "Ironman." We name all of his clothes to help with the color blind issue.

Mommy got new boots!!

Raleigh got tap shoes...help us all....the girl taps up a storm...without ceasing!!!

New tradition in full swing....Raleigh is super pumped!!!

Christmas at our home this year was so fun, but I can't hardly wait till next year!!! We will NOT be moving this year at Christmas and can invest all of our energy into the holiday season. So, So, So Excited!!!

We Wish You A Merry Christmas and a Happy New House!!

2012-01-10T15:26:00.000-06:00

Many of you know, but if you don't...we moved!! Yes, AGAIN!! I know you are wondering if I need to be medicated or if I just get excited about chaos around me. The answer is no and maybe. This is our 10th move in 8 years, so maybe medication could be in order for me. Ha!! Believe it or not, I am really excited about this house. It is a great balance and mix of all of the homes we have lived in. It has plenty of room and closet space(Like our previous new homes), but also has places where we can add "our personal touches" (Like our previous fixer upper homes). The back yard is HUGE!!! Hopefully, I will keep you updated on all of the changes we make as we go. Right now, we are still unpacking. It has taken much longer than usual to unpack with my extra little "helpers" around.

Away in a Manger

2011-12-23T18:02:00.000-06:00

Ok, everybody rock your babies!!! When you hear this phrase in our house lately, you know that is your signal to get ready to sing. Raleigh LOVES to sing, especially Christmas songs. Here is a video of her singing Away in a Manger. Enjoy and Merry Christmas!!!

Baby Jesus and Mary

2011-12-16T08:24:00.000-06:00

For the Christmas play at our church, Thad was baby Jesus. I was a little nervous about him playing that role, because kids are sooo unpredictable and I didn't want him to be known as "the fit throwing" baby Jesus. It was a SUPER BUSY weekend. I think I filled up my car twice just going back and forth...crazy!! Thad did an awesome job! He only cried one time...he grabbed Mary's hair and then got his hand stuck to her hair, but other than that, many people didn't even know that he was a real baby. Clint was also one of the main characters and did a fabulous job...Raleigh kept calling him Cowboy dad.

Raleigh and her "cowboy daddy" after one of the shows. It was so hard for me to look at Clint with eyeliner on! Ha!

This is what Thad looked like after most of the shows...tired. I feel terrible about not getting a picture with him and his "parents," but I was so focused on making sure he was happy that I totally forgot.

Big Sister was not happy that she was not asked to be in the play with all of the High School girls. Honestly, she was down right offended...so dramatic!! The whole week before the play and the weekend of the play Raleigh made it her goal to be in the play just like her dad and brother. She would wake up everyday with a new plan of how to be in the play. Our conversations in the morning would go a little bit like this, "Mom guess what?" "I am so excited about getting to be a Shepard today in the play!!!" "Isn't that wonderful?!" Oh, that sweet little girl of mine. We would get to the play and she would find out she had to go to the nursery again...and again was highly offended. Her time finally came when she got her chance to shine. The last day before Christmas break at her CLC class, they did a little presentation and Raleigh got to be Mary. She did fantastic!! Thad was also baby Jesus again at the nativity scene at CLC for all of the parents as they came in. He did amazing (he was a pro at it by then)! It has been so fun to have Mary and baby Jesus at our house this Christmas!!

Here is Thad as baby Jesus...pretty precious if you ask me!! I felt bad for Mary and Joseph, parents kept asking them personal questions about baby Jesus...sorry guys.

Here is our precious little Mary. Somehow baby Jesus was replaced by Raleigh's pig, I have to believe that Mary had a little bit to do with that. Ha!

Here is the first part of their program.

Here is the second part of the program.

Thaddaeus "the warrior" Ivy

2011-12-13T07:46:00.000-06:00

This is the nickname that all the junior high boys have given Thad. I think they honestly believe the things that Clint tells them about Thad (chewing on barbwire, killing buffalos, etc). Thad is the sweetest baby and doesn't do any of those things...yet!!! Our little warrior had his two month check up last week and did very well. I don't remember his exact stats, but he weighed a little over 12 lbs (75%) and was a little over 24 inches (off the charts tall, OVER 100%). We hope that he continues to grow tall in stature, but still keeps the sweet spirit that he has about him. He is also extremely laid back and loves his sister...although he has learned to keep an eye on her at all times. Ha!

Marathon Man

2011-12-12T07:33:00.000-06:00

If you know Clint, you know that he has never really been a runner. He would actually describe his running form like a baby giraffe (very unstable and legs everywhere). He played basketball and baseball growing up, so running to him was a form of punishment. If you know me, you know that my family has always been runners from early on. When we got married this is something that we found we could do together recreationally without fighting too much. So we would run several miles a couple times a week together (we were still young and it didn't take much to keep our bodies in shape). After I had Raleigh and gained enough weight to have 6 children, we decided to train for a half marathon. It was tough, but we did it and thought we would continue running like this for a long time. Until someone got a crazy idea in his head...Clint decided he was going to run a marathon! Unfortunately, I was pregnant with Thad, so I had to skip training with him...honestly, I was SO glad that I had an excuse :) All of his hard work paid off when he completed his first marathon in Dallas the first weekend in December. We were so proud of him!! The weather was terrible and he ended up running with a fractured foot, but he finished well and is even talking about running another one.

Here he is getting ready to start...sporting a beautiful trash bag trying to keep dry because of the rain

My dad and I had so much fun going and finding Clint at different mile markers. This was Clint at about mile 9. I wasn't ready to take a picture...he is the guy in the red hoodie at the top of the picture.

Here he is a little bit later...he is now in the maroon hoodie. He kept changing clothes that we would give him in an attempt to stay dry. PS- the people ringing the cowbells were a little bit over the top in their enthusiasm, sorry if it is annoying.

Here he is freezing in his finisher shirt!!

So proud of our Marathon Man!!

Giving Thanks

2011-12-09T11:33:00.000-06:00

This year for Thanksgiving we celebrated at our house. It was pretty low key, but really wonderful to have Raleigh an Thad's cousins and grandparents all together. We ate a lot, laughed a lot, and had a wonderful Thanksgiving/Christmas combo!! We are pretty sad that we won't see Grammy and Pappy until sometime this summer, but we had some great time with them while they were here.

Our little Indian ready to welcome her family!

A view of the kids table

We also had our very own special Thanksgiving parade (Thanks Kar for being a good sport).

I am going to wear a white dress and get married

2011-12-07T20:26:00.000-06:00

This statement has been heard a lot around our house the past few months, "I am going to wear a white dress and get married to daddy at NaNa's wedding!" Raleigh has been prepping for her big job of being a flower girl at my sister's wedding. She is still a little fuzzy about why she didn't married to daddy, and is still making plans to do that soon, but did a great job as a flower girl. We made the trip down to Houston (our first long trip with Thad) and spent the weekend preparing for the wedding, having a wedding, and recovering from the wedding. It was wonderful! Natalie (NaNa's real name) was beautiful and so was the wedding. We had a great weekend. Clint flew back early to be at church on time and I made the adventure back to Dallas with the kids a few days later after we got a little bit more sleep. Raleigh is still talking about getting married to her daddy...let's hope it stays that way for a while!

Our attempt to get a family picture at the rehearsal

My parents and all of the grandkids

One cute flower girl!!

Daddy and his princess

Raleigh and mommy

Daddy and Raleigh watching all of the people arrive

My sweet husband and me

Our handsome little Thaddaeus

A Sneak Peak..

2011-11-30T20:42:00.002-06:00

Snowflakes Ribbon Christmas Card

Browse our collection of Christmas card designs.

View the entire collection of cards.

A Day in PJ's

2011-11-19T20:25:00.008-06:00

A couple of weeks ago Raleigh had pajama day at school. She was very excited that she got to wear pajamas to school, but she told me that she needed to get new pajamas to show her buddies (I had a Carter's gift card, so she didn't have to do much convincing). She had a great day and was, "super cozy all day long," according to her. She has also started coming home and telling us things that she is thankful for. I am thankful for our CLC program where she learns so much about the Lord and has such a great time. I got a few pictures of her with brother before we got out the door. She was convinced that Thad was in pajamas just like her because he can't wait to be like his big sister. Silly girl! She also informed me that he was a lion (he had a lion on his clothes) and that I shouldn't get to close to him or he would roar at me!! The things that little imagination comes up with!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-09T20:14:00.000-06:00

This year for Halloween Raleigh chose to be....a sparkly butterfly!! It was close choice between the butterfly and a chicken, but sparkles tend to trump feathers quite often at our house. Ha! Of course she had to test out the costume in the store. Meaning, she flapped her wings and hopped all over the store. Many people stopped and watched and even laughed (hopefully it was in amusement of her great moves and not shock). She was so excited to say "Trick or Treat" to all of the animals on Noah's Ark at school. Thad was a pumpkin, and spent the whole day avoiding the camera...he was not nearly as excited as his big sister was.

Look at the air that cute butterfly is getting!!

Check out those sparkly butterfly wings

Precious in Pink!!

Carving a Pumpkin

2011-11-04T09:32:00.000-05:00

Even though things are a little bit crazy around here these days and sometimes just making it through the day without any broken bones and too many trips to time out is a miracle, we still try to have a couple times a week that we do a special activity with Raleigh. We had been meaning to carve a pumpkin for a couple of weeks and finally had the chance to make it happen! Raleigh was very excited about "doing her craft," but once we got the pumpkin open and she could see what was inside her excitement faded to being grossed out. She then became the project manager. She was very concerned with what the face of her pumpkin looked like, but didn't want to help until we started carving (Raleigh with a knife should make anyone nervous!) We had an awesome time carving her "girl pumpkin." I can't wait for next year when little man can carve one too (I have a feeling he will be a little bit more hands on than our project manager).

