American Girl Tea Party

One day in January I was at the library with my two little girls when I saw a sign about an American Girl Tea Party. Upon inquiring about the event I thought it sounded like fun and signed up Kenedy along with one of her best friends Natalia to attend.

On February 17th I picked the girls up from school where they then changed into dresses and took them to the Library for some fun with their American Girl Dolls. Nevermind that Kenedys is a fake. I just cannot bring myself to buy her a $100 doll that will never be played with. So she has an imitation from Costco that only cost me $25. she hardly ever plays with the thing so it was a good plan.
At the Tea they got to do some crafts which the girls liked doing, answer questions about the American girl Doll books and eat tiny sandwiches with lemonade and or herbal raspberry tea.

They really enjoyed themselves and I know hope to do it again next year. Maybe by then Avynlea will be old enough to attend!

Ryker was a little jealous of this all girls party and so when I found out about a superheros party for boys that will happen the first part of April you can bet I signed the kid up for it. :0)

Scratch Attack

When I was growing up I really wanted long pretty fingernails. So I worked really hard to grow them out. I quickly learned that having these long fingernails were a good weapon of choice when mad at my sisters. Unfortunately one of my punishments for scratching was I had to have my fingernails cut...so sad for me, but I learned that scratching was not OK. Now I am learning what goes around comes around, and I now have to deal with one of my own little sweeties using her nails as a weapon.

Avynlea and Rylee were both trying to get a toy out of the toy closet, I would assume the same toy, and when things got competitive Avynlea put things over the edge by using her nails.
It wasn't just a little scratch either. It was a long, bloody, nasty, cat attack scratch! Poor little Ry-Ry. Avynlea got into big trouble for this dastardly deed and lets hope learned her lesson.

By the way these pictures were totally posed. Rylee was all smiley in the picture and I told her to make a sad face. I even had Avy pose all mean! :0)

Monster Truck Mayhem!

A couple of weeks ago Kefford took Ryker and Kenedy to the Monster Truck show. They do this every year and it is always looked forward to with great anticipation. Keffords brother Jeremy along with two of his kids, Mikayla and Bailey, go also. They have to wear earplugs because it gets really loud but despite the noise they had a grand time. This year there was a dragon that came out spitting fire and smashing on the trucks. The kids thought this was great fun!

This is a really fun tradition for the Kefford and the kids and next year Avynlea will be able to go too! Kefford only took two pictures at the show so I thought I would upload one of the videos he took. I don't know which one it is but I hope it is a good one! Enjoy!

Get your Green on!

We started our St. Patricks day celebration wit Ryker setting up his Leprechaun trap the night before. I completely forgot to take a picture of it but I can describe it pretty good. He took the two silver bowls shown in the picture below and put them on the floor with a red towel over each. He then placed a quarter on top of one and a plastic crown on top of the other one. Ryker explained to me that when the Leprechaun jumps on the first bowl, if he doesn't fall in, then he will jump onto the second one and fall in. He said that the quarter and crown were placed on top because Leprechauns like shiny things.

The next morning we discovered the trap did not work and the Leprechaun flaunted his shrewdness with some mischief.
What a tricky Leprechaun we have.

We did get to keep the gold he accidentally dropped. Yay for us!

Oh my goodness

That silly Leprechaun even used our toilet leaving it green.

Cute little girls wearing their green.

I got to pull out my Ireland jacket and wear it for the day!

Of course I had to make a green dinner. I made corned beef in honor of Ireland and then made green biscuits, green mashed potatoes, green watergate salad and green kool-aid. Even our plates matched the theme!

Look at that angry Leprechaun lurking in the corner of the picture.

Oh it's just Rylee! hahaha

We had a fun day and hope next year we can catch that Leprechaun!

Rylee turned Three!!

This birthday girl did not wake up early like I thought she would. In fact I had to go in her bedroom at 8:00 to wake her up along with everyone else. For some reason she was sound asleep on the floor and she must have still been in a deep sleep because it took a little while to get her to wake up. After taking a while to wake up she suddenly got into the birthday spirit and wanted to open her one morning present.

I let her open the one her Grandma Bonnie sent her. She opened the card first and read it all by herself. Of course she can't read but she seemed to know what it said..well at least what she thought it should say.

