Livin like a Bea

Happy Birthday Nu Nu

2012-02-13T08:12:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, the 1st was NuNu's birthday. We go there every Wednesday for dinner, so we got lucky it fell on that day.
Mya loves any excuse for dessert and to help blow out birthday candles too!

kisses

party time

Even Michael came, that was a nice surprise.

singing happy birthday.

Love you NuNu, hope your birthday was as special as you are. xoxo

Christmas on the drive

2012-02-06T09:23:00.000-08:00

So we had Christmas with our neighbors in late January. We kept having to reschedule in December and early January because of sick babies and things that popped up. So, here's a few pics of our little get together. It was fun having 2 extra kids this year. They had a good time too. I really can't wait till it warms up outside so they can all hang out more often.
Here's Ashley and Sarah, both 8 months old!

looks like she's doing mountain climbers, lol

Mya and Emma playing doctor.

Oh yes, Mya is in a new outfit. The kid changed 2 times while they were there. wacko

Trying to get a shot of all the kiddos.

awwwww, the chocolate on Jack's face is too funny!

Good times neighbors (and old neighbors :)). Thanks for the gifts for our girls and thanks for coming. xoxo

Welcome Brooke Riley

2012-02-03T12:59:00.000-08:00

My beautiful god daughter was born. Brooke Riley born at 4:39pm on January 25th. She was 7lbs 13 ozs and 21.5 inches long! I met the little princess that Thursday and couldn't wait to get her into my arms. The smell and calmness of a newborn is just the best, especially when they're your god baby :) I couldn't wait to hold and kiss that beautiful bundle of joy.

Just perfection.

Ry and I went there Thursday night and he just fell in love too.

The newest Leonhardt family of 4.

Love you guys so much and love that little muffin to pieces already. She is just so sweet and itty bitty. I can't wait to get her in my arms again. Reese is going to be such a great big sister and I know that she's going to grow up to be just as beautiful and sweet as her too! LOVE YOU GUYS! xoxoxoxo

ghetto superstar bike ridin b*$&#$s for life

2012-01-30T07:33:00.000-08:00

I'm sure no one but Regan gets the title of this post, lol! Last Monday I had off. My girl, Regan and her cutie, Gia came over to hang with the girls. I hope our kids are as close as we were growing up. Regan and I used to ride bikes to each others houses (we were ghetto superstar bike ridin b*#$&es). Not that Mya, Ashley and Gia will be able to ride bikes to eachothers houses but I really hope that they have what we have. Regan is also expecting a little boy on St Patty's day! YAY!!!
Anyway, here the girls eating.

Hangin in the girls room.

Really Mya, this is NOT how we dance girl!

This is more like it. SO CUTE!

Ashley followed Gia into the play room. It was so cute. Soon enough, she'll be up running around with them.

So fun getting together with you girl, can't wait to meet the little man. xoxo

love these kids...

2012-01-27T08:06:00.000-08:00

Sunday we got together with our awesome friends to exchange Christmas gifts with out god children. Rachel is Mya's god mama and I'm Willie's! So we went a little crazy on Christmas with them, cause you know, ya gotta spoil your god babies!
We got over to their house, a little late since we realized after going to our car that it was broken into and someone tried to steal it. They ripped out my steering column, the ignition was on the floor on the drivers side and it was just a mess! So we waited for the cops to get to our place to go over there. What a friggin mess, I swear, people are ASSHOLES! Anyway, the car is fixed now and we're getting an alarm on our house TODAY! Makes me feel much safer and now no one can mess with us...
SO, we get to Rachel and Will's house and Mya saw the race car in the living room. She darted for it and the fun began. Mya jumped on Lightning McQueen...

and Willie on his 4 wheeler, his parents have started him young!

OMG now for a little photo shoot. They were getting a little close. Willie even went in to hold her hand! How friggin cute. ok, so Mya is marrying Willie, sorry Dec, but I think Rachel and I are planning this marriage (well at least I have been since Rachel had Will!).

LOVE these 2

and he's done...

This was hysterical. Rachel started cracking up at something, so Willie's started mocking her. Seriously almost peed my pants.

Present time...

She got a chest of dress up stuff. 3 dresses and all the accessories. Didn't waste any time putting it on too.

She said to Willie, "dance with me." Smart guy followed along.

god mama's turn....

...and back to Willie....

Time to do some manly stuff...

Mya climbing right in to help her man out. Dress and all.

cheese...nice belly shirt...

Willie was working.

working hard together.

Checkin out Mya getting dressed. Ryan told him to stop looking, it was pretty funny!

All dressed and ready to go, yet again.

We had a great time. Love spending time with you guys. Thanks for having us, love you. xoxo

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

2012-01-27T07:39:00.000-08:00

Saturday we woke up to snow! It was exciting to get the first snowfall and it looked really pretty too. Mya was so excited cause she loves the snow. My stupid a$$ never bought her a pair of snow pants cause it hadn't snowed yet and I was going to wait till it snowed, smart I know. So we put her in her sweats!
Mya was waiting for daddy to finish shoveling so she could go out. I stayed in with Ashley cause I didn't want to bring her out and get her sick. Maybe next snowstorm we'll bring them both sleigh riding! Dad, dead man's hill??!!! or maybe we should stick to red barn!
Watching daddy and waiting for him to be done!

Pulling an Ashley

lol, her hats backwards...

there we go....fake smile!

love them

here she comes daddy...

my other cutie.

making snowballs

It was hard to get pics of her since I was inside at the door.

All done, time to come in and cool off.

Ging was inside with mommy while the bean was playing outside.

Saturday night we hung and got a few good pics of ging. playing on daddy...

daddy making her laugh

lol

where'd she go??

much better...

"My 2 favorite girls in this whole world are Mya and Ashley!" Ry and I sing that to the girls all the time. Actually Mya sings it now too, it's adorable! It's a song that Nunu used to sing to Ry Ry and Michael. I LOVE IT!

the beanie...

It's Oco time

2012-01-26T08:52:00.000-08:00

Last Friday night we headed to the Oco house to chill with Mya's old Gymboree friends. We haven't seen them in 2 months and it was so much fun! Mya was a little shy at first but opened up in a no time!
Here they are getting into the toys. I can't wait till Ashley can join in on that fun too!

Their little ones, Finn, 1.5 years old.

Declan and Mya's future hubs, 2.5 years old (Finn and Dec were born the same day, 1 year apart!)

Caiden, almost 4

They are SO cute together and SO MUCH ALIKE!

Follow me...teaching him early on who the boss is..

awwwwww, last time we were there Ry was tossing them all in the air. This time, Ashley was in the way! lol

Mya, WACKO, Bea....who poops in a diaper still (I'm wondering if we'll be sending her off to pre-k next year with diapers, please god no) and has to have her shirt tied up and no pants on (god help me!). She is a friggin WACKO!

A video of the excitement. I LOVE how Dec comes over to Ashley and pats her on the head. And Caiden and Dec's laughs crack me up too!

Good times Oco gang, can't wait to do it again...xoxo

A day with my girls...

2012-01-18T12:19:00.000-08:00

Last Monday I had off for MLK day and it was so nice to spend the day with my girls. We were stuck at home, Ry needed to use my car since his was getting worked on. So we just stayed in and played all day! SO MUCH FUN! I miss being home with them, especially now that Ashley is at a good, fun age. We woke up and, after Mya changed her outfit say 15 times, NO JOKE! We strolled downstairs to play dollhouse for a bit. Ashley was happy to be joining in on the fun.

She didn't even know what to do with herself when Mya left her by herself.

When Ashley went down for a nap, Mya and I decided to start doing arts and crafts! Oh yea and Mya changed, AGAIN!

I made some finger paints and they were interesting. Kinda like gel, I think I need a new recipe, unless I just made them wrong. They did work though.

cheese!

lol

her masterpieces!

After nap time, we played in the girls room for a bit. I was messing with Ashley and was able to put her hair in her very first ponytail! LOVES!!!

I love when she bites on her lower lip like that.

Gotta love Mya in the background. Changing her outfit, for the 1,284,394 time that day!

Sprinkling her with love

2012-01-18T12:16:00.000-08:00

So one of my closest friends, Charity, is due (with my god daughter YAY!) on the 29th. To celebrate her and her baby to be, we took her to Rafferty's brunch this past Sunday. It was so nice to just sit there with the girls. I hope you enjoyed it Char, we love you dearly.
Since she's doing all purple in the nursery (which is absolutely adorable) I wanted to include the purple in her mini sprinkle. And how lucky to score hydrangeas in purple!

I had to do the cut out cookies. This time I did hearts, a big one for mama and than the baby heart.

Of course the prego couldn't have just one dessert! I LOVE IT! No one in this world loves food as much as we do. Seriously, if the 2 of us gained as much weight as we ate for, we'd be rolling around like oompa loompas!

Me and my girl...love you...You can't even tell she's prego here, she's all belly! That baby's gonna come out and she's gonna be right back into her pre pregnancy clothes! Just like with Reesie.

Char with her mother in law and mom

Char and Erin

The 2 prego's, Kelly and Char...Kelly just found out that she's having another girl in June!! YAYYYY, all these girls, so crazy!

Char and Rach

We hope you had a great, relaxing time girl. We can't wait to meet the newest little angel. She's so blessed to have such a wonderful and loving mommy and daddy and great big sister! I know that Reesie is so thrilled to teach her all there is to know! Love you mama xoxo

forever friends

2012-01-18T12:14:00.000-08:00

My mom has a friend that she's known almost her whole life (well doesn't top Rachel and I, but comes close). They're still friends after all these years too which is so nice, especially considering they live on the complete opposite sides of the US. We're obviously in NJ and she's in Cali. Her daughter is working in NY so she came out to visit. While she was in town, they came to NJ to see all of us. I know my mom loved having her over and it was great to meet her daughter (I don't remember ever meeting her and if I did, I was too little to remember).
Mya wanted to show Julie her new toy.

Caitlin, Mya and Julie (oh and Crumbs, her doll).

Frank came too and was playing with Ging.

Pete and Shell were there too. Bellies getting big!

Mom and her forever friend, Julie!

Meanwhile, Shadow was happy that Ashley got out of her seat, he needed a rest.

