All Gone

We traveled home this weekend to celebrate Ryan's 2nd birthday (pictures coming soon) and for all of our family to meet Darby. It was a great, long weekend full of family and fun. While we were gone, our fabulous friends The Mosholders and the Flanagans helped us with a huge project that we have been wanting to do for a while now, remove the trees from our backyard. We want the backyard we once had...Unfortunately, we do not have this gorgeous yard anymore due to our stupid dogs. They have overfertilized and dug so many holes in our yard that the grass stopped growing, the plants died, and our beautiful flower beds wilted away.

So...

We felt like we had to start with phase 1...get rid of the trees that keep the grass from growing (they were partially to blame) and to simply give us more yard. Phase 2 will be to build a pen for the dogs. Phase 3 is laying the sod and getting Ryan a swing set. Phase 4 will be an addition to the house that expands into the backyard. Of course this is a very long term goal, but a goal none the less.

So, the "Flanholder Tree Removal Service" took out 4 of the 6 trees in our backyard. These trees are not like little stubs these are HUGE mature trees. The task was not an easy one, but all 4 of the trees were gone by the time we got home Sunday evening. These guys were CRAZY, I cannot believe how high up they were. Enjoy the pics.

Okay so this view is from the front, but those are the 4 trees that were taken out. Like I said, HUGE! Yeah, can you see the man up in the tree, so crazy!
The process... Again, the process... Taking down the third tree This is the most "final" pic I have...I haven't taken one yet. The tree behind the man was removed as well.
I will post a final pic of the backyard once I get off my lazy bottom and take one. I cannot wait for all of the remodeling of the backyard to begin!

Changing

Every day, every day I see changes in both of my girls. It literally makes me cry looking at baby pictures of Ryan and how much she has changed. Goodness, even looking at pictures of Darbs from 3 weeks ago and seeing how much she has filled out. I am so proud of both of them, they are adorable! PS...This is a classic Darby face, we like to call it the Benjamin Button look

My Man

While I was writing my post dedicated to Kim, I wanted to give another big shout out. This man deserves more than a post on the blog, but I do what I can. This man has been absolutely amazing these past two weeks of my recovery. Totally entertaining Ryan while I am feeding Darbs, building a fort in the front yard for all of the cousins to play in, buying Smore materials so the kids could make smores one night, taking endless trips to the park, grilling out every now and then, and still tending to me for whatever I need while getting back in the swing of things.

This man is my amazing husband (duh), Bill Ryan Ferguson

I mean I know everyone has their soul mate, but Bill is more than that. I can literally rip off Jerry McGuire and say, "He completes me." In every way a person can complete another, Bill does that for me. I had a blast being Bill's girlfriend back in college, it's a trip being his wife, and well raising children with him is just the best thing ever. He always knows how to make me smile, laugh, calm me down, get me hyped...he can do it all!
All of the kids are literally crazy about Uncle Bill. Bill is not the guy who is going to sit inside and put the kids in front of a movie and push play. No, no, no, he is outside running around like a mad man with three little munchkins trailing behind. What an awesome guy! Thank you baby for giving me everything! I am the luckiest woman in the world. I love you!

Super Aunt

It's a bird, it's a plane, no it's Aunt Kim. Yes, this woman is literally superwoman. The Koseks ventured over to Auburn last weekend, and unluckily at the time, their car broke down on the way. Lucky for me, the part they had to order took three days to get here, so Kim and the kids had to stay until Monday to wait for their car to be fixed. Kim and I have been trying to come up with a time where we can spend the week together since I am off of work for a while, but nothing was working out. Well, the car fixed our problem by breaking down. Kim and the kids stayed in Auburn until Thursday. I will admit, there were some stressful times with 5 kids in the house, but we had SUCH AN AWESOME TIME! I love seeing all of the cousins together just loving on each other and getting to know one another better.

Now, keep in mind I was still in recovery at this time. But, no need to fear, Kim was here! Every morning Kim woke up with 4 kids (excluding Darbs, her and I were still sleeping), made them breakfast, and entertained them until I got up. She knew I was having trouble adjusting to waking up with a baby again, so she took over kid patrol. She took them on a nature walk one morning in the backyard, ventured out to Target with all of the kids for one whole afternoon so Darbs and I could have some time together, took all of the kids to the library, entertained them outside while I was feeding. I mean doing all of this while she has a 4 month old to take care of herself.

