Rylee is 9!

Rylee turned 9!!!! Oh how this girl loves her birthdays, she has been excited for months and has told me many, many times exactly what she wanted for her birthday. She kept talking the day before about who was going to be the first person to wish her a Happy Birthday. She speculated that it would probably be her Dad because he is usually the one to turn on their bedroom light in the morning and wake them up, but, surprise, it was me! 

As soon as she got up she was wanting to open all of her presents. I let her open the present from her Grandma Bonnie which was skittles and money and then I let her have her new top and pants.

I posted this collage on Instagram to wish Rylee a Social Media Happy Birthday. She was such a cute and chunky baby and is such a beautiful 9 year old!

Of course I had a full day of dance classes to teach and the girls were so good and patient to come along and help me. I wish they could help me every day I have to teach. All my dancers behaved and danced better having "big girls" there watching and Rylee and Avynlea were such good helpers for me. I also loved having them in the car with me keeping me company, it was fun to talk to them about my classes and get their feedback on things they saw.  Rylee had my phone during most of my classes and spent her time texting her Aunt, her Grandma's, her friend Maryn and her Daddy. She sent pictures of herself to Maryn and Kefford and got Kefford to send a picture of what his day was looking like. She is hilarious!

For dinner we had Rylee's favorite, Spaghetti and meatballs, we had a late lunch and so nobody was too hungry and took small portions, including the birthday girl.

Finally she got to open the rest of her presents!

She loved everything she got but was most excited for the Art set. That was the present she has been talking about wanting for months. It was fun to see her so thrilled with the things she received! 

Rylee wanted an Oreo cake with Oreo frosting so I crushed up oreos and added it to the chocolate cake batter and then I put crushed oreos between the layers and on top of the cake. It tasted so good! Still not very hungry, everyone either took a really small portion or did not have any cake at all.

Rylee's Favorite Things

1. Dinner: Spaghetti and Meatballs
2. Dessert: Ice-cream sandwiches
3. Candy: Skittles
4. Color: green and blue
5. Friend: Maryn Ross
6. Scripture Story: When Jesus walks on the water
7. Primary Song: Book of Mormon stories
8. Radio Song: Shut up and Dance by Walk the Moon
9. Book: Trading Faces
10. Movie: Aladdin
11. TV Show: The Amazing World of Gumball
12. Toy: Stuffed Animal Bunny, Cheeks
13. Thing to do: Swimming
14. Place to go: YMCA
15. School Subject: Reading and Art
16. Favorite Restaurant: Golden Corral
17. Favorite Sport: Basketball
18. Favorite Disney Princess: Jasmine

5 Things I love about Rylee

1. I love that she can be so independent and be fine with being on her own. If she has nobody around to play with it's not a problem, she is good with being on her own. A lot of times she actually prefers being on her own because then she can do what she wants without anyone else getting in her way.
2. Rylee is starting to build her own testimony of this Gospel and reads her scriptures and really tries hard to say sincere prayers. She loves going to primary and activity days and loves learning about our Savior. I love the questions she asks when we are talking about Gospel principles because it shows she is listening and really wants to learn.
3. This girl says the most random and funny things. She has a quick wit and is so much fun to be around. She likes making others laugh and has a really fun personality.
4. Rylee is my cuddle bug and I love having her snuggle with me. She knows when I need a hug and is awesome at letting me know she loves me. She is also a hugger with her friends and cousins and I think it is cute to see her running up to them when she sees them and giving them a big hug.
5. Rylee has big ideas as to what she wants to be when she grows up. So far the list includes, professional basketball player, artist, pilot and cowgirl. She has also told us that she wants to be a Bishop when she grows up so that she can listen to peoples problems and then tell them what to do. She is not appreciative when we tell her she cannot be a Bishop and does not think that is quite fair. I told her that being a Mom is awesome because I do a lot of listening to other peoples problems and telling them what to do. I am not sure she is convinced.

I love Rylee so much and am so glad she is mine!

Beauty and the Beast

Kenedy was able to try out for the school musical and actually be in it this year. Last year she landed a part in the Musical but had to drop out because of conflicts with cheer. We were all so excited that she was going to be able to be in this one because it was Beauty and the Beast! Kenedy was a townsperson, a wolf and a few different enchanted objects...a spoon, a dish and a napkin. I bought tickets for our family to go see the play on Saturday night and was really looking forward to it!

Kenedy, Megan Warner, Keri Walsh, Kaci, Lauryn Warner, Ashlynn Rich, Carter Baumgartner

Lauryn Warner and Kenedy

Saturday night Kefford and I took our kids and met Trista and Austin along with Makayla and Ally at the school to watch the performance. Alison and Brit and her older two girls were supposed to come as well but they all were really sick and had to back out. I was able to sell Brits tickets, one to Ally, so she could get her money back and Alison gave her ticket to Makayla. It was fun that they could come and watch the play with us.

