The End of Summer Break

      Today is the last day of Summer Break, and I think I may be just as sad as I was on my last day of maternity leave! The girls have grown so much this summer, and I have loved being here for every minute of it! The picture on the left was taken the first day of Summer Break and the picture on the right was taken on today. It's unreal how much Payton has grown, and I'm even more surprised that you can tell a difference in how Rylee has grown, too. Why do they insist on growing up on my so quickly?!

      We started our summer break with a family vacation in Florida. It does seem like a lifetime ago, so I know I had a good summer break, but it doesn't make it any easier for it to come to an end. We had so much fun on the beach, and it would have been nice to end summer break with another week down there. A girl can dream, right?!

     My favorite part of this summer break was watching the bond between these sisters grow. They have gotten so close. When I talk to Rylee about going back to school tomorrow, her main concern is, "Baby Payton will miss her sissy!" I'm pretty sure they will not like being separated at all. They have been together all day every day  for the last 2 months. They are so sweet playing together, but I know they will be fine tomorrow after the initial shock wears off. They both enjoy daycare and getting to see their friends.

      Last week, we spent a lot of time in the sun and I think that was the perfect way to warp up our break. Rylee also got to spend a lot of time with Austin, which she enjoyed thoroughly. We won't get any more time with them until the new baby, Callie, arrives this fall, so we took advantage of everyday of their visit last week. I'm also glad to have gotten a little bit of a tan to go back to school with because I feel like everyone looks better with a little tan!

     Friday I got my class list and worked on my classroom some. It's not finished yet, but it's not too far from done, and it will definitely be ready by registration this Friday. I am super excited about this school year. We are implementing a new extended literacy program and grouping students differently than we did in the past. I am excited about the groups I got, and I know they are going to learn A LOT this year! I can't wait!!

       But no matter how excited I am about this coming school year, it is still hard to leave these sweet faces behind each day. I am thankful that I have a career that I love, and also thankful that that career allows me to have breaks and stay home and just be a mom from time to time. It's hard work being a teacher and hard work being "just a mom," but both jobs are rewarding and make me very happy! This summer has had it's ups and downs, but I'm thankful for every minute, especially those that I got to spend with my sweet babies. I have kissed Payton's chubby cheeks at least a million times, and snuggled Rylee endlessly. I love these 2 little girls more than words could ever express. I am looking forward to meeting my new "babies" that I will love and teach this year, and I'm looking forward to seeing how my girls adjust to going back to school and picking up with their friends and maybe making some new friends, too. This week is going to be crazy, but it will get better and once things settle down, everything will be fine!

10 Months!

      I cannot believe my baby is 10 months old! Time seriously needs to slow down! She is around 20 lbs (75th percentile) and 28 in. long (75th percentile). She wears size 12 M clothes and size 18 M sleepers, but lately I've been letting her sleep in a 12 M onesie since it's summer. She wears size 4 diapers. She is almost into size 3 shoes, but her tiny feet can still fit in a size 2 (3-6 month) shoe! Anytime I put shoes on her, she immediately pulls them off, so it's pretty pointless. She goes to bed around 7-7:30 pm and wakes up and feeds around 6 am, then goes back to bed until around 8. This will be the last week of that though because school starts back next week! :( She takes 2 naps per day usually around 10 and 2. She typically naps about 1 hour at each nap time. She likes to nap with one paci in her mouth and one in her hand. It cracks me up. She has also become super attached to her silky. I hope she does okay without it at school next week. She is such a little chatter bug and has become mimicking what we say. The cutest one lately is "uh-oh!"

  She now has 3 teeth. 2 bottom in the middle and one on top over to the right. She has finally mastered crawling, and she is into EVERYTHING. Her favorite place to try to explore is the bathroom. We are in the process of trying to get Rylee to keep the door closed, but if she forgets, Payton makes a mad dash. Luckily, so far she is more interested in the bathtub (and trying to get to the bath toys) than the toilet, but I don't want her to discover the toilet just yet! She has been exploring nonstop since she mastered crawling, and I never know what she is going to be into next! We also had to lower her crib because she has mastered pulling herself up on the side, and when it was up higher, she was nearly able to tumble out. I decided we should lower it before that happened!

