Cute Pics from Brooke's Wedding

Brooke's wedding photographer captured these cute shots of Rylee at her wedding and Brooke gave us a copy today.

Birthday Fun

We wanted to make sure Rylee still had a special Birthday, even though her party was the day before, so we let her pick out what we did yesterday. She wanted Costco Pizza for lunch, so Matt took her. The two of them were there for almost two hours playing and eating pizza. They then met up with us at Church, and after Church we surprised her with one of her favorite things... playing in the fountains. At first she was a little timid because of all the other kids, but after a few minutes she was running around like she owned the place. She was really funny this time though, because after she would get wet once she would run back to us and dry off with her towel - she probably dried off 100 times while we were there. We finished the evening with dinner at Daddy's Golf Course, where she was spoiled by the workers. They gave her an ice cream sundae with candels and more balloons!

His Spoon

Last night during dinner Nolan was chewing on his spoon a lot, so after he finished I let him hold it and play with it for awhile. He sat in his high chair for another 30 minutes playing with the spoon. He would bang it, chew on it, switch it from hand to hand, but if he ever dropped it he lost it!

Happy 3rd Birthday Rylee Nicole

2 days old

1st Birthday

2 Years Old in Hawaii

3 Year Old Portraits

The Best Big Sister

Who can believe our little peanut is three in a few hours. It does not seem like three years since we moved into our house and had Rylee, but wow! The joy that has been brought to us by Rylee over the last three years cannot be put into words, and we do cannot remember what life was like without her. Rylee is one of the most genuinely sweet kids I have ever met. When her friends are sad she goes and gives hugs, she is always concerned about their needs, and she always wants to play with them. She is really turning into a little girl and not even a toddler any more.
She is now singing a ton of songs and I love it. Her best is the ABC's, but she can also do "Twinkle, Twinkle," "I Am A Child of God," and "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." She really enjoys playing with her friends, calling people on the phone (thanks to all those who talk to her), and of course going to "My-Gym!"
She is an amazing big sister! Just tonight Nolan was crying to sleep and from her room I hear her yell, "It's ok No-No, I sing to you. A B C D.....," and yes I did cry! She loves to give him bottles, help me feed him food, play toys with him, tickle him, and she is the best at making him laugh.
We are still mastering the big girl potty, as long as she is paying attention she is fine, we just get a little excited sometimes still! She is now going by herself, so I have to remember to leave the doors cracked these days versus making sure they are locked!
She and Matt have an incredible relationship and are seriously best friends. They come up with the silliest games, the newest is burying each other in the junk mail (like burying in leaves). They love to golf together, tickle, watch any sport, sing songs, play soccer in the entry way, make up goal celebrations - she will be the first U-6 player to do a corner flag dance -, and get the mail every night. Her bed time routine has been the same her whole life. After songs Matt will always ask her what she wants to dream about. The first thing is always "play blocks, play monster, rarrrr!" The second thing is different every night, but "seeing Jake, Pete and Hona" or "ride in the golf cart" are frequent things. Then the final thing is always "the Cowboys win the Super Bowl!" The two of them have a special bedtime hand shake -- she will not go to sleep unless she gets her "bones, knuckles and wiggle, wiggle, wiggle!" Bedtime has always been a very special time for the two of them.
Rylee can drive me completely nuts one minute and have me laughing the next, probably has something to do with being 3 or that the two of us are just so similar already. She and I have a great time together, I love her so much. I like to think of her as my side-kick, and I hope we can always have this close of a relationship. Her smile brightens my day every time I see it. I love putting her down for her nap every day, but I love it even more when she wakes up. I will admit I am excited for her to start Pre-School this year, but at the same time I am a bit sad. Rylee thank you for brightening my life every single day and making me see what truly is important in life.

Rylee's 3 Year Old Party

Rylee was so excited about her birthday party, and it was so fun because she totally understands the whole birthday thing this year. She has talked about her party all week and was so cute about it. The party was amazing. The kids had a great time, and Rylee got a special visit from her friend, Jake. Jake works with Matt and all week Rylee has been asking if Jake is coming, and he did. He has no kids, he just came for Rylee, so sweet. Her other friend from Matt's work, Hona, came too and brought his niece, and then a lot of Rylee's friends were there too. We did not open presents at the party so the kids could play more, so the whole drive home we got to hear, "I open my birthday presents as soon as we get home," and we did. She got some great toys for the summer, a new baby and stroller, a conductor set and train stuff, a swim towel, new clothes, and a fun backpack.

Cake Finished

Today is Rylee's birthday party and it is at "My-Gym!" The "My-Gym" character is a monkey, so we decided to do a monkey themed party. Here is the cake that I made for it, not perfect but I am quite pleased with it. It took two cakes to get it done, because the first one stuck to the pan and ripped in half! We also have sugar cookies and homemade monkey suckers, I will get pictures of those later - my camera batteries are all in the charger getting ready.

Just A Happy Boy

Where's Your Lip?

Both my kids have had this missing bottom lip smile. This is Rylee's Christmas picture when she was 6 months and this is Nolan's 6 month pictures from the other day.

