Byrson is Rylee's best buddy. There is not a day that goes by in our house that we do not talk/hear about Bryson. Lately the best way for us to get Rylee to eat is telling her if she takes more bites she will be big like Bryson. Bryson is such a good buddy to Rylee and we wish we could live closer and play with him more often. We hope you have a great birthday and we are excited to see you soon at Rylee's party!
Uncle Jeff was in town for a wedding and we were so lucky that he had enough time to stop by and see the us yesterday. Matt and I were both running a little late, but when I got home this is how I found Rylee and Uncle Jeff. These two have always been reading buddies, and you can tell by the pile of books in front of them they still are. We had a lot of fun talking to Uncle Jeff about his baby girl that is going to here soon. We also got a few baby clothes out for the baby, and Rylee found a way to make a fun game out of it for her and Jeff. We are hoping to see Uncle Jeff soon, sometime after his little girl is here.
For part of my birthday present from Caity, she took the kids for the day and it sure looks like everybody had a great time. They went to the park and played, they fed the ducks, and they went on a drive up the canyon. After their fun day they came back to the house and hung out until I got home. I am so lucky to have Caity around, because honestly we don't trust many people with the kids, and it is so nice to not have to worry at all while the kids are with her. Thanks for a fun pre-birthday!
That's right he is 16 Months old and he has learned how to turn the locks on all the doors. I have to be extremely careful when I leave the house that I have a way back in, just in case Nolan shuts the door behind me and locks it. He is getting bigger and bigger every day and more and more adventurous. Yesterday he learned how to climb onto the couch, we have big couches so this really is quite a feat. He keeps trying to slide down the stairs head first on his tummy like Rylee, but does not understand how to use his hands to slow himself down. Luckily, I am watching him as he normally tries to do this and Rylee won't let him either she grabs him by his pants and won't let him go. He can scale the crib, but after getting stuck straddling the railing last week he has not tried it again. Nolan loves, and I mean loves the park. It is a place where he finds many different kinds of dirt and lots of fun things to climb, it is a perfect setting for him. The silly boy has decided about a month ago, all by himself, that he is done with two naps a day, and that Mom must be crazy for even trying still; however, he is still a terrific sleeper at night! He can dribble a ball as well as most 4 year olds, and it does not have to be a soccer ball, he dribbles any kid of ball. Today alone I saw him dribbling, with his feet, a basketball, a football, a golf ball, a soccer ball and a large bouncy ball. He will either hate soccer by the time he can play or be really good. Needless to say he is a mover!
The weather had been absolutely gorgeous lately and we have been taking full advantage of it. We headed out to the golf course and let the kids run around a bit, play in the sand traps, and Rylee worked on her golf swing a bit. Rylee is getting pretty good about listening while we help her try to learn how to swing her club, and she probably makes contact 50% of the time. Nolan loved playing in the golf cart and finding every type of dirt on the golf course. His favorite part of the course was the sand trap and he had a heyday in it. For some reason he also liked hitting the golf ball against a tree, which is why Nolan does not get Pro V1's says Daddy. We are hoping for more of this weather, because we had a great time out at the golf course all together.
Spring weather has finally arrived for us, and I could not pass up a chance to get out and go to the zoo. When we got there Nolan was sound asleep and Rylee wanted to go play at the playground, so we started there. We have never been to the playground at the zoo and it was really cute and Rylee had a blast. After the park Nolan woke up and we went to check on the animals. Sadly, our baby giraffe past away so I had to tell Rylee that "he went to a new zoo!" Luckily that was enough to satisfy her and we moved on to a new topic. The best part of the day were the tigers. The three baby tigers, that are not so little anymore, were right at the front of the cage splashing in their water. Rylee used to be scared of the tigers but today she went straight up front and just stared at them for over 10 minutes. We finished the day on the carousel and Nolan is still not a fan of it, but hopefully he will be by the end of the Summer.
This morning Rylee's preschool went on a field trip to the fire station. I thought Nolan would really like it too, so he and I tagged along. When we first got to the fire station all the kids got plastic fireman helmet, and of course they were all super excited about their helmets. The kids watched a Sesame Street episode about fire safety and then they learned how to "stop, drop and roll!" After the video the kids got a tour of the fire truck and the ambulance. The fireman even pulled out the Jaws of Life and showed the kids. Many kids thought it was mean that they would cut someone's car in half, Rylee, however, thought "dat is funny." The fireman put on his entire uniform, including mask, and it freaked Rylee out, but Nolan thought it was really intriguing and walked right up to the fireman. The kids all seemed to have a good time and Rylee pointed out about 4 more firestations today while we were driving around.
Earlier tonight Rylee asked me if she could play the Wii and I told her we could play once Nolan was in bed. When I came downstairs from tucking Nolan in she had the remotes out and was sitting on the couch waiting to play. We played a few different games, but boxing was by far her best. She won every game she played and even knocked out a couple people. Not sure if this is a good thing to be teaching my 3 year old, but she sure loved it. She played about 6 games and then told me she needed a break because her arms were tired.
While Grandma Kathi was here she and Rylee played lots of blocks together. The first night she was here I had a wedding shower and when I walked in the door I saw this incredible tower the two of them had built. They had every single block on there and it collapsed about two seconds after this picture was taken. It sure was fun having Grandma here for a few days and we miss her already.
Nolan spent the weekend in Temecula with me at a soccer tournament. I am biased because Nolan is my own son, but I honestly do not think there is a better baby out there when it comes to being in new places and being passed from person to person. This weekend was a bit different because I only had one set of parents and myself to take care of all 18 girls at the tournament, so I was very busy. Between getting the girls ready for games, feeding them, taking some to the urgent care, and coaching games Nolan was as happy as could be. During the games he would sit in his stroller and watch the games, or sit on one of my injured players laps, and at two of the games he even fell asleep in Valerie's (aka Grammy's) arms. On Friday afternoon I had to take two players to the Urgent Care and we were there for over 4 hours and I did not get home until after 9:30, but Nolan didn't care. He let the girls take care of him and Grammy put him to bed, and the next morning he was just as happy as normal. It would sure be a lot harder to do my job if he was not so cooperative and did not have so many people that loved him!
Nolan and I headed to Southern California for another soccer tournament this weekend and Rylee stayed home with babysitters and Daddy. She got to go to the movies and see "How To Train A Dragon," she got lots of new things, and she got to play and play with lots of fun people. On Thursday afternoon she played with the Campbell's. She got to go watch Jensen's soccer game and play at the park. On Friday she spent the entire day with one of the parents on my soccer team and I am pretty sure she got spoiled rotten that day. On Saturday she went with Caity to the movies and shopping, and Caity officially wore her out! Caity even got Rylee her first pair of Vans!
She spent the evenings, Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday with Daddy. From everything I have seen and heard the two of them had an absolute blast. Every night for bed they would watch the Masters and Rye would fall asleep in Daddy's arms watching the golf tournament. They went shopping together and Rylee got a Chelsea Uniform (my favorite English Premier League Team) and an Elmo Golf Head Cover. The two of them also spent some fun time practicing writing letters and playing at the park.
It is so nice to have great friends and a great Dad for my kids. I never once worried about her while I was away and not only was she safe, but she was being taken care of better than anyone could ask for.