I was really impressed with Meridian High's performance of Beauty and the Beast. The costumes were awesome and it was such a fun play to watch. I had a really good time and loved watching Kenedy perform!

Austin Avynlea, Trista, Ally, Kenedy, Rylee, Ryker and Makayla

Kenedy, Lauryn Warner, Megan Warner, Kody Burch, Wilson Dowdle

Kenedy and Madison Black

The girls got to take a picture with Belle after the performance and Avynlea had to have a picture with the cardboard cutout of her favorite princess.

I made plans to go again the next Thursday because what this school does which I think is so cool is have two different main casts so that more kids can participate and Gabi was not in the cast performance I saw and I wanted to see her and some of Kenedys other friends who were not in the other one. Alison was feeling better and decided to come over to go with me. I was really glad she did because it was fun having her there and I know she enjoyed watching Kenedy as well. This was a popular play and tickets for each night were being sold out fast. The play started at 7 with the doors opening at 6:30 so we got there at 6 to buy tickets and they were already sold out! It was nuts how crowded it was in that lobby! I was feeling bummed out that we were not going to be able to get in but they put us on a wait list and we managed to get seats, hooray! 

I loved it just as much the second time watching as I did the first! There is a part at the end of the Be out Guest song where they let off confetti canons and the loud noise made me jump the first time I saw it so I wanted to make sure I was prepared the second time I watched it so I would not jump again. Well, I got distracted by something and my mind was not paying attention so during this second performance, when the canons went off I jumped harder and even let out a little scream it scared me so bad. I was so embarrassed! It was a good night anyway and I was glad to have been able to see it again!

Linder Ward Kids

Isaac Caroca, Kenedy, Megan Warner, Trey Hallenberger and Gabi Caroca

Kenedy and Grandma Alison

Hike to Table Rock

March means it is track break for my elementary school kids. I love having my kids home with me and have been looking forward to track break for quite a while. Unfortunately I realized that a lot of track break was going to be me dragging my girls around while I taught dance classes all week. I felt really bad that we couldn't just relax at home finding fun things to do. Because I felt so bad I really tried to find fun things to do in the spare time we did have. 

One of the Tuesdays we decided to go hiking up to Table rock with a friend and her kids. Rylee had a fever the night before and I was worried about her and that we would have to change our plans but the morning of she came bounding down the stairs saying she felt great. I figured we could still go since she seemed better so we packed lunches and after dance class headed out to go hiking. We have done this hike many times before and my kids love it and always do really great. This time after we got started it was becoming apparent to me that Rylee was back to feeling not great. She was needing frequent stops and was really lethargic. 

I took this picture at one of our stops and Rylee was feeling so terrible she couldn't move from her resting place to get in the picture with the rest of the kids. 

Ezra, Avynlea, Jules and Logan

Rylee

We finally made it to the top and Rylee perked up a little after we ate our lunches. 

After spending some time at the top Avynlea was starting to complain a little about not feeling good and I decided we needed to cut our time short and get going home so the girls could relax and rest on the couches. I loved being able to spend time with my girls and felt really bad that they were not feeling good. They were sick the next morning and it broke my heart that I had to leave them to go and teach dance. I felt like a terrible Mom and am so grateful I made the decision to not teach next year. It has stopped being fun and has become almost a burden and I don't like that feeling. I really tried to find a sub but nobody was available so I had to leave my girls and make do with calling them to check on them after every class. I did stop at the store to get ingredients to make green smoothies when I got home, which tasted terrible. Seriously, what in the world? My friend drinks them daily and goes on and on about how delicious they are so of course we wanted to try them out. Not good. not good at all. The next day we left out the green and just made fruit smoothies and those were so much better. Live and learn!

"Oh No, She Has The Hives"!

Avynlea had her PACE presentation the end of February and was excited but more nervous. She came down that morning telling me that her legs had weird rashes all over them. I looked and saw some red marks but was not too concerned about it. I had her get dressed and get her morning stuff done. I took Ryker to school and when I got back I checked on Avynlea and saw that she had little red marks starting to appear on her face. I realized that she probably had hives and started looking for some Benadryl.  Of course I did not have any so I told them I would be right back and went over to 

Wal-greens calling my mom to get her advice on what to do. 

