Happy Easter...and Spring!

The Easter Bunny came early this year to the Lester house. Thank you Aunt Sarah for the awesome Betty Jane Easter baskets for the girls! As soon as we pulled up to the house yesterday and saw there was a box waiting by the front door, Rachel said " I bet Aunt Sarah sent us something for Easter!!!" Rachel was so excited when she saw the basket and we had to call Sarah right away and thank her. After loading both kids up on sugar I decided to take Annie for a haircut, prob not the best idea. She was a good girl and sat in the chair but she was looking ALL over the place. Thankfully the lady who cut her hair was very patient and quick and she did a great job.

We are leaving for Cascade tonight and we will have Easter at the farm tomorrow and then back in CR on Sunday to have Easter with Scott's family. I'm looking forward to spending some time outside this weekend for easter egg hunts and eating tons and tons of food! Wishing everyone a Happy Easter!


Trying to sit them both down for a pic, nearly
impossible anymore. Plus, Annie REALLY
wanted that candy!


Things start to get violent.


GIVE ME CANDY!!!!


Taking a closer look.


Annie picked a piece of candy that was almost
as large as her head.

So, after a few people asking me WHY I haven't updated our blog lately I decided I better sit down and update all of you on what's going on with us. Rachel was on spring break last week and she enjoyed a few days at the farm with Grandma & Grandpa Strang. She spent one day at home and Grammy & Papa Lester came down on Friday to stay with both her and Annie. She enjoyed being spoiled all week so I'm sure tomorrow morning will be a little rough.

We took a trip to Chicago earlier this month with Scott's family to see Great-Grandma Lester. It has been a few years since Rachel has seen her and Annie has never met her. Rachel instantly warmed up to her and enjoyed showing off her breakdancing skills, and so did her cousin Trey. The kids enjoyed swimming at the hotel and both of them were awesome during the long car ride. Hopefully we can get back there this summer for another visit and maybe spend an extra night or two and take in some museums.

We enjoyed a few warm days over the month and now we are waiting for the last round of snow to melt so we can start to think SPRING again. Rachel is anxious to start hunting bugs again and Annie is anxious to run right for the street. Which brings us to our next project...Annie-proofing our back deck. The spindles on our deck are too far apart and Annie could easily squeeze through them. We are going to put extra spindles in to make it safe for her to play on this summer. Think of it as a super large outdoor playpen. Hopefully we will finish this project by the end of April so she can enjoy it and we can breathe a little easier the next time she goes outside.

I've been horrible at taking pics lately. Thankfully Lori sent us a few from Chicago but I have no recent pics of Rachel, just a few of Annie. I do have a picture that Rachel recently did of a kitty and it is one of my favorites.



Annie has a new love, headbands.



Such a little artist.


Rachel and Great-Grandma Lester


All the grandkids with Grandpa Bill and his
sisters. Diane, Dorothy & Helen. Notice Rachel
posing like a dog for this photo. Nice.


Let the dance party begin.

Thankfully Papa has a big enough lap for both

Annie and Ella.

Ok, it's been awhile....so sorry! Seems like I have so little free time and the free time I have is spent doing something else, so it's not really free anymore!! Most of the snow that I posted last time is now gone, thanks to the warm temps the last few days. It was back down in the 30's today. I guess Mother Nature wanted to remind us that it's not spring YET. I enjoyed the 60+ temps yesterday by walking around downtown over my lunch and hose out the garage. I couldn't stand all that sand and salt in the house and it was perfect day to clean it out. Sounds like we are supposed to get a few more inches of snow this weekend so I doubt it will stay clean for very long.

Rachel is doing a great job with her Jolly Phonics program at school and I'm amazed at the words she can sound out and read now. We are looking forward to conferences at the end of the month so we talk to her teacher and track her progress. She is anxiously waiting for the snow to melt and the ground to dry out so she can go the park again.

Annie is still on the move and shows no sign of slowing down. She's eats like horse and yet we are all amazed at how tiny she stays. The minute we get home from daycare she goes right to her booster seat and waits for a snack. She'll eat again at dinner time and then she'll snack on whatever Scott and I eat while watching TV. We realized that if WE are eating, Annie IS eating. We also have her back to sleeping 9-10 hours a night. She was in a habit if waking up and getting into bed with us and we had to put an end to that. After about 7 nights of screaming and crying, she finally realized that she can fall back asleep on her own. Wheew. Of course now we have to work on slowly weaning her off her beloved Binkie .....not an easy battle!