It was great seeing you all. Hopefully we come out there next. I'd love to see Cali! xoxo

Mimi and cousins

2012-01-16T09:43:00.001-08:00

We met up with Mimi 2 weeks ago so she could give the girls (and me) Christmas presents since they were sick for Christmas day. Mya was in LOVE with what she got and immediately had to put it on, surprise! This girl is a fashionista already and has an opinion on everything she wears. If she doesn't want to wear it, she won't put it on. It's good and bad. I'm glad she's got her own little style going (not that it matches or anything most of the time) but sometimes I just can't even deal with the fights when we're going somewhere and she's GOTTA match! Plus, I really love to match the girls and it's not exactly working if Mya isn't in the mood.
Anyway, time to open presents!

She wanted to put the dress on right when she opened it!

cause she has to strip down to put it on. Couldn't leave the long sleeved shirt or leggings on, nope. Not her style.

YAY!!! and a hello kitty purse too!

Dancing with Mimi in her new dress.

Thanks Mimi and Poppy for the great Christmas presents. LOVE all the girls clothes (especially the matching outfits!). And I love all my stuff too. Love you guys....xoxo
Last week we headed over to Jen and Jacks house for a Mimi, cousin, Jimmy visit. Jen and Jack were in Aruba on a much needed vaca. We were happy to visit with the girls.
How awesome they have the 'big' floor piano. So so was showing everyone how it's done!

Ava and Mya were outta there so So So and Ashley were left.

Ava was loving Ashley. Wanting to hold her and carry her all over, it was so cute!

Ry Ry and So So

This was so sweet. Mya and Ava just love the crap outta eachother. Giving goodbye kisses.

Can't wait to see you girls again. xoxo

Christmas in January

2012-01-13T12:35:00.000-08:00

Last last weekend we celebrated Christmas in January at Kelly and Tony's new home in Wall. What a beautiful house, thanks so much for hosting it guys, we had a great time. Your house is beautiful and really makes me want to move closer to the beach.
It was so fun getting the kids together. Such a change from last Christmas and to think that next Christmas there will be another 2 kids! So fun to watch our families grow.
This was so funny, Willie walked over to Reese....

...and sat right on her lap!

Ashley was watching and loving the little frog ride.

And where is Mya?? Eating of course! This kid loves her food...Gracie joined her at her little picnic table.

The Dupree's

Time to open gifts. This was pure chaos! This pic makes me lol, Mya was so excited for her Belle doll...

...then ran over to show me!

YAY, pots and pans!

lots and lots of presents!

Reese and the bean dancing in the kitchen...

awwww, such cuties.

awwwww

Ok, attempt #1 to get a pic of the kids! Yea, not so much...

We tried for a smaller group when Willie and Reese ran off..

I think Mya and Ashley are officially trained to smile when they see a camera! Sorry girls.

Daddy and his little girls...

Gracie and Willie high fiving

The kids and their daddies...so sweet!

Mya winking...lol

This is the only shot I have of us girls with our kiddies.

Ok, round 2 with trying to get an all kid group shot. How funny, Gracie is a year older than Ashley and they're nearly the same size!

Mya and Willie checking eachother out like, "do we still have to smile?"

Mya loves choo choo trains, so I knew she'd love this one when they put it on.

Time to play outside. Reesie and Mya ran straight for the cabin.

PARTY HOUSE!

cuties

Time to hit up the slide..

weeeeeeeee

Mya was running back and forth from the slide to the cabin.

What the heck? Wondering how Mya has so much energy, lol!

Gracie's turn.

"Mya, wanna hold Ashley to go down the slide?"
"EHHH NO"
sisterly love at its finest.

Lil Willie

Reesie's turn.

Check out that booty!

Having so much fun. I really wish we had a playground in our development.

Ging did get a turn, and loved it!

Willie was riding the tire...

Mya thought it looked like fun so wanted to hop on too...

The pregos! Char is having the baby in a week and Kel finds out the sex of her little bubs today!! WHOOHOOOO!!!!

side shot!

watching their girls...thinking how they'll scare all the boys away!

more tire fun...

me and my little ging

auntie wanted to hold her and get a bite!

awww

Thanks so much for hosting Kel and Tony. We had a wonderful time and can't wait to get all the kids together again.
xoxo

tubby time...

2012-01-10T07:36:00.000-08:00

The girls took their first real tubby together (in the big girl tub) on January 2nd. So we, of course, got some pics and a video! Ashley absolutely LOVES the big girl tub, although all she wants to do now is stand in it. But it's so cute to see the 2 of them in there together. It'll get better once we don't have to be super cautious of Ashley falling over. She's a great sitter, but ya know, gotta be careful. Mya loves to help us clean Ashley too. And Ashley, well she loves to splash and play and watch her big sissy.
Here are some pics and one of the videos we got.

And a little video to top off the cuteness.

Annual grab bag

2012-01-09T08:29:00.000-08:00

This year, like every year for the past few, Mary had the annual family grab bag. It's always so much fun getting together with the family. Some years there are more people than others, this year we had the usual suspects and also Aunt Ann and Uncle Sammy. Next year Mary already set the date, so hopefully we'll see more people! I can remember back in the day, when I was a kid and my parents would go to the grab bag (when kids weren't allowed, I'm sure there was tons of drinking and fun going on!). Now we bring the kids and they all play together (all 3 of them this year). It's so cute watching them all play, I can't wait till they get a little bigger and are running around. Next year there will an additional 3 kids too, whoohooo!!!!
Thomas trying to share the blocks with Ashley.

Here ya go...

Dew coming after watching most of the Jets game at Faddy's house. Yes people this is what my pops wears for the Jets games. A true fan! Too bad the Jets didn't win, next year people, next year!

This pic makes me lol.

Mya was watching so closely as Thomas was taking his baba

Let the games begin!

Ash watched for a bit.

Mya picked one for Aunt Ann...it was a PBA card, SCORE!!!!

Ashley and Thomas chillin

I picked the shower caps and Mary has one on here, lol

Ashley got one too!

Mya and Thomas playing dollhouse.

Than Mya was feeding Thomas the yogurt puffs. One for Thomas and one for Mya she kept saying, and doing.

Ashley was loving the tinsel on the tree.

Good times fam. I already stuffed some of this years winnings away for next year, lol! xo

Happy 2012!

2012-01-06T11:09:00.000-08:00

Happy 2012! I can't believe how fast the years go by now that we've got kids. It feels like the older I get, the faster they go by. 2011 was an amazing year, so many things we shared. We celebrated Mya's 2nd birthday, welcomed our sweet little ging into the world and celebrated 4 years being married and 12 years together. Every year keeps getting better and I know it'll hold true to 2012!
Here's Ry ry feedin ging her last dinner of 2011.

YUM!

meanwhile, the bean was helping me bake some cookies for our little get together.

my love muffin.

I took a few really cute pics of gingy, she cracks me up!

LOVE!

We had my parents, Mary, Joe and Mags over to ring in the new year. It was so much fun and I'm glad we had them there to share it with. Love you guys....xo

Dew and the bean playing. Of course Dew's got his ipod on, jammin away.

smile

Ashley and Nona

Just missed the bean, but this ones good!

The Bea fam a lam

I think Ashley has hit the age where Mags will hold her now too. Ash loves her, but I think Mags and the bean are still bff's, not yet gingy.

Godmama and her godbaby

another cutie pic, lol that drool.

Dew and Mya were fake feeding Ashley by her kitchen. She was sitting in Mya's chair and all, it was funny. I think Ashley was getting pissed that there was really no food on the spoon. She doesn't really get the make believe yet, lol!

Mya's turn! Cause she always needs a turn too.

getting so big with her sippy cup.

I remember when I was a kid, I'd used to do my dad's hair all the time. I'd put clips and bows in it, he'd let me do it all. Mya has taken that to a new level. My dad's got nail polish on, necklaces, a hair band, LOL!

Nona trying to settle the bean down. She was up till nearly 11pm! And nope, she didn't sleep in a minute past 6:15am on Sunday! UGH!

Nice chair, reminded me of saved by the bell.

Mya pretending she was prego with a stuffed animal, NUT!

bff's

Horsey ride...

Mya being a wack a doodle.

Mags and I

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! We were feelin gooooood!

I hope everyone's new year was happy and safe. xoxo

7 months old

2012-01-05T07:52:00.001-08:00

7 months old and growing like a weed!
We actually just had her 6 month check up on Dec 23rd and here are the stats:
18 lbs 9.5 ozs (75%)
27.5 inches (90-95%)
She's in size 3 diapers still.
She's wearing alot of 6-12 month stuff but that's quickly becoming too small. There are lots of 12-18 month stuff that I'm putting her in too.
She's a TERRIBLE sleeper. Tonight Mya is sleeping at my parents so we're letting her cry it out, it's friggin impossible to let her cry it out when Mya's in there sleeping, so we don't really let her cry. Plus, now she's been pulling herself up to a kneeling position on the side of her crib (although I'm sure if we gave her more time in there to cry, she may possibly be on her feet) so she wakes up a little more I feel.
She's still breastfed when I'm around. Takes a bottle with Mary and Ry when I'm not around but won't take a bottle for me. I plan on breastfeeding the entire first year (like I did with the bean).
She talks all the time, says mama and is now saying dada all the time too. She needs to be heard, that's for sure. Part of her Gemini trait for sure!
She is such a happy, smiley, laughing baby, all the time. I can't even express how happy this little ging is!
She loves to be on the ground now, she'll quickly crawl over to wherever Mya is and try to play with what she's playing with. I gotta get a pic of this. It's so cute when Mya's playing with her dollhouse and ging crawls over. Mya gets pissed though when we're reading a book and ging just wants to chew on the side of it.
She loves to eat, eating all sorts of fruits and veggies. She prefers fruit (and books) though.
She officially started crawling on Dec 21st! She's all over the place now and last night she even pulled herself up on a book that Ry was holding. I was trying to get a video but was reading a book to Mya so it wasn't happening. Will report back soon to show you the goods! She's REALLY shakey and all, and falls right down but her legs are STRONG!
Still no teeth, GET ON IT GIRL! She chews on everything though. She really likes those net things that you can put fruit in, gross. I never gave one to Mya. Just last week I put an apple in it for her cause she loves apples. Mya and I were sharing an apple and Ashley was dying to have some, so I put it in the net thing and she was loving it.
She sweats like a man, like bad. If she passes out in her carseat, when I go to take her out, she is a sweaty mess!
And I'll leave you with some pics. Mya didn't want to join in on this photo shoot.

smiles and biting her fingers, yum

Mommy, can I paint my nails?

silly little mama

loves to chew everything...

