Valentine's Day

My 3 little loves

His first Valentines
I went all out this year and made every meal into the shape of hearts. The girls loved this! I made heart pancakes with strawberry milk for breakfast. Heart pb&j's, bananas cut out into hearts, heart shaped marshmellows, and strawberries for lunch.
Then they had heart shaped, make your own, homemade pizza's for dinner!
The girls made Valentine's for everyone

Zach with his Valentine's cards handmade by Rylee and Haylee.

And the Valentine from his Mommy and Daddy

We fed the kids, put them all to bed, and then Scott cooked me an amazing dinner! He went to a local butcher and picked up a heart shaped cut of steak. And then worked hard in the kitchen He made the steak oscar style with (homemade, slaved over this) hollandaise sauce and crab meat, king crab legs, grilled asparagus and baked potatoes! It was absolutely amazing and delicious!!
And for dessert we had chocolate fondue.

(Thank you Scott, you are wonderful. You are the best Valentine!!)

The Zoo

I had a coupon for buy 1 get 1 free adult to the Phoenix Zoo, so Scott took Friday off and we went! It turned out to be an even better deal, all of the kids got in free. Plus, it was a gorgeous day!

Zach slept most of the time in the stroller. Which was great, because the girls were whining most of the day! Who would have guessed Zach would be the angel (he didn't cry the whole day) and the girls were grumpy! I was the lucky one that got to ride the camel with Haylee. Rylee refused to go, saying she was scared. Once we started riding Rylee was very upset that she didn't go! Silly girl. Haylee liked it, I guess. She was pretty quiet the whole ride. She must have not been sure what to think. The monkeys in the monkey exhibit.

I took the opportunity to take some portraits of my kids.

Goodness, I love his fizzy blonde hair glistening in the sun!
Rylee and the tortoise...I am really not sure what Rylee's pose is for or about?

Zach woke up as we were ready to leave so we got him out of the stroller and took some pictures to document his first zoo visit.

Rylee and Haylee's Birthday Party

We had everyone over for a combined party for Rylee and Haylee's birthdays.

Here are the birthday girls with their cake!

Party People
We had a firepit going for s'mores but the only wood we had were chemical logs. Doesn't make for such a tasty treat...more toxic than anything.
So we came inside for presents!
Haylee recieved marshmellows in one of her presents and she immediately helped herself. Who cares about the toys, clothes and more presents to unwrap when you have food to eat! Thats just who our Haylee-bun is. She loves sweet treats!

The hit of the party was the giant red ball! Scott saw it at Costco and couldn't pass it up. While the girls were inside opening their presents, most of the guys were in the garage blowing the ball up. It was such a genious idea, everyone had a ball. Literally.

The ball gave everyone's hair serious static cling. It was great!

Myranda volunteered to be the "adult" to get in the ball. Didn't work so great... We broke out the Wii and played Just Dance

The competitive dancers

Look at that form, so in sync

Even my Mom and Denise danced. It was great!

The cousin twins. We dressed them the same to be cute but then we realized it was hard telling who was who! We would get confused about who was holding our baby! I admit, I had to do a double take a few times!

Thank everyone for coming. It was a lot of fun!

Rylee's Birthday

Just a few pictures from her day! She wanted pizza for dinner so we went out and got her the biggest one we could find! She was impressed. In her words "It was hoomungus."
I made a homemade chocolate cake per her request. I searched for the perfect recipe because I wanted a moist brownie-like chocolate cake. It came out soo good! I normally don't like cake but I couldn't stop eating it! Of course, Rylee loved it too!
We got her a kid's digital camera.
Stay tuned for a post of Rylee's photography!

Five years ago...

...On Thursday February 2, 2006, I was pregnant with my first child waiting to go into labor. (39 weeks, 2 days pregnant) I remember that day like it was yesterday (although it is really hard to remember when it was just Scott and I. Its wierd to think it was just the 2 of us!) I was at home, I had stopped working the week prior, due to seriously swollen ankles and just general uncomfortableness. I ran a few errands that day and got a few last minute baby items I needed. I remember a bunch of people called me that day just to talk and see how I was. That day just felt different. While I was making dinner, fettucini alfredo to be exact, my Aunt called just to say that it would be funny if I had Rylee today since it was Groundhog's day. Rylee could pop out and we could check to see if we saw her shadow.

When we went to bed at 10pm, I felt a pop. I turned to Scott and told him it felt like a bomb just went off in my tummy! I jumped up and sure enough my water broke! We were so thrilled and immediatly left for the hospital. About halfway there, my first contraction hit while I was calling the people that wanted to be at the hospital when Rylee was born. The contractions hit hard and strong. I couldn't even talk through those first contractions and hung up the phone. We arrived at the hospital and they checked to make sure my water broke. It was obvious, to say the least, and I was admitted into the hospital. I remember the nurse trying to get all of my information and it was miserable trying to talk to her through the pain. I denied the epidural at first but changed my mind rather quickly. After it was placed, I wanted to shout from the rooftops how amazing I felt.

We tried to get some rest but I couldn't sleep, I was so anxious. I knew I would have to push a baby out soon and that scared me. I didn't know how to push! And then I would be a mother! It was all so surreal. Around 5 am, after tossing and turning because I was starting to feel pain again, my mom just happened to walk in (she was in the waiting area with my Aunt, cousin and friend so we could rest). I tell ya, my Mom and I have some sort of sense and can tell what the other is thinking/feeling. She just knew it was time to check on me and good thing, because it was time to push!

We woke Scott up and I began pushing. And I pushed. I pushed for hours. I was completely and utterly exhausted. They let my epidural wear off in hopes that my pushing would become more effective. At one point I asked if I could just rest through a contraction because I was so tired. The second the contraction hit there was no possible way to rest. It was such an awful pain and it actually felt better to push.

Finally, at 8:31 am on Friday, February 3, 2006,

after 3 1/2 hours of pushing,

Rylee Renea was welcomed into this world.

It was the moment I became a mother.

We were a family.

She was perfect in every way.

Rylee,

You are amazing.

You are beautiful, smart, funny, silly, and an amazing helper.

I love you. You are my gift from God and an amazing blessing to our lives.

I can't believe you are 5 years old already.

Happy Birthday!

This quote was given to me before Rylee was born and it has stuck with me ever since.

"I never was struck before that hour,

with love so sudden and so sweet.

Her face bloomed like a sweet flower,

and stole my heart complete."

~John Clare