Hands up!

-------- Original message --------
From: "Rehner, Art"
Date:06/30/2014 9:01 PM (GMT-05:00)
To: Abby Yingling
Subject:

Look familiar?

First Coaster

Daddy is very excited to have a riding buddy!

Mommy can I fit in here?

I think I'm stuck.

All cats go to Heaven

But really, especially this one.

See also:   http://youtu.be/qGuSYbXyc9M

Guess the girls' weight

We're at their one year visit.  Who has guesses on their weight?

Synchronized Sleeping

Looooooooong kisses for Daddy

Note: We MUST teach him to close his eyes when kissing.

Life with Yaya and Poobah

I don't know who is more in love - them with the kids or the kids with them.  It's an excellent question.

First ponytail!

They're really growing up.

Costco

We got enough food to last a few days.

(We really do look like a traveling circus.)

Betting the ponies

Arthur picked his first trifecta: 1-3-6.  He did not win, but cheered enthusiastically.

Norah cried and cried in her stroller til I picked her up so she could see the horses.  She waved to every one that galloped by. We have a real animal lover on our hands!

Ceci took a nap.  

Pappy would be so proud!!!

Lounging by the pool

Father's Day with Pappy 2014

Father's Day 2014

I had fairly high expectations for my husband since I have the BEST DAD IN THE WORLD but watching him be a father to our kids often takes my breath away.   He is our son's first best friend and our daughters' first true love.  He is my partner - cooking, cleaning, changing diapers, kissing and hugging and teaching Arthur to buy flowers for his girls.  We celebrate him and are thankful for him every single day.

Strawberry Pickers

Summer Saturday Morning

Sweetest boy

It's rare these days that I get to cuddle with my little boy while he naps, but as we're learning to sleep without our bubba we've needed extras snuggles. It's my pleasure. 

Arthur says

As he's using the bathroom:  "Mama what is that SMELL?!  It STINKS in here."

Poobah's Day

We celebrated an early Poobah's Day with my Dad today.  After dinner, he gave the girls a bath and put them in their pjs (as he always does when he's with us at bedtime).  Not only do my kids absolutely adore him, he is still my biggest fan, the first I call when I need a voice of reason. I can't tell you how proud it makes me when people tell me (often!) - OH, you're just like your DAD!  You know what they always say... Only the best Dads get promoted to Poobahs.  Isn't it the truth?

No brother left behind

While Arthur is in time out in his room.

Fried Oreo

Clearly delicious.

(He ate 2 and half of mine.)

Our girls

People often ask us if the girls have very different personalities.  Here we have Norah, who has lost her shoe and stolen Cecily's sippy cup, which she is drinking with reckless abandon.  Ceci, on the other hand, is displaying her classic skepticism - worried that perhaps this just isn't a good idea after all.

Poobah's Bubba

Mom: Big kids don't have bubbas, you know?  DADDY doesn't have a bubba.

Arthur: Yeah, but POOBAH has a BIG bubba!  He does!

Arthur says

Lying in bed:

Mama, will you rub my back?

No!  On the inside!  (Under his shirt)

Oh wow.  That feels like...  feels like...  WONDERFUL!

Derek

Half my life ago, I spent the summer doing community theatre with a scrawny smart assed kid who drove me crazy.  As is usually the case, this irritation grew into friendship.  Through the years he sent me dozens of scripts that I would edit mercilessly, returning with a note signed "XOXO!!!"  Today, a decade and a half later, I took my little boy to his first movie in the theater, written by none other than my oldest and dearest friend.  As Arthur laughed at the witty dialogue (seems those years of editing paid off...), I wondered what those teenagers would think if we told them where they would end up.  I like to think that they'd be pleasantly surprised - especially to know they'd still be friends after all these years.

Out and about

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!