Love ya ging, xoxo

Peanut Butter

2012-01-03T12:58:00.000-08:00

Peanut butter is the name that Mya gave to our elf on the shelf. This is the first year we've done it and I must say it was so fun! Not completely successful with telling Mya he was watching her and reported back to Santa, but she got a kick out of finding him every morning. The guy is a little freaky and Mya was even scared of him at first. She didn't want him anywhere near the upstairs and didn't even want the book about it up there. But she LOVED him downstairs. Every morning she'd wake up and say, where's Peanut Butter? Once we got downstairs and she looked all over and found him, she'd say "PEANUT BUTTER" all loud, it was so cute!
I took a few pics of places we hid him throughout the month and Ry and I really had so much fun too! He even left a note on Christmas morning for Mya telling her how much fun he had and how he can't wait to see her again next year. I can't wait till next year, when I think Mya will understand the entire concept more.
Flying from the ceiling fan...

Mya slept at my parents one night and he even showed up there!

tp'ing the Christmas tree

Playing with the marshmallows, this was one of her favs cause she started eating the marshmallows.

Hangin upside down

hangin more

playing with Mya's fruit

2 days in a row!

Christmas morning he was sitting on her presents!

This was so cute and I can't wait till next year. She still randomly asks where he is, I just keep saying, he's up in the North Pole with Santa preparing for next Christmas! I love it!

Congrats to Pete and Michelle

2011-12-30T08:38:00.000-08:00

Pete and Michelle got married on December 20th, down in NC. None of us were able to attend (BOOO) but we celebrated when they got back to NJ as newlyweds on December 22nd! My mom made a heart cake, does that surprise you, Mrs Baker herself!

We also sang Happy Birthday to him since that as on Dec 16th and he wasn't around for that either. No, he didn't turn 30, just my way of being a smart ass, he's only 25.

cute

When Pete was home, Ry and I (well more like Ry) took a few pics of the newlyweds so that they can mail everyone adorable little "just married" postcards (coming in your mailbox shortly). Here are some of the adorable pics he got.

cute little baby bump

And we also went out to celebrate. We hit up Girasole the day after Christmas to wish them well.

The girls

the girls and guys, minus Frank :(

Michelle, we love you so much and are so happy to welcome you to the fam! I've never seen Pete happier than how he is when he's with you. This is an exciting year for you both, married and welcoming a little baby girl into the world. We can't wait to share all these exciting milestones with you guys.
Love you tons sis...xoxo

Merry Christmas

2011-12-30T08:11:00.000-08:00

Mya's 3rd and Ashley's 1st Christmas and what a Christmas it was! Ry and I were up till 1 on Christmas Eve cause we didn't wrap any presents. Ry also put together the kitchen he got her for Christmas, which took nearly 3 hours (NOTHING was assembled, not even the hardware on the cabinets!). So lots of wine and chatting and we got it done!
Here we are Christmas morning before I let the girls downstairs. I didn't get anything else ready, I was searching for the video tapes for the camcorder and couldn't find them ANYWHERE! So I finally decided to just tape with the flip later finding out that NOTHING taped!!!! UGHHH, I was so sad. Luckily, AFTER the girls came down and started opening I ran up and found the tapes, so I got some present opening on tape luckily. But nothing beats the faces they first show, I'll always remember them (from Mya at least, Ashley couldn't have cared less, lol).

the kitchen

Playing around before we go down.

When I was a kid, my dad would go downstairs first to 'make sure Santa came.' I am doing this too, I used to love that when I was little. We'd all line up, oldest to youngest and race down the stairs, once my dad said it was ok. We'd be so excited to see everything and I just always remember that. Last year Ry taped it while I came down with the bean, this year I taped it while Ry carried ging down and Mya came running down. Now, since I THOUGHT I was taping it, I didn't snap like any pics, GRRRR.

Checking it all out.

Looking at her new kitchen, she was loving it and could care less about the other gifts.

And the opening begins...Ashley was having fun watching Mya and playing with all the paper, typical!

She would open gifts and want to open them and play with them immediately. It made for a long morning. But that was ok cause the girls were both sick :( We had Ashley's 6 month (3 weeks late) checkup on Friday and took Mya with us. We asked the Dr to listen to both of them cause they both had coughs and runny noses and Mya sounded like she was starting to wheeze. I always get worried cause she gets bronchitis so easily and has had pneumonia before. So when Dr Sung listened to Ashley she said that she was just congested and just had a cold. Than she listened to Mya, and she told me that it sounded like she was getting bronchitis, so she put her on antibiotics. YAY, we thought, she'll be good for Christmas cause she's on the antibiotics now. Not so much, she ended up getting a little worse, the wheezing came more and nothing really got better. We took her back to the Dr on Tuesday and the Dr put her on a steroid and her nebulizer, now she's back to herself! Well, for the most part at least!
So anyway, back to the presents....

Ashley playing with her shape sorter Santa bought for her.

This was EPIC! Mya opened these undies I got her, opened them up and said "too big mommy!" I guess she doesn't realize the size of the ba donk a donk she's got! It was so funny, had Ry and I rolling. I think I actually got that one on tape too, SCORE!

....more presents...

She kept going back to the kitchen, she'd pick up the phone and just play, LOVING IT!

open mommy!

SMILES!

Playing with her new dollhouse and car.

Ashley was loving the piggy bank.

Thanks Santa!

Such a big girl these days.

Off to my parents for dinner. My Nona (aka Nona Nona) got Mya a radio flyer trike, SO CUTE!! And Mya absolutely LOVED IT, I mean look at that face, so sweet!

More presents, Mya got a TON of Belle stuff. Here's another Belle doll and Belle princess dress. IN LOVE!

Mags and Ging

the newlyweds! (will post about that later)

Loving her animals from Uncle Frank.

opening more presents...

silly girl

Riding her bike around the house.

Putting on her Belle dress, Titi got her one too!

SO BEAUTIFUL!

Ashley watching everything Mya is doing!

fakest smile ever!

This was HYSTERICAL! Mya was being so silly. I wanted to get a pic of Mya and Mary and Mya wouldn't open her eyes...

...so Mary opened them...

...here I am...

...than she started winking, which was even funnier!

....didn't get one normal pic!

Ashley was worn out!

..so was Tony...

After going back and forth about what we should do and shouldn't we decided not to take the girls to Ryan's dad's house. :( So sad because we always have so much fun there and Mya has so much fun with all the kids. We decided that (1) we didn't want to get any other kids sick and, (2) we didn't want Mya or Ashley to get worse than they were. Ry ended up going with Michael and I just took the girls home to get a good nights sleep. We missed you all and hope to see you all soon. xoxoxo

Christmas Eve

2011-12-30T08:07:00.001-08:00

Mya and daddy made these magnets the week of Christmas. How cute! I had to get this pic in here.

Uncle Michael came over Christmas Eve morning and wanted to give the bean her gift as soon as he saw her. She was in love, a Belle doll and Belle dress. She had to put it on IMMEDIATLY!

Dance! We had to put on the music so she could dance around.

Ashley was having fun watching all the dancing.

Tale as old as time...

Dance with me Uncle Michael! SO SWEET!

We headed to Babci's for Christmas Eve dinner when the girls got up from their naps. Mya loves playing the piano everytime we're there.

Ryan and his mini me

Now Uncle Michael's got her.

LOVE THIS!

Love my fam, look even Jon is smiling! lol

Mya helping Babci opening presents.

Time for Mya to open up some presents.

YAY a grocery cart for Nunu's house.

Ashley was just hanging with Uncle Michael.

smiles :)

The Bea fam, I love my little family

Horsey rides...ok wackos

This is more like it.

smooches for the bean sprout...

Had the girls all ready for bed in their matching pj's....love you girls....
We had a great Christmas Eve, Mya's 3rd and Ashley's 1st! Love my girls.

Nu Nu's christmas party

2011-12-30T07:51:00.000-08:00

Last Friday the girls and I went to Nunu's work holiday party. Ry took them last year but since he was working this year and I got out early I took them. It was so cute and Mya had fun too. Our old, awesome neighbor, Lori works there too. It was great seeing you all, I can't believe how long it's been since I've seen her cuties.
Mya's ready to get in the elevator, she loves pressing the buttons.

Ready for ya Nunu

I LOVE this pic

Mya was running around with the kids there too, it was so cute.

She was obsessed with the water tank. Santa got her a hello kitty one for Christmas, WORST GIFT EVER, there's water everywhere. Gotta hide that one.

Nick was so little when he lived here, right around a year. Now he's 3 and gotten so big. Lori and I always said that Mya and him were getting married, but I think he's got his eyes on Ashley now.

STUD

And Ade, who is gonna be 5 this month, WOW!

Thanks for the fun Nunu. Love ya

Happy Birthday Daniel twins

2011-12-22T09:09:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday we celebrated our friends, Nicole and Johnny's, little twin boys. They turned 1 on December 15th!
Getting ready for cake, these boys are such good kids, they are so calm and chill.

Time to taste the cake Gavin!

Aiden's turn, meanwhile, Gavin is screaming for more on the other side, lol!

cuties

Mya was playing with Kayla and Marcella.

They were having a good time playing with the Elmo and Cookie Monster balloons.

We had a great time, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOYS!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Reesie!

2011-12-22T08:13:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday we celebrated one of Mya's best friends 3rd birthday! Her actual birthday is January 10th but her mama is due on January 29th with their 2nd little princess so she decided to have it early. Charity put on an amazing, Alice and Wonderland themed party. I don't know how she did so much being so prego and running after Reese all the time, she is AMAZING! She didn't miss a thing, everything was perfect!
Here are the decorations...the party was held in their basement, so here is the entry downstairs.

The favor table. Everyone got a Alice in Wonderland book.

Some apps

The candy bar/dessert table, AMAZING!!!

The table with tea pots and tea cups, pictures, poms, the whole 9 yards!

And here is the birthday girl!!!

LOL, Willie cracks me up in this pic.

CUTIE! Love this little munchkin.

Gracie playing the piano but seriously the horse is cracking me up in this pic!!

Mya was dying to wear a party hat.

