Fun and Flirty at 30!!

.....well maybe not the flirty part :o) I turned 30 on Feb. 26th and my bff's planned an amazing surprise party for me!! They started planning a couple months ago and invited my family from Cali that I haven't seen in a couple years. I was completely surprised!! I can't believe so many people took time out of their week to celebrate with me...I am still overwhelmed with gratitude!! This is the only pic I got from the party because I was just too busy having fun!! The theme was Paris...for those of you who don't know, my heart's desire all my life is just to go to Europe and trapse around for a while :o) Here is the cake...just amazing! Everything was perfect!!! Thank you again to my girls!!!!

I had my family at my house for the weekend...my nephews (8 and 6) started building this tree fort...took them hours and it turned out great!

This is my great aunt, whom I love dearly, with the kids! They were watching some cartoons before bed!

Dear Uncle Branson with the boys putting together Legos. All those little pieces...

Eating dinner with my great aunt and my uncle.

My aunt brought cupcake goodies and Dayna was my little helper!!

I love winter and while the fam was here, we had a snow day!! They were supposed to fly out to CA on Sunday and their flight was cancelled due to the weather...they stayed with us for another 2 days...the boys loved the snow!! First time they had seen it!!

Here is my sister with my nephews!!

Random pic---we had a part of the tree out front crash down barely missing our car...that was bizarre!!

Snow Day!!

We haven't had a snow day, with a decent accumulation, in such a long time!! I was so excited for the kiddos that we were able to go out and play in it!! Usually when the news says it will snow, it doesn't so I wasn't holding my breath when the news was predicting it last night. Sure enough, we woke up to it and saw that school was closed. After a big breakfast, we braved the winter weather. We stayed out for about an hour, even dad got in on it for a few minutes. Oh so much fun!!


My 2 snow princesses!!

I love, love, love this picture of the girls with their daddy!!

How cute are they?!!

Update in Ragan(crazy)ville!

I know it has been a while since I have updated the blog. I feel like life has been a bit of a blur for the past 2 weeks!! Thank you for all your prayers. Branson is doing well. Still very tired and very sore. We met with the radiologist late last week and they are going to start treatments probably on Feb. 2. He will have 6 weeks of treatments, 5 days a week. Wow! So many things we are thankful for though-family and friends who are always there to love and pray for us, a church family that is amazingly supportive and there for us, employers that are understanding and compassionate, and we live in the city where these amazing doctors are so that we don't have to travel for surgery and treatments. The doctors always ask where we are from and are amazed that we are local folks. Apparently people from all over the world come here for medical care. I am overwhelmed with God's goodness to us. Life is crazy here with work, school, and appointments, and we are in constant need of your prayers.

Home from the Hospital

Hello all!
Branson came home from the hosptial on Wednesday! He is doing very well, just very tired and managing his pain. He is sleeping a lot, which is what he needs to be doing. He will be going back to see the surgeon in a couple of weeks to have the staples removed and to set up the radiation treatment plan. Thank you all for continuing to pray for Branson and for our family. I really believe that is why he is doing so well!

God is Faithful, God is Good, and God Loves Us Very Much

Hello all! The surgery went well. They couldn't remove the entire tumor since it is attached to the optic nerve and would've caused more damage to do so. Right now he is out of ICU and in a regular bed. They say he might go home tomorrow! He is still in pain and is very tired, but certainly more alert and able to remember things. Radiation to follow in a few weeks to kill the rest of the tumor. Even if things weren't going so well, God has taught me so much about His faithfulness, goodness, and love just by giving us the strength to get this far. Still a long road ahead. Thank you for all your prayers!

Surgery Tomorrow

Hello all! I have no pictures today, but wanted to just post that Branson is in the hospital awaiting tomorrow's big day. The surgery is going to be mid-morning and we are much more at ease about it this time around. Please continue to pray for him and the doctors.

We told Emma about it and I had her recite "God is Faithful, God is Good, and God loves us very much." She had a hard time with it, but I think she has some peace of mind now. It is hard to explain to a 5 1/2 year old that people get sick and that sometimes bad things happen to good people. I'm afraid it is just life. It isn't always fair, the good guy doesn't always win, and sometimes it just stinks, but God is Faithful, God is Good, and God loves us very much!!

Merry Christmas from the Ragans!!

Is it too early to plan the Christmas card picture for next year??? Because this would be it, for sure!! I always look forward to Christmas, but this year was extra special to me. The girls are still excited with the magic of Santa and we had so much fun with it this year! We decided just to make everything so special...time with family and friends, making cookies for Santa, baking a birthday cake for Jesus. It was a wonderful time at the Ragan house!! Hope your Christmas was just as magical and special!!

The girls with Uncle Jonathan at Nana's house :o)

Under the tree!

Be Ye Thankful

My pastor challenged our church to list 25 things that we are thankful for...these are a few of my choices in no particular order.
1. I am thankful for siblings...without which we would be alone in our agony!

