Miracles do happen

The last picture before "the little disaster"

I have to record for our posterity an amazing event that happened to our family today. Yesterday was an especially long day for us because Garrett was gone at school from 6:20am until 7:45pm last night. I was expecting Garrett home at 7:00p, so I got a call from him on my cell phone at 6:58 telling me he had to stay longer than he had expected. Meanwhile the kids were in the bath, so I made the call really short so I could run back into the bathroom to check on them. So as I hung up and felt more stressed that he was going to be even later plus the missionaries were coming to our house at 8:30 and the house was a disaster, I walked back into the bathroom and to my horror saw little Carter in the bathtub holding my new (4 months old) digital camera under the water and he was turning it on. I screamed and grabbed it out of his hands and frantically tried to dry it off, but the lens was half way zoomed out and wouldn't close. So at that point I about started crying since we are poor students and cannot afford to buy a new camera right now, and taking pictures of my family and blogging is very important to me and the whole day just came crashing down on me. I desperately said a prayer and asked that Heavenly Father would save our camera and then I removed the battery and memory card and propped the camera up so it could dry out.

When Garrett got home I told him and we both just felt really impressed that we needed to say a family prayer and use it as an opportunity to teach Rylynn about receiving answers to prayers. So Rylynn and Garrett and I said a prayer and then Garrett took the camera apart and began blow drying the inside of the camera. Then we had to put Rylynn to bed but we said another prayer for the camera in her night time prayers. Then the missionaries came for our visit and we asked them to include our camera in the prayer before they left. So needless to say there were many prayers offered on behalf of our little camera yesterday!! So we kept checking on the camera throughout the night and blowing the lens and the LCD screen dry with the blow dryer to get rid of the fog. We went to bed and were hopeful that in the morning our camera would start working miraculously again.

So in the morning Garrett turned it on without putting the memory card in or putting the screws back in and it didn't work. He was a little discouraged, but I suggested we put all the screws back into place and and the memory card in and give it another try. So we did and it still didn't work. By then we were pretty sad, but we still had faith. Garrett then had the idea of charging the battery to see if that was the problem. So after charging the battery for a couple hours I popped it in and pressed the button for the 100th time and it miraculously chirped to life!! The pictures of the day before were all there and everything seemed to work as normal. It was a complete miracle so I ran in and showed Rylynn that it worked and she got so excited and jumped up and said, "Thank you Heavenly Father!" It was so sweet. So I told her that we needed to say a prayer and thank Him for this miracle in our lives, so we said a prayer and afterwards she said, "I am so happy!"

It was such an amazing teaching experience to show Rylynn that Heavenly Father really does hear and answer our prayers, even about unimportant things. If they are important to us, they are important to Him. I am grateful that our camera works, but I am even more grateful for the reminder in my life of how dependent I am upon the Lord for everything that I have and also for the chance to teach that to my children. So we feel very blessed today to be able to post these wonderful pictures! I will never take my little camera or blogging for granted again!

Our little Carter Manny

Carter has just been growing leaps and bounds lately. His vocabulary is exploding and his little personality is really shining through. Some of his new words are football, soccer ball, baseball, basketball, and hoop which comes out boop, or sometimes poop. He also loves Curious George all of a sudden and calls him Joe. He likes to pretend to talk on his phone and says, "hi dad." I think he picked that up this summer since Daddy was gone so much. Speaking of Daddy. He is a little clone of his daddy lately.

He just randomly one morning picked up his cereal bowl and drank the milk and I was thinking Daddy had to have taught him that one because I do not like the milk after the cereal has been in it.

Then yesterday he came into our room and pointed at the TV and said "football." So at first I was like yeah lets go get your football. He got really frustrated and pointed at the TV again and said FOOTBALL! So I turned on a football game that Garrett had Tivod early and he got so excited. He just sat on our bed and watched it with a big smile. Then he would stand up and clap and cheer when anything happened. He kept looking over at me with a huge smile and pointing at the TV and saying football!

