Baby Brynn Irene Rubly is Here!!!

One of my best friends from college, Casey Rubly, had her baby today. Casey and Trevor waited a long time for this little girl to be born. They had artificial insemination and other things done over the last couple of years and finally invitro worked and they had twins and then lost one of their babies. Casey has been in out and of the hospital the last couple weeks and then was put on bed rest. Brynn was 2 weeks early. She was born at 3:37 and was 6 lbs 8z. and 19 inches long. Brynn is truly a miracle and a blessing. She looks just like her daddy. I just love all of her hair. We are so happy for you Casey and Trevor. We can't wait to come and see her soon! A trip to Oklahoma is definitely in the works. LOVE YOU GUYS!

Alivia's New Horse...

Aliva got this new horse for her birthday and she LOVES it. Ben had one when he was growing up and even showed us a picture of him when he was 2 on his horse. LOVE IT! She can get up all by herself and says,"I do it, MOMMY!". It is like she is a natural horse backrider. It is too funny! She says giddy-up the entire time she is riding. I am not sure where she learned that but it is hilarious! Here is our little rider!

Climbing up...

Foot in stirup...

Kicking her leg over....

and she is up and oh so proud!!

Ok, I just had to take a picture of the picture Ben showed us. His cousin Jake is on the left and Ben is on the right. Isn't this adorable of them on their horse?? I think Ben and Alivia look alike in the face in this pic.

LOVES her new Toys...

Ever since we got up this morning Alivia has been having a blast in her play room with her new toys. We decided to stay home from church so she could play with her toys and we could relax a bit. She definitely was super spoiled and Ben and I spent some time rearranging toys in the play room and took the ball pit and tunnel from her tent downstairs and put her new horse where that used to be. Hopefully when our basement gets finished (it is framed!) we can get some of the bigger toys back out but we are running out of space. Thanks again everyone for all the wonderful new toys! :)

I thought this was such a good puzzle....Alivia LOVED it and it was great practice for letter recognition. It is 10 feet long!

Here is the box if you are interested. Melissa and Doug is so awesome!

The coolest sandwich maker ever! Made by Melissa and Doug puzzles

Getting a t-ball lesson from Daddy. Ben put boots and a hat on her for the lesson! ha!

Concentrating...

She hit it!

Golf lesson from Daddy....

So fun!!

Sandwich making set...so cute! The pieces velcro together!
Loves her dress-up clothes!

New doll house...

Her baby doll going potty on her new potty chair!

LOVES her blender, mixer and coffee maker!

Alivia's 2nd Birthday....

We had a wonderful birthday party celebration with both sides of our families and the entire Hunt family. The Hunt family is like our second family so we LOVE seeing all of the kids together. Thanks everyone for making Alivia's birthday so special. We love you all very much!

The set-up for the kids..

Alivia and Matthew...

The amazing cake our neighbor made!! She is awesome!

The kids making their smiley face pancakes...

Alivia and Alex....

The kids playing ring around the rosie...

Our family...

New clothes and a potty chair for her American Girl doll...

Doll house...

LOVES the dress-up clothes...

Golf and T-ball set!

Sunglass time...

Her new horse! She loves that it is in her play room!

Tricycle...Big girl!

The spread...

Grandma and Papa Richeson

Grandma and Papa Stewart

Grammy and Great Aunt Mable

Alivia's god parents, Chad and Kristin

Cake time

Blowing with Daddy...

This picture absolutely cracks me up!! Alex has had a little crush on Alivia since she was about 4 months old. It is hilarious seeing them interact together. It may be love at first sight!

Preschools...

My mom went with Alivia and I this morning to look at some preschools. We went to Duncan Academy in my neighborhood and Montessori Children's house of Blue Springs. I had planned on going to 2 other preschools (We Care and Learning Ladder) but we ran out of time with Alivia's doctors appointment taking too long. Also, both of those preschools do not offer extended care until 5:00 or just have a 10:00-2:00 option so those may not work anyway. As some of you know I have been apprehensive about Montessori schools ever since I started my education degree. I have seen a few kiddos in my kindergarten classroom in the past few years who have come from Montessori schools and have trouble transitioning with structure and are lacking academic skills. Well, I have definitely changed my mind about this particular Montessori school. I had once observed a Montessori school when I was in college and it was very, very unstructured and mad chaos. This preschool was not like that at all!! I also didn't realize that they do have calendar and structured circle time where they are learning academic things. It was so adorable when we walked in and they were all sitting in a circle learning about the letter Cc in a book and then they were talking about continents...WOW! One of the kids said, "What country do we live in again and what is our state?" I was so impressed that these 2 and 3 year olds even knew to ask that question. I had also had a preconceived idea that they didn't have practice writing stories, numbers or letters but they have lots of exposure to that. Best of all was that the learning environment was so calm and collect and after their structured time they were in their learning centers and those were academic structured learning centers not just life skill centers. LOVE IT! I am so glad I went to experience this so I could see what it is all about. It is definitely different from Duncan Academy and I really like both preschools but I especially liked the calmness of the environment at Montessori. Totally not what I expected at all!!! I still have some time to think about it but what a great learning experience for my mom and I today! Aubrey and Cassie, thanks so much for telling me how wonderful that Montessori school is. We had a great time there! Alivia even got to play (learn) with Brielle (Cassie's daughter) for a little bit. What a great day!

Aliva's 2 Year Check-Up

So a few months ago I decided I was going to take a personal day today to take Alivia for her 2 year check-up and look at a few preschools for her to go 2 days a week next year. I felt bad leaving my kiddos at school since we had all the snow days this week but we already had this planned so I kept it the same. Alivia's check-up went great. She weighed 21 lbs 10 oz (3rd percentile) and 32 inches long (5th percentile). She actually grew 2 inches!! That is the most she has grown in a while!! I was happy to hear that Dr. Powell didn't push any weight gaining supplements on us, he just said she is going to be petite and has stayed this way ever since she was born. She did great with her shot too! We are so happy that Alivia is a happy and healthy little girl.

In her big girl gown waiting for Dr. Powell. Starting to remember that this is where she gets her shots. :(

Funny faces...

More funny faces....

"Ok, Mommy, am I going to get a shot?"

Playdough with Daddy...

The last couple of nights Ben and Alivia have been really into playdough and making lots of creations. Alivia's new creation that she likes Ben to make is a dog. Ben is a creative guy and liked designing things so I am pretty sure he enjoys it just as much as she does! He also left us a sweet note before he left for work on our snow day! LOVE these notes....

Daddy's dog creation!

LOOK MOMMY!

Daddy's note before he left for work!