Mya checkin out Reese's outfit.

Birthday cake time!

Making sure everyone is singing.

YAYYY!!!

She said MORE! So we sang again (reminded of me when Mya said that at her 2nd birthday, lol! SO SWEET!). Isn't she just beautiful, OMG the eyes, the curls, just everything!

Make another wish cutie

YAYYYY!

Mya enjoyed the cupcake for sure.

Time for a dance party.

Ashley was beat.

They had a face painter there too. She was doing all the kids faces. It was adorable.

SO CUTE!

Mya wanted blue snowflakes, random I know.

Checking them out....hmmmmmm, do I like it??

Purple too

There ya go!

Mya and Gracie hugging, so sweet

Time to go home. Mya getting into the tent to say bye to Reesie. LOL!!

We had such a great time sharing your birthday with you Reese. I can't believe that you are 3 years old (almost). I still remember the first time I met your beautiful face. We're so blessed to have the girls so close in age, the amount of pics we have of them together is amazing. I hope that Reese and Mya's friendship is as strong as Charity and mine. LOVE you girl and I LOVE your little Reesie Piecey! xoxo

NYC for the day

2011-12-15T13:16:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday Ry and I took off to take the girls into the city to see the Christmas Tree, Rockefeller Center and St Patrick's Cathedral. It wasn't too cold out but we still bundled them up nice and warm.
All ready to go!

I just think of Randy from A Christmas Story where he's all bundled up that he can't even put his arms down. LOL!!

We turned to see the tree and this was her face. Like yea whatever mom.

It was so pretty.

Mya was more in love with watching the ice skaters.

Daddy and Mya

Had to get Ashley in there.

Someone was nice enough to get a pic of all of us. I love my little family.

Daddy got a pic of us, but the tree is hiding behind the statue.

SO BIG!

Off to the Cathedral, so beautiful.

Mya was in awe, I think she liked St Patrick's Cathedral more than the tree.

Daddy using his muscles to get the girls in there.

SO BEAUTIFUL! Mass was being held, it was crazy how many people where there just so walk around and see it. I couldn't imagine being at mass and having all the tourists there, it would totally distract me. Not that having Mya and Ashley there don't distract me enough!

Mya and Daddy lit a candle.

Than we walked around the church, so so beautiful.

We got to the nativity. Mya helped my mom set up her nativity and she has a little people one too, so she knows it. She was amazed by this one. The cutest part is I was holding her and showing her all of them and she says to me, "Mommy, where's baby Jesus?" It was so sweet and I was so proud that she noticed he wasn't there. And since we're talking about church, I have to note this funny story from this past Sunday when we were at church. We just finished one of the readings and everyone said Amen. Everyone got quiet and Mya said all loud, AMEN! It was so sweet!

Times Square on the drive out.

Bye Bye NY! We had fun visiting.

A party for the girls...

2011-12-15T12:24:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday Mimi invited us to a holiday party that her country club has every year. I was so excited to get the girls all dressed up and to spend the day with all the girls! Well the party was a blast! Santa was there, there was a DJ, magician, face painter, mini train track (that Mya was loving), yummy food and a make your own sundae at the end. It was adorable. Thanks for the invite Mimi!
Here are the girls when we got there. Next year we should dress the 4 of them up in coordinating outfits! It's so funny though cause they kinda are coordinated, Mya and Ashley got the cream top with gold shoes (Ashley had red shoes), Ava and So so have the gold dress and gold shoes. SO CUTE!

Ava all grown up and done up!

Mya and Ava dancing.

Trying to get a pic of them was not as easy as it looked.

So so and Mimi

Mya jumped in.

This was so cute, they were playing pass around the ball to the music and when the music stops whoever had it was out. Mya made her way in between these 2 boys and was having fun. Didn't fully understand that she needed to be fast when they passed the ball to her. The boy to the right of her (in the red sweater) took Mya under his wing, it was adorable. When the circle got smaller and everyone moved in, he looked at her and said, ok scooch in! SO SWEET!

The rest of the gang was on the other side but Mya didn't want to move.

Ashley was hanging in Gigi's lap.

Dancing with Matthew

Time for Santa. The second Santa came out, Mya kept saying, MOMMY SANTA! But there was a long line at first so I told her to eat first and we'd see him when the line got shorter. So there were 2 people on line so I look at Mya and said ok lets go check him out. We go over and the girl in front of us goes up to sit on his lap. Mya's watching very carefully, making sure she sees everything. Well I could see on the little girls face that she was terrified before her mom set her down. I immediately try to distract Mya and talk to her, she didn't want anything to do with me, watching the girl and wondering WTF is going on. Well, once it was Myas turn, she was no longer down to sit on his lap. I knew that'd happen if she saw someone else get upset. Oh well, she just sat on Mimi's lap while all the other kids in our group sat with Santa. Ashley, Cassidy, Marykate, Santa, Ava, Grace, Matthew, So So, Mya and Mimi.

Mya loving the train.

They passed out all these props too, Mya got her hands on these Kanye West shades and was rockin them.

The girls gettin down to YMCA!

HEY MAMA

Shakin her thang

She decided she wanted to switch with this little boy, here, you take the green and I'll take the orange. DEAL!

much better

Caught Jen playing a little guitar.

Mya wanted to try too.

So so was just happy with her mama's iphone.

Mya wanted to switch bell necklaces with this little girl. Thank god all these little kids were fine with her swapping.

She was rubbing her legs. I guess they were all soft with the tights on, so funny!

sisters dancing, so sweet

lol

Ka Ka was making Ashley crack up.

me and my girls

out came the hula hoops, Mya wasted no time.

CUTIE!

Daddy came to pick us up. So he took Ashley onto the dance floor to check out all the excitement.

This pic makes me lol!

Thank you so much Mimi, we had such a great time. xoxo

holiday baking tradition

2011-12-15T11:16:00.000-08:00

We've made it a annual tradition to bake Christmas cookies with my mom in December. I love doing this cause (1) I LOVE cookies and love to taste every one of them, (2) Mya loves it just as much as I do (seeing her sneak in tastes cracks me up!), and (3) I love making traditions with the people I love. Ashley got to join us this year, I can't wait for her to be able to help out next year. Ashley had fun watching all the excitement. But you could tell she wanted to just eat it all too.
Mya picked out her stellar outfit, don't judge people, I choose my battles wisely.

Already snuck a rolo into her mouth, the chocolate came dripping out of her mouth.

Can I help mama??

So carefully coating the cookies with sugar.

first batch is in!

Fine I'll just eat this thing.

She loves decorating the sugar cookies...

...oh yea and tasting the sugar too...

no point in wiping that face off.

mmmmm

Ashley friggin loves Shadow. She literally shakes when he gets close to her. She was in awe when he came up to watch too.

hey, where ya goin?

love this cat.

sisterly love...such cuties.

love that smile.

onto the wreaths. Mya was getting the sprinkles going.

mmmmm, they were so good...yes, we already ate them all. I gotta make more this week.

flying into the kitchen, WEEEEEEEE

She loves when daddy does this.

Thanks for doing this every year mom, I love that we have this. xoxo

Christmas Card pic outtakes....

2011-12-15T11:07:00.000-08:00

Ok, so now that the Christmas cards have been sent out I can post this. I hate to put up spoilers! So a few weeks ago, when we got our first Christmas card in the mail (Reesie) we realized we had to get the move on taking our pics for the cards. I was so nervous to get a pic since this year we've got 2 little angels instead of just Mya. So we dressed them in something coordinating and took them outside to a grassy area in our neighborhood in hopes of getting the perfect picture!
We took over 100 pics, lol! We bribed Mya with pizza and we shook a rattle for Ashley. I think we got a gem!
Here are some of the out takes....PHOTO OVERLOAD!
I love how Mya holds Ashley with both hands, just so sweet.

position change. Ryan's trying to get Ashley to smile above me.

big cheesy smile and Ashley just wanted a leaf.

huh?

This was the gem! LOVES!!!!!

I think I may like this one better now that I'm looking at them...oh well!

Sometimes Ashley's faces just seriously crack me up!

awwwww

lol ging

ok now onto just single pics...my bean....LOVE this little sassy diva!

WTF?

she looks so uncomfortable...lol

Onto the ging...seriously, just seriously! You should have seen it too, Mya was behind me shaking the rattle and was so cute cause than Mya would walk towards her and try to make her laugh. CRACKING US UP!

LOL!!

look mommy, moon.

love my girls....hope you all enjoy your Christmas cards! xoxo
I told you it'd be lots of pics!!!

Happy half birthday ging

2011-12-07T07:27:00.000-08:00

So last Wednesday little miss peachy pie turned 6 months old, 1/2 a year! WOW! How does time go so fast now that we have children? I just don't get it. We don't have her 6 month check up until Dec 23rd, so I can't give you her weight and height (I guess we could do it ourselves, but whatever). I can tell you what she's been up to lately...
She's in size 3 diapers now.
She's wearing 6-12 and some 12-18 month clothing. Growing SO much! I really think she's going to be bigger than the bean.
She gave me a little glimmer of hope the past few nights. Waking up only once (last Sunday-Tuesday nights and again this past Monday night) at like 4:30-5ish, than would go back to bed till 7ish. But that's not happening enough. I think I'm going to try and let her cry it out if she wakes before 4:30-5ish from now on. I know that she CAN go that long, so why the fall offs?
Mary told me that she loves the walker. We haven't taken ours down from the attic yet cause we live in a closet and don't have room for both the walker and exercauser (especially with the Christmas tree). But I want to see her in it so bad. Ryan refuses to take it down till after Christmas.
She babbles a TON and says mama ALL.THE.TIME! I swear I've heard dada a few times but Ry hasn't so he doesn't believe me.
She's super ticklish all over.
She cracks up at Mya and watches her all the time.
She loves the tubby and splashes like crazy in it.
She can sit on her own for a short period before falling over, so we still have to be right there for her. But she's getting really strong.
Her legs are super strong and she loves to stand in your lap.
She gets up on all 4's and rocks back and forth. Last night Ry yelled to me (as I was downstairs starting laundry) she just crawled once, but I didn't see it. So I say, it doesn't happen till I see it, lol!!! Mary said she did too. But like I said, to me, she hasn't made that move yet, just rocks alot.
She loves eating her toes, it cracks me up!
She loves food, really loves avocados. She's had pears, apples, butternut squash, carrots and I gave her sweet potatoes twice. This kid doesn't poop good though so I stopped the sweet potatoes. She reaches for everything when I'm eating it too. Last week I was eating a cookie while she was in my hands, and she was reaching to grab it, I felt bad pulling back and stuffing it in my fat mouth! Sorry boo, no cookies yet!
Still no teeth but still drooling and chewing on everything.
I'll leave you with her 6 month photo session. Of course Mya jumped in too!