Raleigh is ready to carve her beautiful pumpkin

Thad is pretty excited as well...just look at him!!

Raleigh quickly became the "project manager" and began looking for Christmas presents that she wanted while someone else did all the "yucky" work.

Thad fell asleep being bossy as well. Ha!

The end result is our beautiful "girl pumpkin" just like the project manager wanted!!

Thaddaeus David Ivy is here!!

2011-10-31T17:14:00.001-05:00

On October 3rd at 8:16 am, our sweet Thaddaeus David Ivy made his grand entrance into this world!!! His debut was much less dramatic than his sister (which tends to also associate with his personality), but we think he is perfect and precious!! It was a wonderful day and we have tons of pictures from all of our new memories. Here are our top 10 favorite pictures from his first day of life..

Thaddaeus David Ivy

7 pounds 7 ounces, 19 inches long

Love at first sight with our little man!!

The two men of the family finally getting to meet.

Me and Ra....well, just being us!

Big Sister meeting her brother.

Big Sister already feeling the need to "help" Mimi.

Pop and Thad.

The two David's and Clint.

Thad and his mom...do I look a little bit sleepy or what?!?

Sweet boy...this is still his favorite way to sleep.

The story behind the name

2011-10-30T18:18:00.000-05:00

When we told many people what we were naming baby Ivy #2, we got lots of feedback. Most of the feedback was not in the positive direction. Most everyone said, "I don't know if I like it or not." At first my feelings were really hurt, but then I quickly got over it. We knew why we wanted to give our future son his name and it had meaning to us just like his sweet sister that came before him. So here is the story behind the name. First of all, we like to pass down a middle name that is named after someone from our family. Raleigh Lorea was named after her great grandmother. We hope that she carries on some of the character that my grandmother has as a person, as well as the name. Thaddaeus' middle name is David, after Clint's father. If I could use only one word to describe his dad it would be...unwavering. He is a man who is unwavering in his faith, unwavering in his love for his family, and unwavering in his work ethic. We pray that Thad gets some of his unwavering personality. As for his first name...Thaddaeus. Several years ago we moved to a new job in the Woodlands. We were very excited to join a team with the Taylor family. One of our first experiences with Mike was the weekend that his oldest son was graduating from high school. Mike shared a sweet story about his son and how when he was an infant Mike prayed that his son would love the Lord with everything that he had or that God would take him at a young age because he couldn't stand the heartache of seeing his son not love the Lord. Wow! Some people would think that is a little bit extreme, but you should meet his son. Thaddaeus Taylor is amazing!! He is truly a young man who is changing the world for the Lord. He was an intern for Clint a little bit later and we have been blessed by the Taylor family in so many different ways. So Thaddaeus David Ivy, you have many people who have influenced your name and I hope that you will carry on and inherit some of their character.

A case of cabin fever

2011-10-23T20:32:00.001-05:00

Since we have been stuck indoors for a couple of weeks, some of us are beginning to get a case of "cabin fever." The worst case has been caught by our little princess Raleigh. For example, her main source of transportation is her bouncy ball. She goes everywhere on it. Who needs to walk when you have a bouncy ball?? The other night she was experiencing a case of cabin fever. When this happens I get concerned for baby Thad the most (because with her cabin fever comes a healthy dose of clumsiness). I kept asking her to stay away from her brother, but she quickly took it as "wave to your brother." We got a super quick video of the cabin fever...if you have any medicine to fix this illness, please let us know!

Baby Ivy #2

2011-10-23T20:16:00.000-05:00

I feel terrible for not capturing every detail of this last pregnancy, but being pregnant with a 2 year old doesn't yield itself for lots of extra downtime. If you know me, you know that I am not the most pleasant pregnant lady. For some people, their skin has a beautiful glow and they feel wonderful the entire time. I am so sad to say that I am not one of those lucky people. Pregnancy for me usually means throwing up in lots of random places, breaking out in acne, and gaining weight like a champ. So when I found out that we were expecting baby Ivy #2, I was very excited and a little bit shocked, but most of all, I was really dreading being pregnant again. This time around was very similar to being pregnant with Raleigh, but it also had a few perks. For one, I wasn't as sick and I was able to still run in the mornings (which was a feat that was impossible with baby #1). I also gained a lot less weight this time around...I think I grasped the concept of eating for two a little bit better this time. I still threw up in lots of interesting places again this time...I even threw up on a cop this time (believe me I warned him before it happened). All that fun that I tend to have during my pregnancies has resulted in two wonderful gifts....Raleigh and Thaddaeus. Now that they are both here, all of that "fun" was totally worth it.

This is the best pregnancy picture that I have with baby Thad...seriously, I didn't take any pictures during my pregnancy at all.

The Zoo

2011-10-22T20:38:00.000-05:00

In an effort to make our soon to be big sister feel special...we asked her what was something special that she wanted to do for her Big Sister day. Her response...she wanted to go to the zoo!! She wanted to see the little mice that go, "squeak squeak" and the pigs. So funny! We first had to go to baby Thad's doctor appointment and then we were off to the zoo! We had such an amazing time with our sweet little princess. She named a crocodile Mr. Turtle, fed the giraffes, and loved the otters. Thankfully, we also avoided adding any extra babies to the zoo that day (Thad decided to wait through the weekend to make his first appearance).

Raleigh and Daddy feeding a Giraffe...look how close they are!!

Mommy and Raleigh checking out the elephants.

So precious!!!

We were seriously this close to these guys...so fun, but a little bit scary for Raleigh.

So silly!!

Raleigh is doing her best interpretation of the turtle swimming in the background. This somehow became her new dance for the day.

Checking out the big birds that are, "just like Gran Gran's" according to Raleigh.

I'm not really sure how to explain this one?!?

Always safe with Daddy.

Sunday Sillies

2011-09-25T19:33:00.000-05:00

I haven't done a Sunday sillies in a while, mostly because Sunday's tend to be a little bit wild around here!! I know I am going to regret it later if I don't continue this, because some of the things that our sweet girl does and says are priceless!! Here are a couple:

One night we were eating dinner and we were asking Raleigh about her next birthday and what she wanted. Very seriously she told us she wanted a party where KeKoo (the name she gave Clint's brother) would wear a bunny suit and hold a big star!?! What??? If you ask her today, she is still set on that idea...I'm not really sure what we are going to do with that?
There are many mornings when I wake Raleigh up that she will refuse to answer to her name because, "I am not that person today, but guess." Awesome. I then have to guess which person she has chosen to be. Once we establish who she is for the day, that then reflects on how our hair is fixed, what outfit we wear, etc... Most of the time she is Rapunzel or Cinderella, one time she was Bob the tomato, which made things interesting!
She is still telling people that she is having a baby sister, but it's name is Thad!
She has an odd love for closing doors....there have been many times that I have been shut in a door way, closed inside the pantry, and even locked out of the house once. Just a word of caution: don't stand in a doorway in our house!
We are still getting over our fear of the doctor (we are still a little bit scarred from our hospital visit when we were really young...I'm telling you her memory is pretty amazing) so the times that she has gone to the doctor with me for baby Thad have been interesting. Lately though, she has started instructing the doctor on how to do his job and then encourages him when he does his job to her standards. Hopefully she won't feel the need to help with the delivery soon!

What do you think?

2011-09-23T20:35:00.000-05:00

Do you think that we might have trouble adjusting in about 10 days??? Hopefully this little princess is going to be OK with someone else being in this seat!! If not, thankfully grandparents will be here to help ease the us through the rough patch!!

Trying so had to fit into her old seat.

A smile...thinking we have found some success.

The dinosaur glare

2011-09-23T20:17:00.000-05:00

There are many times in our house that we get "stuck" on certain things. Pigs, Cinderella, Mickey Mouse, Tangled, and singing certain songs are just a few things we tend to love over and over. Lately, one of our favorite books is "How do dinosaurs eat their food?" Raleigh thinks it is just great. So, we read it over and over and over (I know many of you can relate). The other day we were cooking and Raleigh looked at me with a funny look on her face. I asked her what and why she was making that face, and her response was priceless. She stated, "Mom, I am glaring like a dinosaur." It took us a while to put all of the pieces together, but this is the face she was making:

This is the picture she was referring to:

It is pretty close if you ask me!! It took us a while to stop laughing so hard, but we thought it was pretty funny. It definitely has made it easier to correct her when she makes a weird face at a stranger or anyone else. This girl is always keeping us on our toes and guessing!!

Easter Pictures- Take 2

2011-09-22T16:59:00.000-05:00

Finally!!!! When this past Easter came around, we never got a chance to get good pictures of Raleigh in her Easter dress. Well, finally this week she and I went out and took some pics. For some reason she was feeling the need to wear her "queen," which is on of her tiara's. The "queen" wearing just spurred her on to wear other head gear...she is such a ham!! We had fun and got a few good pics. Here are some from our day....

First we took pictures inside...love those beautiful blue eyes!!

Then we moved outside. Her curly hair has been worth the LONG wait for it to grow in!

I think this is her bubble guppies dance???

This is the most I could get her to be serious.

Then we had to bust out the "queen."

This picture is my favorite!! I made it bigger and in black and white and it is beautiful!! Up close you can see how long Ra's eyelashes are :)

Then for some reason we had to break out the monkey hat....

Our beautiful, silly, wonderful girl!!!

Thad's Room

2011-09-19T20:38:00.001-05:00

It is official folks!!! We are done with Thad's room. Clint says that he will never do this again (which is usually what he says after we finish one of my projects). I love it!! We still have a few finishing touches, but I personally think it looks "manly" enough without having to be a UFC cage (yes, that was what Clint wanted to do originally). I have to admit it was pretty tough having to change my mindset from all things sparkly and ruffly to the rough and tough boy world.

