Spa-tacular Part 2

I missed this cute picture of Rylee getting her manicure yesterday (I think!).




So after the girls got beautified, they got "princessified" and walked the runway in a fashion show. They all wore white tanks with pink tutus, fairy wings and wands.

Rylee was the first girl out on the catwalk. She loved every minute of it. I only took video, but it was very cute. While she strutted and posed, they said: "Rylee's favorite color is pink. She loves to do arts and crafts. And she wants to be a princess when she grows up!" Only slightly better than the girls who said they wanted to be mermaids or butterflies. Do you think she'll be too old to marry Prince William's son? :)

Here's a picture after the runway show of some of the girls blowing kisses to their adoring fans.




After they changed back into their own clothes, they ate cupcakes, did the limbo, and then it was time to head home. :(

Here's the little princess in the car before she promptly fell asleep. Getting pampered can really wear a girl out!




She topped off her day by swimming in the pool with my cousin Lilly (brrrr!), but first she modeled her new swimsuit from Justice (her new favorite store).




Fun times!

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Spa-tacular!

Rylee attended a spa themed birthday party today. It was awesome!

First, she donned her robe and sipped on pink "champagne" with the birthday girl and friends.




Then she got a pedicure...




a massage and facial...




a manicure...




her hair braided and glittered...




and finally her makeup applied (eye shadow and lip gloss).

And that was only the beginning! I think I can only post five pics from my phone at a time so you'll have to see the rest of the pics in another post. :)

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Rylee's Valentine?

Last week was Rylee's first school Valentine's Day party. Of course, she had a spectacular time! One of the volunteers sent me these two pictures of Rylee and some of her friends.








She was a little heartbroken that her crush, Brendan, moved the week before. But with him out of the way, another boy has been courting her. She received this love letter in the class mailbox.




According to Ronnie, it says "I love my girlfriend." And when I picked Rylee up from school, he not only hugged her goodbye, but kissed her as well! Luckily he's shorter than she is, so it was mostly a cheek kiss. :)

Rylee says Ronnie is nice, but she's going to love Brendan forever. We'll see...

The next day all the kids were at a classmate's birthday party. When I took a photo of Rylee with the birthday girl, Ronnie came over and asked if he could "smile" with Rylee too. Adorable!




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Grandpa Chip Visit - Day 2

The next day we went to another park where manatees naturally congregate in shallow, warm waters. There

must have been 50 or 60.  They are interesting looking creatures!

  

There was also a playground that was a hit with the kids.  Jace really loves to climb and slide!

We stopped at a Dairy Queen for lunch on our way to Sanibel Island.  The kids can eat their Starkiss popsicle.  We got a video of Jace trying to grasp the concept of licking the popsicle.  It was hilarious!  His little tongue was going back and forth, but he wasn't actually licking anything.  I wish I knew an easy way to upload videos.  I guess someday I'll have to breakdown and create a YouTube account.  Anywhoo...

The kids enjoyed shelling on Sanibel.  At least Rylee enjoyed finding shells, Jace was more interested in running around and throwing them.  :)

The best part was a small group of dolphins had collected in the shallows.  They must have been eating because they swam back and forth in the same area for over a half hour.  It was entertaining to watch, but hard to capture with a camera.  

We had a very relaxing night.  We ordered in Chinese, put the kids to bed early after their long day of fresh air, and watched one of the playoff games on TV.  In the morning, we had a quick breakfast and then got back on the road.  

Overall, it was a great trip.  We still had to haul some gear for the kids, but every year it's getting easier. Looking forward to the time when we can just pack a couple of bags and go (no booster seats or pack n plays required!).

Grandpa Chip Visit - Day 1

The four of us drove over to the other coast to see Grandpa Chip and Connie over the long MLK weekend. The kids did great on the drive over. The iPad kept them entertained with movies. We arrived in time for lunch and then took a walk around the complex where he's staying. His unit is right on the canal and has a great view. You can even walk to a pier where you can see the inlet and ocean too. Lovely!

Connie had done some research on fun places to go.  Our first stop was an awesome train park.  The playground was train-themed, plus they had some bounce houses set up.  Rylee slid down the tallest/steepest bounce-y slide I've ever seen.  She's braver than I am!

The best part was the mini-train ride.  It had nice cushy seats and went all through the park (about a 20 minute ride).  Everyone had their own seat, except Jace, who rode with me.  He loved it!  Although if it had been any longer, I'm sure he would have fallen asleep.  Here's Rylee at the depot before the ride started.

One of our better family photos, minus the Conductor.  :)

They also have a restored train just for viewing and a train museum (although we didn't check that out).  I wish this park was on our coast, it would be the perfect setting for Jace's Thomas party. 

Jace needed a nap at this point so we went back to the condo.  Rylee wanted to swim, but as you can see by Jon's clothing - the weather was a bit chilly.  She went a little deeper than this and then gave up.

We had a relaxing first evening.  The boys grilled dinner, the kids played etc.  More on Day 2 later...

Strepuary

I have so many things to blog about and so little time.

 - I still haven't posted pics from the long weekend we spent with Grandpa Chip on the other coast.
 - I have to brag about Rylee's recent gymnastics feats.
 - Jace is just so freakin' adorable - there are tons of little stories to share about him.

But for now, let me just say we've had one crazy week.  Rylee spiked a fever on Sunday night.  Her big tell was when she offered to go to bed at 7:30 even though Gaga and Papa were here for Super Bowl fun.  I kept her home from school on Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday morning she was fever free and full of energy so I thought we were in the clear.  By Tuesday night her fever was back up and Jace was suffering from it also.  His big tell was when he refused to play outside and then later snuggled with Jon on the couch for 45 minutes.  If either of our children cuddle with us for more than 5 continuous minutes, you can guarantee they're diseased!

Of course it was too late in the day to get them into the doctor so my Mom had to take Rylee to the doctor this morning  - strep throat!  I took Jace after I came home from work - strep throat for him too!  Just to make it more fun, Jace and I were caught in a torrential downpour on all four trips in and out of the car.  I don't think Jace minded, I kept him pretty dry, but my shoes and pants were soaked to the knees by the time we got home.  Lovely!

Just to add some more drama to my week, my phone mysteriously stopped working on Monday night which meant I had to trek all the way down to the apple store on Tuesday.  (Thanks go out to my Mom who babysat and my Dad who came along to keep me company.)  The good news is my phone was easily fixed.  The bad news is they broke the new case Jon and the kids bought me for Christmas.  On the plus side, they replaced it on the spot with a designer Kate Spade case (at least twice as expensive as the one they broke).

So strep... it's our first go round with that.  Jon and I both suffered from numerous strep cases as kids and had our tonsils out so I'm not enthused the kids got it, but what are you gonna do?  Have a couple margaritas (me) and a couple rum and cokes (Jon) - that's what!  Rylee might be secretly excited she got sick.  She already made some money from the Super Bowl (thanks again Gaga for giving her your winnings) and now she's racking up $1 for each time she takes her medicine without fuss.  Miss Moneybags is already thinking about what to buy!

So... how's your week going?  :)