Have you missed us?

So, as I'm sitting here in Poncha Springs CO visiting my little sister and her new baby girl...I get the urge to reminisce. So, where do I turn? No, not facebook. I didn't have a facebook when Rielyn was born almost 10 years ago. I turn to my trusty blog!! I miss the baby stages SO much and am so glad I kept this blog when they were babies! I know I have done a terrible job the last 3 years...and I don't see it getting any better (maybe...but probably not). But being here, with no kids and no crazy running around with all their (and my) activities...I thought I might attempt a post. So, here is a glance of our 2012 so far...
I guess we'll go backwards...starting with Valentines Day. I used to regard Valentines Day as a day that Nathan is suppose to show me how much he loves and adores me and vice versa. However, I really like to share that love with the kids! Nathan gets the girls each flowers and candy and Kellan gets a toy. He got a GI Joe figure this year. Nathan got us all heart shaped donuts for breakfast and I scored a new laptop! Luckily the girls didn't come home all googly eyed saying so and so is their boyfriend. BUT, I did get the privilege of Kellan announcing that I was HIS valentine!! (And he reminds me several times a week that I still am!)





Rielyn decided she wanted to cut her hair again. She cut her hair in August of 2010 and donated 12 inches to Locks of Love. And she decided to do it again. She was a little hesitant for about a month, but her hair was just getting so hard to brush! I left the decision up to her and she finally committed! It's SO much easier to take care of and it looks so cute! I wouldn't doubt if her hair grows back again and we're cutting off another 12 inches next year about this time! Rielyn can practically single handedly make a wig for a cancer patient every year! :)
This month, my sister and I went to one of those painting classes that have become so popular! This was my 2nd time to do this and her first! We had so much fun! The paintings are uniquely ours and they take you step by step as far as what to do, what brush size to use, the strokes to use etc. There is no pencil etchings for you to start with either! You don't have to be an artist or even think you could be an artist (because I have not a single artistic bone in my body and I've created 2 pretty cool paintings lately)! SO fun!!
Back in October, Rielyn auditioned at school for a chorus called "Circle the State with Song". About 9 4th and 5th graders from their school practiced about 6 songs (some pretty tough ones, in different languages even) and then got together with other schools from the area and presented a concert. I will have to say that the concert brought tears to my eyes!! I am so proud of all the hard work she put into getting ready for this!

She almost didn't make it on stage though...she has a little bit of stage fright! BUT, with a little posivie reinforcement and encouragement, she was able to pull through!! Again, I am SO proud of her!
This month, Rielyn also had a school performance...within a couple days of the concert I might add! They had early morning rehearsals at school for both for 3 weeks. She was one tired, overworked 9 year old for a couple weeks! But, the hard work paid off and she had fun! Her 4th grade performance was entitled "Music through the ages". The 5 different 4th grade classes each had a music era...from the 50's, 60's, disco, rock'n roll etc. Rielyn's class was the disco era and we hooked her up with this awesome disco costume...and she rocked it!! :) She also got a part as a cave girl who walked the audience through the different era's. It was very cute and very well put together!!
At the end of January, Nathan had a quick business trip down in Dallas at the Gaylord Texan. Which, if you haven't been there...it is awesome!!
One of the pictures below is of the kids on our balcony overlooking the atrium area with the riverwalk running through! It was just a night stay and then the next day (I took the kids out of school on a Wednesday so they could come have some fun) we went to the American Girl store, Sam Moon, IKEA and Grapevine Mills Mall (pretty much just to ride the train...that was the only request from Kellan)!

At the American Girl store, we did the afternoon tea. Yes, it was a lot of pink girly stuff, but I had to take Kellan...dad was in meetings all day! They were very accomodating though and let him bring his teddy bear and let him sit at the tea party with the girls and their (loaner) dolls (I forgot to grab theirs...this was a last minute trip). The girls pooled their Christmas money and decided to get a doll that they could share...we'll see how long that lasts!

For those of you who don't live in OK, we have had unseasonable warm temps this winter (of course we are because all of us had gone out and bought sleds, boots etc after last years winter). So, we have been able to take advantage of it a few times by playing at the park...in January! :)

Well folks...there you have it. My attempt at a blog. I may attempt another one...this year (?), but don't hold your breath!! :)

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009 was spent in Littleton CO at Nathan's moms house. Nathan's older brother and his family were there too. Trying to coordinate 3 family's Christmas traditions into one magic Christmas morning is a lot harder than I thought it would be! Especially when you have older kids who are used to doing it a certain way! Rielyn was really hesitant to have Santa come anywhere but OUR house in Oklahoma. But, we had a small family Christmas at home before we left to appease her. Santa wraps (or in our in-laws case doesn't wrap) the kids presents differently too. But, I think we finally got it all figured out and Christmas was safe for one more year! :)

Rielyn's cousin, Cooper is really skeptical of Santa. His older sister (who is 12) wrote a note to Santa the night before and Santa wrote back a note to Cooper that said "Tell your little brother I'm real!" Looks like he believes it huh?! Ha!