After we measured everything out, we decided to hand paint all of the diamonds instead of tape them all and try to get a clean edge. Clint did the white and I did the blue...he looks really happy doesn't he? Ha!!

Here is a picture of the wall complete!! We used white bedding with a blue stripe that I attached. Raleigh has been reading all of his books and playing with his toys lately.

Here is another angle...there was really no way to hide the camera monitor.

A different angle...I painted his name on little canvases in a "manly" print

Some of his decorations on a bookshelf...I forgot to take a picture of that. The cubed shelf has black boxes on it for storage.

The Lake

2011-09-16T07:04:00.000-05:00

At the beginning of August, Clint took off a little bit, so that our family could spend some time together. By the end of the summer this becomes a coveted thing because it seems that we are all never in the same place at the same time for months! As crazy as it may seem, when choosing a place to go, we make the selection based on cell phone reception. That's right...cell phone reception. Basically, if Clint can't get phone reception, it is a little bit easier to press the pause button on life for a moment. So, we went out to the lake for a couple of days. So fun!! We relaxed, ate, slept, fed catfish, watched movies, and had so much fun.

Daddy and Raleigh sitting on the dock getting ready to feed the fish.

Watching the giant catfish snack on their breakfast!!

Ready to rock and roll!!! Lately we have been smiling so big our eyes tend to shut! Ha!

This girl is so brave with her dad by her side. She loved driving "her" jet ski in lots of circles.

What cute lake bums!!

Mommy and Raleigh...check out that cute pregnancy bathing suit, I know you are jealous!!

Of course we had to do some baking...testing the batter is a must!

What cute little helping hands!!

Raleigh's choice for cookies...dinosaurs, bunnies, snowmen, and circles of course!!

We painted our nails also!! Raleigh girl picked out everyone's color for their nails.

Keeping a careful watch on the progress.

So pretty!

It was also a must for us to take in the scenery...with a little bit of coloring!

Hebrews 4:16

2011-09-14T15:58:00.000-05:00

Sweet Raleigh,
One of the things that we have always prayed over you even before you were born was that you would have a contagious personality. That you would be kind, loving, humble, but most of all confident. I know that may seem odd, but as we watch all the "big girls" (that mommy and daddy get to help at church) struggle with confidence in who they are and who their God is, we pray that you would have so much confidence that it is contagious!! Confidence in who God has created you to be and who your God is. We have been blessed to watch your personality grow along with your beauty. Even though you are only 2, your desire to love others and love God's word is amazing.

"Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need." Hebrews 4:16

We love you,
Mommy and Daddy

Potty Training

2011-09-13T18:37:00.000-05:00

I think it might be official....we are potty trained!! I have been so proud of Raleigh and how well she has done. We started the second week in August and are to the point now where she hasn't had an accident for a couple of weeks. We tried a three day method that several of our friends recommended...let me just tell you it is not for the faint of heart. I felt like all I said for days over and over was, "Raleigh, how are your panties? Just let mommy know when you need to go potty, ok?" Just typing those sentences makes me feel a little bit crazy!! The first couple of days were super tough, but after making it through those couple of days, we were pretty much potty trained except for the occasional accident and our strong willed nature. Then we had to go places...which threw an interesting spin on things. Raleigh was very nervous to tell anyone besides us that she had to go potty, so it made church and school a little bit crazy. It seems though that this past week we have turned the final corner on going potty in public places, telling people without being asked, and not being afraid to do a little more than tee tee in the potty. We are so thankful that she is completely in big girl panties (even at night time and naps) and we will only have to pay for diapers for one kiddo. We are also hugely thankful for the incentive of purple slushes from sonic and watermelon slices, without which our princess would not be potty trained. Way to go Raleigh!!

So happy to be in "big girl panties"!!!

For our first day without any accidents, Raleigh requested, "the biggest purple slush that sonic makes." Wish granted sweet girl!!!

We also found that sometimes when you potty in heels, it just helps. Ha!!

First Day of School

2011-09-09T21:18:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago we started "school" in our house. We absolutely love it!!! It is only two days a week, which works well with everything else going on in our world. This has been the best thing for both of us. For Raleigh, it allows her a chance to be with kids her age without me and learn a ton. This has been wonderful for our sweet little thing that truly believes all of our high school students are her peers. For me, it gives me a chance to teach children, which is something I have missed on occasion since deciding to stay home with Raleigh. Raleigh seems to be adjusting well with her new classroom, buddies and teachers (she is not a big fan of change). Her teachers have been wonderful to love on her and manage her sassiness all at the same time. We truly are blessed so far with our school experience this year (minus having to pack a lunch).

A bad first day of school??? I laugh at the thought of that craziness.

A picture with her favorite person..Daddy, of course!!

What a cutie!!! How in the world did she get so big??

Butterflies

2011-09-07T16:23:00.000-05:00

Last spring for school, I ordered butterflies so that we could watch the whole metamorphosis process. Somehow the butterflies I ordered got sent to Mexico!! Seriously....it happened. All that to say, by the time the butterflies got to us, school was out, but it gave us a chance to watch them at our house. It was so much fun!!

Here are our little friends inside their cacoons


This is the interesting contraption that we used to grow our butterflies!!

One of our four cute little butterflies!!

Daddy giving assistance to timid Raleigh.

So excited to watch her butterflies fly to their new home.

Helping the butterflies "go home!"

Tap dancing queen

2011-09-07T12:39:00.001-05:00

The other night while I was getting school lunches together, Raleigh was entertaining herself and others by tap dancing to some of her barnyard music that is on the refrigerator. The girl has some serious rhythm!! Ha! She thought she was being quite silly, but I am pretty impressed that she was able to do that in high heels...way better than I could ever do!!

A few of her favorite things

2011-09-03T08:35:00.003-05:00

I have gotten a little behind in updating...imagine that!! Ha! Our summer and spring were super busy, but we have had so much fun with the little things. Lately our busy girl has been into lots of things. Some of the things that she enjoys on a regular basis are:

I love making popcorn in my special popcorn maker. I get really excited when I see the popcorn moving and jumping...screaming is usually involved!

One of my favorite things to do lately is dance with my daddy. I love to twirl like a princess around and around and around!!!

Taking baths is still one of my all time favorites!! I love to walk around and show everyone the towel that I have chosen to dry off with, most of the time acting like that particular animal!

I love making noise!! I have several sets of drums and instruments in my playroom, but I love getting to play with my homemade set the best!!

I love to cook with mommy!!! We try to make a special treat once a week that I can help cook with. One of my specialities is cookies and sweet tea. I love to sit on the counter and help make dinner or whatever mommy and daddy are fixing.

The beginnings of a baby room

2011-08-31T22:58:00.001-05:00

Ok folks...it is time to put your game face on!! (Seriously, this is something that Clint says all the time. Ha!) Many of you, if you know us, know that our family tends to be huge procrastinators. We tend to work well under pressure....most of the time. Well, we are starting to feel the pressure around here. Baby Thad will be here really soon and we haven't really done anything yet!! With Raleigh's room I think we had it painted and assembled months in advance. Maybe it is because this is the second child that we are not as worried??? I think I am going to blame it on the fact that it took us 4 ultrasounds to figure out for sure what he was. All that to say, we have used the guest bedroom as a junk room/storage room since we moved into this house, so we had a lot of work to do. We had to clean out the garage to make space for some of the items that were in the guest bedroom, and I had to organize all of my school stuff and get it out of that room. After we tackled that, we have begun to paint. First step, Kilz the nasty green walls. Clint thought it would be a great "craft" for Raleigh to help him paint while I went through all of the goodies that we got at a recent shower. Oh my, the fun she had!!! So much fun that less than 30 minutes later Clint was calling me in to help rescue him from the paint monster!! Two baths and lots of shampoo later, I was able to get out most of the paint that was in her hair and covering her body!! This weekend we will hopefully finish the paint job and keep most of it out of our hair this time....game faces on everybody!!!

Check out that look of determination!!! I know her hair is crazy, but it is out of control when she wakes up from her nap most days!!

Such a good helper wearing her purple homemade paint smock.

So busy working on her "craft."

A week in our life- Saturday

2011-08-06T17:05:00.000-05:00

Today we slept in a little bit. Clint got up and ran, we went through our morning routine and I fixed dinner ( a wonderful and easy crock pot pot roast). We worked a little bit in the yard mowing and picking weeds till lunch. Raleigh loves to wear gloves while she works in the flower beds. She thinks the weeds are the mulch we have so, the bigger the gloves the less mulch/weeds she picks out of the flower beds!! What a good helper we have on our hands! After lunch Raleigh went down for a little siesta and Clint and I were supposed to start on the next phase of cleaning to clear out the baby room. Honestly, we got a little overwhelmed so instead of cleaning we watched a movie and took a nap!!! While he slept, I finished reading my book The Help. I loved, loved, loved this book!! I can not wait for the movie to come out next week. After everyone woke up, we played outside for a while and then our sweet intern Kalee came over to hang out. We all ate dinner, Raleigh tried to boss Kalee around until she had to take a bath and go to bed. Thank you Kalee for being so patient with our sweet girl and watching hours of Mickey with her! After princess went to bed, we stayed up way to late watching "shark week" and I worked on more shower and school stuff.

