Spring Break

Last week was Rylee's spring break and, to be honest, I was not really looking forward to it. I just envisioned a week of my girls fighting over everything and constant tattling and by the end of the week just being done! I was so very wrong! It was a wonderfully perfect week! I really liked having Rylee home again, it felt like a break for all of us. No having to get up and be ready by a certain time, no last minute morning stress or afternoons cut short, no homework!, and Haylee had Rylee to play with all day (mostly outside) which actually gave me a break.
One of the days, our favorite day, was meeting up with Holly and her boys at the Train Park. It was a beautiful day and the kids had a blast!

Riding the carousel

Rylee and Dade on the train

Haylee and ZachHolly and Elliott (and Eli is down there somewhere!)

All 6 kids we managed all day, on the train together

Zach was so happy and content just sitting in his corner of the train. I think he liked the freedom he had.

The girl's favorite part was the ice cream cones! Here is Haylee looking a lot like her Dad with that goatee!After the park, we ventured over to the mall for lunch and to get Rylee's ears pierced. Rylee had been asking for a long time to do it so every time she asked I would tell her that it will hurt so she has to be ready. Once when she was 4, she hit the nurse out of pain when she got her shots. So I felt the need to really prepare her! She was so excited all day. When we got there she quietly sat in the chair waiting patiently as I filled out the paperwork. I could tell she was nervous. It was over with so fast and she did amazing. Afterwards, she sat there so still but tears welled up in her eyes. She softly said that hurt but within minutes she was fine and so thrilled to finally have earrings!Before she got her ears pierced, we were walking around the mall and we had to take the elevator down to the next floor. Rylee and Haylee jumped in first and we asked Dade to hold the door open so Holly and I could get both strollers in. Well, he thought the door was going to close on him so he jumped back and the door closed before we could get to it. The elevator immediately went down and I could hear Rylee panicking, yelling on the way down! Holly raced over to and down the escalator to save the day and she brought back up 2 little girls, one (being Rylee) in tears because she was so scared. Later, I asked her what was worse, the pain of getting her ears pierced or getting separated at the elevator. She said the elevator experience. Easily. Ha!

Haylee originally wanted to get her ears pierced too but decided not too after Rylee did hers. Which surprised me since Rylee reacted so well. Someday though!

I got home feeling like it was such a wonderful successful day, I am so very thankful to be their mother! I love spending time with them, especially when they make it easy on me taking the 3 of them out all day!

Later in the week we had a beautiful rainy day and while we were eating lunch it started hailing. It came down so fast and crazy and completely blanketed everything in white.
It was crazy looking out and seeing our neighborhood like this!We couldn't let the "snow" go to waste so we quickly built a snowman, AZ style, before the white all melted away.

Snow!

My family rented a cabin so we could enjoy the little snow we have gotten this year up north! We actually went on the perfect weekend since it had just snowed and a little more was to come. We are so thankful they do this because we actually get to go on vacation!! We arrived first since Rylee had a half day at school and the kids were extremely eager to get in the snow!

The next day, Scott and the girls went outside first. When I went out to see what they were up too, Scott had hiked all the way up to the top of the road with plans to sled down it. It was very successful so we were able to have an amazingly long and fast sled ride right outside our front door!

It was quite a hike to the top but so worth it. I must have hiked it at least 15 times, one of those times I carried Zach all the way up for his first sledding adventure. I don't think he liked it all that much though..So Zach hung out with Uncle Terry, or whoever was not sledding at the time. Zach hated the snow. He didn't mind the flat spots with minimal snow, but the deeper stuff he would just cry if we sat him down. He even hated touching it. My Aunt went down the hill almost as much as the kids and I did. Sometimes we'd catch her trekking up by herself.

Rylee sledding with her new BFF, aka Uncle Terry. These 2 were inseparable that weekend. And when we left, she cried saying her favorite part was hanging out with Terry!

My Mom even went down a few times. Couldn't convince her to go down from the top but the girls were thrilled to go down with Grammie.

At the bottom of the road it turned to the right and you had to pull a Cool Runnings move to successfully turn the corner to keep going. I held the record for going the farthest (boo ya Scott). Haylee and I made a great team. The boys also built a jump at the bottom and Terry decided to show me how cool this was, saying I just had to try it. The suspense and coolness came to a quick halt when he came to a dead stop at the start of the jump. I laughed pretty hard. I tried it though and made it over the jump but then got stuck in the snow. Rylee then tried it and landed in a bush. Nice jump, boys.We went out to lunch at the lodge just down the road and when we came back the snow had melted enough to make a small snowman.We then crashed inside. It was a tiring day! We came up with this plan to put Rylee up on the beam in the living room of our cabin. She agreed but then quickly changed her mind.So I stepped up to the plate. Ha ha

The next morning, the snow had melted too much to sled anymore so we were at a loss of what to do. But then it started snowing! It came down pretty good and it was so nice to actually see it snow! It also snowed enough we could make a few more sled runs down the hill. It was icy and scary in some spots but still fun.

