Two years with my beautiful baby girl

I think it is official that I no longer can call Makaylee a baby. However, she loves playing with babies.

She turned two on Saturday. Weighs 23lbs and is 34 inches tall. Apprently, she is tall and skinny. Every girls dream. I am still in shock. I remember thinking when I just had Caleb that moms who didn't want there little ones to grow up so fast were crazy. I really couldn't relate. Now it feels like a blink and I have a little guy wearing pants that look huge and my sweetie is truly asserting her independence multiple times a day. Her birthday was pretty low key. We haven't really developed a group of friends that I felt like I could ask to humor me as we celebrated her birthday, so we decided to just hang out with the four of us.

Blowing out her first birthday candle with a little help from Brother

First, we went to our favorite place for breakfast. Mainly because the power was out at our house, but I wasn't arguing.

The reason our power was out

Then we went to this awesome place in the mall. I really think we picked the perfect location to celebrate Makaylee's birthday. The kids loved Giggles and Smiles and could not get enough.

We decided after this fun filled event we would have some down time and then headed to church. There we ran into our sweet friends. We had planned to go out to dinner as a family for one final celebration, but to my joy our friends agreed to come along. It was such a special treat. It would have been fun with just the four of us; however, it was heart warming being surrounded with people that have made adjusting to our new lives much easier. I felt like it was God confirming that He lead us here and is guiding and providing. The staff at Max and Erma's added to the fun with a special birthday song.

Makaylee blowing out candle number 2

It is funny how I let a day that was such a cause to celebrate bring out my insecurities. It really felt like such a reminder of the longing I have for those friends that feel like family. In my insecurity I couldn't even see that we have those people here I just need to be willing to put myself out there and ask them to engage with us. In my insecurity I thought they would rather not be asked, so silly. I sure don't want to pass this on to my little ones. I frequently pray that Makaylee will not have many of the insecurities that I battled as a teenager and still at times rear their ugly head. If you have a teenager and want to know a little about some of the struggles they are battling today this blog my aunt's doing will give you some great insight. Emmie's Hope
I recently started reading Beth Moore's new book So Long Insecurity. I haven't gotten too far into it yet, but I'm learning that far more people than we might think struggle in this area. One thing she addresses is even attractive people can be insecure. It made me think of those people out there that might seem intimidating that you might think don't need a friend. I've definitely learned it is better to reach out and deal with rejection then to miss an opportunity to make someone feel special. I don't know that I would have such an appreciation for this if I wasn't in this season of adjustment. I am thankful for this knowledge. Praying for the strength to do something with it and not let my fear of rejection be a hindrance.

Great time and The Great Dalmuti

We are approaching the 11 month mark from when we moved up here and although I really like it there is one aspect that is still really hard. That is missing my dear friends. When you become a parent the dynamic of parenting differences in friendship is introduced. This for me has been challenging. How do you deal with parenting difference? I'm sure as the kids get older this issue will probably become more complicated, but right now it has me craving my like minded friends in the big D. However, as much as I crave the comfort of those relationships that were built over the years I am excited about the amazing neighbors I've been blessed with. I really believe God placed us in the perfect home. To me it is just awesome that there are young kids all around us and that we have 2 neighbors in particular that not only love Jesus, have little kids around the same age as ours, but they are a blast to hang out with. We had them over for fun play time and pizza and then they put their kids down at our house and we broke out the Great Dalmuti. A fun game some friends of ours in Texas (thanks Ben and Ebeth) introduced us to. As you will see from the pictures this game is not the Ruiz's strong point. We still had an awesome time and I so look forward to getting to know them better and watching our boys and girls grow up together.

Just in case I didn't communicate it effectively I wasn't referencing these couples and their parenting. I really don't know their particular parenting styles yet, but their kids are all amazing. We had 3 boys 4 and under and 2 girls under 2 all go down without any trouble. I have to say this might not be a big deal to some, but it was like Christmas morning to me.

Greater Peon 4x

One

Two, yes hide your head in shame.

Three, your DISGUSTING!!

Leslie looking so cute in the pink Peon hat.

Jack crashed out in Caleb's chair.

Jeremy was the Greater Peon 3x

Yes, that is super embarrassing.

And, four!!

The Dunbar's rocked at this game. Carrie was only the Peon the last hand of the night. Other than that they dominated. As you may notice I was never pictured, because even though I came in second to last I was never the Great Peon. Terry was the GREAT DALMUTI!!

Jack extra comfy in the chair.

Landon sacked out with his moose, Bull. I would have taken pictures of all 5 of our precious ones cuddled up for the night, but my camera died at a very inopportune time.