BALLOOOOOOOONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a fun weekend we had! We also made cookies and Jello Jigglers for Santa! She was really thrilled with her "Bambi's" (which are reindeer) and Snowmen. I can hardly wait for Christmas this weekend!!!

Wow, static cling anyone? haha!

She would grab a handful of balloons and throw them at us, to throw back at her! The laughing and giggling went on for HOURS because she was so amused with her new game!

Rayna found a package of balloons in the closet this weekend, and decided that Daddy needed to blow them ALL up for her to play with! She came up with the clever idea to put them in her bed, and to have Mommy and Daddy hit them at her (not hard, don't worry :))! It made Andy and I realize that we WAY over thought Christmas (AGAIN)! Who knew that a package of about 15 balloons could provide HOURS of entertainment this weekend? She just gets MORE and MORE fun with each day!

The Kid's Christmas and Santa Claus Came to Visit!!!

Rayna wasn't too thrilled to get close to Santa (as you can see), but of course Mommy wanted her picture, even if she wasn't smiling! I think they will make for funny memories to look back on. And don't worry, just as soon as she was able to get up and run back to her "safe" corner of the room, she was excited and thrilled to stare at Santa! hahaha!

And to the children's surprise - Santa Claus came and paid us a visit! The kids were interested, but from a distance! Santa came with Candy Canes for the kids, and those were a HUGE hit! Kaden even got to tell Santa what he wanted - a GUITAR!! It was so cute!

<~~~~~~~~~~And a new tea set!! We have had many fun nights having tea parties with Mommy, Daddy and our animals! She LOVES pretending right now!!

YEAH!!! A new toaster for her kitchen! Rayna is really into cooking, so she has really enjoyed playing with her toaster that "dings!"

We got together with the Delps and the Crums to celebrate Christmas with the kids. We made homemade pizzas and Jen made us some fabulous desserts!! YUMMM!! The kids really seemed to enjoy exchanging gifts and seeing what the other one got! Hard to imagine that next year we'll have two more children to celebrate with - Mya and Maycee - and we can't be more thrilled!!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas....

It's hard to believe that there are ONLY 20 more days until Christmas! It seems like were were just celebrating our October birthdays and even Thanksgiving! Where does the time go? Rayna is REALLY enjoying the season this year! Every morning the VERY first thing she wants to do is turn on the Christmas tree! She just can't get enough of the lights! We also have started a Christmas Countdown calendar, and every day we uncover a treat. IF it were up to Rayna - we'd have ALL the treats eaten by now! hahaha! Typical 2 year old! A milestone we've recently reached is that Rayna is in a "big girl" bed now (well, it's her crib, but converted into a toddler bed. I got her some new "grown-up" girl bedding, and she just LOVES IT! What is funny is that she does not think she can get out of it. So, if anything is dropped she instantly yells for Andy or I to come get it for her! I'm certainly not complaining about this because it helps me to sleep at night! Right now she is GAGA over Toy Story 3 - we can not get enough of Buzz, Woody or Jessie! She has certain parts of the movie memorized, which is so funny to watch her act them out! She still doesn't seem to understand that she's going to a Big Sister, but she has recently started to go to the fridge and point to the ultrasound picture and say "BABY". I'm not quite sure if she knows that is her baby brother or sister though :). It will be fun to see how she reacts in April when the baby arrives! Hard to believe that I am 22 weeks along, and only 18 more to go! Time sure does seem to be flying this pregnancy! I hope that everyone's Christmas season is going well - we can not wait to celebrate!! :)

Every year we pick out an ornament for Rayna. This year I found this neat one, which also lights up! She is always wanting to have the lights on! Hopefully someday she wille enjoy these ornaments on her tree :)

I think she looks like she is doing her Vanna White impression here! Look at my TREEEEE!!!

Everyone has to be a little silly sometimes :)

Rayna was in a VERY good mood anyway the morning I took this picture, but she knew that a trip to Chuck E Cheese was at stake, so she HAPPILY smiled at the camera for that! hahaha!

Say TREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!!!

I envisioned the tune of "Follow the Yellow Brick Road...Follow the Yellow Brick Road" to this picture ~~~>

Rayna strolled up to her first house to "treat" and looked like a pro with Auntie!! She really seemed to enjoy herself as the evening went on! She did have a hard time understanding that just because people opened their doors did not mean that they wanted you to run into their house! hahaha!

We wanted to snap a picture with all of (including Baby Werner) but Rayna was less than thrilled! hahaha!

Rayna went as Dorothy this year for Halloween! She was the CUTEST blond haired Dorothy I had EVER seen! Don't you agree?

We got a Jack o Lantern Pizza from Papa Murphy's before we went out trick or treating. It was yummy and Rayna was amazed there was a "punkin" on her pizza! hahaha!

Rayna handed out candy for the first time this year at Grandma Long's house. She REALLY enjoyed it! I assumed that all the costumes might scare her, but to my surprise she was not scared (until Mario came charging up the walkway)! hahaha!

Grandpa Long made Rayna her annual pumpkin. He sure did an AWESOME job at DORA! Andy and I attempted to make Rayna a cat - our cat turned out just a touch scary, but Rayna still said "cat" "cat" everytime she saw it, so at least it was somewhat recognizeable! hahaha! Also, everytime that Rayna saw her Dora pumpkin she said, "Di-Di; Paw-Paw". She was a BIG fan of her Pawpaw's pumpkin!

It's FALL FUN TIME!!

A stroll down memory lane.....

Pumpkins 2009

Rayna's first trip to the pumpkin patch -- Fall 2008. My oh my you can really tell how much she has changed!! She's not as tiny as she once was!!

Rayna loves to play in the leaves! And she is a huge helping in raking!

CHEESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kent's Pumpkin Patch 2010

WHOA mommy! There are a LOT of pumpkins!

Rayna and Daddy searching for their perfect pumpkins! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>

The pumpkin men were sure neat!

Rayna's first Tootsie Pop!! YUMMMY!

A Day of Fun at Indiana Beach!!!

Grandpa Long took us to Indiana Beach for the day! It was such a nice day, and we had a great time!!! Rayna was hesitant to ride any of the rides this year, but I am sure next year and the year after will be completely different! It was so fun to watch her have a good time taking it all in though! And Grandpa actually convinced her to ride the Merry Go Round! To end the day on a high note - Grandpa bought her three trys at the fishing game, and she HIT the jackpot (as you can see)! What a fun, fun day, and a great way to end the weekend and start the coming week! THANKS AGAIN GRANDPA!!

Rayna's prized fish and dolphin!!! What more could a little girl ask for??

The highlight of the day was Rayna's fishing skills!! Maybe fishing is her calling?? We walked away with a stuffed banana, dolphin and fish! Each one was bigger than the other!! Talk about hitting the jackpot!!!

Rayna Lynn, Grandpa and Daddy all rode the Merry Go Round while Mommy tried to get some good pictures! Rayna was hesitant to get on it, but after a few spins she realized - maybe this isn't that bad!! Next year maybe we'll try and ride in on one of the horses!!