Catch up

I'm a little out of order here, but I haven't had a chance to post some of our more fun comings and goings. Two weeks ago we had lunch with Leslie, dinner with Dru & Sara, went swimming with Max & Megan, and visited with Greg & Sharon.

I did miss out on the Seafood Buffet night at the Casino. (My Mom and a bunch of her friends go to celebrate their birthdays.) I was supposed to go with, but that was the night Jace threw up - about ten minutes before we were supposed to leave!

This early part of this last week was Jace's dr appt and then we stayed close to home for a few days. I did sneak Rylee out for story hour and her preschool class and Sara came over for dinner and playtime Friday night (while my Mom and Dad celebrated my Mom's birthday with Bart and Penney.)

We had a big day on Thursday. We left Papa with the kiddos so my Mom and I could hit the annual town garage sale in Pierz (with Jeanne and Karen). It's an all day affair and I scored some good loot for the kids. I bought Rylee the Polly Pocket paloosa - hotel, carnival, a dozen dolls, four dozen or so outfits and accessories all for... drumroll please... $13 dollars! She also got a stable with horses, board games and books. I found Jace some neat car and pirate ship toys. The only downside to the day was that it was still freezing. Good thing I brought my parka!




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More Megan

Megan came over for a play date yesterday. The girls had a great time playing Polly Pocket, watching TV and eating popcorn. I just let them do their thing so I got some quality time with Jace - it was quite delightful actually!

The sweetest part was that when Meg first arrived, she brought Rylee a present - an adorable sundress for our Cedar Crest vacation. The best part is Meg has the matching dress!




The dresses are pink and orange with these cute little cutouts in the back. Rylee was over the moon excited. Heather and Meg are so sweet and thoughtful! Rylee will be counting down the days till their next play date I'm sure. :)

In other news, we made homemade goldfish crackers! Before you think I'm crazy, there is some backstory. They served goldfish crackers at the library this week. I knew they had milk and Rylee couldn't eat them, but I just watched to see how she would handle the situation. They passed out the cups and she took one, but she was holding it as far away as possible and was covering her mouth with her other hand. It was hysterical really. She was very understanding about missing out on snack, but afterwards she said, "Let's go home and make our own goldfish crackers." Hmmm. I usually make her version of everything, but this one stumped me. I dissuaded her by letting her pick out "fun crackers" at the grocery store.

She really was bummed about the goldfish crackers though. They've been on her list of things she most wishes she could eat for a while now so I googled homemade goldfish recipes and found one. My mom whipped up the dough quite quickly, it was cutting all the goldfish shapes that was difficult. (We cheated and used some other shapes too.)

The end result was surprisingly delicious - they seriously tasted exactly like goldfish crackers. The only problem was it turns out Rylee doesn't actually like the taste of goldfish crackers. Oy Vey! My picky eater! What's the chance she's never going to complain about goldfish crackers again?!

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Happy Birthday Gaga!

Yesterday was my Mom's birthday and her present was a beautiful, sunny, near 70 degree day! (Today looks gray and gloomy and I think there is still more snow in our forecast, but I'm trying to stay positive here!)

My mom made us all a stupendous breakfast. (The downside to being an excellent cook is that you have to make your own food.) Then Papa and Rylee made Gaga's birthday cake (my Dad's first ever cake baking experience - in case you're wondering it was fabulous!).

After Jace's nap, we all drove over to Aitkin and played at the park for two hours. It was delightful to just soak up the sunshine! Our friend, Darlene, lives close to the park so she made us homemade biscuits while we played. Lucky us- they were delicious!

Last night, Rylee and I had to skip out on the festivities for a bit to attend Megan's dance performance (the Kixters spring show). Rylee loved watching Meg dance, but it was late and she was exhausted from all the park play. She hung in there though and was excited to congratulate Meg afterwards.




Jace was in bed when we came home, but the rest of us sang and ate cake. My Mom said that all of her wishes have come true for this year (ahhh) so Rylee got to blow out her candle. We only used one candle, 64 may have burned the new house down! :)

Love you Mom! Hope you had a nice birthday.

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Jacey

So Jace had some interesting firsts this past weekend. I already mentioned his walking (he's getting better and walking farther every day), but there was also his first projectile vomit. Not quite as awesome. This, coupled with a fever, made me think he wasn't just battling a cold anymore.

Monday morning I brought him in to our "MN pediatrician" and she confirmed my fears. Jace had his first ear infection. :( Hopefully it's also his last. Rylee's never had an ear infection and I really don't want to go down that recurring ear infection road with Jace - not fun!

There's also some concern about his breathing. At a minimum, he definitely has a weakness. Every little cold he gets turns into that awful croopy cough. At worst, he possibly has asthma like my Mom and me. He has had two "attacks" that were scary and almost prompted ER trips. Thus we left the doctor's office with a nebulizer machine.