I told this story to Garrett and he was so proud. Carter also loves to jump now like his sister. He does big bunny hops and loves to jump and throw his basketball in his hoop. He also has developed quite the little dance moves. He loves to kick his leg while he dances, which just so happens to be his daddy's patented dance move. Let me just say it is cuter when you are 1 and 1/2:) One more little manny update is that he absolutely loves taking baths and showers right now. Every time one of us is in the shower he runs to the bathroom and tries to jump in fully clothed. So the other day I had just gotten out of the shower and Rylynn had climbed in and Garrett and I were both preoccupied so we didn't notice that Carter had run in the bathroom and hopped in the bath before we could get his clothes off.

His sister thought that was very funny. They are such great buddies right now too. Every morning when Carter wakes up before Rylynn he gets so sad that she isn't awake to play with. When she finally does wake up he runs to her and they give each other a huge hug. It is so adorable! He has to do everything that Rylynn does. He refuses to sit in his highchair because he has to sit at the princess table with her. He is so much fun right now. We just love our little Carter man!

Molly and Reagan's shower

Last week my friend Summer and I threw Molly and baby Reagan a shower at Summer's house. It turned out to be a huge success! Summer's house is really nice and her living area is way bigger than mine so she was so nice to host it there for us. We had a chocolate fountain that I borrowed from my friend with yummy fruit kabobs for dipping made by Summer.


We also had cheese fondue with yummy breads and an amazing cake made by my friend Sara.

There was a great turn out and Molly got lots of great gifts. Everyone in our ward is so generous and they really gave great presents. Reagan's little nursery will be fully stocked when she arrives! Carissa was in charge of the games and we played this really fun game of baby family feud.

It was very intense, but in the end we were all winners:) Carissa doesn't ever like to hurt anyone's feelings so she brought prizes for everyone. She is a better woman than I. I inherited my family's competitive nature so I am all about winners and losers! Anyway it was lots of fun.

Thank you so much to all of you wonderful ladies that helped make it a success! And a special thank you to Sara for making such a large cake. I enjoyed the leftovers for the whole week!

Rylynn's first day of school

Our little Rylynn is all grown up and off to preschool this year. She is in a great program that is centered on learning through play at Caroll Nursery School. She goes three days a week for a couple of hours and loves it! Last week was the first week of school and they had a couple of days to ease the kids into the separation. So the first day was only an hour and the parents stay with the kids. Then the second day is one and a half hours and the parents have to stay in the building just in case the kids get sad. Then finally on the third day it was a full two and a half hours and it was just a normal drop off day. I mention this because even before the first day of school Rylynn was begging to go and had no problem with the fact that I was going to leave her. In fact the first day she kept saying, "mommy, you can go now!" I didn't take it personally though, because she is such a brave and social girl. I never realized before how great nursery is at preparing kids to leave their parents. She is loving her new teachers Suzanne and Cheryl and she just can't wait to go back next week. Garrett and I have had a real wake up call with this whole experience because we have realized that our little girl is growing up so fast and that for the first time, we are sending her out into the world and we don't have total control over what she learns and hears. It is a little frightening, but we are also very excited for her. She was definitely ready and we are so happy she gets to go to a school she loves! Carter sure misses his friend when she is gone and when it is time to pick her up he stands by the door and cries for her. So we usually go a little early just to comfort Carter.

Ode to the Binkie

As many of you know, Rylynn recently FedEx'd her binkies (or her "binks") to the Binkie fairy.  Though things are going relatively well, certain members of our family are experiencing binkie fairy remorse.  I know of no better way to express remorse and longing than to write an English sonnet. (I suppose another way would be to write country music, but since our remorse/longing deals with neither motherhood nor a truck, I thought the sonnet a better medium)  Enjoy!

Ode to the Binkie

I miss you - how you calmed this troubled heart.

