Turning 4

Wow, how has it been since August that I made a post? I feel like such a bad mama for neglecting the girls blog for such long periods of time. I was lying in bed last night thinking that I miss blogging about the girls and telling their story. How precious will it be when they are older and can come back here and read all about how they grew up. Blogs are the new age baby books. To be honest, I never filled a "real hard cover" baby book. This blog is their complete journey into the world. The first few years were great and I plan to get more active wi the the updates.

So on to the real post. Addy and Riley are now 4 years old!!! Wow, how did that happen. I was visiting my dad where we sat and watched the girls coming home videos from when they were released from the NICU. That seems like yesterday and an enternity ago all at the same time. These little girls are turning into little ladies and they make me laugh, smile, frustrated, and happy all at the same time. I couldn't ask for two better girls that were meant to be my daughters.

Here they were when I got the first look at my sweet girls

Addy:

Riley:

 

Together for the first time:

 Now, they are pre-schoolers. They are tall like their daddy and beautiful like their mommy (I am not biased at all)

 

 With their friend Georgia from school:

 Opening Presents:

They had lots of family and friends attend their party at the park. Aunt Sara made their amazing cakes. We enjoyed another great birthday. Now all I ask is that time slows down a little bit from here on out.

Starting Preschool

Wow, it has been a long time since I posted. I tell myself all the time to get on here and post but Facebook makes it so easy to upload photos and keep the family in the loop. I had to tell myself that this is the girls baby book so I need to update the blog more so they can go back read about their lives rather than just see pictures on Facebook. With that said, I hope to be more active on here.

The girls and I moved in with my parents to be closer to their preschool. Spending 30 minutes in a car each way to school did not seem like a good idea so we are going to live with my parents for a few months and see where things go.

The girls were set to start preschool on Monday. Prior to this, Addy has been very sick. She started running a fever on Tuesday and then started having more of her SVT heart episodes over the weekend. Needless to say, she did not get to go to school on Monday. She still got up with Riley and they both got dressed and put on their backpacks for pictures but with Addy's temp still at 102, she could not join her sister.

Riley had a blast on her first day and did really well without her sister. Addie was sad she could not go to school with her sister and that broke my heart. She got extra special time with grandpa though while Riley was in class. Riley was very excited to go back to school on the 2nd day. She loves packing her snack and putting her lunch box in her "pack pack" as she calls it. I hope my girls always enjoy school.

Changes.....

Well I know it has been a very long time since I have updated the blog. Most people follow me on Facebook and have been able to keep up with us there but I just haven't had the time, energy, and heart to put a post together.

At the end of the summer I made the decision to end my marriage with Jesse. This was a decision that I had thought about for a very long time and I finally got the courage to start taking the steps. I have to say that Jesse really is a great guy, he is just not the right guy for me. We are both better off with different people that fit us better.

So in September I told Jesse the news and began making arrangements to move out. In November I moved out with the girls to a new house in Gilbert. We absolutely love the area and the girls have responded better than I expected. Jesse found a place in Tempe about 15 minutes away so the traveling back and forth is not too difficult.

We are now learning about what our new normal consists of and we have had a few bumps in the road and many modifications but things seem to be going smooth now. The girls see Jesse every Tuesday, every other Thursday, and every other weekend.

The divorce will be final on February 7th and I will be going back to my maiden name. 2011 was a year for changes but I see a bright future for 2012.

The girls had a fantastic Halloween. This is the first year they understood a little about what was going on. Addison was tickled to be Tinker Bell and we happened to find a costume of Tinker Bell's friend Meredith for Riley. They were both excited to be little fairy's. They loved getting dressed up in the dressed and getting their hair done. Can you say girly girls??? We went around to about 10 houses or so and that seemed to be enough for the girls. They said Trick or Treat a few times and said thank you almost every time. Addison got a little scared at one house when they opened the door and a friendly dog came out and knocked her over. That was pretty traumatic for her but she didn't get hurt. We had to carry her for a few houses after that. That poor girl is really scared of dogs as of late and that didn't help matters. I hope she gets better about that fear soon. The girls got to have a sucker out of their pumpkins when we got home and were such good girls. The very next day they asked to go back to "Halloween" again. I don't think they like having to wait a whole year to do it again.

Family Pictures

We had family pictures taken a couple of weeks ago. This was my birthday present and we had a fantastic photographer that works here at UOP do the session. Jessica Casper was amazing and did so well engaging the girls and taking the best candid photos. I was so happy to be out of a portrait studio and in the open where the girls could do their thing. Our last portrait sitting was basically a nightmare so this worked so much better. I think we will use Jessica from now on. Here are my favorites:

California Vacation 2011

This summer we did another family trip to California. We stay in Carlsbad for 3 days and then made our way up to Disneyland for 5 days. The girls were so happy to go on their "big bye bye" as they called it. My dad prepped them with videos about the beach and visiting Disneyland and they were very excited. Riley was very impressed with the beach and keeps asking us to go back to the beach just about every day.

We had a nice time in the Carlsbad area and picked the perfect beach day. We got to eat fish and chips in the harbor and show the girls some of our family traditions. We then headed up to Disneyland for 5 days at the happiest place on earth. This was the girls' 3rd trip to Disneyland and this time they understood where they were. They had a blast visiting Mikey and Minnie's house and riding all the rides. Addison loved the play park in California Adventure and Riley loved hugging all the characters.

Papa planned a character breakfast with Goofy and the girls were excited to see the characters while they sampled all the great food.

The trip was amazing and the girls have many memories to look back on!