Family Pics

Well it's that time of year for family pics and I love it!  I love seeing everyone's pics come up on Facebook and it's even better when the Christmas cards start rolling in! I'm glad we were able to get in another shoot with Sara before we move...and she moves!  Gotta love the military life!

We shot early on a Sunday morning and it was no small feat getting us all showered, dressed, and to the location by 8:30 but we managed!  We met at this random barn in Vacaville and Sara had never shot there before so we got to be the ginnipigs! It turned out perfect and the barn was green which couldn't have gone better with our outfits!  We kept the whole shoot under 45 minutes and they turned out great!  Good thing my girls are total hams!  Sara did an amazing job as usual!

Here are some of my favorites!

On the move...again!

Well I had fun looking back at THIS post from 2008 when we got our orders to Travis AFB.  Here we are again...4 years later and we have orders again.

This time here are some clues as to where we are going next:

This is a popular icon:

This team is kind of a big deal:

Well Scott AFB it is!

 It looks like we will be heading to Illinois sometime around the beginning of March.  Jason will have an Air Mobility Command staff job and we're very proud of him and excited about this opportunity!

We have absolutely loved our time here in California!  It's going to be extremely hard to leave but I knew the change was looming and can't help but be excited about our next adventure.  We had a pretty good idea that Scott AFB might be where we would be heading next but we were still anxious and excited to find out what the official orders said!

We knew we would be finding out by the end of October and Jason left on a short TDY last Monday and wouldn't you know that's the day he got his orders.  I'm not sure how it all works but he knew his orders had dropped but because he was TDY he couldn't access the system that showed him his orders so we knew were moving but just didn't know where yet.  I got a text from him that ready "hey honey...i got orders...just don't know where to yet"....ummmmm what?  So....we had to wait but fortunately not too long!  The next morning he made some calls and found out the orders were to Scott and the report date was Feb 8.  That was much quicker than we thought but due to some of Jason's commitments here it's been pushed back until March.  I know it's going to come quick!

Once we got the orders then it hit me...I am going to hate leaving here...all my amazing friends, all of Riley's friends, the great weather, all of the amazing things to do!  There are lots of emotions involved and we've been through it before.  I know God has great plans for us on this next adventure!

We told Riley a few days later and I'm not sure she totally understands it yet.  She is such an outgoing and social little thing that I am not one bit concerned about her making new friends.  I am just sad for her that she's going to have to leave her friends here...she is such a loyal friend and she never forgets a friend!   It's a whole different ball game this time with this move affecting Riley.  

So...now that we know it's time for me to stress...haha!  So much planning to do!  For now I have the holidays and two birthdays to distract me and keep me plenty busy!  One thing at a time right?

Halloween Fun

 The day before Halloween Riley and I had some fun baking cookies while Tessa napped!  We had to make pumpkin shaped sugar cookies for her class to decorate the next day!

Chef Riley!

Cutting out cookies!

 Love this smile!

 Had lots of fun baking with my big girl!

The next morning Riley had her animal parade at school!

She was the cutest pony and had a blast!

 It's so fun to see all the cute kiddos in their costumes!

 My cutie!

 Class Picture time!

 Miss T was wearing the shirt I made for Riley last year...but as a dress!  She looked pretty darn cute and had lots of fun watching her sissy at school!

 Riley has fallen in love with Doc McStuffins on Disney and when she decided that's what she wanted to be for halloween I couldn't have been happier!  I was ready for a break from princess things!!!

I had fun piecing together her costume and finding all the perfect pieces!  I actually dressed the girls up a few weeks ago and took pics and I'm so glad I did because it was too hectic to worry about good pics of the two of them when it came time to trick or treat!

Doc McStuffins!

When we figured out what Riley was going to be I wanted to think of something clever for them to be sort of a duo and when I spotted this little lamb costume I knew Tessa could be Lambie and it would be perfect!

Is this not the cutest thing ever?

 I love the way T is looking at her big sis in this pic!

 Love my Doc and Lambie!

 On the night of Halloween we went to Hannah and Todd's for our annual trick or treating and tortilla soup!  We got the big kids together before we took off!

 And then we got the babies and mamas in too!

 Tessa, Addi, and Allie...the little girls!!!

 Lambie and an elephant...love these two cuties!

 Jason met up with us at the Trunk or Treat at the church so we had to get a family pic!

 Riley got lots of loot and we managed to get all of our trick or treating in before the rain started!

 Tessa loved riding on her Daddy's shoulders!

We got back to Hannah and Todd's and all ate a WONDERFUL meal!  It was crazy with all of the kids but it's a great crazy...I just love this stage of life!  Lots of candy was eaten and I am loving sneaking in the candy bucket...don't tell Riley! :)

A cowgirl and her partner!

 I have a lot of fun with my two girls but I love the days when the real fun just begins when Jason gets home!!!

Riley had an animal parade at school so we borrowed a cute pink pony costume from her sweet friend Ella!  Ella's dad delivered it to Jason at work and if you can imagine two men carrying around this pink pony costume and getting lots of funny looks then you hit the nail on the head!  I warned Jason that he was going to get a delivery but he didn't have any what he was getting himself into!