They had me give him a breathing treatment while I was there too. What an experience! They handed me the mask, turned on the loud machine (you know how much Jace loves loud noises!) and left me to my own defenses. :) Good God, it takes two to three people minimum to wipe this kid's nose. If you can't imagine how the experience went, it was basically like wrestling an octopus (I swear his hands and arms multiply when you're trying to hold them down). Not to mention that he was squirming and rolling around in my arms so that at one point he nearly hog tied himself up in the hose. If it would have held, trust me I would have considered just leaving him that way.

After getting practical advice from other moms, his next two breathing treatments went much better at home. (High chair in front of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with no mask is the trick for Jace.) But then he started freaking out like he was tripping on some bad drugs. There was the crying hysterically phase, the jittery jerky falling down phase, and finally the manic wild phase which lasted about five hours until he went to bed at 1 am. (He was like Beavis (or Butthead?) in that crazed "cornholio" skit.) Rylee stayed up till 11 just to make things more interesting!

Luckily, we got things back on track these past two days. Fewer treatments at only 1/2 dosage works much better for Jace. He seems a little better. He's coughing less, breathing easier, sleeping better etc. I hope he can get over this and feel better for his birthday and his Daddy's visit. :)


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Tumbling

I had a couple of cute Rylee photos on my real camera from pre-show yesterday.

 

Tippy-toes...

 

Arabesque...

 

Adorable... :)

 

 

My Mom also got a couple of action shots during the girl's tumbling demonstration.

 

Starting the show with her somersault...

 

 

Walking the beam...

 

(They also walked backward and jumped over obstacles on the beam.)

Starting her cartwheel...

 

(The goal is to jump your feet far enough that they land outside the hula hoop. Rylee is the only girl in her class that can do it. She had one cartwheel that was actually almost vertical yesterday. It got some cheers and claps from the crowd.  Not that I'm bragging, it's just a fact.)

About to do her somersault off the wedge mat...

 

 

I have a cute video of her ballet dance, but so far Blogger hasn't liked it when I tried to upload.  It always says error.  I've never used the YouTube option before.  I guess I could check that out, but it seems like a pain.  Anyone have any tips on how to do that?

Dancing Queen

Rylee had her first ever dance performance today at the Local Living Trade Show today. I was worried that she would be nervous in front of the crowd, but she did fabulously!

Her group was first up and they picked Rylee to start the gymnastics/ tumbling run so her somersault kicked off the show! :) They do several stations (somersaults, low balance beam, kart wheels, and jumping a bar) with increasing difficulty each round. For instance, they somersault in different positions, through hula hoops, and off a wedge mat. Her kart wheels are really coming along too. She did one that was almost to vertical. I was so proud!

Later in the show, they did their ballet number. She was flawless! I was video-taping so I don't have pics, but here she is at home in her costume.




They also performed their tap number. None of the girls know that routine very well so they all messed up one section in the middle, but the part they did looked cute. Rylee actually had a little pizzazz going. Adorable!

I was so proud of my darling girl!




Not to be outshone, Jace (aka Mr. Two Step) decided to walk all the way across the room tonight! Of course, I missed it because I was putting away laundry. Damn chores!

I was there when he took Rylee's baby for a stroll though...




The little guy is miserable sick - again! I really need to get to bed because I can almost guarantee I'll be getting up with him tonight, but I had to brag about my babies first!

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Sleepover

The beginning of last week was fun (a visit with Grandpa Chip, dance, swimming and waterslide fun with Megan & Max), but ended with two days at home due to a snow storm. Yes, in April! (I look back and laugh at the conversations we had wondering if Rylee would even see snow in March.) The weekend's activities helped make up for the boredom even though Sunday's fun was cut short due to yet another snow storm! Ugh!

My cousin, Lilly, and her mom, Kathleen, came down for a girl's weekend as part of Lilly's pre-birthday celebration (she turns 14 tomorrow). 
 

 

 

They arrived mid-afternoon on Saturday.   After snacks and visiting, we girls headed into town for Grand March (where all the people going to Prom parade around the gym so people can gawk and take their pictures). Two of my other cousins were attending prom, Dru and Cheyenne (not together obviously - I grew up in a small town, but we're not that backwoods!), so it was fun to see them in their prom attire.   Rylee enjoyed it too.   She thought the whole thing was one big princess fashion show. :)

After Grand March, we had dinner, ate birthday cake, and stayed up late talking while the girls played.   Rylee got to stay up until 10:30 and the rest of us didn't turn in until after midnight. We were supposed to go to "The Croods" on Sunday, but Lilly and Kathy had to leave early to beat the snow storm back to Duluth.  Luckily the girls had enough time to snuggle with Jace and watch a movie in bed.  Jace may look a little grumpy here, but he actually loved it.  He stayed in bed with them for almost an hour.