How excited was she to open up a coloring book, big box of crayons, crayon twisters, a Pooh sticker book and those precious bags of M&M's. For breakfast she ate the M&M's. What a happy morning!

Of course she picked to have pizza for Dinner so Kefford brought that home and I made a salad to keep it somewhat healthy.

Then it was time for the presents. She got to pick which present to open first and who was going to give it to her. Her method for picking which order the present opening went in was determined by largest to smallest.

A new stroller for her baby doll. Never mind that a couple of hours later she decided to sit in her stroller and ripped the tie off of it. Now I have to fix her brand new stroller.

A new sketch toy with fun animal stamps!

A make-up box like Avynleas with chapstick, eyeshadow and bubblegum inside.

So exciting!!

Check out the very girlie crossed leg pose!

So Cute!!

And finally Princess color wonder book. YAY!

Yummy purple and pink cupcakes for the birthday girl.

Make a wish!

Oh hello there! :0)

Aunt Ashleigh sent a little something for all the kids which they were all excited about. Fun lipgloss for the girls and a super cool batman keychain for Ryker. Thanks Ashleigh, they love their surprises and they love you!

5 reasons why I love Rylee:

1. She is very cuddly and lets me give her lots of snuggles. She even doesn't mind all of the kisses i like to bestow upon her.

2. Her facial expressions never fail to crack me up. She is a funny girl and keeps me smiling.

3. She is very quick to forgive when someone does a wrong to her. She always says "its ok" and then moves on with life not holding a grudge.

4.She has always had a fascination with my hair and I love it when she runs her fingers through it, unless it is in a bun then I get annoyed :0). But she always tells me she likes my hair, even on bad hair days. Sweet girl!

5. I love how excited she gets when she sees her daddy come home. She is a Mommas girl but she is also a big Daddy's girl, they are good buds, and I love to see them cuddling on the couch.

Rylees favorites:

candy: M&M's

color: pink and purple

friend: Mama

place to go: park

toy: dinosaur

food: ice-cream

nursery song: Jesus wants me for a sunbeam

tv show: Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go

The story of your birth: Rylee

Baby number 4 was due to arrive on March 18th. This pregnancy was a little different for one because it was not planned, for another we had no idea what sex the baby was. I told Kefford before the ultrasound I didn't think we should find out what the baby is so we could have a surprise delivery. He was absolutely not fond of that idea and quickly vetoed my suggestion. but during the ultrasound little baby 4 had the umbilical cord between its legs and would not show us what it was. So Mommy got her way after all! HA!

I was not too concerned about being induced super early with this baby. I was really hoping the baby would come on its own and about two weeks before my due date I had a big false alarm. On that Saturday night I started having contractions that were coming about 7 minutes apart. I thought for sure this was it and I shaved my legs, had the kids rub lotion on my belly and even called Keffords Mom to warn her that we might need her. So I went to bed with the contractions and waited for them to get harder and closer. Yeah so I woke up the next morning with nothing and realized it was false labor. Major bummer!

My Doctor scheduled my induction for March 16th and the morning of we went in. One of the Ladies in our ward, Clea Mefford, was a labor and delivery nurse and so she requested to be my nurse since she was working that day. it was so nice having her there, she was alot of fun and took really good care of me. After I had my waters break and I was hooked up to the pitocin I was given a big medicine ball to sit and bounce on to help me through the contractions. I tested positive for the strep thing and so I had the medicine in my IV and I was also given lots of fluids. While bouncing around on the ball I started to feel like I had to go to the bathroom really bad and I was leaking. I was told that all of that was probably from the contractions and my water leaking. So I kept bouncing and then I realized that, no, I was peeing all over the ball. So they quickly unhooked me and let me go to the bathroom. Oh boy was there a ton of pee that came out!

I finally got my epidural at 11:45 and then we just waited. We did spend the time trying to find a boys name that we liked. We already had a girls name but absolutely were struggling on finding a boys name. Finally at 2:45ish pm I was ready to start pushing and at 2:58 out came our new little girl. Although we were kinda hoping for another boy I was really happy to have my baby 4 be a girl because I loved the name we had chosen for our girl. Rylee Heather, Rylee because we just really liked the name and we chose to name her middle name Heather after my best friend who also happens to be my sister!
When she came out my doctor could not believe how heavy she was and wanted her weighed right away before she went to the bathroom so we could get the maximum weight. My little girl weighed in at 9 pounds 15 ounces! A 10 pound baby, what a claim to fame :0) Everyone was very impressed.

