fun family fourth :: 4th of july.

july 4th fell on a wednesday this year, and since jason was off, it was a very welcomed break in the middle of the week. we decided to take advantage of the free day and pack up the explorer to head to the fort worth zoo. the fort worth zoo happens to have 1/2 price admission days on wednesdays, so it was a perfect treat! ;)

our original plan was to head out early so we could make it to the zoo when it opened to beat the heat. but, as is usual for our little family, that didn't happen. we had a nice morning and didn't rush, which was nice and stress-free. :) my mom got the girls some precious 4th of july outfits from gymboree, including sweet stars & stripes dresses and matching red cowgirl hats & boots! {the girls haven't taken them off yet!}

we stopped at chili's on our way for lunch, where the girls got lots of attention for their unbelievable cuteness. :) it was at chili's that i made a life-changing discovery... emma kate asked for broccoli as her side dish for lunch. broccoli. apparently, my 5-year-old has a love for something super green and healthy! (i'd like to say it's because i'm mom of the year and serve her broccoli all the time, but i'm actually not really sure where this came from... maybe her veggie-love will rub off on her daddy...)

the zoo was relatively busy, but not crazy. we really enjoyed all the exhibits. i especially loved watching the chimpanzees! they're such amazing creatures... really move around and behave like furry humans. :) there was a momma chimp with a new baby, and it was so neat to see how the mother-child relationship is so universal across not only cultures, but also species! i know it's small, but i tried to capture some of our moments with the chimps in this video:

i tried really hard to get some sweet pictures of the girls in their outfits, but none of them really turned out as great as i'd hoped. :) here are some pics from our day at the zoo:

rylie girl before leaving
{please excuse my messy bedroom floor}

our pretty cool ride. :) 

heading into the zoo
rylie already needs a nap. awesome. 

silly & sleepy

checking out the rhino

rylie was so interested in all the animals :)

me & my girl

me & my baby girl {still sleepy}

big daddy gorilla

looking at the gorillas

more interested in the gorillas than in
taking pictures for mommy :)

sign of a fun day :)

love this picture. and this girl. :)

once we got home from the zoo {very hot & very tired} we all took nice long naps. it took some convincing, but jason finally agreed to join us for fireworks at night. (i know it's crazy, but my husband sadly does not get excited about any holiday or the traditional festivities that most people enjoy... so i had to remind him of all the amazing memories he'd be giving to our girls. luckily, he's a really good daddy, so he tagged along!) :) i wanted to join the masses for mckinney's red white & boom in craig ranch, but my husband is {sometimes} smarter than me, so we parked a few miles away, where we could still see the show, but had a quick route out so we wouldn't get stuck in traffic. this was the first year we did fireworks with rylie, and she was really excited. a local radio station was playing music synchronized to the fireworks show, so we turned that up and tailgated in our explorer with lots of other {smart} mckinney residents.

my sweet family waiting for fireworks
{jason, as you can see, is thrilled.}

there is just something about fireworks celebrating our nation that i love. maybe its the tradition... the idea that americans have been gathering every year in july to watch fire and lights in the sky for hundreds of years. that in that moment, we are gathered together, and we are one... all celebrating and being thankful for the same freedom. it's beautiful. it's something i am proud to be a part of. thankful to be a part of. this freedom we are so blessed to have... freedom as americans, and freedom in Christ. i pray my children will grow to understand the price paid for both of these freedoms, and to be eternal grateful and thankful enough to live full in that Freedom.

happy fourth. :)

may you live each day, fully in the Freedom that has been given to you.

new year's 2012 card.

Sparkle And Shine New Year's Card

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catching up :: june 2011 :: father's day.

note: this entry was written in july 2012, in an effort to finally update this little blog on the missing year or two of our lives, while i was so busy starting my new teaching career. :)

father's day 2011 was actually rylie's first father's day! i labored with her all day father's day 2010, but she wasn't born until 7:10 the next morning. :)

to celebrate two of the very special men in our lives (the girls' daddy & papa), we cooked a barbecue dinner at home. i made a cherry glaze for BBQ chicken on the grill (and other things i don't remember). but then i also made these amazing "irish car bomb" cupcakes. there is beer in the batter and bailey's irish creme in the frosting! (i mean. yum.)

irish car bomb cupcakes - yummo!