Before falling over...

Happy little girl...love it!

profile

lovin the drool...

seriously can't take that booty! I bite it non stop and now Mya does too!

seriously LOVE the faces she makes.

my girls...

love this shot! such a beauty!

sisterly love...

Happy 1/2 Birthday Peachy pie, mama loves you to pieces. xoxo

sittin with Santa...

2011-12-07T06:43:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday we went down to Princeton to meet Mimi and Poppy, Jimmy, Jen and Michael for dinner to celebrate Ryan and Michael's birthday. Since we were going to be right next to Market Fair mall we decided to bring the girls a little early so we could sit on Santa's lap. Figured get it done early and not have to wait on a long a$$ line! Well we were right, there was NO line. I've been asking Mya if she wants to sit on Santa's lap a while now and every time she says, Yea mommy, now! So I was thinking this would probably go well. We got there and I said, Mya you have to tell Santa what you want for Christmas, you gotta show Ashley that Santa's so nice and brings you lots of toys. So trying to talk her up! We get up to him and I say, ok Mya lets go sit on his lap. She let me walk right up and I propped Ashley on one leg and Mya on the other. QUICK I told the camera lady, get a shot! She shook a bell and Ashley looked and smiled, Mya gave a fake smile, but NO TEARS!! SCORE!! Before I took Mya from his lap I said, now tell Santa what you want. She looks up at him and says, "gum and hello kitty!" lol, I was dying! Here's the pic.

Got a pic with my bean before heading to din din.

And daddy got a pic with ginger.

They have these huge horses outside PF Changs and I got these cute pics of Mya. She was loving these horses. The sky looks so pretty too.

super cheesy face.

Of course I didn't get any pics during dinner, UGH.

Oh Christmas Tree....

2011-12-06T11:13:00.000-08:00

I think my blog post is the same title every year for this one! Oh well. So the Saturday after Thanksgiving we headed out and got our tree. A little early, yea maybe, but we're hoping it lasts till Christmas like it has every year. I swear some of the needles are already falling off and it makes me so nervous, but whatever!
So we headed to the same spot we always go, Happy Acres. We picked out the perfect tree and it was so much fun having both girls there this year. Last year Ashley was still in my belly.
Here we are.

Ry and his little girls...love Ashley's face here but the bean's not looking...

...well here she's cheesin!

this one mommy??

or maybe this one?

having a blast.

running around like a wild child!

she really wanted this one...really? lol

me and my girls....Mya wasn't having it and Ashley was cracking up. I look terrible but peachy's face is cracking me up and the leg up too, LOL!

love them, Mya's had enough.

The Beas (seriously LOVE how Ashley looks up at her sister. so sweet.

all ready to go.

in the house and Mya drops her drawers. This kid loves to be pantless, yikes!

there she is!

We decided to decorate it this past Sunday (I know we went a full week with no decorations at all). Mya had a blast putting every single ornament she could on the bottom. The branches were drooping like crazy. So I'd move them up when she'd run to grab another one from the coffee table. When we were decorating I noticed that I do the same thing my parents used to do when I was little. They'd put all the hooks on the ornaments and they'd place them on the coffee table. We'd all hang them up once they were all out and it was so much fun! I was doing the same thing. I'd hook the ones that needed hooks and the bean would run over and grab it, look at me and say, this one mommy? Once she got that nod, she'd say YEA and run to the tree! It was so cute!
Ry was helping her put one up higher here. I need to learn how to take better pics inside without a flash and with the tree lights on.

so proud of herself.

back to the bottom them go (if you can even see her in this pic).

with the flash you don't get the feel of it.

Ashley watching in her toy. Hello there big eyes.

All done! I LOVE IT!

without the flash.

Ashley wanted to go shopping! Ry let go for a hot second. No worries, he caught her when her legs gave out. She just wanted to chew on the handle.

Thankful...

2011-12-03T08:03:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I love getting together with family and eating all day long! It's a time where I love just thinking about all that I'm thankful for....
...all of my friends, no matter if I talk to them everyday or not as often as I'd like, I know that they are there for me and I am there for them...
...my health
...my parents, they have taught me so much about life and love. I am so thankful that they are the 2 people who raised me and have made me who I am today.
...my brothers. They are a pain in my butt sometimes but I don't know what I'd do without them. Having 2 brothers growing up may have been a little hard, but I love it and I love that we are as close as we are now.
...all my family, especially the Olarras. We are so blessed to have them and have Mary be the one to watch our girls. I can't even say it enough.
...my in-laws. I couldn't have been more blessed with the family I got when I married Ry. I get along so well with all of them and truly feel so comfortable around them. I know that we were all meant to have eachother.
...my neighborhood. Mya's got her friends and I always feel so safe there, LOVE that!
...my 2 girls. Mya my oldest, my little sass machine. She is getting so big and her personality cracks me up! I could do without the melt downs and screaming to get her way but I guess that also makes her who she is! A very fun, loving and hysterical little girl! Her phrases crack me up! Just have to add one in here, Mary called me Friday and said Mya was looking through the Toys R Us catalog and stopped on a page, put her hands over her mouth and said "OH MY GOD!" She was looking at princess and hello kitty stuff, some lap tops and whatnot. HYSTEICAL!!!! And my little peachy pie, Ashley. She is growing so fast! She is such a happy baby and always puts a smile on my face. She is constantly smiling and babbling away. I originally thought she'd be quiet and reserved cause Mya is so loud. I thought she'd be the one to just sit back and let Mya steal the show. But the more she grows the more I think this isn't the case. She babbles so much and I think she wants to just be heard over Mya. It's so cute and seeing the 2 of them together just melts me. I am so blessed to have 2 beautiful, healthy and happy little girls. What more could I ask for????
...my soulmate, my best friend and my other half! I love you so much Ryan. I never knew how happy I could be until I met Ryan. He has made my life so amazing and I know it's just going to keep getting better. I love that we agree on (almost) everything! And what we don't agree on, well he usually lets me win! Even after 12 years (will be 12 years this Thursday) of being with him I keep falling harder and harder in love. He is so sexy and helps out with anything and everything! He is the best daddy to our little girls, I love watching him interact with him. I hope they realize how lucky they are to have a daddy who spends so much time with them and shows them so much love. He reminds me of a version of my father. LOVE YOU SWEETIE!
We spent Thanksgiving dinner with Babci, Nunu, Pop Pop, Michael and Tabitha. It was so nice being there, like always. And the food was delicious!
Babci and the little gingersnap.

LOVE this! Just wish the bean was looking!

Ashley in the jumper and Mya showing her all the toys.

Uncle Michael and ging

LOVE THIS!

Nunu, Ry Ry and peach a la mode (haha)

After we left there, we headed to the Olarra's for dessert. Ashley was eating T's head! There was drool all down his back after I'm sure!

This pic makes me lol! Mya is putting the candles in the pumpkin pie (we sang happy bday to Pete since he won't be here on his actual Dec 16th bday. T is trying to readjust, Ashley is letting T know he can't readjust and Tony is trying to get Ashley's attention to make her laugh.

Love the way Mya is looking at Pete, so sweet.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Make a wish, but you don't get it, Mya does!

still eating T's head...

Uncle Frank and Ashley

awwwww, loves!

Tony making her laugh.

hello little girl...love you

It was a wonderful day. I hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving and remembered all that they are thankful for.
I LOVE MY FAMILY!

boo boo on my boo boo

2011-11-26T10:40:00.000-08:00

So we had Mya's 2nd visit to the ER last week. 1st time was when she was 9 months old and had an pneumonia. This time was a little different, she got bit by a dog. Long story short, Mya was at Mary's house, like every weekday. I get a call from Mary around 11am on Monday, Mary's crying and said Roxy bit Mya. I left work immediately and had no idea what to expect when I got there. When I got there I go upstairs into Mya's room (cause you know Mya's got a room there!) and Mya's sitting on Mary's lap with Mary crying but Mya not. Mary's got a washcloth on the bite and I'm a little out of it just worried too. Mya looks at me and says, what's wrong mommy? :( She's such a doll. Anyway, I take Mya and call her primary care dr in the car who tells me to just head to the ER. God, this always just freaks me out. Luckily, my mom works for RWJ, so I called her and picked her up since I knew Ry works an hour away and it'd take him a while to get there. We pick up my mom and head to the ER.
Here she is at the ER. She was such a happy little trooper.

Until of course they had to strap her down to stitch her. Makes sense why they had to, cause even being strapped down, she was still trying to move all around. The nurse looked at me at one point and said, wow, she's really strong! No kidding lady. She was passed out when the plastic surgeon came in so I was hoping she'd stay asleep for the whole thing, yea right! She was finally waking up when everything was all ready and I had to lay her down on the bed and they literally swaddled her, than strapped her into this thing. Kinda scary to watch and broke my heart but I knew it was for the best. The dr said I should probably leave, but I knew I couldn't, I wanted to make sure Mya saw me the whole time to let her know everything was ok. It took about 5 minutes and 3 stitches.
Tuesday night we took off the band aid and it looked great already!

And this was Wednesday night. Now it's just a scab and is healing so well! I'm glad we waited for the plastic surgeon at the ER. The nurse was there said, oh the dr's do a great job, but we wanted the plastic surgeon. With it being right on her face, we didn't want any scars.

There was some bruising but it wasn't as bad as we thought it'd be.

Mya's quite the tough girl. She's not even scared of dogs, which is good, I think she realizes that she can't go squeezing or pulling them anymore. We were at my parents the other night and she went up to Shadow (their cat), she usually tries to pull his tail or grab him but she didn't at all. She just went up to pet him.
Love ya boo...xoxo

Happy Birthday Bea Twins

2011-11-23T08:52:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday was Ryan's 31st birthday. I wanted to get a pic of the girls to frame for him. Friday morning, before we went to Mary's, I got the girls ready and had a mini photo shoot. Here are some of the out takes...
Happy Birthday Daddy.