When he got home with the costume Riley literally galloped around the house for an hour straight...it was hilarious!  

After Tessa went to bed Jason got all gussied up and they got the nerf guns and swords out and they were "pawtners"looking for bad guys!  They were so cute and I got shot several times with the nerf guns...I guess I was the bad guy!

Two crazies!

 Howdy!

 I convinced Jason to use this "playtime" to get Riley to clean her toys up...you know to make it fun and all!  I was cracking up the whole time...he was saying things like "if you don't clean that there mess up there will be a hanging at high noon"...Riley had no clue what he was talking about but it totally worked!

Don't mess with this cowgirl!

What a fun night!

10 Months

Miss T is 10 months old and changing day by day...how can this girl get any cuter????

These pictures are getting harder and harder to take! :)

She weighed in at 16 pounds 4 ounces on her 10 month birthday!!!  She's still hanging out in the 3rd / 4th percentile and doing just fine!  I officially moved her up to size 3 diapers and they are a little big but she hasn't had any trouble with them at all!  She is wearing 6-9 month clothes and is able to get into most 9-12 month clothes too.  I have a feeling a lot of the dresses she's in now will work well as shirts next spring so I'm hanging onto them for now!

Her schedule hasn't changed much this month other than she seems to eat more and more each meal than the day before!  She nurses 4 times a day and takes a 5 oz bottle around 1:30.  She is completely on table food and loves it.  She shovels it in her mouth like nobody's business!  She started drinking a sippy cup of water with her meals too and does great with it.  I gave her her formula in it once and she didn't drink it nearly as well as from the bottle but I eventually got it down her.  We'll have to work on that over the next two months!  She has started biting me when she eats and that is not fun...and then she laughs.  Think she might be trouble???  I think we have it under control for now but we shall see!

As for her teeth she still just has the bottom two.  Four of her top teeth have been so close to popping through and it seems like any day they will but so far they haven't yet!!!

She's sleeping great and still taking two naps a day.  She usually naps around 9:30 and then 2:00...on Riley's school days I have to push her until 2:30 and work hard to keep her from falling asleep in the car but on non-school days she usually goes down a little before 2:00.  Each nap is usually an hour and a half.  She goes to bed between 7:00 and 7:30 and then she's up around 6:30 or 7:00.  Most mornings she usually wakes up and just hangs out in her crib for 15-20 minutes.  She's still sleeping in the guest room but we have plans to move her crib into the playroom until we move.  She still does great adapting to our sometimes crazy schedule and will sleep in her carseat, the stroller, or the ergo. I especially love when she sleeps in the ergo because I get to snuggle her up.

Tessa is all over the place.  We've had to adapt the house and change our habits because this girl is into everything!  She loves to play in the play kitchen, crawl all over the house, and pull up and walk with her toys.  She already knows where the playroom is and she make a beeline for it every chance she gets!  She's opening cabinets and drawers and of course putting anything and everything in her mouth.  When she is trying to move towards something that she shouldn't and I say "uh uh uh" she turns her head, looks at me, and repeats it back to me...and then she proceeds to go right for it.   She's going to be a stinker!

I think she will be walking before we know it but as for now she's really not pursuing it too much...probably because she's so fast with her crawling so she isn't too worried about other methods of moving!  When she's sitting and playing she is always in this stance where she get on one leg and acts like she wants to just push herself up and stand right up.  She doesn't have the balance to do it yet but she's not far from it!

This month has shown me how much Tessa loves babies and it has been so fun to watch!  She makes this distinct little sound when referring to her baby and she smiles and lights up and just grabs that baby, throws it over her shoulder, and gives it the sweetest pats on the back.  I just love watching her maternal instincts even at such a young age.  She loves ALL of Riley's babies so I think her big sister is going to hook her up for Christmas!

She is becoming more and more smitten with her sister every day and I just love seeing the two of them together.  Tessa is now giving hugs and kisses and every morning when Riley comes in my room she wants to lay her head on her big sissy and give her a hug.  We all love the hugs and kisses from this sweet girl!

It's so great to see Tessa finally really start to give affection back to Riley.  Riley has been head over heels in love with Tessa since before she was even born and she is such a good big sister.  But when Tessa was smaller she preferred me over her sister and Riley often got her feelings hurt.  Now things have changed and Tessa just LOVES Riley and wants to love on her first thing in the morning and is always tickled to see her and play with her and we couldn't be happier to see these girls in love with each other!

This month I left both girls with J for a little over 24 hours and went to the Women of Faith conference.  He was so excited to have the girls to himself and he did such a great job!  Of course Tessa had to go and get sick for the first time when I left her but thankfully Jason is such an awesome Daddy and he took great care of her.  She ended up with high fever and a trip to the ER but she just had an inner ear infection so once she got some meds she was back to herself.  

I just love my girls and my sweet family!

Here's the comparison pic for this month!