Farewell picnic

Rylynn's preschool class had an end of the year picnic at a great park near our house today. It was so sad to me because it was the last time she was going to see some of her friends and she has just loved her preschool class this year. Garrett was still out of town so it was just me and the kids. Carter was so excited that he was invited too! They had a great playground with this huge spiderweb structure that kept him entertained forever. I seriously thought he was going to fall off and die several times but that boy has no fear.

Rylynn liked it a lot too, it was definitely the hit among the preschool kids.

There were fun rock structures the kids could climb on too. This is a picture of Rylynn and her friend Keira.

Carter of course had to have his turn on the big rock and then jump off of it like a crazy man.

We all brought treats to share and had a little picnic at the pavillion. Then the kids got to decorate pet rocks and blow bubbles. Rylynn of course spent a lot of time on her rock and used about every color of paint while Carter dabbed one splotch of yellow and then ran back to the playground. Maybe someday he'll get interested in art. It makes me laugh because Rylynn was the same way at his age. I thought she would never sit still long enough to color a whole picture and now she spends hours on her art projects.

Our climbing monkey!

Rylynn has just loved her teachers this year. She is so sad to leave them behind in OH.

A hug from Miss Cheryl

Rylynn just adores Miss Suzanne. I often get told when I am being a boring mom that she would rather hang out with Miss Suzanne, but I don't take it personally.

We ended the picnic in this cool tree house with story time. Rylynn was really into the story. Carter however went to throw rocks into the river and Cheryl was nice enough to keep him company.

We will forever remember the great preschool experience of Carol Nursery school. Rylynn learned so much this year and grew up so much too. She adored her wonderful teachers and all her great friends.

Carter's newest obsession

We have been big fans of watermelon lately at our house. It is so summery and delicious! Carter has particularly taking a liking to it and a few mornings I have come into find that he has lifted the huge watermelon up on our table and gone to town with a spoon. The first time he did it I was blown away that he had been able to lift it up on the table! He was so proud of himself and exclaimed, "Look Mom, I got the watermelon!" I wish I had taken a picture of him then, but I was too blown away. However, this has since happened a few more times so this morning I finally caught it on camera. The first time he did it the watermelon was three times the size of this one but you get the idea.

Memorial Day Festivities

My neighbor told us about the Memorial day parade on Saturday so I had told the kids all weekend that we were going to go to a parade on Monday and get candy and see a band play and see fire trucks! As you can imagine, they were so excited. So Monday morning we got all ready and I loaded the kids up in the stroller and we headed down the street to the parade. Then I started to notice a lot of people walking towards us with bags of candy and camping chairs. Not a good sign! So I asked one of the ladies if the parade was already over?! She said it was and that it is really short now but if we hopped in the car right then we might be able to catch up with it and see the end. So we raced over to where the parade ends and saw one float and one fire truck drive by. It was very disappointing! The whole rest of the day Rylynn and Carter both kept saying, "that's so sad we missed the parade!" So since I had promised them candy all weekend I took them to the grocery store and bought them each some candy, not exactly as exciting as a parade, but what do you do.


On the way home we past the cemetery. It was lined with hundreds of flags and Rylynn said she really wanted to go see them.

I was so glad she did because it was really neat to get out and walk along the rows of the veterans and see which wars they had served in and explain to the kids the meaning of this holiday.


I got to tell them about my grandpas and how they served to protect our freedoms and keep our country safe. There were a lot of people there observing the holiday and it was really cool to stop and pay respect to the thousands of men and women who have so bravely served our country.

Later that day we decided to go to the zoo with Ben, Molly, and Babo Reagan! It was lots of fun even though I was having braxton hicks the whole time. Ben and Molly were so nice to help me with the stroller, but by the end the kids were insisting that I push even though I tried to tell them it was not good for the baby. Oh well.

Carter was loving the monkeys and the gorillas in this picture and refused to turn around long enough to smile for a picture.

This was a cheetah that came right up to us. Carter kept calling it a tiger. Actually, every cat we saw was a tiger according to him.

After the zoo we were all exhausted! We came home and had a bbq in Ben and Molly's newly spruced up back yard. It was lots of fun and the kids got filthy. After such a long and eventful day we all slept very well!

Our Second Family

For the past three years we have shared a multi-family house with our neighbors the Poyfairs. I still remember when I called Carissa to ask her about the house and I was shocked when she said she had a little girl just Rylynn's age and she was pregnant with a little boy at the same time that I was pregnant with Carter. I knew right away it was meant to be. Since then our kids have grown up together and they have become like family to us here in Cleveland.

