MN 2014 - Week 6 (partial)

Wed - Papa babysat so my Mom and I could go get our hair done in Aitkin and then Rylee had dance/gymnastics

Thurs - Papa babysat again so I could go garage saling with my Mom and her crew (Jeanne & Karen) and then we had errands for Cedar Crest, plus Jace had his last swimming lesson of the season

Fri - my cousin, Lisa, stopped by for a visit and then we spent the day packing for Cedar Crest. 

That night we all sat up on the hill overlooking the weekend travelers coming north from the cities.  The kids loved waving at all the cars and seeing which ones would wave back or honk.  This was always a favorite activity on my grandma's hill, but neither my mom or I had done it since we were both kids!

Sat - we missed Day 1 of our Cedar Crest (CC) trip, as did the rest of our CC crew, but it was well worth it: two of our fellow cresters were getting married - Dave & Tanya!  Mark & Jan babysat Jace so the rest of us could go to the wedding and reception.  It was Rylee's first wedding and she loved it.  She started asking when they were going to kiss pretty much right after Tanya walked down the aisle.  That was her favorite part.  :)  She had a great time at the reception and even stayed up late enough to enjoy the dance for an hour.  She would only dance with her friends and not me - that starts this early?!  We all had a great time.  I have a few pics on my cell so I will post those later. 

The rest of week 6 was our Cedar Crest trip so that will need its own post too!  Guess I'm done for now.  :)

Just Jace

Rylee was the focus of the last couple of posts so here's some Jace news. 

Jace is just as adorable as he can be right now.  He's really getting to be quite the talker.  Most words I can recognize from his "Jace speak."  "Coo Coo" is cookie, for instance.  This word gets used a lot!  Sometimes he strings together a long, serious sentence, but I have no idea what he's trying to convey.  Luckily, he's not shy about grabbing your hand and leading you places.  He also says "boke" (broke) and "boo boo."  Two words he used to describe Papa the other night (who's finally home for the hospital...temporarily... but we haven't made it up to that story yet.  I'll save that for another time).

Jace's favorite show is Paw Patrol and he has two plastic cars (Chase and Rubble) that he carries with him everywhere and generally sleeps with too.  These toys are relatively new, but before those, he would grab the oddest assortment of things to bring into bed at night.  A plastic banana and a toy spatula, perhaps?  Snuggly!  He still has to have his two blue dog blankies as well.  (And don't try to buy him a similar blue one at a garage sale and throw that into the rotation cause it will just end up being thrown on the floor - just sayin.')

He recently started doing the cutest thing at nap and bedtime.  He does this pretend snoring sound and then a little mmmr, mmmr, mmmr sleep sound.  Hysterical!

Rylee started doing something funny this summer too.  Since I can't see her on the monitor I never know if she's awake, so one morning she broke out with a "cock a doodle do!"   Now that's our morning signal! 

Oops, I said this post was just Jace so back to him.  Here are some cute random photos of my big boy!
 

Frozen Dessert

I decided to keep the Frozen theme going with the dessert so I made an ice cream cake instead of cupcakes.  It was yummy! 

We all loved this picture.  After Papa lit Rylee's candles, he left his beer sitting next to the birthday girl.  Lol!

 

What a fun party!  Rylee had a great time as did we all.  Here I am with my beautiful almost 6 year old.  Happy "Birthday" Rylee!

Frozen Games

First, we played "Pin the Carrot Nose on Olaf."   You saw my Olaf creation in several pictures so I didn't post again.  He was cute though, right?!

Then we played the old cotton ball on the head game.  It's a classic (I used to play it at my birthday parties!) and always good for a laugh. 

 

Afterwards, we used all those cotton balls for a snowball fight!

 

 

 

We ended the games with a freeze dance.  Rylee got to use her Frozen powers to freeze the kids.

Frozen Party Guests

Meg was the first to arrive (her brother Max was having his real birthday party that day so he and his parents came later).

Of course, Jace was there too!

 

 

Chels and her boys (Jace was photo bombing!)...

 

Anthony, Laurie & the cousins...

 

Grandpa Chip & Connie...

 

Kathy & Lilly...

Guess who I forgot to take a picture of?  Yep, Gaga and Papa.  Oops!  They were so busy running around, cooking and helping, that I didn't have the chance.  Thanks for all your hard work guys!

Frozen Party!

Rylee wanted to celebrate her birthday with her cousins and her grandparents so we threw her an honorary party.  Of course, she picked "Frozen" as her theme.  :)

My mom scored some amazing decorations at garage sales...

 

...including hundreds of sparkly snowflakes leftover from some kind of school dance.  Score!

 

We barely used a 1/3 of them.  They were beautiful!

 

She found twinkle lights and icicles (hard to see in the photo) too.

 

Of course, we got a few ideas from Pinterest too

(like snowman popcorn cups that I gave an Olaf twist).

 

 

 

"A real howler in July, ya?"

MN 2014 - Week 5

Wed - my Mom and I dropped Jon and Rio off at the airport around 6 am and then ran errands in Brainerd for Rylee's "birthday" party (we managed to sneak in breakfast at Perkins too), later I took the kids to the park and let them run through the sprinklers.  Rylee had dance/gymnastics and the we watched a movie in the cabin.

Thurs - spent the day at the lake with the cousins.  Maddie and Rylee came back to my parents to play during Jace's nap and then she came with us to swim during Jace's swimming lesson.

Fri - Rylee went with the cousins to see "How to Train Your Dragon 2" so we could decorate for her party

Sat - party day! (more on that in a separate post)

Sun - relaxing day with Kathy & Lilly at the lake, dinner with Mark & Jan

Mon- visiting with Grandpa Chip, Big Grandpa Bob & dinner with Greg

Tues - Ginny walked down for a visit and got treated to Jace and Rylee's duet of "Let It Go" (Jace was wearing only a loaded diaper!), the kids and I hit the park followed by lunch at DQ and more outdoor play at the resort