Sisters - Reilly and Brooke

Edgewater HS Homecoming Parade

2011-10-30T13:25:00.000-07:00

Nope...we didn't go to High School there and we don't live by it. But we had friends going, and it sounded like a fun outing. And it was! The kids enjoyed watching the high school kids and getting candy, and the adults enjoyed a beverage and watching.

Halloween Games

2011-10-30T13:16:00.000-07:00

When I unpacked the Halloween decorations earlier this month, the girls found this witch hat toss game. They thought it was very funny to tie the hat to Brooke's head and toss the rings.

Catching Up on October

2011-10-30T13:13:00.000-07:00

We've had a very fun and busy month around the Harris house. I took the time today to download all the pictures from the month. A few weeks ago Reilly and Charlotte were supposed to go swim with the manatees, but it got rained out - so we had an early pumpkin carving party instead.

I'd Give My Kids the Shirt off my Back...

2011-10-26T18:24:00.000-07:00

...and I did!!

Brooke falls asleep easily when she has her blankie. She has always been that way. She often puts it over her face and when she does she is out in a couple minutes.

She also falls asleep easily in the car. Sometimes I have been out trying to get her to sleep and she fights it...so I find some kind of shirt and give it to her.

Well this weekend.....I cleaned the car.

Tonight I drove her home from a late dinner, hoping to get her to sleep...and she just kept fighting it. And...NOTHING in the car.

Luckily it was dark. Because I had to give her the shirt...off...my...back.

She fell asleep...I pulled in the driveway...and ran into the house before the neighbors could see.

The sacrifice of a mom.

Life's Lessons

2011-10-11T18:46:00.000-07:00

In the weeks and months following Brady's death, Mike and I had multiple conversations about what role Brady would play in the future of our family. That may sound odd, but as our firstborn, our life at that point was much different than we knew life would be down the road. We knew - even in the early moments following his death - that the right thing to do was to have him be part of our family.

Our biggest fear was that we would go on to have this family and that our future kids wouldn't know that Mike and I shared our heart with another child. One they never got to meet or play with. But the truth was, is, that we do share our heart. I love all three of my kids very much, even if Brady isn't with us. And for me to hide that from Reilly and Brooke would have been wrong. I wouldn't have been able to share all of myself with them, and they should know who I am, and why I do some things I do.

Fast forward....

Now that I'm living 7 years in the future, I can say we are exactly at that point where I'd imagine we would have been. We have two healthy and beautiful kids who are growing up more and more every day. They are inquisitive, they ask questions and they want answers. A couple years ago we started making Brady part of the regular conversation. Reilly doesn't remember a time when we didn't talk about Brady. He is her brother who died and she never got to meet. Thankfully, I think we have done a very good job. She happily asks about him, wants to see his picture, wants to understand what happened and thinks about him. As an example...the other day I was picking her up from school and we were riding along in the car talking about our family in California. She said to me, "Mom. I miss my family in California," and then she paused. "But Brady...he holds a special place in my heart."

Moments like that I am confident we made the right decision.

However....

Other moments I cringe. You see...the flip side is that people who we know today don't all know about Brady. We feel very comfortable talking about him, and are happy to do so if asked. But socially, we find it's not a good conversation starter to talk about him. So unless the conversation comes up, many people we know today - don't know. So one fear is that Reilly will be somewhere, like school, talking about her brother, and people will think she is nutty.

So last week we were at Synagogue for the Rosh Hashanah Family Service. We were in the Chapel, sitting with about...oh, I'm guessing....100, 150 people? The Rabbi was doing a great job getting the kids involved. He kept asking questions to prompt the kids and then he would let them answer using the microphone. He was asking things like, is G-d at your school, is G-d in your home...you know, standard thought provoking questions to get kids to think about religion. I kept trying to get Reilly to answer his questions, but she couldn't quite get up the courage.

That is until the Rabbi asked this question. "Have any of you had somebody you love die?"

Bless her heart...Reilly got up the courage. She was sitting on my lap and it happened in slow motion. Her arm jolted into the air, like she had just been asked if she wanted to go to Disneyworld and eat candy all day long! And as if it was scripted, the Rabbi was looking right at her and smiled. Immediately he started walking towards her with that microphone. I couldn't stop it....

The Rabbi said, "who did you lose?"

Reilly answered without hesitation and with a proud voice into that microphone, "My brother."

I'm pretty sure the Rabbi was expecting, my Grandma, my dog - you know, the ones you would expect. He seemed a little caught off guard, as did the other 149 people in the room. He asked her a couple follow-on questions and she answered proudly.

So I guess the moral of my post is that we did good. While at times it may make people uncomfortable...she knows her brother, she loves her brother, and his death is natural to her. She will never be caught off guard to hear the story. He is in her heart and lives on because our family loves him and thinks of him every day.

And as later this week is Infant and Pregnancy Loss Remembrance Day...we remember our angel, Brady through this funny story. And his cousin, our other angel - Alexis.

We've lost a 2nd tooth!

2011-10-02T03:55:00.000-07:00

Just days after losing her first tooth...Reilly has lost her second. I'm pretty sure this one was being held in by the other. Because as soon as the other one was lost, this quickly loosened up. And once again, Mommy came in and pulled it out very easily!I'm getting so good at pulling that I'm thinking about charging for my services! Anybody need a tooth pulled?

Ouch

2011-09-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

Poor Brookie had a bad fall in the parking lot at school, she hurt her chin. She cried and cried...and earned herself a yummy Starbucks!Would you believe that she fell again later in the night on the coffee table and hit the exact same spot?? Poor girl!

High Tech

2011-09-28T09:54:00.001-07:00

Me: I need to remember to ask your teacher to send that form home.Reilly: She has a phone...just text her!

Secret Agent Buzz

2011-09-26T16:41:00.000-07:00

Reilly said to me today..."Do you think Buzz is like Perry the Platypus?"Me: "What do you mean?"Reilly: "Do you think he is a secret agent and leaves the house?:HAHAHA

We still have the tooth!

2011-09-20T19:15:00.000-07:00

In case you were wondering...the tooth is still hanging on!

Reilly's First Loose Tooth

2011-09-17T08:55:00.000-07:00

Reilly's tooth has been loose for a couple of weeks. I don't remember teeth taking this long! But now it is REALLY loose.

