Catching up

So I am not really good at this blogging thing :( Here are a few pictures that I have taken over the last few weeks.

My little girl is growing so fast! Everyday she seems to change a little. I love her great big smile to go along with her great big cheeks! Doesn't she just melt your heart!

We had the opportunity to buy Beau his own sled the other day, it wasn't really planned, but we decided to go for it. He and his cousin next door have had so much fun riding it around. I really haven't been to nervous about it either. Today we took it up to Grandma's house and let the kids ride and then roasted wieners. What a beautiful day we had!

My kids have been blessed to have wonderful great grandparents! They have a special relationship with each one. Both grandma greats are always doing such nice things for my children. Great Grandma Erickson knitted both my kids sweaters. She has been very ill lately and our thoughts and prayers have been with her. These sweaters will be keepsakes for my children to give to their children.

Bailey's Birthday - The Cake

Every year I do a fun theme for the kids' birthday, and do a cake to go with it. Bailey is really into Elmo and Cookie Monster, I have already done Elmo, so this year it was Cookie Monster. This was probably the funnest cake I have done and Bailey loved it!

This year Bailey is also really into opening presents. The day of her party she kept trying to get to her present saying "I want, I want". When she finally got to open presents, she would get them halfway opened, see what was inside, then start squealing with excitement. Her favorite presents were a My Little Pony (Pinky Pie) and a Thomas the Train flashlight. It was so fun to see the fun and excitement on her cute face!

Bailey's Birthday part 1

Bailey's birthday is on Saturday, so on Friday we celebrated with her friends at school. We started off with her friends in the special ed. room. I wish I would have had a video camera to capture Bailey's reaction when I got there. When Bailey first saw me and Reagan she screamed with excitement "The baby"!! Then she saw Beau with the balloons and she went absolutely crazy, screaming, jumping and running "A balloon"!!! All the kids were so excited to get a balloon and eat "cookie monster" cupcakes. Bailey's teachers in the special ed room gave her a toy hamster and a Diego chair, which she loved.

I made the girls matching skirts to wear.

Bailey loves her sister!

After lunch I went into Mrs. Beus' classroom to celebrate with her friends in there. I took goodie bags to share with all of Bailey's favorite things: pudding, balloons, candy bars and a little rattle toy. The kids had fun eating their treats and and blowing up their balloons. Bailey is so lucky to have good friends that are so kind to her!

Mrs. Beus did a little spotlight and gave Bailey a birthday crown.

My girls

I feel like the luckiest mom ever! I have been blessed with the most beautiful girls. They both are very special to me in different ways. I am so excited to watch them grow up and see what they become.

Bailey just being silly.

Reagan is 6 weeks old!

Newborn pictures

I have been wanting some newborn pictures taken of Reagan. Clay's cousin, Carolyn, does fantastic work - unfortunately she lives 7 hours away. So I took some pictures of Reagan and sent them to Carolyn to edit. They turned out so dang cute!! Here are a few of them.

Thanks again Carolyn!

Reagan Jean Skinner

It has been a week since my little girl made her grand entry, I am finally feeling a little better. Here is the short version of her birth: I have been struggling with my blood pressure for a few weeks, and the weekend of the 9th, I had to go to Star Valley hospital for a night to be observed. On Monday the 11th, I went up to Jackson hospital for more labs and observations. While there, by blood pressure remained high, so they decided to induce me. After getting that started, the doctor realized that the baby was breech. After a very painful and unsuccessful attempt at turning her, the decision was made to do a c-section. Reagan was born at 2:40 pm, she weighed 5lbs. 15 oz and was 16 inches long. She was just over 3 weeks early and healthy as can be. The recovery has been difficult, but I have had a lot of help. Here are a few pictures.

I finally get to hold my new baby!

Going home from the hospital

Beau finally gets to hold his baby sister!

Getting kisses from Bailey.

I finally got dad to pose for one picture.

Cousin Rylee came up to visit and help me out.

Christmas 2009

I am finally getting my Christmas blog done. We had a really nice holiday. I was able to get permission to travel down to my family party the weekend before. We had our traditional ham and funeral potato dinner - my whole family was able to make it. This year my dad decided to split up my mom's Disney Snow Globe collection. While we all together, we were able to each pick some out to take home. This was much more emotional than I thought it would be, there were a lot of tears shed. I am very excited to have 8 of my mom's beautiful globes and one of her cabinets to put them in. Beau and Bailey love to look at them and wind them up.

Christmas Eve wouldn't be the same without going to Grandma Erickson's. I love getting together with Clay's family. It is tradition that Grandma reads the Christmas story while some of the kids pose in a nativity scene. The most special part of the night is when Grandma bears her testimony and we all kneel in family prayer, that is what it is all about.

Christmas morning was wonderful! Both my kids were so excited to open their presents. This year Bailey really understood what opening presents was all about. She would get her present half way opened, then get real excited about what was inside - it was so fun to hear her talk!! After presents, we went to Grandma Skinner's for her traditional Christmas breakfast, another thing that Christmas wouldn't be the same without. We spent the rest of the day with Clay's parents, resting, eating and playing Grandma Julie's new Wii.