Trip to Build A Bear!

The girls got Build-A-Bear gift cards for their birthdays from the Johnson family. Since Clay has the weekend off, we headed to Destin for a Family Fun Day!

Daddy was trying to help Jocelyn pick out an animal, but she decided she didn't want to do it today.

Madison picked the "Happy Birthday" song for her bear.

It was very busy, but Madison waited nicely in line with her beautiful pink and white heart bear.

Yeah, the bear is getting stuffed!

Madison immediately decided that her bear needed a princess dress to wear.

Madison found all of the accessories her bear needed.

Madison couldn't wait to show her new bear all of her toys and her bedroom.

Please join us in welcoming the newest member of the Rabens' Family:

CINDERELLA!

Camping Out Rabens' Style!

The girls and I made Smores in the microwave.

Madison is enjoying a marshmallow that she cooked over the pretend fire.

Jocelyn didn't bother pretend cooking her marshmallows, she just ate them as fast as she could.

Here are the girls in the pop up pretend tent.

Clay enjoyed his Smores and marshmallows in the tent too.

Family fun camping out together in the living room.

All of this family fun was too much for daddy. He fell asleep!

Portraits

On Jocelyn's birthday, my mom and I took the girls to get pictures taken.

Birthday Gifts from Ms. Keisha, Grandma Cathy, and Brittani Ann!

We finished driving the five hours to get home today from Ocala to Shalimar. When we arrived we found a big birthday gift waiting for the girls. Jocelyn's birth family sent a big birthday package in the mail to the Adoption Center. Clay picked it up last night and had it waiting for the girls when they arrived home.

The bag is bigger than they are.

Digging in to see what is inside.

Look I found a baby doll.

Jocelyn loves baby dolls. She is a good little mommy.

Madison loved the pink laptop.

WOW!

Ms. Keisha (Jocelyn's birth mom) sent them the pink laptops and Dr. Seuss book. Grandma Cathy (Jocelyn's birth grandmother) sent them the baby dolls. Brittani Ann (Jocelyn's 18 year old half sister) sent them the snow cone maker and croquet set.

Oops, Jocelyn gets her first haircut!

We had a wonderful dinner at Jim and Julie's house when we were in Ocala. They have two boys named Seth and Ethan. All of the kids were playing in the boys' room when Seth came out and whispered in his mom's ear. They went back to the bedroom and Julie yelled, "Oh no, Jocelyn." I was scared to see what she had done. Somehow she got a truck stuck in her hair. We couldn't get a straight story from any of the kids about how it got stuck in her hair, but nevertheless it was.

We tried to get it out, but.....

we ended up having to cut it out.

Spending the night in Ocala!

The girls and I began our drive back to the panhandle today. We decided to break the drive up into two days. We drove to Ocala and stopped to spend the night with Uncle Guy, Aunt Nelda, Mia and Blayke. We spent most of the afternoon playing in their backyard.

Madison never went down the slide, but she did climb up and look down.

Mia and Blayke are pros at the rock wall. Madison and Jocelyn didn't even try it.

Jocelyn did try the tire swing once.

Blayke

Madison on the big kid swing.

Sweaty Jocelyn!

Blayke

Jocelyn loved the slide!

Mia

After playing in the backyard, we hopped in the car and headed to their friends house to have dinner.

Thank you Uncle Guy, Aunt Nelda, Mia, and Blayke for letting us spend the night. We had a great time playing with you.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Jocelyn!

Grandma made spaghetti for Jocelyn's birthday dinner. She loved it!

After dinner we opened some more presents. Jocelyn was very excited to get a Thomas Train Set from Grandma and Granddaddy.

Jocelyn also enjoyed opening the Baby Cinderella that Madison picked out for her. Madison is hoping that Jocelyn will share with her.

Here are all of the presents that Jocelyn got to open on her actual birthday.

Uncle Kyle took a silly self portrait.

Jocelyn is trying to open up Cinderella without Madison seeing her. I don't think she is ready to share her just yet.

The excitement was too much for Granddaddy. He took a cat nap between presents and dessert.

Jocelyn is ready to make a wish.

BLOW!

This cheesecake is finger licking good.