Rylie Banana

In My Momma's Shoes

Cailin loves wearing my shoes. She also loves wearing dresses. Every morning, she changes out of her pj's and puts on a skirt or dress. I've been indulging her, since it's like pulling teeth to get Ariel to do the same. So far, she's just my girly girl.

PB&J Breakfast

For the last 2 weeks or so, Cailin has wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for breakfast.

And not only that, but she wants to fix it by herself. Which is good, because it allows me an opportunity to go over the step by step process with her. We gather all the ingredients and sit them out on her table. She slathers the peanut butter and jelly on the bread.

She also eats the peanut butter and jelly off the knife! This is before she's even done with the sandwich. We'll have a talk about the double dipping rule.

Wiped Out

Day #3 of the photo challenge.
I'm amazed at the way little ones fall asleep. This photo makes me wish, I had a picture of Ariel and Cailin falling asleep standing with their head on a chair or hanging off the bed.

TWeenage Fashion

I'm participating in a Photo-A-Day Challenge. My goal is to nail the exposure in camera. This is my photo for day #2. I've decided that I will TRY to post every photo. Especially since every photo tells a story of our life.
So these are the shoes that Ariel begged for and that I'm making her work off in chores around the house. After all, they are $70+ shoes! I like that she likes to express herself. But.....

Rylie- 10 1/2 months

You're getting to be such a big girl and I'm a little sad about it because that means that you aren't going to stay my little baby forever. You are a good crawler and recently you've begun to stand for a few seconds. You weigh around 20 pounds. Your height and weight is about the 50th percentile. You are a happy baby. You make so many different sounds, that I believe you will be an early talker. You say "ma-ma", "da-da", "yea"(which sounds a lot like yes). You shake your head no (a lot of the time you really mean it). Just the other day you drank water from a sippy cup. Your a bit of a picky eater. You prefer crackers and Cheerios. And just about anything off our plates. If I try to feed you vegetables after all this, then it's a guarantee that you won't eat them. You taste a little from the spoon to see if it's something that you would like to eat. You wave hello and bye-bye. You like the trampoline and when I say "jump" that's exactly what you do. You throw yourself back while kicking your legs, I guess tantrums are coming early for you. We love you sweet, Rylie!

Cailin's Ballet and Tap Class

These videos crack me up because they are so you. I always say these videos show the way you approach life. You aren't afraid to try something and it doesn't matter to you everyone else is doing something different. You definitely know what you want and aren't afraid to do it. I hope you never lose that and it takes you far. Meanwhile, you love dance class and ask me every day is it time to go to dance. You take a one hour class, once a week. It is broken up into 30 minutes of tap first, then 30 minutes of ballet. I'm so proud of you Cailin.

Cailin sings, "ABC's"

You have been singing your ABC's for a long time now. I haven't done much but buy you a Leappad that goes on the refrigerator. That and your favorite shows now are "Team Imizoomi" and "Sesame Street".

Rylie (8mos)

Rylie, you're 8 months old and you still nurse. We are way less strict with your diet. You've had a Dumdum pop, pizza dough, cake icing (your Mumsil), cauliflower, mashed potatoes, and etc. So much so, that nobody can eat without you. You haven't much cared for what I make you in the mornings. I usually try to make oatmeal and mash up any fruit that we have. So far you are ok with the oatmeal and applesauce.
You shake your head no. And think it's funny.
You have a walker this month and was a seasoned pro in a few short days moving around. You started out just scooting backwards and now you move frontwards as well.
When we talk to you. You wait your turn and talk back.
You sing and coo all the time. You curl your lips in an "O" when you're excited. You still don't like to be down on the floor. I don't know if you'll ever crawl if that's your attitude. You hate for someone to get up and walk out of the room and leave you there. That will surely make you cry. You are tickled to see yourself in the mirror. You started to do it with Daddy first, but it's the same thing that Cailin did. We call it "the grabbies". I'll see if I can explain it; you put both arms out and move your fingers back and forth as to say "hi". I didn't believe your Dad when he said that you do it, but sure enough you did. You are definitely a Momma's girl. You are tickled pink at Cailin's antics. I think your thinking I can't wait to do that. When you see her jumping on the bed and such. You love playing with Ariel. You just kick and smile when she comes around. We love you sweet Rylie.

Rylie (7 1/2 months)

At your six month check up, you were 16 1/2 pounds. You don't like the floor much, but you will do tummy time some. You do get up on all fours, but so far you just scoot backwards and turn all around.

Off to Louisville for a Visit

Way back in June (I know I'm so late blogging these photos) but we went back to Louisville to visit family. It was really special for Cailin, because this was the first time she was able to understand about family and really enjoy them. My Mom took the majority of the photos, because Rylie had decided that only I could hold her. So, in no particular order....

Rylie and Cailin....

Rylie got to meet her Great Grandmoms and Granddad.

