The Father of My Children...

Here are JUST 10 Reasons Steve is the best Father for our girls:
There are lots more but these are just a few....

1. He makes huge forts with them almost every Saturday while I'm at work..and I mean HUGE forts, I'm often very impressed by them!


2. He takes them on "Daddy-daughter Dates"

3. He always drops everything when he gets home from a long day at work to talk about their day and snuggle (or wrestle) with them

4. He tells them they are beautiful and how much he loves them and why...

5. He takes them to the park a lot!


6. He is the epitomy of F.U.N!



7. Sometimes at night, instead of reading books to Megan before bed, he sits and they talk about a subject. He uses this time to teach her something new. once they talked all about Sharks and their anatomy. Another time they talked about Space and the planets...(pretty much she knows more than I do on these subjects now)

8. He'll put on his swim shorts and jump in the bath with them, even though it's SUPER squishy, just b/c he loves them.

9. He takes them Swimming b/c they love it!! and he plays like a 10yr old, it's hilarious!!!


10. He is very cuddly and affectionate:)



Here are some more pictures of Steve with the girls that I found.
thank you for being the most incredible father Steve, we love you!

Love, your girls;)

He takes them to the zoo...

He plays with them in the snow...(yes He built that fort! with his brother).

He carves pumpkins....

He poses for Megans camera...

He drinks slurpees at the river

He plays "Where's Daddy?" and lets them cover him with stuffed animals...

he does the "Tough Stuff" that I can't handle....
(this is him taking megan to the dentist to get her first filling:( )

I love you Steve!!!!!!!
Even as I write this, I can't believe you are MY husband. You are the husband and father of my dreams. I am completely in love with you and so thankful for everything you do with our girls. I fall more in love with you each day.
Happy Fathers Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Erika update

Just a quick update. Erika is 19 1/2 mo's old.
She had her check up today...everything is great,..here are her stats:

weight: 30.4lbs
height: 35.4inches tall

she is such a BIG girl. I hope she joins the WNBA.
Have I ever told you all how MUCH I LOVE basketball? well I do. and perhaps I have a future superstar on my hands to fulfill the dreams that this 5'4 girl couldn't.

we'll see:)

getting ready for the recital...

Monica and Megan getting ready last week. Steve took these pics and they are adorable.
Monica is Natalie's daughter:) they love each other!! so cute.

My "Spirited Child"

This is my spirited child.

Being Erika's mother has been such a rewarding experience thus far. she is so different from Megan, who is very special in her own way and for her own reasons. But for now, lets talk about this one.
I have had a wide range of new emotions with this one. Not only does her extreme love and affection bring out the most enduring love from within my soul, but her wild and crazy tantrums can make my blood boil and cause such feelings of anger and frustration that I have trouble knowing how to handle them myself.

I am really excited to get myself a new book. It's called: "Raising your Spirited Child".
It has been recommended to me by many people and i'm sure my own mother wishes she had such a book when I was little.
I was scanning through some of it's pages on Amazon.com tonight and was amazed at how familiar I was with it already.
Erika is A LOT like I was as a child, Cute (lol), funny, sweet, VERY sensitive, and FIESTY! or SPIRITED as they call it. I know she will be a dynamic determined adult but I really need to figure out how to help her deal with her emotions and feelings and frustrations as a child.

It's funny, but sometimes when she is freaking out and kicking and screaming, often kicking ME if I get in the way, I'm surprised to find that instead of feeling mad I feel sad. I feel empathy. I can remember freaking out at my sisters as a young girl....I didnt' know how to control my strong emotions and I would just take it out on them....they were kind and loving enough to put up with me and try to help me through it.
Even now as an adult, I struggle to control my emotions. I was thinking tonight that maybe part of Heavenly Father 's plan of me having a spirited child was to help me see myself in her and by teaching her, actually teach myself:)

I Love Erika so much and i'm excited to start reading and learning and applying.
I feel so blessed to have such great children..and it's amazing and humbling to see their differences and know that Heavenly Father has trusted me to raise them and teach them. To help them with their strengths AND their weaknesses no matter what they may be:)

anyway...just wanted to share that...if you have a spirited child, you may want to look the book up too:):)

Pee-Pee-on-the-Pott-y!!

I feel like I say this A LOT lately!!