love these cupcake toppers :: "TIE-riffic DAD!" :)

emma's daddy is #1 :)

daddy & his girls
{emma-4, rylie-1}

emma kate & papa

father's day tie banner

i had lots of fun decorating the house for our daddies' special day.

i also made these collage prints for jason's father's day gift... i actually made them for FREE at walgreens.com! :) FREE is the best kind of gift, right?

a year in pictures :: 2010-2011

love this family :: 2010-2011

emma's note to daddy: "Love you, Daddy!"
june 2011 - 4 years old

pumpkin fills.

i was emptying out the camera today in an attempt to finally update the ol' blog-a-roo, and i came across some really precious gems - one of which being this video. :)

this was filmed only about 2 weeks after emma kate's 3rd birthday. we were making jack-o-lanterns. her first ever, in fact. i was about half-way through my last semester of college at TWU, and i was also about 6 weeks pregnant with our sweet rylie.

my, what a difference 10 months makes - especially in the growing-up of my "baby" girl!! i was shocked as i watched, how young emma looks and sounds in this video. her voice sounds so baby-ish and although she's always be very advanced verbally, i couldn't believe she sounded this young so recently. her vocabulary and sentence structure is so "toddler-ish!" it seems like a lifetime ago... and its only been a few months.

anyway, enjoy this little peek into a sweet family memory. i'm so thankful i found this!

{aren't you a bit ready for fall, now?} ;)

christmas card 2009.

this post (like all others coming soon) is super overdue!

this was the christmas card from the rains family this year... i designed it at vistaprint.com and think it turned out really great - especially for what it is! the colors on the actual card are SO much more vivid and festive... the scanner didn't do it justice. :)

...and i love this picture for 2 reasons:

1) emma's smile is simply irresistable! it is definitely kiss-worthy... and we laugh, because she totally looks like she came right from an episode of "toddlers and tiaras!" don't you think? :)

2) this is our very first picture as a family of four! our friends, the stewarts, snapped this photo at a trip to the big orange pumpkin farm in october - right after we'd found out about the little bean growing inside of me. so fun!

f i v e.

our wedding day :: 11.07.2004

2009 :: still best friends.

2009 :: still enjoying life.

5 years later :: october 2009
{our first photo as a family of F O U R}

yesterday, jason and i celebrated our first major milestone as a married couple (aside from babies & buying our first home)... our 5 - Y E A R :: A N N I V E R S A R Y.

it sounds so strange to say we've been married for 5 years - i feel like i walked down the aisle just yesterday. it's crazy how quickly life goes by. sometimes i want to just press "pause" and sit and enjoy it for awhile ya know? i mean... 5 years ago, today, we were spending our first night of our honeymoon at disney world... our second night together as husband & wife (or ever, for that matter)! we had only dreams and hopes for the years to come.

today, 5 years later, we have a home, a precious daughter, a little one on the way, a job full of opportunities, 6 weeks until college graduation, and a whole group-hug full of the best friends and family we could ask for.

we have cried, stressed, laughed, prayed, dreamed, prayed and grown a lot. God shows us how to love each other the way He designed a little more every day. it's really neat to think that i've gone through so much of the important stuff with jason... and to think about how much more we'll go through together. it's nice to know it will be him. i couldn't think of anyone i'd rather face this life with!

five years. we've come a long way. i can't wait to see how far He'll take us over the next 5 years. :)

happy anniversary, love! i am so blessed by your love and friendship, and the father you are to our children. i love you!

daddy's day.

emma is very, very blessed to have such a wonderful daddy! (and i am very blessed to be married to him.)

we got to celebrate "daddy" on sunday, and i think it was a great day!

we woke up early to go with jason's parents to the first service at woodcreek, but they had to wait until the later service, so we made an impromptu visit to our sweet friends the berardinellis, and coaxed them to come to breakfast with us! it was a great way to start our day... yummy breakfast at cindi's cafe in richardson... really sweet friends... lots of fun. :)

then, we headed off to church to do our normal sunday-thing.

we spent the afternoon taking naps and doing homework (guess who?)... we were so exhausted from katie and cory's wedding (which was saturday!), that we had kind of a lazy day.

we topped the night off with some great italian food at covino's with "nonna & grampa" (jason's parents) and "lulu" (jason's sister lindsey). it was a wonderful way to celebrate jason's dad, kevin... who doesn't love food and fellowship? :)

here are some pics from our special day:

the card emma made her daddy at church


emma & 2 of her favorite guys: grampa & daddy
(my daddy "papa" is the only one missing!)


we love daddy!


emma actually took this picture of us!


