FYI

The playlist has been removed ... like I said before, I don't really like sites that have music, I just wanted to hear that song a couple times. I have enjoyed listenening to it when I work on the blog, but it has been enough. The name of the song that fits my girls so well is

"Daughter" by Loudon Wainwright.

Hurricane Ike Pictures

If you were wondering what things looked like after Hurricane Ike hit League City, check out these photos on this link. Someone went out on their boat and took most of these pictures ... all of the Clear Lake area where Dad Dan lives. It is truly devastating to see some of these pictures. Thanks Lesia for sending these pictures to us.

http://picasaweb.google.com/ehmorrell/HurricaneIke#

Dancing ...

The girls love to dance. Every movie that contains music, they dance and sing along to. Every song they hear on the radio, they dance and sing along to. It is quite fun to listen to and watch. They got new dancing skirts today, that have little bells on them. So, of course, they had to get home and try them out. They play together very well, when they want to, and dancing is something they love to do together.

These are their new skirts, or tutu's as they are really called!

Sorry, the video's are really dark (thanks to the tomb we live in).

The girls dancing, together, to Shrek music.
WARNING:
The camera is moving around a lot, to try and keep up with the girls ... may make you dizzy!

Reagan dancing like a ballerina. Notice she is watching her reflection in the TV.
Maybe I should seriously consider dance lessons!

18 Months and Growing

Today was Riley's 18 month check up with Dr. Leavitt. For some reason, mommy scheduled this appointment for 8:00am on a (pre)school day. We all woke up and rushed around to get out of the house by 7:45. We had the first appointment, so it sure was nice to get there and get in right away. (Those of you who use the same doctor's office know how long of a wait we usually have). Dr. Leavitt said Riley is just perfect. She luckily only had to get one shot, and goes back for another appointment when she turns 2.

Just Perfect!

Weight: 24 lbs 4 ozs (50th percentile)

Height: 31 inches (30th percentile)

Head Circumference: 18.5 (60th percentile)

That's My Daughter(s)!

Playlist

Ok, I am usually against having music playing on my blog. I am the one who, first thing on other people blogs, scroll down to the playlist and pause it, so I don't have to listen to the music. Not that I am opposed to music ... I LOVE MUSIC. I find it distracting on the blogs, and then, if you have video posts, you have to turn off the playlist anyhow to watch the video. Plus, they always seem to be very LOUD.

With that said, I added a playlist to my blog ... as you can hear. It has only one song, as I heard this song, fell in love with it, and found it fitting to my girls.

Please feel free to turn it off while looking at our blog. I put the playlist at the top, so it is easily accessible to turn on and off. Who knows how long it will last on the blog, but for now, it is something different.

Enjoy!

Who would have known this could be so much fun!

(OK, you will want to disable the playlist music for this video!)
The girls got new shirts the other day. These shirts have a little red, blinking light. They think these shirts are so cool. When daddy got home from work, they were so excited to show their new shirts to him. Daddy got out his laser pointer, and Reagan thought her shirt was making the red light on everything. Riley kept calling it a bug ... bug, bug, bug! They had so much fun, chasing the laser pointer and laughing. I have been trying to catch Riley's laugh on video for over a month now ... we finally got it.

Visit from Grandpa Joe & Kelly

This weekend, Scott's dad, Grandpa Joe and his wife, Kelly came to town. We kept very busy, trying to get lots of visiting in within a short amount of time. We ate lots of yummy food, went shopping, and the guys even got in some golfing. Saturday night, we went to Roy's Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine for dinner. The girls stayed with a babysitter and we had a great night out. Dinner was FANTASTIC. If you have never been to Roys, you should go ... but beware, it is a bit pricey, but a great place to go for special occasions.

Poor Little Thing

Reagan woke up at midnight, Saturday night, with a fever. All day Sunday, she kept a fever, even with Motrin in her. So, Monday morning, we went off to the doctor again and once again, they swabbed her throat (cleaned her throat, as she would say). This time, it turned up positive for strep throat. We are now on antibiotics, and feeling much better. Hopefully, it won't spread to everyone else in the family, as we had lots of family over at the house on Sunday.

It sure is terrible being sick!

"Tomorrow"

Reagan's new favorite movie is Annie. She loves to watch this movie, over and over again. She had all the songs memorized within a day or so. Riley even knows how to sing along (in her own little way). They were singing together the other day. I got so tickled listening to them, I just had to try and capture it on video. The video is a little blurry, but it is pretty darn funny to hear Riley chime in when she knows what to say! Hope you enjoy and it puts a smile on your face!

