My Baby is 2

Today is Mara's 2nd Birthday. I can't believe she is this big already. It seems like just yesterday she was a newborn! She was born weighing 6 pounds 10 ounces. The smallest at birth of all her cousins on both sides of the family. I was so worried that she would stay skinny, but sure enough, she did get chubby like her brother.
There are so many things that I love about her. I love her smile and the way she laughs, she is just so sweet. I love the way she talks, and she talks a lot!!! LOL She is always saying "Mommy, dance!" (whenever there is music playing, whether it is in the car or at home), "I'm OK" (when she coughs or sneezes), "Bless you" (when someone else sneezes), "I wanna see" (to pretty much anything that is out of sight), "I can't like it" (when she doesn't like something), "I felled!" (even when she does the tiniest little trip, and doesn't even hit the floor), and "I'm princess" (whenever she is wearing dress-ups). She is loving Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, but I am trying to make her watch the other princess movies. Her favorite thing to sing is "I know you, I walk you...dream" from Sleeping Beauty and "Cleaning up the toilet, ohh" from Enchanted (that one always gets the song stuck in my head)!! She loves for me to sing "Twinkle" and "Rock baby" when I put her to bed. She loves to wear her "Jellies" and skirts. Her favorite things are her blankie, bear and pillow, (all things that Mana has given her, coincidentally) There are just so many things that I love about her, that I can't even think of all of them. I always have a hard time getting my thoughts in order when I blog. But for her birthday I made yet another slide show of some of my favorite pictures of the past 2 years. Too bad there's a 30 picture limit because I love so many.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
PRINCESS!!

Happy Anniversary :)

Today is our 6 year wedding anniversary :) I can't believe that we have been married for this long. But I look at my two beautiful children and the years come into focus. When we got married digital cameras were expensive, so all of our photos were taken with film. For the longest time I have wanted to get the negatives scanned and put onto a CD, so I would have my wedding photos on the computer. So last weekend I did just that!! (I took them to Costco, and it was really inexpensive) They turned out wonderfully and put a smile on my face. I even got my engagement photos and some family pictures on the CD too!! So I picked through over 400 pictures total and found my favorites to make a slide show :)

I just want to tell my husband that I LOVE YOU!! You are my best friend and soul mate. And my ultimate minimate, lol. You have always been able to make me laugh, cheer me up when I am sad, and you let me vent about the hard parts of being a mother :) I know that school is hard and tiring, but you are almost done!You are the most determined person I have ever met, and you are able to do anything that you set your mind to. You are a wonderful husband and an amazing father. I love the sound of joy that comes from our children when you walk through the door. They love you so much! Remember:

I LOVE YOU,

ALWAYS AND

FOREVER!

BTW: 100 posts!! Wahoo!!

Sci-Fi Nerdiness

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

I can't tell you how much I love this show! It feeds my inner soul and makes me happy! Pat and I started watching BSG about this time last year. We borrowed it from my brother JD. Pat had watched it by himself and then I joined him about 5-6 episodes into the first season, and instantly loved it! We were able to watch season 2, then had to wait to see season 3 (which had just ended on TV). But JD was able to find the episodes for us, so we got caught up before Christmas :) But last July when we went to California, I failed to mention that Karri, Pat and I went to San Diego for ComicCon, we were able to go to a panel called "The Women of Battlestar". It was awesome to be there, and see the actors that we loved (even if it was from a distance). I even talked with Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol). It was awesome!!

This is a show that always keeps you guessing. You start out not knowing who is a real human or who is a human model cylon. They build you up to love a character and then show you who they really are! It is amazingly written and the music is so beautiful (go to my playlist and listen to the Bear McCreary music, I love it)

My favorite characters are Lee "Apollo" Adama and Kara "Starbuck" Thrace. They definitely go through a love/hate relationship, but are ultimately best friends, but we all want it to be much more. Too bad right now they are married to different people. Then there is Gaius Baltar and Six.These are Pat's favorite characters. She is a cylon and he is a "what about me" type of person. His craziness always makes me smile. I can't wait to find out what is going to happen in season 4! It has been a long time coming, but the wait is finally over :) It starts tomorrow!!! If anyone wants to check out a new show I highly recommend BSG. It is on the Sci-Fi channel, so look it up.




On another note: I am such a geek at heart! What do you expect growing up with a father that loved Star Wars, Star Trek the Original Series, and everything Sci-Fi. He originally got me into Star Trek: The Next Generation (which I loved and was a little obsessed with as a kid, and now we own all 7 seasons on DVD), and then I got into the whole X-Files obsession. (we own all 9 seasons of this one too) And I am so excited that there is going to be another movie! Here is a picture of the teaser poster! I am anxious to see Mulder and Scully back together and especially on the big screen! The movie premiers on July 25. Which is when Karri, Pat and I will be in San Diego for yet another ComicCon :) (I hope BSG people will be there again) So we are totally going to see the movie when we are out there!
Anyway, I just wanted to share my joy with you and that's all of my Sci-Fi Nerdiness for one post.