A week in our life- Friday

2011-08-05T15:08:00.005-05:00

Fridays are Clint's day off...well, sort of. It all just depends on what he has going on and if he needs to go into the office or not. Most of the time we get to spend parts of Friday as a family. He gets up early and goes to Friday morning men's Bible study and usually gets home around 8:30 or 9:00ish. Today we are starting on the process of clearing out the baby room by cleaning the garage. I know it seems a little bit odd to start in the garage, but we have to clean and organize the garage so that we can have a place to put the extra furniture from the guest bedroom/new baby room. We all got dressed and got to work!! Right now in our part of Texas it is HOT and has been hot for a while....so I know it seems a little bit crazy to clean out a garage, but we are under the gun to get this done before we add another member to our family. We worked hard and sweated lots and lots, but we got it done!! Raleigh spent most of the time in "Ruby" her red car. She kept getting in and telling us where she was going and then saying, "OK...see you later homie!!" What in the world?? So funny. I bet you could never guess that she got that from her dad! Ha!! It seriously makes my heart happy now to have space to walk into the garage and see it so organized. After sweating a TON, we came inside to shower and eat lunch. After that everyone took a nap...we were seriously zapped by the heat. We then got ready to go to Justin and Sarah's wedding. Justin used to be on the Student Ministry staff and we were very excited to go to their wedding. When we asked Raleigh if she wanted to go or get a babysitter her comment was, "I need to go see apple get married." (she nicknamed Justin apple...we still are not very sure why she named him that) So the three of us met up with another car load of our sweet friends and headed to the wedding. We stopped for dinner before and Raleigh requested broccoli and chicken after eating half of my salad...seriously we are so thankful that she eats so well, but what kids begs for broccoli?? At the reception, my pregnant feet in heels were starting to swell, so we decided that it was time to go, but Raleigh needed to talk to apple. She told him that he looked very handsome and that she liked his hair!! Ha!! Such a sweet girl! What a busy and fun Friday it has been!

A week in our life- Thursday

2011-08-04T15:54:00.000-05:00

This morning Clint and I both got up and went for a run (at separate times of course). I know people think that I am crazy to still try and run this far along in my pregnancy, especially since I hadn't really done anything since our summer sickness, but honestly, when I run lately it is one of the few times that my body doesn't hurt. I know it sounds bizarre, but it is how I feel. After getting ready for the day, Clint left for work and Raleigh and I were going to try to get a few things done. We worked on the laundry (it seems like it is a never ending process), played outside and had several concerts inside :) When she took a nap, I worked on some shower stuff/computer stuff. That evening Clint got home a little early from work because I had to go to a meeting at 6 pm. Raleigh was so excited to spend the evening with her favorite captive audience-her daddy! I got home to a house where everyone was asleep!! Raleigh was in bed, Clint was asleep on the couch, and Titus was asleep on one of the chairs!!! How Clint can fall asleep while watching shark week without having nightmares, I will never know. We watched a little more shark week and then quickly went to bed and called it a night.

Here is a quick video of one of Raleigh's concerts from the day. Sorry it is sideways....I don't know what I was thinking when I shot this!

A week in our life- Wednesday

2011-08-03T16:21:00.000-05:00

This morning I got up and finished doing research on going potty (I know, it sounds like a great start to anyone's day)...and decided on a method that we would try...and decided on waiting till Monday to start! There were just a few things that we needed to do on our end before we started to try and help make this process be the easiest and most successful as possible. So, this put a little bit of change in our plans. Clint went to work and Ra and I went to run some errands. We finished getting items for Raleigh's potty training adventure and stuff for NaNa's shower. She is so excited about her "big girl" panties!! Let's pray that she stays excited as we try to get her to wear them for good. By the time we got home it was lunch time, quickly followed by nap time. We worked on stuff for Natalie's shower when Raleigh got up. She likes to call anything that we do that resembles being creative "a craft." HA! So we worked on "her craft" for NaNa's shower. We of course needed to work out our craftiness after that by playing outside for a little bit!! She and I had dinner and a bath and daddy got home from work in time to watch a little mickey and tuck in our sweet little girl! As for the other child, as soon as I sit down in the evening is when he tends to get really excited about the day. He is quite the kicking maniac!

Here Raleigh is with the "really, really, big pom pom" that we just HAD to make!!! The others were much smaller...watch out Martha Stewart...we have a crafty girl on our hands!

A week in our life- Tuesday

2011-08-02T07:37:00.002-05:00

Today we had lots to get done around the house, especially since yesterday I did nothing during Ra's nap. We all got up and took dad to work (his car is still in the shop) and Raleigh and I headed to go shopping at one of my least favorite places to go/one of her favorite places...Walmart! It always tends to take us forever when we go, but the need to eat always overcomes my ill feelings for that place. What we have started doing is going to Walmart knowing that when we finish we can stop at the McDonald's that is inside on the way out. We get home and she starts having a picnic with her happy meal and watches one of her favorite TV shows Bubble guppies while I unload the groceries. Today I definitely thought on more than one occasion, "How in the world am I going to do this with two kids?" After lunch Raleigh helped me start on the laundry. I am so thankful for how much of a game she thinks it is to find stains and help shove as many clothes in our washing machine!! She then "did a craft" as she likes to call it, while I tried to straighten up the house. During her nap time, I cleaned the house. There is not much to say about that except that it was pretty gross, but now is clean. Ra got up from her nap and had a snack and then we played hide and seek for a little bit and I tried to get ready (I hadn't put on any kind of makeup or anything yet). Clint got his car back sometime during the day, so we didn't need to go and get him, but he came home around 6. At 6:30ish some of our sweet high school girls came over to hang out. Raleigh was so excited that "her girls were coming to see her!" She greeted them at the door with, "It is so nice to see you." So funny! She then put on quite the performance for them until she and her daddy left for a date together. With the girls over, we ordered pizza, hung out, and made a fruit pizza. It was so fun!! During the crazy week, I don't always get the chance to talk to all of them for a long time, but tonight we just got to catch up. Raleigh and Clint came home with a surprise from their date...beautiful flowers!! They are so sweet to think about me even when we are not together. It was a late night, but so great to spend time and catch up with my, excuse me, with Raleigh's girls.

A week in our life-Monday

2011-08-01T17:35:00.001-05:00

Many times I often wonder, "where has our week gone?" We always seem soooo busy!!! I decided that periodically we would document what we do on a daily basis so that we can look back and see what in the world we did when Raleigh was 2 years and 5 months and still waiting on Thad's arrival! Sorry for the mundane, and we won't disown you if you skip over these posts. Ha!!

OK, so here we go!! On Monday morning Clint got up early and went for a run. He is training for his first marathon that he will run in December. I was so proud of him running while I continued to sleep on the couch :) I have started to sleep on the couch a lot because for some weird reason it is the only place that I can lay down without Thad pretending to play soccer inside my stomach! After Clint got back, we normally spend the morning getting ready, eating breakfast, having quiet times, etc.. Since Raleigh needs her beauty sleep for about 11-12 hours a night (no matter what time she goes to bed), I was going to let her sleep in a little bit. Sleeping beauty had to get up a little bit earlier because we had to take daddy to work (his car is in the shop). So we took daddy to work and came home to get ready for baby Thad's Dr. appointment. We try to keep doctor appointments on Friday because that is Clint's day off and (especially with baby appointments) it gives him the chance to come to/help with doctor appointments. We switched this appointment last minute and Raleigh girl and I were on our own. We went to the doctor and Raleigh did fantastic!! She had no desire to sit with me, but sat in a chair in the room. The whole time during the check up she constantly reassured me that everything was going to be OK and that she would protect me!! Such a funny and sweet girl!! After our appointment, we were going to run some errands, but we got out of the office much later than expected, so we decided to go get daddy and take him to lunch. After lunch Raleigh and I headed home (it was close to nap time). She took a nap, I tried to lay down but got sick (thanks baby Thad). When Raleigh got up we played in the playroom and I tried to get a few things done while we waited for daddy to get home for dinner. Clint gets home at a different time every night, so we just play everything by ear. He called around six to politely remind us that his car was in the shop! We were so busy doing our thing that the thought didn't cross our minds to go get daddy. We quickly went and got daddy and came home and had a picnic dinner while we tried to catch up on lots of hours of So you think you can dance that is on the dvr. After that we went on a family walk, got Raleigh ready for bed, and called it a day.
Here is a short video of her trying to explain what baby Thad's heartbeat sounded like.

Sunday Sillies

2011-07-10T20:50:00.000-05:00

We have always been told that our Raleigh girl is very verbal. Can you imagine trying to get a word in with who she lives with?! She would either have to be very verbal or silent. Ha! Lately she has done and said some pretty funny things. Here are just a few from this week:

Two of her recent sayings have been "oh my goodness," and "holy cow." Who knows where this stuff comes from. The other day she got so excited that she said, "oh my cow!!"
Raleigh has been working on her pouting and dramatic skills lately. The other day she kept exhaling very loudly and then would say, "It's all my fault." What in the world???.
She is not a very big bread lover, which is very odd considering our family :) We were trying to convince her just to give it a try because it was fantastic. She tried the bread and agreed, but what is bread now officially called in our house? Fantastic, of course!
Anytime we are in our bathroom getting ready, Raleigh wants to be with us exploring things. The other day Clint was finishing getting ready and Raleigh was with him. She came out of the bathroom very excited and proud telling me of the beautiful sticker she had found. It was none other than a panty liner!! Clint thought it was hilarious and I was a little bit horrified.

Sick, Sick, Sick!!

2011-07-10T20:21:00.000-05:00

Seriously, who gets sick in the month of June?? During the summer I always thought you had to be careful of things like sunburn, bad mosquito bites, and heat rash. Not such the case in our house lately. We have honestly had almost everything you could possibly imagine. Everything from double ear infections to bronchitis, to sinus infections, to pneumonia, pink eye and so much more. So crazy!! I know that summer tends to be crazy for our family from all of the travel, missing daddy, and extra stress, but I guess we need to do a little bit better job taking care of ourselves. Our family keeps telling us that we need to rest. We try, I promise, but I guess it is the price we pay when we jump from trip to trip and try to function on the same amount of sleep that teenagers need!! No need to worry, the Ivy family is back on the mend and back on the road again!!

Here, Fishy Fishy!!