Ashlyn and Rielyn both wrote notes to Santa the night before and added a couple things that were never mentioned before!! One of Ashlyn's was a snow globe, because she wants to start a snow globe collection. Luckily Santa was able to pull the last minute request off! :)

One of Rielyn's last minute requests (to help "solidify" her belief in Santa) was a picture of Rudolph the red nosed reindeer! Boy, was she in shock when she actually got one! And it really is Rudolph too! She carried it with her everywhere for a week! She even took it to school to show her skeptical friends! :)

Kellan got a few fun boy toys...he really seemed overwhelmed with everything though!

The girls both asked Santa for MyTwinn dolls. They are dolls that are made to look exactly like your daughter! Santa did great with those! Here is Ashlyn with her twinn doll...

And here is Rielyn with her twin doll! They look a lot like them...it's kinda scary sometimes when you see them out of the corner of your eye just sitting there!

Then after we had a wonderful breakfast at Nathan's moms house of homemade cinnamon rolls, eggs, bacon etc. We went over to my grandma Bungers house where the rest of my family was. And of course, we all got more presents! :) I love the crosses that the kids got from my cousin and his fiance!

Kellan got a HUGE Imaginext dinosaur from my parents! He loves it, he's really into dinosaurs right now! Here he is explaining to Oliver that the dinosaur is his...

And of course, the obligatory yearly picture of the kids by the Christmas tree! Can't have a year without it! :)

Sledding in CO.

Nathan and I were suppose to stay for 3 or 4 days in Breckenridge for our anniversary, but we ended up only staying for 2 days. There was a big snow storm that was coming through and we didn't want to get stuck in the mountains over Christmas away from our kids. So we decided to go ahead and get back down to Denver. We got there just in time and it snowed for that night and the next day....which made for great sledding!! The kids were excited to see us too. They stayed with grandmama in Denver, but Ashlyn was sick and I was worried about her while we were gone. You never like being away from your kids when they're sick. We came back on the 23rd and took her to the Dr. on Christmas eve. She had a really bad sinus infection that was making her whole face swollen. Poor girl. We got her on some antibiotics and she was feeling a little better by Christmas day.

Rielyn with her cousin Cooper. I really think they look like they could be twins sometimes! They are about 2 1/2 months apart. Kellan thought he would like sledding, but the one time he went down the HUGE hill was enough for him. I don't think he enjoyed the snow in his face on the way down!

THAT, and the big walk up the hill in order to go back down again! That's the bad thing about a great sledding hill. It's so fun to go down, but you have to walk back up it in order to go down again. What fun is that? That's what I'm sayin.

Even though Ashlyn wasn't feeling good, she thought she wanted to go. So we took her and she played with the snow a little, went down the hill with me once and didn't have the energy to do anymore. So, she went home after that.

10 years of wedded bliss!

As of December 18...Nathan and I have been married for 10 years! Man how time has flown by! Here is a picture of us when we were first dating!

And then the wedding! We look young don't we?!

And now, 10 years later! 10 years ago for our honeymoon, we went to Breckenridge CO for a few days. It was SO cold (below zero) for a couple days so we didn't go anywhere. Now for our 10 year anniversary, we decided to go back! This time we wanted to do something we had never done before (we've been skiing, and sledding and blah, blah blah before)...so we went dog sledding! It was SO much fun! We have a Siberian husky at home and it was so neat to see them in their element!

This was our lead dog. She was beautiful! She had multi-colored eyes like our husky!

How it worked was we had 5 people on the tour with us. The guide rode a snowmobile pulling a sled with the rest of the people in front of the dogs to lead them. Then 2 at a time got to take turns mushing! We got to do it ourselves 4 different sections!

A couple dogs had a "discussion" at the end (they weren't from our pack). No blood was shed, just lots of teeth were shown! :)

We got to spend some quality time shopping in downtown Breckenridge too! Nathan was especially excited about that part! hee hee!

10 years has had it's ups and downs, but I wouldn't change a thing. I married the most supportive, complimenting, giving , strong and handsome man I could ever imagine! I love you Nathan and I look forward to the next 10 years and maybe even another trip to Breckenrige for our 20 year! :)

She did it!

I can't believe that my little sister (whom I helped raised, she's 9 1/2 years younger than me) graduated from college! She did it! Congratulations Katie! Now...onto the rest of your life! :)

Here she is with her boyfriend at the time (now fiance) and my 3 kids. It's only fair that she help raise my kids since I practically raised her! :)

3 generations!

The 3 sisters. Aren't we cute! :)