It's like waiting for Christmas...

Last Friday, I had pictures done of my kids. Pictures turns me into a crazy person! Coordinating everything and finding just the right clothes and then I decided to make some hair accessories, which took more time than I planned and turned my house into a disaster zone and having hair and everything perfect...it is stressful stuff! Luckily, I use the most FABULOUS photographer and I really shouldn't worry about any of it. She always has everything and does such a great job. But, I do anyway...

This session went really well! No tears and the kids cooperated and smiled and seemed to do great. The only bad part was I got my van stuck in her driveway when I left....and had to be pulled out by a tractor! Yep...its true! She does live in Idaho...

Well...there is one more bad part... WAITING!!! I hate waiting to see the pictures! It is like Christmas the day that the CD arrives with all their pictures. I check the mailbox like a crazy person!

But, I did get a couple early presents.... 2 little sneak peeks and I am IN lOve!!!

Aren't they gorgeous??? I don't know if that makes it better or worse! Now, I am dying to see the rest!!!!

FOUR years ago...

Yesterday (March 29), at exactly 7:39 am, I snuck into my room and took a picture of my Rylee....
There is not much sweeter than a sleeping child! I know every mom says this, but I can not believe that EXACTLY 4 years ago, at 7:39 my Rylee looked like this...
My sweet brand new baby!!! Time goes way too fast! My Rylee is growing up!
I was trying to find a really cute recent picture of Rylee, but most of my really recent pictures of her are not the best.... So, just for fun, here are the FOUR most recent pictures of her on my camera - totally random, but oh, so Rylee!
Dancing and spinning with her friends Libby and Shelby on our visit to Boise last weekend
Wearing 3 different dressup dresses - She loves to make a fashion statement!
This is an outfit that she put together herself and told me she was Queen Amadala....not sure where that came from, but I love it! She has such the imagination! I love the too small dress from the dressups, the Ariel wig for her Build-a-Bear and the random gun of Logan's.
Ice Skating

At our house, birthdays are a pretty big deal. We have celebrated like crazy the past 2 days! I have so much stuff to post, but it will have to wait for a bit. Here are just a few highlights.... I think our Princess Rylee had pretty much the perfect day!
It started with a NEW birthday dress (she loves clothes!!!) and watching some Dora while mom got ready. A Birthday episode even! And she didn't even have to do her chores first! (No chores on your birthday...)
Then, we went and got her FAVORITE breakfast with some of her FAVORITE people! She adores Gracie and Jill and the twins and were so happy they could come to Village Inn (oh...and me and Logan and Avery, too) for chocolate chip pancakes - her favorite breakfast.
Then, she got her nails done at a REAL nail place and they even painted a flower on for her! It was just her and Mom. She LOVED it!
She shares a birthday with one of her BEST friends, Madi, so she went to her party next. It was a Tangled theme and Ry and so much fun with Madi and Allie!
And then opening presents - She LOVED that and was so excited when she saw them when she came home from the party!
Then, she picked a place to eat at for dinner. She loves to eat out and she picked Texas Roadhouse just so she could sit in the birthday saddle! She was loving it!
And then it was time for a little cake and ice cream...
She got her cake and got to eat it, too! It was such a fun and special day!
And she even got to stay up a little late... Her and Logan were playing away so cute I didn't have the heart to make them stop and go to bed! I have no idea how you combine the worlds of Star Wars and Strawberry Shortcake, but they did and were having so much fun! I LOVE it when that happens!

And today, she had a fabulous party with her little friends and loved that, too (that post will be coming someday...) and we still have one more party to go!

It really makes me both happy and sad on my kids' birthdays! I love all the celebrating that goes along with it, but I hate how fast they grow up! Especially my Rylee - She seems like she is already going on 16. She loves clothes and seems to already notice boys and talk about getting married and all those things that I think should be reserved until at least the age of 13! I love how much she is growing and learning, but it is still hard to let go of those baby stages, at least for me. Soon, she will be off to preschool (if she can be potty trained by then....) and that just seems crazy to me!

I will be doing a big post about Ry at 4 and all her favorites and things about her later, but right now I am exhausted from all our partying. For now, here are FOUR totally random things I LOVE about my Rylee.

1 - At bedtime lately, she has been asking me to sing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer or the Pickle song from Little Rascals (I've got 2 pickles, I've got 2 pickles...) I love it! And I love the little "Blu-ra-lu-ra-lu" that she adds as I sing her Good Night Sweetheart every night!