6 Months

Today my little boy is 6 months old, so crazy! At Church on Sunday someone was commenting on how big he is getting and I told her he was six months, and her response was, "Wow, when did that happen?" I think all of us feel that way about our kids, and seriously this little guy is getting too big too fast. His 6 month check up is not until the end of July, but I should get his weight and height next week when we go to his appointment at Primary's. Our guess is that he is 18 lbs, which was Rylee's weight at her first birthday! He is sitting independetly really well now, and can even save himself when he starts to tip over. He is a great roller and he even rolls after his toys. He reaches for anything and everything he can get his hands on. Rylee is still the most entertaining person/toy that he has, and it is still great entertainment for us to watch too! He loves to eat and would do it all the time if I would let him. He is on solids twice a day now, about to start three times a day. I just moved him up to the "2nd's" in baby food, because he was eating 2 1/2 size 1 baby foods each sitting. We have started to let him cry it out to go to sleep at night and he does so well, he has never cried more than 25 minutes - even the first night. He is only waking once at night for a bottle sometime between 4 and 5, and I am just fine with that. We are pretty sure he will be crawling in the next month or two because he is already trying, and I am a little worried because of all the "little" toys/money that Rylee carries around - time to start teaching her about choking hazards! :)

Growing Too Fast

I cannot believe that today Nolan is 6 months old and Rylee will be 3 on Sunday. I try to do pictures every 3 months when the kids are babies, so today we loaded up and got the kids pictures taken. I am such a sucker once I start seeing how cute the pictures are, I always end up with way too many, but I just think one day when I am old I will be so excited to have these images.

Look At Me!

Just in the past few days Nolan has started to sit up--if we put him there, of course. He is still tipsy and still folds in half from time to time, but today he sat for a little over a minute without falling. You can tell he is so excited to be able to do it, and we know that once he gets this down crawling will not be far behind!

Family Yard Work

With all the rain we have had and being out of town last weekend, our grass was getting a bit long, so this evening we did the front yard together. Rylee was a big help in the clean up!

A Glimpse at 5 Kids

Playing on the Teeter-Totter

Pulling Silly Faces

Cute kids (waiting for our table at lunch)

Playing Mario Kart

3D Glasses from the movies

This weekend we watched our friends' kids while they took their oldest daughter to an out of state soccer tournament. The kids ages are 13, 8 and 5. We had a lot of fun this weekend getting a "glimpse" of what life would be like with 5. The kids were so great, and we definitely learned a lot. I decided if I had this many kids I would have a double oven and a double dishwasher, 5 kids is a lot more mess than 2 kids, there were a lot more shoes in our shoe corner, cooking meals had to be more planned, it is much more expensive, and we are happy with our current situation with two children.
We picked the kids up on Friday and let them go to the store and pick out a treat of their choice, and then we came home and everyone played the Wii. Saturday I got to take the 8 year old to his last soccer game, and it was nice to be able to leave the other kids at home with their "older sister." After the soccer game we came home and picked everyone else up and went out to lunch. Then that evening Matt thought it would be fun to go to a movie, and it really was. We went and saw "Up" in 3D. This was Rylee's first movie and she did better than we thought she would. She couldn't wear the 3D glasses because they were to big for her, but she didn't seem to mind. Sunday was Church, playing at the park, dinner and more Wii. Today was the end of our glimpse and I am proud to say everyone was still healthy and happy.

Sibling Fun

Rylee loves making Nolan laugh, and he just loves her so it is really fun to watch the two of them starting to play together. Rylee was giving Nolan zurburts (sp?) last night and he was cracking up, as was I (that is why the video is a little blury)!

Nolan Rolling

Nolan has rolling perfected from back to stomach, but he still gets stuck every once in awhile from stomach to back. The scariest part is that once he is on his stomach he pushes off with his toes so hard he can scoot forward, he will shortly be chasing Rylee around the house! Tonight I wanted to see if he would roll to get his toys and he did! In the video please excuse the crying at the end, someone was getting sad she was not in the video too!

So proud that he got the toy!

Every Night At Our House

I don't know about everyone else's house, but at our house when Matt gets home from work is Rylee's favorite time of the day. She and I and Nolan have a great time all day, but she sure loves it when Matt gets home. As long as she is awake, she waits for Matt with the garage open from the minute he calls to tell us he is coming home until he gets home, it is a good thing his commute is 2 miles! Rylee stands at the back door and waves, but the cutest thing is when I don't open the garage for her she squats down and tries to wave under it when Matt opens it. After Matt gets out the two of them go and get the mail together and then it is pretty common for Rylee to request that "Daddy tickle Rye Rye and Nolan!"

