I promised this a few posts ago... Here is proof that Elizabeth and Caden can both write their names! Yay! Great Job kido's!! So proud of you!!

 I love everything about this one!

 London and Daddy at their school Christmas party! She had a blast and it was awesome having dad there with us!

{Video} Lizzy reciting the Pledge of Allegiance sans the 'now a moment of silence' command! :)


{Video} Twinkle Twinkle Little Star


Next post, CHRIMATIME!!!! Woo hoo! So excited!

Can't stop watching this video

I can not stop watching this video! I think it is so funny! If you are an email subscriber, you're gonna have to visit the actual blog to see it! And do!! It's worth it!!

oh, if an ad pops up on the video, click the 'x' in the corner to close it.

Why I spent my 30's in tears

Yesterday was my 30th birthday. I cried all day.

Not because it was horrible. Because it was perfect.

Because my home is filled with so much love.

Because my mother cares enough to go out of her way to make sure my life, all of it,  is unforgettable.

Because of God's goodness and enormous amount of grace he freely gave to me.

Tears of joy came all day long. The surprise phone calls, messages, and emails literally stopped me in my tracks.

I woke to a precious card and gift from my main squeeze.

My baby, who always wakes up singing, flipped right over when I woke her up and started singing 'Happy birthday to you'. That was a total God thing.

Lunch with my incredible brother and his family. God thank you for my big brother.

My dad, with his gruff exterior, called and sang 'Happy Birthday' to my voicemail. It is one of the most wonderful thing my ears have ever heard. I love him so much.

My mother reminded around 100 of our closest friends and family that yesterday was my 30th birthday. I heard from all of them I believe.

A call from a friend who's voice was immediately recognizable.

Connections from friends I haven't heard from in years.

A phone call from India.

A email from our pastor.

A happy birthday wish from this guy:

It was amazing. I can't wait for my 30's. Yesterday was bar none one of the best days of my life. Thank you to all who contributed and made my day perfect. I will never forget my 30th bday. 

With all of my heart... that is filled to the brim..... I love you. 

Twitter Fun

A sweet, sweet friend babysat London for me this morning so I could go on a training run. While I was gone, she tweeted this:
There is something that feels so appropriate about feeding the new police officer's daughter donuts for breakfast

Hilarious!

Officer Powers Lane

I couldn't be more proud of my man! This past Friday, Powers graduated from Police Academy. It was long, it was hard... he was maced, he was tazed, he was gassed, but he persevered and made it through! And, he came out on top! Powers graduated 4th in his class! I must admit, there has been a lot of eye rolling on my part over the last 6 months... mostly for my annoyance that they had to buy so much gear to actually become a police office (note to anyone who's hubbs is thinking of signing up... SAVE UP!) but when I saw my man walk across the stage, I couldn't have been more proud! HE DID IT!!

And, he came with a wolf pack of support! His supporters: His folks, Renny, my mom, brother, and sis-n-law, Timmy (one of the world's greatest), the Lane's best friend Gail (all the way from Jxn), annnnnd hailing from ARIZONA..... LIZ!!! Family best friend and 2nd mom to Powers. She came all the way across country to be there for him! He is loved!

Here is a video of the ceremony. This is his graduating class entering, saying their class moto, then taking their vow of service.



Here are pictures from our day! Out of order because this thing never works how I want it to!

Police Chief AC Roper

Receiving his badge

 My man is FINE. 

 Powers and Liz

 Half of his ladies!

 Getting pinned by his Dad!

 Most of the entourage 

Home from his 1st day of work!

Well, were 4 days in and he's given out a number of traffic violations, arrested a few folks for domestic violence, found drugs, and been on the scene of a death (natural death, praise the Lord). So, pray for us. This sure got real really quickly! 

We're proud of you my mind! Thank you for enduring all that you went through for our family! We love you so!

Writer's Block- Santa Pictures Edition

So, Santa came to London's school. If you read this blog at all, you know London is psyched about Santa this year. Loves him so much. So, i was hoping for great things from her Santa pictures. I was hoping for either (a) grinning like a monkey.. that applies to any picture ever, not just santa pics or (b) screaming mad... because what picture of a kid wigging out in Santa's lap isn't funny?!?

Well, I guess in true London fashion, we got this:

Stoic and holding a naked baby doll. What am I supposed to do with this?? I have writer's block. Merry Christmas, from my most unmerry baby girl!

All kinds of adorable

- Lizzy has learned the pledge of allegiance. Somehow, she memorized 'and now a moment of silence' that she tacks onto the end of it, so you get this very precious recital of the pledge of allegiance from her, then a very serious, 'and now a moment of silence' at the end! Hilarious!
- London woke up this morning singing 'Tennis Balls, Tennis Balls'... it took me a few minutes, then I realized she was singing 'Jingle Bells'. :)
- One of London's favorite things is when I push my cheeks together to make a fat face and say the 'Hey, My name is Chubby'' gig. She will walk up to us, push our cheeks together and say 'Chummy, chummy!'
- Lizzy and Caden can both write their full names! Proof to come!
- All of this:

Check out those chubby legs! Eat them up!