2 - All around the house, I will find things carefully placed into little lines, and I will know that Rylee has been there. She is not really a neat person...her room is always a mess! But, she loves to have things grouped and placed into a line. It is so funny - She is always lining up everything!

3- Rylee has the BEST imagination! I love listening to the stories she makes up as she reads and to all the fun things she plays with Logan - Princesses and Knights, House, Camping, Disneyland, Star Wars, Little Rascals, School, or sometimes a really funny combination of things.

4 - Ry gives the BEST hugs! She loves people and is always talking about her friends and even if they aren't here, she will pretend they are. She is so social and notices so much about people. And she never wants anyone to be sad or disappointed. If you want something from Rylee, you just pretend to cry, and she can't resist, she will do whatever it takes to make it all better. I love that about her!

I could go on and on...but I'll save it for another post...

Happy Birthday Rylee! We LOVE our little Princess!!!

Avery at 17 Months

Here is the latest update on Avery... (Jan 26 - Feb 25)

Jan 28 - At the park in St George visiting Grandma and Grandpa Webber. I think this was the first time that she has been big enough to play on the playground on her own and she was loving it! She had such a great time climbing and going down the slide and she loved the swing, too.

She is so darn cute!

Loving the swing

Jan 29 - Sporting some of her first real pig tails, although I didn't really get a good picture of them. She is looking so grown up!

Grandma and Grandpa took us to a place called Jumpin' Jacks and Avery LOVED it!

She got tired of the little jumpers pretty quickly and wanted to go down the HUGE slides with Daddy and the big kids. Daddy even decided to send her down the huge slide all by herself and she just laughed and laughed. It scared mom to death! There are no pictures, only video, but she was LOVING it! She was so happy and had so much fun!

Going down the slide with daddy

Taking a swim at Grandma and Grandpa's pool. She was so tired after all that playing that she took a long, late nap and we had to wake her up to swim, so she wasn't too sure about it at first, but by the end she was splashing and having fun and even jumping from the side.

Jan 30 - All dressed up for church in her new outfit!

Jan 30 - Avery having her first taste of In-N-Out Burger. She ate almost the whole thing all on her own! I think she liked it!

Driving with Avery is usually a little rough. She is not really a fan of the car! She slept most of the way home, but then we had to stop for gas and she was getting pretty cranky. We bought her a sucker at the gas station and she was SO happy! She was a sticky mess and kept putting it in her hair and on her feet and got it everywhere, but there were no tears, so it was a good drive for all of us!

Looking sticky after having the sucker for a little while...

Feb 4 - I just love this baby and her cute CHEESE!

We had a Toy Story movie night and Avery LOVED this green licorice. It turned into another lovely, sticky mess!

Feb 5 - Avery inherited Rylee's old cheer outfit to wear to the games. She looks so cute! She is getting way into the games now and loves to clap and cheer. She is learning parts of the fight song and Scotsman and likes to do the actions. They also play a little song before tip off where they say "u"...."s"... "u"... "Utah State Aggies!" and she will sing the tune and everything. She pumps her little fist in the air and tries to get out "Go Aggies" or "Utah State Aggies", but it just comes out "uuu...Aa-ies" It is so funny!

Feb 8 - Talk about a Bad hairday! This is how Avery wakes up most mornings! She has some crazy hair!

Feb 8 - Lately, Avery has some of the funniest faces ever and loves to make them and will even do them on cue! I love it! First, is just her cute smile or CHEESE!

Then, there is this funny, surprised face...

My fav though is the pouty face, complete with folded arms! Where does she learn this stuff??? I should probably be much more worried, but it makes me laugh! At least for now.

Feb 11 - Avery is my candy baby! She can find it just about any where and if she sees it, she wants it and won't forget about it. This day, she busted into my purse and found my stash and I found her like this! She had several in her cheeks and a few in each hand and was trying to make a get away before I found her...the little stinker!

Feb 12 - Our good friends, the Barkers, came into town for an Aggie game and we went to dinner. Their little girl is also Avery and they are only a few months apart! The 2 little Avery's looked so cute in their high chairs and all their Aggie gear!

Doing her Aggie cheer! I love the serious face she gets and the somewhat deep voice she uses to cheer on the Aggies!

