A beautiful sky

Just wanted to share with you the sky that I saw this morning on my run. I discovered today that running to me is just relaxing and putting one foot in front of the other and enjoying God's work. It was a beautiful run and a beautiful day to be alive. God is so good!:)




Hope everyone had a great Monday!

This little piggy...

Reesie's first piggies! Her hair is finally long enough for pigtails! Mama is so proud:)

She sat so still on my lap and let me brush her hair and put it up. Lucy even got in on the hair doing action!

Happy Thursday!

First Day of School

We, uh, I mean I, officially survived the first day of school! Woohoo! Rylee was so excited and was ready to go. Lee and I (and Reesie, too) parked and walked him up to the building. When we finally reached the doors after several pictures he told us that he we didn't need to walk him in, he was okay by himself. Yeah right. Like that was gonna happen. My baby, first day? Um...no. He remembered where his classroom was and when he walked into the room, (after more pictures), he proudly announced "Good morning, Ms. Leake!". After hanging his book bag and giving daddy a quick hug, he took a coloring page and sat down in his seat and began talking and coloring with the little boy next to him. He was ready. He was such a big kid. Wow.

So, his first day was great. His favorite part was lunch (they had pizza) and recess ("We went outside two times!") and they got to visit the library and do a spy mission. And you all will be proud to know that the only time I got weepy was when I was waiting to pick him up in the carpool line and it all hit me. Good timing, though because who wants to look over and see a blubbering idiot in the carpool line. Haha. Oh, who am I kidding? The day isn't over yet.

August 10, 2004

Tuesday August 10, 2004, God blessed us with the sweetest and most compassionate little boy. I had been in labor for 20+ hours and finally at 5:41 p.m., Rylee made his appearance. He weighed in at a whopping 8.4 and was 20 inches long. The moment that I held him, I knew that my life would forever be changed. We both did. I know that a lot of people say that they can't remember their lives without children, but I can tell you that since the birth of our beautiful son, I am forever changed. I don't remember what it was like before him and I don't even care. All I know is that these two children have made me the happiest I have ever been. (Yes, yes I am such a sap!) Every day is not rainbows and butterflies and trust me, I do get frustrated, but it's all worth it. God is so good!

So, fast forward six years and here we are, with a young man, on the verge of his first day of Kindergarten. This year we let him choose what he wanted to do for his birthday and he decided he wanted to have Wendy's for lunch and go to Bonkers with his cousin and have fun. So, that's what we did. Here are some pictures of the kids from their afternoon fun.





So, tomorrow is the big day! Rylee starts kindergarten. And for those who know me, it is going to be a bittersweet day for me. I am so excited that we have reached this point and he is sooo ready, but at the same time it's a little sad to send my baby off on a new adventure. I know deep down in my heart that he will do amazingly well, so I have no worry there. So, in the spirit of the last day of summer, I leave you with a picture of the kids on their first SnoBiz of the year.


Happy last day of summer!:)

My baby is 6?!

Well, he isn't a baby anymore! I can't believe that my little boy is six years old. Since his birthday fell on Tuesday this year, we decided to have his party on Sunday. He is in love with Super Mario Brothers, so I decided to have craft time and draw and color some of the main characters to put up at the party. He had no idea that we were even having a party, so he was very surprised!



(Isn't this cake fabulous?)

We are so blessed to have such great friends and family who helped make the party a hit. It is so fun to watch him at this age, because everything he opens is "just what I have been wanting"! He got all kinds of things and was filled with excitement!

Shorts from Aunt Amy and Uncle Ricky

Cool Nerf Gun

All of the kids...Not sure what Reese is doing! LOL

Connect Four

With Cousin Jordan

I want to thank all who came and especially want to thank my friend Lyndsey for taking all of these wonderful pictures. The iPhone wasn't gonna cut it that day:)

Boys will be boys!

Reese and her new friend Katherine

The birthday boy and mama

Our latest family picture

Hope you all had a great week and a good Friday the 13th! Suprisingly enough (considering how neurotic I am) I have never disliked Friday the 13th. It's just another day and I don't mind the number 13. :)
I will post more this weekend about what we did on Ry's actual birthday and the getting ready for school next week!

Officer of the Year! and a Happy Birthday!

Here is it! He is officially famous now...lol! Just kidding:)
Click here to check out the article in the Sunday edition of the News Tribune. I couldn't be more proud of him! And to top off of the excitement, today is his birthday. I am so very thankful to have Lee in my life. He is an amazing father to our kids and an incredible husband and best friend to me. God has truly blessed me. It is so crazy to think that this is our tenth year together. Here's to many more with the man I love!


photo by the newstribune

Something on my mind...

