Happy Dada Day!

This Father's Day was wonderful!!!  I was a little afraid of being in a bad mood today.  I was up real late finishing things up with the kids for Josh's father's day gift from them.  When I woke up I was feeling like I still needed a couple hours sleep.  I wasn't really greeting my day with the happiness and thankfulness I should have.  When I  made coffee for Josh this morning I forgot to put the thingy back in the top that you put the coffee filter in and minutes later there was coffee all over the counter.   So while I was looking at the coffee puddle on our counter Houser (our dog) was whining at the door to go do his business outside.  In my head I was thinking emmmmm I want to be sleeping right now, and then Josh who had just woken up came into the kitchen.  I thought in my head, oh no!  I wanted to have his coffee made (and now cleaned up), and Houser taken out all before he woke up.  As usual though, Josh pitched in to help and took Houser out which is normally their routine anyway.  I cleaned up the coffee, added some more coffee and water to make it again and was feeling a little guilty.  Josh came in so happy the coffee was made.  One of the most amazing things about Josh is that he's always willing to pitch in and help.  He's never hesitated about changing diapers, calming Rylee down, playing with her when I needed to get some stuff done, and doing basically anything else that Rylee could ever need.  I feel that she's mostly my responsibility, I am blessed to be able to stay at home with her while Josh works for our family.  Every now and then though, you need a minute, or sometimes just a shower.  It's not always for those chaotic times though, most of the times it's just him playing with Rylee which gives me some extra time of my own.   Everyone has different views of what the husband/wife roles should be, some may agree, some may disagree with me.  All I know is that it means a lot to me to have that extra help, to know we are on the same team, working towards the same goal even if it's something as simple as getting dinner cooked while Josh and Ry read books.  There is a huge difference between offering help to someone and seeing that someone could use some help and just pitching right in to do it without saying a word or being asked.  Josh is definitely someone that pitches in.   I can't even begin to put into words how amazing Josh is as a husband and a father.  He is our rock.

So for Father's Day this year the kids and I all snuck out and I took some pictures of the three of them.  I think they turned out really, really cute!  3 amazing blessing that are in my life because of my husband!

Illinois

We finally made our way to Illinois to visit family and friends.  We had perfect weather and an amazing time.  My mom spent as much time as she could in a 24 hour period loving on Rylee, and Rylee loved every minute of it!  We took Ry to the park, the same park I grew up playing at.  How cool is it that!  I know have pictures of the both of us around the same age playing at that park, though the equipment has been upgraded some.

Grandma also made sure Rylee had lots of fun stuff to keep her busy.  So she got to vacuum, blow bubbles, color with chalk, push her lawnmower & wheelbarrow, and ride a new bike.  Did I miss something, was it all of a sudden December 25th???  Nope, it was in the 70's, that could never happen in Illinois in December.  One of Rylee's favorite things was the baby birds.  There was a bird's nest in my mom's fence that had 3 baby birds in it. Rylee was completly fascinated with them.  Everytime we were outside or looking out the kitchen window she would say "baby boo baby boo" and we'd have to go check on them.  The little ones flew away by the time we left.  Just another reminder how babies grow so quickly!  Besides missing family and friends I miss certain food from back home.  One thing I miss is the smiley face cookies from Riverside Bakery.  My mom suprised me with them and Rylee got to have  her first smiley face cookie.  She LOVED it of course!  Another fun thing we got to do was hang out with Kelly and Zoey.  We had the cutest little play/lunch date.  They are so adorable, the pictures of them just make me smile!  The girls were a little shy at first but then started having fun.  We also went over to Kristen & Nick's and got to play in the sprinkler and she got to go down a slide so woohoo!  Then my 3 friends with our 4 kids decided we would get some pictures taken of all the kids and us.  It was quite an experience trying to keep the little one's content during all that.  Luckily Shari's son Kai is amazing and kept all the little one's pretty happy.  I was a little nervous about the pictures considering it was kinda crazy but they turned out amazing.  I am currently in the process of trying to pick and will post them probably a month or so after getting them knowing how I am.  So we were real real busy.  It was just so great spending time with my parents and having them be able to spend some quality time with Rylee.  And of course it was so great to see my girls again and their kids, I need to talk them into coming down here to visit soon! 

Grandma & Ry looking at pictures.

Ry & Zo giving each other BIG hugs

My dad, me, & Ry :)

Ry after eating her smiley face cooking, waiting for more!

SLIDE!

