happy valentine's day.

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I love these Valentine's photo's taken by Rachel Cleere Photography! Rachel is my cousin Jon-Michael's girlfriend and we can't wait for her to "officially" be a member of our family!
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They are my whole world.

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I love this kissy face!

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My handsome Valentine!

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Cousins! LilliAnn, Reid, Pierce, Cason, & Emma

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Reid and Cason

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LilliAnn with baby Pierce...she absolutely ADORES him! (See Jeb...don't we need one more?!)

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XOXO the rollins ruckus

all-star.

While watching the All-Star basketball game tonight...

Reid is sitting up in bed, yelling at the t.v. 
"Come on All-Stars! If you wanna be an All-Star, just be it! That's what you are...an All-Star! What are you thinking Harden?! You're supposed to play like a All-Star! And a baller...yeah, baller too! Get buzzer beaters and stuff! Hey that guy looks like Larry. You know what Larry? Larry Bird. No, not Larry Bird. I mean the mohawk player...Birdman! If they tie we get a replay right? I mean overtime. (Starts singing Space Jam) We're gonna take it into overtime!"


Then LilliAnn says, "Where. Is. Michael Jordan?!"
R: "He doesn't play anymore, sissy." 
L: "Oh, cause he's in the dunk contest?" 

Oh my...my children and their conversations!

LilliAnn's Valentine's Party {2013}

Yesterday was LilliAnn's Valentine's Day party for her dance class. She was so excited and had been talking about the party all week! 

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During one of the songs they have to make a big circle...and a little circle. The girls think it's so fun when they all get close together for the little circle.

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I took this picture while she was doing her ballet dance. They are dancing to a song called, "Beautiful Baby," and I get tears in my eyes every time I hear it. I know at recital I am going to be a bawl bag! Watching my baby girl doing her plies, arabesque, and beautiful ballerina turns makes my heart burst with pride. LilliAnn is everything I ever dreamed of in a little girl...and more.

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She kept looking in the big mirrors and making a kissy face. It was too cute!

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Tap time!

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These little tap shoes just melt my heart!

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Stickin out her blue tongue!

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Kisses from the SDC 3 year-old class

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Of course, it's tough trying to get a good pic of preschoolers with balloons!

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Party time! We had the best little Valentine party. Everyone brought Valentines, snacks, goody bags, and balloons! 

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My sweet angel baby. There is just something about a mother's relationship with her daughter. 

This was my favorite picture of the day. 

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Of all the goodies, she liked the heart-shaped sucker the best!

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We couldn't leave dance without striking a pose!

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I made heart-shaped sandwiches for the party...turkey & cheese and peanut butter & jelly! 

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My friend Taryn and I got together this week and made Valentine's puppy chow. It was so easy to make and tasted absolutely delicious!! 

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I put the puppy chow in individual little bags with a tag/Valentine that said, "Happy Valentine's Day! With PUPPY Love,  LilliAnn"

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They were adorable and were a HUGE hit! 

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It was yet another successful SDC party! LilliAnn had a blast and always looks forward to her party days. I know that some of my earliest memories were of dance parties with magic sugar cookies. Hopefully, these will be some of LilliAnn's best memories too. 

little love bugs.

A couple of weeks ago, we went to Norman and did a super cute Valentine mini session with the amazing Angel Porch of Art & Soul Photography! She had a red Volkswagon bug in her studio and it made for the most adorable Valentine's Day pictures! I wanted to share a few pictures of my little Valentines...

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This was our Valentine's Day pictures 2 years ago! I can't believe how much they've grown!

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The top pictures are from last year....Look! LilliAnn really is getting some hair!

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 My handsome Valentine!

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And, my gorgeous sweetheart!

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Happy Valentine's Day from my little LOVE BUGS!

a little update...

I cannot believe I haven't blogged anything since Christmas! January is looking kind of blank on the blog, so I thought I would make a quick catch up post before heading to bed.

