Follow the yellow brick road...

We had a really fun Halloween evening this year. Raegan had a nice Dorothy costume from her birthday, so with a little borrowing, thrifting, and creating, we made all of Dorothy's friends come alive!

Beautiful Dorothy

Brave Lioness

Wise Scarecrow

Tin"woman" (with heart!)

Best buds!

Proctor District closes off the streets and business owners stand with gallons of candy outside their shops to bless the kiddos. Raegan did pretty well for lute, and was even sharing her candy with her friends- dropping lollipops in their buckets! (She also took her fare share before the generosity fully kicked in... sorry Claire!)

Dorothy is a very charming character, and lots of people complimented Raegan on her costume. She really was a very sweet little Dorothy! Here's one with Toto...

And later that night at church, one of Raegan's great friends was also dressed as Dorothy! Look how adorable they are together~ They had fun comparing sparkly shoes too :)

And now that I've posted Halloween pictures, do you know what that means...???

It's CHRISTMAS!!

(Shhh, I know... just let it be...)

the car...

It's raining now. It's been raining a lot. It's rainy season...

So, I've been racking my brain for INDOOR ACTIVITIES!

Raegan loves her a good glue stick, and the wipes were out, so we used the box to make a "car."

I was laughing SO hard! Raegan pushed her sister all over the house, and it really struck me as hilarious! My parents tell the story of me forcing my brother to sit in a laundry basket as I wheeled him around... and look who's following right in my footsteps. Having kids is the BEST!

Giants fever!

My dad's favorite team, through thick and thin, since childhood is the San Francisco Giants! It started with rooting them on for my dad... but it's turned into a family fever!!

Wolrd Series Game #1 dinner.

I bought orange napkins and drew the SF myself, mixed some plates and place-mats, and had a fun orange a black table- good time of year I suppose...

All I want for Christmas...

I have already! Anabelle officially has BOTH of her bottom two front teeth! Each day you can see them a tad bit more, and I'm a super sucker for a two-toothed baby grin. After looking at these sink-bath photos, I realized you can actually see both teeth in pictures now. Ready for an extreme close up? Without further ado, my second child's first two teeth...

Being me. Being you.

I have been more and more passionate recently that every person would know exactly what they were created to do, and do it with all their heart. Have you ever seen somebody doing something with excellence and thought "that's what they were MADE FOR!" I love it!

My friends are deeply talented, and to experience a touch of their uniqueness is quite a gift. My mother captivates a room with a single word, Julie creates detailed gorgeous jewelry from scratch, Gretchen's voice calms and revives, Candace seamlessly manages about a million things at a time with excellence, Casey can teach anything to anyone with true joy, Cailyn's gift of hospitality and creativity runs deep, Aimee brings FUN and life, Susanne turns anything into something beautiful, Andrea loves with a pure heart, Hannah blesses my family as if she were a blood relative, and the list goes on.

So, what was I made to do? My niche is raising up little musicians (my own daughters and any other child in my path) to be excited about music and how it can change the world. My brother sent me a song last night, and it was powerful. It was like God reached through the email and put His hand on my heart. Music was created, in the beginning, to touch our souls, stir our spirit, move our heart, motivate us, etc. There's power there.

The world has slowly polluted what God made for good. I'm not a straight-laced gal out to get all the rappers because I can't understand why or what they're yelling at us. I can appreciate all forms of music- in fact, it goes back to my original point: do what you're made to do. Are you a rapper? Then rap! Are you a classical violinist? Then play me some Canon in D! But the purity and power of music (and all forms of art for that matter) has been corrupted by vulgar language and sex. MTV today is very different from 20 years ago. And imagine what your grandma would have said if Lady Gaga had graced her black and white screen as a kid?

So, I get really excited when I see an artist using their craft to honor the King. Does this mean that anybody good with a paint brush should be selling a portrait of Jesus Christ in a Christian bookstore? Mostly not. But what if they were able to express their version of true beauty through a field of tulips on a canvas, and then share it with someone who needed colors in their grey world? Now we're talkin.

I know my thoughts aren't fully organized, but that's what happens when you're in the process of realization, right? I'm 28. What's next? What do I do with what I've been given to make the most impact while I'm here on this earth?

What are you made for?

My daughters.

I just love them together.

"now I know my A B C's..."