I spent about 30min total on the stupid toilet yesterday...well not ME but Erika...I had to sit there though. she knows when she needs to go, she tells me she needs to go but then she gets on there and holds it! ugh...so frustrating. I kept telling her yesterday that if she went she could wear panties like Megan....so finally at 7:00pm last night while I was going pee...she told me SHE wanted to go, I put her on and.....she went!!!! Megan and I were screaming (as usual) we try to make it a BIG deal when she goes..

Then she got to wear panties and she was THRILLED ! LOL...she would NOT take them off for bed so I had to put them on over her diaper at bed time hahah...
oh well....

anyway...here she is posing for me in her "big girl" underwear!!

Steve has a JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are SO excited and So happy!!!
We are truly truly truly blessed:)

We have been praying everyday for a few months now and it is such a relief.
We've had many conversations late at night about what Might be....I always felt like the Lord would bless us with something great and I felt peace that it would be okay. It is nice to have those feelings confirmed now and know that this really is the best job for US and for Steve!
The Dr he'll be working with is wonderful, I met him last week and got such a great feeling from him. They do a lot of P.I. work and DOT physicals, and for those of you who know Steve know that he has REALLY wanted to practice somewhere where he can do more P.I cases:)
All of it is just such an answer to our prayers. I really believe when you have faith and you believe the Lord will bless you with something great, He does!! My Testimony of Heavenly Fathers Love and kindness continues to grow. I love Him so much.


The Doctor is opening a new practice in the next few months and then Steve will most likely be left in charge of this one (that experience alone is priceless I think). There are a few massage therapists and a whole office staff and Steve really likes them already.

Another cool thing is that 98% of their clients speak Russian (the Doc is not russian). Steve has already learned a lot of russian from just being their 4 days:) It would not surprise me if Steve became fluent in Another language!! (little stinker).

Another fabulous thing is that he only works Mon, Tues, Wed, Friday:) and Thursdays only if he needs to do paper work:) (this is of course MY favorite part! haha)
The salary is just what we wished for and the people there are awesome. I can't thank my Heavenly Father enough for taking care of us. I'm so proud of Steve, for all his hard work the last 9yrs and for the amazingly well rounded man he is. He will be an asset to any practice.

I'm SUPER excited for him to start his Career and we both know he will learn SO much at his new job:)

My new swimsuit....

http://www.newport-news.com/shop/popup_lgview.aspx?style_id=32088207&zoom=1

Here's the new suit I bought. Of course I don't look as cute as her in it, but I do like it. Steve said if I put on heels, it would look like something Beyoncé would wear! LMBO.
so true, so true.
anyway...thought it was fun and different and I'm a sucker for white...it makes me look more tanned than I really am. I also wanted to wear a one piece I actually LIKED!
so there it is....I'm also looking for a one-piece with one strap..they're really cute but hard to find for less than $200. ridiculous.
see ya at the pool!

Baby Beluga or Cabaret Dancer?

Today Megan had her Recital Photos. The actual ballet recital isn't for 2wks but they had to come in full makeup today for their group photo. I did Megan and Monica's makeup. Monica is Natalie's daughter. I put fake eyelashes on them and it was So cute!! too bad one set fell of while they got them into costume and Megan took the other one off during pictures! lol

When they said they'd be dressed as "baby Belugas" I was thinking more like a big fat white suit...but no...this is their costume!! Looks like they should be doing a kick line together!


Anyway...they are SO cute and I realized that Megan will never be allowed to wear makeup b/c she will look far too beautiful and I don't ever want to deal with boys! ha!
anyway...here they are, cute or what?!!

Here she still has ONE set of lashes on ! haha

This ones my fav!

that' s a blow-hole on top of her head! haha

her class

doing kissy faces:)

Megan and Monica. xo

Monica and my good friend Natalie

me and my baby beluga;)

such a sweetie.

I love my meggy. For everyone who knows her, they know she is one of a kind!
and cute as a button!!;)

GaGa

Steve calls her Gaga. He said that's what she calls herself...I'm not sure but it sticks...now she's "Gaga" and "Moosh" lol....
Here she is posing for Steve today right after her bath.
I just want to kiss her. It makes me sad that she's getting so big. Some days I actually ACHE at the thought of them not being small enough to hold anymore. I love them both so much.
My heart hurts when I think of them getting older.
Perhaps it's time for another?;)

There's the "Cheese" smile again...it's SO cute

This one is priceless. Should win an award. I love her.

Happy girl.

I love you Gaga.
I love you Mooshy.
I love you Erika Brooke:)