I spent the weekend in Galena with my girlfriends two weeks ago. We enoyed shopping, eating and drinking...and maybe a little bit too much of each. But we had a great time and it was nice to get away for a few days. I also starting working out after that trip, as in EXERCISE. I've been saying for months that I need to get off my behind and do something. My friend Shelly convinced me that if we joined a gym together we would be more successful. And she was right. I can honestly say I really enjoy it and I actually look forward to it! I feel guilty being away from the girls three nights a week but I know it's good for me and in the long run, good for them too. My goal is to run a 5K this summer. It doesn't sound like much but for someone who hasn't ran a mile since high school, it's huge.

Looking foward to Valentines dinner on Saturday at the Ced-Rel with all of our friends on Hamer Drive. My parents are coming down on Sunday to work on our "to-do" list!

Happy Birthday Phil & Sarah!


Ruby, in her most favorite place to sleep at night.


No comment.


Mary, Amy and I at the Irish Cottage.

Happy 2009

So, it's almost the end of January and I'm just getting around to wishing everyone a Happy New Year. We've been busy and my blog is suffering. It's hard for me to sum up the past few weeks so I'll just post some recent pics of the girls instead. Again, Happy New Year!!!


Just an idea of HOW much snow we have
here. Ugh. I'm so done with it.


I leave Annie alone at the drawing desk for like
5 seconds and this is what I come back to.
I still don't know how she managed to do this
without falling on her face. Pure talent and no
fear is my guess.


Trying on mom's slippers


Sam & Rachel's first official sleepover.



Just wanted to remind myself of what IS
coming in a few months.

Christmas - Part 1

Ahh, back to work, back to regular nap schedules, back to chaos in the morning...great. We REALLY enjoyed our time off over the holidays. We slept in (when Annie cooperated), spent a large number of days in our PJ's and spent some much needed time together as a family.

We enjoyed Christmas three times this year w/ the Strangs, Lesters and ourselves. We spent the weekend after Christmas in Cascade with my family. My cousin and her boyfriend were home from San Diego so we were anxious to get back and spend time with them.

We spent Saturday opening gifts, eating LOTS of food and playing Wii. My neice and nephew got a Wii for Christmas and they brought it out to the farm so we could all play. Even Grandpa learned to bowl. I don't like to brag, but I did bowl a 267 and mangaged to beat my brother, husband and brother-in-law in that game. I totally rule.

Thanks to mom and dad for letting us stay a few extra days and especially for feeding us, not an easy job considering how much Annie eats in a day!

Grandpa doing what he does best.

Annie doing what she does best....sometimes.

Rachel playing Wii bowling

Scott's festive, and scary, holiday sweater.

Rachel's favorite...puzzles. Thankfully Grandma was

around to help.

Chritmas - Part 2

Our 2nd Christmas was our time at home. We woke up early Christmas morning and watched the girls open gifts. While Rachel was busy opening presents, Annie was busy eating a cookie that Santa left behind. She sat, by herself, for about 10 min eating that cookie. Nothing comes between her and food, especially food with chocolate chips in it!

Annie and her cookie

Reading the letter from Santa.

Santa even remembered Ruby, a new cat bed.

Christmas - Part 3

Our first Christmas was with the Lester family, the weekend before Christmas. We had it at our house and everyone arrived early so we could eat some breakfast and open presents. Unfortunatly the weather didn't cooperate with our plans so everyone had to go back home by mid-afternoon.

After we opended presents and attempted to clean-up the basement, Grammy and Papa put on an Christmas concert for us. Lori asked that they please bring their guitar and flute and sing songs for the kids, a tradition when Scott and Lori were younger. The grandkids LOVED it so it looks like we can carry on the tradition with our kids.


Encore Encore





Annie was fascinated

Rachel's gift, wrapped just for her by Papa

Papa w/ Ella & Annie

Annie and the bows she stole, I see a hint of guilt in those eyes.

Scott & Rachel took advantage of the snow and went sledding.