This one makes me lol with with Mya playing with Ashley's ears.

OMG that little face.

cheese

seriously?!!!

This may be my favorite. The combo of the 2 smiles and Ashley's hand on Mya's leg. I just can't take it.

wrong way...

Mya posing away.

ok..now to Saturday night. We headed to Rafferty's for a birthday dinner. It was a great time with great people.

The birthday boys and me.

Make a wish...love you

Sunday afternoon we went out for a little walk before people came over for dinner and cake. It was Ashley's first ride in the stroller not in her car seat! Big day! She loved it! She didn't make one peep and stayed awake, just looking around, the entire 45 minutes.

Mya wasn't feeling the pics.

Make a wish my love.

This pic is funny, Ashley's eyes are HUGE!

Ryan and his 2 girls...

The Bea Fam...love

CHEESE

Mya and T...I love Mya's smile here, so real. Mya was just dressing T up in all her stuff.

Had to post this pic so you can see the lip gloss on T's lips that Mya applied. TOO FUNNY!

I hope you had a wonderful birthday honey. I love you so much and hope this year is amazing for you. I love you more than anything. xoxo
Does this mean you start to age backwards now?

Go Ava Go!

2011-11-21T05:58:00.000-08:00

Saturday we went to watch Mya and Ashley's cousin, Ava, play in her soccer game. Mya loves Ava so I knew that she'd love to go. Mya was so funny too, cheering her on, jumping up and down too! SO FUNNY!!
Ava was HYSTERICAL! When she saw that we were there, she came running by, during the game, stopped and started waving and saying HI MYA!!!! Little Miss social butterfly!
Here she is, she's in green and is the closest to us, white pants, white undershirt.

HI MYA!!!

Mya and So So were hanging in someones wheelbarrow, this thing was so cute.
Auntie Jen bought bagels, she won Mya's heart immediately!

Ava warming up for goalie.

Ava was in the goalie position and stopped a few goals. But it was hysterical cause she'd be paying attention to other stuff while the game was on the other side of the field. So when the other team was bringing the ball back and shooting in her goal, everyone's screaming, AVA TURN AROUND! too funny!!

This video cracks me up. You'll see Ava stopping a goal and Mya cheering her on! SO SWEET!

Mya and Ava running around together after the game.

cuties

So so chowing down on some oreos. I wanna suck those cheeks, this kid is edible.

We had a great time. CONGRATS on a great game Ava! xoxo

weekend fun

2011-11-18T09:18:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, like every weekend was great! It's always nice to be home with the girls to spend qt with them. We started Saturday morning off with a little Mya/Ashley session. These 2 are just so darn cute together. Ashley loves her big sis just as much as Mya loves being her big sis! The way that Mya makes Ashley laugh is just precious. You can see in these pics...

PEANUT BUTTER!! That's one of the things that Mya says to Ashley that makes her laugh SO FRIGGIN HARD! Not sure why, but she says it and Ashley dies! I gotta get a video of this STAT!

nose Ashley!

My little bro came home for the weekend since he got Veterans Day off. They also found out that they're having a little girl!! I'm so excited for Mya and Ashley to be getting ANOTHER girl cousin! So exciting for everyone. We went to my parents Saturday afternoon, they wouldn't tell me until we got there, what they were having, it was torture ! But cute, they hid a pair of red ballet flats for the baby. I found them! CONGRATS guys, we love you.
Thomas is pulling himself up and standing now!

Ry got my dad! Ry or I usually sneak into the kitchen and rubber band the spray hose on the sink. When someone goes to turn it on, it totally sprays them. GOT YA DEWEY!

Tommy boy!

Pete never changed a diaper, so Mya was teaching him how to change one.

Ashley and Thomas having their usual conversation.

They had the fire going, Mya was loving it.

Nona with her grand daughters. MATCHING!

YAYY, congrats on the great news. Can't wait to meet the little princess.

Willie came over Sunday morning. This is the ONLY pic I got. I need to get better at getting pics of the 3 of them.

Mya and Ashley's 1st tubby together. Don't worry people, Ry was holding onto Ashley and the bumbo the whole time. The thing was pretty slippery in there. We gotta get a tub seat for Ashley. It was so cute though, they both loved it! I love the way Ashley looks up to Mya, so sweet.

God Bless Ashley Elizabeth

2011-11-11T12:19:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday was Ashley's Baptism. It was such a beautiful day and it was so nice sharing it with all of our close family and friends. My Uncle Eddie, who is a Priest, Baptised, her. Mary and Joe are her godparents, we are so close with them and they are super close with our girls, we're so blessed to have them in our lives. We love our guys and are so happy that you're such a special part of Ashley (and all of our) lives.
Titi getting the ginger all dressed, Mya wanted some lovin. Ashley wore the dress that I wore for my Baptism. My little brother and Mya both wore it too, so special.

YAYYY, it's my big day!

all ready to go.

The godparents with their god daughter and the bean.

Such a good little girl.

I think Mya and Tony get some of the cutest pics together.

awwww, love her squeezing him extra close.

The Bea fam

Nona and Dew with peachy.

see, friggin adorable

love this

Such a happy little mama

Tony was in charge of the camera and got some great pics.

Thoma was there too...

...so was little Willie...

And now time for the actual Baptism, she did so good!

On his tippy toes, lol!

Mya was just staring at that flame.

Watching her daddy getting blessed.

Thanks Uncle Eddie

Ashley apparantly didn't want anymore pics.

The godparents

Uncle Eddie and all the grandparents with Ashley

take 2...

Auntie Char and the little peachy pie (Char is due in 10 weeks with my little god daughter! I'm so excited to be a god mama again!!).

Cousins coloring.

this cracks me up!

ok much better there...

Mya running around the place.

Babci, Ry and little ginger

So So was dying for a cupcake and was so happy when she finally got one!

Ava loved it too

love this little girl.

Happy baby girl

This was HYSTERICAL! She was looking at the cupcake on her bib, than leaning down into the table and biting it.

so determined

...to eat the table?

mmmmmm mama!

MORE!

lol

So so (another so so at the party) wanted to eat her shoes, lol!

Babci and one of her great grand daughters.

Mya making moves on Willie. Letting all the ladies know that he's taken!

Mya and Ava were so cute together, dancing around and just having so much fun!

awwww

We had a wonderful day. Thank you to everyone who was a part of it. God Bless my little Ashley Elizabeth. xoxo

M&M day

2011-11-10T13:21:00.000-08:00

So, yes, Mya is a big sister now (duh). Our transition was wonderful, she was a friggin doll to Ashley. There was no jealousy, no bad behavior, just everything was wonderful. Mya was loving being a big sister and Ashley loves to just watch everything Mya does. Mya never got jealous when I held or fed Ashley and just all in all everything was perfect. That is until a few weeks ago, when I guess Mya realized that Ashley is her little sister forever and ever and that she's not going anywhere! Mya has started getting clingy to me, she wants to sleep in our bed every night (and always finds her way there at some point), and just last week when Ashley was in my lap, she took her cheeks and squeezed the living crap out of them. To the point where Ashley started crying. I sent Mya to time out and told her she had to be nice and gentle with Ashley, she kicked me. Back to time out! I realized that this was her cry out for attention, that maybe she misses that Mommy and Mya time that she constantly got when it was just her. I do too, don't get me wrong, I LOVE my little ginger, but I miss being able to play with Mya alone. I realize now that giving them both alone time with us was crucial and had to start! I was telling a friend at work and she came up with the cutest friggin idea (thanks Camille!). She said to do an M&M day, Mommy and Mya! LOVE IT! I went home last week and told Mya all about it. Mya was so excited and everyday she would wake up and say M&M, no daddy, no Ashley! So I decided to take her to get her very first mani/pedi! We went Saturday morning, before Ashley's Baptism and it was so sweet! M&M day was a success and we will continue to have a weekly outing with just the 2 of us. Gotta let the little bean know that she is so special to mommy.
Here we are! She was so excited to pick out her color. She picked spearmint green for her toes! WOW, really? Whatever, she was so happy I didn't care if she picked orange. Thankfully she picked a pink for her nails.

cutie pie

onto the nails!

It was so cute and Mya was so still and good getting them done. She didn't even mess any nails up when she was drying. I however, only had time for a pedi cause I wasn't about to make the bean wait for me to get a mani too. Plus once she was done she kept saying, all done mommy? lol! I love it and I can't wait to do something special with her again.

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-07T11:03:00.000-08:00

Last Monday was Mya's 3rd and Ashley's 1st Halloween! We decided to dress the girls in their JETS cheerleading outfits that they have for the Jets football season, easy, cheap and uber cute. They looked freakin adorbs! I got they both green pom poms and green star stickers for their cheeks (although I just put the sticker on, just like the real deal cheerleaders do!
This was the first year that Mya actually understood it and it was a blast! She went door to door, with the neighbors kids, Jack and Emma. She rang the doorbells, said trick-or-treat, and was even the polite little boo that she is and said 'thank you' when she got her piece of candy. While most kids dig their little hands in for multiple pieces, she was more than happy with just 1. Last year, she wanted to open every piece of candy immediately after she got it, but this year she was content with just opening and eating a dum dum lollipop and eating that for most of the walk around Almond Drive. When we got home, she dumped all the goods out on the coffee table and she was so excited with how much she got! It was so much fun!
Ashley, well she looked adorable in her green JETS cheerleading costume. Ry and I took turns holding her but she eventually passed out in daddy's arms, as she usually does!
Here's Mya all ready to go!

J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!

Seriously, just seriously!

sissy's

LOL!

All ready to pick up her friends to start the trick-or-treating.

Lets go Jack!

Off to house #1

Trick-or-Treat!

little ginger, already all bundled up! It wasn't so cold when we first started but quickly got cold.

moving on...

eating her dum dum

got a little cold so I gave her my hat...

Ashley got a hat too!

lol, dressed as Bert and Ernie and their daughter, Chelsea, was Elmo!

...than I had to run home and grab Mya's jacket, it got COLD!

so cute holding hands...

passed out.

last house.

So sleepy...

the goods!

WE LOVE YOU GIRLS AND CAN'T WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR, WHEN YOU'RE BOTH WALKING DOOR TO DOOR TO GET YOUR CANDY!