Easter Egg Hunt

Last night we had an Easter Egg Hunt in the backyard for the grandkids! It was so much fun. I think that we had 3 times as many eggs then we had last year. All of the kids had overflowing baskets, so we had to start filling bags! I was walking around with Mara taking pictures, so I didn't get that many of Xander. But Karri, Lisa, and Mom were taking pictures too, so I was able to snatch a bunch of them :) All together we had so many pictures that I had to make a slideshow! (oh darn) After the egg hunt we had BBQ hamburgers and hung out. It's so great to have family close by. After dinner my mom played "Ring around the Rosies" with the girls, it was so cute, those pics are at the end of the slideshow.
But I had to post one picture, because it was so cute!

Happy Easter

HAPPY EASTER!!!

I feel like this holiday has snuck up on me, so I haven't done all the things that I would normally do. I would usually get the kids some new clothes, a new shirt for Xander and a dress for Mara, but that didn't happen :( But I did get a dress from my sister in-law Liza, that her daughter Addi wore, which turned out to be perfect for Mara!! We didn't color any eggs, even though I bought more eggs just so we could color them :) There is always next year!
We had baskets ready for the kids this morning, and Xander decided to go upstairs without us and peek! I can't believe he is already getting like this. They were excited for there presents. Xander got a cool 3-D Ninja Turtles Puzzle, the newest Little Einsteins Movie, M&M's, a little Pablo stuff toy (from Backyardigans) and a cool gun that blows bubbles!
We got for Mara her own My Friends Tigger and Pooh movie, M&M's, a Uniqua stuff toy (also from Backyardigans), some cool bath tub crayons, and a little egg toy that lights up. Xander's first thing he did was put together his puzzle. He loves it and I know he will be playing with it alot :)
In the rush to get out the door to go to church I got a snap shot of the two of them together. They are so loving when they want to be, lol. I actually braided the top of Mara's hair into two braids. They were so little because she has such fine hair, but then I put little ribbons at the bottom and it was so cute! I really need to try some new styles with her, so if anyone has any suggestions, let me know.
This was after church, she is showing off her dress! Thanks again Liza, I love it!!



And another sweet picture of my girl :)

I'm So Excited!!

One of my favorite shows in the history of the fraking universe (ty JD) is Battlestar Galactica!!! This show is so amazing! It is a re-imagining of the original BSG, but a hundred times better. And yes I am a Sci-Fi geek when it comes to certain things (if you didn't know already). The 4th and final season of BSG starts on the 4th of April and we are so excited! I have never posted anything from YouTube before but this was totally worthy of a post. On Wednesday some of the cast of BSG was on David Letterman and they did the top ten list. Karri called me and told me about it, so I have to post it. Enjoy!!

Eventful Weekend

Sorry this is a long one! I didn't mean it to be so long LOL!

So I was debating whether or not to make a slide show of the weekend, because now that I have made one, I want to make more!! But I decided to just do a few pictures, so here we go!

On Friday, Xander had his Pre-School Spring Program. They sang some really fun songs, and they all had parts from the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". He got to say "On Sunday he ate through one cupcake, one lollipop, one pickle, one piece of bubblegum..." He does so well at memorizing things, (only because we drill him on them) So these are pictures of them singing their songs and doing actions. They even sang Zip-a-dee-do-da!! That was my favorite, only because he had been singing it all week.





Then later that day we were able to go to Chuck E. Cheese's for my niece Conli's Birthday Party! It had been awhile since we had been there so Xander was really excited to be there! He was the big winner that day! He was playing Skee Ball and I was chasing after Mara, then I heard the siren go off near him. So I ran over to see what was going on and an employee came over, turned it off, and then gave me a voucher for 131 tickets!!! Turns out Xander hit the Grand Prize on Skee Ball, and the only way to do that is to get a score of 450,000!!! (There is no way I could have done that) He has such a great left hook that he must have got the ball in the 100,000 spot a few times. And of course how kids are, he didn't really understand what was going on :) LOL! So, after that he just went around playing games and bringing me back all his tickets. So when we counted them all up he had 260 (with the 131 bonus) When we went to cash them in, he only wanted 4 things that were all 10 tickets each!!! So I have a voucher for 220 for the next time we go. (Kids are so funny) And I had to put this picture of Mara after she was done eating her cupcake. (this is her cheese face) I love how kids faces get so messy and they don't even notice!! While we were at the Cheese, Mara was liking to run around and sit on the chairs of the car games. Actually, those were the only places she would stay for more then a few seconds. They have so many little ride things that you put a token into and it moves. She has climbed into one, I put a token in, it started to move, and she freaked out and would have anything to do with any of the moving machines, until we found this one. She loved it because it only went in circles. Then I couldn't get her off of it when it was time to go! It was a really fun day, and I'm glad we were able to be there for Conli's bday. I only got one picture of Conli that afternoon, and she wasn't even looking at the camera :(



But last night the whole Ramey clan got together to celebrate Conli's 3rd birthday. And of course the girls had to get their favorite dresses out and play dress-ups! (Mara does this everyday!!!) So we were able to get some cute pictures of the girls together. My brother JD even put on the music to "Enchanted" and all the kids danced around to the songs! It was so cute!
It was a really fun night and I am glad that our family is so close and we are able to get together often. It's fun to watch the kids play together (when they are nice to each other, lol) Xander and Max played Star Wars Lego on the Wii and they were quite happy together, which was nice :)







This second picture of Mara is her "I'm a princess" bow!! She does this whenever she has a dress on, I love it!