     Her sippy cup transition didn't go as planned because she hated the hard spout cups, so we have switched her to a larger soft spout cup. She likes it a lot. She drinks a full one of water each day. I decided to leave her on bottles for now to make her transition back to daycare easier. I will take them away at 1. She eats mostly table food now. For breakfast she usually eats either a piece of whole wheat toast or a waffle, and maybe some fruit or cheerios if she's still acting hungry. For lunch she likes grilled cheese, yogurt, or some of whatever I'm having. And for dinner she eats what we're eating. On nights when I don't cook, I have some baby food as back up, but I usually end up cooking because she prefers table food. I breastfeed her first thing in the morning,  in between meals for her "snacks," and once before bed. Once school starts back, she is going to have formula at daycare, and I'll continue to breastfeed at home. I decided it wasn't worth it to pump at work anymore at this point, since she gets most of her nutrition from food these days and she's getting closer to 1.

      She still loves the outdoors. She wants to get down and explore, though, and I'm just not ready to let her. But when she's in a swing or in the water, she is as happy as can be. we spend a lot of time out on the deck, and she can explore there, so she loves that. She is just so curious about everything and now that she can move, she's going to try to figure everything out!

     It's strange to me to see her with no more drainage coming from her eye, but it has been perfect since the day she had her probe done. I love her bright blue eyes, and now it seems they shine even brighter without that yucky gunk. She is such a happy baby - always smiling or laughing. She definitely is our little Joy!

Granny's 80th Surprise Party! {Video Included}

       Today is Granny's 80th birthday. We had a surprise party for her Saturday night, and it was such a precious moment when she walked in and was moved to tears that everyone had pulled off such a big surprise! Don't you just love Ryan's wonderful singing voice?! Haha!

      We had such a wonderful time celebrating such a wonderful lady. We love Granny so very much. She does so much for everyone without ever asking for anything in return. If I'm ever in a bind and need someone to help out with the girls, I know I can call her and she'll take amazing care of them while I'm doing whatever needs to be done. I appreciate her so very much, and to see how much she loves my girls just melts my heart.

     She loves all of her great-grands that way. But this is what happens when you try to get 4 toddlers to take a picture together. It's so funny, it's kind of cute. Haha! I love these crazy kiddos. They had a blast at Granny's party. They don't all get to get together and play very much, but they have a blast when they do.

     Ryan and Matt called out the BINGO numbers while I played with the kids and the adults played BINGO. The prizes included a SMTWTFS pill separator, Icyhot wraps, and other gag gifts that an elderly person might need. It's funny a lot of times it's easy to forget that Granny is old, she is so active and spunky. She cracks me up. Our gift got delayed in shipping (even though I paid extra to make sure it would be shipped in time-UGH!), so Ryan dropped it off yesterday. We made her a photo book of different moments of her with her great-grands so far. It turned out really cute, but I was sad it wasn't here in time for her to be able to open it at her party.

     I know 2 little girls who love their Granny very very much and enjoyed celebrating her birthday with her. Happy 80th, Granny! We love you to the moon!

Mary's Chapel VBS 2014

     Tonight we wrapped up our final night of VBS, and it has been a lot of fun. Our theme this year was Agency D3 (Discover, Decide, Defend - Pete 3:15). Rylee was so excited about being a "Secret Agent." All the kids seemed to enjoy the theme and the activities that went along with it.

     Rylee was technically supposed to go with the the Preschool ages 3-5 group, but I was a group leader for the 1st-2nd grade group, and she decided she wanted to stay with me on Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights. She did go with her group on Monday night, though. Tuesday night we missed VBS because Payton was sick, and Ryan didn't feel up to taking care of her on his own because his knee was hurting badly. I didn't mind keeping Rylee in my group because she didn't cling to me or stay in my lap or anything, she just wanted to be in the same room as me. She did all the activities that the other children did, and for being 2-4 years younger than everyone else in the group, she fit in really well. I feel like she learned a lot this week. I know there are times she has to be away from me, but after trying to force her to go with her group and reducing her to tears over it, I thought if it's not bothering anyone and she's still learning about Jesus, why does it matter which group she goes with?! It's one thing to leave her crying at daycare when I have to go to work. There is no way to avoid that. She can't come with me to work. But if I don't have to leave her and she doesn't want me to, why force it?

