Yucky Target?

Last night we were playing outside before bed and Carissa was backing out of the driveway to run some errands. Rylynn asked her where she was going and she told her that she was going to Target. Then Rylynn turned to me and said,

"Mommy is she going to the yucky Target?"

I was a little confused and asked her which one was the yucky Target. She tried to describe it to me and then I realized she was talking about Walmart. I asked her if it was the place we went the other day and mentioned some of the things we bought there and she said,

"yeah that's the yucky Target!"

I had to laugh out loud. She is only four and already she thinks she is too good for Walmart. She's a Target girl through and through.

Now some sad news, Carter chipped his two front teeth last night on the sink during his nightly tooth brushing fit. It was very sad! Garrett and I were talking about it once he was asleep and we decided if we can keep that boy alive to the age of eight we will have done some thing right! He is such a sweet boy but such a risk taker. He is fearless and has no concept that he is fragile and could get hurt. I guess it is a boy thing, but he thinks he is invincible! Hopefully boy number two will be a little more cautious.

Follow the Leader

This is another preschool pic of Rylynn with her friends. This was an exciting week because they had animals in the classroom. You can't see them but there are crabs in that bucket. You'll notice she is spraying the bottle while everyone else watches on. She is such a leader, many times to a fault. She loves to be in charge. I was the same way when I was a little girl. Just another way she is a lot like her mom. I am thankful for preschool though because it has helped her learn to share and take turns a lot more. Carter appreciates this too:)

Fun with Nana and the Job search

Just to give the update to all who care, we found out a little over a month ago that the firm that Garrett has worked for over the past two years who we were sure would hire him, is not going to be able to due to the current economic situation. We were immediately thrown into a panic and the job search began at full speed. We have applied for jobs all over the west, and then last week during Garrett's spring break he flew out to WA state to interview and make contacts with some firms there. He focused his search on the Tri-Cities area. The trip went well, but we still know nothing for sure. We are just praying every second that something will work out and soon. The Lord has always delivered us and we have no doubt that he will again, but the waiting and not knowing is killing me.

On the plus side, my mom came out to help with the kids while Garrett was gone last week since I am pregnant and have lower amounts of energy and patience than usual. The kids were so excited to have Nana here that they didn't miss Daddy too much. We had a lot of fun.

Rylynn loved doing the baby pony dance show with Nana (it's from the my little pony movie) and playing with her new foam stuff she got for her birthday. It is the coolest stuff. It is like playdough, but it doesn't make a big mess and it never dries out.

The last day that Nana was here the kids were begging us to go swimming since they always associate Nana with swimming because she has a swimming pool. So we called around and found this really fun community rec center in Strongsville that had a kids pool with a big pirate ship and lots of slides. The kids loved it. The water was really warm and it was a zero entry pool which my kids love.

They also had a basketball hoop and water basketballs which Carter was obsessed with. He wanted Nana to lift him up to shoot the balls in the hoop the whole time. Then whenever he went down the slides he had to take the balls with him.

We had a tough time pulling the kids away from the pool but we bribed them with Wendy's on the way home so they finally agreed.


The other update that I have to post about is Carter's new big boy bed. We had talked for awhile about getting Carter out of his crib and into a bed, but we really didn't want to spend a ton of money on a new bed right before we move, so Garrett decided that he really wanted to make Carter a toddler bed. He bought all the wood and with help from our friend who can make anything they drew up the plans and put it together. Our friend also has every tool imaginable which made it much cheaper than it would have been. Thanks for all your help Bryan! The bed turned out so cute and Carter absolutely loves it! He always says, "Daddy make new bed!" The kids also loved "helping" Garrett put the rails on to complete the bed. Carter and Rylynn used their pretend tools and worked on it the whole time alongside Daddy. Carter loved to say, "Mama, we're fixing new bed!" Garrett did a great job! We are going to paint it white eventually, but he finished it just before he went out of town, so for now it is unfinished.

Four on the 4th!

