Halloween Party

If you know me at all, then you know I love Halloween. So when we were invited to our friend's Halloween Happy Hour, I made sure we had our costumes ready. Rylee wanted to be a Pink Lady (shocker! - she'd been watching Grease 2 on a continuous loop for about two months) and since I like to coordinate costumes (okay I love Grease 2 myself!), I decided to go the Pink Lady route too. Jon was anti-costume this year, but he reluctantly agreed to wear something a little Grease-ish.

Here we all are taking our annual Halloween photo. Even Rio got in the Pink Lady vibe with a pink and black doggie shirt. Aren't we adorable? :)

 

Unfortunately I missed the memo that said adults weren't wearing costumes this year so we were the only ones dressed up. Oops! (Okay so there wasn't a memo, but I guess everyone decided to go the easy route when they read costumes were optional for the adults.)

Anyway, the kids looked fabulous and that's the important part.

Norah as a Garden Gnome

 

James as Yoda

 

Miller as a Lawn Guy (though with the guitar, instead of his weed whip and leaf blower, he was looking more rocker in this pic)

 

Halloween Party cont...

Johnny as a Police Man and Alice as Cleopatra

 

It was a great party. The kids had a blast. And Rylee left the bow in her hair for almost the entire party - it was a Halloween miracle. Thank you Great Pumpkin!

*One more photo of my cute little Pink Lady. She was acting out the Pink Lady Pledge: "to look cool, act cool, and be cool." She swipes her fingers across her glasses just like the girls from the movie. Too cool!

 

Funny Friday

The week flew by again with little time for blogging. Excuses, excuses...

We have a fun Halloween weekend planned so hopefully I'll have some cute pics for next week. In the meantime, here's a little glimpse into the silly mind of Rylee to help you kick off your weekend.

 

If I don't get the chance to post beforehand, Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Washing Machine

Two other things Rylee's addicted to right now: lollipops and washing dishes. Sometimes she's even lucky enough to enjoy both at the same time!

 

Rylee Ballerina

On Sunday, we took Rylee to a Halloween event in Davie. Kids were encouraged to wear costumes, but since I didn't want Rylee to wear her actual Halloween costume, I let her pick out something from her dress up clothes instead. She wanted to be a ballerina fairy. Tada!



She had a great time at the party. She loved the bounce houses. Actually being able to jump has made them much more appealing than they were in the past. She played several games (bean bag toss, ring toss, shoot the cans). She cheated / made up her own rules, but everyone thought she was adorable so it didn't matter. More importantly, she tried her first Twizzler and found them to be delicious. She kept picking them when she got candy thereafter. :)

Her favorite event was the horse costume parade. There were some interesting horses (and riders). My favorite was Cruella DeVille (sp?) riding a "Dalmatian" horse. Rylee said her favorite was the "pink" horse. The rider was a jockey and the horse was decked out in full regalia too. Jon's favorite was probably the lady in the fairy costume who looked like she was one second away from a wardrobe malfunction, but I'm just guessing!

After we came home and I put her down for a nap, I snuck out to see "Secretariat" with my Mom. Loved it! Jon and Rylee spent the evening hanging out - mostly in the bathroom. She's addicted to brushing her teeth and washing her hands. After nearly an hour in there, Rylee put her arm around Jon and said, "Daddy, this is fun." Luckily the camera was nearby so he was able to capture the moment in a unique self-portrait.

Saturday S'cream

We made up for a boring week by having an extra fun weekend.** Yesterday was ice cream making day with the Froyds. They've had an ice cream maker for years, but had never even opened the box. Jon finally convinced them to try it out (with us as taste testers!).

The kids got to do the mixing. They took turns stirring while showing off their school skills: counting and reciting their abc's. Rylee counted to 20 when she was asked to count to 10 - that's my over-achiever!



The ice cream needed a while to set up so the kids got a chance to play and the guys picked up hot wings for dinner. (This was the same meal we had for Rylee's impromptu birthday dinner. Let it be noted that only Erin was man enough to order the "hot" hot wings again!)

After dinner, the boys brought out Rylee's 4 wheeler. Miller was a driving machine. He navigated the pool deck and all the turns around the fence, palm trees and swing set with ease. We were all very impressed. Rylee didn't want to drive at first. Then she wanted to be pushed around...



... but after watching Miller, she did drive herself. Jon had to help a bit with the steering, but that was definite progress for her.

When there was literally no daylight left, we headed inside for the ice cream. In case you were wondering how it turned out, I think this picture speaks for itself...