Kim was so patient, so laid back, and really just showed me yet again why she is my role model. I have always looked up to my sister, but this past week really opened my eyes to a whole other side of her. The way she is with kids is seriously an art. Honestly, how many moms do you see in public with 4 kids acting cool, calm, and collected. She took a 4 year old, 2 2 year olds, and a 4 month old on multiple outings. Every time when she got home, I nervously asked her how it went, she just smiled and said, "Oh great, the kids were awesome and we all had a great time!"...AMAZING!

Oh, also, I mean how did she get Ryan to just lay down and take a nap? How did it happen? I have to read her like 75 books, rock her to sleep, tip toe to her bed, put her down ever so gently, then basically slither out of the room so I do not make the floor squeak. Kim just went up there, told her it was time to go night night and BOOM, she was out. AMAZING!

All of the kids are running around the house with their chocolate milk cups, spilling it everywhere, making small puddles all over the kitchen, and then rubbing it into the carpet. One small command from Kimmer, "Kids, you need to keep your drinks on the table!" Done, no more chocolate milk stains! AMAZING!

Is there anything this woman cannot do. I am truly amazed at her composure everyday. We had the best time together and the best part is, the kids did too! Thanks so much Kimmy, I love you so much and you continue to blow my mind with all you can handle!

My Big Girl

One of the most commonly asked questions nowadays is, "How is Ryan adjusting to Darby?" Well, the answer is beautifully. Ryan has been such a big girl and so helpful around the house since her little sister graced our household. I feel like I left Ryan (to go to the hospital) as a toddler and came back to a KID. I just feel like she has changed so much in the past two weeks, time is basically running right by me. She has had such a good time with her little sister and even better her cousins are in town, enjoy the pics...

Since we have such big girls, we decided it was time to take them for their first mani/pedi. They had a blast picking out their colors. Ryan went with neon green and pink and Kate chose neon orange and purple.

Most people like to soak their feet in the pedicure tub, well Ryan liked to soak her entire body from the waist down and continue to splash while the women were grinding away at mommy's feet.

Kim and Kate getting their nails done.

I had the best time just hanging out with this girl. We cuddled in the chair, then had a cookie and diet coke/apple juice snack at Toomer's Coffee. Of course my amazing husband watched Darbs so we could have this time together.

Big girl under the nail dryer.
Gigi with her 5 great grandkids.

Kate and Ryan riding Uncle Bill. He is so amazing with all of these kids.

Aunt Kim reads these kids a bedtime story every night. Ryan requests her for bathtime. She loves her so much.
Yes, that is Ryan in the shower with the dogs. She likes to lock them in there and every now and then she will get brave and lock herself in there too. Who knows what random game she is playing in her mind, but she can literally entertain herself in there for 10 minutes.

Daddy and his girls. Damn, I am so lucky to have this man!

Sorry, had to slip this little gem in there. Look at those beautiful eyes!

I told Ryan to go and pick out her PJs and this is what she came downstairs in. How impressed are you, Bill did her hair! I was so proud of him!

We had Lucy and Scarlett Adams over the other night for some pizza, movies, and popcorn. All of the kids built a blanket fort, which I used to love doing. They snuggled in and watche, "Horton Hears a Who." They were so adorable.
As you can see it has been kid land around the house lately, but we are having such an amazing time with the little ones.

Some Random Pics

As I am uploading more pics, I am finding some adorable pics that I have to share.

I mean just too precious for words...

The quilt Aunt Jill made her. The name came off of a high school t-shirt, I LOVE IT!

Darby and Aunt Jill
One of the only bright eyed pictures we have, what can I say, the girls loves to sleep.

Definitely a disgusting picture of me, but the only family pic we have up to this point. Maybe I will put on make-up again one of these days.

Kisses, kisses, kisses
I love how Ryan is sitting in this picture, I feel like she grew up overnight.

Pa and Ryan coming back from the library. Yeah, so I live on the SAME STREET as the public library and have not taken my child there. Apparently, she had an amazing time (disappointing mommy moment).

