Chef Gramma

Rylee had her first baking lesson with Gramma the other day.

 

The above artwork was created by my very talented Aunt Judy who is trying to convince my Mom to write a cookbook. It must be a good likeness because Rylee took one look at the drawing and said "Gramma." Then she looked at the dog and paused. "Rio?" she asked. She tends to think any white dog is Rio! After I told her it was Gramma's dog, she managed a weak "Ang?" (She still hasn't quite mastered the word Angel.)

Anyway... they made sugar cookies. You can see here that Rylee had excellent form when using the cookie cutters.

 

(The girl has 4 darling aprons, but did she wear one on her first cooking expedition? No. Bold move to cook without one in all the finery too!)


Of course I have to leave you with her sampling one of her creations - yum!

 

Princess Rylee

Rylee is amassing quite the jewelry and makeup collection. Trying to find all the bits and pieces in their various locations was starting to annoy me so I decided to buy Rylee her very own Caboodle. I had one as a teenager - I'm feeling very nostalgic!

 

Not only does she have a lot of pieces, but she likes to wear all of them at the same time (of course!).

I came up with two options for this photo...

Caption 1: Rylee is taking a page out of Mommy's "Fancy Nancy" book. At least she's wearing her tutu on her waist and not her head! or...

 

Caption 2: Cousin Maddie would be so proud of Rylee's bold fashion choices!

I guess dress up time is over... for now!

 

Laptop Love

Blogging has been difficult lately. Rylee's naps are short and to say she doesn't like it when I go on the computer would be putting it mildly. I guess my computer time is to Rylee what my Mom's romance novels were to me. "Stop reading those romanicals" I used to say to my mom. :)

So I came up with a plan. Give Rylee a computer of her own! I'm pretty sure they say the family that surfs together stays together.

 

What do you think: a blogger in the making? Or will blogs be extinct by then?!

 

*Here's another photo from first thing this morning (setting up her Facebook account no doubt). :)

 

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Rylee here. Sorry Mommy has to post this blog for me so late in the day - I didn't give her any computer time until I went to sleep tonight. :)

I can't wait to see you in "Cosby" this summer. We need to take more photos together!

 

It was great talking to you on the phone today. I miss you!

 

Daddy taught me a new word the other day: "par-ty!" I only wish I was there to party with you. My party face will have to do I guess. See you in a few months!

 

Beachy Sunday

We've had an uncharacteristically cold winter this year (I know, you northerners are groaning at my calling 50 degree weather "winter"... but it has been weirdly cold!). This weekend we finally had a return to sunshine and perfect temps. What did we do? Go to the beach!

This is only Rylee's third visit to the ocean (I'm actually not a huge fan of the beach in all honesty) so she wasn't all that stoked when we hopped in the car. But she knew we were going outside and that she loves (as evidenced by her new fondness for wearing hats and sunglasses).

 

It was beautiful outside. We didn't plan to swim - the water temps are too cold and there were jellyfish all over the sand (a sight that doesn't make me want to dive into the surf), but we did walk the pier and take in the coastal landscape. Bonus: the pier didn't even stink today. :)

 

We walked the beach (or shall I say dodged the jellyfish) and then went to a little park (which was probably the highlight of the trip for Rylee). I would elaborate, but Rylee just woke up from her nap so mommy duty calls. All in all, a fun adventure.

 

Grandma Sandstrom

My Mom and I are in the process of scanning old family photos into the computer so you can expect some bad fashions and bizarre hairdos to pop up in the coming blogs. :)

Today I'm starting with a post about my great-grandma Esther (or Grandma Sandstrom - what I knew her by as a kid).


I've posted about her before and the special Swedish sayings that we still continue to use in her honor. Here's one that I haven't had a chance to blog about yet. It's a little Swedish ditty that you act out on a baby's toes (like the piggies & market one).

lilltaa (pinky toe)
tatilla (next toe)
tillerosa (middle toe)
mack frua (next toe - means something like wife)
och gubben stor (big toe - means something like big old man or farmer)
opp'i vare (big toe again - means something like proud man or standing up in the air)

Rylee loves this game. She makes you do one foot and then the other over and over again. And if you ask her to find her gubben stor... she grabs her big toe. Too cute!

I always think of my Grandma Sandstrom when we play this. I can't wait till I can teach Rylee to shoddish - a dance my great-grandma loved to do when we all got together. Rylee just needs to learn how to hop first!

