March

Make that 3 posts in one day!!

Thank you my dear girls,

for taking such a great nap today:)

I do love how Trevor likes to take time 

and play with his girls!

We turned on some music

while I was finishing making dinner one night

and I turn around to see all

this sweet dancing taking place.

These two have their daddy wrapped

around EVERY finger they have!

 We went to the zoo a few times since the weather has been so good!

  I finally took down all of the snowflakes we had hung

on our ceiling to make up for the lack of

snow this winter.

I ran downstairs to grab something and THIS is what 

I return to!!

She is much sneakier than Madi was....

Good thing I usually get an alert from Madison if

Raelee is about to do something she really shouldn't!

 We had a fun visit from Nana and Papa

and also Trevor's little sister and two boys!

It was a full house and full of fun!!

They were able to stay for 11 days,

and we didn't stop running!

I don't know if it's my pregnancy brain kicking

into gear or just being lazy,

but we took NO pictures!!

I need to remember to get that camera out!!

We announced our new little addition to the family this month.
We sent out a picture of all of our feet
that said "Our family is growing by two feet"!
When Trevor's family came,
the first night they were here we had Madison say
family prayer before bed.
We had her bless the baby in mommy's tummy to be healthy!
Everyone's eyes peeked open and I just laughed and laughed!!

I think we went to 3 Easter egg hunts this year!

I am SO sick of candy.

 It was fun to let the kids run around with friends and find all the eggs though!

Coloring Easter eggs!

This was Rae's first year of really being involved and 

she sure had a blast!

 We had a cool kit with this shiny paint

and after Madi finished doing her eggs

she went ahead and used the extra paint to

do her nails! ;) One smart cookie!

 Couldn't wait for the Easter bunny to show!

 Easter Sunday!

 Hunting for their baskets.

 Raelee's was by the food storage....

since she is ALWAYS in there shaking 

the noodle boxes!

 And Madi found her's in the dryer...

good thing that bunny didn't turn it on!

 Easter cookie decorating!

She looks like the joker :)

February

Two posts in one day.....

there is hope that I will be caught up one day!!

 Madi and Daddy came home with donuts and

milk one night!

What a fabulous treat:)

Madi spilled some milk by accident and decided

she could just lick it up like a kitty,

because we couldn't possibly waste any

of the precious chocolate milk!

I sure love my animal loving frugal daughter!

I made this amazing chart for Madison to help

her listen and obey a little better.

It works wonders:)

She reached one of her goals...

a sleep over and movie with dad in the basement!

They had such a great time!!

  Happy Valentines!!

I attempted heart pancakes....

can you see it??

The girls loved it!

 Daddy spoiled us, as usual!

We had our heart pizza and heart cookie

for dinner!

There were smiles all around!

Yay for the day of LOVE.

 We were spoiled this year and actually had some more snow!

I find it hilarious how everyone in Kansas is more afraid of 

a snow storm than a tornado.

EVERYTHING was shut down,

but we didn't complain because Daddy got out of school

and took us sledding!!

 They taught Raelee how to make snow angels....

she does them on the carpet inside now since

there is no more snow!

 If you look REALLY close between the trees

you can see them sledding down the hill.

Yup,

I took advantage of Daddy being home

and took a nap...

I forgot how tired I get when pregnant!

 Madi and Daddy's project!

Madi named her Frostalina

 My technologically smart children enjoying

their morning:)

January

Welp, Madi finished up her last month of 

swimming lessons (for now)

She has proven herself to be one sweet little fishy!!

 It actually snowed this year!!

YAY:)

Lucky for us, it stayed long enough to play in

for a few days and then disappeared!

 The girls loved EATING and  playing in the snow.

We are lucky to have a sweet hill right by us

to go sledding on!

 We later went and got some sleds,

but for the ghetto that we are sometimes

the lid off a bin and garbage sack worked wonders

for a little bit!!

 We celebrated my 28th birthday!

We had some amazing friends come play with

the girls for a little bit so Trevor and I could go out to dinner.

( Thanks Brian and Krystalyn )

 Their daddy sure is a good sport!

The girls had a hay day going to town

putting make up ALL over his face:)

 Raelee kept taking her diaper off one night

so we decided to let the girls run around in their undies!

 Trevor said good bye to his little car

(Madi had nicknamed it the "blue streak")

We bought it for just a couple hundred when we moved out

here and sold it for lots more!

It was great, but we were excited to get a more reliable car:)

Madi has named our new car (Honda accord - the Night hawk! haha )

 The girls are constantly dressing up in their high heels these days!

They sure do have the best imaginations and love playing together:)

Notice Raelee's shirt??

It took Daddy a little while to notice! HAHA

We found out this month that we are expecting our 3rd little one

in September!!

 This sweet little babe of mine has grown up SO fast.

I realized I say that about both girls,

but it's true!!!

Raelee turned 18 months :)

She is the most independent little thing.

She doesn't like being away from her big sister....

therefore isn't the biggest fan of nursery!

 She has the silliest quirk.

She likes to find something small,

the tail of her cat, shoelaces, corner of a blanket

and softly rub in the corner of her eye, her ear, or just under her nose.

