Rylee Firsts - Part 2

A couple weekends ago, Rylee crashed a birthday party (the sister of one of her K friends) and got to go ice skating for her very first time!  Her cousin, Maddie, is a beautiful figure skater so Rylee has been wanting to go for some time. Unfortunately, neither Jon nor I skate so I guess we didn't make it a priority. :)

She did great for her first time (mostly skated with the cheater thing), but hey she's already surpassed my skills!

Skating "like Maddie"...

This last pic has nothing to do with skating, but it is cold weather related. Rylee modeled her snow gear fashions the other day. Not sure if she'll need them much before we leave in Dec, but it never hurts to be prepared. This is MN after all!  

Rylee Firsts - Part 1

I've officially given up on trying to keep my blog in some semblance of chronological order.  I still have lots to blog about from Aug and Sept, and I will get to that as time permits, but I don't want to miss out on what's happening now either.  Like...

Rylee lost her first tooth last Tuesday night!  It had been wiggling for a while (we actually thought it might come out before school picture day, but it held on).  I had called and talked to Rylee's dentist the day before because her tooth was coming in behind the baby tooth and didn't look like it was close enough to push the tooth out.  They suggested that Rylee would have to do the work herself.  She was showing me and Gaga her progress that night and when she pushed the tooth forward and then back, I saw part of the root come out and it started to bleed.  I knew we had to just pull it the rest of the way out, but honestly, wiggly teeth kind of give me the creeps.  Involuntary shiver!  We really could have used Jon in this situation!  But I persevered, and pulled it out!  Yea, me!  I mean, yea Rylee!  :)

 

There were some tears over the blood, but that quickly faded away to excitement.  We were supposed to leave for Rylee's first Girl Scout meeting like 5 minutes after the tooth came out, but that didn't happen.  All Rylee wanted to do was Skype with Daddy and try to surprise him with her tooth news.  Under the guise of wishing Rio an early Happy Birthday (Happy 12th Birthday to Rio by the way!), we tried and tried to get Skype to work at my parents, but our wifi was being temperamental. &#$?!

We finally ended up driving to Ginny's house to steal their wifi and were able to Skype with Daddy (& Rio - we really did sing her Happy Birthday).  We didn't surprise Jon much though.  I guess he didn't think we would expel that much effort for Rio's birthday Skype and knew that something else must be up!  :)

Rylee wanted Daddy to see her tooth so she took a page out of a Super Why episode and wrote the tooth fairy a letter to see if she could keep her tooth. 

 

In the morning, she found her money and her tooth was still there too.  Whew!

 
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Bonus!

Papa's accident caused us to miss our visit with the Froyds during their MN vacation (boo!).  But our decision to stay did allow us to see the Malechas during theirs (yea!).

Rylee was thrilled to see her pal, Norah, again...

 

The kids played outside and enjoyed several golf cart rides...

 

...while we adults spent some time catching up.

 

The kids and I grabbed lunch with them at the Dairy Queen before they had to get back on the road.  It was only a couple of hours, but it was wonderful to see them again! 

 

We left for MN not too long after they moved so it won't really sink in that they're "gone" until I actually get back to my FL life.  I'm not going to like it - not one little bit!  Luckily, Rylee has it all planned out that we're going to move in next door to them if Daddy ever loses his job.  :)

Packing/ Unpacking & Papa

I spent over three hours packing that Sunday before I had an emotional breakdown and decided that we couldn't leave.  Looking back, I'm not surprised that I couldn't go.  I hadn't seen my Dad in person since the night of his accident.  He'd had three surgeries in 9 days.  We were all still complete wrecks! 

Luckily, Jon was very supportive of the decision.  If he had known how bad things were going to get with Rio, he may have reconsidered.  He's been a trooper for sure taking care of her all alone and just missing the kids etc.  We all appreciate his sacrifice.  Love you, babe!  :)

On August 6th, my Mom and I drove down to St Paul to pick up my Dad.  He hadn't had anything other than cleanout surgeries at that point (compound fractures are dirty and infectious), but they needed the swelling to go down before they could even think about fixing his breaks.  Megan & Ginny babysat the kids and decorated the house for Papa's arrival - how sweet!

I didn't get Papa's huge x-fit cast in the picture.  He was so worried that the kids would be grossed out by the pins sticking out everywhere, but as you can see Jace snuggled right up for some Paw Patrol.  :)

20th Class Reunion

That first weekend in August was my 20th high school reunion.  Friday night was an informal gathering at a local bar and Saturday night was our formal dinner at Ruttger's. 

 

Both nights were a blast from the past.  I brought a couple of photo albums to share - our 6th grade trip and one from a slumber party of mine in junior high.  We had more fun looking and laughing at those photos than almost anything else. 

 

It was great to reconnect with some of my best girl friends!

Papa's Little Helpers

Back to the first week of August...

The kids have been such good sports since Papa's injury.  Here's a picture of Rylee helping out during stick pickup day (which I mentioned in an earlier post).  We worked for at least two hours and she never complained.  And she and Jace actually hauled a lot of sticks too (some were twice their size!).

The rest of that first week (which was supposed to be our last in MN) was spent prepping for Papa's return from the hospital.  The kids helped give the wheelchair a much needed scrubbing.

Shortly after this pic was taken, Rylee accidentally dropped the hose and it sprayed me.  I, of course, soaked her with it in retaliation and a full blown water fight ensued!  Good times, good times!

Another day when we were working, we had an impromptu splash day.  Rylee ran through the sprinkler fully clothed...

...while Jace opted to strip down to his diaper for some "white trash" swimming in his kiddie pool.  That absorbent diaper must have weighed at least three pounds by the time we were done!