When I got back with the medicine her hives had spread even more and I was really worried about what to do. Avynlea absolutely did not want to miss her presentation so I had her go to school and then right after regret that decision because I got a text from my Mom saying that I really should be watching her to see if it gets worse. I drove over to the school and saw Avynlea on the playground and had her come with me to the Nurse's office to talk to her about it. She pulled in her teacher and we agreed that Avynlea would be moved up in line so she could do her presentation first and then I would take her home for the rest of the day. I stayed with Avynlea while she went to class and just sat in a chair keeping an eye on her. Her hives were getting worse and worse and the nurse came through to give her some more Benadryl. Finally her presentation was complete and I checked her out and took her home.

While we were leaving I glanced at the lost and found as we passed by and found a baggie of animal crackers that I swear came from our house. Avynlea and Rylee both denied it belonging to them but I have my suspicions. I took a picture of them and then threw the baggie in the trash. Who was the crazy person to put food in the lost and found?

Avynlea's hives were not going away and the next day I took her to the Dr. After asking question after question to figure out if she could be allergic to something the Dr decided she was probably reacting to an illness and told us to give her some Zertec once a day and if it didn't clear up after a week to bring her back in and then they would do some extensive allergy testing. The hives were coming back off and on all that week and then got really bad the end of the week. I was really worried but then they disappeared and have not been back. I talked to my mom and sisters about it and a couple of them said that they have gotten hives before after illnesses so I guess it runs in the family.

Family Picture Wall

After 8 years of having the same decor on my living room wall I decided it was time for a change. I recently bought a canvas print of our family picture and while I think it is cool I am also trying to figure out what I am supposed to do with it in a year when we get a new family picture. It does not seem to be the easiest to store and throwing it out seems weird and a waste, I am not sure I will be getting another canvas any time soon. But, I do like it because it is different then anything else I have had and that is fun to change things up.

Avynlea and Rylee helped me take off the vinyl and it was a lot easier then I thought it would be, I was also worried about any sticky or weird residue left on the wall but it all came off really easy.

Before it all came off Avy wanted to just take off the letters that would then leave everyones nicknames, according to her.

It took me about a month to get the individual pictures up. I was not thrilled with pounding more nails in the wall, I wasn't sure how to configure it and it was just too overwhelming. The other day I was cleaning out a craft box and I found some command picture hanging strips I had hanging around. I gave it some thought and decided those would be perfect if I could get them to work. I tried the 4 I had on one picture and hung it up and waited a bit to see if it would stay or fall. After a while of it actually staying on my wall I got really excited and made a quick run to Wal-Mart to pick up some more. After I picked up the kids from school I finished my project and was so happy with the results. The command strips are amazing and worked so perfectly. I am really happy with how the wall turned out!

Happy Birthday Dr Seuss

March 2nd was Dr Seuss's birthday and Chapparral celebrated by having a read-in and letting the kids dress up as their favorite Dr Seuss characters. Rylee and her bestie Maryn wanted to be Thing 1 and Thing 2. I remembered that my friends twins had Thing 1&2 shirts so I texted her to see if we could borrow them. She was fine with that but only had two Thing 2 shirts so I cut a 1 out of some purple vinyl I had and covered up the 2 on Maryns shirt. I took some pictures of Rylee before school but I wanted a picture of both of them so I went to the school a little early to wait for the two of them to come out. When they got to the flagpole Rylee told me that the one fell off during the day, no big deal. I was able to take a picture of these two cute girls in their matching shirts. Rylee really wanted crazy hair and so I did the best I could with lots of mousse, hairspray and teasing but by the end of the day it had fallen and actually looked quite pretty. Ha!

Rylee and Maryn

Basketball Pictures

Ryker had his last Basketball game of the season and it was a good thing. I was done with going to all the games and the girls were done with it also. They played Lowell Scott and the best thing ever happened, Meridian Won! This was the first game they won and thank heavens it happened so they did not have to end the season at a total loss. It was a nail biter to the very end. In the last few minutes of the 4th quarter the ref made a call that most of the Meridian parents and players did not like because they were all on their feet in protest. Right after it happened I was looking down at my phone reading a text when I heard one of the Meridian boys yell out "You Suck" to the ref. Instinctively and immediately without even thinking the Mom in me reacted and yelled out "Hey, No!" to the kid. I then let my brain catch up to my mouth and ended it right then, not my monkey not my circus. The coach got in his face and chewed him out and after the game I saw his Mom chewing him out all good things since that was not cool of the kid at all.

Meridian won by one point and everyone was so excited. Someone managed to get the boys all together for a group picture and I was glad to get a shot of Rykers 7th grade Basketball team.

Rylee's basketball team had team pictures and instead of paying a ridiculous price for a picture I snapped a couple of photos with my phone behind the picture guy. It is not the best quality but it sure was a lot cheaper.

Before her last game of the Season I took some pictures of my cute basketball playing girl. I tried some in the backyard and then in front of the brick wall at the school. After the game their coach gave each girl a trophy and Rylee thought that was pretty great! Her first trophy!