New Dress

So I have a shirt that I never wear anymore and I thought it would be fun to try and make it into a dress for Ryann. I obviously need to work on the neckline a little bit- But it is coming along nicely and she loves it!

I also stiched a little flower on the back of the dress as well.

Ain't She a Beauty?

And best of all... she WORKS! We went and got a new dishwasher from Best Buy and we got an awesome deal on an "open box" dishwasher. Rich thinks the fancy grips make it awesome. I think the fact that it works is even better!

It is white on the outside so it matches all of our other appliances. I was just sad that the old one quit working. Not really the best time financially to be getting a new dishwasher- but hey- its just money!

Happy Birthday Auntie Vicki

We want to send a Happy Birthday to Auntie Vicki! We are so proud of her for taking her first test towards her CPA! Only 2 more to go (since we just know you passed!)

Hope you have a great birthday and enjoy this cute picture of RyRy!

Cutest Face

We had Ryann's friend Luke over the other day for a play date. It was so fun and we even had a little tea party. I thought it was so cute that I pulled out the camera. Come on! You think my girls would learn how to smile because of the camera and all the pictures I take of them... Maybe Luke will teach them a thing or two.

I think for once Cara wouldn't look at the camera because she is so in love with that face!

Happy Birthday Uncle Cory

Here is a little shout out for Uncle Cory!

Good Luck

Good Luck tomorrow Auntie Erin! We know you will do fabulous on your Bar Exam!

Home Again

The girls are home safe and sound! We sure missed them and we wanted to thank my wonderful parents and sisters and brothers (in laws included!) for watching them all and making sure they had so much fun.

And a special thanks for Ron who drove them down to SoCal for us safely!

Good Food

Thanks Grandma for feeding my girls better food than this dinner.

This was the night before we left for California

Ryann did eat more than just this though. But that is what she asked for.

I need more pictures!

Mother- could you please send me more pictures of my babies? This is what I am working with.

Self portraits of Nugget #1. But boy she is sweet.

What a silly girl. Ashley told me yesterday that Ryann has selective hearing and ignores her if she doesn't like what Ashley is saying... Sounds about right. I am glad she isn't holding back for the family.

Ryann picked some interesting angles for a self portrait.

Forget Me Not

I don't have to worry about this cute nugget forgetting me... Right?

All she needs is fruit snacks, grandma, and "guy guy"

She might not even need "guy guy" (her sleepy time blanket bear thingy)

Nope- She won't forget me.

We did it!

Yesterday my cousin Rob and I hiked up to the top of Camelback Mountain in Phoenix. It was hard and tiring and I am a little sore today. It was my first time and I doubt my last. :)

We started the hike at 6am and we were done around 8am. I did feel like puking once during the hike but I got over that (thank goodness!) but there were some other crazy people up there that ran up and down the mountain TWICE while we hiked it. Like I said, "CRAZY!"

Yup, pretty amazing view.

Missing the Fun

Happy Birthday to my amazing Grandma! She is a sweet woman with a heart of gold. She is strong and has always been there for me and the rest of the family. I have had the honor to listen to her prayers at night and she prays for every one of her posterity by name. She knows us and thinks of us daily. She raised some wonderful children and I am so lucky to have grown up living next door to her.

And tonight my girls were able to spend some time with their grandma- great!

It looks like I am obviously missing some fun times! At least I know that these girls are having a good time without me. I love my independent girls!

Thanks so much for taking such good care of them!

Remember the Ducks?

Here are those ducks that bit Ryann. Is that what you call it when a duck does it? A bite? a snap? a peck? I don't know. Either way I miss my girls but it sounds like they are having fun in Napa with Grandma and Ashley and everyone else!

Sleep deprived

My sweet girls are a little sleep deprived and I think I am making my mom nervous. They are a little crabbier than normal and today Cara is having her second nap at it is only 11 am! She slept for almost 2 hours for her first too! wow. Ryann also went down around 1030 for her nap of the day. Something about missing the excitement of grandma's house must make them not want to sleep.

Hopefully they will catch up on their sleep and be perfect little angels the rest of the week while I am in Phoenix and they are in Napa.

But if not I think it will be hard for my mom to resist this sweet face- even if she is a crabby pants.

Curl It

Auntie Devyn curled Ryann's hair since Ryann wouldn't let her cut it. All Ryann wanted to do was sit in the chair. She then proceeded to bob her head back and forth, back and forth until she admitted that she didn't want it cut. Okay fine, the 3 year old wins again.

The curls didn't last very long in her fine hair, but they looked pretty cute while they were there! Thanks Devyn.

Missing

Having so much fun! Today I spent like 3 hours just reading a book. I didn't have to clean or grocery shop or think about anything! It was really nice. We spent some time walking to a little farm near my parents house and Ryann had a hard lesson learned. She got too close to the geese when feeding them and one bit her hand. Ouch.

I don't have my pictures from that- I will upload them later- but I thought it would be fun to show some AWESOME pictures of the immediate family who are missing from this mini-weekend trip.

Jason- yes, he is diligently working while Devyn goes to 4-H camp to play all week as a counselor.

Ethan- I miss his guts but I will see him next weekend.

Don't really miss Zach because he is on his mission- but he has gained 15lbs so far. If he continues at this rate he will be 310 lbs by the time he gets home.

This crazy girl is studying for her California Bar Exam! WOOHOO! She will love me for this picture. :)

And this goofy guy is hanging out with his brother tonight- probably playing video games.

I love you all and wish you were here!