Brookie Time

2011-08-29T19:40:00.001-07:00

Reilly has started Sunday school...which means on Sunday mornings we now get fun one on one time with Brooke. This week we took her to the Orlando Science Center with her buddy Toby! They had a great time exploring around.

Charlotte and Reilly

2011-08-26T17:18:00.000-07:00

Reilly is very excited to have her good friend Charlotte at her school. They aren't in the same class, but they are next door to each other. So often Reilly likes to stop to say hi to her after school. Here is a picture of them together in matching uniforms!

After School Adventures

2011-08-25T17:13:00.000-07:00

I've changed my schedule at work so I can pick up the kids in the afternoon. This means I leave the house before 6am...and then I pick the kids up at 3pm. Its great to be able to do this. But it does mean that I need to have some *skills* I haven't had in the past. Just how do you keep the kids busy without being cranky for several hours in the afternoon? And how do you keep mom from being cranky??

On the second day of school I discovered a very good way to meet those objectives. I stopped at Starbucks!! The girls got a nice treat and so did Mom :-)

First Day of School

2011-08-24T17:04:00.000-07:00

The kids started school last week. Reilly started Kindergarten and Brooke started Preschool. They have both been in school since they were babies, at the same place, so I was not intending for this to be that "Oh my gosh!" moment. But at back to school day, I found that it was one of those moments for me. I think it was a combination of the new school and the thought of Kindergarten, but I certainly had to catch myself so I wouldn't cry!!!

We are now a week in and both kids love school! They are still adjusting, but they love it. For Reilly the biggest adjustment comes from the fact that she is the only kid in her class that did not do Pre-K at that school last year. So there are a lot of existing friendships, which makes it hard. She had a GREAT group of friends for the past few years at her old school and she misses them a lot. Luckily she still sees some of them at Sunday School...and we are scheduling playmates with the others. She will adjust, I know this - but it weighs on me and Mike...will she make friends?

For Brooke the adjustment is more about the schedule. She has been moved to no nap. She doesn't make it all days. Often she falls asleep in class. One day I came in and she was passed out on the floor. She also has been having potty accidents. But this too will adjust :-)

Here are a few pictures!

Reilly's Swim Team

2011-07-25T18:23:00.000-07:00

Reilly did swim team last year with the Minnows - but this was her first summer as a Shark. The difference is that as Sharks they have swim meets. It was very enjoyable to watch her start to get the idea of competition. The first 2-3 meets she really didn't get it. She got to the end of the race, they handed her a ribbon. Her friends all wanted the purple ribbons because they were pretty. But the parents laughed because purple ribbons were 6th place. Reilly got a few of those ;-)

By her 4th meet she was starting to understand that blue ribbons were first place. But that still didn't mean she was competitive. She was doing fantastic, don't get me wrong. But she stops regularly during the race. Not just to have a break...but to grab a hair clip off the bottom of the pool or to chat with her friend on the sideline ;-)

The only stroke she didn't stop on was back stroke!! She is fantastic at it!! I'm looking forward to watching her grow as a swimmer. It seems to be something she really enjoys.

Brooke's First Haircut

2011-07-22T18:33:00.000-07:00

4th of July

2011-07-21T18:10:00.000-07:00

We had a great time on the 4th of July hanging out at the Davis'. They had their annual party and the girls were soooo excited! It's fun as the kids get older and can start to enjoy the parties and holidays. Both girls really like the fireworks and sparklers. Brooke didn't quite make it up for the late night version, but Reilly did. She was the last kid awake and enjoyed every last minute of the fireworks.

Father's Day

2011-06-23T18:03:00.000-07:00

We had a great Father's Day last weekend. We took Mike to the waterpark with the Davis'. The kids were very well behaved and the older kids really had a fun time trying new things. Here they are on the zip line!

Ummmm...how did that happen?

2011-06-22T17:37:00.000-07:00

I just gave relationship advice to Reilly. YES, the boyfriend/girlfriend or girlfriend/girlfriend kind you are thinking of.

I'm pretty sure she turned 5 like 21 days ago....so somebody please tell me how I just had THAT conversation with her? I'm pretty sure it was the first of many times I'll tell her that there are plenty of fish in the sea, she'll have many boyfriends (or girlfriends) over the years, she'll find the right person later in life.

ummm....breathe mommy, breathe. Yes, you just had THAT talk.

Happy 6th Birthday, Brady!

2011-06-17T03:36:00.000-07:00

We love you, and think about you every day! Happy birthday!

A Letter To My Son

First Day of Camp

2011-06-13T05:18:00.000-07:00

Today starts the first day of camp. For Brooke that means swimming every day and lots of fun memories. For Reilly, it is a milestone. She is officially done with Preschool and is preparing for Kindergarten. Starting today, she swims twice a day. 8:00 a.m. Sharks Swim Team, and mid-day swim time with her class. And starting today, there is no more napping as they prepare for Kindergarten. She is a big girl now...which means pick-up will be ohhh so fun as we transition and get her used to a regular schedule which includes no naps. Both girls were looking forward to 8 weeks of fun!

Happy 5th Birthday, Reilly!

2011-06-01T05:51:00.000-07:00

Reilly,

5 years old?!? How did that happen. Somehow 4 sounded like a baby still, 5 sounds like such a big girl! You are such a sweet, loving girl. You care about all others around you - friends and family. You have lots of friends and are very social.

At home you love to help us around the house, help your sister and hug mommy and daddy. You really love your sister and love taking care of her - even if she isn't always so nice to you ;-). You help her get dressed, you brush her teeth, you help her with her boo-boos and you love to snuggle with her.

You love spending time with your Grandma and calling Grandpa and Nana and skyping with Ben and Charlotte.

At school, you love art and dance. You are the tallest girl in your class...in fact there is only one kid taller than you, and he is 6 months older. You are the light of my life. I love you!!

-Mommy

5th Birthday Breakfast

Reilly's Preschool Graduation

2011-05-31T05:58:00.000-07:00

Reilly graduated from Preschool last week. I had no idea I would be so emotional about it, but I really was! I started to cry when she walked in. They were very cute and sang several songs before getting their graduation certificate. Here are some highlights. Reilly is on the top row, in red, second from the left.

Slip and Slide

2011-05-29T18:41:00.000-07:00

The girls have been playing with their slip and slide already for the past two months. And as I catch up on photos....I found these two from the end of April. Here is Reilly with Cousin Maera.

And here is Reilly, Brooke and Mitzvah Dooby.

