Mother/ Daughter/ Gaga Weekend

With Jon away on a camping trip, we girls are making the most of our time together. Last night, I had a few ladies over for a girl's night. We ate too much good food and snacks, had great conversation, and then watched "Breaking Dawn." Rylee got to stay up late (until before the movie) and eat a new milk-free candy bar that Gaga discovered. She thought she was such a big girl!

Today we had breakfast at Gaga's and then ventured out into the heat (what happened to winter?!) for some pony rides. Rylee got to ride Lily this time - the biggest horse she's ever been on. She thought it was really cool to be that high. :)









Afterwards we went to Kohl's to use my Mom's 30% off coupon. We've been having such a horrible time with Rylee and her clothes lately. You may have read on Facebook that she locked herself in her room the other day after a clothing crisis. Drama! And that is when I let her pick out her own outfits. You can forget suggesting something else.

But since I'm sick of her wearing the same three shirts over and over and looking like a ragamuffin, we decided to try something new. At Kohl's, Rylee picked out some things she liked and then we tried them on in the dressing room. She had a blast twirling in front of the mirror and walking the "catwalk" to the large mirror in the hallway. She picked out several new things and a necklace. She was so excited that she put on one of the new shirts and necklace before we went to lunch at Bru's Room.





*Even though it looks that way, I don't have a death grip on Rylee's arm. It's just deceiving due to my big Hulk Hogan pregnancy veins. Although admittedly the veins in my hand are grossly large all time - I have my Grandma Rinde's hands. :)

Hopefully now that she's more invested in her clothes, she won't be such a stinker. Fingers crossed! And I'm not cutting any tags off until I see if she actually wears them (just in case!).

We spent the rest of the afternoon at Gaga's. My legs and feet were a bit swollen so I kicked my feet up on the couch and watched "Swiss Family Robinson" - a childhood favorite. Rylee got pretty into it (lots of animals and pirates) so we had to stay and finish it. :)

All in all, it's been a fun weekend so far. Best part is we still have two more days. I love long weekends!

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V Day Pics

Jon took me out for a lovely Valentine's Day dinner (more on that below). Before we left, I wanted to get a belly pic for the blog. It didn't turn out great though. My sweater is blocking most of the belly and the sun was so bright, half my face is blurred out. Oh well, it's the best you're gonna get for now!

 

We had planned on going to PF Changs. We figured at 5, it wouldn't be that busy. Wrong! There was a concert at the arena so Sawgrass was packed. We barely got a parking space. It was a 2 plus hour wait at PF Changs. No thank you! We walked over to Grand Lux instead. They had immediate seating so we were sold. We got the crappy 2 seater bench part where you feel like you're eating with your neighbors, but it was loud enough in there that it wasn't too terrible. We had Asian nachos (OMG!) for an appetizer. Jon had pot roast I think and I had Crispy Caramel Chicken which is kind of a spicy Chinese dish. I took 3/4ths of it home so Jon and I are looking forward to eating it again tonight. Then we splurged on a piece of Oreo cheesecake. It was expensive, but the food really was sublime!

Rylee had a special Valentine's Day too. She got lots of cards and gifts. I made the kids special food yesterday: heart-shaped pancakes, heart-shaped grilled cheese & Valentine's cookies. My Mom came to babysit while went snuck out to dinner. They watched "Lady & the Tramp" (a gift from Gaga). Rylee really liked it. She got a Lady & the Tramp nightgown from Gaga too which she wore last night and modeled for her friends (over her clothes) this morning. :)

I'll leave you with this cute pic of the three kids yesterday. XOXO!

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

This free picture slideshow made with Smilebox

Flat Stanley

Last week I read the kids "Flat Stanley" so over the weekend I gave Rylee the worksheet I used with my Kindergartners as a little homework assignment.

She colored her Flat Stanley when I was at the grocery store. I actually accused Jon of doing it for her (ala "The Office"). She usually doesn't do this nice of a job. :)





For our first adventure we took Stanley (and Daddy) to Ikea for breakfast. This is becoming a regular outing for us. Where else can three people eat for under 6 dollars?!





Yesterday we took Flat Stanley bowling. He was content to watch Rylee and Daddy bowl, as was I. Rylee bowled two games and got one strike and a couple spares even though her ramp was totally uneven. (On an unrelated note, I made an unfortunate discovery while at the bowling alley. I brought my bowling shoes so I could help Rylee if she needed me and I had a really hard time bending down to put on my shoes. I mostly wear slip-ons so I hadn't encountered this yet. It was kind of depressing!)




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For the worksheet, she had to fill in the blanks (verbally obviously) about her time with Stanley. I thought some of her answers were pretty cute.

Stanley loves to eat "pancakes" because they are so flat.
He is so so flat, he can sleep "in his bed." (Duh!)
Being flat it was easy to play "my little pony."
His favorite book was "Flat Stanley." (Who wouldn't love a book about themselves?!)
Stanley was really scared of "creeks." (This was the sound the 'sneak thieves' made in the book.)
I think the next place Stanley should visit is "Gaga's house." :)

Holy Crap!

Jon demanded this story be published on the blog and suggested the title (so Rylee can blame him for any future embarrassment).

Tonight Rylee called Jon and I into the bathroom to show us her poop. It was impressive and the really hilarious part was that she yelled: "Mom, it's bigger than your baby!" :)

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Cinderylee

Lately Rylee has expressed some interest in helping with household chores (an idea I'm more than happy to promote!).

Here she is washing dishes...




and sweeping the floors.




Another one of her favorites is dust dancing, but the cell phone camera lacks when taking photos with motion (and dust dancing requires a whole lot a shakin' to be going on!). At least she's getting dance practice in before the ball! :)

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Realization

Rylee often has profound middle of the night realizations that she likes to share with me when I wake her up. They all begin with a very dramatic: "Mom, last night when I was sleeping, I realized something." (You really need to hear it in her voice for it to have its full effect.) I think she gets it from Mo Willem's Knuffle Bunny book when "Trixie realized" that Knuffle Bunny was missing. The realizations are usually not that dramatic: she lost her blankie, she found a toy in her bed, I forgot to get her fresh water etc, but I can usually count on her to share something with me most mornings.

This morning I had to laugh at myself because I had one of those not really profound/yet profound realizations. Rylee and BBP have the same due date in a way: the 17th. Rylee was due Sept. 17th and BBP is due May 17th. I found myself saying to Jon: "last night I realized something..." :) Again, I'm not sure why this didn't cross my mind before or if it did why it suddenly seemed profound last night, but there it is!

Maybe that means BBP will be born on May 6th (like Rylee on Sept 6th). Hmmm....