One last picture: this is Grandma Sandstrom and my cousins Ben, Katie and myself. In case you don't recognize me, I'm the one wearing the rainbow shirt. :)

Foto Friday

Glam Girl

 

Da Plane, Da Plane!

 

Nothing But Net

 

Look Who's Talking

Motor Mouth
Rylee's vocabulary has really increased since Christmas and now she never shuts up! :) She's really getting good at stringing together short phrases too. Tonight she looked at Jon and said: "how are you?" It was so cute. She also learned to say Rio but luckily she still uses Ree Ree too (I'm not ready for her to give up all her sweet baby talk yet).

Ahchoo!
Grandma Sandy bought Rylee "The Very Lazy Ladybug" book a while back. In the end, the elephant sneezes and sends the ladybug flying. She loves it and thinks "ahchoo" is the funniest word. Funnier yet: she thinks you use "ahchoo" in place of "excuse me." If she burps or farts and I prompt "what do you say?"... she answers "ahchoo!" :)

Cheesy
I think Rylee likes the lactose-free cheese way more than she did the regular cheese. Last night when Jon was feeding her, she just couldn't get enough. This is his story of how she asked for more...

First, she pointed to the spot on her tray where the cheese had been and said "cheese."
When that didn't produce cheese, she added "more cheese, more cheese."
When he still didn't give her any, she added the baby sign language for more.
Lastly she pulled out the big guns and said "more cheese... please" while poking her cute little dimple (which she always does when she says "please" for some adorable reason).
Of course, Jon gave her more cheese! How could he say no to that!

Carnival Part 2

These photos aren't fabulous and I'm sure this is one of those "you had to be there" stories, but oh well, I'm going to write it anyway!

Rylee finished her day at the fair yesterday by attending a Scooby Doo show. She doesn't really know who Scooby Doo is, but she's my daughter so I'm sure she'll be a fan someday. (I credit my lack of nightmares to all the Scooby Doo watching I did as a kid: everything scary could always be unmasked!) Regardless of whether or not she recognized him, she really liked the giant great dane.

 

She was not shy about participating in the songs and games either. You can see here that she was only a little bit behind in her movements. Pretty good considering she didn't know many of songs and just had to follow along. (Mommy can't wait until Rylee can start dance class next month!)

 

 

Throughout the show they called up a couple of volunteers to go up on stage with Scooby. Apparently Rylee wanted to go up on stage too. She saw where the steps where (on the right hand side of the stage) and ran right over and started to climb up. Here I am after running to get her back down! Fun times! :)

 

Carnival Part 1

Rylee went to her first carnival today at Markham Park. She had a pretty good time even though she couldn't ride many rides. Technically she could only ride one, but for a cowgirl such as herself... she didn't have any complaints with the carousel.

 

Not as fine a horse as Gypsy, but she was still all smiles.

 

*These shots were actually from her second go round, Grandma couldn't figure out the camera on the first ride.

Rylee did partake in another fair tradition: she helped us all eat a funnel cake. Yum! She also had a great time at the Scooby Doo show, but I'll save that for blog post "carnival part 2."

*I couldn't resist taking these two shots of Rylee's bedhead post-nap today. Too funny! I actually had to run back downstairs to get the camera.

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Make a Smilebox collage

For DuWayne

If yesterday's tee made great-grandma Elsie smile, then today's jammies are in rememberance of great-grandpa DuWayne - a man who loved everything western. :)

 

Ride 'Em Cowgirl! Rylee loves riding Gypsy (the beautiful rocking horse that Bart made). The combination of outfit and boots made her especially daring!

 

The wild west can be a terrifying place (even in your imagination) especially when you're not wearing your six shooters!

 

For Elsie

Cutest tee EVER.

 

Great-Grandma Elsie is smiling down at this picture. For those of you that might not know, my Grandma was active in the Girl Scouts for 55 years, held every position from troop leader to President of the Land of Lakes Council, and received numerous awards for her service... until they ran out and had to name one in her honor. Needless to say we're a little pro-Girl Scouts in our family. :)

A couple more cute shots of Rylee talking on the phone with Grandma Connie (probably about how delicious Thin Mints are).

 

Rylee loves to talk on the phone. Give her a call sometime!

 

Girly Girl

Rylee is such a girl! She loves makeup and lipstick (playing with it anyway!).

 

Working on her pout. :)

 

Even though she begs for Clinique's "sugared maple," her true love is chapstick. Papa got her hooked on Burt's Bees, but here she's settling for Blistex.