Love

2011-05-28T18:38:00.000-07:00

I'm cleaning out pictures and trying to catch up...and I came across this picture from last month and smiled.

Boker Tov Brooke

2011-05-24T08:56:00.000-07:00

Brooke came busting out of the playroom last night, drum in hand, singing a rousing addition of Boker Tov! (Good morning in Hebrew).

Grandpa's Visit

2011-05-02T18:22:00.000-07:00

Grandpa was here last month and the girls had so much fun with him. They really enjoyed going to the park with him and playing with all their toys. Reilly talks about Grandpa all the time, but we weren't sure if Brooke would remember him this time. i don't know if she remembered him, but she took a liking to him immediately and loved on him!!

Ms. R

2011-04-07T06:46:00.000-07:00

When I was in kindergarten I lived literally NEXT to my elementary school. So I would spend weekends on my bike and with my friends (Monica and Jonathan) at the school. I remember spending a great deal of time specifically on those weekends inside the kindergarten playground. It was fenced in and locked, but my sister and I used to hop the fence, or climb the tree and then jump down on the other side.

There were these large wooden bins that were probably 8 ft wide, 8 ft long and 6 feet tall (maybe it wasn't that big, I was small). Wendy and I would climb that and lay up there and play up there, it was such fun.

OK, OK so this blog isn't about me...to my point. Sometimes if we jumped up high, we could also see inside the classroom. And sometimes on the weekends, we could see next week's letter person! You know the letter people right? Back then they were balloons and they came with a cassette tape that taught you about that letter. I looked forward to those letter people each week, they were magical!

Fast forward 28 years, and Reilly is in Pre-K and has the letter people program. They are now stuffed animals and are just as admired by her and her friends as they were by me and my friends. This week marks week 26 for her of the program -- the last letter, Q! And to end the program they do a really cute event where Q marries U, because afterall they are always together. To celebrate, each child was encouraged to dress as their favorite letter person.

Reilly, obviously loves the letter R. But R, is Mr. R, so with some convincing I got her to let me turn her into the female version of Ms. R who loves ribbons and rainbows. Well, I didn't have rainbows on hand, so we went with ribbons.

I have to say that some of the parents went WAY out - but I thought we put in a pretty good effort. And I hope Reilly has fond memories of the letter people, just as I do!

2011-04-01T01:04:00.000-07:00

Each year the girls celebrate Purim at school. They look forward to dressing up! This year I went to Brooke's shabbat and brought Reilly with us. We had a good time singing and dancing! We also went to a Purim carnival where the kids played games and got tatoos! They had a great time!

Spring Training

2011-03-31T13:02:00.000-07:00

We took in a nice spring training game at Disney....here is Brooke enjoying a PB&J while watching the game.

Honey I Shrunk the Kids

2011-03-30T10:31:00.000-07:00

We have been enjoying Spring in Florida. The weather is perfect - we are out of the cold and not yet hot. So we took advantage of the fact that we live here and that it is 80 degrees in March - we took the kids to Disney for a few hours the other weekend. Here is a great picture of Brooke on top of the ant in Honey I Shrunk the Kids.

Brooke has quite the personality. She is stubborn as a mule, and a tad bit defiant. On days when I think about having another child, Brooke reminds me how challenging she can be ;-). The good news is that she is about 90% potty trained. She went two weeks without an accident...just had a couple off days, but seems to be back on, including at night! So I can't complain about that!

Chocolate Party

2011-03-11T18:27:00.000-08:00

It's birthday party season!!! And Reilly loves that!! Here she is with Doron at Doron and Livie's birthday party.

Daddy/Daughter Dance

2011-03-09T18:24:00.000-08:00

Reilly and Mike went to (another) Daddy/Daughter dance this weekend. This time at Reilly's friend's church. She and Hope had the best time dancing, playing games and getting their faces painted!

Happy Birthday, David!

2011-03-07T18:21:00.001-08:00

David turned 5 last weekend, and what a FUN party! Reilly had a great time in the giant hamster ball and the foam pool. Here she is having a great time!

School Performance

2011-03-05T11:45:00.000-08:00

Reilly had her annual performance at school, the Red, White & Blue show in honor of President's Day. Such a difference this year from last - the kids were fantastic!!

Cooking School

2011-03-03T09:42:00.000-08:00

Amy and I signed Charlotte and Reilly up for a kid's cooking class. We booked it months ago and the moms were really excited, so were the kids. We showed up, turns out the kids cook by themselves. Bonus! Amy and I got to go next door and have our nails done while the kids play. When we arrived back to taste the food and pick up the girls...the girls were ready to go and didn't care to eat the food. Charlotte, it turns out, liked the "chocolate chicken" recipe. Reilly, did not. She was ready to leave and didn't want to come back :-( Oh well. She did let me take one cute picture though - so it looks like she liked the place.

The Difference

2011-02-24T18:48:00.000-08:00

You hear about it...but you don't believe it. No two kids are alike.

When I was pregnant with Brooke people told me that. But I didn't really believe it. I compared the pregnancies, I compared their early days, and now I have realized I can't compare them. They are two different kids.

Reilly loves to hug. Brooke doesn't want to be touched.
Brooke loves ketchup, will eat it with a spoon. Reilly hates ketchup, doesn't want to see it on her plate.
Reilly is a rule follower. Brooke pretends not to hear the rules.
Brooke will choose veggies over a brownie. Reilly will always choose a brownie.

Two different kids with two different personalities - who both love each other.

Brooke Loves Reilly

2011-02-16T06:06:00.000-08:00

Brooke all of the sudden loves saying her sister's name - Reilly, Harris, Reilly, Harris. She also says EVERYTHING over and over again. So in the car this morning we were trying to get her to break it up a bit by making it a sentence. I captured one of those times on camera.

Camping

2011-02-13T15:31:00.000-08:00

We took our second ever family camping trip last weekend. You might remember we did our first one when Brooke was just a few months old and we loved it! So now that Brooke is through the toddler stage, we planned another one. This time we went back to Disney with 5 other families and we had so much fun!

We had a great time at the campfires, the kids rode their bikes and we even went for breakfast at Chef Mickey (I know, not very camping like!). It did start raining on the second day, so we set up a big tent that the kids could play in and hang out.

