Here, Fishy Fishy!!

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...

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

 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

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

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

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!!

 
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

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!!

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

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