March is always a bit crazy at our house because we just recover from Valentine's Day and then it is time for Rylynn's birthday and then it's right onto St. Patrick's Day! This year we had an added craziness thrown in when we all got sick for weeks at a time and it seemed like we all staggered our getting sick about a week apart so we were pretty much sick from the end of February through the end of March. I seriously began to feel inactive at church because every week at least one of us was missing.
Since we were pretty much house bound for a while we decided to venture out and redeem Rylynn's free red robin birthday burger. She was very excited for her birthday sundae.
Then on Sunday which was her actual birthday, we had a family party to celebrate. She got lots of birthday cards from Nana and Papa, Grandma Allred, Molly and Ben, Danielle and Jordan, Grandma and Granny and Grandpa! They all had money in them too so she was really spoiled!!
Every card she opened she got more and more excited as she counted up her loot.
Then she got some presents from us. She was very excited to get Barbie in a Mermaid Tale which is one of her favorite movies at the moment.
She requested chocolate cake with lots of frosting and raspberries, so that is exactly what she got!
Carter got a hold of the camera and had to document that his mother was going crazy:)
The next weekend we had a fun friend jammie party!
Rylynn requested pizza, and a movie night. The kids watched spy kids 3 with popcorn and lots of candy!
The pizza was a hit as well.
Rylynn's friends spoiled her rotten and she got lots of great presents. Carter was very helpful with opening:)
Of course we had to have a peace sign birthday cake for our peace sign girl!
Rylynn has become obsessed with peace signs this year. She has tons of peace sign shirts and her awesome teacher, Mrs. Landrus, nicknamed her peace girl.
She told me very specifically what to write on the cake:) I can't believe that my first baby is 7. Honestly I think this birthday was a really big deal to me because I realized this is the year my baby will get baptized! We got here way too fast and I guess it just made me realize that she is really growing up. She is going to be accountable in a year and she is preparing for that special day so well. Rylynn is full of energy and opinions, but she is also our sweet, peace making girl. She is such a good example to her brothers and you can tell because they both adore her. She is so helpful to me and she has such a strong little testimony of her Savior. She says the sweetest prayers and has had many experiences with the spirit already that has strengthened her faith. I am so thankful Heavenly Father blessed me with a daughter first to set such a wonderful tone for our little family. Rylynn's favorite colors change pretty much daily at this point but they usually include pink, black, and green. She is very tall and people always mistake her for being a year older than she is. She loves to read and at her PTC recently, her teacher told us that she is at a mid second grade reading level. She loves her teacher Mrs. Landrus and loves her bestest friend Megs. She also still loves art and painting and drawing and singing. We love you Rylynn!!
Also in March Carter started Tae Kwon Do which he loves! He is very good at it too and it is a great outlet for all his Kung Fu Panda moves he tries to use on his little brother:)
St. Patrick's Day consisted of fun school parties, leprachauns sneaking into the kitchen and turning our pancakes green, and the traditional Corned beef and Cabbage for dinner. It was a fun day.
Carter got to bring home Mommy Kim and Tiny Tim from Pre-K and loved having them for the weekend! He loved it when Rylynn got to bring them home a couple years ago and has been excited ever since for his own chance to bring them home. He took great care of them and even shared them with his little brother who really liked Tiny Tim.
Carter's pre-K class took a field trip to the library and ever since he has been asking for his own library card. So a couple weeks ago I took the kids and Rylynn and Carter each got their own card. We checked out just a few books too:) I loved seeing my kids so excited and engaged with a table full of books.
Rylynn started piano lessons in February and is doing great. There are days that she loves it and days that she hates it:) I have to admit that practicing with her reminds me so much of the days that I practiced with my Mom and I finally understand yet again how patient and amazing my Mother was and is. Oh man, I struggle with teaching Rylynn sometimes! We are so similar and we just butt heads sometimes but overall it has been really neat for me to be able to share this with my daughter. She is so much like I was growing up and is so hard on herself and such a perfectionist which is bad because she gives up and gets frustrated if she can't do everything perfectly the first time. We are working on it each day and she is getting more and more comfortable with doing her best and it is so exciting to see her happiness when she works hard and finally masters a song and actually enjoys playing it!
Last but not least, this little man has changed so much the last couple of months. He talks constantly and is so good at expressing everything he is feeling. Just a few weeks ago we used to have to tell him each word of his prayers and then one day he said, "Beckett do it!" He then started saying the world's longest prayers all on his own. It was so funny because he would just go on and on..."thank you for my family, and thank you I can not scream, and not hit, and not say shut your mouth, and for my cars, and for my rocket jammies..." He sadly has started growing out of saying Mama after everything he said like can I take a bath mama? You want to read a book Mama? I want some cereal mama. It's snowing mama. I miss that! The other day I was speaking sternly to him about not screaming and he looked at me so sad and said, "you don't talk to your Beckett that way Mama!" Oh man this kid is such a heart breaker. He loves to count now and can get up to 15 and he knows almost all his colors. Yellow seems to throw him off but other than that he knows them all. Some of my favorite Beckett sayings lately are, 'I got a bleeding owie!" and "I'm really so sorry." And the best change of all is that he has finally become an equal to his big brother and sister in that he is no longer a picky eater!! He loves asparagus, brussel sprouts, green beans, and tomatoes. He even likes my stone ground whole mustard:) I am so happy he has finally gotten over his reflux/picky issues! Garrett and I always laugh about the fact that he can be such a pill but he is so cute the next second that we can't ever be mad at him. I wonder if that will change a little when the new baby comes along. Hmm. We have the big ultra sound in two weeks! We are all very excited to find out if it is a girl or a boy!