Chef Mickey:

Hiding from the Rain:

Reilly and Mason Feeding the Ducks:

The Damage from the Rain:

The Music (Sebastian):

Playing in the Rain:

Fishing

2011-02-03T08:41:00.000-08:00

It was a BEAUTIFUL weekend in Florida. I took the girls out for a bike ride and we ran into our good friends, Conner and Graham, who live by the lake. The boys were outside playing and the girls were very excited to check out their fishing poles!

Reilly was so determined to catch a fish, that she kept trying to cast it out. And she didn't want to leave until she caught something. I had to break the news that Conner and Graham's Daddy hasn't caught anything in that lake in two years. Thankfully we are going camping this coming weekend so the girls can have a true chance to fish!

Brooke wasn't so into the fishing pole, but she wanted into that water in a big way...and dipped her new boots in a few times ;-)

Princess Ball

2011-02-02T08:38:00.000-08:00

Mental note...never trust it when Daddy says he will take pictures *later*. Because he won't.

Reilly had her school Princess Ball this weekend. It is an annual Father/Daughter dance. Adorable, right?!? The PERFECT photo opp, right?!? Right...yet, wrong! Mike was rushed leaving the house and promised me he would take pictures later. I didn't get one single shot of them together. But thanks to Charlotte's Daddy, we did get one of Reilly with her pals Charlotte and Livia. They had a great time!

Braids

2011-02-01T08:35:00.000-08:00

Brooke rarely lets me do her hair. Who am I kidding? Neither kid likes to have me to their hair. I always think of those perfect kids with the perfect hair and wonder how their parents get to do that! But over the past week Brooke has been letting me braid her hair and it looks so darn cute!

She actually reminds me of me when I was two. Though I had straight hair and hers is super curly, we both had pretty thin hair. I couldn't get her to stop for a picture but here she is screaming while she is playing in the sink!

Swaddling

2011-01-31T08:25:00.000-08:00

For anybody who knew Brooke as a newborn, you know she was a sleeper. (How I long for THOSE days!) But really the only way we could get her to sleep was to swaddle her. In fact, she was so big so fast that we had to swaddler her in a table cloth because the baby blankets wouldn't cut it!

Anyways. This weekend I was playing dolls with the girls and I was telling them that they needed to swaddle the babies so they would sleep. They thought that was the funniest thing and wanted to be swaddled too. So here they are!

Gasparilla

2011-01-28T07:58:00.000-08:00

Mike has found memories of going to Gasparilla as a child. Since we moved to Florida 5 years ago he has wanted to go. The kids have always been too young - but not this year! He dressed Reilly up with pirate tattoos and bandanna and made the trek to Tampa with David and his Dad. They had a great time watching the parade, seeing pirates and catching beads! Maybe next year Brooke will go too ;-)

Happy Tu B'Shevat

2011-01-26T04:58:00.001-08:00

Otherwise known as the New Year for the Trees....this is one holiday that the preschool DOESN'T close for. They do, however, have a nice lunch where we were able to join Reilly and her class for singing and eating - and then planting of "trees." In this case, Reilly planted flowers in an adorable pot that she painted. She had a great time, and the flowers are now in our kitchen, where she reminds me every day to give them sunshine.

Tat-Girl

2011-01-21T17:59:00.000-08:00

Reilly got a couple tattoos at her cousin's Bat Mitzvah...and she just loved them! Mike promised her she could get another one the following day...so she got her name ;-) And she just loved to show it off! I asked her to make her meanest face...

Happy Birthday Sivan!

2011-01-20T15:49:00.000-08:00

Our friend, Sivan, turned three this weekend - and she had a great birthday!! What a cutie!!

Bat Mitzvah

2011-01-19T15:46:00.000-08:00

Our niece, Taylor, had her Bat Mitzvah this weekend - she looked beautiful and did a fabulous job!

Here are a couple pictures of the girls, they were so excited to celebrate with their cousins!

Rough Month

2011-01-18T15:40:00.000-08:00

It has been a rough month in the Harris house. Brooke spent 4 nights at Grandma's - which always throws her schedule off...and on her first day home we started potty training. She sure is ready, so the timing was ideal. But that same day...she was trying to talk with her binkie in her mouth...and Mike told her to take it out because he couldn't hear her. When she took it out, he said, throw it away - and she did!!! SO....we went with it...but AUGGGGGHHHHH!!

We had 8 nights of hellllll! She refused to go to bed, she screamed and screamed and screamed for hours each night. But on the 9th night - all was calm. It has now been over two weeks and she hasn't asked for the binkie in a couple of days...and she is doing great at potty training! She has 0-1 accidents a day at school...more at home.

So this weekend her little friend Lily came over for a playdate. It was more like a potty date. Inside of 2 hours those girls probably each *went* to the toilet a dozen+ times. But they had a blast!!

More Disney

2011-01-17T15:38:00.001-08:00

Here are a couple more pictures from last week at Disney. Reilly and Charlotte had fun riding Dumbo, among other rides!

Brooke and Parker

2011-01-10T11:11:00.000-08:00

This priceless picture was taken yesterday at Disney. Brooke and her good buddy, Parker!

Tech-Trio

2011-01-07T18:58:00.001-08:00

I caught my family sitting on the couch playing computer games - look how cute they are!

Savannah

2011-01-04T16:04:00.001-08:00

We had a great family trip to Savannah just before Christmas. We went with the Davis family which was perfect! Reilly had a great time playing with Charlotte and Brooke just loves Parker.

I won't claim it was an easy weekend, but it was fun. ;-)

The kids enjoyed having a sleepover in the "princess bed," and played car in the bathtub...and enjoyed exploring the nooks and cranny's of the Mansion!

Tree Decorating

2010-12-20T05:20:00.000-08:00

I never thought I would be the kind of parent that would dread things like decorating the Christmas tree....but alas, I'm not perfect. I know - you are SHOCKED!!

I was really debating whether I wanted to put forth all the energy to pull the tree out, decorate it, take it down...you know the drill. But with Reilly being 4.5, she was really asking for the tree and how could you have Santa come over with no tree. So, Mommy guilt took over. While Mike was on a week-long business trip, I pulled out the tree and we started decorating. The girls did a good job helping me with the lights. Reilly found the end of each one and started stringing them together. I was very impressed! And Brooke held on to the string so she could "help."

Once we got to the ornaments (note, no pictures)...Reilly still did great putting them on. She didn't really get the concept of spreading them out, but still. Brooke on the other hand, would take off two for every one that Reilly put on. After about 15 minutes, I decided it would be best to do a little each day :-) I mean, spreading out the fun is better, right?!?

