Sweet Rylee

Rylee had a Valentine's Day party at her Pre-school the day after Valentines which she was really excited about. I took her picture because I thought she looked adorable in her day of love attire!

Rylee often gets really annoyed with Kenedy having her reading lamp on while she is trying to go to sleep. I finally offered her the use of a sleeping mask I have not been using. I found her asleep that night like this and it made me smile really big. Too cute!

Valentines Day

For Valentines Day Kefford picked out new Wii and DS games for the kiddos. Ryker got a Mario game for his DS, Kenedy got Just Dance 3, Avynlea got a Barbie game for the DS and Rylee got a My Little Pony DS game. They were all excited and didn't mind our leaving them home while we went on a date. Kenedy spent the day saying we should take them out to eat too since it was Valentines Day and our family should celebrate it together. Thank heavens Kefford was on top of things and got them the electronic games because we could then leave without all of the complaining.

So Kefford and I went to The Macaroni Grill where we had a great meal and were also text stalked by some friends of ours who kept hinting that they were in the restaurant watching us. We did not see them until we were walking out the door, apparently we picked the same place to eat and they saw us but we did not see them. It was fun and made us feel very cool to have stalkers spying on us :o) Thanks Nicholes!

After we ate Kefford and I went across the street to browse at Barnes and Noble. My bestie sent me a valentines day card with a Gift certificate for a new book from Amazon, so fun! Rylee brought the mail in that day and when she saw the card type envelope she automatically said that it was for Avynlea and tried to give it to her. I am assuming she did that because she spent the last week watching Avy get things in the mail for her birthday. What a fun surprise to find it was actually for me..Yay! So we went to the book store to walk around and I spent my time there making a list of books that looked good for future purchases. I found that an Author I really liked already had two books out in a new series, so those went to the top of the list. As soon as we got home I tried to buy the first one with my gift certificate and accidentally bought it with my credit card they had on file. So I tried again with the second book and got it right. Thanks Heather, it was a good read!!

After all of that fun Kefford and I came home, put the kids to bed and then had ourselves a little Just Dance 3 party. In looking over the pictures that Kenedy took of us I am happy to note that we are in sync for most of them and that the ones we are not in sync in are pictures of us doing dances where we take different parts. So yeah we pretty much rock at this Just Dance business!

Kefford was a little bummed because the gift that he ordered me had not come in the mail yet. I was fine with that and told him it was no big deal. He went ahead and told me he got me the first season of Gilmore Girls and that it should be here any day. I was happy with that, I love Gilmore Girls and have been wanting my own collection for some time. Finally a couple of days later a box comes in the mail for me and when I opened it I found this...

He didn't only buy me the first season he got me all seven seasons in one convenient boxed set. I have been wanting this particular boxed set for a long time and it was a very exciting moment to open the box and find it. I suspect that Kefford grew tired of all the Gilmore Girls episodes I had recorded taking up space on our DVR because once this big mama was in my hands he wasted no time deleting my shows.

Another great Valentines Day with the ones I love!

Avynlea is 7!!

Avynlea is now a big seven year old! Avynlea woke up on her birthday with a surprise under her pillow. The day before she came home from school will a big secret to tell. While she was eating her corndog at lunch one of her teeth fell out. I didn't even know she had any loose teeth so that was a surprise to me. So she put that tooth in a baggie under her pillow that night. Kefford and I snuck in after Avynlea was asleep to put some money under her pillow but we could not find her tooth. Kenedy was awake and was telling us that she didn't know where Avynlea put it. So Avynlea woke up, kind of, during our rummaging and we told her the tooth fairy couldn't find her tooth and that she needed to tell us where it was. She put it on top of a pile of books that Kenedy had on the floor by her bed. Craziness! So we put it under her pillow and then waited until she was asleep again to put some money under there. So anyway Avy woke up with $2 under her pillow and a great start to her birthday.