2011-05-20T22:16:00.001-05:00

Recently Raleigh and I were shopping. We passed an isle and she shouted, "Stop Mommy, Stop!" We went down that isle she showed me the item she thought was, "So beautiful." I honestly was a little bit surprised. The item that she picked was not pink, girly, or had any hint of bling to it. The fish hooded towel was something that she just NEEDED. She has been in love with her "fish music" that I guess this is what inspired the purchase. We tried to get a couple of pictures of our cute little fishy.

Here she is...so excited to be a fish!!

Beautiful Blue Eyes!!

Come on guys, follow me!!

We have one cute little fish on our hands!!

Excuse Me...

2011-05-08T09:07:00.001-05:00

Excuse Me...I have an announcement. It is so exciting that I can't even look you in the eyes.

Coming Soon (at the end of September/early October)...

I am going to be a BIG SISTER....

to a....

LITTLE BROTHER!!!!

Dying Eggs

2011-05-06T09:21:00.000-05:00

This year was our first attempt to dye eggs. I have to be honest, I was a little bit nervous, but we gave it a try. Raleigh had soooo much fun! "Oh my goodness!" is something we kept hearing over and over. We broke/cracked quite a few eggs while letting Raleigh girl do it by herself, but the ones we ended up with were so "pretty and gorgeous."

We covered her in her painting smock.

She was all smiles in anticipation!!

The best way to dye eggs is by closing your eyes...of course!!

Waiting is the hardest thing for our patient little princess.

Still waiting...

"Mom, they are ready now!!"

Our results...with only a few minor cracks.

TA DA!!! Yes, we only ended up with four eggs....like I said, we did crack a few in the process of finding our independence!!

Easter Egg hunt

2011-05-06T08:45:00.001-05:00

This year to start out our Easter celebrations, we had so much fun at our church's family fun day and Easter egg hunt. We were very curious to see what our little princess would do compared to last year. Last year she didn't pick up any eggs, but just ran around and shouted and screamed in excitement. This year she did fantastic!! She started picking up eggs by color and quizzing us along the way over our knowledge of colors. Then, she began picking up eggs like mad when she found out that they were filled with M&M's!! She had such a fun time. It was a great start to our Easter celebrations!

Here she is ready to hunt!!!

All smiles with Daddy

She was seriously distracted by the windmills

Picking up eggs by color.

"Mom, do you know what color this is? That's right it is yellow."

Trying to get a picture with the avid egg hunter can be difficult.

Ok....so maybe really difficult!!

Searching for more eggs...

Checking out a beautiful blue one.

Finding some hidden in the hay.

Still hunting.

She was not very amused that we kept trying to take her picture!!

Such a big girl!!

All smiles after a fun time!

Palm Sunday

2011-05-06T08:03:00.001-05:00

This year in preparation for Easter, Raleigh began to understand a little bit more about what was going on. In the Children's Ministry area, they had a man dressed like Jesus come down the hallways with a donkey while the children waved palm branches and shouted, "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." Raleigh of course was very cautious and instructed everyone not to freak out, but it was an incredible teaching point for her. It was a great chance for us to talk about why and what she had learned that morning. Here is a quick video of her recapping what happened.
PS- we were doing major laundry...I promise our living room doesn't look like that most of the time.

Sassy Pants

2011-05-06T07:32:00.000-05:00

There are some days that go by and I find myself saying quite often, "I have no idea what I am going to do with her when she gets older." Since the beginning, Raleigh has lit the world on fire. We prayed for her to have a dynamic personality. Now, we find ourselves praying that she will use her personality to lead others in the right direction instead of the wrong direction. There are days that she has never met a stranger, gives everyone she knows a nickname, and will make you cry from laughing so hard. Teamed with those amazing days are days that she will roll her eyes at you (yes, she already knows how), refuse to hug you, and cry if you look at her the wrong way. We love this girl and all of her mood swings!!! What tends to come with her mood swings is a little bit of sassiness and drama. Lately, she has decided to wear heals everywhere!! I swear she walks better in them than I do. Thank goodness she hasn't asked to wear them out in public yet ( that is a fight that I don't think that I am ready for).

Raleigh doing her model walk, showing off her "cute" shoes!

She caught me taking pictures of her and she decided that she needed to pose.

We have quite the diva on our hands!!

Raleigh's 2nd Birthday!!

2011-04-20T07:56:00.000-05:00

Our sweet girl turned two at the end of February!! It is so hard to believe that she is two. It seems like only yesterday when we were heading off to the hospital in anticipation to meet our Raleigh Lorea. For her party this year, we tried to keep it as low key as possible (especially because last year was a little bit out of control). We invited immediate family to come and celebrate her special day.

One of our birthday traditions is that you get to sing Happy Birthday at every meal!! Raleigh is ready to blow out the candle on her birthday breakfast.

Mimi and Pop were the first to arrive to spend time with the birthday girl.

Of course we had to go to the park first to have some fun. Raleigh had to sit in the swing backwards because the sun was in her eyes!!

Ra and Pop taking a walk. If she looks at you and says, "come with me guys." Be prepared, who knows where you will end up.

This year, Raleigh was very insisting that she have a ladybug cake. Here is our best attempt to make a ladybug cake.

Raleigh sitting with her "ladycake" as she called it!

Notice the black marks on our birthday girl's mouth??? She decided it would be a great idea to kiss/lick the ladybug on top of her cake! So funny!

Quick family picture time...almost everyone is smiling and looking at the camera!

Some of Raleigh's cousins came in for her birthday as well. The fact that they are all sitting down at the same time is a little bit of a miracle in itself!

Raleigh got an indoor trampoline as one of her gifts...she and the cousins had so much fun jumping and dancing to music.

She opened lots of presents that she loves and plays with often.

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!!!

Busy Family Award

2011-04-01T19:21:00.000-05:00

The award goes to.....The Ivy Family!!!! I know that we are probably not any busier than everyone else, but our little world has been very busy around here. I feel like we have been trying to act like a snow globe. You know when you shake a snow globe and there is snow flying around like crazy, but the figurine inside seems so calm...well, I feel like that has been a great picture of us lately. The craziness of life is swirling around us and we try to remain calm, but honestly if you know us, calm isn't really a word you would use to describe our family. So survive becomes the word. We have definitely been surviving. Now that our snow globe has settled a little bit, we can fill you in on all of the exciting things that have been happening lately.

Much Love from the "Big Girl" Swing!!

2011-02-23T18:24:00.000-06:00

Clint took this quick video while playing with Raleigh outside today. She has transitioned to the "Big Girl" swing. We are so thankful that she loves to be outdoors, but it is quite difficult to get her to come inside! HA!! Enjoy the hiccups and the extra long bangs!

Freedom Videos Part 4

2011-02-21T16:29:00.000-06:00

This is the second part to the final video for Freedom weekend 2011. It was such an awesome weekend!!

Freedom Videos Part 3

2011-02-21T16:27:00.000-06:00

This video is the one that they showed at the end of the weekend. It is so large they had to split it into two videos on YouTube. Here is Part 1. So fun!!

Freedom Videos Part 2

2011-02-21T16:24:00.000-06:00

Here is another video with sweet Kristen. She is one of Ra Ra's babysitters :)

Freedom Videos Part 1

2011-02-21T16:17:00.001-06:00

Before and during Freedom there are lots of videos that are shot. Some are very silly, and some are very intentional. Here is one of the silly ones. Can I just tell you how hard I laughed at Clint in this one!!!!

My Running Shoes Are In The Kitchen, It Must Be Freedom Time!

2011-02-19T14:20:00.000-06:00

The past couple of weeks, I have felt that we have been running around without our heads attached! We have lost a lot of things, our house looks like a tornado hit it, and my running shoes are in the kitchen (not even close to where they belong)!! Freedom weekend was coming, and so did the snow and ice which made Raleigh crazy and Clint anxious. Many thoughts went through my mind of doubt, fear, and just plain being nervous. Then God Almighty showed up and the result?? Everything more than we could ever imagine.

Amidst 520 something students, God began to soften hearts, heal relationships, and speak words of truth over them. UNBELIEVABLE!!! It was a blessing to be a sidekick to Clint and his staff this past weekend. So the next time my running shoes are in the kitchen, I guess I will know to get ready for what God wants to do.

The Next American Idol

2011-02-19T08:19:00.000-06:00

It has snowed sooo much the last couple of weeks. We tried to go and play, but our little princess was not a big fan. She wanted to go outside, but was actually upset that her rain boots didn't match her jacket perfectly, which meant she obviously couldn't been seen out in public like that. Do we have our hands full or what?! Ha! Since we chose not to play outside, we played everything imaginable inside.... and I mean EVERYTHING!! One of the days, Raleigh decided to put on a concert. Oh, my goodness!! We laughed so hard, with out insulting the performer, of course. Here is a quick video of her singing debut.

Man It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta

2011-02-04T20:19:00.001-06:00

So, a huge case of cabin fever has taken its toll on our family!!! Clint can't go to work (which he has now resorted to pacing), Raleigh can't go outside (which she has now resorted to destroying the house), and we are all in need of some serious sunshine!! Yesterday morning, Clint was fixing the frozen pipe situation at our house, while Raleigh was informed that she was not allowed to go outside. In frustration and with a serious bit of sassiness, she requested for her daddy's toboggan. Clint gave it to her in hopes of raising her spirits, but she just used the hat to add more drama to her pouting. We laughed so hard at her, but she wasn't cracking. We could not figure out what she looked more like: a gangsta or a hippie!! What can break a bad attitude with this girl??? Well, I pulled out the big guns and offered to make homemade Hello Kitty waffles!! It definitely change her attitude and outlook on another day spent inside.

Hello attitude changer!!!

We still wore the hat, but at least we had some smiles!!!

