Nana and Papa come to town!

A couple of weeks ago, Nana and Papa came to town to see the new house and the office.  It was such a fun visit!  We went to Chuck-E-Cheese, Coeur d'Alene, checked out Daddy's office, visited Rylynn's preschool and even celebrated St Patrick's Day!  Every year I make Corned beef and cabbage for St Patty's Day since that was what my mom did for me growing up.  So when they arrived on St Patty's Day it was fun to make corned beef and cabbage for my mom this time.  We loved driving around and showing Nana and Papa Liberty Lake and why we love living here.  We tried to subtly hint that this is a great place to live so that Nana and Papa might want to relocate here sometime soon:)  After a fun-filled few days, we headed to Seattle to meet up with Marianne and her kids Nathan and Aria.

Papa was an excellent babysitter in the back seat:)

The kids were so excited to get to hang out with their cousins for a couple of days.  And it was a miracle because it was nice and sunny weather for us in Seattle!

The first day we took the kids to the aquarium.  This was the cool floor to ceiling fish tank at the entrance of the aquarium.

This was a huge star fish the kids found in the wave tank.

The highlight for my kids were the big touch tanks where they got to touch starfish, anemones, and sea urchins.

The anemones felt so cool.  If you kept your finger on them for a few seconds they would grab onto you.

The tanks were so colorful!

As you can tell we spent a lot of time there.

We also got to see the feeding of the seals.  They were so huge.

Carter was liking the seals, but he loved the otters the best.

Beckett slept for most of the museum but when he woke up he was loving this bubble tank!

It had different colored lights shooting through it and he was completely mezmerized.  I love his face in this picture, it's like he's saying, "can't you see I'm busy enjoying these bubbles?"

We had a slightly terrifying moment while at the aquarium when we lost Rylynn for about 7 minutes.  I panicked and we were running all over the place trying to find her.  It is really hard trying to keep track of 5 kids!  Luckily she had just wandered ahead a little ways into a different room and we found her there sitting quietly looking at the fish.  Man I hate those moments as a mother!

We did a couple of other fun things in Seattle like eating fish and chips at Ivars and walking along the pier, but the kids kept begging to go back to the hotel so they could swim in the pool so we spent a lot of time there.  What is it about kids and hotels?  Rylynn seriously said on the drive home that her favorite part of the trip was the hotel and swimming in the pool.  It makes me wonder why we spent so much money on the other stuff when the pool was free.

On the way home we got to see some of our favorite people in the world!  The Poyfairs!  We got to stop in and see Adam's office and have lunch.  Then we went to my favorite place in the world...

I've been so deprived since moving to Spokane, but I tracked down the manager and asked him when they are coming to the Spokane area and he said within the year!!  That man made my day!  We also left with a trunk full of Trader Joe bags (sigh).  Rylynn was so excited to shop at TJ's too.  That's my girl!

She was a little more excited though to be hanging out with her friend Olivia again.

Carter and Jack had their moments of scratching and hitting at lunch, but at the end of the day they loved each other:)

What a cute group of kiddos!

I just love this girl!  Seriously what could be better?  Shopping at TJ's with Carissa!  It was like old times.  Now if I could only get her to come to Spokane with TJ's!

We passed some amazing country on the drive down and back.  This partially frozen lake was so beautiful.  The picture doesn't do it justice since we are driving on the freeway as I snap the picture in the car but you get the gist.

Pit stop on the side of the road with the kids.  They were such troopers.  We had soo much fun seeing family and friends that we love!  

Ladies Man

I just had to post this picture of my baby in his fancy Easter suit!  Thanks Aunt Danielle and Uncle Jordan!  And Nana for the cute shirt:)  What a handsome little man.

"I Knew This Day Would Come!!"

We just had a wonderful visit with Nana and Papa last week!  While they were visiting they brought Rylynn a very special birthday present; a music box.  Rylynn LOVES music boxes right now(thanks to Tinkerbell) and I mentioned to my Mom that it would be a really special present if she wanted to get her one for her birthday.  So being the wonderful Nana that she is, she found the perfect one!  The only problem was that it didn't get delivered to our house in time for us to open it together.  So instead, Nana and Papa printed out a picture of it and a little letter and told her it would come in the mail very soon.  Well Rylynn has been asking and praying (literally) about it coming everyday since she found out about it.  Well today all her dreams came true:)  So here's the play-by-play which I promised I would record for Nana and Papa.  Sorry about the lack of clothes, she was mid-dressing up when it arrived.