Carissa and I have loved cooking together, making bows for our girls hair together, making jewelry, taking many trips to the zoo and the park and lots more. We have also loved sharing holidays and sunday dinners and date nights and just hanging out. Our time here would not have been the same without them in our lives. Last Thursday they packed up their huge truck and moved away and it was so hard to see them go.

I was crying when they left so of course Rylynn started crying because she hates it when I cry. But for the rest of the day she kept coming up to me and saying, "mom I am so sad that Olivia is gone." Rylynn was not even two when we moved here and Olivia had just turned two. Now they are four and almost five. They have done so much together and I don't know what Rylynn is going to do without her.

Carter and Jack are both our Cleveland babies and I can't believe how much they have both grown up. Jack is really tired in this picture and Carter is very serious. I think he was sad. He kept saying "Jack go bye bye" all day.

Rylynn got some lovin from Jack Jack before they took off:) We are so sad to see you go Poyfairs! We love you and can't wait to see you again at the fair this fall! Thanks for making our time here in Cleveland so fun.

Love Bugs!

Rylynn's preschool unit right now is ants, so we have had a lot of talk about ants and bugs in general around our house lately. The other day Rylynn's friend went to smash an ant and she freaked out and said, "don't smash it I am learning about ants in preschool right now and miss Suzanne says that they have families just like us!" It was so funny. Her friend was like well I think they're yucky!

Aside from ants, my kids are obsessed with worms. Rylynn has always called them squirmy wormies, so naturally that is what Carter calls them. Although when he says it, it comes out scummy gummies. I love it! So they dig in the dirt everyday and pick up every big rock they can find to see the wormies. Rylynn has also recently learned about potato bugs which she loves. And since they are usually under the rocks with the worms Carter now loves them too.

So today I was pushing Carter on the swing and he was asking about the scummy gummies and then he got so excited and said, "mom I see a mashapatoe bug!" Mashapatoes is how my kids say mashed potatoes. I totally laughed. So the little rolley polleys (as I called them when I was a kid) are now called mashed potato bugs according to Carter.

Legally Blonde

Get it? My husband is a lawyer now and I'm now a blonde? Anyway, I am mostly doing this post for my mother who couldn't wait to see my new haircut and also for my husband because he may have forgotten what I look like:) Summer haircuts are fun because I can go really blonde and it looks summery. I was daring and got bangs this time. Sorry for the scary pics. It was 11pm and I was exhausted! Just focus on the hair:)

I have to say this haircut made me sad because it is going to be the last one from my amazingly talented friend Stacey. She always does such a great job and I am so sad I have to find someone else to do my hair from now on.

Congrats to the Grad!

It's official, my wonderful husband has graduated from Law school! We are so proud of him! Unfortunately he is very unceremonious and refused to walk. He has never walked from any school in his life, not high school, or college so why start now? Well that's what he thought but I really wanted him to walk so we could remember where we all were when he graduated and all that our little family has gone through to get here. I told Garrett I at least needed a picture of him with us in his cap and gown but he refused to pay the 300 dollars(!!) to rent the robes so he was planning on borrowing a friends just for the pics. However, he had to rush off to Utah to work for a few weeks on this trial he has worked on over the past two years so that didn't happen either. So we have no pictures to document this exciting event, however, we do have plenty of pictures of him excelling at his most important and favorite accomplishment of being the best dad in the world! He lives to be with our little family and we are so grateful that he is willing to do whatever it takes to provide for us. We love you so much honey! Thanks for all your hard work and all you do for our family, we are so proud of you!!

Uncle B

Garrett's brother Brandon came to town to visit us a couple weeks ago. He had never been to Cleveland so it was fun to show him where we have lived for the last three years. He was in town for a friend's wedding so he only stayed a couple days but the kids had a great time with him. He also took Garrett out to a really nice golf course and treated him to 18 holes for a graduation present. They had a great time and Garrett said it was an awesome course. That is his kind of present:)

Rylynn was really into playing candy land and the snake game with Uncle B. Carter's favorites were showing Brandon his new bed and shooting hoops in the backaball hoop!

Summer hair take 3

So we finally whacked off Carter's mop! I think the result is sooo cute. My friend cut his hair this time and it went a lot better than our home sessions have gone in the past. I held him and he ate skittles so that seems to be the winning combo!

Before

After

Daddy even got a summer cut. He was hoping I'd give into the summer buzz he always wants to do, but I don't love it so much and I had the scissors!

Rylynn Quotes

Today we were driving along and Rylynn says, "Mommy, pretty soon when I grow up I want to be a figure outer, a baker, and an animal doctor!"

A little later she randomly asked, "hey mommy, does red and blue make purple?" Then I said, "yes, how did you know that?" Then she said, "oh because I'm really smart."