So after about 3 days, the tree was up. I did skip tinsel this year - but really, I like it without! And less mess! It isn't a PERFECT tree, but it's our tree. Each day Reilly adds a new decoration, which adds to the fun.

Now....about taking it down...

Chanukah

2010-12-16T16:42:00.000-08:00

We had a busy, and fun 8 nights of Chanukah! The girls were very excited to open their gifts each night, and especially enjoyed an afternoon with Grandma Trudy, Aunt Lauren, Uncle Zo and Cousins Rachel and Ben!

On one night Reilly sung with her class at a community celebration, and we got to watch an ice sculptor make a menorah.

November in California - Part 2

2010-12-13T16:34:00.000-08:00

After we had a fabulous time in Sacramento, we headed to San Francisco for two days. We met up with Cousin Maera, and let the girls have a playdate in the city. The enjoyed a morning of bagels and running around the city. We took them for walks, went shopping, and went to see the big Christmas tree in Union Square. It was a great trip!

Brooke, Reilly and cousin Maera

Checking out the Union Square Christmas tree

Watching the ice skaters in Union Square

November in California - Part 1

2010-12-12T16:12:00.000-08:00

We just had a fabulous trip to California. We took the girls out to spend Thanksgiving with my family in Sacramento. The key right now is to keep them busy, so we did! We took them out on walks with their Aunts, we took them to the snow, we took them shopping - and they met Santa. It was a good trip that is told best through pictures...

Snow sledding with Aunt Amanda and Aunt Patricia

Mommy and Brookie

Here is our "binky" snowman

Lounging on the stairs with Aunt Patricia

With our cousins, Logan and Lucien!

Heading out on a walk with Amanda and Patricia

Out for a cold California walk

Meeting Santa!

Pumpkin Patch

2010-11-10T19:43:00.000-08:00

This has been a very fun season. And while I am late getting these post up, I am enjoying going back to look at the photos and videos. We had a great time at the pumpkin patch. The girls picked out their pumpkins and had a fun time. In 2006 we started a tradition of taking the same picture at the same spot....so continue that - here is my photo montage of all the years.

Brooke's Born!

2010-11-01T18:58:00.000-07:00

Okay, okay you caught me. She was born over two years ago. And that was how long it took me to get this pulled together. But at long last, I present, her birth video!!

I know...I know...

2010-10-25T18:48:00.000-07:00

I've been awful about updating lately. Truth is, I planned this whole post for Brooke's birthday which included her birth video. I spent hours on it the night before her birthday. Then all I needed to do was add music, but instead I went to bed. Gah!! And since then I haven't had a moment to update. I will though, I promise. As soon as somebody else goes to work for me and picks up my kids from school, and does my laundry, and gives the kids baths...

Okay, so that is never going to happen. I guess I just need to make it happen!!

Leaving a Legacy

2010-10-11T18:27:00.000-07:00

The kids didn't want to sleep tonight. I tried to put Brooke down, as usual at 7:30 - but she wasn't having it. We went through the entire routine and she wouldn't go to sleep. I knew I was in for it if I steered from routine, but I did it anyways. I let her stay up awhile longer and play with Reilly. At 8:30 I put them both in bed and read books...again. At the end of books, they both lost their mind - i mean, they were exhausted at this point. Reilly started crying for "Daaaaaaaadddddddddy," who was off playing racquetball. Brooke started climbing out of her bed, screaming and limbs flailing.

At long last, they calmed down. Brooke laid to one side of me, and Reilly to the other. I watched Brooke as her arms and legs twitched - the sign that she is asleep, but just barely. Sucking on her binky, with her blanky covering her face - as she falls asleep every time. I felt Reilly snuggling up to my back, her arms around me, one arm around my side, the other one over my heart. Reilly was still awake, but calm -- and all was quiet.

As a mother, you always wonder what your kids will remember from their childhood - what the fond memories will be - after you are gone. (I hope to be around for another 70 years, but still, I wonder!) I found myself laying there, wishing they would remember that tender moment. The moment that I sat and watched them breathe, and felt their tiny little hands, and watched the curls of Brooke's hair bounce with her deep breathes, and felt Reilly's little fingers play a drum beat on my heart.

I don't care if they remember the trips to Disney, or the days at the beach, or the presents that we buy them. I hope they remember how much we love them, and all the tender moments we have, and will share.

I love my girls!

Halloween in the Air

2010-10-04T06:50:00.000-07:00

The girls wore their new Halloween PJ's, so you know I had to take a couple pictures! Brooke was so excited that she was dancing around!

Ocean Time

2010-10-02T18:29:00.000-07:00

Living in Florida you would think we visit the beach often, but really we don't. I can probably count the number of times we have gone in the 5 years (5 years this week, by the way!) we have lived here. Well today, we took both girls to the ocean - separately.

For months Reilly has wanted to go fishing. Our good friends Paul and Holly were nice enough to let them come down for an awesome fishing trip. Mike and Reilly headed down south early in the morning to do some fishing. Reilly had a GREAT time, and said driving the boat was her favorite part...see for yourself:

A couple hundred miles north, Brooke went to the beach with me and Grandma. If you read my post earlier this week about love bugs, you know we are in the midst of love bug season, but honestly I think it is the worst season yet. And at the beach they were SWARMING. In this video, you'll even see them fly by the camera. But back to Brooke, she loved chasing the birds and lounging in her chair!

Friends

2010-09-30T18:53:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week Reilly had a Sukkot event at school, during lunch. It was too hot to go outside, so the event was moved inside and became more of a "watch your kids eat lunch" event. Not that we don't enjoy leaving the office for that ;-) In any case, here is a picture of Reilly with her friend Livia!

Love bugs!

2010-09-29T18:49:00.000-07:00

One of the things that I have had to get used to in the last 5 years, is the amount of bugs in Florida. They are everywhere! I had never heard of love bugs before moving here, but what a crazy thing! Every May and September, just out of the blue, the state is overcome with love bugs - seriously! Just one day! And as quickly as they come, they disappear.

You walk outside, and they fly onto you and into your house. You can't walk into a store or your car without being covered. Our back patio is covered! So this weekend the girls discovered the joy of catching these slow moving creatures. Reilly did great, she let them just hang out on her hand. Brooke mastered the pincher grip, so as you can imagine she tried to destroy the population all on her own ;-) But they were both so proud to show me every one they caught!

