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!

Contaminated

That's right our house is contaminated! With what you ask, the FLU!!! Not the Swine Flu, just the good ole' fashion pukes. It started on Sunday with Nolan, and we didn't think anything of it because he always pukes. This morning Daddy woke up not feeling very well, then I started not feeling well when i tried to have some lunch, and then it hit poor Rye-Rye. She has got it the worst and we are hoping that she can sleep all night and get over this little tummy bug. But, if you are wondering where we are, I am lysoling the whole house, Nolan is in the exersaucer, and Rylee is mostly sleeping or puking.