Three...What?!

My dear sweet Mya Jae,

You have just turned three and I don't know if I could love you any more than I do right now. You are sweet, funny, caring, and so smart. I can't believe it's been three years since you've come into our lives.
At one, you were the silliest baby I'd ever seen. You were giggly and wiggly and all things precious. You were interested in everything musical and playing with mommy and daddy.
At two, you started really talking and forming sentences, which was so fun to watch. You loved playing with balls, counting, playing hide and seek, and swinging outside.
Now you're three, and you come up with the funniest things to do, like having daddy jump over you while you run around the table listening to music. You love to play silly games with daddy.

You had your third birthday party at Grandma and Papa T's house and you had a blast. You got new slippers and all sorts of other fun things. You were such a sweet girl and never once let all the attention get to your head.
You had a minnie and mickey cake, which is your favorite these days. And you sat so still while we sang happy birthday. You even did a great job blowing out your candles!

We went and made gingerbread houses in the morning of your birthday party and we had so much fun together. You loved eating the candy too. And you love to make silly faces right now, which I have to say is super cute!
Mya Jae, you are the prettiest, sweetest, smartest, most amazing little girl I've ever known. You are my world. You are growing up too too fast, but as you grow, you just amaze me even more, so I guess it's ok. We love you sweet baby! Happy third birthday!

To my sweet baby boy

Reggie Russell, a year ago, you were placed in my arms and you have been rocking my world ever since. You were the most mild of babies, especially compared to your sister. (We love you Mya Jae!)
And you hardly ever cried, unless you were hungry or tired.
You have been adored by everyone, especially your big sister. She thinks you are the awesomest of little brothers and she is right.
You weren't the best sleeper until you were 6 months old, but then you figured it out, and have been sleeping like an angel since then.
You filled out nicely from the very beginning and those beautiful squishy cheeks melt my heart every day.
You eat like a champ and aren't picky about anything that's placed in front of you.

You have been very busy in the last year. You started crawling at 6 months and walking at 10 1/2, although you didn't really start cruising until just a couple of weeks before your birthday. Either way, this mama has had a hard time keeping up with you!

As I mentioned before, your big sissy just loves you. She is your super fan. You have no idea how lucky you are to have such a fantastic big sister.
You have loved your bottle for the last 5 months and I thought we'd never be able to get you to give it up, but in the last month, we've convinced you to give up all but one, which is in the morning. That's pretty good to me.
Reggie, overall, you are the smiliest, happiest baby I have ever met. You love life and life certainly loves you.
You celebrated your first birthday with all your friends and family and you were the star of the show. Needless to say, you loved every minute of it!

You have a sweet tooth like mommy and loved your yummy cake, but you didn't dig into it, like I was hoping. You were very polite but thoroughly enjoyed it. My dear son, you are a light in my world. You are all things sweet. Sweet face, sweet smile, sweet personality, and sweet laugh.
Now that you're a year old, you're starting to look and act like a big boy, but you will always be my baby. You're my love. This family would not be complete without you.

We love you Reggie!

Oh my kiddos

The kids have been driving Dan and I crazy lately. Period. But... they are still absolutely adorable and sometimes, just sometimes, when you want to cry because they are so frustrating, they do something so adorable, you just can't help but laugh. Here are a few photos of my crazy frustratingly adorable children. We tried to do a little photo shoot with Reggie so we could include pictures with his first birthday invitations. And this little monkey does not sit still so this is about what every picture looked like. But still cute, right?
And mister Reg loves to put his head on the floor and stand like this. So silly.
And missy moo Mya is definitely my silly sweet girl who is really into making funny faces right now.
And bonus, she has just started really doing sweet smiles for the camera... it only took almost three years!
And last, this is our new development: Mya rides her tricycle and Reggie sits on the back where the storage is. He holds on tight and she can't pedal very fast due to the extra weight, so it works out perfectly. It's really cute. And I love how they like to play together right now.

So that's all for now.

Life

I've been absent for a little while because life got in the way. I'm not sure who all reads this thing anymore but for those of you who do, here's a little photo update on the Barnes family. Things have been... well, I don't really know how things have been lately... difficult, wonderful, stressful, lovely... a little bit of everything all rolled into one.
"I lift up my eyes to the hills-where does my help come from?" Psalm 121:1
"The Lord is my light and my salvation-whom shall I fear?" Psalm 27:1
"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. " Romans 12:9,10
"My feet stand on level ground; in the great assembly I will praise the Lord." Psalm 26:12
"Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children are a reward from Him." Psalm 127:3

Random Picture Time

We've been fairly busy lately, so here are my favorite pics from the last few weeks!Now that Mya has learned to take pictures, maybe you'll see more of me and Dan together. She took this all by herself!
Gotta love Daddy-Daughter kisses!
Doesn't she look so sweet and innocent? Don't be fooled!
Here's my little man waiting for the fourth of July parade to start! He had no idea what was going on but he didn't seem to mind it. I was just glad he didn't get pelted with candy!
Such a pretty girl!
Reggie's new favorite thing is to go down the slide. He gets so excited and waves his hands in the air as we say, "So big!" He is my big boy.
My sweet girl waiting for the parade to start. She was so precious and had such a great time. She loved picking up the candy and she loved eating it even more!
Papa J and Mima came for a visit for the fourth of July and the kids loved it... and so did we! We had a blast doing a few fireworks, playing, dancing, etc.
Mya really liked the sparklers. Mommy wasn't crazy about her holding them, but daddy didn't let go the whole time.
Mommy and Mya... love this girl!

And last but not least, a cute pic of Papa J and Reggie hanging out. Love you both!

ETA: Reggie had hit his head the week before most of these pictures were taken which is why he has a big bruise on his forehead. It lasted forever, but I'm glad to say it has finally healed up!

Summer Sun

We have been loving the summer sun lately. I just love hot weather and my kids do too, thank goodness! Mya has been practicing her photography skills lately. She took this picture of me and Reggie. Not bad, huh?
Then I took this one of her. She looks like such a little model. Dan didn't like this one at all because she looked way too grown up.
We went and saw my parents not too long ago and got to do some playing at the park. Mya just loves the slides right now. But we also got to see horses at the park and oh my gosh, she thought that was so cool. I think she's going to be an animal lover like her mommy.
Here's my little dude just hanging out. He's such a happy boy.
And another good one of my handsome man. He just knows how to make my heart melt.

Summer + Two Beautiful Babies = Love Love Love.

Just a little update

My kids have been exhausting me lately. Mostly because Reggie is crawling everywhere and Mya is... well, two. But I try to focus on the positives in life and here are just a few.
Mya has been trying to draw faces lately and this one is supposed to be mommy. I kinda look like an expressionless robot, but still, pretty good for two years old.
Reggie is my moving machine. Not only is he crawling everywhere, but he thinks he's big enough to pull himself up on stuff too. Not happy about that, but I guess I can't stop him.
My kids love each other, for now. I'm going to enjoy it as long as it lasts. Because I know there will be a day when they don't like each other so much. But for now, they are clearly best friends.
Mya loves to show Reggie how to play. She is such a good big sister and loves to show him how she likes to play. I have a feeling it's going to get them both into trouble in the future.
This is my favorite picture lately. When it was super hot out a few weeks ago, we put some water in a plastic tote (I know, we need a pool) and let the kids play. They both loved it. I can't wait until it warms up again so we can go swimming. Yay for summer!