Birthday Trial Run and Fun with Maddi

Last week when we were at Disneyland I got a text message from my friend Nicole that she picked up a few things she thought would be cute for Rylee's birthday party, such a good friend! We were going to do sugar cookies for Rylee's party because she doesn't like cake, and Nicole found a really cute cookie pan for us to make them versus buying them. She also picked up monkey sucker molds, which are perfect because the party is at her gym where a monkey is the logo, so we are doing a monkey theme! She showed me what she had picked up the other day and I loved it, so I went and got a few more sucker molds and the candy melts. Today we got together to practice the cookies and the suckers to make sure we were going to be able to make them look cute, and we were pretty sure we did a great job! The cookies taste great and the suckers look so cool. We are going to frost the cookies and serve them with a monkey cake, and then the suckers are going to be part of the party favors.
While we were baking the girls were playing and pestering each other a little bit. They both started to get sleepy after lunch so the snuggled up and watched Cinderella for all of 5 minutes, and then they were off running around again! We are so lucky to have such good friends that both of us get along with :)!

Shauna is Still Amazing

For Brooke's Wedding we (my parents and Matt and I) wanted to get her something really special and something we knew no one else was going to do, so we ordered a painting from my friend Shauna. We told Brooke and Michael what we were going to do and let them pick out a picture for us to get painted for them. Shauna did an amazing job yet again, and Brooke absolutely loved it. Sadly I did not get a picture of Brooke with the painting, but here it is on the gift table at their wedding.

What A Weekend

We had the best weekend and cannot believe how smooth it all went. First thing Saturday morning we got our carpets cleaned, and then we headed to the airport to go to Los Angeles. One of my best friends was got married Saturday night and we went to the wedding. From the airport we drove straight to the wedding, where we met up with Grandma and Papa! The wedding was beautiful, Brooke was beautiful, and of course Rylee was beautiful too. She was so excited to see Brooke that we had to take her to the back of the courtyard during the ceremony because she kept yelling, "Brooke, I can't see Brooke! Where Brooke, Mom?" After the ceremony there was dinner and dancing, and then off to our hotel to rest up for Sunday . . . DISNEYLAND!!

In October we are going to Disney World for a week, and we wanted to see how Rylee was going to do, and she did amazing. She went on every ride that she could, she needs less than 1/4" to go on the Matterhorn (which she really wanted to do!) We started with the Carousel, something easy but exciting and she loved it. Then off to Dumbo, the tea cups, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan's Flight, Pinocchio's Daring Journey, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and then it was lunch time. She did a great job on Dumbo with the controls, and after every ride she would look at us with a huge smile and say, "I do dat again!" After lunch we went to Autopia, It's a Small World, then road the train to the other side of the park, then Winnie the Pooh and Pirates of the Caribbean. By this time she was getting pretty tired, so we decided to let her go pick out a present and she picked a Mickey Mouse stuffed animal. Papa wanted to get her a hat with her name on it, and she picked out a Tinkerbell hat and it is so cute! We are so glad we went and we are now more excited then ever for the family vacation in October.

Nolan was a trooper all day long. He took a couple of big naps and then he went on a few rides too. Nolan went on Alice in Wonderland, Winnie the Pooh, and Pirates of the Caribbean. He was absolutely fascinated by all the colors and noises on the rides.

Big Sister/Big Helper

Lately we have really been able to notice a special bond between Rylee and Nolan, I know it sounds funny but it true. Every time she walks past him he lights up, she can make him laugh harder than anyone, and they are even starting to play with toys together. Today she was a bigger helper than even I realized! We were trying to get ready to run a few errands and I was in the kitchen packing the diaper bag while Rylee and Nolan were in the family room. Nolan was giggling and laughing as was Rylee, so I did not want to interrupt, so I kept gathering the diaper bag. They were alone in the room, where I can see them, for less than 2 minutes, when all the sudden Rylee starts asking for help with Nolan's snaps! I was a little confused, so I walked over to investigate a bit closer. Well, she had changed his diaper. Seriously. She had unsnapped his romper, taken the old diaper off (luckily just wet), and put a new diaper on - a little cock-eyed, but pretty good. She was just struggling with getting his romper snapped back up. She looked at me and said, "Mom, Nolan is ready to go!" I thanked her and then tried to explain how great she did but get the point across that only Mom and Dad change diapers! She is such a nut!

A Handsome Boy

There was something about Nolan's outfit and him laying on his light blue blanket today that made him extra handsome, so I had to snap a few pics. These two were my favorite!

Trying to Fuss at me

Giving Me A Smile

A Clean Toy

Her Concentration Face!

Having a Great Time!

Splashing in the Water

Last Summer I forgot to put Rylee's water toy away before Winter came, so it was in need of a bath come this Summer. Last week we washed all the pieces and then today Rylee and I washed the table together. As soon as it was clean Rylee went upstairs and put on her swimming suit to go play. It was a little overcast but I thought whatever and let her go. She had a great time playing until our neighbors dog wandered over. I was in the house snuggling Nolan to sleep and watching her, but I didn't notice the dog mozy over and neither did she. All of the sudden I looked over saw the dog at the same time she did and she LOST it! She started screaming, tensed every muscle up in her body, clung to the railing on the stairs, screamed for me, and tried to climb the stairs but she was too scared. I grabbed her and brought her inside where she settled down and started yelling out the door, "Puppy go home to your Mommy and Daddy," it was so cute! The only problem was she would not go back outside the rest of the morning, she was too scared - poor thing is scared to death of dogs any size!