...delicious! And Rylee didn't even know we pulled the switcheroo and gave her the store-bought, lactose-free kind. :)

**And if the Vikes could pull out a win against the Packers right now, it would be the cherry on top of my weekend sundae.

Busy Days

It was a busy week here. I subbed a couple of days, took Rylee on a Mommy group play date, cleaned the house and cooked for Book Club, and came down with a little head cold. Hopefully this weekend will be more entertaining and I'll have something blogworthy to post about soon.

Cheers to weekends! :)

Lighten Up

I finished my dining room project a while back, but I was waiting for Jon to come back from his trip and put up the new light fixture. :)

If I had more energy, I'd tell you the long version of the installation last night. Just so you can picture it, I had to stand with a 25 lb light balanced on my head (Jon was kind enough to put an oven mitt between my skull and the pointy metal rod) while Jon did the actual work. It wasn't so bad the first time, but due to various adjustments it turned out to be four times. All the effort (and silliness) was worth it in the end.

The picture doesn't do it justice. It's a really interesting stone-type material. I have no idea really! But I like it.

 

The dining room will look really fabulous when we (read: Jon) paints the fish tank. (hint, hint Jon)

Overdue: Papa's Visit

Poor Papa hasn't even gotten a mention on the blog in the last 10 days and here he's leaving tomorrow! I kept meaning to blog about our fun times, but there were so many birthdays and poops to write about. :)

My Dad decided to come and keep us gals company while Jon was away on his duck hunting trip. He flew in last Wednesday so he was here for Jon and Rio's early birthday party. Since then we went to the park several times, played in the pool twice, swam in the ocean, had a picnic, rode on a carousel and had a special lunch at Rainforest Cafe (where Rylee loved the elephants, but could have done without the fake thunder - I ended up eating with her half wrapped around my neck at one point!).

I must have been extra lazy this week as I didn't cart my camera out on several of the occasions so I don't have many pics to share. I did manage to get an updated photo of us all in our Vikings gear.

Can you spot the changes since Jan 2009? :)

 

 

 

Sadly our purple (and pink) pride wasn't enough to help the Vikes pull out a win on Monday night. "No worries" as Rylee would say, it was still a great visit.

An Important First :)

Rylee had another first this evening: her first poo poo in the potty. :)

She was very excited. And she went all by herself too. I had been trying to get her diaper changed and her pajamas on, but she wasn't having it. I wasn't in the mood to argue with her so I tried the ignore her tactic and hopped on the computer to check my email.

A few minutes later, I heard her potty chair start to play its celebratory music. Then Rylee yelled: "I went poo poo in the potty, Mommy!" I'm glad she had the forethought to run to the potty chair since the last time I looked she was standing in Rio's toy basket. Pooping in there might have caused a little friction in their relationship!

I was feeling bad that Jon missed such a momentous (and stinky) occasion so I snapped a quick picture. Luckily for you (and Rylee in the years to come), I won't be posting that pic here. :)

Happy Birthday Daddy!

I would have posted a video message from Rylee (since Jon is in ND duck hunting), but he took the camera with the video function! :)

So here's the transcript instead:

Me: What do you want to say for Daddy's birthday?

Rylee: Happy Birthday Daddy!

Me: What else do you want to tell Daddy?

Rylee: I miss you Daddy!

Me: Did you get Daddy a birthday present?

Rylee: Big, huge present.

Me: What is it?

Rylee: It's a fishy.

Me: Really?

Rylee: It's a lizard.

Me: Where is it?

Rylee: It jump in the pool.

Don't worry Jon, you aren't going to find a fish or a lizard in our pool when you come home. I hope... :)

We know you aren't here, but that doesn't mean we still shouldn't celebrate with cupcakes. Yummy!

 

 

See you soon Daddy! Hope the Vikings win for your birthday present! :)

More Philly Pics

I had to post these last few pics from our Philly weekend (my brother-in-law sent the photos he took and they were much better than mine!).

All of us (minus the photographer) in front of the corn maze.

 

Rylee's first bite of the apple she picked. She proceeded to eat the whole thing.

 

Jon and I carrying heavy loads. :)

 

8 on the 8th

Happy 8th birthday Rio!

It's hard to believe that it's been eight years since we brought this little fluff ball home.

 

Rio's take on the famous "ET hiding amongst the toys" photo.

 

From today after her pancake breakfast. She's playing with the toy Rylee picked out for her. :)

 

Philly Recap - Sun

Sunday was our big outing day. We drove to Linvilla Orchards for the afternoon. They have everything: park, farm animals, small farmer's type market, fall gift shop, pumpkin patch, gigantic Halloween decorations, hay rides, and apple orchard. You've heard of one stop shopping, well this was one stop Fall "activity-ing."