This is when she said, "I knew this day would come!!!"

"Oh, it's the most beautiful thing in the world!"

"I love it!"(Carter loved it too, a little too much for Rylynn's liking)

Listening to the beautiful music and watching the tiny dancer.  Look at that smile!

This is the close up for Nana

I don't think you could find a happier girl in the world.  Thank you Nana and Papa for making all her dreams come true!!

Rylynn's Garden Party!

We had Rylynn's friend birthday party on Saturday March 6th.

For her 5th birthday, Rylynn wanted to have a Garden Party!!  She loves spring and flowers and buggies, and butterflies, and rainbows, so we thought it would be appropriate.  In fact Rylynn draws us a picture (daily) of grass, flowers, a smiley sun, a rainbow and the cutest butterfly you've ever seen, so pretty much the party was inspired by her drawings.  Luckily we had AMAZING weather for her Garden Party so we got to play all our games outside.  I was happy it turned out to be so nice since Rylynn insisted that I write on the invitations that her friends needed to wear a spring or flower dress or shirt and shorts:)

We started out the party by painting little flower pots while the guests filed in.  This picture shows my first attempt at tissue paper flowers.  I really liked making them and by the end, got pretty good at them.  The balloon bouquets were a gift from a friend of mine in our last ward.  They were so awesome!!

After the kids were done painting their little pots we let them dry before planting some flower seeds in the pots.  I got this idea from my friend Ali in OH.  She did this at Emma's birthday party last year and Rylynn loved it!  Her friends all got really excited about it too.  

After the kids were done painting their pots they got to go and dance around and play with balloons while everyone finished painting.  I love how balloons can keep kids entertained for so long.  Seriously one bag is like a dollar and you would think you were giving these kids gold to play with.

When every one was finished we got to go outside for the outdoor games.  The favorite game was the "sprinting thistles" game.  I basically made this up from the Tinkerbell movie.  The kids were all little "seedlings" and had to stand against the fence on one end of the yard.  Then Garrett and Carter were the "Sprinting Thistles" and would try to catch the seedlings as they ran to the other side of the yard to get to the garden where I would plant them and they would be safe.  The kids LOVED this game and we played it over and over until there was only one seedling left.  Rylynn was the second to last seedling standing, so she kind of had a hard time when she lost.  She has the Monson gene of not liking to lose:(

Next came the pin the petal on the flower game.  The kids did great this year and actually kept the blind fold on...well at least most of them.

Here's the party gang.  Notice Carter and Seth(our neighbor friend) are the only boys!

Next came the flower pinata.  Soooo much less nerve racking outside!

Gathering the loot!

Rylynn got some great presents from her friends.  This one was a card making set with stamps and glitter and all sorts of art stuff.  It was from Izabella.  She loves it!

This was probably her favorite gift.  A sparkly, pink diary of her very own!!!  My little Munch LOVES notebooks and journals and diaries.  Really any little book she can draw in and write "very important lists" (as she calls them).  In fact she was just asking me the other day if she could please write in my journal.  I told her NO, but maybe we could get her one of her own.  So when she opened this present she was thrilled.  Thanks Ava!

Here is the cake which is basically a blown up picture of one of her little drawings.  It was so perfect.  She loved it!

Blowing out the big #5 candle!  Rylynn was very clear that she wanted vanilla cake and vanilla ice cream for her party!  Hmmm maybe she isn't exactly like me:)

My Faithful Girl

Today Rylynn was invited over for a playdate at a girl in our ward's house.  Since Carter and Rylynn are best friends, Carter just assumes that when Rylynn is invited for a playdate, he is too.  Luckily the friend didn't mind and let Carter stay for the play date as well as Rylynn.  They had a great time, but right before my friend was packing up the kids to drop them off, Carter had a collision with the screen door and got really scraped up.  He had tons of little scratches on his face and two bad gashes over his eye.