Baby Boo

May so far

May has been another busy feeling month.  I had an excellent Mother's Day.  I wasn't sure how enjoyable the day would be.   Rylee had a stuffy nose and didn't sleep well the night before, I woke up with a sore throat.  Luckily enough after a few hours of being up both of the problems seemed to go away.  Josh of course knew how to save the day, we decided to go to the Botanical Gardens in Birmingham.  It is one of my very favorite spots in Birmingham.  Josh and I use to go there a few time every week after I got home from work.  We haven't been there in a really long time, I believe since Rylee was born.  That part of it was kinda exciting, I have so many memories of us going there having so much fun and having such great conversations while we walked and now here we are almost two years down the road getting to share it with our little girl.  Besides getting to go there, I also got a beautiful hand made card from Ry that is still hanging up on our fridge.  She is so proud of her pictures.  And I got flowers, but not just flowers in a vase, flowers to finally plant in my garden!  Some of them are beginning to bloom now and they are soooo pretty, orange, purple, and bright pink.
Earlier this month my friend Beth and her son Andrew (he is a few months older than Ry) came over for a few hours and they had so much fun playing in the sand and water table.  They were so fun to watch and it was so wonderful just being able to have some girl talk during that time.  The day after that we met some more friends at the park.  Rylee had so much fun going down the slide, we did it again, and again, and again.  Then we went on a short walk by the lake with all the kids.  Some riding bikes, one scooting on a scooter and some relaxing in their strollers.  And once again, for me, it was great having the opportunity to talk with others. 
What else, what else, what else... the farmers market is now open and we've been going up there every weekend so far.  Sometimes Andrew is even there which makes Rylee very happy.  We've been buying lots of yummy strawberries, radishes, lettuce, and even some goat cheese.  This weekend was the Strawberry Festival so Rylee and me checked it out (daddy didn't get in town till that night) for a little bit but we quickly decided it was too hot, humid, and crowded.  On our way back to the car we decided to buy some new shoes.  Rylee wears a 6 1/2 wide.  She has such a big foot and has outgrown so many shoes, so much quicker than I thought she would.
So these days Rylee is getting more and more talkative.  It really never stops unless she is sitting looking at her books and gets in her zone.  A typical conversation is:
"Mama, look, look"  me "What is it Ry" ry "quack quack quack" me "oh, a duck, look a brown duck" ry "yeah duck".  She also is constantly talking about all the people in her life.  Out of nowhere she just starts going over every one's names.  It's funny to see how she groups things.  She was talking about Gocca, then Robbie, then baby Taytay, then Pop, and from Pop she said lawnmower.  Pop brought over a riding lawnmower last week.  Then dada, b/c dada is the one who rides the lawnmower and then started making lawnmowerish noises.  Ry is also a big fan of singing and will start singing parts of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star which is one of the cutest things in the world, and some of Going On A Bear Hunt.  We are also working on her learning the names of shapes.  She can identify a square, circle, rectangle, triangle, diamond, heart, and star.  Though there names are a little hard to pronounce.  Especially rectangle.  It's so funny how much changes, when they are little you just wait for them to be able to master new physical things; reaching, rolling over, clapping, sitting, crawling, walking, running.  Now it seems like everything has switched.  Now milestones really don't have too much to do with physical things anymore.
And last but not least we get to go to Illinois.  I am sooooooooo very excited to get to see my parents and friends.  It is LONG overdue.  Hopefully, we will have good weather.  May can still be iffy there unlike here.  I can't wait to see how my friend's kids have grown and now that Rylee is old enough she can actually play with them.  It's going to be so wonderful and I will be taking lots of pictures so stay tuned.

Mother's Day and some random pics...

Welcome Baby Jonah Levi!!!

Congratulations Matthew and Naomi, Welcome baby Jonah!

Another miracle in the world!

We can't wait to see more pictures and hear more about him.

Happy Birthday Haven

Today is Haven's 12th Birthday.  I think Josh may still be in shock that she is 12.  We just wanted to wish Miss Haven a VERY VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY.  Hopefully we can see her kick some butt in her softball tournament tomorrow.  Though on the news right now they are calling for thunderstorms and tornado's so we will just hope for the best! 

Spring is here!

So April has already been a very busy month so far! There is so much going on in April.  Easter, Kelly and Zoey's Birthdays *Happy Birthday Kel!*, Haven's Birthday, and Kim's birthday plus our anniversary is this month.  Rylee is now 20 months old, getting closer and closer to being 2. I still can't believe it except when I look at her I think you are toddler! You've grown so much. She continually amazes Josh and I. Her personality is wonderful. She dances, sings, and laughs constantly. Rylee has a pretty good vocabulary, she hasn't put words together yet really but has a long list of words she can now say. More and please are used the most. Her favorite songs this month are *Twinkle*Twinkle*Little*Star, and the bumblebee song. Her favorite show to watch is still Winnie the Pooh. Her favorite books this month is her Things That Go book, and If You Give A Moose A Muffin. Jim Gill still seems to be her favorite music though every time we are listening to bluegrass she starts dancing. Rylee also LOVES to play with babies now. She feeds them, puts them to bed, pats their backs, and tries her best to change their diapers. She's very caring. She can also be very shy. Rylee went to preschool for her first time at the end of March. It was just while I was at my MOPS group so it was only 2 hours long and in the same building I was in. The teacher said she did great, that she was very shy but colored and played well. I was nervous about bringing her (Josh was even more nervous) but as soon as we walked in the door she stopped paying attention to me and I went on my way. We had a wonderful Easter, beautiful beautiful weather. Haven and Jordan were here which she couldn't have been happier about. She loves them so very much and is just in awe of everything they do. They give her so much love and attention and she takes all she can get of it. We also got to go to the lake a couple times so far and enjoy some sunshine and family. Today we had another fun day. We went and met my friend Beth and her son Andrew and went to the park. They got to play for awhile and then we wound it down with a short walk through the wildflower trail. Which brings me to something else Rylee loves. Outside. We have gotten to spend a lot of time outside the past few weeks and hopefully like her mom and dad she will love being in the outdoors. She is a big fan of her bike, her sand and water table, her wagon, bubbles, and dandelions. I can't wait till it gets warm enough to take her swimming!

Rylee & Jordan

Haven & Ry

Trying to smell the flowers.

Easter Egg Hunt

Yum, jellybeans!

Ry and Sissy, and her present from them!

Yes, we wear beads in the bath.

We also wear our sunglasses inside.

Going on our afternoon walk.

Bubbles

O.k. not the best picture of the 3 of us

Rylee's first time in a boat. Papa thought she was experienced enough to help drive.

Rylee throwing rocks w/ dada.