Rylee is a pretty early riser so she was dressed and ready to go before the other kids. She and Jon went outside to work on her baseball skills.

 

It was an hour or so drive, but it was quite enjoyable. We split the boys and girls into two cars. Rylee slept and Maddie wasn't in a talking mood so Laurie and I actually got to have a nice conversation (read: we gossiped and complained about our husbands) for once. It was probably the most relaxing part of my weekend. :)

It was coolish and windy when we got there, but it felt great. We walked around a bit checking everything out and taking pictures. Maddie loved climging on the pumpkins, but Rylee was a little stuck!

 

We hopped in the hay ride line right away before it got too busy. Unfortunately we all sat on the same side of the wagon so we couldn't really get good pictures. I'll remember that if we ever do another hay ride again.

 

The older kids got their faces painted while the little ones played in the park. Then we refueled with some hot dogs and got ready for the apple picking. Rylee may have liked the apple picking best. She preferred the tiny apples, but they weren't too bitter. She ate a whole one right while we worked (which she never does, she always wants them sliced and without the skin). Unfortunately my camera battery died right at the beginning of apple picking so I don't have many pics other than this one.

 

Uncle Anthony took some pics (like Rylee's first big girl bite of an apple) with his camera so hopefully I can get those one day. The best part of apple picking was that Laurie made us apple pie for dessert that night. Ahhh, the fruits of our labors. :)

That's pretty much the highlights of our trip. Sunday night we all went to bed early since it was a work/school/early flight day. All in all, it was an excellent trip. The perfect Fall getaway!

Philly Recap - Sat

Saturday we went to Nick's hockey practice. It was 30 or so five to eight year old kids and a couple of coaches running drills. I was trying so hard not to laugh, but the kids were all over the place and constantly falling down. There was one drill where the kids had to skate up to a stick on the ice and try to jump over it. I think maybe 2 kids could do it. It was hysterical, like one huge laugh reel on America's Funniest Videos!

After lunch and naps, we went to a farm/nursery that had a corn maze. It was fun and challenging. We did make it out, but we didn't find all the pieces to our puzzle. 6 out of 8 wasn't too bad!

After the corn maze, we attempted to get that elusive 4 cousin photo. I have plenty of cute bloopers, but here are some of the "better" takes.

 

 

The other kids could pedal their tractors, but Rylee needed Daddy's help. She was hampered by her short legs... and the fact that she was trying to eat a granola bar and drink water at the same time as steering.

 

They also had some farm animals, a gift shop, and pumpkins. Rylee picked out this little pumpkin for herself. Here we are posing with it (you can just make it out in her left hand) back at "Nick's house." (Uncle Anthony got a kick out of the fact that Rylee always gave Nick the credit for the house.)

 

Philly Recap - Fri

Rylee was beyond excited to see her cousins, Auntie Laurie & Uncle Anthony again. That was until she went into the basement and saw... the toys! Just kidding, but the toys were a pretty big deal. The phrase "play with toys" was her running mantra all weekend. It was the last thing she uttered as she went to bed and the first thing she said to us in the morning.

Our bedroom was in the basement right off the toy room so no wonder she didn't want to go to sleep until 1 am the first night. It was like being locked in FAO Schwartz overnight - of course you'd want to play with everything!

Friday was a relaxing day. Nick had his first Kindergarten field trip and Maddie had preschool in the morning so Rylee and Ben got to spend some quality cousin time together for a change. We picked up Maddie and went out to lunch, gave the kids their naps and then spent the rest of the afternoon playing outside in the beautiful fall air.

Here's a cute pic of Maddie and Rylee on the swings.

 

Rylee really loves girl time with Maddie. She even got to take her baths with Maddie. She thought that was the coolest thing ever. I have some cute pics, but I'm saving those for embarrassing blackmail photos when they are both teenagers. :)

Sleep Deprivation

Last week, Rylee decided she didn't want to go to bed anymore. Every night, she fusses and cries and screams. We haven't had to let her cry it since she was 6 months old!

Not what we needed right before a trip out of town. Last night, she pulled the same stuff here, but since we were sleeping in the same room there wasn't any place to escape to. It was awful and she didn't end up going to bed until almost 1 am. Argh!

She's fighting her nap now too. I just went a 100 rounds putting her back into the pack n play which she can easily crawl out of. For the moment I've won, but I'm stuck sitting here in the stairwell until she officially falls asleep.

Wish me luck!

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