A Good Mom

I am in Napa now, using my brother's computer while he is away on his mission :)

We survived the plane flight. Our flight was delayed over an hour to get to LA- then I wasn't sure if we would make it out of LA and up to Oakland- so I asked the nice Southwest people if there was any possible way to get on an earlier flight. Well- yes. There was a flight leaving in 15 minutes that was a direct flight... 4 gates down.

AMAZING!!

The girls were great. Ryann got to play with her new toys and she colored and Cara ate her weight in french fries that I had just enough time to buy before we boarded the plane.

The flight was completely full with us there and we had a business man sit next to us... I started to warn him about the girls and apologize in advance (he did get some ponies thrown at him) but he told me he is the father of a 9 year old and 7 year old twins. Traveling with him sure used to be wild I am sure!! I never apologized after that. I just thanked him a lot.

Ryann and Cara spent a good amount of time winning over the plane of people. They ran up and down the aisles- sometimes Ryann would lie on the ground and say, "Ayudame mommy, ayudame!" She made quite a few people laugh.

And at the end of the flight a really nice woman looked at me and said, "you are such a good mom. You made that trip look easy."

It helped that the girls were good, but that really made my day.

You know what also made my day? I am in Napa with the windows open and the girls are sleeping.

When I wake up I am going to pick some blackberries. Anyone want to join me??

Super Fly

Cara thinks she is pretty awesome in these shades.

The rose colored lenses make her think everything is OKAY!

Which it is... unless you take away her phone or a spoon or fishy crackers.

Photo Shoot

Ryann is getting much better at taking pictures. I just wish she would take pictures of pretty things. Not gross, weird, red-eyed wild animals.

I do love the plastic bunny riding the horse though.

The giant baby next to Jasmine is pretty creepy too.

Did you know most of these toys are because of her sticky fingers? The red eyed dog is from the Baker's house. Jasmine is from the May's house, and every time she takes another toy she promises to bring it back. Just yesterday she snagged another lion from the Baker's. She said, "Can I borrow this toy?" In such a cute voice with a little smile under her big eyes and of course Lisa said yes.

This weekend when the house is empty except for Rich he is going to "purge" all of the toys and clean them up and ship them out. If we have ever borrowed a toy- hopefully it will make it back to your doorstep this weekend.

Big Girl

Cara refuses to believe she is little. She thinks she can do anything and she will. She climbs everywhere and today when she climbed on the table she started shouting, "SIT DOWN" over and over again.

She loves to feed herself and she does it best when she is sitting at her little table and not in the high chair.

Cute, but it usually leads to fights with Ryann because she wants to do whatever Ryann is doing. Oh well, such is the life of sisters.

I can't help it

Cara always has crazy hair after we take it out of her ponytails that I can't help but take pictures of it.

This picture below is not so very fun for Ryann- she got this little witch stuck in her hair and started crying in the middle of the night so I could come "unstuck" it.

Spicey

I am assuming most of you do not know how difficult it is to wash off an array of spices from your baby girl's hair, hands, feet, face, and belly?

I didn't know it would be difficult either. But it kind of is.

Not difficult enough to snap a quick picture though.

This was after we already did one rinse.

Put those 2 girls together and they are trouble!

*above picture consists of an array of oregano, sage, parsley, and thyme*

Look at my shirt

I think she is pretty cute... and so is her daddy!

smoke coming from my ears

I am still a little upset after doing a bleach wash of all these toys... the rest I just threw away because they were damaged beyond repair.

Here are the toys that didn't make it into the fish tank during Ryann's 3 hour nap yesterday. They have been removed from her room. She also has been grounded and cannot watch any TV or movies.

These toy bins are usually spilling over. Now all they have is diapers and shoes.

Now this girl is definitely not being punished very hard. She is still allowed to read books, color, have stuffed animals in her bed with her, and she also slept in my bed last night.

However, she did cry big tears when she realized ALL of her ABC books and her favorite horse puzzles were ruined.

I do feel really bad, but I have to hold it together and be strong and not give in when she begs for her toys.

I was so angry when it happened that I didn't even take the time to take a picture. I ALWAYS take pictures... it was bad... Rich was really upset too... he had to steam clean all of her carpet in her room.

Hippie Midwife

I am slowly transforming into more hippie day by day. I found out how to tie my wrap into a back carrier for Cara. I haven't quite gotten it right because I tied it too loose in this picture so she is leaning back a little bit. But she likes it so far.

Sometimes I think Ryann feels a little left out. No one to hold on her back... oh wait... she found a great substitute.

Rich told me that if I keep up these "hippie midwife" activities then by the time Ryann turns 4 she will have turned into a midwife. Now is that such a bad thing??

Sitting Pretty

We always knew Cara was the little princess in the family.

4th of July

Hello, happy 4th of July!

Last night I took Ryann to see fireworks for the first time.

They were loud.

A little scary.

And so AWESOME.

Ryann got home at 10pm and woke up at her normal time... making picture taking a little

crunchy. (<---- click for definition)

So I got some fun pictures of Cara and I love this one of Cara rolling her eyes at Ryann.

This is probably the best photo of Ryann all morning.

I'm so proud

Proud mama showing off Ryann writing her name. Miss Donna at preschool wrote in purple and Ryann did the pink.

The "R" is a little tough... okay? Come on... give her a break... she is not quite 3 1/2.

Excuse the last years postpartum face... but look at how big my baby is getting!

We are still in the rear facing carseat and she is a good trooper about it.

Why?

Why does every cute picture of Cara get ruined by having food all over her face? Maybe because she is 14 months old and always wants to feed herself??