   We ended up having a wonderful time at VBS and I was so proud of my group. We started out with 3 girls + Rylee on Sunday night, and ended up with 5 girls and 3 boys + Rylee on tonight. And they all were listening to the stories and answering questions like pros. It's a beautiful thing to see children learning about Jesus. Rylee made me so proud when she came home and told her daddy, "Did you know Jesus is better than a good man? He is God's son. You can read it in the Bible." She sure soaks everything in.

Crazy Busy and Lots of Fun!

     This past week has been INSANE! It was completely jam-packed, some days were lots of fun and others were not so much. It definitely made for a crazy week! Monday kicked off the madness with Rylee's very first dentist appointment. Her pediatrician referred her to a pediatric dentist because she sucks her fingers when she sleeps, and he wanted to make sure it was not affecting her dental health. She had her teethed cleaned and she did so well at first, but as soon as the hygienist tried to rinse her mouth out, Rylee freaked out, but I was still proud of her because she was super brave for 90% of the appointment and even calmed down after her freak out and let the dentist examine her teeth. He said she is in perfect dental health and that unless something changes, he sees nothing wrong with allowing her to wean herself off of sucking her fingers in her own time, especially since she only does it to fall asleep.

     Tuesday, I had a literacy brunch to attend at work that morning. That afternoon Ryan and I took Payton to Memphis for her surgery to unblock her tear duct. It was a quick probe and she did not have to be put asleep but she absolutely HATED being held down by the nurses, and she let them know exactly how much she did not like it. I waited in the waiting room, and Ryan stayed with her. It took less than a minute, and she has been good as new ever since. She had a little nosebleed directly following the procedure, and there was a tiny bit of dried blood in the corner of her eye the next morning, but that was it. She never acted like it hurt or bothered her at all, and her eye has been crystal clear ever since!

     Wednesday, Liz and I took our kiddos to Mellow Mushroom for some pizza then Kid's Play in Germantown. We love that they are right next door to one another; it makes for the perfect play date! The kids ate a ton of pizza and then played and played and played for over 3 hours. It was a lot of fun. Even Payton found a lot of fun toys she could play with! It was a very quiet ride back home! ;)

       Thursday, I had to go to the dentist and have my top 2 wisdom teeth pulled. That was definitely not fun, but it wasn't as bad as I feared, but I had A LOT of jaw pain after the extraction, and I still do 4 days later, but it gets a little better each day.

     Friday night, we took the kids to the Ripley Tomato Festival. It was a lot of fun watching the kiddos ride rides and have a blast. Payton stayed home with Ryan because it was a bit too hot and a bit too late for her, but they had a nice night in while we had a fun night out! I was sad I couldn't enjoy any fair food because of my sore mouth, by I did manage to have a few bites of funnel cake!

     Saturday morning, we took the kids to the Atoka Splash Pad. They had so much fun running around in the sprinklers. It was a great way to cool off on a hot Saturday. Payton was glad to be included in the splashing fun.

    And to wrap up the craziness, today Ryan had to have surgery to have a large mole removed from his knee. He's had it ever since he can remember, but recently it has begun to change shape and color, and bleed out at times, and it just needed to go. The doctor said it's most likely a hemangionoma, but it did have some characteristics of melanoma, so it has been sent off for testing. He has several stitches in his knee from the removal, and they ended up having to cut down pretty deep to remove the entire mole because it had attached to his knee cap. So say a few prayers for him for a quick recovery. And also say some prayers that the test results come back completely clear!

Payton's First 4th of July

        We have had an amazing time celebrating Independence Day. Summer is definitely our favorite time of year, so Independence Day is always a fun holiday to celebrate. Other than Labor Day, it is Payton's last "first" holiday. It makes me sad that time has flown by so quickly, she will be a year old before we know it!