Sunday Sillies

2011-01-30T20:18:00.001-06:00

Since our little chatter box has begun to make sentences that you can understand instead of alien talk, we wanted to document some of the rather silly things that she says/does. We want to be able to remember the details in the daily memories with our sweet girl.

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One of Raleigh's favorite new toys is Wiggles the worm (I think you may have seen a picture in an earlier post). The other night when we were having a picnic on the floor, Raleigh felt it was very important to go and give Wiggles a visit. She then pretended to feed him some of her food, patted him on the head, and told him, "No problem, Merry Christmas Wiggles."
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We have started to try to encourage Raleigh to tell us when she needs a diaper change. The other day I asked her if she needed a diaper change, she then quickly replied, "No thanks." I asked her again if she needed a diaper change (The whole neighborhood could smell that she needed a new diaper) or if she was lying. She looked at me somewhat puzzled and then...roared!! Then she said, "Yes mommy, I Lion!!"
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Poor Titus!! He puts up with so much lately from Raleigh. She feels that she has the total right to boss him around and that he must listen to her. Since putting her swing set up, she likes to tell him to sit, makes him stay, and tells him to watch her slide. It is a pretty funny sight seeing a dog listen to a one year old. Like I said, poor Titus!!
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We are trying to limit our "love" given to piggy by keeping him in the bed just for naptime. So far, we have been pretty successful (except for school days). The other day when we were on a walk, Raleigh began to ask for piggy. We began to explain that he was doing "piggy things" and that he would be waiting for her when it was time to take a nap. She then looked at us very seriously and asked, "Is piggy swimming?" We were a little bit caught off guard, so we replied a hesitant "Sure." She then asked further, "And is piggy playing with Frostie?" I guess "piggy things" could include playing with Frosty the Snowman and swimming???

Raleigh's famous twin

2011-01-29T22:00:00.000-06:00

Today before taking her nap, Raleigh decided to take her "dog ears" out to get cozy (as she would say). When she woke up from her nap, she began to resemble someone famous. Who is that famous twin you ask??? None other than Ace Ventura Pet Detective. It may seem like a stretch to some, but her crazy hair has made us laugh so much lately. Watch out world, here comes Ace Ventura!!

PS- yes we are at the dinner table, and yes she does have Cheetos on her face!!

Hairtastic

2011-01-29T21:51:00.000-06:00

Around here things have been a little bit hairtastic (I totally made that word up). We have been waiting for Raleigh's hair to grow. I just want to be able to do something with it instead of the side swept bow. We have watched in envy as many of her friends sport their cute ponytails and pig tails. Yesterday we tried putting her hair up for the first time in a long time. She wasn't a big fan until she could put two bows in her hair....then she suddenly became a model. We have definitely entered the phase of the "dog ears." Yippee!!! We are so pumped.

This is the look of "what do you need Mommy?"

Her model face. Ha!

Donuts with Dads

2011-01-29T20:24:00.000-06:00

Recently at school, Raleigh had a special event....Donuts with Dads!! Having donuts with her favorite person in the world was the perfect start to her day. They had a great time. The kids and teachers were supposed to wear ties as a tribute to their dads. Our fashionista decided that she wanted nothing to do with the tie. It wasn't cute. Even with the sparkly shoes and sparkly headband we wanted nothing to do with the tie.

If you look close you can barely see her tie. Something totally worth being upset over. That girl!!!

Christmas in Houston

2011-01-28T11:01:00.000-06:00

After all of our Christmas festivities were completed in Dallas, we headed to Houston to see my side of the family. It was insane (for lack of better words)!!! We had so much fun seeing our family, especially the great grandparents. Raleigh had the best time hanging out with Ellie and Mason and holding cute baby Mollie (just one time). This was the first Christmas at Mimi and Pop's new house, luckily no one fell in the pool or got their head stuck in the stairwell, so it was a success!! Since moving to Dallas, we don't get a chance to see my side of the family as much, so this was much needed family time. Raleigh can't wait to see everyone again.

Raleigh opening presents in her pj's.

So excited to get her own grocery cart with groceries!!

The newest addition to the family (Matthew and Carrie's). Meet Mollie Sue. It looks as though she is loving Aunt NaNa's signature lovie gift.

We had to immediately read one of her new books from Mimi and Pop.

Aunt NaNa and J.B. got a quick hug for the Mickey Mouse movie....who looks like they need a nap in this picture??

So excited about her shape puzzle!! Her new favorite shape is the triangle. Some days, we will only eat food that is in the shape of triangles.

Mimi opening presents and multitasking....yes, that is a sleeping baby on her lap!!

The girls opening their big presents together....

The boys enjoyed playing with one of Mason's presents. Ha!!

The girls eating breakfast together at their table. There was a little dispute over who got what color chair, but after we got over that, it was all smiles!!

Raleigh and Mason "just hanging out."

Raleigh somehow convinced everyone to push her around in "Ruby" the red car....even her great grandfather papaw!!

Merry Christmas!!

2011-01-28T10:13:00.002-06:00

I know this seems a little bit odd at this time of the year to say, but Merry Christmas!!! I know Christmas and the New Year season have come and gone, and you have yet to see pictures of our family. I would apologize, but it seems if you read our blog, you have gotten used to our delayed updates. I do want to apologize that we didn't send out Christmas cards this year. It honestly made me so sad. We moved at the beginning of December, and with all of the Christmas craziness, it just didn't happen. Amidst all of the parties and boxes (we are just now finishing unpacking), we had a wonderful Christmas. Sadly, we didn't have time to get our tree up (you know that I am an all or nothing kind of girl), but fortunately Raleigh didn't seem to mind. The girl was totally focused on her presents! Ha!

Raleigh opening her "less exciting" presents...clothes.

Sparkly shoes....a little bit more exciting.

She loved playing with her Elefun game (you can see the post of the video of her screaming). We haven't quite got the concept of her catching the butterflies yet, but she loves to wave her net and scream!!!

She played aka screamed so hard playing her new favorite game, that she need a rest. Ha!!

Meet Mr. Wiggles the worm. The best way to ride him you ask?? With 3D glasses of course!!!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

2010-12-26T08:52:00.000-06:00

One of our family traditions is celebrating Jesus' birthday. We bake cupcakes, sing "Happy Birthday," and open one birthday present (new pajamas). We normally do this on Christmas Eve, but we were running a little behind, so we did it yesterday. Raleigh was such a great helper. We have a video of her singing and telling baby Jesus, "Happy day, Jesus!!" As soon as we can get that uploaded we will.

Raleigh helping bake the cupcakes.

Miss Independent icing the cupcakes!

Choosing the right color sprinkles is a must!!!

Blowing out the candle.

Yum!!

Enjoying cupcakes with Daddy!!

Our tower of birthday cupcakes.

We scream for...Butterflies!!

2010-12-26T00:19:00.001-06:00

One of Raleigh's presents was a game called "Elefun." Honestly, we bought it because it would be one of the few toys that she would own that didn't make tons of noise! Ha! The elephant blows butterflies out of its' trunk and you are supposed to catch them in your butterfly net. Raleigh didn't get quite that far...at all. Every time we would turn the elephant on she would say, "Here they come!!" referring to the butterflies. She would scream, run around the room, drop her butterfly net and start fluttering her "wings" like a butterfly. It was so funny. After more than 30 minutes, she fell down on the floor with several butterfly nets on top of her (it is so exhausting chasing animals) and called it quits. I have a feeling we will play another round of elefun tomorrow!! Here is a video of the famous butterfly catcher.

A turkey for Thanksgiving...or maybe a Halloween peacock?

2010-11-30T22:10:00.000-06:00

This Halloween we needed Raleigh to be an animal from Noah's Ark (for school). We went looking for costumes, and found several that would work. There was the sweetest little giraffe costume that was sooo cute on her. Our hopes of having a sweet giraffe for Halloween was quickly overturned when Raleigh girl set her eyes on the shiny, colorful peacock costume. She was smitten!! Until Halloween came, all she could do was talk about her peacock. She even wanted to sleep with her costume. Ha! We went and took some quick pictures of our precious peacock.

The precious peacock!!

Checking out that cool pumpkin.

Someone called her a chicken while we were there. If that is the case, then she is a super cute turquoise sparkly chicken!!

If I can lift it, can we take it home??

Is there a difference between a jump and a hop?

2010-11-03T21:05:00.000-05:00

In our world, you bet there is!!! Allow me to explain... if you are hopping, your feet do not come off of the ground. Not at all....but, if you are jumping, you better believe that those feet are coming off of the ground. If it is some good jumping, you might even scream and shout a little bit. So funny to watch our little bunny jump!

Pink Flamingo Party

2010-11-03T20:39:00.000-05:00

Recently the girls ministry had an event for 7th grade girls and their moms. It was a chance for us to get to know the youngest and newest girls to the ministry and their mothers. Plus, it is so fun!! Everything is pink and decorated with pink flamingo's (great job Steph). Raleigh and Clint came for a little bit. Clint wore blue in protest, and of course RaRa looked cute. I say the word cute, because that has become a very special word in our home lately. Raleigh will refuse to wear anything if it is not "cute." Ha! Can you see the mess of a pretty princess that we have on our hands!! Here are some precious pictures of RaRa:

RaRa played outside while all the girls and their moms arrived.

Check out that tutu!!! Precious!!

Flamingo's lined the sidewalk going to the front door. Raleigh being the good host that she is, greeted every flamingo.

"Hey, how ya doing famingo?" is what she said to greet each one.

Pink Flamingo Fun!!

MUD WARS!!!

2010-11-03T17:20:00.000-05:00

A couple of months ago, we had a big fight within the high school 380 students!!! Not a real fight, but mud wars!! If I had to sum it up in one word...GROSS!!! With help from the fire department, everyone got muddy and clean (sort of). It was so much fun!! They do a different event like this every so often to give all high school a chance to be together (instead of their separate bible study groups) and have a lot of fun!!!