Merry Christmas Eve

The hours are counting down and my to-do list is still a mile long. Thankfully we have our Santa cookies baked but I haven't started wrapping Santa gifts yet. I'm waiting for the girls to go to bed and I'm guessing that won't be very early, especially tonight. I have a ton of pictures to post from the Lester Christmas last weekend but I don't have the energy to get up and grab my camera...this couch is just to comfy right now. Once the girls get up and open their gifts from Santa in the morning, time to pack our bags and head back to Cascade for a few days. My cousin Sarah is back from San Diego and we can't get home fast enough so we can see her!

Almost 8pm. Time to put my PJ's on, lay Annie down for bed and read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' to Rachel and finish wrapping presents. Hopefully I can stay awake for all of this.

Let's not forget, after all the shopping is done and the gifts are unwrapped (...and sometimes returned) the holidays are about spending time with the people we love. Which is what I'm looking forward to the most. Wishing all of your a wonderful AND safe Christmas!

Visit with Santa

Rachel ran right up to Santa and told him EVERYTHING she wanted from Christmas. Annie stood there, looked at him, got up on his lap and wouldn't take her eyes off his beard. All in all, the visit went very well and only lasted a few minutes. Plus, no one cried.

One more thing I can cross off my list this month!

Just 8 more WORK days until Christmas break!!!! We can't wait. I'm looking forward to sleeping in, hanging out in our PJ's and eating lots and lots of food. Last week Annie and I went back to Cascade and baked cookies with my mom and sisters. We ended up bringing home a ton of cookies and candy but I'm not sure if we'll have any left by the holidays. Looks like I'll be making more this week.

Yesterday morning I got a an hour massage (thanks to VIPs) and spent a few hours Christmas shopping by myself...heaven. I can handle the crowds if I'm not trying to shop with two little girls. We spent the rest of the day hanging around the house and wrapping presents. Today we took the girls to get haircuts, both of which needed them badly. This was Annie's first official haircut and we weren't sure what to expect. The guy who cut her hair obviously had a lot of experience cutting hair on a moving target. We ended up cutting a large amount of hair off the back and evening it out...it looks great! Rachel got a few inches off her hair too and what a difference.

Next weekend is the Lester Christmas to we'll spend this week finishing up some last minute shopping and baking. I'll be so thankful when everything is bought, wrapped and under the tree!


Annie on her fourth or fifth sugar cookie.


The cookie was so good that she put some in her
hair for later.


Oh yeh, ready to go!


Ahhh...less hair, we love it.




How I wish I had the time to make her hair
look like this everyday.


Annie has decided she no longer wants
to eat in her highchair, she wants to eat
AT the table with us. May need to
purchase a new booster seat soon.


New haircut, her purse & necklace,
she's ready to go out.

Four days off....it was nice while it lasted. I'm starting to think I like Thanksgiving break better then Christmas. Not as much to do, just more food to eat. We really enjoyed the time off from work and school and catching up on some extra sleep was nice too.

Rachel had been complaining of a sore throat the night before Thanksgiving we didn't think too much of it. By Thursday it was obvious that it was more than just a sore throat. She didn't want to get out of bed, she had no appetite and she didn't want to play with her cousins....not like Rachel. I took her to the doc on Friday morning and found out she had strep throat. Poor kid! We spent the rest of Friday just bumming around and putting up Christmas decorations. Annie, to our surprise, has done very well with the tree. We put it up while she was napping and when she came downstairs and saw it, she ran for it. She spent at least 5 minutes just looking at it. I think the newness has worn off and now she doesn't even realize that it's in the room...wheew!

We spent Saturday in Manchester with Scott's family and enjoyed some much needed time with them. We really enjoyed watching Rachel and Annie play with their cousins, Trey & Ella. We also enjoyed Aunt Lori's dance party and her funky fresh moves on the floor. Thanks Lou!

My sister and I spent most of Sunday shopping. We may have spent a little more time eating and screwing around but we did at least enter a few stores. It wasn't about bringing home bags and bags of gifts, it was about leaving the house without our kids for a few hours!


Aunt Amy took Annie out for what will most
likely be her last time in her swing until Spring.


Annie, Rachel, Trey & Ella


The Grandkids with Grammy & Papa


Please, no more photos.


Annie can sense when another baby loves the
bottle as much as her.


Rachel "feeling the burn" with Trey


Ahhh.....amazing tree with lights on it.


Rachel was a huge help, even sick.