5 months old

2011-11-06T17:24:00.001-08:00

My peachy pie turned 5 months old last Sunday. Where is time going? Just when I can't get over she's 4 months, she turns 5 months. Time really goes by in a flash. I can't believe that 5 months ago she came into this world. She is such a happy little ginger, I can't even get enough of her.
Now she weighs in at 17 lbs! I know this cause I had to take her to the dr last Thursday since her and Mya were both sick :(
She's in mostly 6-12 month clothes.
She's still in size 2 diapers but we're just finishing off this box than moving onto 3's.
Crappy sleeper still, competing with Mya to see who can be crappier! Mya usually makes her way to our bed by 1am and when Ashley wakes up, around the same time, I bring her into our bed. I tried last week to let her cry it out when she woke up at 1am but after 10 minutes I went in to see if she was 'really hungry' or just wanted my boob for comfort. Well the kid ate for a solid 10 minutes, she was hungry! We keep saying we're going to give her a nice big bottle before bed to see if that works but have yet to do that. Gotta get on it!
She still loves her exercauser! Plays with all the toys, spins herself around in it and just watches Mya do whatever she's doing too.
She blows raspberries all the time and it's so cute.
Babbles alot, still haven't caught a mama/dada yet.
She loves playing with her toes when she's on her back but she usually rolls Right to her belly.
She's eaten a little bit, started with prunes, than we have also given her butternut squash, carrots and just yesterday tried apples. I gotta say, she's not as into food as Mya was, but she's ok. I've been making all of it so far and hope to do that as I did with Mya.
And I'll leave you with her 5 month pics.
So serious here..

than the smiles start.

I can't even take that tongue sticking out.

practicing her sitting...

I added the boppy incase she falls back...

TIMBER! But still has a hold of her toy.

Halloween weekend

2011-11-02T07:21:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was Halloween weekend and we had a fun one! It all started on Friday, we went out for my cousin, Tony's 21st birthday. It was back in September but we all hadn't been out to celebrate yet. You know what I realized when we were out, I'm friggin LAME! It could be that I have a 5 month old and haven't had a full nights sleep since May. But still, my partying days are so over for the next few years. I can't hang like I used to. Oh well, I'll be back sooner or later, well possibly. All in all we had a great time hitting up our old stomping grounds, Raffertys following by the Moon! Happy Birthday Cuz!!!!
Saturday we woke up and I finally got my hair done, been way too long. I always love going to my girl, Chrissy cause I pretty much tell her to do whatever and she works magic! As I was sitting there around 10am, I look outside and it's friggin snowing! I know it was in the forecast but I really didn't think we'd get any. Oh well, I figured it'd be done before I was even finished there. Well it wasn't. I get home and it's still coming down, Ashley's first snowfall!!!! So you know, that justified some much needed pics of the little pumpkin bar. How pretty!

Ashley watching it from the door.

loving it

lookin at daddy

his mini me

The snow was getting heavy and pulling these branches on the tree down. I can't believe how many people lost power and all the problems this storm caused.

Saturday we had a little game night with some family. Mya all ready to cheer on the Jets in her halloween costume!!

Mya was having fun in the snow.

Making their first mini snowman of the season.

a few finishing touches.

ALL DONE!

GO JETS!

Thomas came in his zebra costume. His mom is a teacher at New Brunswick, the Zebras, so fitting.

Had to get this pic, Mags is holding Ashley!! She usually likes them when they hit about a year old.

cool cousins

Hey what are you wearing?

she had her Jets cheerleading costume on, but than decided she wanted to be a princess.

Thomas lookin at his mama like WTF are you holding that baby for? lol

Mya was dragging Auntie Shell around everywhere. They find out the sex of their baby this weekend, so excited to find out if I'll have a little niece or nephew!

We played taboo and Mya wanted to join in so bad, so we let her take a round.

and the first official snowman of the season. I think he already lost an arm.

Sunday morning all ready for church.

After church she was practicing sitting up on her own. She's getting good. Here she was about to fall over.

back up...

...she loves this ball.

...about to tip over again.

cutie pie

Mya taking pics with her phone.

me and my girls

Daddy and Mya, I love Mya's smile here.

So So stopped by too, she was a monkey for Halloween, so cute!

Fun at the park

2011-10-31T08:19:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we met Charity, Eric and Reese at the park by their house to play. This park is amazing and we always have a great time when we're there.
We're here! Chilly morning but it cooled up so fast.

The girls swinging on their bellies.

They went down this slide about 500 times.

Swinging with their daddies pushing. Mya prefers her daddy to me cause he pushes her much higher than I do!

Go Reesie!

spinnin

Daddy's turn!

She was getting bored with this one!

literally closed her eyes on it, lol.

Time for a drive...where you goin???

Than Mya hopped over and took the wheel. It's gonna be scary when these girls get their license. YIKES!

Ashley watching the girls have some fun. Can't wait till she can join in too.

That way Reesie.

These girls are such great cleaners. Cleaning up the new babies room.

...and storytime now.

We had so much fun, as usual. Thanks for a great morning. xoxo

Terhune!

2011-10-25T13:16:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we headed down to Terhune Orchards in Princeton with my parents to go apple picking (and for pumpkin picking part 2, to get a good pumpkin). It was a nice crisp morning, perfect for apple picking! They were having a fall festival that day too, so they had a DJ and all sorts of fun stuff for the kids.
We got there nice and early and saw all these beautiful pumpkins stacked up, had to get a pic of the bean on them!

Than I said we HAD to get them both on there. Somehow, someway. I begged Mya to hold Ashley as tight as she could and she did a fabulous job! Ry snapped a ton of pics and we got a few good ones. Ashley's not really looking or smiling but the bean sprout is! Can't win em all!

They had ponies here too, since we got there early the people were still brushing them and getting them ready for the pony rides. Mya went over to check em all out.

Daddy was, ya know, just milkin a cow...

wackos....Mya wouldn't put her face in but Ry and my dad did!

Me and my little pumpkin

WEEEEEEEEEee on our way to the apple trees.

Dewey and bubbles

Mya wanted to get the one ALL THE WAY ON TOP!

awwwww, Mya picking an apple and Ashley up there too.

applesauce....my dad always does this at the apple orchard. When there's a rotten apple on the ground, he stomps on it and says apple sauce. He did it last year with Mya and this year too! It was her turn.

Picking her very own.

Time to enjoy one of our findings, MMMM, they're good!

Dewey lifting her up to get one. Reminded me of a pic of him lifting me up when I was about her age and we were apple picking.

Well maybe a little different.

so little in the orchards...

MMMMM, the suncrisp were yummy!

Mya liked them too!

But the braeburn were even better!

Daddy picking one at the tippy top of the tree.

multi tasking.

I wanted to pick one up high, so Ry lifted me onto his shoulders...

...got it!

The Bea Fam

Mya picking an apple....upside down???

which leads to plumbers crack. Cutest plumbers crack ever!

LOVE this pic! Absolutely LOVE Mya's arms around Dewey and Nona's neck, so sweet!

PONY RIDES!!!

laughing at Dew, such a sweet baby face.

Hey it's Ashley!

What the heck am I supposed to do with this??

Time for a hayride.

and we had to hit up the pumpkin patch before we left. The pumpkins were AWESOME there!!! So glad we got some good ones. They were blinded by the sun in this pic.

so we turned them the other way, MUCH MUCH BETTER!

sissy love..xoxo

Welcome Eva Capri

2011-10-25T09:49:00.000-07:00

Our friends, Lenny and Carrie had a beautiful baby girl on Oct 1st. Little Eva Capri, she's such a beauty. We went to meet her last Thursday night and I didn't want to put this little love muffin down. I mean really, would you?

She even woke up to check me out for a bit.

CONGRATS Lenny and Carrie, she's beautiful!

Pumpkin Picking...take 1

2011-10-25T09:14:00.000-07:00

2 weekends ago we headed to Giamarese Farms to go pumpkin picking with neighbors and old neighbors that moved. We did this last year too it was so fun!
Giamarese Farm had some pretty crappy pumpkins, alot had those warts all over them. We managed to find one that was decent after searching for what seemed like days.
Here we are ready to pick! Check out all these poses, SASS MACHINE!

She insisted she wear one of my necklaces. NUT!

I mean really, look at those warty pumpkins.

Daddy and his little pumpkin pie

This one mommy. Seriously love that tongue sticking out!

LOL!

Daddy and his little girls

I mean really, look at that array of pumpkins. The ones that looked ok were probably rotted on the back.

hello there my little rosey

lol

Jack, Mya and Emma, NONE of them would look and smile at the same time. This is as good as I got!

Pony ride time, this girl LOVES horses. At first she was a little hesitant too, I put her on one and she said no. So I said ok fine. Aris went on than and she goes, Mya go. She pointed to this white one and wanted to ride her.

The Bea fam!

cutie

We went back to our old neighbors new home. Here I am holding the 2 Almond Drive babies. Lisa and Greg's little girl, Sara, and Ashley

The kids chowing down on some pizza.

So much fun guys. Can't wait till next year, hopefully we'll find better pumpkins.

Fun with friends

2011-10-24T06:44:00.000-07:00

Last Friday we headed over to our friends for some Friday night fun. We met this fam at Gymboree and love hanging with them and their 3 kids.
Here are the 3 O'Connell kids wondering what the heck another baby is doing there.

Mya jumped in to tell them it was her sister.

Some of the festivities that went on that night....
Dress up time! Caiden in her tutu, this kid can't be seen without her tulle!

And Mya opted for a hat. You fancy huh?

Mya insisted she wear her Halloween costume over, hence the Jets Cheerleading outfit.

They happened to have some glow sticks, so what better to do than have a rave. Crazy Friday night I tell ya.

Time for Ryan to toss the kids in the air. This must have been going on for 10 minutes!

Dessert time, they wasted no time jumping up ONTO the counter to dig into the cookies, ice cream and apple crisp! TOO FUNNY!

I really wanted to get a shot of all 5 of them, but the 2 girls will have to do.

They all gathered around Ashley, all packed up and ready to go. She was loving all the attention.

I love Ashley's face, all excited to have all the kids around her.

Good times as usual!

