My Little Dancing Queen!

Last week was Rani's dance recital. She was so stinkin cute in here tutu (with her underwear handing out the sides of her leotard)! she was having so much fun posing for the camera - she cracks me up! It was so fun to watch all those sweet little girls dancing their little hearts out and trying to do their best. The best word to describe it is, precious! So fun!

getting better...

I'm getting better...I have cut my time in between posts in half! I have been on a six month schedule, but look at me posting just three short months later. Not bad, not bad.

Reason for my ambitious posting...free shutterfly cards!

Shutterfly is offering 50 free holiday cards! How awesome is that?! I'm super excited to actually have some cute Christmas cards this year. Shutterfly has so many cute designs and creative cards. I have never used shutterfly, but have lots of friends who have recommended them for all their cute cards, calendars, and photo albums. I've seen some of their super cute calendars and have loved them. The website seems user friendly and I think the prices are fair. For My Christmas card I'm thinking I love this one -

and this one..

and this one...

How cute are they! They have so many different designs to choose from.
Check out all the cute stuff here
http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards

I think I might even do some birthday invites from them too. I love all the different styles they have lookie here

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/invitations

And then after the birthday I can even send out some way cute personalized thank you cards like these


I might even get a few Christmas presents checked off my list from here

http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-gifts/photo-mugs

I can't wait to get started on all my cute new shutterfly projects!

First Day of School!!!

Today is Rani's first day of school! I feel Naked. 2 whole days a week to myself...what to do??? Rani had no hesitation to go in her class. Usually it's the kids hanging onto their moms, but nope, it was me hanging onto her. I better get used to it with that independent child of mine. Here's to years of me hanging onto Rani and her getting bigger and bigger every day! Love you Mash.

unsanitary, but oh so fun!

Man, I wish I was 3 and could just sit on the counter in my underwear and frost the heck out of some very unfortunate cupcakes! Nobody call the health inspector on me!




...and yet not a single cavity to be found!

6 Month Review!

I really need to stay on top of blogging. I can't believe it has already been another 6 months since I was trying to catch up from the last time! I'm pretty sure nobody even checks this blog anymore, but for you loyal followers,(like my mom!) here you go!

In the last six months we (and when I say we, I mean Danny!) have finished graduate shcool, moved home for the holidays with no idea where we were going and then finally ended up in the great state of Texas! I'm not even going to try and write all that I should....I've tried - 3 times and it's just too overwhelming! I will, however, promise to be better and try to blog more than 2 times a flippin year! So for now a few slide shows is about all I can comitt to! I'll let the pictures tell the story. :)

Sheesh!

I'm not even going to try to write about the last 6 months! It's been busy, it's been fun, it's been a whirlwind!!! Here's some pictures for a quick recap..it may possibly be the longest slide show ever!!!

Man, I love this little girl. She is so much fun. I don't know why people don't like 2 year olds. I love them. They have so much personality and spunk. I laugh all day because of my sweet, sassy 2 year old. I think everyone should have one!

Another One Bites The Dust!

We're droppin like flies out here. So sad, we lost Anglea! She's on to bigger and better things in sin city, but we had to have one last trip to Mcnasty's with the kids! We will all miss her. :( Costco,the mall, Target, Mcdonalds and girls nights just won't be the same with out her!

Last weekend we found another little hidden treasure out here - Turkey Point. It was ABSOULTELY beautiful!!! I have been told about this from the all the locals for qutie some time, but just have never gone. Man, I'm glad we did. The Chesepeake Bay is georgous. You can't tell, but just behind us is a huge drop off. There are just these huge cliffs right behind us. (This is when you consider using leashes on your kids!) The pictures just don't do it justice.

Catching Up

I"m still really amazed at how some people (I won't mention any names!) can keep up with everything. How do people find time to blog, facebook, have kids, make dinner, clean the house, etc... I'm going to blame my lack of keeping up with computer stuff on my poor typing skills! We have had some pretty busy, but really fun weekends recently. Easter was awesome. Holidays are so much fun with kids. Rani loved the all the Easter egg hunts and festivities. By Easter morning she was really getting used to it all. We had recently went to the church for a special Easter playgroup/egg hunt, well, come Easter morning we are getting her loaded in the car and she just kept saying "I yuv Eeser time". She would say it in this dreamy little voice like she was just so happy and content, and life could just not get any better. Man, she cracks us up. She was a little disappointed to find out there was no Easter egg hunt at the church that day, though.


A few weeks ago we went out to Lancaster co. It is so beautiful out there. I love going out there and escaping the craziness of Newark. The Amish are so neat. I'm really going to miss all the fun new things we've been able to do out here. And who knew the Amish did BBQ?! (And just in case any of you are thinking I'm totally tacky for taking a picture of the Amish, don't worry I did it really discreetly!) We also discovered a new park that we absolutely love! There is a dog park there too, so it's great for Rani. She so needs a dog!


UD had there annual "Ag Day". We took Rani mostly because there were going to be animals there and it was free. It was flippin hot that day, though! I'm pretty sure Rani got heat stroke, but that's a small price to pay for a pony ride, right? The only part Rani didn't love was meeting the mascot. Apparently giant blue chickens aren't her thing.

Yay!