And that's not it, she likes to share and insists that you

let her rub it on your face too!

 She is showing MAJOR signs of wanting to potty train,

which I'm not surprised

because Madi was the same way.

Although, I'm not quite ready to start yet.

Raelee LOVES to sing.

She will sing the tune to

I am a Child of God and Teach Me to Walk in the Light

ALL day long.

It's fun to listen, because sometimes she

actually says the right words:)

 Of course we can't leave out this little thing either...

She has been the best big sister and helper to Rae.

I find that I don't have as much time to sit and teach Raelee like I

did with Madison,

but Madi has taken that roll on and loves to involve and teach

Rae new things all the time!

 She would not smile for anything!!

But here is the growth pic at 18 months!

December 2012

 In no particular order,

her is how we spent our last month of 2012!

 Decorating cookies with Mrs. Claus 

( the kids refused to get a picture with her, go figure )

 Playing in the igloo made of milk jugs!

 SANTA!!!

Madi has never been afraid of this jolly old fellow,

but clearly Rae's face says it all.

Poor girl!

 We saw this ginormous reindeer on our way 

out from decorating cookies. 

Rae wanted to see him,

but as we got closer she changed her mind.

Madi on the other hand was asking me where Mrs. Claus

parked the sleigh and all the other reindeer.

I told her that this particular reindeer was just a costume.

Madi - "So there is a real HUMAN in there?"

Me - "Yup!"

Madi - "What are they thinking? It isn't Halloween anymore!"

You are the best my sweet Madi moo :)

A week before Christmas the doorbell rang one night after dinner.

As we opened the door, there sat a huge red sack

with a singing/dancing reindeer on top!

The first thought that ran through Trevor's mind was,

"Oh man, someone thinks we are destitute!"

Hahaha:)

I had my suspicions, and sent the girls out to see

if they could find SANTA.

Sure enough,

by the front of the garage popped out 

Nana and Papa Mooney!!

 We knew they were pretty sad that we were going to be spending
our Christmas break just us in Kansas. So of course they had to pack
up Christmas and bring it to us! It sure was good to see family again
and the girls LOVED spending time with them before Christmas.

 And this is how our family pictures usually turn out :)

 These two make up the WEIRDEST games

and can hardly breathe because they are laughing so hard!

 Yahoo!

It actually snowed

and lasted for more than a day!!

 We had the Cook traditional gingerbread house making

with a bunch of our friends.

Weird to not have family,

but was so much fun!

Here is Madison telling one of her amazing

stories to our next door neighbors.

She's pretty descriptive in her story telling:)

This year I decided to just let Madi go to town,

and boy she is quite the little creative thing!

She seriously did her whole house ALL by herself.

 Here is the crowd!

We sent the kiddos downstairs after decorating houses
to watch the Christmas chipmunk movie

while we did white elephant gifts.

 It was such a blast!

We have great friends here,

we have been SO blessed.

 Zach (mr. construction) did an awesome house.

This picture doesn't even show half of it!

 Jeff and Heidi did the tower from 

Lord of the Rings!

( This was their first time doing gingerbread houses

AND white elephant gifts!! )

Sunday dresses....

church is at 9am.

AND Trevor is already gone so I don't get help.

These were the best pictures I could get of them

before their hair and clothes got dirty and messed up:)

She REFUSED to put the cup down.

But it was super sweet they held hands!

Playing hide and seek in the dark with Dadday!

We made cookies ( of course ) for santa.

This particular picture made me laugh and think of my little brother Dave.

He always sticks his tongue out while concentrating....

and I guess Raelee does too:)

Some friends in our ward (Madi adores their 5 girls)

invited us over on Christmas Eve for dinner and then

all the kids helped do the Nativity.

Madi was Mary and she rode on Marissa!

Trevor was the shepherd.

Raelee represented the animals!

She was more comfy on the bench by Mckenna.

(don't you LOVE that wall!!)

In Kinville boys were the wisemen....they did fabulous!

When we got home from our party

the girls found a note and some new friends 

from a secret elf.

He wanted them to have someone to snuggle with while they waited

for Santa to come!

They seriously NEVER sleep without their buddies!

We put the final touches on the cookies....

well, Rae ate and Madi worked:)

By tradition,

they opened up some new jammies 

from Grandma and Grandpa Cook.

All ready for bed!!!

Santa surely didn't miss us,

and the girls were pleased!

I luckily finished making Rae's stocking just in time

so she could have a matching one this year!

Happy good morning face to you!

Madi was so nervous Santa forgot her bike,

but it was just hiding in the kitchen:)

We popped popcorn and drove around looking at all the Christmas lights

Testing out the new wheels!

I love Rae's grin in this one:)

I've been very impressed with Madi.

She has fallen a few times,

and even with tears she says she doesn't

want to stop and gets right back up on the bike!

I'm glad she doesn't give up too easily!!

At the end of the month Madi had

a dentist appointment!

She did a lot better this time,

but her mouth is still to small to do x-rays!

Maybe next time.

We ended our year wonderfully 

and we are so excited to see what the new year brings!!