It got a little crazy then because Alison came with the other three kids. They were very excited to have a new little sister and wanted to hold her and love on her. We are very happy that Rylee joined our family, she is a sweetheart and we love her lots!

Rylee Heather Peterson

March 16, 2007

2:58 pm

9 ponds 15 ounces

21 inches long

Statues do not make good companions!

Overheard while the girls were playing Polly Pockets:

Avynlea: RYLEE!!! Don't break him, then we have to use Eric and he's only a statue, he can't hug and he can't kiss. His arms don't move and his head can't move!

Apparently they need more then one boy Polly Pocket so that if something tragic happens they have backups other then Eric the statue. :0)

Kefford fixed the boy Polly who had been pulled apart limb by limb and when he was returned to the girls everyone was so happy to see him whole again!

Avynlea: Rylee, you cannot touch him again! You go play with those downstairs.

Party!

This picture of Kenedy was taken last May or June with my camera phone,

now for the story...

We have made it a rule for our kids that they are not allowed to go to sleepovers for any reason until never. But when Kenedy started 3rd grade her teacher told the class that if they met the reading goal for the year she would let them come to her house for a slumber party. I know doesn't that sound weird and not OK? But she has been doing this for as long as she has been teaching and nobody else ever had a problem with it. So fast forward to the end of the year when the kids met there reading goal and it was time to go to the sleepover. Kenedy really, desperately wanted to go and so I told her she could go but only if I went too. I knew her teacher well enough that it wasn't weird for me to do that. So on the way to her teachers house Kenedy confided to me that she felt kinda embarrassed that I was going and that it made her feel like a baby. I told her I understood that and then explained better my reasoning for not letting her go alone. She accepted that and we moved on. At her teachers house I was the only parent who stayed..strange right?...and I basically left Kenedy alone to do her thing. I played games with some of the other kids and tried to stay more or less out of the way. Kenedy later came up to me and told me that she was glad I was there, so that was nice. The kids played games, watched a movie, ate popcorn and woke up to doughnuts and juice.

The thing that bothered me about it all was all of the kids that were there without parents. Sure there teacher is really nice and of course you don't ever expect or want anything bad to happen but come on people. Her husband was there too and while he pretty much stayed out of sight who knows what could happen. It was kind of weird but I am glad that I went so that Kenedy could go.

Oh and look how excited Kenedy is in the picture! She is too cute!

It's fun to laugh

Because I really don't want to forget the funny things this girl says and because Kefford reminded me I needed to write stuff down, I give you some of the things my Avynlea says.

Miss Kim is Avynlea and Rylee's dance teacher

Yesterday while driving to dance class Avynlea says."Mom how come Miss Kim has no boobs and she is grownup and married?" I started laughing so hard it was so funny. That must have made her nervous because she immediately said "don't tell her i said that". Dang it! i really wanted to tell but I told Avynlea I wouldn't and so I didn't.

We were watching So You Think You Can Dance and Avynlea started commenting on all the girls letting their panties show while they were dancing. I explained to her the fine art of bloomers and that it was OK for those to show cause they were not panties. She accepted that and we continued to watch. The next week we were watching again and Avynlea says "Mom is she wearing her blueberry pants?" Haha love it!

**All pictures were taken by Avynlea using my phone**

Princess Brides can be naughty too!

Yesterday while Avynlea was at preschool I decided to get my bathroom cleaned. I didn't want to leave Rylee alone downstairs so I brought her crayons and coloring book upstairs and set her up a little coloring station. She didn't last long with that though and when I finally came up for air from my cleaning frenzy I realized she was gone and it was pretty quiet. So I went downstairs and found this lovely mess left in the kitchen.
that is cupcake spread on the floor and looks like she wanted chocolate chips and blueberries in her belly. I questioned her on it and when she finally confessed to being the culprit I told her she had to clean it up. She threw a fit because she didn't want to and so I told her she either had to clean it up or go lay down on her bed. I left her to decide and went back to cleaning. When I realized that about 15 minutes had gone by with lots of silence I went to investigate and finally found Rylee.

Apparently the little princess made her choice.
Looks like a choice I wish I could make when faced with a mess to clean!