Some students got dirty...even if they didn't want to!!

Steph and some high school girls...pretty!!

Clint somehow managed to stay pretty clean!!

Some of the group after the mud

Thank you to the fire department for hosing off the kids!!

Cooking Part 2

2010-10-25T21:34:00.000-05:00

Here is another video of Raleigh cooking. Check out how she puts on her "surprised/scared" face!! She makes this face all the time. So funny to watch the many faces of chef Raleigh.

Picasso and a Parade

2010-10-25T21:31:00.000-05:00

Lately we have had two passions around here. Passion #1 Coloring and Passion #2 Being the center of attention. Both of those passions have been met recently. The 380 students was in the Prosper homecoming parade. Raleigh, of course, wanted to ride on the float with daddy. She had a blast!!! She thought everyone was there for her! ha! She waved at everyone and had so much fun with all of the kids. Her other passion was met when we bought a new coloring book. The girl loves her some Hello Kitty!!

Raleigh girl enjoying a little bit of Sonic!!!

She waved to all of her "fans" and played so hard that she fell asleep!!! Sweet girl, I have no idea how she fell asleep with all that noise!

Check out that coloring book!!! That Raleigh is so talented that she colors with both hands! Ha!!

Saying Goodbye

2010-10-25T20:57:00.001-05:00

Less than a month ago, we sold our house!!!! I have to admit, I was pretty sad to see this house go...it was my absolute favorite!!! The custom deck built by my husband, the side attic to store all of our decorations, my beautiful kitchen, are just a few of the things that make my heart sad. Compiled with the sadness is extreme happiness!! I know that may sound odd, but selling our house was the last thing that needed to happen before we felt like we could fully feel like Dallas was our new home. We are thrilled to feel that we no longer have to feel like we are emotionally in two places at once (and it is definitely easier on the bank account). Soon, we are moving to a home closer to the church, which makes us very excited!! We will be there (hopefully) for a few years while we let Dave Ramsey figure out our finances and we look for the perfect home for our family. During the move, Raleigh girl was with us, so keeping her entertained and out of the way was a little tricky. At one point, we were playing with gatorade bottles ( I think that was a low point for us. ha!)

Cooking with Raleigh

2010-10-22T20:26:00.006-05:00

Raleigh has decided that she can be a chef without any help!!! As you can see by watching, my focus is to keep the food in the bowl, while her focus is to keep me away from the spoon!! Ha!! It is so fun getting to cook with Raleigh!!

Mimi and Pop's visit

2010-10-22T20:12:00.000-05:00

A while back, Mimi and Pop came to visit. We had gotten so used to seeing my parents from when we were training for a half marathon and just being less than an hour away, that we were all going through withdrawals. We were so thankful when they came up for the weekend. We had a great chance to relax and also take in a football game.

Raleigh laughing with her Mimi and Pop!!

We went to Cowboys stadium to watch the Oregon State vs. TCU game. We were definitely pulling for the beavers to win (especially the Rogers brothers)!!!

Pappy Boy!!

2010-10-22T20:01:00.000-05:00

Lately we have seen more of Clint's dad (also known as Pappy). We have been excited to see him, but the circumstances in which we have gotten to see him could have been better (Clint's uncle was fighting cancer). On a side note, please pray for the Ivy family. The loss of Roger has been very hard.
Raleigh loved seeing her Pappy!!! She even let him watch a Mickey Mouse and Handy Manny with her (you have to be pretty special to get chosen to watch one of her special shows with her ).

Some of the many reasons Raleigh loves her Pappy Boy are:

Pappy will let her use his cell phone. This is not allowed in our house, due to the fact that Raleigh has what we would like to call "fast, fast hands" and she is very tech savvy!!

Pappy will "hold you" (as Raleigh likes to say) anytime you want!

If you can't tell, she thinks she has him wrapped around her finger!!! Ha!!

Daddy Daughter Day

2010-10-22T19:34:00.001-05:00

Several months ago, Clint saw that I needed some time to get things done without "special help" from Raleigh. They left for a couple of hours and saw more and experienced more than Raleigh and I do in a week!! A day with Daddy is never dull!!

First, they went to the playground...

As you can tell, swinging is one of her favorite things!!

Next, they went on a field trip to Celina..

Raleigh showing her famous face..."Are you talking to me???"

Of course Olivia her sidekick came along!!

Finally, they visited a PINK Firetruck!! Where in the world they found this, who knows?? Only with her dad!!Ha!

Catch Up!!

2010-10-22T19:05:00.000-05:00

I have been informed that people are checking this blog and I need to keep this thing updated. I'm sorry to all of you who have checked our blog and have been disappointed. Our life has been pretty crazy lately. I know that I always say that, but it is always true. The blog tends to get pushed to the bottom of the list when the urgent things of life tend to creep in. So, I will try to be more faithful, but no promises!!!! For now, here are some updates from our lives that happened several months ago...

COOKIES!!!

2010-09-12T23:04:00.000-05:00

One of Raleigh's new favorite words has become...cookies!! She wakes up in the morning and requests them for breakfast. When she is not successful in this request, she continues to ask several times every hour. Her favorite cookie is the classic Oreo (she takes after Clint on this one), but she will eat anything resembling a cookie. She will choose a cookie over ice cream any day of the week. Watch out cookie monster, you may have a competitor on your hands! Ha!

Check out those lovely black teeth!!

Hello Houston!!

2010-09-12T22:52:00.001-05:00

This summer Clint was gone about 5 weeks!! There were some trips that we were able to go on, but for those that we couldn't, we went to Houston to spend time with Mimi and Pop. We were able to see grandparents, check on the house, and not have to be in an apartment alone!! We miss seeing everyone so often, but we will see everyone soon!! Here are some of my favorite pics from our trips to Houston.

Raleigh had a great time hanging out with grandparents...can you tell she looks up to her grandpa??

Playing dress up!!

Nothing better than a zebra, pig, and cowboy hat!!!

Raleigh is a cowgirl at heart

Hanging out with Mimi

Being silly with Pop!!

Doing Aunt Na Na's makeup....so pretty!

Dancing in the rain after playing in Mimi's pool.

Pretty girl!!

And of course, hanging out with my daddy outside is my favorite!!!

It's raining, It's pouring, Hopefully Raleigh girl is snoring (in her big girl bed)

2010-09-08T20:45:00.000-05:00

It has been POURING here the last couple of days!!! When it rains, it means we stay inside, which means we all get a big case of cabin fever!!!! Today we just needed to get outside, so we went and played in the rain. Of course, we needed to wear our cute raincoats and rain boots to play in the rain. Here are some pics of cute and sassy Ra Ra. On a side note, Raleigh is officially in a big girl bed...more pictures to come of that later!!

Check out that monkey!!!

What a cute little girl!!

The crowded trip home

2010-07-29T21:24:00.002-05:00

Raleigh, Titus, and I went to Houston while Clint went to St. Louis last week. He then flew to Houston to get some much needed rest after being gone for more than a month!! We made the trip back today and picked up some things from our house in Tomball. PS- please pray that it sells!! The expedition was packed!! We brought back stuff to make RaRa a "big girl" bed. Raleigh and Titus were very up close and personal...I think Titus would have been o.k. without so much love from RaRa.

A chef in the making

2010-07-11T09:31:00.001-05:00

Watch out world....here comes chef Raleigh!!! Thank you so much to a sweet family from our church that gave Ra Ra a new kitchen, she absolutely loves it!!! She spends so much time cooking and creating things that would make a chef drool!! Ha!! PS- she does own more clothes than just this shirt, she just happens to be wearing it in some of these posts.

The Fish

2010-07-11T09:21:00.001-05:00

Several weeks ago Clint took his staff to one of our church member's lake house for a planning retreat. They got a lot done and planned, but they also had a fun time. One of the things that Clint was determined to do before they left was catch a fish. You're probably thinking...no big deal. It is no big deal, except for the fact that he wanted to catch it with a bow and arrow! You read that right, a bow and arrow!!! Surprisingly, it didn't take very long before we started hearing men scream like girls from excitement near the water. He actually did it!!!! Clint Ivy, you never cease to amaze me!!!

Clint with his "manly" bow and arrow!!

Poor fish....we did throw him back....

Boston Update

2010-07-10T23:15:00.000-05:00

Some of you know how crazy summers tend to be for us. Clint will be gone a total of 5 weeks this summer!!! Crazy, Crazy!!! Right now he is in Boston with their high school mission trip. One of the things that they do is put on concerts...seriously, they are amazing!! I will get to fly early Tuesday morning (thanks Jess) and stay till Friday (thanks Grammy). Here is a short video of what is going on.

Summertime and Summer haircuts

2010-07-10T21:35:00.000-05:00

Poor Titus!!! We couldn't get him into a groomer before Clint left for Boston, so we pulled out the clippers. The jury is still out on how he looks, but he is quite embarrassed!!! I tried to take a picture of him so you all could share in the humiliation, but he wouldn't even look at the camera. Ha!!

Go Rough Riders!!!

2010-07-10T21:18:00.000-05:00

Several weeks ago we went to a Rough Riders baseball game. It was a blast!! We went with some friends from church and got to sit in box seats (which was perfect for wild animal Ra Ra). We stayed most of the game until it was to late for Raleigh and she could no longer be amused by Mr. Jim's iPhone.

Thankfully, our seats were fenced in so Raleigh could roam free.

Sweet girl caught making friends with the people in the box next to us.

Blue eyed girls!

So much fun we can hardly stand it!!!

Meeting our new friend Daisy. Raleigh managed to avoid a freak out.

I am not afraid of anything!!