 

 

 

Rylee is already talking about when she can have her next sleepover party!

Two Step

My Mom and Dad gave Jace one of his birthday presents early - a Lightning McQueen push walker/ rider. He loves it of course!




It only took a day before he learned to walk laps around the living room and kitchen. And this weekend, he took two steps on his own!

He's done the two step on a couple occasions. The first time was into my arms so that special.

Kachow!

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Weekend Plus

Boring recap in 3, 2, 1...

Saturday night my Mom and I snuck out after I put the kids to bed and went to the late movie with Heather (Identity Thief - pretty funny). Then we decided to meet her mom, Penney, after she got off work (at 11:30) for a drink at Poncho & Leftys. What unexpected fun! Unfortunately that meant an almost 2 am bedtime for me and, of course, my kiddos were up before 6:30! Damn Murphy's Law...

On Sunday, all five of us went to a party at the Graham's. (Mark Graham, a long time friend of my Dad's, is the guy who built my parents house. His wife, Jan, comes to FL to stay with my Mom every year.) Their son was down from Alaska with his daughter (she's a month younger than Jace) so it was fun to see them all. Unexpected bonus: Rylee meet a new friend there and it turns out she only lives a few miles from us so we're going to try to set up a play date soon.

Today was an action packed day. Playtime and lunch with Grandpa Chip. Then Rylee had her dance/gymnastics class tonight. From there we went straight to the community center for more swimming/waterslide fun with Megan and Max. Rylee felt pretty special since she got to stay up an hour past her normal bedtime. :)

Over and out!

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Foto Friday

Another week or so has come and gone, here are some of our highlights...

Visits:
with Ben, Diane and her mom, Sara, and a couple visits with Grandpa Chip before and after his trip to FL to see Jon.

Sickness:
My Dad brought home a nasty souvenir from the State Basketball tournaments - another round of cold and coughs for everyone! :)

He and Jace had it the worst. My parents and I sat up with Jace the night before Easter. I almost took him into the ER because his breathing was so bad. I'm actually worried he might have asthma (it runs on both sides of our families). He's had two of these attacks now and they are very scary. He's going into the pediatrician next week for a checkup so we'll see what she has to say.

Easter:
We weren't able to go to Duluth to see Lilly and family, but we still had a great day. Rylee hunted for eggs and found Jace's basket for him. Here's a semi-cute picture of the three of us in our Easter clothes...




Fun:
Wednesday was a wonderful day for Rylee. It was "dancing with the tots" at story hour so she wore a fun outfit and twisted the morning away.

Then we found out the Aitkin High School was having a matinee performance of "The Wizard of Oz." My Mom, Rylee and I jumped in the car and just made the opening. Rylee loved it! I explained the premise to her on the way over so she knew what to expect. Aitkin puts on the best productions! The wicked witch and the cowardly lion were spot on in their performances. The other main characters were also very good. They even had a real live Toto! The flying monkeys were actors though.

Here we are at intermission...




We just made it home in time to meet Heather, Vern, Megan and Max at the community center pool. They had the waterslide on and Rylee was brave enough to try it. She must have went 50 or more times she liked it so much. I was really proud of her. The pool was packed with kids twice her size, but she held her own just fine. I must admit I was really impressed with how considerate and careful the older boys were with her.

As you can imagine, she practically fell into bed when we got home!

TGIF!
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Photo

I wanted this pic to go with my Dad's retirement post yesterday, but it wasn't on my phone. So here it is a day late (but not a dollar short?).

Papa, Rylee & Jace all snuggled up in their pjs watching Toy Story - my Dad's big retirement party on Friday night - we know how to "celebrate good times!"




One other cute Papa/Jace story. Jace is sort of like Pavlov's dog, when I start shaking his bottle up he crawls over to me and starts begging. Lately, Jace loves sitting all snuggled up in Papa's arm like this...



... and drinking his bottle. So now when I shake it up, he crawls directly to Papa to assume the position! :)

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"Papa's Done with Work Now!"

The after-work song that Rylee sings for my Dad each day had new meaning last Friday - it was his last day of work!

Technically he worked over the weekend cleaning out his office, but that's because he actually worked down to the last minute on Friday. The very last app he worked on was for a couple that just bought our old house on 3rd ST. There's something special (or at least memorable) about that!

Since we're not counting the weekend, Day 1 of his retirement included cleaning out his closet and donating his work clothes (I guess I don't need to buy him anymore ties!). Day 2 was babysitting my kids. Maybe we'll let him pick something fun for day 3? :)

Congratulations on your retirement, Dad!


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