I'm sitting here at the computer, totally defeated. My child just won. After a long morning at the gym and a trip to Target and Old Navy I thought Rani would be good and tired - nope. I just tried to put her down for a nap, a process of which that took 35 minutes! Forget that it's already almost 3:00 and the whole time I'm telling myself this is not worth the fight, she's is so not going to go to bed tonight if I let her sleep. Still, I'm determined, (As determined as possible for Stacee.) and I will win this little battle. They say pick your battles, so why I chose this one is a mystery to me. We both knew who was going to win from the start. Finally after 35 minutes of crying and whining,(Rani, not me!) I relent and go in and get her. Stinker. As soon as I get her out of the crib she looks at me with her most pleased Rani face and says "Yay, I did it"! We all know who runs the house. It's going to be interesting when she's a teenager!!! Last Sunday at church Rani was really struggling. We hadn't even gotten through the first speaker and she was all over the place. The minute the speaker finishes and everyone says amen Rani goes "Yay, we're done"! She continued to do this after the Choir sang, and again after every speaker. I'm glad those around us thought it was funny, I was totally embarrassed!!! Oh, my funny, stubborn, smart, way more determined than me child. I just love her. :)

Partay!

Saturday the group went out to dinner to celebrate Joe finishing up and getting his PhD. We went to Don Pablo's - one of the very few decent Mexican restaurants out here - and had a lot of fun. They hand out pieces of dough for the kids to play with and Rani kept asking me to make her an elephant?! My elephant wasn't Worth taking a picture of, but Anne's on the other hand...kicked my elephants trash. Surprisingly, Rani did pretty good at dinner. We've really been trying to work with her to sit still and stay at the table. I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but for Rani it's like asking her to be in a straight jacket! The kid LOVES ice cream, so we bribed her. She also loved seeing Joe in the "big,funny hat", apparently they don't have a song they sing for getting your PhD (weird) so they brought out the sombrero and sang Happy Birthday instead. We're so happy for Joe he is going to be sorely missed!


Then we headed on over to the Isom's for a "Pie (as in 3.14) Day Party. They crack me up! We had pie and played Guitar Hero. The kids ran around in their jammies and had tons of fun too. The little boys were so serious about playing the game it was so cute. All we needed was the microphone and we would have been complete. I'm not quite the rock star on the guitar I'd like to be, but someone get me a mic and I'll show you some mad skills!

Potty Training Attempt?!

I'm thinking it's time to teach her what this "pitty pink circle" is for?! I want so badly to keep putting potty training off, but after she thought her "pitty pink circle" was a necklace, I've decided to commit to thinking about potty training. We'll see how it goes.



This is what she does when I ask her to smile...everything but.

Eew Nassy Mud!

My child is a struggler! We had some much needed nice weather last week and we decided to go to the park with some friends. I think we got a little over zealous - there are reasons you don't go to the park in February. There was mud everywhere, which wouldn't have been too much of a problem if I wasn't a struggler too! I was not paying attention and Rani took off straight into the mud. I wish I had my camera for the actual moment of the fall and the moments right after! It was hilarious. She just sat there frozen, not sure what happened or what to do. Being the super mom that I am I dropped my bag, hiked my pants and ran to get her.(I use the term "super" loosely, considering it was me that let her run right into the mud in the first place.) She was TRAUMATIZED! Needless to say she was not happy and neither was I, because we had been there a total of 5 minutes and I need the park time as much as she does! Luckily there happened to be another mom there we knew and she came running to me holding a pair of her little boys sweatpants. I was sooooo grateful, it totally saved the day. unfortunately she continued to struggle. She fell a number of times even after the "nassy mud" insident". Rani is now completely terrified of mud or anything that resembles mud. Any time we walk outside she makes a WIDE girth around whatever she thinks is mud and says "watch out the mud, mommy. Eew Nassy". I love it, she's so funny. The other morning we were watching Daddy walk to the bus out the window and she says "Bye Daddy. Have good day. Watch out the mud Daddy". Lesson of the day - don't go to the park in the middle of winter, and if you must, pay attention to where your kids are running to!!!

"Stingy Rays" and Birthdays!

For Danny and Rani's birthdays we decided to take advantage of the discount "Friday's after 5:00" discount at the Baltimore aquarium. (It may or may not have mostly been for Danny!) Despite a few tense moments in some killer traffic in down town Baltimore- anyone who knows Danny or Rani knows what I'm talking about - we had a lot of fun! Rani was just loving running around, up and down the ramps and trying to climb on everything. She loved the "stingy rays", now when we play charades at Seema's she loves to lay on the ground with her arms and legs spread out and tells everyone she is a stingy ray!






Then we had a few friends over for some cupcakes. Rani loved it. I think we've celebrated her birthday about 7 times. She is still singing "happy birthday to you me". Her favorite thing in the world right now is to have people sing to her and blowing out candles! I can't believe she is two already. That girl is the greatest challenge I think I have ever come across...and my greatest joy. She is so stinkin smart. (I heard her count to 27 the other day!) She has more personality than I know what to do with!!! Here is a little tribute to my Spunky, smart, sassy, sweet, adorable little girl!

RANI"S FAV"S:
*Singing
*Counting
*Books
*Broccoli
*ANIMALS!!!
*Running
*Chocolate
*Riding in friends cars
*Frosty
*Eatin straight peanut butter
*Singing happy birthday to herself
*Cooking
*Watching Daddy get on the bus
*Doing anything by herself
*Hide and Seek
*Mini marshmallows

Rani's Not So Fav's:
*Riding in the car
*Sitting still
*Riding in the car
*People who don't play hide and seek
*Riding in the car
*And last but not least, RIDING IN THE CAR!

Rani's catch phrases (Everything starts with "Uh")
*"Two seconds guys"
*"Uh help you?"
*Uh play with me?"
*"Uh by myself"
*"Sing it Mommy"
*"Uh hold you?"
*"Uh ride in EEbels's car?!"
*"How a doing?"
*"Hi guys"
*"Hey, hey, shake uh booty"

Happy birhtday, I you my Ranster Montser!!!