"lulu," "grampa," emma kate & "daddy"
after dinner at covino's

...and finally...

this picture is not from father's day, but it's really sweet. our family is so happy... we really love each other. we are blessed to have jason as our husband and father. he adds laughter to our home. he makes us smile. he is silly. he loves hard. he makes our family complete. we love him so much.

happy father's day, jason!
you are so loved.

hope you all enjoyed father's day... either celebrating the father of your little ones, your own father, or someone special in your life that played the role of a father. moms always get so much attention, but we need to remember how important our daddy's are. :)

have a great day!

gifted.

well, christmas has come and gone. isn't it crazy, how quickly it is over, after all the build-up and anticipation? i am a bit sad that it is all over, but we had a wonderful christmas this year. emma had so much fun with santa and presents, and having mommy & daddy home to play!

we've had "christmas" with our family, my family, and jason's family (although there is another "christmas" with jason's family next week), and my family got me some great gifts!

i thought i'd share a few with you:

donna & kevin (my wonderful in-laws) got me this fabulous new rachael ray cookware set! it is my first matching set with lids and everything! i love them! (and they're green!)

jason got me a very thoughtful gift this year... since he HATES watching my girlie, romantic movies (especially period pieces!), he so selflessly selected an entire collection of jane austen dvd's! this set includes the classic bbc adaptations (mostly mini-series) of SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, EMMA, PERSUASION, NORTHANGER ABBEY, MANSFIELD PARK, and PRIDE AND PREJUDICE! he also got me SENSE & SENSIBILITY (the one with kate winslett) and LES MISERABLES. we watched EMMA (with gwyneth paltrow) this weekend, and we are watching MANSFIELD PARK as we speak. he vowed to watch each and every one of them with me... what a great husband!

jason also has a talent for picking out super cute shoes that he knows i will love! these little peep toes will be so cute with a black dress or some jeans! (don't you LOVE the lacy bow?!)

ok, i think these just might be my new favorite shoes! they are SO cute with jeans (i wore them to church today), super comfortable, and the bright yellow makes me so happy. they come in black, brown & plum, too... hmmm... what is in my closet that just screams the need for plum colored shoes?...

and these... these just look super comfy, and like i can wear them in all seasons! kinda funky, too... great job jason!

my parents got me (among other great things) a fun, slouchy, yellow hobo bag similar to this one. (i couldn't find a picture of the exact bag, so i went for this one!) i love it because a) i love big bags, b) it's happy yellow like my shoes, c) i can use it ALL year, and d) i love big bags! so cute!

and one more noteworthy gift... jason stuffed my stocking with 60 $1-bills! the idea was for me to have cash to get to spend on whatever i wanted. $60... that's some fun spending money, huh? but what i think is so funny, is that he actually went to the bank and asked for $60 in ones... haha! i wonder what that bank teller thought jason was doing later that night?!?! i bet she giggled with her co-workers about it later... oh goodness... i wonder if i could find her and assure her that my sweet husband does not partake in those activities! :)

beautiful girl.

last night, we we got together with some of my daddy's side of the family for a christmas celebration. it was coined the christmas "cave-in." (because my maiden name is "cave"... ha.) anyway, we went to my uncle doug (my dad's borther) and aunt debra's house. their son aaron, and his wife bess were there, along with their daughter gloria, who was visiting from north carolina. we miss glo! aunt debra's mom, dot, was also visiting, from arkansas, i think. another one of my dad's brothers, my uncle kevin, and his wife leslie were there, with uncle kevin's son tyler. my parents and brother, cory, joined us, and we had a great time. of course, there were MANY family members missing (my dad is the oldest of 7!), but we really enjoyed a time of catching up with family and sharing food and fun together!

my cousins, aaron and gloria, are both into photography, and were taking lots and lots of pictures. i don't know which one snapped these pics of emma kate, but i'm in love with them!

so, i thought i'd share. : )

i think she's playing the piano here... obviously concentrating hard on something!

playing aunt debra's piano

being silly

joy

(part of) the cave family

(from left to right)
top row: my daddy & mom, uncle kevin & aunt leslie, dot "me-maw" beck (aunt debra's mom), aunt debra & uncle doug
on the couch: bess (aaron's wife) & baby girl in her tummy, me, emma, jason, gloria
on the floor: aaaron, my brother cory, tyler