I wished Avynlea a happy birthdya and told her to get ready for the day. She came out not too much time later wearing one of the most mismatched outfits i have ever seen. I very nicely took her back into her room and said I would help her find a special birthday outfit. Rylee came out wearing her black and pink skirt for the second day in a row and I asked her if she would be willing to let Avynlea wear her skirt for her birthday. Rylee said no and that it was her special skirt and that she loved it best of all. I understood and said she didn't have to and we set about finding something else for her to wear. A couple of minutes later Rylee came out with her skirt in her hand and said that Avynlea could wear her skirt because it was her birthday. Seriously she is such a sweetheart!

I bought doughnuts for the kids and once they had their breakfast off to school they went.

When Avynlea came home from school she had this cute crown on her head that her best friend gave to her.

Avynlea requested pancakes for dinner and so I made chocolate chip pancakes and scrambled eggs for dinner, so easy!

Then it was time to open her presents, she got a hamster wheel...

new monkey slippers...

bracelet making kit which they all loved. Avy was very generous and let her sisters make bracelets with her.

clothes and movies from her Grandma Alison..

money from Great Grandma Peterson...

she also got calico critters and new tennis shoes. I guess I got tired of taking birthday present pictures. :o)

About a week or so ago Avynlea decided to take Rykers DS into the bathtub with her and in the process dropped it in the water. Yup it was ruined. When Ryker found out he was not happy, lots of crying was heard throughout the house from Ryker and Avynlea. Ryker because his DS was ruined and Avynlea because of what she had done. So Kefford sent it off to get fixed and it was deemed unreparable and they sent him a new one, pretty cool. Kefford also found a pink DS on craigslist and bought it for the girls since they always want to play Rykers. Well Kefford told Ryker that they couldn't fix his and that Kefford bought a him a new one and then he gave him the pink one. This was Ryker when he saw it.

bummed on the color but surprisingly ok with it.

Kefford then gave him the one he got in replacement and Ryker was super happy.

When I asked Avynlea what kind of cake she wanted she told me that she wanted a strawberry ladybug cake. I thought yeah I can do that but after two failed batches of frosting and a huge lack of self-cofidence I went to Fred Meyers the morning of her birthday and asked if they could make a ladybug cake by that night. I was so happy when they said it would be no problem. I was super doublely happt when I picked it up later that afternoon and saw how cute it was. Avynlea loved it and I was relieved that I didn't ruin her birthday by not fulfilling her request.

It was a great 7th birthday for Avynlea and here are five things I love about my third child.

1) I love how funny she is. Avynlea does the quirkiest funniest things and is always making me laugh. She is such a clown and is so delightful to be around. i love her fun personality.

2) Avynlea has turned into a reader. Avy started out the school year in the lowest reading group and within a couple of months made the big jump to the highest reading group. She has to read aloud to me every day and has never once complained about doing it. She really enjoys reading and that makes me so happy to have another book lover in the family!

3) Avynlea has a generous spirit about her and is constantly sharing and being kind to her siblings. She is hardly ever selfish and is a joy.

4) I love her giggles. Her laughter is contagious and it makes me smile.

5) I really love watching Avynlea dance. She has some serious dancing skills and it makes me happy how happy dancing makes her.

Avynleas favorite things:

1)Food: Pineapple

2)Treat: Candy Bars

3)Animal: Tiger

4)Color: Aqua

5)Church Song: Praise to the Man

6)any Song: Love Story by Taylor Swift

7)Toy: Calico Critters

8)Friend: Makenzie

9)Book: Put me in the Zoo

10)Holiday: Valentines Day

11)Thing to do: Play with hamster Britney

12)School Subject: Science and Library

12)favorite thing about being 7: being in first grade

Avynlea Love

 I took the kids to the Dentist last week and Avynlea was done first. She came out and showed me her new toothbrush and then noticed something strange on the package. The toothbrush is the fancy kind that has the tongue cleaner thingie on the opposite side of the bristles and the package was sporting a smaller one I guess so you can feel it before you buy it. Anyway Avy thought that was cool and peeled it off the package so she could play around with it. She is the funniest little goofball!