Rylynn's golden birthday was this past Wednesday. We still can't believe that our baby is four years old. It seems like just yesterday when I was pregnant with her and we were so excited to meet our little baby girl for the first time. She is so grown up now and such a wonderful little leader in our family. She is a great big sister to Carter and she is already so in love with this new baby in mama's tummy. The true test of her love came this week also when we found out that we are having a boy! She cried for a minute but after we reassured her that it would still be a tiny baby that she could hold and kiss and put to sleep(she is most excited for this part for some reason), she was okay with it. She also thought it was really funny when we told her that Carter would have to learn to share his Thomas trains with the new baby boy.

Anyway, she had a great birthday this year. We started a new tradition, which is actually taken from my family, that the birthday boy or girl gets to pick any junk cereal they want for their birthday. She was really excited about this and she chose Cinnamon Toast Crunch. She had two bowls for breakfast the first day we got it. We also went to Red Robin on her birthday for her free hamburger dinner. Ben and Molly and Babo Reagan(that's what my kids call her)joined us too. We had a great time. Daddy also came home from school and surprised Rylynn with a very sweet birthday card and some of her favorite candy. She is a huge daddy's girl!

Then on Friday we had Rylynn's Pony Party with some of her friends from preschool and primary.

She has been talking about her pony party for three months now and was very excited for the big day. She came with me to the party store and picked out all the decorations for the party as well as the pony pinata.

I am by no means a cake decorator, but this year Rylynn begged for a Pony cake so I promised that I would try my best. I looked online but didn't love any of the ideas, so I came up with the idea of making a rainbow by cutting part of the top round cake and standing it up on it's side. I gave in and bought a piping kit for the frosting too which ended up being a lot of fun to use. I think it turned out really cute. Most importantly, Rylynn was thrilled about it.

We started out the party with a little pony lunch. We had magical fruit wands with pink pony fruit dip and butterfly and flower PBJ's.

We also had cupcakes for a pass the pony game that we played.

It is basically a cake walk without the walking. The girls sat in a circle and passed the pony while the music played then whoever ended up with it when the music stopped got to choose a cupcake. This game was a big hit.

However, I think the highlight of the day was the pony pinata.

All the kids got to take a turn and then Rylynn's friend Meghan gave the crushing blow to send the candy flying. They all scrambled to get the loot.

Clearly this was Carter's favorite part of the party! Notice that he is eating two suckers and a chocolate at the same time.

Rylynn's friends gave her wonderful presents.

I loved how the girls all helped with the unwrapping and were so excited for the birthday girl to open their present.

After the Pinata we had cake and ice cream. Rylynn was so excited to blow out her candles this year as you can tell in the video.

After cake and ice cream we had a little dance party with balloons while we waited for the parents to come. Rylynn was so excited to play with her presents after her friends left. She was entertained all day with them. She was also full of energy thanks to the huge amounts of sugar she had eaten!

Some things I want to remember about Rylynn at this age are that she changes her clothes 10+ times a day, she still says "bemember" instead of "remember" and "of" instead of "if". She also tells me almost everyday that she doesn't want to grow big, she wants to stay little forever! She is 35 pounds and 3 feet 5 inches tall. She loves playing house and princess and she loves being with her family. She also loves painting, coloring, and she can now write her name by herself. She loves wearing dresses most of all and would wear summer clothes everyday if I would let her. She sings most of the day, some real songs, some she's made up. She also love being in primary. She has such amazing faith and she always reminds me that I should pray if I lose something. I also have to share a story that just melts my heart: About a month ago I noticed that it had gotten quiet in Rylynn's room while she was playing by herself so I peeked in to see what was up. I saw her kneeling down in her room saying a prayer. When she heard me come in she looked up kind of embarrassed and said, "I was just saying a prayer and asking Heavenly Father when Jesus is going to come back to the earth because I want to see Him again." I told her that I wanted to see Him again too and that she would see him again someday. I will always remember how pure and perfect her faith is at this age. She is such a good example to me. We love our little Rylynnies, munchie, baby deer, Ms. Munch, Rylynners, Ya Ya (Carter's name for her)! Happy Birthday darling girl!