An exhausted daddy and Uncle Dan.

We love those long toes

Grammy and Pa

The Girls' Rooms

Pretty much from the day we found out I was pregnant, people asked what we were going to do with Darby's room. It was almost like people were concerned about where we were going to put her. We just kept saying, well we are going to give her the office, but don't know what we are going to do in there. We talked about a couple of ideas, but nothing really stuck. Well, as time went by so did the idea of doing something to her room. Jump forward 9 months to January and still nothing had been done to Darby's room...enter Kim and Bill.

I am not going to pretend that I am the homemaking, creative type. I am just not. I think I missed that one in the gene pool. Luckily, I have an amazingly talented husband and a seamstress for a sister. So with their minds combined they turned both of my daughter's rooms into a magical kid wonderland.

We refer to Darby's room as the "Sky is the Limit" room. The fan is a picture of outer space, there are 4 hand painted hot air balloon pictures (made by Bill), a cloud mural with Darby's name in the middle, an awesome orange and blue circular rug, and homemade curtains and valence by Kim and Bill. We started messing with a few colors, then we just went crazy with color. I thought it was going to be over the top, but it turns out it is absolutely perfect. All of the pictures are still missing a crib (still waiting for Ryan to grow out of that bad boy, but we are in no rush whatsoever), and a recliner (right now ours is downstairs for extra seating for visitors).

The adorable valence and curtains. Curtains and valence sewed by Kim, constructed by Bill. The end table used to be in my room when I was a baby, just repainted. The lamp is a hot air balloon, from Hobby Lobby. Lastly, the sign on the far side of the room read, "Future Auburn Tiger." It is a baby present for Darbs from our neighbor.

I am obsessed with this rug as well, may be my favorite one I have ever owned. Bill's parents got it for Darby as her welcome home gift.

The cloud mural painted by Bill, letters and balloons from Hobby Lobby. Bill is so freaking talented.

Four hot air balloon paintings. At the bottom of each painting is a perfectly placed, "Daddy."Now, Ryan's room back in the Opelika house was like the epitome of a little girl's pink and brown room. I was so in love with her room. Bill worked so hard to make it absolutely amazing. It was definitely the hardest room to leave when we moved. I remember the new owner asked if she could send painters the last day we were in the house, and of course we did not mind. Well, the first room they painted was my sweet little girl's pink room. I almost cried as I saw them cover the lovely pink with dark coffee. Now the only problem with having such a themed nursery, is you have WAY too much pink and brown accessories, but unfortunately no pink and brown walls. So, we just had to make it work. We painted Ryan's new room this soft green and just put every bit of pink and brown accessory up that we could and just hoped that it would all mesh. Well, to me it never did, that was until tonight. My sister made the most amazing curtain/ valence combination. I am obsessed with it. The valence is covered with this adorable owl fabric. I knew I wanted some sort of animals in Ryan's room because she is a fanatic, and when I saw the owls I was sold. My grandma Shirley collects Owls and I love how every time I look at the owls I think of her. SO, finally we are done with the girl's room. Short of Ryan having the one bed that both of them need, we are done (don't worry we have a bassinet for Darbs).

I wanted to cry looking at this picture. It is truly what I wanted Ryan's room to be. Kim, you did such an amazing job!! This is the scene I see every night before bed time. Bill LOVES reading to his little girl. Bookshelves in the back built by Bill, and the toy box was built by Bill's dad and painted by his mom. I love how personalized our girls' rooms are! Little bit closer up. If you look closely you can see the owls, they are so stinking cute! Ryan makes the cutest face when she looks at them.

Picture up top taken by Bill, frame from the Koseks, dresser from Angel's antique.
"R" came from Storkland back in the day, the two outside pictures are framed sewing's that have hung in my mom's room, both me and my sister's rooms, and now in Ryan's room.

Sign came from Storkland, matching bookshelf created by Bill, measuring stick given to us from the Koseks. Ryan always stands against it and says, "tall, tall"

I have walked in their rooms repeatedly tonight and just smiled. It is amazing how much a nice window treatment can totally change the entire outlook of the room. Thanks Kimmer & Bill! Love you guys!!