My friend was so worried when she dropped him off and felt sooo bad.  I reassured her that he was a toughy and he would be fine.  She said he really was tough and stopped crying pretty quickly.  So I took the kids inside and was looking at the cuts and cleaning the ones over his eye.(my friend had already cleaned them and bandaged them, but I am a freak and did it over again).  Anyway, while I was taking care of Carter and asking him about the whole situation Rylynn was standing right next to me and trying to comfort Carter.  Then she said, I know what to do to make him all better!"  Then she instantly fell to her knees on our cold, tile, kitchen floor and started saying a prayer asking Heavenly Father to help Carter's owie get all better.  It was so sweet and made me so happy to see that my daughter's first thought in a moment of sadness/fear/pain is to turn to her Heavenly Father in prayer.  This example is not unique.  She constantly does this and it never ceases to amaze me.  In fact, when we couldn't find her tooth on Saturday, right away, she said, "Let's say a prayer!"  She has such amazing faith.  If only we were all as humble and submissive and quick to turn towards our Father in our times of need as a little child.  Oh what a different world this would be.

Typical Munch

Rylynn's tooth has been loose for about a month and we have been talking about it falling out pretty much every day since.  She has been a little terrifed about the whole falling out part.  Today she was eating an apple by Garrett and the next thing I knew Rylynn was panicking and Garrett was asking if her tooth fell out.  He said she had gasped so he turned to look at her and saw that her little tooth was sticking straight out and he said, "Rylynn, I think your tooth is going to fall out!"  Then she started crying and so he asked if it had fallen out.  That's when I ran up the stairs with the camera and found this.....

My poor little Munchie is so much like me!  She was terrified and cried for awhile mostly because something changed.  The Munch and I are not so great with change.  The funniest thing about it was that we lost the tooth!!  Garrett and I were talking about how loose it was the other night and I was saying that I was worried she would swallow it in her sleep.  I pointed that out to him when we realized that she had actually swallowed it while awake! 

Trying to be brave and put on a happy face.   She was so worried that the tooth fairy wouldn't come since there was no tooth for evidence.  We reassured her that the tooth fairy would understand and we would leave her a note.  That put a smile on her face.  

So what happened (we think) is that she got scared and started crying when Garrett saw that her tooth was about to come out and she swallowed it with the bites of apple that were in her mouth.  Of course the first child to lose the first tooth and we have no tooth to show for it!

 Clearly the jury is still out on whether she is excited/happy or sad about this whole experience:)

Rylynn's 5th birthday and other exciting milestones

I have sooooo much to blog about and never seem to have time to blog, so this is going to be the first of several updates.  Last week was a VERY busy week at our house.  During the craziness of Rylynn's birthday party, her family and school parties, Kindergarten registration and crazy days week at preschool, Carter decided to get potty trained!!  Of course we are THRILLED and so proud of him, but it definitely added to the business of the week.  Another milestone that I will document quickly is that Rylynn has her first loose tooth!  This happened about a month ago (see I told you I was behind).

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It is one of her little front bottom teeth that she almost ripped out when she was 7 months old.  We figured these two would be the first to go due to the early trauma, but I honestly didn't believe her when she told me she had a loose tooth.  Then she wiggled it for us and we were amazed!  She's very excited about it.

Now onto the birthday.  I felt so bad, but due to the timing of Kindergarten registration and her birthday, Rylynn had to get 5 Kindergarten shots on the morning of her birthday!!  Nice present huh?  She was so brave.  I was so proud of her, but it was really sad cause she kind of limped the whole day of her birthday, and anytime we would get close to her legs, she would freak out and say, "careful of my shots!!"  Seriously that girl has skin and bones on her thighs so they basically nicked the bone with each shot.  Poor girl!  Anyway, her birthday was on Thursday and they had a little party at school for her.  At her preschool they do this thing for birthday where they light a candle in the middle of the circle-time rug (which represents the sun) and then the birthday child holds a globe and walks around the rug while the class sings a song about the earth going around the sun.  Then they have them stop after each rotation and tell stories about them from each year they have been alive.  

The kids love hearing funny stories about each child and they loved hearing all about Rylynn.  It was fun for me to think of the different stories from each year of her life.  Then the birthday child gets to choose a special treat for snack time.  Rylynn wanted me to make cinnamon rolls for her treat.  They were a big hit!