Avynlea has been a major thumbsucker since she was just a teeny baby. We have tried multiple times and many different ways to get her to quit but nothing worked, she loved her thumb. She even had a thumsucking blanket that she used. It was a fleece one that Whitney made for Ryker when he was a baby. It is really soft and it has the tassle things and it is the tassle things that she liked to hang on to as she was doing her thumbsucking. Well this kid was a thumbsucker and despite trying to get her to quit I was ok with it...until she lost her front teeth. That was when I started to worry about her permanent teeth coming in and thinking that her thumb was going to cause her major damage. So I came up with a bargain. I told Avy that if she stopped sucking ehr thumb I would let her get a kitty. Avynlea loves animals and has always wanted a pet. She thought that was a good deal and said ok. The next morning avynlea came to find me after she woke up, showed me her thumb and let me know that she did not suck her thumb at all. I was amazed and asked her how she did it and what she said was so grown up. she said "I decided that I wanted a pet more then I wanted to suck my thumb". Wow! That did it from that point on she has not put her thumb in her mouth and she even got rid of her thumb sucking blanket saying that it was too much temptation. What a girl!

Over a bit of time Avynlea decided that she really wanted a hamster instead of a kitty and so I told her that we would get her hamster after we came back from our trip to California. She got the hamster cage for Christmas and then when we got back Erin and I took her to the pet store so that she could get her hamster. She picked a cute hamster and when we got home told me that her name was Britney. It took a while for the hamster to get acclimated to all of us but once we thought it was time I let Avynlea try to hold her. Avy got bit about three times and on the third time blood was drawn. Even after all that Avy still loves her hamster and is now able to hold her and play with her. It is really cute to see them together and Avynlea thinks Britney is just adorable and so that everything she does is so cute!

Grandmas Tea

On New Years Eve day Grandma Alison held her annual Grandmas tea. All of the granddaughters 3 and older were invited. Avynlea was not there so she missed out. I did not even know about this or that it happened until I saw it on Brits blog so I took the pictures that she had so that I could have a record of this fun day. 

Grandma gave a little lesson on manners and then had the butler, Ryker, serve cheese sandwiches, hot chocolate and candies. I would assume all of the girls had fun since they always do and nobody looks unhappy in the pictures. Thanks to Brit for taking the pictures that day and for not minding me taking the pictures from her blog. :o) 

Qiana

Brielle

Isabelle

Ally

Mikayla

Rylee

She did not have a picture of Kenedy but Kenedy was there having fun too!

Saying goodbye

Sunday was the day before we had to fly back to california and it was also the day we had to say goodbye to Jeremys kids. Heather is collecting pictures of jaylynn with various family members to put in her photo album so she requested pictures with me and Rylee. Once the camera came out then everybody had to get in on the fun.

Jaylynn and Avynlea

Elizabeth and Jaylynn

Elizabeth and Avynlea

Avynlea, Erin and Jaylynn

Avynlea and Andrew

Grandma Bonnie and Avynlea

Andrew and Avynlea

Ashleigh

Joshua

Joshua and Mallory

Avynlea

Heather

Elizabeth and Joshua

Joshua and Mom

Mallory and Joshua

Avynlea and I had alot of fun on this trip. Our days were spent at the park, shopping, eating out, enjoying the sunshine and warm weather. But my absolute favorite day was spent with Mom, Erin, Jeremy, Heather, Joshua, Mallory, Joshuas friend Raymond, Ashleigh, Andrew and me in the backyard playing charades. It was just so much fun and drama free. I loved that day and wish I would have taken pictures. Next time for sure.

Leaving my family was really hard and some tears might have been shed but I will definitely be back because nothing beats family time!