Playdates

2010-09-28T18:47:00.000-07:00

Reilly had a great playdate last weekend with her friend David. At this age, the difference between boy and girl playdates are very noticeable. Instead of dolls and dress-up, they played guns and motorcycles - here they are on the motorcycle!

Big Girl Bed!

2010-09-27T18:45:00.000-07:00

Bedtime has been quite the battle for us. Reilly has been ready to move from her toddler bed to a bigger bed, but we wanted to wait for Brooke to be ready to move from the crib. It seemed to us that it was best to move them sooner than later, for Reilly's sake. So we bought bunk beds! So here is Brooke on her final day in her crib...

Reilly was so excited!! She was going to sleep on the top and Brooke was going to sleep on the bottom bunk. She was talking about it for weeks! When the beds arrived, Reilly climbed right up and played. But when it came to bedtime, she was much happier snuggling up to Brooke. :-) What parent can complain about that. She has decided on her own that she will sleep on the top "when I turn 5!" So for now....baby steps...they sleep together in the bottom. And they are cute!!

Girls Day

2010-09-15T19:10:00.000-07:00

Mike went to the USF v UF game this weekend, so the girls and I had a day together. We spent a couple hours playing at one of those local indoor play places, Amaya Papaya, the girls had a blast!

Rosh Hashana

2010-09-14T19:08:00.000-07:00

The girls got all dressed up to go to Temple for Rosh Hashana. Of course, we were rushing to get out of the house so I only snapped one picture of Brooke, instead of both girls. But here she is, patiently waiting for the rest of us to get ready!

Disney Weekend

2010-09-11T18:20:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took the kids to Disney. We were lucky enough to have a free night at one of our favorite resorts, so the kids played by the unbelievable pool for one day, and the second day we went to the Magic Kingdom. Reilly is tall enough to ride the big rides and braved Space Mountain!!! She was so excited, but afterwards wasn't such a fan :-). Brooke was big enough to drive the race cars and really enjoyed herself just taking in the sights and sounds. It was a really great weekend!

The view from our hotel room:

Brooke driving the race car!

Reilly with Stitch:

Reilly waiting in line for Space Mountain:

Daddy and Reilly on Astro Orbiter:
Daddy singing songs with Brooke on Tom Sawyer's Island:

Mommy on the People Mover with the girls:

BLAST FROM THE PAST...Mommy on the People Mover with the girls in January 2009:

Shabbat Stars

2010-09-07T13:01:00.000-07:00

Reilly and her Pre-K class were Shabbat Stars on Friday. She has talked about it for two weeks and ran around the house singing. She was so excited!! What it meant was that during weekly Shabbat, they got to get up on stage and sing a song. They did a great job and were all smiling from ear to ear! The video didn't come out fabulous, but Reilly is the one on the far right.

Tonight's Gonna be a Good Night

2010-09-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

Reilly's favorite song! She loves to sing in the car with daddy, and often comes home singing new songs, this one has become a favorite - she sings it often!

WHO buys that?

2010-08-31T12:18:00.000-07:00

Have you ever found yourself in Costco wondering, WHO buys that? The answer is apparently us ;-) This bear, which Reilly has named Addison, barely fit in our car! Now she sleeps in the bed and sits at the dinner table. But she loves her!

High Tech Brooke

2010-08-30T12:28:00.000-07:00

When we first got the iPad, Reilly took it over. She loves to play games on it, watch movies, go to the NickJr website. Well suddenly, Brooke is all over the iPad too. She really loves the Talking TomCat app, as well as this new animal app. Here is a video of her doing the animals.

She fell asleep in her dinner..really!

2010-08-29T18:04:00.000-07:00

Reilly skipped her nap today - as she often does on the weekend...but she was telling us she was tired and planned to go to bed early. We had no idea early meant falling asleep IN her dinner...literally. :-)

Feeding Elmo

2010-08-25T07:39:00.000-07:00

Mealtime is a battle at house (as with probably most houses). Either the kids don't like what we made, or they are too tired to sit and eat, or they just want to play. The other night, as we were rushing to get dinner on the table, we sat Brooke down first. She was unusually quiet. When I walked over to the table, I realized it was because she was busy feeding Elmo. Apparently Elmo was hungry for corn ;-).

Birthday Parties

2010-08-24T07:37:00.001-07:00

Somewhere I have a picture of me, around the age of 4, standing outside of my childhood home holding a present and all dressed up for my cousin's birthday party. I love that picture - and every time the girls get ready for a birthday party, I think about it. So in honor, I snapped two pictures of Reilly this weekend before she went to her buddy Joshua's birthday party.

She won't be 4 forever

2010-08-20T14:23:00.001-07:00

Mike and I often joke with Reilly that we wish she wouldn't grow up. The conversation usually goes something like this:

Mike: Reilly I wish you could be 4 forever!

Reilly: Nooooooooo!

Me: Come on, please!

Reilly: I can't, I have to grow up and be a mommy!

But in all seriousness, this childhood thing goes by way too fast - its not just something people tell you, its true! And while you are constantly running, and rarely have time to slow down - we really HAVE to slow down and enjoy it!

I have been feeling this a lot lately and getting sad. I'm not sure if it is because Reilly is now in Pre-K, and I know she will be going off to school next year, or if it is because Brooke isn't a baby anymore - or a combination of all that. But I just want to enjoy every moment!

One of my Facebook friends just posted a picture of her son's 5th Birthday and said in the comment, "He'll never be 4 again!" And seriously - my eyes welled up! We take too much for granted.

So yesterday - Reilly and I had doctor appointments, so I took the whole day to be with her. I didn't take a conference call, I didn't answer email - I just spent time with her. We went to the park, and I watched her laugh and play and interact with the other kids. She is growing up so fast...and I'm one proud mommy!

But seriously - 4 is great, I wish she could be 4 forever!

Pre-K and 2s!

2010-08-11T10:34:00.001-07:00

Today is the first day of Pre-K for Reilly and Brooke moves into the 2's. For Reilly, she is with mostly the same group of kids as last year, and she already knows the teacher, so we are confident that the transition will be smooth. She is very much looking forward to being a "BIG KID."

Brooke is also lucky, she has 8 kids in her class, 4 of them are from the same class as last year, and one of her teachers is the same. Her drop-off wasn't painless, but she will be fine, for sure! The 2's were a big adjustment for Reilly, so we anticipate much of the same for Brooke. They move onto a different playground, more kids around, potty training, etc. It is a big year! - for both girls!