She cried with everyone that tried to hold her this week. She just cried a little faster with Granddaddy :0)

We all gathered over Jackie's to celebrate her unbirthday. She wanted to have the dinner that Niecey and my Mom planned but it couldn't be for her birthday. At the end of the night, she put us all out. She had enough of our loudness and shananigans.
We resumed over Tia's though. Playing cards and Pokeno.

Our Beach Days

I LOVE this photo. I guess, because this photo of Cailin describes our beach days just perfectly. We don't make it as often as we would like. But we usually show up at the end of the day, to let the worst of the Florida sun pass us by. We carry our buckets and the kids play at the shore's edge and in the sand.

Cailin the 3 year old

This was the first year you really understood about your birthday and that you were another year older. When I asked: how old you are vs. how old will you be, you answered perfectly. When we started telling you that your birthday was coming soon, every day for a week you announced TODAY is my birthday.

You know your birthday when asked. Before you would say "the 29th". Now you say, May 29th. You sing your ABC's and can recognize some letters. You can count to 13 correctly. And thanks "Team Umi Zoomy" (your absolute favorite show) you can count backwards from 10. Your other favorite shows are Dora, Diego, Wow Wow Wumbsy, Sesame Street and sometimes Spongebob. You know your whole name and can spell your first name. You know your colors and most shapes. You love to go outside. You ask 50+ times a day. It doesn't matter that you have just come inside. You love the trampoline and now the swings in the back yard. You are very social. You love playing with "the kids". It doesn't matter that you don't know them. And the little boys next door. It's really funny because Ariel's friends are your "friends" as well. Big or small, you just want to play. You know how to aggrevate Ariel. And how to cry really loud to get our attention when she does the same to you. You want to dress yourself and just appear some times with random changes of clothing on. You like skirts and dresses because that's mostly what you put on. You love to take baths and want to take one everytime someone else does. You started going to the potty by yourself about 3 months ago and every since then you have been accident free. You even get up at night and go. You don't like to sleep in your bed. If you can't sleep in our bed then we will wake up to find you in the bed with Ariel. Your favorite things to eat are cheese, yogurt and granola, bananas, strawberries, and peanut butter sandwiches. Your absolute favorite is shredded mozzarella. You will try anything. You drink all the fruit smoothies and vegetable juices that I make (Ariel won't). You ask for chocolate and soda all the time. Sometimes I let you get it, but not too much. You are a funny girl. When I tell you to do something, sometimes you ask "why". Then when I don't answer right away, you will ask, "Because you said so?" Because I sometimes say that to you. When you're not listening and I say to you, "What did I say?" You will say to me, "What did *I* say?" When we ask you something, instead of yes sometimes you answer "sure". When we are in the car you will start off a game by saying, "Momma you're an apple head."

And I will reply, "Cailin you're a plum head." And we will name random fruit, vegetables, and outside things. You love to hug, kiss, and hold Rylie, but you don't like to share with her. And you don't like when Rylie has some things that used to be yours. You are outgoing, adventurous, and thoughtful (for a 3 year old). And we love you, sweet Cailin.

Where is Daddy?

At the buffet, while everyone else is off playing games.

Happy vs. The Grumpy Face

Happy Birthday Cailin

She sang Happy Birthday to herself (video is below).

Then she started to dig in to the cake.

She loved celebrating her birthday. She has asked me a dozen times or more if today is her birthday again.

Happy 3rd Birthday Cailin

Game Time

As soon as we arrived, they immediately wanted to go off and play games. Cailin barely had time to let me buy tokens :0)!

She ran from one thing to another.

I really like playing this game. You try to burst as many bubbles as you can before they travel off the screen.

She can't paddle to make this ride go in the air, but Mom can while she enjoys the ride.

For some reason, she is really afraid of Chuck E Cheese. This is as close as she will get to him and she definitely will not touch him.

This is Ariel's favorite time. She likes trading in the tickets for prizes.

BedTime

Daddy catches the bed time ritual at our house.

Rylie- 5 1/2 months

It's really funny, that Rylie will be talking and screeching and the minute I pull out the camera she gets quiet.

Rylie's Laughter

Ariel is 12

We celebrated Ariel's birthday over my Mom's house. We went swimming and then we barbecued. I've been on a health kick lately, so I made black bean burgers, corn-on-the-cob, and baked potatoes on the grill.

Birthday presents were Cherice and Justin Bieber CD's.

And a CD player for her room.

This was the first year that she didn't have a "birthday cake", but not the first chocolate cake. This was overwhelmingly chocolate. Chocolate cake, with fudge icing. I had a teeny tiny piece.

She had sparkler candles, but they didn't exactly sparkle.

She was in heaven cutting this cake. This kid LOVES chocolate.

I was surprised because she cut herself a normal slice of cake. Happy Birthday Ariel.