If I have to label this stage of Raegan's development it would called, "R is for Raegan" or maybe "R is for Reading!" Just before her third birthday Raegan really started to care about letters other than R, M, and A (Raegan, Mommy, and Anabelle. These have been important for a while now.) On recommendation from one of my favorite teacher friends, I asked my mom to buy Raegan the Leap Frog "Letter Factory" DVD for her birthday. It's like the whole world is coming alive to her! Billboards matter now. She picks letters off of signs I barely notice.

Raegan was sitting at the kitchen table, paintbrush in hand, while I did the dishes. Before I knew it, "Mom! I wrote your name!" So I scurried over to see what all the excitement was about. She had written "MMoo" on the paper. What!? After heaps of praise, I spelled out loud the correct order: "m-o-m" and went back to my heap of pots and pans. Shortly after scrubbing away at the caked-on mac n'cheese I was summoned back to the table to find "MOM" as clear as day. My three year old wrote her first word, and it was, of course, mom! Unbelievable. A little pay back for "da da" being her first spoken word I guess...

First tooth!

Anabelle popped her first little tooth yesterday. (Finally) Bottom right. And bottom left isn't far behind. It's hard to imagine what that would feel like as an adult, but it doesn't seem pretty. A sharp object emerging from a soft pink gum... She's a trooper, and we haven't lost TOO much sleep over it, thank you God!

The pumpkin.

Picking the pumpkin.

Gutting the pumpkin.

Loving the pumpkin!

Wearing the pumpkin.

Smiling with the pumpkin.

Punkin' Patch.

Ellensburg pumpkin patch at Dusty's nursery was really great last year, so we went again while we were in town last weekend. And it was such a fun time. These are iphone pictures- I forgot my camera. But, what a cute place!

I really love fall. In fact, I realized I'm not really blogging very often because I'm enjoying the season SO much. That's a good thing, right? I think it's my favorite time of year. Pumpkins, brightly colored leaves, crisp air, warm lattes. And the first miracle (Raegan Johanna's birth) I ever saw happened right at the turn of summer to autumn. What's not to love!?

mohawks.

Bath time. Still a very popular sport at our house... and the youngest has quickly caught on! Shampoo mohawks last night. Although they didn't show up as well on film- i assure you, they were pretty darn awesome in person:)

It's Fall.

Raegan picked out a pumpkin this week, I (for some unkown reason) was possessed to buy yarn and have begun a few different knitting projects, and tonight we attended our little friend's soccer game! I do mean little. Like 5 year old little girls. With cute coordinating soccer bows in their hair. But, they were actually playing soccer, and I was very impressed! Go Isabelle GO!

And by the way, my dear friend Casey is 38 weeks pregnant out there rooting on her oldest. Have you ever seen a better looking prego? Not me.

"...that you would be on display..."

I was blessed to attend a very unique wedding a few weekends ago. The bride wore a peacock feather in her flowing brown hair, and the groom skipped the tuxedo for a vest and purple tie. The ceremony was in Tacoma at Union Station- this is the only picture I snapped because I was sitting in the back with my 3 year old date and couldn't see worth beans. Back to the point: Although I could barely hear or see anything taking place up there, there was one portion of the wedding that caught me off guard and left my cheeks with one tear droplet each...

The groom AND the bride, in her fitted lacy gown, both got down on their knees to wash each others feet. As the echoing swirl of my friends voice filled the station with "that you would be on display, the object of my affection..." , a sweet but serious atmosphere settled on the crowd as we witnessed the very essence of a Christian marriage. She knelt in her perfect white dress in front of every one and washed his feet!

I want to be more like that. Marriage is beautiful. But marriage is also hard, because, metaphorically, it's a daily washing of somebody else's (sometimes smelly) feet! But when you do, when I do, it produces the sweetest atmosphere of love and respect. I haven't mastered this. I haven't even come close. But it's in my heart, and when I get it right it's SO worth it!

Footies.

Thank you , Costco, for always selling cheap footed pajamas when the weather changes.

I just wanted to squeeze them both all day!

(Yes, they wore their new pajamas all day. Even to the mall.)

7 months!

My little acrobat- 7 months old!

Anabelle is 7 months old today! Woah.

She's scooting and rolling around the house, about to crawl like any SECOND, teething like crazy, laughing, "da da da"-ing and "ba ba ba"-ing, beginning to make her opinions known, "flirting" with me, grinning, snuggling, sleeping through the night, eating solids, drooling constantly, and just being so darn CUTE~

Her bottom two teeth are trying to pop through!

"So, how does this crawl thing work? I'm up and rocking, but I don't quite get what comes next...?"

Working the camera!

Love you my sweet B.