And, as is my tradition, I took a picture of them walking into school this morning. I was carrying 2 lunch boxes, 2 bedrolls and a backpack - so it isn't the best picture, but it will do :-)

And of course - another tradition of mine, is to take a look back ;-) So here are the previous year pictures.

2009

2008

2007

Orlando Staycation

2010-08-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

The girls had two days off school this week as they transitioned from summer camp back into the regular school year. We decided we would take them away for a stay-cation. I mean, we live in Orlando - home of the great resorts, sunshine and pools! The girls were very excited. We took off early Sunday morning and a few minutes into the car we were hit with a terrible rain storm! Oh no!

But we were still optimistic. We arrived at the hotel and managed an early check-in. So after throwing our stuff down in the room, off to the pool we went! We were greeted by a CLOSED pool. Apparently, the pool closes when there is lightening within 5 miles of the hotel. The front desk then told me in a somber voice that it was an 80% chance that the pool wouldn't open today at all. So what do you do when you have two small kids and you are stuck inside in Orlando during a rain storm? You get creative! Luckily we brought some toys, so the kids made use of the crib and had some fun.

Luckily we lived by the 20% rule, and the pool did re-open...and closed again...but re-opened. Yeah! The girls had a great time playing with dad in the pool and lounging in the lazy river.

Each night the hotel had a swim-in movie at the pool. Reilly loved it!

On night 2, we even called her friend Charlotte and invited her to come to the pool. But the movie they advertised, Monsters Inc, was not playing. Instead it was Monster House - NOT A GOOD MOVIE FOR 4 YEAR OLDS! It was so scary, the girls couldn't watch - but we snapped a cute picture before it started!

To end the fun weekend, we took the kids to Reilly's favorite restaurant, Chili's! We had a great lunch - swim hair and all ;-)

Despite our luck with the rain and bad movie, we had a great time!

Last Day of Camp 2010

2010-08-06T09:10:00.000-07:00

Today is the last day of summer camp for the girls - and the first time I got a picture of them in their camp shirts! Next week Reilly moves into Pre-K!!

Party Time!

2010-08-01T17:09:00.000-07:00

I think most mothers can relate to this post.

I try hard to get away - alone - every once in awhile. Today I pulled away for a mani/pedi. Brooke was napping, and Reilly and Mike were resting by watching a movie. I figured I'd be gone for an hour. I ended up being gone two hours, and for the last hour I was feeling guilty. As a mom, you never know if you will walk in and things will be under control, or completely a wreck.

When I walked back in the house I figured everyone would be A. awake and screaming, or B. they would all be asleep. I hadn't prepared myself for the twist to B. They were all asleep. But Brooke was in her crib (no surprise), Mike was out on the couch (no surprise), and Reilly was asleep sitting up in her chair, in a party hat, a soda bottle and chip bag in her lap - looking like she crashed after a late night party!

Apparently they had been watching baseball while having a birthday party for one of Reilly's dolls. hee hee!

Dress Up

2010-07-28T13:42:00.001-07:00

Two silly pictures of the girls. In this first one they thought it was so funny to wear their PJs on their heads. In the bottom one Reilly put on my robe then fell asleep.

Pee, Blood & Tears

2010-07-24T19:57:00.000-07:00

This post is not for the faint of heart!

One of my earliest childhood memories includes peeing on my mom. Yep, that's right - I peed on her. We went to the doctor for my pre-kindergarten check-up and I had to pee in a cup. My mom held the cup for me and I peed all over her.

I have thought about this memory many times over the past couple years when I am at the pediatrician. I figured when Reilly was ready for kindergarten I would do the same.

Well the day of peeing in a cup came....early!! Apparently they now do that for Pre-K!!

Reilly and I showed up for her appt, and we were promptly given the cup marked "Reilly Harris." Reilly thought it was the funniest thing that she would be peeing in the cup and insisted that she could do it on her own. Once I convinced her she couldn't - it actually went pretty smoothly! And here is the cup to prove it! (See, I warned you!)

Poor Reilly though - it was a rough appointment, with finger-prick, shots and all. But one unexpected item was that Reilly had 5 bug bites, and one of them was infected. I had the doctor look, thinking it wasn't a big deal. Turns out it was pretty severely infected. He ended up squeezing it -which didn't go over well with Reilly.

We had to go back the next day because it was so infected she couldn't walk - a couple visits to the doctor, dozens of hot compresses and a few days of antibiotics later, it is looking better. But here is what it looked like on day 3 (and yes, I did warn you about this post!)

4th of July

2010-07-05T16:45:00.001-07:00

We had a great 4th of July weekend. First we spent the night at a hotel here in Orlando. The kids had a great time swimming and playing. Then for the 4th, we went to Charlotte's house for a BBQ. Reilly was so happy to watch fireworks with her two girlie friends, Carson and Charlotte. Here is the trio with their sparklers and watching the fireworks.

5 Years Old!

2010-06-17T07:49:00.001-07:00

Happy 5th birthday, Brady! I love you very much! I looked at your picture last week and realized HOW MUCH you look like Brooke - wow! Party it up today!!

A Letter To My Son

Work

2010-06-16T09:56:00.001-07:00

I consider myself tough. I can hang with the best of them. I have thick skin and have dealt with some pretty tough situations over the years. But when I woke up this morning, I knew it was going to be a tough day.

You see, I had an all day meeting on the agenda with one of my toughest clients. I walked into the room, and sat down – and it wasn’t long before she was beating me up and calling me names. There were moments of quiet – don’t get me wrong. I even took a break at one point to check email – but I felt like I was just staring at a blank screen because I was just emotionally and physically exhausted. But I went back into that room and continued playing her games.

At the end of the day, I knew it was all going to be okay. The client came over to me, gave me a big hug and said, “I love you Mommy!” Sometimes the playroom is tougher than the boardroom.

Camp time

2010-06-14T07:03:00.000-07:00

The girls transitioned from school to camp today and they are so excited! For Reilly, she will be swimming twice a day. Brooke will swim once a day, so it is a nice, fun break for them! They were all dressed in their swimsuits and ready to go this morning!

Happy Birthday, Reilly!!

