Tea for Me

I had one of those moments... Riley's class had a Mother's Day Tea for us. The look on Riley's face when I walked in her class. (She is the one standing up at her table - kind of in the middle of the picture.) She was so proud of her presents and so proud I was her mom. She couldn't wait for me to sit by her and lets be honest, to share my plate of food and sweet tea with her too. She made me a plate, a frame with her picture in it and a place mat. I love them all. She was adorable. She held my hand and laced her fingers in mine. It was so funny to see her with the other kiddos. Their little inside jokes, I didn't get any of them, but they were very funny to a two year old. I'm so proud of my little girl - she is growing up so fast. Boy, I love her. She makes me want to be a stronger, more obedient Christian and a better wife, mom and friend - just for her. She is watching and learning from me. I have such a great privilege and responsibility and want to raise my girls to be amazing and dynamic and most important, godly women who make a difference. I want to guide them and shape them to be exactly who God created them to be and to have integrity, dignity, grace and other amazing qualities that alot of the women God has placed in my life exhibit. You can't model what you don't genuinely live. I see so many areas in my life where I need to step it up. They see it all!

Another Jarrett in her life....

Yes people, there is more than one Jarrett on this planet. Can you believe it? Spelled the same way and all. He is adorable (not as cute as my Jarrett though) and "doesn't hit" - so Riley likes him. He is in Riley's CLC class and in the same room on Sundays too. So we hear alot about Jarrett. It was confusing at first. We thought Riley was just trying to be funny by calling her daddy by his first name...she thinks its funny to call me Deborah too. Here are some pics from Riley's school...

Big as Elmo...

Sweet little Kelsey is just over 4 months old. Why does it seem like your first baby is a baby for a alot longer than the next one....Kelsey had a major "length" growth spurt. As you can see she is as long as Elmo now. And is big enough for the bumbo seat. She loves to sit (safely) up on the counter and watch Mommy wash all 800 of her bottles every day. She and Kelsey are to busy watching Dora to look at the camera.

Baby Dedication

We dedicated Kelsey at church. It was great. Jarrett and I were so proud. We have a bunch of friends who have had babies this year, so it made it even more fun to share the ceremony with them. Jarrett's parents came in town. Cheryl and Glynn. Affectionately known as Gammy and Papa to our girls. Don't mess with Gammy, she and Riley are BFFs!

Meet the Stephens...

Finally, we are on board with blogging! I think we are the last of all of our friends, but here we are. Over the past month I would check out everyone else's blogs and have blogger envy. I thought - we are fun, have two cute kids and a dog, we should have a blog too. Then I got intimidated, not knowing even how to download pictures on to the computer....but with some great teachers here we are. I think I have rewritten this post 3 times. There is already a pressure - to be clever, funny, interesting, etc. Hope I make the cut. Bear with me as I figure everything out and enjoy the ride....
Alot has gone on over the last few months so here is a little review since January...

On January 10, Kelsey arrived making Riley a big sister. Wow! How our lives have changed - I can't even remember what it was like before these little monkeys came along....Maybe thats cause I still have baby brain or pregnancy brain - whatever you want to call it. I will claim to have that for the next few years to cover up age related memory issues. Kelsey Michelle (Michelle after Jarrett's sister) and Riley Catherine (Catherine after my sister) are of course the cutest. People want to know who looks like who. Well, you take a look. At birth, they both looked exactly like my sister - beautiful dark hair and porcelain skin. I don't even look like my sister. Then as she got older everyone said Riley looked like Jarrett until Kelsey came along. Kelsey is his mini-me....blue eyes and all. And yes, that is her real hair - its awesome!!



I love them and think they are the most beautiful girls in the world, but for the love of anything, is anyone going to look like me? They look like Jarrett and I'm ok with that cause I think he is kind of cute. Bit of advice to those that are not yet married - marry a pretty man, your daughters will look like him!
Riley will be 3 in August. Her favorite things are going to the playground after dinner with daddy, reading books, singing, being a big sister, torturing Samson, doing "art" at CLC, stickers and anything Dora. She is awesome.



Here we are at my parents for Easter lunch. Couldn't hunt for eggs cause it was too cold. This pic was right before a double meltdown - the girls, not me and Jarrett. This was our first Sunday morning at church - getting all 4 of us there in one car before 9am. Not to shabby looking for a hectic morning. The stress of it didnt bother me, I knew I would be eating Riley's easter candy later that day! Below is my sister Cathy (see I told you the girls look like her early on) holding Kelsey. Not even bunny ears would wake her. She is our champion sleeper.












And here is the infamous Texas snow pic....Riley made her first snowman "Gussy". Everything is named Gussy nowadays. Don't know why. Gussy is the goose (that Oprah plays) on Charlotte's Web. Gussy's eyes are Tagalong cookies that I sacrificed for the sake of a happy Riley. The next day when Gussy was melting, we noticed Samson (our doggie - pics to come) had visited. Gussy had a yellow stripe at the bottom and was "blind"!!


And here is me and my main squeeze, Jarrett Lynn. I love this man. He is a great friend and husband and is the best daddy to our girls. For the record, while we are outside playing in the snow, Kelsey was right inside the house (the monitor is in my pocket before you call CPS) snoozing thru it all! So sleepy...until next time...xxoo