That is one happy birthday girl!

Rylynn and Izabella

Carter was so excited that he was invited to the preschool party too and was loving the cinnamon rolls if you can't tell:)  Rylynn's friends all thought Carter was a crack up at their little table!

After the special snack they got to have a little dancing time.  Rylynn was loving it!

This picture cracks me up.  I love the mid-air jump!  Hilarious!  Her birthday happened to fall on silly sock day at school so that is why she is wearing her crazy pokey socks (as she likes to call them).

After school, we had our little family party at Red Robin.  The kids love this tradition!  Rylynn got so many calls from family and tons of cards too which we opened at Red Robin.  Rylynn racked up 41 dollars from aunts, uncles, grandmas, and great grandmas!!  She was one lucky girl this year and she felt very loved by everyone.  Thank you to all of our wonderful family!

This is Rylynn watching the waitresses sing Happy Birthday to her.  She loves when they sing and especially when she gets to eat the free birthday sundae!

My darling 5 year old!  I can't believe she is already 5.  For some reason this birthday has been a really hard one for me.  I think it is because Kindergarten registration was the same day as her birthday and it just hit me that my first baby is going to be leaving the little cacoon world that we have created for her and go out into the real world.  Yeah, I'm kind of struggling with this one.

For Rylynn's birthday we bought her a big girl bike!  She was in heaven.  We gave it to her before we left for Red Robin and she rode around the cul-de-sac up until the second we left and even then we ended up going to dinner so late because she had to ride until it got dark.  She is a pro and loves to cruise around everyday.  Poor little Carter was so sad when she got her bike because about a month before we had told him that when he learned how to go potty in the toilet he could get a big boy bike.  Well we didn't count on that happening so fast and the exact week of Rylynn's birthday, so he sort of had a melt down when he saw her bike.  He kept saying, "I'm done going poops and potty in the toliet, so where is my bike?!!!"  Needless to say we ordered it that night, but it has yet to arrive.  He is trying to be patient:)

CrAzY week

Rylynn's preschool has had a CrAzY week starting with Crazy hair day on Tuesday!  This is her crazy hairdo which consisted of six braids with six different flower clips strewn throughout her mess of braids.  She loved it because she had 6 braids just like a spider has six legs (as she liked to put it).

  Here she is with her friend Izabella.  I swear this is the only girl I have ever seen who makes Rylynn look short.  Her Dad played pro football and is 6'6'' so that must be why.  Usually Rylynn towers over her friends.  Today for her birthday it was crazy sock day and yesterday was crazy outfit day.  It has been really fun getting her ready for school this week becasue I basically just tell her to go put on whatever she wants and to dress as crazily as she wants.  She's a fan!  Well we are off to more birthday festivities for the little munch, I'll post more later.

The Symphony

We got to go on our Valentine's date on Saturday to the Symphony downtown.  It was AMAZING!!  We were on the third row and could see every move the conductor made.  We were right up close to the cello and base section and that was so awesome because they are usually the parts that you can kind of miss since they are so low.  I was completely inspired by the musical abilities of these amazing artists.  The music was all Russian composers.  Rachmaninoff has always been a favorite of Garrett's and we got to see his second piano concerto performed by an amazing pianist.  I honestly was floored that any human being could play that piece of music with their hands.  What dedication and hard work must have gone into developing such a talent.  We also heard some Tchaikovsky which I loved and some Arenski variations of Tchaikovsky.  They were all beautiful, but I have to say my favorite, surprisingly, was the Arenski variations.  I say surprisingly because I had never heard of him before that night.  It was so moving and so haunting in parts.  There really is nothing quite like being at a symphony and feeling the music come up through your feet and pierce your very core.  It really is a physical experience in person.  While listening to the beautiful music, I looked around at each musician and was just struck by how loving our Heavenly Father is to create such talented and gifted people on this earth so that they can share their talents for the sole purpose of creating joy and beauty in the lives of others.  It was such a fun night and the kids did great for the babysitter which made it even better.  We were able to leave Beckett for the first time and he slept the whole time like a champ.  Thanks honey for such an amazing night!!