2010-07-10T10:17:00.000-05:00

Have I mentioned that we have a wild woman on our hands?!? Raleigh is very calculated at times, but most of the time she has a lack of fear for anything. Sliding down huge slides...no problem. Diving into a pool when I can't swim and don't have floaties on...piece of cake. Jumping off of the furniture hoping someone will catch me... all in a good day's work. I am glad that she has taken up this mentality, but I think it is taking years off of my life! We recently went to eat at a Traildust (the steak house with the huge slide) with Clint's family. Raleigh wanted to go down the slide...of course!! She had a hard time letting daddy help her up the stairs, but she loved it. Her love of adventure got the best of her when our food came and she wanted to keep sliding and not eat! Our little daredevil keeps us on our toes!

Clint and Raleigh having fun...notice how she is pushing him away! So independent!

Check out that daredevil smile!

Scary Face!!!

2010-07-09T23:17:00.000-05:00

Thank you to the Emmott Family for teaching Raleigh the "scary face." She makes the funniest sound while she makes this face. You can hear her practicing in her bed before she goes to sleep and when she wakes up. Hopefully the straining from making the sound and face will not give her a hernia like her daddy. What a fun and silly girl we have!!

The "Lorea" Ladies

2010-07-09T23:12:00.001-05:00

When naming Raleigh, we had her middle name picked out before her first name. Clint and I were decided that we wanted to name her after my mom's mom. My Grandma is one of the most honest, caring, and strong women that I have ever met. We wished and hoped that Raleigh would follow suit and end up with some of her wonderful attributes. The older she gets, the more and more like a "Lorea" she is acting. Two crazy ladies with the same name...I don't know if the world can handle it!!

Natalie's Graduation

2010-07-09T23:00:00.000-05:00

As promised, here are the pictures and update from my sister Natalie's graduation. We had a great (but very quick) weekend. We are so proud of you Na Na!!

Mom, Natalie, and Dad

Natalie and J.B.

The Rice Family

Aunt Na Na and Ra Ra

Mason and Natalie

Natalie and Ellie

Moving to Dallas

2010-07-09T22:21:00.000-05:00

This picture is the perfect representative of the wide range of emotions that our family has been going through. We have been overwhelmed with sadness, fear, excitement, and humility. Many of you know that we have recently made a move to the Dallas area. We were not looking to relocate. We were close to family and were very comfortable. The Northwest Student Ministry was thriving. There was no need to move. Unless, of course, if your creator asks you to and whispers in your ear that His timing is perfect and that we are blessed to be a part of His plan. If that had not happened, this comfortable little girl was not going anywhere! For years we have been praying to be a part of a church where Clint could be mentored by someone that has lead a student ministry for many years and also where he could lead his own staff. This honestly did not seem like a reality until Prestonwood called. With heavy, sad, and excited hearts we were able to make the transition to Dallas. There was nothing wrong with where we were, God just asked us to go. We have to trust in that. We have to believe that His ways are higher than our ways. Honestly, I am still worried. We have yet to sell our house. This has never happened before. Please pray that our house will sell quickly. We have been completely humbled to be a part of a church like Prestonwood, truly the Godly people that work here are amazing.

Much love for the Chipmunks!!

2010-06-02T21:53:00.000-05:00

Raleigh and I have been driving back and forth from Houston to Dallas on the weekends. We have been in the car so much, it is making us crazy!! The chipmunks have been our saving grace...I know it sounds weird, but I will explain. Ever since Raleigh turned to face forward in her car seat, she has not been that great of a sleeper and gets restless pretty easy. To try to help remedy that, we have been playing movies pretty much non stop in the car on our weekend road trips. I was starting to be convinced that I had no life when I could quote all of the lines from our Olivia movies and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so I decided to make a change. I put in the beloved chipmunks. Not only does Raleigh think that they are hilarious, but she has a great time dancing along. Thank you chipmunks for helping us out!! So of course I now have the lines of that movie memorized, but they are a little bit wittier! Now I just need to see the movie! ha!

15 Month Check Up

2010-05-26T22:19:00.002-05:00

Our sweet girl is growing up so fast!! Today we went to see our favorite doctor for Ra Ra's 15 month check up.

Here are her stats:

Head: 18 (65%)

Height: 32 3/4 inches (92% )

Weight: 22 pounds 4 ounces (45%)

Her sweet doctor said she was on her way to being long and lean...that is so funny to me because she doesn't appear that way at all!! I guess looks are deceiving!! We ended our visit by getting several shots...she did a great job of recovering...she even blew kisses to the nurse!! We are so blessed to have a happy and healthy girl!!

A Contagious Laugh

2010-05-26T22:10:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we were in Austin watching Aunt NaNa graduate ( a detailed post to come later). We ate at a really neat restaurant on Saturday where they had a playground and lots of other fun stuff to do outside. Here is a video of Raleigh delirious from not taking a morning nap and delirious from having so much fun!!

Soccer Girl

2010-05-26T22:00:00.000-05:00

Raleigh has decided recently that she LOVES soccer!!! She loves to kick the soccer ball all around the room. While kicking the ball, she will stop and wait for you to applaud loudly!! It is pretty funny to watch!!

Playing dress up

2010-05-26T21:55:00.000-05:00

The other day I was putting up clothes in Raleigh's room and she decided it was time play dress up. We had so much fun being silly!!

RaRa showing you her lovely sunglasses that Mimi and Duck gave her.

A little bit star struck by the camera!!

Looking good!!

I know you are wondering... yes she is wearing st. patrick's day pajamas. Did I mention that I was doing laundry?

Pretty girl!!

The Beaumont Gusher

2010-05-26T21:43:00.001-05:00

Almost a month ago Clint and I ran in a half marathon. After several attempts and failures at training for a half marathon, we finally did it! One of our set backs was when Clint had to have surgery and we had to change the half marathon location...which led us to run in the first annual Beaumont Gusher (I promise you that is what they called it). I had hurt my foot pretty badly a week before we were supposed to run, but I was not going to let this training go on our failure list. We were going to run if Clint had to drag me behind him! The race was not bad. It was actually quite interesting to see all of the different people that were there. If you know me, you know that I am not a big talker while I run. This race I talked a little bit more, but it was comments like, "my foot hurts so bad, I think I need to stop." Clint was such an encourager and hung with me. There was no way I could have done that without him. Who knew that running could teach you so much about you and your marriage?!? We have decided that this is the first of many half marathons for our family. One random thing that did happen is that we somehow got lost and ran two extra miles!!!

So glad that we finished the race...even the extra 2 miles!!

Even with special running socks, my feet were not saved from huge, nasty blisters!!

I hope this does not induce vomiting!!!

Easter

2010-05-18T20:47:00.001-05:00

Easter was a little bit crazy for us!! Raleigh and I went to see her great grandparents in Yoakum while her daddy stayed in Houston to do all of the Easter services. She was very excited to get a new outfit from her Mimi and Pop. We had to buy her several Easter presents because she kept finding the ones we had bought hidden in our closet!! It was a great weekend. She did participate in the Easter egg hunt at church, (she really didn't care about the eggs) but just wanted to run around in the field among all of the kids and carry her bunny basket.

Raleigh having a good time swinging at Grandma's house

A Trip to the Zoo

2010-05-18T20:44:00.003-05:00

On Raleigh's birthday, we wanted to do something to celebrate on her special day. We had already been to the aquarium, so we decided to go to the zoo. She had just started making lots of animal noises and recognizing them (besides pigs), so we were off to see the animals! That day I woke up not feeling so great, but was determined to get to the zoo and have a great time. We had a fabulous time seeing all of the animals. Raleigh LOVED the elephants...she watched them with awe. She also was excited to see the cheetahs. She actually said when the cheetah walked by her version of the word cheetos, which is "cheet." Funny! Promise we don't give her cheetos all the time, but when we do she is a happy camper. As the day progressed, I still wasn't feeling good. Clint decided to take Raleigh to the monkey house and I was going to sit and rest on the benches for a while. That's when it hit me. I have no idea what the "it" was, but before I knew it I was throwing up in the bushes in front of everyone. That's right. The last time I had thrown up in public like that was when I was pregnant....which made me panic (don't freak out, I AM NOT PREGNANT!!). Shortly after the embarrassing incident, we made our way to the exit of the zoo. Overall is was quite the memorable day.

Raleigh ready to see the animals!

RaRa and daddy looking at all the pretty fish (one of Raleigh's favorite words to say).

Looking very close at the Cheetah

RaRa and daddy checking out more animals...so cute!

Party Time!!

2010-05-08T08:09:00.000-05:00

For Raleigh's birthday we were going to have just family and a few friends over ( after all, she was just turning one). As the party got closer, the list began to grow. There ended up being quite a few people here, but we had so much fun!! Olivia the pig was the theme (hence our love for pigs). Raleigh got to spend time with her friends and family. It was such a great day!

Relaxing with Pappy the morning of the Birthday Party.

Some of the favors that Raleigh gave away.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RALEIGH!!

Raleigh's Birthday cake that Clint and I made...looks pretty tasty huh!?!

Our sweet family.

Raleigh ate her cake like such a little lady...she finally got her hands a little bit dirty, but made sure she didn't get any on her tutu!

The treats and favors table.

Happy Birthday Raleigh!!

2010-05-08T07:50:00.000-05:00

Our sweet and precious girl, you blessed our world a little bit over a year ago. We had no idea how much we would love you. You have such a personality already. You have never met a stranger and can smile your way out of trouble in most situations. You are completely head over heels in love with your daddy. You get excited when he comes home and so sad when he leaves. You love being outside and being silly with Titus. You still think you are a teenager, but have become o.k. playing with the "little kids." Your laughter is contagious, your love for pigs is indescribable, and your need to carry around mommy's purse (even though it is too heavy for you) is funny. We love you sweet girl and Happy Birthday!!