Here is Zach walking around with his tongue out trying to catch a snowflake.I couldn't get over how adorable Zach looked in his snow gear. I loved it.The whole gang just before we left!

Haylee's 4th Birthday

Our sweet Haylee turned 4. She had been counting down the days until her birthday!

All because it meant she could graduate from her car seat into a booster seat and she could sit in the very back of the van with Rylee. She was one happy girl when she opened the booster seat that morning!

So for her first outing her Aunt Holly and I took her to get what she requested for her birthday breakfast, a pink doughnut. Later on we met Daddy at Red Robin for lunch, her choice also.She helped me make her birthday cake, chocolate fudge cake of course. She patiently waited until Rylee and Scott got home to open her presents. She was thrilled, even with a card.The present she was most excited about and still talks about today, was birthday cake oreos! She is so simple to please! She still rubs it in Rylee's face that she got oreo's for her birthday and Rylee didn't.She got a bike too! She did awesome, she is so very brave. She fell a few times but jumped right back up and kept going. Not a single tear was shed.We rescheduled our Valentine's dinner and had it for Haylee's birthday dinner instead! Haylee was perfectly happy with this since it included her most favorite food on earth, mashed potatoes. She loves them so much she may choose them over cake. So I put candles in them just for her.

The cake and my adorable 4 year old!

I can't believe she is 4. In a year and a half she will start school. My baby girl! We love her dearly, she is very easy going (except around certain people these days, she is going through a shy spell), funny, beautiful, smart, cuddly, and loving. Happy Birthday, Haylee!

Valentine's Day

This year was Rylee's first time handing out Valentine's. On Valentine's Eve, we put together 40 of these for her class and I just have to say, I was pretty dang proud of the results!

She came home with quite the load of cards and candy! All of the kids passed out Valentine's without personalizing them but she had a special Valentine tucked away in her binder from a boy, made out just to her! Not cool.

Both Haylee and Zach really enjoyed all of the candy to choose from.Zach grabbed a sucker and I told him I wanted to take a picture of him. He backed right up to the wall and smiled. He saw me taking pictures of Rylee in front of the wall for her Valentine cards and mimicked it. Silly boy.Scott had this amazing meal planned out at home for all of us but I didn't feel well at all that evening so plans changed to the next evening!

Zach's First Haircut

After a few comments from people that he is "mullet boy" and that "he has a tail!", we decided it was time for his first haircut! I had been putting it off because I love his sweet baby hair with the little curl in the back! I do all of Scott's haircuts so I did Zach's too.
Here is the before...

He did not like the buzzer at all and was ready to be done!

Here is the after...the sun was in his eyes. =)It was so weird seeing him transform from baby to boy! I sure miss that super soft baby hair though...

Birthday Party

The 3 cousins, Rylee, Haylee, and Elijah's birthdays are all in February. So we decided to have one big combined birthday party for the 3 of them. We celebrated at Peter Piper Pizza and this was the first year that Rylee got to invite a bunch of her friends from school! It was a crazy whirlwind of a party. All of the little girls were adorable but as spastic as could be! Here are the party tables with most of the party people!

The girl's cake!

Someone gave Zach a piece of cake all to himself! He was a mess!

A group picture of Rylee's friends!

Singing Happy Birthday to our girls!

Rylee's 6th Birthday

Rylee is now 6! She is half-way done with kindergarten, and she loves it. She is doing so great! Her birthday was on a school day so we made her a special breakfast before school and I packed her a surprise lunch. She asked me a few times if I had treats to send in for her class, which I did, but I wanted it to be a surprise. Scott and I both surprised her in class with cupcakes for everyone. It was so fun seeing her in her classroom and the kids were all thrilled. It was so fun but she was pretty sad when we had to leave! We are cherishing these last years that she actually likes when we are around and isn't embarrassed by us!

After school, she got to pick whatever she wanted for dinner and she picked eating out at Famous Dave's! Her birthday dessert there came with the most amazing candle ever. She tried to blow it out and the waitress quickly stopped her because, well it was a small flame thrower.

When we got home she opened her presents. Scott got her a necklace and earring set (I am working on her to go get her ears pierced, I think she is ready!) and her reaction to it was priceless. She was so grateful and it absolutely melted Daddy's heart.

We got her an inexpensive digital camera, she was thrilled!

The typical, "I'm going to take a picture of you taking a picture of me" shot!

The cake she requested, which is now the cake we all want for our birthdays, was homemade chocolate fudge cake. Nice grin, right! :)

Happy 6th Birthday!