Reagan got to laughing so hard, it made her choke! She thinks it is so great when Riley says somthing that she understands!

More "IKE" Information

We spoke to Dad Dan tonight and he is back at his League City house.
Here is the info he gave us ...

• Power is back on as of Tuesday morning (way quicker than we had thought)
• The water is back down to normal level, in the canal where it should be
• The pool is black, with fish and shrimp in it (it will be drained, cleaned, and resurfaced)
• The yard is filthy with trash, shingles, siding, wood, etc.
• The garage was flooded, therefore all the boxes and stuff that were on the floor are ruined (unfortunately, some of those boxes contained photos and important papers)
• The roof is badly damaged
• The walls, ceilings, & carpet are damaged where the roof leaked
• The house is very musty smelling, due to the leaks and not having power

The funny side of the "damage" is there is a very large sailboat between Dad Dan's house and his neighbors house, sitting in the yard, waiting for its owner to come find it and take it away!

They have begun cleaning up the yard already, and tomorrow they will start on the garage. The insurance adjuster will be coming out hopefully by this weekend to assess the damage to the house. The first major project will be to fix the roof before they get anymore rain!

Steven (Dad Dan's friend) took some pictures and videos throughout the storm and Lesia got some aftermath pictures, before they started cleaning up. They are going to try and get those pictures uploaded and emailed so I can post them on the blog. I will update you again when those arrive.

Hurricane Ike

Dad Dan's house did survive the hurricane this past weekend ...

• There is NO power
• The roof was damaged and leaked into the house in several places
• The water was just a couple of inches from entering the house, but NO water got in the house
• The garage did flood
• The air conditioning unit and pool equipment were covered with water
• The debris in the water and all around is terrible
• The boat survived, rose with the water, and did not break the lines ... it is still located at the dock, in the backyard!

All in all, Dad Dan should be very pleased with the outcome. He was in San Antonio for the storm, but had a friend who did not evacuate and he stayed in Dad Dan's house for the storm. It is great to have him stay behind so we know what the house has endured. The areas around his house were damaged pretty bad ... Kemah was completely underwater and severely damaged ... SO SAD!

We are not sure when Dad Dan is going to go back to his house, as there is not power and authorities are telling people not to come back to the area yet. There is not much he can do until the water recedes, as of yesterday, the water was still covering most of the driveway. We will all be anxious to have him get home and see things for himself. I hope that his friend took some photos of the water, as it has NEVER been that high before.

We wish we were there with Dad Dan to help with all the clean up, as he will have a lot of cleaning to do once he gets back. Hopefully the power will be restored soon (authorities are saying it could be at least a month before the power and utilities are working again) and he can try and get his life back in order. We are just all so pleased that there was nothing major to deal with.

Bounce U

This morning, we went to Bounce U for open bounce with Reagan's friend, James from preschool. The girls had a great time running around, bouncing, and sliding for two hours. Reagan got over her fear of slides (if you remember, she had her 4th birthday party at Bounce U and would not get on any of the slides). She spent probably 85% of her time sliding down the Super Slide. Riley loved the slides, too. Mommy had to climb her up to the top, but she would slide down those big ole' slides all by herself. After all the fun, Riley passed out and took a 2 1/2 hour nap (which is GREAT for her). What a fun morning we had!

Riley playing in the bounce house, that had a smaller slide.

Reagan in the tunnel.

Riley climbing through the tunnel.

Reagan being such a good big sister, trying to help Riley climb up (even though it did not work).

Reagan on the Super Slide.

Reagan & James, holding hands, going down the Super Slide.

Way to go Riley! All alone on the big Super Slide.

Oh, how I wish ...

I wish I could ...

~ fall asleep within the first five minutes of laying down

~ sleep in any position and be comfortable

~ sleep through someone walking into my room (or taking a picture)

~ stay asleep while someone picks me up to move me into a better position

~ sleep for 10+ hours without waking up several times a night

~ wake up in the morning, refreshed and energetic, ready for the day

Oh, to be a kid!

What a Handsome Boy!

In an attempt to help Irbe with his shedding problem, I decided I would get a special "Shed Ender" brush and brush his hair away. After only 20 minutes, there was hair all over the backyard. I am sure my neighbors now have big ole' hair balls in their backyards too! Irbe was such a good boy, he just stood there and let me brush away. I think he secretly enjoyed it. Afterwards, he looked so smooth and shiny. Maybe if we can make this part of our daily routine, we will have less dog hair floating around the house. Won't that be great!

