We love Valentines too!

Am I the only one who takes 3 days to make sugar cookies? We started this project on Wednesday and it was NOT EASY! I was the one crying at the end of the first day. I thought making it a family event would be so fun. However, I learned to make the frosting WITHOUT any help, get out several bowls for color options and wait til Jansen took a nap!
Reesa was so proud of her frosting job, she only wanted to lick it off, and would no longer eat a cookie!

Having fun with the sprinkles...

Ta-Da, we did it!

We had a wonderful Valentines Day. Jake got up early and made us all waffles before he left for work.

Jake sent me a box of tulips. Since I didn't hear Fed Ex come, they sat on my porch most of the day. Have you seen that commercial about the girl who gets a flowers delivered in a box for V-day? We laughed so hard at that, Jake was dying when he realized he ordered flowers from a box. Tulips were a nice surprise, I've never had them before, and they were beautiful even from a box!
They looked great a few days later... (this picture doesn't do it justice) until Jansen climbed onto the table and pulled off all the petals trying to smell them.

Since Jake was gone to work, I had all day to think of something to do for him. Hannah gave me the great idea to make chocolate covered strawberries. (Don't wait til the last minute... $6 at Wal-mart! for 14 strawberries, and I got the VERY last carton). But they were SO GOOD!

So we went to Wal-mart and wasted time til Jake got home, finding supplies to make valentines etc... well Jake decided to surprise us and come home 2 hours early. Since my phone didn't get service in the store we stayed a LONG time. (I love Wal-mart.) I told Jake he shouldn't try to surprise me anymore, I hate surpises anyway. BUT don't feel too bad. Jake cleaned the disaster house, did ALL the dishes, swept the kitchen floor, took out the trash and exhausted himself so when we got home, all he wanted was to sit on the couch and watch TV! I was so happy to have a clean house again!
Since I loved the strawberries so much, I went and bought more a few days later, and found THIS! Reesa and Jansen ate the WHOLE carton and left green stems everywhere. When I asked Reesa, "who did this?," she said "I am, I am cleaning this big mess!" I love that girl!
AND finally, my shamrocks started to bloom!!! After 2 months of being in a box from packing, spilling over the kitchen sink 4 times til Jake told me I had to get rid of them, I replanted them and placed them on a shelf in the kitchen (away from the sink) and 1 week later, they look THIS good. Are these the cutest plants ever??? I don't know why they make me so happy. I think they will always be my favorite plant!

Preschool Tiaras

At preschool Reesa learned about the letter T, and they had a tea party, made treasure chests, and wore Tiaras. It was the "girliest" thing you have ever seen and Reesa had a BLAST! (thanks Gretchen)

Reesa with her cousin Brinley

The sweetest thing I have ever seen!!!

But someone was sad they didn't go to preschool and demanded to wear the Tiara.

Jansen was so funny, if it fell off, he would immediately bring it to me, grunt to tell me he wanted it back on his head, and then give you the BIGGEST smile like he knew he looked cute. I couldn't believe how long this went on. After an hour I got out the camera!
We decided to try a new tradition and make a ginger bread house, (from a kit). It turned out so cute. I was very proud.

Here's a different view of our house!

When we moved to Virginia I told Rylee we were all going to see the Nutcracker this December. She was the only one who remembered, and luckily we picked her name for Christmas, so Chelsey watched my kids for me and we went to see the ballet.

It was so fun, and Rylee was the perfect child. She watched on the edge of her seat, and didn't say a word (even when I tried to get her to talk!).

The theatre was georgeous. Too bad you can't see it!

Happy Birthday Reesa

Reesa turned 3! It's so hard to have vacation, Christmas, anniversaries, birthdays all in one month. Luckily my sister and her family came to make the party, and not too much stress for me! I made Reesa this cake, but it didn't turn out. I made her one when she turned 2, but I knew she would LOVE it now, so I tried again. This time my mom wasn't there to help.

H
Here's the cake I made the year before, much better.
Opening gifts

She got the book "I don't care said the bear." Barbie that looks like a butterfly, princess memory and a play kitchen (which Jansen loves to sit in the oven).
Grandma Geyer gave her this hilarious dog outfit. Snuggly and pink!