The week after Christmas, the director of the Nurse Practitioner Program at OU called and asked me if I would consider being adjunct faculty for the Pharmacology for Advanced Practice Nursing course. Because I absolutely LOVE the program director, Cathrin Carithers (who was one of my previous instructors), because I LOVE the OU College of Nursing, and because I am weird and LOVE school, I said yes. There are about sixty students in the course and although it is mostly on-line, we still have conference calls a few times a week and there is lots of grading to be done. I am currently helping the main instructor for the course, Dianna Webber, update and finish up the last module for the course. It has been a while since I have done a PowerPoint, and I even have to narrate it for the students. Eeeek! The grading takes up some of my time, but I am enjoying being busy (most days!).

I am only filling in for Tricia now at the clinic, which means I usually see patients about two days a month. I miss having my own patients, but I love getting to spend more time with my babies. I have the rest of my life to work, and my babies won't be little for very much longer.
Yesterday we met with an architect and started discussing the plans for our new home. I am very excited, but even more overwhelmed! I am so not good with decisions....especially big decisions...and I overanalyze everything! I tend to be a very visual person, so hard for me to get the idea of what the general flow of my house will be when I am looking at it on a piece of paper. So....I am just trying to breathe and enjoy this process...take things one day at a time and hope that we get started on this house in the next couple of months (if I can ever get my plans finished!).

Reid is playing basketball at the YMCA and Jeb is coaching his team. He mama thinks he is the star player, of course, and he has scored 12, 14,  and 10 points in his last three games. They don't keep score at this age, but Reid makes sure that I am keeping track while I am cheering him on in the bleachers. He wears Under Armour, Nike, and his K.D. or Michael Jordan shoes almost every day, and it is a fight to get any other type of clothing on that kid. This evening, he put on his Nike shorts and his #23 headband and wristbands, then walked into the living room to show LilliAnn. "How do I look?" He asked. She replied, "SO very handsome!" Reid got a really big kick out of her response.
If this little boy isn't practicing his hoops, he's at the table working a jigsaw puzzle...his new obsession. He is actually very good at puzzles! I have found that Reid and I really bond when working puzzles together, because it seems to be a quiet, relaxing activity for our high-strung personalities.

LilliAnn is getting quite the personality...I mean, I thought her personality couldn't get any bigger, but these past few weeks she has really been outgoing! As I described her when she was an infant...she is such a joy! He giggles, silly sayings, sweet words, beautiful dances (especially her new "shake it" move), her poses, and her intelligence (she is already writing "Lilli" by herself!), far outweigh the temper tantrums and little diva fits that have seemed to surface this past month. She knows all of her letters and their sounds, knows her birthday, can count to 20, spell her name, knows the words to several songs, can write several of her letters, can wipe herself (very efficiently!), and can climb up onto ANYTHING....especially if there is candy at the top!
Her hair is crazy, curly, and still pretty short, but it fits her personality perfectly! The front is finally starting to get some length and I love being able to put it in a ponytail. She loves all things princess...especially Cinderella, and cannot wait for her "beautiful princess birthday at the castle at Disney World where Cinderella will eat my cake with me."

Jeb is enjoying coaching Reid's basketball team. Reid keeps him busy playing baseball in the backyard or playing NBA 2K13 on the PlayStation. He spends all of his free time with our kids and is truly the BEST daddy in the world! He took Reid to Papa Jeff's house in Ada last weekend and they had a great time playing on the farm and gathering chicken eggs. Jeb really likes the "country boy" life and still isn't so sure about us building our new home in the Country Club. We're still keeping our eye out for land that isn't too far out of town, but will most likely build on our lot. It is a big lot at the end of the cul-de-sac, in the gated back part of the Shawnee Country Club, so I think it will be a great location for our family! I told him that we can always buy land later and he can build him a little "man shop" on his land.

The Rollins Ruckus have been busy little bees, as usual...but we wouldn't have it any other way! Stay tuned for a post that showcases our adorable Valentine pictures! Lots of love <3 p="">