Here is a pile that I swept up ... there was a lot more hair but it had already blown all over the yard and it is too hot for me to worry about it now! The shoe is to give you perspective on how much hair we got off ... WAY GROSS! Now I know why I have to vacuum ALL THE TIME!

The writing's on the wall ... or should I say "mirror"

Mom: Reagan, is that my lotion I smell?

Reagan: Yes.

Mom: Where did you get it?

Reagan: On your bathroom cabinet.

Mom: Let me see your hands ...

Reagan: I rubbed it in already ... all over my body. Don't I smell good?

Mom: Oh Yes, but next time, please ask mommy for permission first. OK?

Reagan: OK, I will.

Here is what I found after our conversation ...
I guess she was too slippery after all the lotion, she needed help from Mr. Mirror to get off the cabinet. Either that or she enjoyed seeing her handprints and couldn't contain herself!

Do sisters really look alike ... or not?

I was looking back at old pictures of Reagan when she was Riley's age, and found this picture of her. Riley happened to be wearing the same outfit, so I had to take a picture for comparison reasons. They are such different girls ... Reagan was such an independent, happy, and easy child. Riley is clingy, loud, and has to have things her way. However, when you look at their pictures, they look so similar.

What do you think? Do they look like sisters? I am interested in what you think.


Riley (18 months)

Reagan (19 months)

Riley (18 months)

Reagan (19 months)

Things I see:

~ They both have the curly hair in the back (even though Reagan's was a little longer)

~ They both have the same arms (chubby & cute)

~ They both look like they have the same mouth
(however, Riley's is rarely closed, so it is hard to tell)

~ They both have such beautiful, bright, blue eyes

~ Reagan definitely had more hair, longer & fuller. I could put her hair into piggy tails and pony tails at this age.

~ Riley has a rounder face, without the defined chin

~ Not that you can see it, Reagan had a full mouth of teeth and Riley is still very sparse with her chompers

Oh, how they grow ...

The other morning, while I was busy with Riley, Reagan decided she was hungry. Instead of bugging me to get her breakfast, this is what she did ...

She got a chair, made her own toast (even put it in the toaster and added butter) and peeled her own banana ... ALL WITHOUT ASKING FOR HELP! I was so proud of her!
Maybe she can carry on this tradition from here on out ... even though I think she will get sick of toast and bananas for breakfast quickly!

What a fun afternoon!

We decided to get out this afternoon for some family fun. We took the girls to the new Children's Museum of Phoenix. We had a great time. They are still adding new exhibits, but it was a lot of fun for the girls. Afterwards, we took the girls to dinner at our favorite restaurant, Oregano's Pizza Bistro. We all ate great food and had a yummy pizza cookie for dessert. The girls were so good today ... it made for a great family fun afternoon!

On this apparatus, you push and pull levers with your hands and feet and they play music (more like make noise).

Reagan thought it was cool pushing the pedals to make drum noises.

Mom trying to help Riley push the pedals.

Reagan and her "serious" motorcycle face!

A calm and relaxing place to sit and read a book (or just chill, like our girls did).

There were all these cool paths to put balls on and they made lots of different noises.

Reagan liked the ball tube that went all around the entire room.

In the art room, we got to make Olympic flags.

Then the girls got to free paint a little house.

This could of had major potential for disaster.
She did great and only got one little drop on her hands.

Riding the bikes.

Riley tried so hard to ride this bike, with no luck.

This one fits me better!

Reagan was the driver.
GO DADDY! GO FASTER!

In the free play area, Reagan tried to Hula Hoop.

Where did Riley go?

Oh, there she is!

Daddy & Doodle were mesmerized by the CD wall.

Here is the CD wall ... it sparkled so pretty!

Reagan rode on this cool scooter. You have to step on the wheels and turn them backwards to go forward. She did really well.

Working real hard ... what concentration!

Riley was hot, so Daddy held her up to the air vent.

At dinner, Reagan was entertaining herself by making a music station.
Notice her little bell at the top!

Riley tried to play with some pizza dough to help keep her entertained, but mostly, she wanted to eat it.

Some cute shots of our Reagan

Reagan was invited to her friends house for a viewing of the new Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus Live Concert that was released on DVD this past week. She was so excited to go and watch one of her favorite singers. She wanted her hair all done up ... and she wore her Hannah Montana socks to complete her outfit. She looked so cute, and had such a good time.
Thanks Brielle for the invitation!

For those who were wondering just how curly her hair was the other morning after the sponge rollers ... here is attempt number 2. She slept in the rollers again on Saturday night, and here she is, Sunday morning ... all curly again.
WHOA!