Reviving the nearly dead...

I've been sitting here reading my most recent posts...dating back to the 2009...and kicking myself that I have been so bad at keeping this blog up to date. As I read the posts and saw the pictures I was crying because my kids and our lives have changed so much since then. I love to look back and remember what was happening. And I've missed out on recording nearly a year with my girls. So, I'm reviving the nearly dead blog and my enthusiasm for keeping it up to date. Here are a few pictures of most recent happenings at the Randall house...

Christmas morning was so much fun with the girls! Rose is my little shy girly.
LOVE her beautiful blue eyes!

In their Christmas dresses. My girls are getting so big!

Gracie chose to go to Texas Roadhouse for her birthday dinner date with mom and dad. She loves steak (a girl after my own heart) and originally requested Golden Corral. Then we told her that at Texas Roadhouse she got to sit on a saddle and everyone would shout YEE HAW for her...she was sold! Steak AND the spotlight? Who can resist that?

For her 5th birthday Gracie wanted to have a tea party...and a tea party is what we had!

We went to a thrift store looking for tea cups and Gracie spotted this hat and deemed it "The perfect hat for my tea party!" Shortly after she found a the dress. Overall, it was a pretty nice outfit. This girl has style! :)

I LOVE THIS PICTURE! She looks so grown up and pretty.

As you can see she was a very happy little birthday girl.

Rose got all dressed up for the tea party too. Although she didn't socialize much...like I said, shy girl.
But she LOVES to play outside and get filthy. I love this picture with her dirty little fingers telling me all about everything she's doing. :)

In November we lost our pug Otis. I bought Otis before Monti and I were married. It was hard to see him get older and harder to lose him. We were all very sad. So, in December we got a new puppy. She's a shih tzu and we named her Zuzu's Petals. Zuzu for short. Gracie and Rosalie adore her. She IS pretty cute! So is the little girl holding her. :)

Hello again!

Ok, so it has been FOREVER since I've blogged anything! It has been craziness around here. So much has happened...let me sum it all up. In November we moved from our home in Apache Junction, where we'd lived for nearly 8 years, to Queen Creek. We are now alot closer to both sets of grandparents and a couple of our siblings as well. It's so important to us to be close to our families and it has been such a blessing in SO many ways. In December, Gracie had her first dance recital. She was darling! And did a relatively good job...considering that it was a class full of 3 year olds. :) Christmas came and it was so amazing to share in Rosalie's first Christmas. In January Gracie turned 4 and all she wanted for her birthday party was to have a "pee-YA-ta". And so she did! She loved it as much as she thought she would. Then in February we went to Disneyland!!! We had a BLAST! And we can't wait to go again! Gracie is now in soccer and loving that. I'll post pictures of that soon. In the meantime, here's a look at that last 6 months...

Gracie all ready for her recital.

The girls in their Christmas dresses....OOOH I love them!

Don't you just want to eat those cheeks?!

Rosalie was the star in the annual Stewart Christmas nativity. Gracie played Mary.

Gracie got a Princess scooter from Santa Claus, complete with helmet, knee and elbow pads. She wore the accessories more than she rode the scooter. She looks...great! :)

Going after the pinata at her birthday party.

What a CUTE girlie!!

Her ballerina shoes birthday cake!

Waiting in line for the princess faire with her bff and cousin Max.

Bowing to her highness Princess Ariel

Both princesses with their Fairy Godmother.

At California Adventure we ran into Jessie. Gracie and Hayden were so stoked!

Gracie, Max, and Hayden on the teacups!

Miss Rosalie...so tired after a long Disney day.

Gracie too!

Getting a kiss from Minnie.

So excited to see Mickey Mouse!

Chilling out on Minnie's couch...

And in her sink...

And at her well. We wore out our welcome!

The family with our pal Mickey! Even Harry bear got to tag along.

Rosalie's pictures

We took Rosalie to get her 6 week pictures taken. Anyone who knows our little stinker will appreciate what an ordeal that was. We told the photographer when we walked in that we weren't shooting for smiley pics..."just try to get some where she's not crying." And consequently we got several right after she'd quit eating and had dozed off. :) The photographer was VERY patient and we got some really cute ones.


Sweet girl!

Kind of a funny look...but she's not crying! And she is super cute so she can get away with it!

Trying to crawl away. She was just about to start crying.

What a sweet little angel! We had to show off her beautiful blessing dress!

This is my absolute favorite..I just want to kiss her precious little nose!

Baby Rosalie

OK, OK, so I have had a few "gentle" reminders that I haven't posted any pictures of the peanut. I know she's 5 weeks old and I am really behind. But may I remind everyone, HELLO, I had a baby 5 weeks ago! Cut me some slack people! :) It really has been quite crazy around our house and time has flown.

Rosalie Joy was born May 14 at 8:15 am. My water broke at about 6 am on Thursday the 13. It was...a little terrifying. I woke Monti up and he came in. All seemed to be well though. So I called my sister, Tracie. She asked if I as doing ok and I said yes. After I hung up with her I realized that my teeth were chattering and I was shaking alot. So, Monti gave me a blessing and I settled in. I had contractions every 5 mins or so for about an hour and then....NOTHING!! Yes, that's right, a big fat nothing. All day. We played alot of cards. I tried to stay busy. Got the hospital bag together, took a shower and did my hair and makeup, started a couple of loads of laundry. Monti and I went for a walk but, let's face it, we live in Hades and I was miserable outside. So we came back and I got on Wii fit. I did step aerobics and hula hoop...NOTHING!! I was really starting to go crazy. I took a couple of naps thinking I would rest up because things would start anytime now. NOT! So at about 11:30 pm, I called and asked my mom and dad to bring Gracie home. I was tired and discouraged and figured that I needed one last night with just our little family. So my parents got there about midnight and Gracie was really ticked that she wasn't getting to have a sleep over at grandama's. It took a little while to get her calmed down and asleep. I finally laid down next to her to snuggle about 1 am and BAM...there was suddenly NOT nothing. Contractions came on hard and fast. We called my parents and they came back. We got to the hospital at about 3:45 and I was only at a 2. I was a little irritated that I was only at a 2. But went from a 2 to having her in a little over 4 hours. So...it went fast. And went really well. We love, love, LOVE our OB Dr. Brass. She was amazing and we were so glad that her capable hands were there to help everything to go so smoothly. So we brought our little princess into the world in a room filled with people we love the most and who love her and us the most. It was an incredible, beautiful experience. Gracie got to be there to watch her sister be born and she still tells anyone who will listen all about it!! It was AMAZING!!!

So, without further ado....Rosalie Joy Randall 6 lbs. 15 oz. 20 1/2 in.

Gracie LOVES that baby sister!

Dr. Brass....the awesomest doc in the world!

Gracie, Rosalie, and "Harry Bear"

Ready for her first trip to church

Can ya tell that she likes her baby?

Daddy's pretty proud too!

What a cutie!! I may be slightly partial.

Snuggling sisters. Look at all that blonde hair.

Both girls got to be princesses on Rosalie's blessing day.