     We started our celebration last Saturday by traveling to Middle TN to visit Grandma and Grandpa. Aunt Shannon and Uncle Rod were there visiting them, so Payton was able to meet them for the first time. We headed to a local fireworks show. The kids were able to jump in bouncy houses and play on a playground while we waited for it to get dark enough for the show to begin. Once the show started, it was beautiful. Everyone had a really good time. It was pretty loud, so Rylee was a little timid, but she enjoyed herself, and Payton was very interested in all the colors at first, but got pretty tired and grouchy by the end. It was way passed her bedtime!

      Sunday morning, we got up and headed to a park to swim. The water was chilly, but the kids didn't mind. After swimming was ended abruptly by rain, we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's for a delicious BBQ lunch. The kids made strawberry shortcake with Aunt Shannon for dessert. They were such cute little helpers. She even had them all the most perfect little aprons. It was adorable. After dessert, we headed home. We all had a good time, but we were tired out from all the fun.

    We continued our Independence Day celebration by heading to Georgia on Thursday. We got there in time to go to Mellow Mushroom for a pizza dinner, where Payton was able to meet her great grandmother, "Maw Maw," for the first time. We had a good time hanging out with everyone and eating until we were stuffed (Rylee ate 5 pieces of pizza!) Then we went back to Aunt Andrea's and Uncle Phil's and put the girls to bed and watched a little TV before we were ready for bed ourselves. It had been a long day!

      Then we got up early Friday morning, the 4th, and ate a wonderful breakfast that Aunt Andrea prepared for us, and then we headed to the Peachtree City 4th of July Parade. It was so much fun riding in the golf carts to the parade. Rylee though we were in the parade because the golf carts were so beautifully decorated! Once the parade got started, Rylee made out! She smiled and waved at everyone who passed, and ended up with a huge bag FULL of candy because of it. Payton enjoyed watching all the floats pass by, and she was smiling and watching the whole time.

     After the parade, we went back to their house for a little while and Ryles played bubble with Uncle Phil while Payton napped. Once Payton woke up, we headed to the pool. We were going to drive, but Rylee wanted to ride in the golf carts again, and with Uncle Phil whatever Rylee wants, Rylee gets, so we rode the golf cart to the pool. The girls had fun in the water. It was such a nice day, not too hot like July can be, but warm and sunny enough to enjoy a nice swim.

       When we got back from the pool, both girls fell asleep. Then we had a cookout to celebrate the 4th. We all pigged out and enjoyed each other's company. Then it was time to head to the fireworks show. We rode the golf carts to the golf course and the fireworks were shot over a lake near the course. It was absolutely gorgeous. We were much farther from the fireworks during this show, so Rylee was much less timid and actually watched the show and commented on all the different colors. Payton was tired and grouchy, but she calmed when we gave her some snacks and enjoyed the show.

      Saturday we enjoyed a quiet morning at the house. We all took turns playing double solitaire against Alex who beat everyone nearly every time. And Rylee played board games with Aunt Andrea. After a while, Nonna, Granddaddy, Mel, and Austin came by and they took the girls to the park while we headed to a shooting range. It was a different way to spend a Saturday. I had never been before, but I did shoot a few time and was proud of myself for actually hitting the target! When we got back, we played cards some more then had homemade enchiladas for dinner. They were so good, I ate 4! Then we played cards some more. Then we took a golf cart ride to a local ice cream shop. Payton had her first taste of ice cream, and she was so funny. She was begging for more. When we got back from the ice cream shop, we lit a few sparklers and some roman candles. It was a lot of fun. Then it was bedtime for the girls, and we played Uno until it was time for us to go to bed.

      Today we headed home, and Rylee is already asking to go back. She has told me multiple times that "Uncle Phil said I can come back soon!"I am glad she had such a good time. I had an amazing time celebrating the 4th with my family last weekend and with Ryan's family in Georgia. It has been crazy with all the traveling we've been doing, but it has been fun. I am beyond exhausted now, and I have a (hopeful) feeling the girls will sleep well tonight, too.