So, I know that I just posted today already, but I have to post about this family. They had a tragic accident a couple of weeks ago and I felt the need to help.
You can go to their blog, patrickandashley.blogspot.com, to read all about their story and there is a donation button to click to help. This story has really effected my heart and has made me thank God for the gifts He has brought into my life. I am so blessed and the love, hope and faithfulness of this family has made me want to not only be a better person, friend, wife and mother, but also a better follwer in our God. Please click to help. I can't imagine going through this and admire the strength that God has given to them
Preslee's Song

Well....took me a while, huh?

Yeah I know...I have a lot of catching up to do. I am a total slacker! This past 8(wow) months have gone by so super fast! We has a fabulous Christmas with our families and Reese really enjoyed her first! By the way, this picture was taken right when she got up one morning, so she doesn't look too happy at the moment! Ha!

The new year brought in some cold weather and a ton of ear infections with it. Our beautiful niece, Ashley got married to a wonderful man (Alex)in January. The wedding was beautiful and it's hard to believe that she is a grown up!


By the end of February, everyone around here was ready for spring! It finally came and in April, we celebrated! It was so much fun and it still is hard to believe that my baby girl turned ONE! We did a "Reesie in ONE-derland" theme and my cousin Anna made these beautiful cupcakes! Her website is pinkcupcakescolumbia.com.






May brought in some beautiful weather and also my big 3-OH MY! Yeah, I know it's hard to believe that I am 30. They say that you are only as old as you feel and if that's the case, I am still a teenager;) I'm just a big kid at heart! My wonderful and amazing husband made my birthday so very special! He first took me to get the tattoo that I have been wanting for forever! It is a sparrow with my kid's initials and star bursts around it. The sparrow symbolizes a new journey in life and always knowing your way home. The initials are obvious, but I wanted them on my foot because my kids keep me grounded. There is also a blue horseshoe for my loving husband, a green star for my bright boy Rylee and a pink wishbone for my Reesie girl because she has a wishbone birthmark. They are all symbols of luck, which is how I feel every day! God is so good!

Then we went out with some friends to dinner and to the Penguin, which is my favorite piano bar in Columbia! I am so thankful to have such great friends and we had a great time! Here are a few pictures that we snapped.





So, my big surprise for my birthday this year was tickets to Cirque Du Soliel's Alegria. Lee got me 3rd row seats and it was incredible! We went up a little early and walked around the SLU campus and it was beautiful. (The show was at their basketball arena.) They had some amazing gardens and the weather was just perfect. Since their mascot is the biliken, I had to get a picture of me rubbing it's belly. It is said to bring you good luck:)




In the middle of May, two of my niece's friends and I threw her a baby shower! (Yes, that makes me a great-aunt! Now I feel old...ha!) I made all of the decorations and I thought that they turned out fabulous! I wanted to make everything so she didn't have to throw anything away. I also broke my camera that day:( I am on the "prowl" for a new one right now. So, every picture taken these past couple of months have been on the iPhone!






June brought summer heat and fun in the sun. We had an amazing father's day and are incredibly blessed and fortunate to have Lee in our lives! He is an incredible father, husband and best friend! He has been busy working his little heinie off this summer for his school, conference and other things with work and it has paid off! He won the Missouri School Resource Officer of the year! The news tribune interviewed him yesterday, so as soon as the article comes out, I will post it!


July was hot! We had an awesome fourth uptown with Lee's mom. We walked around and ate funnel cake and corn dogs! We were too tired to wait up for the fireworks, so we bought some fountains, tanks, poppers and snakes and set them off. I am pretty sure that we were asleep by 10! Haha!



Also, my mom finally finished Reese's painting for her room! It turned out fantastic and am so proud to show you all!


And then the end of July brought wonderful news to our family. On July 28, our great-niece Addison Marie was born! After 33 hours in labor (poor Ashley!), she finally came into this world. There were some complications at first and she had to stay in the NICU for an extra day, but everything is fine now and she is beautiful! We are so excited for both Ashley and Alex and so thankful to God that all is well!


So, now we are to August! And this month is full of birthdays! My father-in-law is 60 on the 5th, my husband is 34 on the 9th and my baby boy is 6 (YES, 6!) on the 10th! I can not believe that! And to top it off, he starts kindergarten exactly one week later! For those that know me...yes, I will be bawling my eyes out!

So, I think that I am caught up now. Here are some current pictures of these crazy kids I love! I am going to try again to be better about blogging! Thanks for listening:)