Ryan's Birthday Weekend

     Today is Ryan's 24th birthday! We celebrated all weekend long. Admittedly our household usually revolves around our girls, then me, and Ryan last, so I always try to make sure he knows how much we love and appreciate all he does to keep his girls happy. His birthday is just a chance to change our priorities for a day (or a few) and make him the top priority! We started out Friday by dropping the girls off with Nonna and Granddaddy and heading to Jackson for a date night, We had a delicious dinner and just some quality time as a couple. It's good to go from "mommy and daddy" back to just "husband and wife" every now and again!

      Saturday, I kept the girls, and Ryan headed to Millington with Brandon to have some "boy" fun at the shooting range. Bailey came over to play while Mary worked that morning, and not long after she left, Kade and Liz came over. Rylee asked, "Is it MY birthday?!" She was so excited her friends came over to play with her! It used to happen a lot more often than it does lately, but we have all been so busy! After the boys were done at the shooting range, Liz and I brought the kids to Millington to meet them for dinner. It was a lot of fun.

     This morning, as soon as Rylee got up, we started on "Daddy's birthday breakfast surprise." She chose to make him blueberry muffins "because blue is his favorite color." And then she wanted to make him a card. While the muffins were baking, I got her ready for church, and she could barely stand waiting to wake him up and tell him all about his surprise. When the time finally came, she woke him up with 24 kisses. It was downright precious. She was so proud to show him the breakfast she made for him and they ate together while she talked nonstop. :)

      After church, we went to lunch with Ryan's family and have enjoyed a gorgeous, restful day at home since then. I hope his birthday weekend was everything he wanted because he deserves nothing but the best. He constantly treats the girls and I like princesses  and a queen. We love him to the moon and would be so lost without him!

Half Birthday!!

     I cannot believe my sweet baby is half a year old already!!!!! Why must time fly by so quickly?! She is about 18 lbs (90th percentile) and 26 in. long (75th percentile). She wears size 6-9 Month clothes. Shes transitioning from size 2 diapers to size 3 diapers. She wears size 1 (0-3 Month) shoes. Little miss tiny feet! She is on an eating and sleeping schedule and has started consistenly sleeping through the night in her crib in her room from about 8 pm - around 5 am every night! I miss our middle of the night cuddles, but I knew it was important for her to self-wean from middle of the night feedings before 6 months, for developmental purposes.

    She has started solids and she has loved it thus far! She eats 4 tbsp rice or oatmeal cereal and a stage 1 food for breakfast, 2 stage 1 foods for lunch and 4 tbsp rice or oatmeal cereal and a stage 1 food for dinner. She drinks about 5-6 ounce bottles or nurses in between meals, and I've started letting her have a little bit of water in a sippy with her meals just for practice. She averages less than 1 full oz of water per day; the maximum amount of water that is safe for an infant her age is 4 oz per day. She has about 4 oz of formula per day mixed with her cereal, otherwise she's still mainly breastfed.

    The weather has started to warm up, and she LOVES being outdoors. She loves spending time with Rylee whether it's indoors or out. Rylee loves to slide down with Payton in her lap (I catch Payton at the bottom of the slide). Payton laughs and laughs the whole time, so Rylee does, too. These two girls love each other more and more each day. I cherish it now before they get older and start getting on each others' nerves. They are so precious together now its hard to believe there will ever come a day...

 I got her a new swing for outside as a gift for her half birthday! She loves it so much! The other baby swing we had was a hand-me-down and the rope was fraying so it kept leaving little rope burns on Payton and that did not make me happy, so I was happy to get her a new one that was safer for her that she can enjoy at least this year and next! :) I also moved her to a convertible carseat. I want to leave her rear facing until she's 2 because all research has shown that that is the safest way for infant and small toddlers to ride, so a convertible carseat was the bets choice for us. She hated her carrier and was getting to heavy to carry around in it for much longer. She LOVES her new "big girl" carseat!

   She can sit up completely unsupported now. She has also started scooting around when she's on her belly. She has started chattering away and "talks" nonstop. She has also moved up to MAM size 6 Month + pacis. She LOVES them. She liked her MAM 0-6 Months pacis okay, but she really wasn't that attached to them. From the very first time I gave her the 6 Month + size, she has been HOOKED! I am glad she has gotten hooked on a paci, because she was beginning to try and suck her fingers. Rylee is still a finger-sucker even though she desperately wants to stop, so I don't want Payton to pick up that habit. Pacis are a much easier habit to break because you can take them away, but not til she's around 2! ;)

     Payton Joy, you sure do live up to your name. You are so full of joy, it pours out of you and fills everyone else's life with such joy just to know you. Mommy and Daddy love you more than you will ever know. Big sister says your are her "cute little peep"! We all love you to the moon!

Spring Break 2014

     Today wraps up our Spring Break, and we have had a blast! After having a week out of school due to yucky ice 2 weeks ago, you wouldn't have guessed all the beautiful sunshine-y days we have had this week, but that's just the way Tennessee weather goes... We have had some adventures, spent lots of time outside, and spent every minute enjoying our time together!

     We kicked off our Spring Break last weekend by heading to Middle Tennessee to visit Grandma and Grandpa. While we were there, we had a mini birthday party for Mama and Liz since their birthdays are both in Mid-March. The kids had a blast playing and eating and jumping on the bed. The long ride is definitely for the birds, but we always have a good time visiting and the kids LOVE Grandma and Grandpa's "tree-house"!

