Jadeyn's first birthday!

For Jadeyn's birthday party, we invited family and a few close friends to a nearby park where we served lunch and had cupcakes to celebrate Jadeyn's first year of life. It was a lot of fun and she was AWESOME at eating the cupcake! She received many gifts and did a good job pulling the tissue out of each bag. Probably typical, but was more excited about tearing the paper than seeing what the actual gift was. That changed once we got home and got to open up the presents and put them together. Although the party was at the end of April, it was SO COLD! So we sorta rushed through the whole party, afraid of the rain, and then family gathered back at our house and celebrated some more. For Jadeyn's big gift, us and both sets of families chipped in and we basically "redid" our backyard into a toddler wonderland. Ha! We bought a playhouse, water table, sandbox, slide and swing. She had lots of fun over the last year playing with all her new toys outside.

Check out the cupcake progression...

daddy made her a special birthday breakfast

first time forward-facing! car rides are SO much easier now!

Happy Birthday Jadeyn! We love you more than we ever thought possible!

Part II

Remembering Aug-Dec

August - We found out this month if we were having a girl or boy. We decided it would be fun to have a cupcake reveal with our closest friends and family. It was a lot of fun! I had my friend, Elizabeth, at cuppies and joe, put in PINK icing in the cupcakes and then we had everyone bite into their dessert at the same time. The majority of everyone thought we were having a boy, so it was fun to see the surprise on lots of the faces. We also had our annual float trip with the college group. Jadeyn spent the weekend with her grandma and papa quinn.

September - School starts! Jadeyn moved up to the toddler class and has some amazing teachers! She is loving school and has learned (for the most part!) her colors and shapes. She loves going to music class and singing "wheels on the bus". She also loves to paint. Thank goodness for washable paint! Jimmy and I took a weekend off and went to a lakehouse of some church friends. We had so much fun! We rented a boat and did some water skiing/tubing. Well, I didn't. I enjoyed sunbathing in the boat!

October - Jadeyn and Logan spent their Halloween night together and had a blast! Jadeyn was a puppy dog and Logan was a monkey. They were so cute walking around the Reininger's neighborhood. Jadeyn tried to walk right in to some homes, especially if they had pets. We are still eating through her candy! We also celebrated my Nee-Nee's 80th birthday! We had a big hoorah in Sand Springs with lots of extended family. Jadeyn played well with her 'distant' cousin, Hannah. They are 3 months apart and had fun chasing each other the gym.

November - I started watching a newborn baby this month. Her name is Patterson and she is a sweet baby! It has been a good test for Jadeyn, learning to share her mom with someone else. Hoping it prepares her for her new sister. She loves pushing Patterson in her swing and always trying to give her milk or a pacifier. She (J) is such a good mommy! We also had a good Thanksgiving with lots of families! Jimmy and I ventured out on Thanksgiving night and stood in a super long line outside of Toys R Us, trying to get Jadeyn her big present - a play kitchen - for christmas. I just knew we weren't going to get it, but we did! I was so excited to get it for her! I also picked up my christmas present, early. I had really been wanting a DSLR, so my parents and Jimmy's parents chipped in and helped me buy it. I had so much over Thanksgiving break getting familiar with it.

December - What a fun month we had! Other than me being cranky and not feeling super well and tired a lot...We had lots of christmas parties, performances and presents. Pictures to come!

Month by Month

Since my last post was my time in New York last February, I figure I better do some quick updating from March-January! Let's see if I remember...

March - We went to Tempe, AZ for a spring break mission trip with our college students. Jadeyn went with us! We had a great time, my parents went as the cooks and also watched J if I wanted to get out and do some ministry with the students. She started walking better in March and officially got off the bottle at the end of the month. It was a quick and simple process. The girl is great at transitioning!

April - I actually don't remember when Easter was this year...but I know it was sometime around now. She had her first easter egg hunt at CLC/school. Her and Logan are friends at school and they had fun walking around together, hunting eggs. She caught on pretty quick and grabbed a few out on the lawn at church. We also invited family over one night before Easter and hunted eggs in our backyard. She was definitely a pro that time around. We went "easter egg hunting" a number of times in April. She loved carrying her basket.

She also celebrated her first birthday! A whole post/pictures will be devoted to her birthday party.

May - Our main thing in May was vacationing in Hawaii! We had an awesome time. A future post for this one too : ) We also found out we were pregnant this month. We kept it quiet until we got back from vacation and then told family by letting Jadeyn "announce" it with an "I'm going to be a big sister t-shirt/written note".

June - I tried out 'house cleaning' for awhile. Not my strong suit. In fact, I got hired and fired with 2 different jobs. It was my first "firing" experience. What can I say. I make a better wife/mom than an employee! We did however see the need for some extra money, so I agreed to start watching a new little baby in our house, starting in Oct.

July - Jadeyn met her first cousin! Abel Ross Baker was born July 8 in Tahlequah. We are in love! Jadeyn calls him "Babel" and asks about him constantly. She does like the reassurance that she is #1 in our books though. She saw her 2nd batch of fireworks and stayed awake for them! She was exhausted when it was time to go home.

Next 5 months, next post!

We're Baaack!!!!!

Quite a lot has been happening the last 10 mos, since taking a "much longer than I intended" hiatus from blogging. I kick myself for not returning earlier. The whole point in starting to blog was to preserve memories as we raise Jadeyn and future kids. Sooo. Get ready friends, I'll be updating the last year for awhile, while also trying to update about our new life. That's right! We have another baby!

Presenting:

Miss Brynlee Kate

Born 1/11/11

8:00 a.m.

6lb.15oz.

20 1/2 in

She's beautiful!!! Here's a peek!

Stay tuned...We have pictures to share from Jadeyn's first birthday, vacation to Hawaii, Halloween, Holidays, and whatever else comes to mind as I reminisce over the last year!

New York City!

So...My dad took me to NYC last month for my birthday. We had so much fun! Below is a recap of pictures of most everything we did. I love New York!


our first night, checking out the lights in time square


in central park with the plaza hotel in the background

skiers? in central park?

it snowed over a foot on Wednesday. Everyone was off work/school that day! Our snowman was one of probably 1,000.

yummy frozen hot chocolate at serendipity's

just one small section of the most beautiful ladies bathroom (in the lobby at the waldorf astoria)

my waldorf salad, delicious, but expensive $16!

if i could have gone to this show, i would have gotten a pearl necklace and a year supply of chocolates. bummer.

on rock on the top overlooking central park

empire state building in the back

one of three lobbies at the waldorf. nicest hotel i've ever stayed in

new yankee stadium

old stadium

outside our hotel on park avenue

nyc fashion week, models were all over our hotel!

mary poppins was so fun and entertaining!

why we love our little valentine

10. her determination

9. her curiousity

8. how she loves to play peek a boo

7. her giggles

6. the way she gets so tickled when we chase her

5. her super cute pig tails

4. her love for pulling books off the shelf, closing my laptop and slamming kitchen cabinets

3. her beautiful blue eyes

2. how she always wakes up in the best mood and ready to play

1. the fact that she knows us, misses us and loves us

We love you, baby girl!

recent pictures

i'm a pretty good sippy cup drinker and finger feeder now

nothing can stop me from getting anywhere i want to go

i love watching the fire and playing with anything near it

taking my toys out of my toybox

crawling around...


standing all by myself...


and walking!