2 and a half

2011-10-17T09:22:00.001-07:00

My little princess is 2.5 years old. WOW, where has the time gone? I feel like just yesterday I found out I was pregnant with her, now 2.5 years and another kid later, we're here. I couldn't ask for anything more, life with 2 girls is just fabulous and I feel so blessed to have them (and my dear hubs too, of course!). So what has Mya been up to the past 6 months.
She speaks sentences now, not usually always grammatically correct but still, she speaks a TON! She has been potty trained since 8/25, HOWEVER, she still asks for a diaper to poop! I don't get it, I try to bribe her with m&m's, stickers, ANYTHING, she doesn't want it. She has pooped on the potty a handful of times, and when I tell you I jumped up and down and screamed like we just won the lotto! So we're just going with it for now. She totally potty trained herself with the pee, so I know that when she's ready, she'll poop on the potty too. She also sleeps in diapers too, although there have been a few times, where she's woken up in the night and taken the diaper off herself and put undies on all by herself. One of those times, she woke up the next morning and completely wet the bed, the other times she was all fine.
When I ask her how old she is she says two and a half!
She can jump so high. I remember at her 2 year check up the Dr was so impressed that she could jump with both feet coming off the ground. Kids can't usually do that at 2. She has usually been ahead on all of her motor skills.
She can count to 16.
She can say some of the alphabet. She loves to sing it and it's so cute cause she's much better at the end than the beginning and the middle goes something like, L L L L P (it used to be L N N NO P). She has this video called The Alphabet Factory and it goes over the letters of the alphabet with the sounds in a cute way. When she's watching it, she definitely makes the sounds with them, it's so cute!
She sings songs that Granny used to sing me as a kid, that I now sing them to her. Her favorite is animal crackers in my soup! I love singing these songs to her, it brings me back to my childhood and Granny.
She LOVES to help me cook and bake. She is a big fan of adding whatever it is to the mixer or mixing it herself. And of course she always has to taste it. She looks at me with this funny little face and says "taste mommy?" and of course everytime I say yea!
If Ashley's crying she will usually start singing twinkle twinkle to her.
Some of the things she says are HYSTERICAL! And the way she says it, even better. Some of my favorites are "no way jose," "oh boy," "do it mommy (or daddy, titi, nona, whoever she's with)," "GO JETS," "aaaaaaa minute." I know there's more but I can't think of them.
She's such a little fashionista, which sometimes is really annoying. I try to give her 2 options of what to wear, but it doesn't always work. She also still really loves her princess heels, has about 6 pairs and wears them all the time!
She's a terrible sleeper, usually comes into our bed at some point in the night. Some days we say, this has got to stop, where other days I can't wait for her to get in to snuggle up with! I know this won't go on forever, so we're loving it while it lasts.
She's such a sassy little girl. No other way to put it!
She's a little mama's girl and I absolutely LOVE it!
I'll leave you with her 3 half birthday pictures!
6 months old

1.5 years old

2.5 years old!

It's amazing how much you've changed, it's so fun watching you grow. You are such a little sass machine and I love you more than you'll ever know. xoxo

oh the weekends...

2011-10-14T06:51:00.000-07:00

My first weekend after getting back to work was nice. Ry had to work Saturday but I spent some good QT with the girls. We dropped by my parents in the morning cause I tried, once more, ballet class with the bean. Long story short, I'm waiting another year, I think she's just too young and just not that into it. Ashley was happy to spend some QT with my parents though. She just loves going there, just as much as Mya does! Look at that little Rosey face! LOVE HER!

She just loves Shadow.

The last time we tried ballet class, this time at a place in New Brunswick.

After nap time we met Tony at Johnson Park to feed the animals. It was such a nice day out so it was nice to spend it outside with Tony.
FAT PIGGY!

Throwing the food at the Emu.

Feeding the goats.

After Tony got Mya an icee. And I got this adorbs pics of the 2 of them.

We headed to my parents that night to see Pete since he was home for the weekend. Mya spent the night at their house too. She loves sleepovers there!

Mya and Auntie Shell who's expecting a little cousin for Mya and Ashley on April 15th! YAY, so excited for Shell and Pete. Love you guys.

Toasting a marshmallow with Dewey Pop

So typical Pete.

Crazy Uncle Pete

Outside for a matter of 10 minutes and Ashley gets 4 bug bites (1 right between her eyebrows) and Mya gets about 10! They must have that sweet blood like Ry.
Sunday we headed over to Rutgers Gardens. They had a little Fall Festival that we thought would be fun. Plus it was a beautiful day to be outside.
Off we go!

So excited to be there!

They had pumpkins to paint. Mya wanted one for her and she wanted to paint a 'baby' one for Ashley too.

Hard at work

All smiles.

She had to climb this tree too. And it was a good size for her to climb all over.

She wanted to walk all over this one. Ry had to help her.

WEEEEEEEEE

little monkey girl

Had to sit on the giant chair. So sad this pic came out so dark, grr.

Me and my girls. Sorry Ash, didn't realize the sun was blinding you.

WOW, that really tired me out.

So we get home and Ashley is just in one of her usual, UBER HAPPY moods. Love that this little rosey is always so happy and giggly, can't even take her! Beware of picture overload!

Yea, that's the bug bite, right between her eyes. Sorry boo.

LOVE the head thrown back!

My favorite people! I just love our little family and feel so blessed to be surrounded by them everyday.

OK, had to end on this one. Not sure where she learned this behaviour from but Ry and I were rolling. She went to the fridge, grabbed the milk, walked into the living room and did this!

Lovey Mya, just lovely!

first foods

2011-10-13T08:38:00.000-07:00

So we had Ashley's 4 month dr appointment on September 27th and since she's not the best pooper (only goes about once/week) he said we can start her on foods, but to start with prunes. We didn't start Mya on foods till she was 6 months so I was a little apprehensive about starting her but after a week of no pooping and gas pains that came along with it, we gave prunes a shot.

and to end with a little video of it all. Mya wanted to help too, big sissy loves helping out!

Didn't help her $hit though so haven't given them to her since! She has pooped though, in case you were wondering.

back at it

2011-10-11T11:50:00.000-07:00

Last Monday was my first day back at work (*tear*). Mary and Joe came to get the girls to help me get back into this whole thing. Getting 3 people ready to leave in the morning is a lot of work! I'm gonna miss our time all day together but am happy to leave them in the hands of one of my very favorites! LOVE YOU AUNT MARY and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping us raise our little angels. xoxo
My first day back at it...

Mary's first day back to work, with the addition of little miss gingersnap

we look tan as hell, it's the setting on the camera! LOL!

Congrats Sam and Sabrina

2011-10-11T09:50:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday my cousin Sammy got married. It was down in Rumson at the Salt Creek Grille and was so much fun! I love my family weddings, it's always so much fun when we all get together.
The Olarra crew, minus Tony.

Ry, Tony and I jumped in.

Ry had to put Joe's hat on.

The centerpieces were so festive and cute.

I love the random Ryan shots. My hubs is so damn good looking!!!

First dance, so sweet

mama and son dance, love this!

Mary is freakin tan as shit.

stud

Dad #2, lol

Mary and Susie

Some of the fam, I love this group shot.

mama and pops

my love

I LOVE this pic of my mom and I.

We had such a good time. The girls were home, Mya with Nunu and Pop Pop and Ashley home with Mimi. I missed them but partied knowing they were in good hands. Thanks all who helped, love ya! xoxo

4 months old, OH MY!

2011-10-07T06:58:00.000-07:00

4 months old, JEEZ!!! Where is the time going? I feel like now that I have kids, time goes by SO MUCH FASTER! I keep reminding myself to enjoy every second and I do. I love my little girls but I wish life would slow down.
So Ashley is 4 months old! BOY OH BOY time flies! She has such a personality and I LOVE every aspect of it, well besides the no sleeping part. She's lucky she's so darn cute and I love her to pieces or I'd just sleep right through the cries. The whole sharing the room with Mya thing is making it a bit harder to let her cry it out in the night too (which may be a little too early anyway, but still). The second she cries I hop up and get in there so she doesn't wake Mya, which isn't always successful. Especially if Mya has already found her way to our bed (but that's a whole other issue in itself)! So anyway, here are her stats:
Weight - 15lbs 6ozs (75%)
Height - 25 3/4" (95%)
She's in 3-6 month clothes and some 6-12 month stuff too, she's LONG!
She wears size 2 diapers, but I think she'll be moving to 3's soon.
She's regressed to a crappy sleeper, waking 2-3 times a night. What the heck, last month she was only waking up once/night, now 2-3 times. It's like she knows I'm back to work and wants to abuse me! I wish we could let her cry it out, but than it's a domino effect and she'll wake up Mya too. Any advice on this would be appreciated!
She loves her exercauser.
She has pretty much outgrown her swing, or just don't really care for it much anymore.
She reaches for toys, fingers, and she LOVES her Sophie the giraffe.
She's so ticklish, especially on her armpits, thighs and neck.
This little ginger is SO friggin happy it's so sweet! She is always smiling and laughing.
She LOVES watching her big sissy play. Just fixes her eyes on everything she does, smiling and laughing away.
She rolls over constantly, prefers to be on her belly these days.
She grabs at her toes and grips onto them pretty tight.
She takes formula now since I'm back to work, I still breastfeed when I'm with her and I pump at work so she has some breast milk at Mary's too.
Mya wanted to be in this one

Happy little mama

Had to get a tutu on her.

all smiles

she looks so big to me in this one.

Showing her super strong neck off!

Sissy's!!!

NY After Dark

2011-10-05T10:53:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday night Ry and I headed to NY with our good friends, Charity and Eric. We went to a NY Food Festival by the Food Network, featuring Emeril! This is the 2nd time we've been. The first time Guy Fieri was the feature. It's such a fun event and we plan to do this every year. Next year Char and I will be drinking together so one of the guys will have to drive us home!
The adorable Leonhardts.

Emeril signing my cookbook!

Char's turn!

The ice bar with mojito's

There are TONS of people that go to this, it was packed!

Getting out eat on with some soup.

MMMMMM, some yummy sausage goodness. They had this SLAMMIN pulled pork too.

Decorated pumpkins.

The adorable sign in Chelsea Market.

Me and my girl

Ry Ry and me

MMMMMMMMM, the cookies here are amazing. Last time we went they had this butterscotch coconut cookie. I found a recipe online that I use now to try and recreate it, SO GOOD!

This year they had these adorable shoe and handbag cookies, YUM!

I already can't wait till next year!