These years you've lulled my grief to minor hums;

Assuaged my pain and bid it to depart.

You've served me better than ten thousand thumbs.

Green, pink, round, flat, with stripes or poka dots;

It matters not how colorful you are,

But how you help me to think happy thoughts.

You muted screams and made them seem afar.

For solace, comfort, oh where shall I go?

When owies hurt, whatever shall I do?

Your soothing calm again I'll never know;

I lost it when to you I bid adieu.

Oh binks, Rylynn may wish for your return;

But I - all heart and mind - for you doth yearn!

- Rylynn's Daddy

Happy 30th Garrett!!

Yesterday was Garrett's thirtieth birthday. So in honor of his thirty years on earth we spent three days celebrating. One day of celebration per decade of life. It all started out on Friday when I threw Garrett a surprise party with some friends at Bennihana's. I dropped off the kids at some friends and pretended that I was dropping them off at our date group. Then I gave him his present in the car to stall time. Then I drove around to confuse him a little, and finally we drove up to Bennihana's. It just happens to be on a busy main street so I asked our friends to hold giant posters I made and wear party hats and blow horns when we drove up.

They were good sports since it is such a busy street. They said there were a lot of people who honked at them before we arrived. Garrett didn't even notice them at first, but he finally did and he was really surprised. Since all the members of our date group were there, he yelled out the window, "where are my children?!" It was funny. Then we all headed into the restaurant and had an awesome dinner! It was so yummy.

At dinner we all shared a story or memory we had with Garrett. Then we all picked up our kids and came back to our house for some blueberry cheesecake. Garrett's favorite. It was my first attempt at a baked cheesecake so I was a little nervous, but it tasted really good.

It was a great recipe. The ultimate cheesecake by Tyler Florence. I recommend it! Our friends were so generous and bought Garrett great presents. If you know my husband, you know he is obsessed with bottled root beer. So he got several packs of fancy root beer which made his day. He also got an Ichiro shirt from the Days (his favorite baseball player), and the Poyfairs gave him lots and lots of treats and candy. He has quite the sweet tooth as his dentist knows well:) It was a great party and we all had a great time. On Saturday I had booked a tee time for the guys to go golfing at Manakiki golf course which is a course Garrett has always wanted to play. They had a lot of fun. Then on Sunday we had a family birthday dinner and Garrett got lots of phone calls from family wishing him happy birthday. All in all it was a great weekend full of celebration. I am so grateful my wonderful husband was born thirty years ago and that I have been blessed to know and love him for the last seven years. He is such a thoughtful and considerate husband and Dad. We love you so much honey!! Happy birthday!

Labor Day weekend

Over Labor Day weekend we went to the taste of Cleveland with The Poyfairs and Ben and Molly.

It was lots of fun once we got there. We all rode the train into the city to avoid parking, but when we got there every person we asked gave us different directions to the Taste so we ended up going on a thirty minute detour all around the city pushing kids in strollers on a hot day! Not too fun. The two pregnant woman weren't enjoying it too much either. Finally we ended up where we had started from and found our way down to the water where the Taste was being held. Now if any of you know my husband well, you know that he turns into a little kid when it comes to anything having to do with jets and airplanes. So we always have the dilemma of wanting to go to the air show but not wanting to pay twenty dollars a person to get in. Every year we have managed to find another event going on that is cheaper and where we can also watch the air show. A two for one deal. So the taste of Cleveland was right on the water and we were able to see all the jets and the blue angels as we enjoyed the yummy food.

It was lots of fun. The kids had a great time until the ride home on the train. It was like all of a sudden they realized they were exhausted and all had melt downs. They really loved riding the train though and seeing the airplanes. They also loved eating the strawberry daiquiris and chocolate eclairs, those were the favorites of the day. Garrett and I got some great ribs and crab cakes too. We ate so much food and blew way too much money on it.

Carter is taking after his daddy and got soooo excited every time a plane flew overhead. He would point up in the sky and squeal with delight. It was a great day!