2010-06-01T04:25:00.000-07:00

4 years?? Where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday that we waited (not so patiently) for all of our lung development tests to come in so that we could be admitted for our induction. Only to be disappointed to have to wait another day for the arrival of our bundle of joy. But alas, on June 1, 2006 at 4:25 in the morning, Reilly Elizabeth Harris was born screaming! Mike and I realized, in an instant, that our lives would be forever changed and that this beautiful little girl had us wrapped around her finger before she could even understand what that meant.

In 4 years Reilly has grown into a fun, loving, playful, joking, smart, beautiful young girl. She makes us laugh each and every day...and I constantly feel blessed to have her in my life.

This weekend we had her birthday party, with 23 little kids, at Pinnochio's Marionette Theatre. The kids watched a show, enjoyed some cake, and 2 pinatas. While Reilly has wanted this puppet show party for about 8 months now...she also wanted it to have a princess theme, so there was a Princess and the Frog cake, favors and pinatas.

Happy Birthday, Reilly Pielly!

R...E...I...L...L...Y

2010-05-28T12:49:00.000-07:00

I don't know about other parents out there, but when I thought about having a baby...I thought about having a BABY. Not a kid, who would learn all these new things and amaze me every day! But that is just what my girls do! Lately Reilly has been very into learning how to write all the letters. She can now write her name...and will ask me to spell our names so she can write them as well. She will sit at her art table for hours just writing letters, it is so fun to watch her soak it all up! Here is her name that she wrote this week.

Oh Crap!

2010-05-23T10:22:00.000-07:00

Reilly loves to take showers, so she will often hop in with me whether she needs one or not. She plays with one of her dolls in there, cleans the doll, pretends she is taking her doll to the pool...you get the point.

Well on Friday night she hopped in with me. Reilly had just gone to the doctor that afternoon, so she decided she would play doctor with her doll. I was the doctor, Reilly was the mommy, and the doll was the kid. The conversation went something like this:

Reilly: Doctor, can you please look at my kid

Me: Sure, lets take a look. Hmm...her ears look good, so do her eyes... Oh no! Her tummy isn't good (takes a look at the tummy). I think she swallowed a FROG!!

Reilly: okay, I'll take her to the pond and make her spit it out.

She then "walks" her baby to the pond and pats on her back and says, "Spit it out kid!" Then she walks back to me and says:

"Oh crap!! Now she swallowed a duck!!"

I wanted to laugh so hard, but I didn't want to draw attention to the use of the oh crap phrase, so instead I kept playing. I think I need to watch my use of the word crap ;-)

Reilly and Mason

2010-05-15T06:59:00.000-07:00

Reilly and Mason have been friends since they were babies. In fact, Mason was Reilly's first friend. They used to have "playdates" before they were old enough to have playdates. Here they are at 7 months old and 5 months old - the first picture I have have them together.

Anyways...that was the set up to my real story. Over the last 4 years it has been fun to watch Reilly grow up, but I have especially enjoyed watching her friendship with Mason develop since they have been friends for so long. I remember when Reilly first could say Jaime and Tayler (Mason's parents names), and then when she would get so excited to see Mason walk into school, and how she would come home telling us stories about what her and Mason did today.

Well I think we have hit a new milestone. Reilly and Mason now share stories at school. Reilly came home the other day and said "GUESS what Mommy!!??" "Mason's dog ALSO pooped in the house" I asked her how she knew that, and she said because we were talking about our dogs today...

"I told Mason about Buzz pooping in the house...and you know what? Mason was with his Pop and their dog also pooped in the garage. Gross, right"

HILARIOUS!!! I love that they share these stories about dog poop!

Reilly's Dance Recital

2010-05-14T11:55:00.000-07:00

Potty Training?

2010-05-13T13:20:00.000-07:00

Last night Brooke pooped on the potty...literally!

ON the potty.

She was in the bathtub and said "Out...poop." So I took her out..and she walked to her kid potty, opened it up and tried to sit on it. She has a hard time getting on the seat. As she was struggling to get on it, she pooped. So you see, she pooped on it - not in it. But the concept was there, and we haven't been working with her. So that is good!

But once she saw the poop she started to cry -- oh well! It is a good step!

Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T16:21:00.000-07:00

I remember Mother's Day as a child. I don't have any one specific memory, but I remember what many kids probably do -- making cards at school...making breakfast...all those good things. After my Mother's Day today, I need to go back and talk to my mom about what her Mother's Day was really like....because mine was a challenge!!

Reilly is at a great age, almost 4, loving, cuddly - just great! Brooke on the other hand is 18 months and FULL-FORCE into the Terrible Twos. She bites, scratches, screams and throws a temper tantrum to top all temper tantrums!

In the morning, Mike and the girls gave me my present and I was so excited!! We got new bikes and one of those carts for the kids to go in. I've been wanting this for months and was exicted to try it out! We got dressed to go for a long ride...and 4 minutes in, I had to put the breaks on because Reilly was screaming in the cart as Brooke was biting her and pulling her hair. We tried to go on, but Brooke kept it up. We finally turned around and dropped Mike and Brooke back at home while Reilly and I continued on.

Then there was lunch...Mike had reservations at a nice place, and I convinced him that our kids couldn't handle it - so we went to Chili's. While we were there Brooke threw food all over the ground and upset the other people...so we left and took our food to go. We then cancelled our dinner reservations....and opted to have dinner at home.

Dinner was much the same, Brooke threw her entire plate on the floor....twice. So early to bed for that one!

Mike tried so hard to plan such a fun day, but there was just nothing that could happen without a lot of stress. I'm wondering if Mother's Day changes as the kids get older...or if it is always a struggle? Oh well...I sit here and eat chocolate to de-stress!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! (and some pictures from our day today...)

Cousin Ben

2010-05-09T16:19:00.000-07:00

Just a cute picture of Ben and Reilly watching a movie!

Summer is here!

2010-05-09T16:09:00.000-07:00

To celebrate the start of the warm weather, we went to the water park with our friends. Brooke is...how shall we put it...a handful these days, so I didn't get too many pictures. But here are two of Brooke...and one that the Disney people took of Reilly and her friends Carson and Charlotte!

Girlfriends

2010-05-01T17:56:00.000-07:00

Reilly's class had a performance last weekend....I got some video, but it was not so exciting ;-)....but afterwards we did snap a cute picture of Reilly and Charlotte:

Reilly and Logan

2010-05-01T17:50:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple more pictures from California - these are both of Reilly and cousin Logan. They had a great time together. In the first one they are just posing for a cute cousin picture, in the second one they were laying outside with Aunt Michelle counting stars!