Thanksgiving and all around...

So we made the trip out the Cali to see Jake's family in December and decided to go to Disneyland to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary, Reesa's birthday, Christmas (and anything else we could justify for this trip). What a nice sunny day in December!

Jake and Reesa in line for Alice in Wonderland.

Me and Jansen

He could NOT get over these bars. He was determinded to fit through them and tried in EVERY line we got in. It was so funny.

Reesa becoming a princess. They have such fun things for kids to do!

She got to make and decorate a crown, learn a dance and meet a princess!

Cinderella's castle was lit up and looked so beautiful. I couldn't get my camera to take a good picture. This doesn't do it justic.
You can barely see the castle in the background. Everytime we now watch a Disney movie, they show this castle and Reesa yells, "we went there, we went there." It was really cute one day I heard her say, "Jansen you went there." What a fun big sister.

Yes, we're bad parents. After both kids fell asleep sitting up, Reesa was sitting up asleep in the seat behind Jansen too! It was only 6:30 at night, and we hadn't taken the kids on all the rides we wanted them to go on! After this we decided it was time to go home. Boo-hoo.

This is my proudest project Jake and I completed. We had bumpers around the fireplace, which became the first thing Jansen took off the minute he came in this room. So we copied the Brinton's and built our own safety bench. I wish I had a closer picture, but it's 4 sides of wood, covered with foam, and then fabric stapled on top. It's so comfy to sit on and looks VERY professional.
Jansen destroying my computer. Chelsey found him and said I had to get a picture. I didn't think it was as funny as she did. He does this daily, until Jake put a chain lock on the door!

He knows he's naughty!

Julie and her family drove down from Pittsburgh to spend Thanksgiving with us. She is the BEST cook and we loved having her! She brought tons of great recipes and COOKED everything. We felt so spoiled.

I think we made 6 pies that morning (a Lenora Geyer tradition), and we had lots of helpers as you can see.
Chocolate coconut pecan pie! It was a hit!

Happy Birthday to me! I turned 31 and Jake gave me a AWESOME Belgian waffle maker. I have a big smile, but I was SO SICK this day. Jake made us dinner, and he's been true to his word and we get homemade waffles once a week! The gift that keeps on giving... yum.

Wagon ride in our back yard. This gives you the perfect idea of Reesa when she's happy.

I had to add Washington's Momument

October: New York

Since my Paw-paw Whitney is a WWII veteran, the Louisiana government flew all the veterans to DC to see their memorial. Most of the Veterans had not seen their memorial, so it was a very nice gesture. Only being an hour and a half away, I took the trip to DC and camped out at the memorial to see my paw-paw, I wasn't about to miss this oppertunity!

FYI: Colin Powell (seen in my picture right behind the guy in a wheelchair wearing a red jacket, NEXT to my paw-paw) was walking through the crowd and Jansen started running right for the water fountains. Powell picked up Jansen while several photographers snapped shots of him rescuing Jansen from his fateful death. He held Jansen who of course hammed it up! I would have taken a picture too if I wasn't so worried about my child falling in the water, (yeah right, like I even knew who the guy was at the time!) I never checked to see if the picture printed in the paper or not.
It was the day after Halloween, and YES this is the only thing I could get Reesa to wear. So embarrassing, right?

Here's Jansen and the beautiful memorial.

"Not another picture!"

It was so fun to see my Grandpa, and have him meet my little boy, Jansen for the first time! Thanks Aunt Alicia for making it all happen!

In October, Jake had to take a class in New York, we thought it would be fun to make a little road trip out of it. We went up a day early to see all the sights. Here's Reesa striking a pose before we left the hotel room.

Jake and Jansen at the top of the Empire State building. It was FREEZING, we didn't stay long. However, because it was so cold there was no line for any of the elevators.

Me and Reesa

Our little family. We bought the one they take of you (sorry, too lazy to scan it) because I was too cold to try again for a better picture...

Happy Halloween! Why won't this picture turn? Jake went all out with the fake leather costume and wig. He wore it to work in the WHOLE day. He didn't get home til 7:30, so I took the kids around our circle and when Jake got here we did a few more. It was really fun only have to go to 10 houses and be DONE!