-annnnnnd this:

Most Fun Day EVER

London LOVES Santa (Santuk) this year. She can not get enough of him. Every day we drive home from school and she does the sign language sign for 'more' and says 'Santuk, Christmas Tree' over and over again! I imagined the twins love Santa too... I was right. So, the whole Rhea/Lane clan packed up in the Swagger Waggon and headed to Bass Pro Shop for free pictures with Santa last weekend!

Well, the line to see Santa was outrageous, so we walked to the front of the line and waved at Santa then played in the store for a few hours! We had an absolute blast. That place is AWESOME. Here are the kids watching the fish in the fish tank. Lizzy thinks catfish 'meow' because her Andaddy told her they meow under water! I love his stories! They are so entertaining! 

Gross. What is this???

She knows EXACTLY what to do when you pull the camera out!

Seeing Santa for the very first time! She was spellbound! 

Kris Kringle 

As always, hard to get pics of this guy because he was racing around the train table to watch it run!

My new favorite picture of my baby girl! Ahahahaha!

Hard to see what's going on, but they had boats out on display. We put the kids in each of them and they LOVED it! They had so much fun sitting in the seats and 'driving'!

Pretending to be a dead fish! :)

Sorry I look so creepy but we saw Rudolph and London was SO EXCITED!! She waved and laughed and talked about him UNTIL he got within a foot of her and she monkey gripped into me and was petrified! I could feel her little feet and fingers gripping and of me that they could grab hold of! As soon as he backed up a few feet, she was all about Rudolph again!

King Caden and Queen Lizzy at lunch!

Saturday night, Powers, Lulu and I went to our church's small group end of the semester party at one of the members parents house. This. place. was. amazing. The house was beautiful and had this gorgeous wrap around porch, it was on a 20 acre plot with a lake, super nice barn, play ground, game room, green fields to run in, horses, geese, dogs, cats, ducks.. you name it. Every one of us.... of all ages... were in heaven. So we spent the next 5 hours with all of our new best friends, living life exactly how it was meant to be lived! Great food, lots of running around and 'adventuring', laughing, and great friends. We left so satisfied that God is good and places us exactly where he wants us in life. He has allowed us to grow and He has absolutely lavished us with His goodness. We have spent the last 4 months developing life giving relationships with a group of amazing people and we thank God for his faithfulness to us in that. 

It was a GREAT weekend! Full of fun, and love, and laughter, and excitement! I love the holidays!

Lane Family Thanksgiving

Fast forward a day to the Lane family thanksgiving! I was still sick, London was as hoarse as could be, Powers was on his way to getting sick, but luckily, we walked in the door and M-I-L said 'we have NO PLANS for the rest of the week!' Cue angels singing from the heavenly gates. So, I continued SLEEP FEST 2011, called Dad in a tearful plea to 'please fix this daddy', he approved some meds that my father in law had on hand and voila! 24 hours later the whole family was back up and running.. but I was still sleeping like a champ because when you've got a legitimate pass to nap 2 times per day, you TAKE IT!!

We had a great time at the in-laws! We slept, ate, slept, shopped, watched a super depressing movie, slept, ate, had girls night and watched a total chick flick (green facials included!), slept, and ate. It was pretty much my favorite schedule ever. 

Renny was adorable and so much fun, as always. I was also so incredibly proud of her! We asked her to make a christmas list a month or so ago and it contained roughly $5,000 worth of gifts. Magically, one month later, I asked her for her list again and it had 6 items on it. SIX!!! And she even said, "I thought about it and I don't need all that stuff". Cue angels singing again. She is literally the best step daughter a mom could ever wish for. She is amazing and I love her so much. I am so proud of her for not getting wrapped up in the materialism that is Christmas these days. She's growing up so fast. 

Funny from the weekend, London sleeps in the guest bedroom in a pack-n-play at the grandparents house.  She is always so easy to put to sleep. She just lays down and goes to sleep. However, in this room, she can reach the door handle, so you get about 10 minutes of door handle wiggling before she gives up and goes to bed! Also, I would check on her every night before I went to bed and noticed that the fan was on in her room. It was always freezing and I would secretly accuse her dad of turning the fan on, since we fight over the temperature at home all the time! THEN, the last night we were there, I had put London to bed about 30 minutes earlier, and was walking from our room into the den. London's door opens, lights on, fan blasting and London said 'Hey Momma!' I stopped dead in my tracks and we all died laughing! Sneaky little thing! 

 Opening Christmas presents from Aunt Melanie's family! Disclaimer, London had JUST stepped out of a hair washing so her hair's a mess! Mel, I got a video of her saying "Thank you, Melanie" but she was so hoarse you can't hear her at all! :(

 You can't see it, but this is 25 minutes into trying to put a diaper on by herself! She's just laying on top of it waiting for it to be on her! So funny! She was committed though!

 Coloring with the christmas tree lights!

 My sweet girls! 

 Renny showing us how flexible she is! Amazing! I wouldn't walk for a week if I did that!

 Looking good in Mr. Potato Head's glasses! 

We had a great vacation. It was just what the doctor ordered! Thank you Nana and Poppi for being such great grandparents/in laws! Ya'll rock!!