Here is Lisa (my sister-in-law) Conli and Mara!
And I love this picture! Mara is so sweet and I am so glad that she is in our family :)

"Real Life Bowling"

On Monday we went to Jack & Jill's bowling in AF to have a family night in "celebration" of my dad. It was a lot of fun and there were even some strikes for everyone (I think). We had told Xander over the weekend that we were going bowling (real life bowling, in comparison to Wii bowling), so he was really excited about it. There were just so many pictures from that night that I decided to make my very first slide show!! (Aren't you proud?) Mara wasn't the happiest person there, and was getting in everyone's way, so we had to get out our stroller and strap her in so we could all enjoy the evening. As long as she had food in her mouth, she was happy (thank heavens for Yo Go's) After we were done, we came back here and had cookies. My dad loved fresh cookie dough, so we each had our bowls of cookie dough before my mom baked the rest of it. :) It was a great night and I look forward to the day that Mara will be more well mannered and actually be able to participate with the rest of us!!

Things I miss...

I Miss My Dad.

I have been thinking about this day and dreading it. I can't help that it comes around every year. It has been 5 years since my dad died. I get so emotional when I think about him lately. It is harder this year, because it is 5 years, if that makes any sense. And it's also the same day of the week that he actually died. It has been hard, thinking about what I want to say, and to convey my thoughts in an orderly manner. But with emotions involved, my thoughts are sporadic. But these are the things that I miss...

• I miss his smile, no matter what, he could always make me smile with him, even if I was having a bad day. He could always make me happy
• I miss his hugs, he always made me feel safe


• I miss his sense of humor. It was definitely one of a kind


• I miss his enthusiasm. He would do things whole heartedly, like fly fishing and tieing flies, or his garden train, or any household repair.


• I miss his love for Halloween :) Our house would be the coolest house on the street for Halloween and kids would love to come and see what was new.


• I miss his love for music. He loved Celine Dion and Gloria Estefan and would just listen to them with the volume up all the way :)


• I miss his love for good movies. After I got married he converted the family room in the basement into a home theater. There are movie posters and seating for the whole family. He was so proud of his work that he would show it off to anyone who came over. He would show certain clips from his favorite movies to show off the sound system :) If we watched a movie with him, we would have to be silent. He would shush us if we talked :)


• I miss his love for my mom. When he looked at her, you knew he was in love and would do anything to make her happy.


• I miss that he isn't here to be a Grandpa. My nephew Max was 6 months old when he died, and I was pregnant with Xander. That has always been a hard thing for me. I wanted my children to know him, because his dad died when I was about Mara's age, so I don't have any memories of my grandpa.


• I miss the way he ate M&M's :) He would take a handful and shake them around in his hand then pop a few in his mouth until they were all gone


• I miss the way he would always support us kids. Even when he didn't agree with what we were doing all the time, he still showed his love for us.


• I miss the little games we would play, namely he would say "Guess what?" Then I would say "What?" And he would respond with "I love you!". I came to find out that he only really did this with me, and in turn I have started to do it with my kids :)

I'm sure there are more things that I miss about him, but I can't think of them right now. He was such a great man, and a wonderful example to me.

I Love You Dad!

Oh, the Joys #4

Today Mara has been doing OK, she had 3 accidents all within an hour, but had 1 pee and 1 poop on the potty!! I guess it is easier to poop on the potty since she gets more warning for it, and you have to push it out!! With pee, she hasn't developed the muscles to control when it comes out. So after the accidents, I put her back in a diaper. But when she needed to poop we took it off and she did it in the potty. So I am glad that going back and forth from diaper to underwear isn't really affecting her right now.

When we potty trained Xander at 3 1/2, he was old enough to really understand what was going on. We had to make a sticker chart with prizes on it and had a party at the end for him. Over all it took him a month to really get the peeing down, and he has only wet the bed 2 times in a year!!!!! I am most excited about that :-) He still has tough time with pooping (he has constipation problems) but we are working on it.

I am just surprised that Mara is even interested, but she see Xander and her cousin Conli use the potty and she is at that age where she wants to do what everyone else is doing. And something that I have learned is not to fight about the potty. Your child will do it when they want to and you can't make them any sooner. With Xander we had tried on and off for about 6 months before he really wanted to do it. So since Mara wants to, I'm going along with it :)