Feb 13 - Avery enjoying her salad at our fancy Valentine dinner - It doesn't look too fancy with her clothes off, but I have to do that or she ruins all her clothes! She loves her some tomatoes! I love this Valentine!!! For dessert, we had Fondue and Avery loved it! (Once again, had to strip her down to save the clothes from the chocolate...) She especially liked the marshmallows!

Feb 14 - On Valentine's I got up to make breakfast and little Avery got out the paper plates and set them all out on the table all by herself! I couldn't believe it! She was so proud of herself!

MMMmmm...Chocolate chip pancakes! And if you look closely, you will see a little bling on her lip. It is NOT pierced! She got into some bling stickers that morning and that one just stuck really well and I didn't notice it until later...

Looking in her Valentine bucket! She was SO pleased with her candy!

Trying to hide the candy from mom and dad! She didn't want ANY taken away or to even let us help her open it!

She didn't care what else was in her basket...she went straight for the chocolate! Tin foil wrapper and all...

I don't know why, but I just think this picture is funny...

We heart attacked the kids' rooms so when they woke up on Valentine's morning they had a little surprise.

So happy with her sucker...Like I said...she LOVES candy!

Avery eating her heart shaped PB&J. I think she must REALLY like it!!!

PB&J face....

We also made some Valentine's cookies with some friends. I wish I could take credit for this awesome picture, but it was not me! My friend, Stephanie took it. Thanks! It is so great!!!

After we were done making cookies, we went upstairs and watched the kids play and chatted for awhile. After a little bit, I noticed Avery wasn't in Rylee's room where she had been a little earlier, so I checked downstairs and she was going to town on all the frosting and candy left on the table!!! She was so happy and shoved in as much as she could before I got to her.

Avery in her Valentine's outfit

There is the pouty face again...

Feb 15 - Avery loves to get into the kids' craft stuff and seems to like markers best! She eats them all the time, which is so gross! And when I say EATS them, I really mean it! She bites all the tips off and makes such a mess!!!

Her little blue hands

Feb 16 - Lately, Avery loves purses or anything that resembles a purse. She loves to fill them up and put them over her stroller and walk around with them. It is a little scary that we are starting this so early... She is just like Rylee was about them!

Feb 17 - Enjoying a snow day! I love how cute she is all bundled up!

Looking at her daddy...I love this picture!

She was so excited to go out and kept standing by the window and saying "snow" but once we got out there, she wasn't so sure. She didn't really like being cold and wet. Daddy did take her for a ride in the sled and when he turned the corner, she tipped right out and her poor little face was covered in snow! It was so sad, but also a tiny bit funny! And as soon as he cleaned her face off, she started saying "mo, mo" and doing the sign for more! So, he had her lay down this time and they ran around with the sled for awhile. She is a little daredevil and loves to do crazy things!

Feb 19 - Avery at Hardware Ranch. I love this picture, but she is looking way too grown up!

She had fun at the visitors center making prints in the sand

She really liked the wagon ride, too. I'm not sure she knew what to think about all the elk, but she sat really still for the most part and had a good time. It snowed for a little bit and she didn't like the snow in her eyes, but other than that, she was so happy!

Feb 20 - Avery in Logan's Yoda costume from halloween! How cute is she??? Her brother and sister love to dress her up!

Feb 21 - We made S'mores for family home evening. Avery LOVED them!

Feb 25 - We went with some friends to a USU Gymnastics Meet. Avery had a good time! She loves to have her own seat at these kind of things, even though she spends most of the time on her lap. She loved being out with the big girls and clapping for the gymnasts and she did pretty good for most of the meet, thanks to mom's bag of suckers!

After, we went for ice cream! That is one happy baby!!!

I didn't get around to finishing this post until Avery was actually 18 months, so I'm having a hard time remembering things, but here are a few more things about Avery at 17 months....

She has started doing the sign for Thank You. She will say something that sounds like Thank You, too...(Uh Ooo) It is so cute though because she has kind of confused it for blowing a kiss so she does both at the same time and I love it!

Sometimes lately Avery will point at me and make a sound like she is shooting a gun! It is hilarious! She has started to make a lot of sound effects when she plays, especially with cars or if she is shooting a gun (which should baby girls be doing that???) and she also likes to make animals noises.

Avery seems to be causing a lot of trouble lately - She is into everything and makes lots of messes and little disasters! She LOVES to color on anything she can find and the other day, just about every wall in my house had some kind of marking on it. From all her messes and mischief, she has learned that she is TROUBLE! If you ask her, "Are you trouble?" she will nod YES very enthusiastically!