2. I am thankful for my aunt and uncle...without whom I would not be who I am today.

3. I am thankful for my great aunt...who is one of my best friends.

4. I am thankful for my sister...without whom I wouldn't have made it through.

5. I am thankful for my brother and sister-in-law...we are so glad that they are closer to us now!

6. I am thankful for my mother-in-law...who is the greatest Nana to my kids!

7. I am thankful for my husband...my bestest of all friends!

8. I am thankful for my crazy little girls...without whom I wouldn't be a mother.

9. I am thankful for my best friends-you know who you are...without whom I would be lost.
10. I am thankful for Jesus...without whom I wouldn't be a child of God.
Thank you to everyone who is a part of our lives....we are and will always be grateful for you!

Singing in Church

Anytime you get this many 4, 5, and 6 year olds together on stage...you just never know what could happen! They did such a great job! See Emma?? She is the only one holding her "Bible." She was so funny! She did all the motions that Mrs. Kelly did to help the kids remember the words but that they didn't necessarily have to do themselves. She kept cutting her eyes at me and smiling for the camera. She is my drama queen for sure!

Monkey Bread

I love easy recipes!! Among those is the one for Monkey Bread...which my kiddos love!! Who can go wrong with cinnamon, sugar, and butter??

Here are the ingredients...1 stick of butter, cinnamon, 1 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup sugar, and 2 tubes of biscuits.

1. Over medium heat, combine the butter, brown sugar, and 1 T. cinnamon. Doesn't it look yummy already?

2. Melt butter, sugar, and cinnamon until it looks like this then remove from heat. It will get very thick fast so you may just need to turn it very low until you are ready to pour it.

3. In another container, combine the sugar and cinnamon.

4. Tear the biscuits apart and coat with cinnamon sugar mixture. Don't be afraid to really give them a good coating.

5. Grease a bundt pan. I have a silicone one and I still haven't decided if I like it better than metal. I think it cleans easier because it is so flexible, but any will do.

I used butter to grease, but you could probably use non-stick spray, margarine, or Crisco. It has to be good and greased though!

6. After coating the biscuit pieces, place in the bundt pan.

7. Doesn't this look yummy?!? Pour wonderful gooey brown sugar and butter goodness over the pan...coat well!

8. Bake on 350 F for 35 minutes.

After it has a chance to cool just a bit, place a plate on top and flip the pan over. At this point you could top with powdered sugar or icing. You could be like me and eat it straight out of the pan too...can you see the dent towards the bottom front?? That was my "making sure it is done" piece! Enjoy!!

The Joys of Having Girls!!

I love having 2 girls!! I always wanted to have a daughter, but I have been blessed with 2! We have so much fun with painting nails, curling hair, getting all dressed in fluffy dresses for church...all of this is my thing! Dayna's hair has gotten very long...to the middle of her back. It is so long that it is hard to tie the bows on the back of her dresses. Anyway, dinner is fun because she likes to swish her hair around and it often will end up in her food, never fails. We have bath time right after dinner in order to wash out the ketchup, mashed potatoes, and other equally sticky foods...I am sure I am not the only one with this issue. Anyway, our solution to lessen the chances of half her dinner ending up in her hair is to put it up on top of her head so that she can't swish it out. We started doing this a while back and this is by far the funniest dinner hair-do yet!! Tiny neck, little face, and great big samurai hair!!! I love it!!

Fun at the Fall Festival!

On Halloween night, we went to our school's annual Fall Festival. It was an absolute blast!! My kiddos are still young, but they were just old enough to start going on some of the bigger inflatables and this slide was on the top of their list. Here is Emma on her way down. Honestly, I didn't think she would have the guts to get to the top, let alone actually go down the slide!! She is also my less-than-graceful one and tends towards accidents and injuries...she did great!!

Here is Dayna, my risk-taker, barrelling down the slide. She was the one I had to peel off to go to the next attraction! By the way, in case you were wondering...I am one of those crazy mothers who likes to dress their children alike. They might hate me later for it, but I think it is the cutest thing! The days of them tolerating it are limited so I am taking full advantage of it!!

Here are the girls with one of Emma's best friends. They have spent almost everyday together for the last 5 years and we just love her!!

Emma got her face painted...Dayna thought it was "gross"--her words, not mine!! She is 3, let me remind you!!

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip!

Emma had her first K-5 field trip 2 weeks ago...to the pumpkin patch!! I was so excited that I got to go with her and enjoy this time with her! She has lots of little friends and they were so cute!

We took a hayride all the way around the farm, very fun!

The kids got to pull ears of corn, put them through this handy little machine that picks the kernels off the ear, and then feed the animals. Emma was thrilled with the machine, not so much about the animals.

They had this great hay mountain and Emma climbed to the top and slid down about a hundred times!!

Queen of the Hay Mountain!!

My baby turns 3...where has the time gone!

"Dayna bug" turned 3 last month. I love to see her grow everyday! She has always been a talker, with an amazing vocabulary. I love both my girls and can't believe how much they have grown. Birthday parties at Raganville have taken on a life of their own, full of fun traditions. For the past 2 years we have had costume parties and they are just so much fun. This party was no different, a princess party. Branson found a cutie pie Tinkerbell costume for Dayna and it was so adorable on her. Emma was Belle and Stacey, Dayna's friend, was Snow White. We painted nails and put on "makeup."

Dayna was so happy to be Tinkerbell!! She is still talking about it!

Every time she opened clothes or shoes, she gave this sideways look that was just too funny!!

This was her favorite present....given by Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Sarah!! She has slept with it every night since her party :o)

Here she is feeding her baby!! How sweet.