    Monday was St. Patty's day and the weather wasn't so lovely, so Liz and I dressed the kids up in green and headed to the Children's Museum of Memphis. It was Rylee and Payton's first time to go there, and both of them took everything in. Rylee had a blast going to each section and trying it out. Her favorite part was catching the fish. Payton's favorite part was the wind machine. It had these scarves you could put in it to watch them blow through the pipes, and she thought the scarves were the bets thing ever!

 Tuesday, Mary had to get her wisdom teeth cut out, so Liz took her to the dentist and I kept Kade. We had a lot of fun learning to write our names, blowing bubbles and playing jump rope. After Mary was at home in bed, Liz met us at the park with pizza and we had a picnic and played and played some more. When we got home, the girls and I played outside even more. It turned out to be a gorgeous day.

   Wednesday, I cleaned the house and did laundry (oh boy!), but Thursday I spent the entire day at home just playing with Rylee and Payton. I didn't touch my phone or computer, and I don't even have a single picture from that day, I just focused 100% on my sweet girls, and during their nap time, I relaxed and read a book. It was a perfect day! I have been spending a lot of time getting Payton on a schedule this week since she is approaching her half birthday. I thought it would be difficult, but she took right to it, and even has started to put herself down for her naps without being rocked or nursed to sleep! It's a little bittersweet, but I'm proud of her.

     Friday, Rylee, Payton, and I spent the whole day with Liz and Kade at their house. Rylee and Kade had a blast. They played trains and cars and firetrucks and pirates. The squirted chickens with water guns and rode with Liz on her new bike. And Payton had her 6 Month pictures made! She was so stinkin' adorable! After Ryan, Brandon, Mary, and Chuck got off work, they headed over and we had a cookout. The 3 amigos were excited to be reunited and have time to play together, and we enjoyed some amazing food with amazing company. It was a perfect Spring day.

    Yesterday, Liz and I did some major damage on a full day shopping trip and the kids had fun days with their daddies. Today, I am putting up clothes, getting the girls stuff ready for daycare tomorrow, and just spending time with my little family. I am excited to see my sweet kindergartners tomorrow, but I am very sad to leave these 2 precious girls. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with them, and I have had lots of time with them for the passed few months because we have had so many snow days and such. Hopefully all the snow and ice is behind us now, but it was good to get so much time with them. Ryan has been working 52-60 hour weeks lately and it seems it will continue for the foreseeable future. Ryan is an amazing partner and is awesome about helping out with housework and caring for the girls, but when he's not home from 630 am - 730 pm, there's not much he can do. It's hard for me to work and take care of everything at the house and care for the girls, too, all by myself. But this week, I actually felt like I had everything under control. I am sure that feeling won't come back until June, so if you happen to drop by between now and then and my house is a mess and there are piles of laundry to be done and I'm chasing after 2 energetic girls, just ignore the mess and embrace the chaos. ;)

A Hard Winter

     It has been a cold, icy winter thus far. Technically we only have 2 1/2 weeks until Spring, but I'm not sure Spring is going to come on time this year. Our winter weather started in late fall-early December-with sleet and ice. We used 1 "snow day" on that yucky mess. 

     In January, it was one thing after another. We missed several days in January: 2 due to just plain COLD weather. With windchills below zero, we couldn't risk our precious students freezing at the busstops waiting on busses that may or may not start in such harsh temperatures, or some of our older students, who walk to school each day, freezing on their way to school, so we had to call off school.

    In February, we had a nasty ice storm that left several without power for hours, in a few cases, even days. That put us out of school for 2 more days. We also got some snow one Saturday, but it didn't last long at all.

     Today we have about 3 inches of ice under about an inch of snow. It looks beautiful outside, but it is a nasty MESS! So again, no school for us. This is the 8th snow day we have had this winter (not even counting days that we had to dismiss school early due to yucky weather), and it looks like tomorrow will be our 9th. Hopefully we will be done with this yucky weather after that.

     I like a snow day as much as the next teacher, but I feel like all these snow days are making it hard to really teach, and that is what I love to do! Plus, I'm just plain ready for warm weather and sunshine. But we do live in TN, so Spring usually means thunder storms and tornado watches. Fun, fun, fun! Can it just be SUMMER already?! ;)

The Circus

     Saturday we took the kids to Memphis to see the circus. It was a blast. The girls were so good, especially Payton, we didn't hear a peep out of her the whole time. I think she was just taking everything in!

    When we first got there, we jumped right into the chaos. We got Rylee and Kade circus t-shirts (they didn't have anything in baby sizes for Payt), and each got a little toy. Kade got a trumpet and Rylee got a wand that lit up. Then Kade went for a pony ride and Rylee went straight for this slide. She had a blast. By the end of the circus, the guy selling tickets for the slide knew Rylee by name. Haha! She really, really wanted to ride the ponies but she didn't like the mess when we first got there and during intermission there was no mess but the line was too long. She still had lots of fun, though!

    I think its safe to say these 2 had a great first experience with the circus! They smiled and laughed and yelled and talked the whole time. It was so exciting and there was so much too see. They got a little antsy just before intermission, but we had been sitting a long time. After intermission came both of their favorite parts...

     Rylee's favorite part was the elephants. She has been telling us that when she grows up, she is going to be a girl who rides on elephants at the circus! Ha! And you can guess what Kade's favorite part was... But I'd have to say, those dirt bikes were my favorite part, too. It was an awesome show!

       All in all, it was a fantastic day, and we all had a wonderful time. I honestly think I had just as much fun as Rylee did. I love making memories like these with my sweet babies. Being a mommy is such fun!