End of an Era

So today is officially the second complete day that Rylynn has gone without her binkies!! We have talked about this for awhile, but with all the changes over the summer and Daddy being gone, we haven't attempted until now to really get rid of the binkies for good. So yesterday Rylynn was so excited to mail her binkies to the binky fairy. She put them all in an envelope and stuck them in the mailbox.

She had no problem all day without them and then she slept last night with no problem either so that was a great sign. So when she woke up this morning the binky fairy had left her a pink sleeping beauty dress that she has wanted for a long time and a little snow white doll that she has also been asking for.

She was thrilled!!


The binky fairy left her a letter telling her how proud she was of her and that she needed to keep being brave and being a big girl. So then today she wore her dress all day long. She asked to sleep in it but I had to put my foot down to that. She did great today again and she is so proud of herself. We are proud of her too!! I know it might seem crazy since she is 3 1/2 but she has loved those things so much and when Rylynn gets attached to something, it is very hard to get her unattached. I have to say even though she kept them longer than I would have liked, they were a lifesaver and I will encourage all my kids to have binkies; they're all going to need braces anyway! We are so proud of you Rylynn!!!

Doing something wrong

I must be doing something wrong in my parenting efforts with Carter since he makes no attempt to even mimic me when I try to teach him to say please and thank you, but I say hot dog and donut once and instantly he says them crystal clear! It is a reflection of where his heart is I guess. Not that he isn't a sweet heart, I just think he cares more about food than anything on this earth at this point in his young life. He has also mastered the word NO this week and More! I just love hearing him learn new words each day, it is so much fun. Unfortunately, Carter, Rylynn, Mama and Dada all still come out as Dada with an occasional Mama in there, but only when he is really sad. Some other words in his repertoire are cracker, cookie, mmm and pop pop which means popsicle. Do you notice a trend? It's a work in progress.

The County Fair

This is like two weeks late, but I really wanted to post about our trip to the Cuyahoga County Fair. It was so much fun. We went with our neighbors and friends the Poyfairs. I couldn't believe how long Carter lasted since we went right when he usually takes a nap. We left around 10:30 and stayed until 3:00p! There were so many fun things to do. I couldn't believe how brave Rylynn was about the rides. She went on a dragon roller coaster all by herself. She loved it and she was up for trying any ride. She couldn't get enough of them. Carter liked most of the rides for the first few times around and then he would start crying and want to get off. The exceptions were the ferris wheel with his friend Jack and the merry go round. He went on that two times in a row and wanted to go again. The kids were thrilled because they got hot dogs and french fries for lunch; very healthy food choices at the fair! Rylynn really liked seeing the cows and the chickens. Carter loved the Chickens too but he kept trying to put his little fingers in the cages and he was lucky he didn't get one bitten off! He loved the rabbits too. We had great weather even though the forecast said it was going to rain. What do weather men know anyway? Free parking too! How can you beat that? We ended the day with the kids trying their first taste of cotton candy in their lives and they couldn't get enough! It was a great day, thanks for inviting us Poyfairs!

We loved the merry go round! We went on twice!

Rylynn, Olivia, and Carter in the space ship

Rylynn got a unicorn painted on her face; purple of course, oh and with sparkles.

Rylynn and Olivia driving in the jeeps

Rylynn's favorites, the cows!

This was the cutest tiny ferris wheel

Jack and Carter almost fell asleep it was such a calm ride

Rylynn and Olivia loved this pumpkin ride, I thought it was a little claustrophobic.

This is one of the rides Carter hated by the end. In fact neither Jack nor Carter lasted till the end of the ride, they had to stop it so I could get Carter out.

Rylynn and Olivia loved it till the end!

We went to the fair as an extended celebration for Olivia's birthday which was the day before. Rylynn loved going to her princess party and especially loved the castle cake!

Happy Birthday Olivia! We love you!