Avery is my little sweet tooth! She loves candy and if happens to see some, she will HAVE to have it! She freaks out if she doesn't! She has also learned to push the chairs from the table to the counter and will climb up and find whatever she can. She is a little daredevil and isn't really scared of anything! She can climb just about anything and will jump from whatever! It is a little scary with her sometimes!

She has started to do so good about saying her prayers! She folds her arms and bows her head so good and even squeezes her eyes shut for just a second! I love it! It is so sweet! She can even say the word "paers" and at the end of the prayer she says "Mah" for amen.

She is getting very good at identifying her body parts - she can find her eyes, ears, nose, (which she likes to say Beep-Beep for), teeth, mouth, hands, fingers, toes, feet, head, hair and belly button.

She has the killer pouty face with folded arms anytime she doesn't get what she wants or doesn't want to do something! It is a little funny, but probably shouldn't be.

She LOVES the phone and always wants a turn to talk on it when I have it. When she does get it, she doesn't say anything though. She usually calls the phone a "ello" (Hello). She always holds the phone and then cocks her head to the side. I think it is really funny. She loves to hear someone on the other end, but she doesn't say much back, but she really doesn't want to give it back to me.

She has started to do this funny thing where she covers her mouth when she is laughing. It sounds like a super fake laugh and then she uses both hands to cover up her mouth like whatever she is laughing at is SO funny! She also covers up her eyes when she is crying (or mostly fake crying...) I think we may have a little drama queen on our hands!

Here are some of her latest new words - bow, aggies (Aa-ies), fries (Rys), grandma (A-ma), grandpa (pa), duck (uck), dog (da), quack, purse. Her latest favorite animal sounds are barking like a dog (Ar, Ar), quacking like a duck (uack) and her favorite is the monkey sound! She makes the sign and then screams a little and says "oo oo oo" It is so funny!

She is getting a little bit more warmed up to people! She loves her Grandpa Boman, who she calls Pa. She has stayed at their house a couple times lately and she thinks he is so funny! He is very animated when he plays with the kids, and she loves it! The other day, he was coming to visit and I mentioned it to her before I put her to sleep and then she would NOT take a nap! She just kept saying "pa" over and over again. It was really cute!!!

Avery has always given great kisses! They are usually the open mouthed, very slobbery kind, but they are great! Lately, she has started to give good loves and hugs, too. She gives such tight squeezes and will put her head right on your shoulder for awhile after to cuddle. She can be so sweet!

She is learning her own name and will point to herself if she hears her name or sees a picture of her that is recent. Her baby pictures she just says "baby" She is trying really hard to say her own name. I think it must be a hard one because she can say a lot of words but that one seems to be really hard for her. She says something like "ve-ry" She is working on it!

Lately, Avery has had some funny little sleep habits! She is very much into her night time routine and we have to go through all the steps. She will Nurse, Brush Teeth, Read scriptures, then a story and then she likes to be wrapped just so. She has to have her baby tucked under one arm and her sippy cup in the other. She likes to be swaddled, but with her arms out. Then, we sing a song and put her in a crib. While I am singing, she likes me to put her face right next to hers. Some nights she pulls the funniest face with her mouth wide open like a big surprise. Some nights she will give me a big kiss at the end of her song without me even expecting it. She will usually say "MWAH" a few times after you lay her down, which I love. A lot of times she will also squeeze her eyes shut and pretend that she is asleep, even though she is not, while you are singing to her. She will usually go right down after that. Sometimes she cries for just a minute (Nap time does not usually go so well for some reason.)

If she wakes up in the night or when she wakes up in the morning and I go in to get her, she has to gather all her items before I can pick her up. Her baby, her blankie and usually her sip (ee,ee for drink, drink) I think it is really funny that she NEVER stands up in her crib, even when she is really mad and being the climber that she is, she has never tried to climb out. Her crib is still on one of the higher settings because she never has even tried. As soon as I pick her up, she will start doing the sign for milk and saying "ma, ma". She will usually nurse and go right back down for a little bit longer. If it is the middle of the night, she will usually stay in our bed. I recently discovered that once she nurses, she will lay down on the floor on a pillow and sleep there. It is pretty funny! She just cuddles up with her bum in the air on her pillow with all her stuff and goes right to sleep! If she sleeps by me, she does not like any blankets on her and will kick them all off so her legs aren't under any.

And yes...she is still nursing! I don't really know how to get her to stop! I have never had one go this long... Any suggestions???