Dance recital

The girls had their first dance recital at the community center this week.  Their class has been so much fun.  It's a sweet little group of 3-5 year olds and they get to not only do tap and ballet, but a little bit of tumbling too.  Both Grandmas, Auntie Casey, & Haley came to watch the recital.  The girls were hilarious on stage.  Even though they knew the moves, they watched their dance teacher on the side stage for most of the dance.  You'll see in the photos below their side glances :)

Is anything broken at your house?

Because this guy will come and fix it.

No plumber's crack here, just a little tummy hangin' out.

Crazy girls

It was crazy sock and hair day at school.  The girls were really excited.  We bought 4 pairs of knee high socks at Target and they had a hard time deciding which to wear.

Reese sported the pink stripes with purple flowers.

Ryan wore the black and neon hearts.  Love it with the gold sparkly shoes.

Reese was a little more open to letting us style her hair crazy. 
They both looked so adorable.

Karate

The girls take karate lessons after school on Tuesdays.  One of the school moms is an instructor and she picks up the kids from class and teaches the class in one of the classrooms at school.  The girls love it and have so much fun showing us their moves.  I love it because it gives me an extra 45 minutes with Ryder on Tuesdays.  It's so fun to arrive early and watch them practice their routine.  It was red, white, & blue day at school today.  Ryan doesn't usually wear a dress to karate.

What a day!

Yesterday was one of the craziest days I've had in awhile.  Work has been really busy for Cory and I the past week and I worked late Monday night.  I woke up and realized I left my lockbox key in the rental car of my client that was flying back to MN yesterday morning.  I called her at 7:45am to ask if she could check the rental car (as they were driving to return it).  She told me that it was under the front seat and asked how we could coordinate because they were heading to the airport as we speak.  I told Cory that he had to get the girls ready for school and drop them off while I headed to the airport with Ryder and Muffin (we had a 9am vet appointment).  So I headed out in rush hour traffic with our baby and dog to meet my clients on the departures curb at Sky Harbor.  This was all before 8:30am.  Off to the vet appointment, then back to the office to send out some contracts, back to the house to try to 'clean' things up before the cleaning lady comes.  I finally had a moment to sit down and relax but it was only 10 minutes before I had to pick up the girls at karate class.  I picked them up, ate a quick lunch before the babysitter arrived, then headed out to QC to show 4 houses.  Cory came home around 5:30, we had a gourmet Chipotle dinner, and then a $300 Costco run because we were out of everything.  Got the kids to bed at 9pm and finally had a moment to put my feet up.  We have nothing on the agenda today and I really hope it stays that way.  Mama (and the kids) need a day to relax :)

Did you pay for this?

Reese today as we were leaving the car wash: Mimi, why doesn't the car have a yummy smell? 

Mimi: Because I didn't pay for a yummy smell this time. 

Reese: Well, did you pay for a dirty smell?

 Later she told me that Mimi's car smelled like poop.  Just what you want to hear when you've paid $10 to have your car cleaned.  Note to self: Even if it's a few bucks more, spring for the air freshener.

14 months

Wow.  I can't believe Ryder boy is 14 months old today.  For some reason this past month flew by.  I feel like we were just celebrating his first birthday.  It seems like he's changed so much in the past month and it's probably because he's gone from crawling, to walking, to almost sprinting in just a few short weeks.  It's amazing the progress he's made.  It's always sad to see the crawling go (especially when it's our last baby), but it's been so much fun watching him walk all over the place.  Here are some highlights from the past month:

• Three huge molars coming in all at once.  I'm talking swollen, black & blue gums.  It looks SO painful but he never complains.  When those come in he'll have 14 teeth!  A mouthful for such a little guy.
• Still breastfeeding about 5x a day.
• Exploring some new foods but refusing some old favorites like blueberries and bananas.  Maybe he's just tired of them? 
• Really dislikes his car seat.  It's a full on battle to get him in, but once he's strapped in he's good to go.  I really want to turn him around for a different perspective but he barely weighs 20 lbs.  Sorry, dude, it might be awhile.
• Loves throwing food off the tray when he's finished eating.  Like it's a big game to see how much Muffin will eat and leave the rest for Mommy to clean.
• Going to bed like a champ with little fussing and sleeping through the night most nights.  We still see him for the occasional 1am feed.
• Morning nap is getting later and later--going down around 11am and then taking another late afternoon nap around 3 or 4pm.
• Loves reading his chunky board books, especially the ones with animals.
• Some new words--saying night night and signing airplane.
• Still the biggest Momma's boy ever.  I love it.

I am posting a few more photos that Scott took because they are fantastic and they totally capture Ryder boy at this age:

That face melts my heart.

Our little truck driver.  He could play here all day.

Love his cool kid kicks.

 

The cutest little dirty bum.

Raising monkeys

This is not something you teach a child.  Our kids just know how to climb on things.  It's like a genetic trait in our family.  I have been saying all along that Ryder is a little climbing monkey that gets into SO much more mischief than the girls ever did.  I was wrong.  

He's definitely a spunky little guy, but I forgot all the shenanigans that the girls used to get into.  There were two of them and I would walk into a room and find this.

 

 What one didn't think of, the other would.  Talk about double trouble.  I'm glad I have these photos to remind me of the funny and crazy days we had when they just started walking.  My amnesia left me with memories of peaceful afternoons with my docile children.  Clearly this was not the case.  I love the look of mischief on Reese's face as she stands on top of the flimsy kitchen stove.

 And then there's Ryan, who was more of a follower in those days.  I think she was trying to shoo me away in this photo below because I was coming to break up the party.  It's hard to believe that was three years ago. 

PS<>Don't our children look so much alike?  The girls were exactly Ryder's age in these photos and when I look at them I see Ryder with darker, thicker hair.

Bouncin'

We went to a birthday party today and it was Ryder's first time in a bounce house. 

 I almost stayed home with Ryder for 3 reasons:
1) It was close to nap time.
2) I am still cautious of germs in public places this time of year.
3) Those bounce places start smelling like a big sweaty foot about 20 minutes after the party starts.

I'm glad I changed my mind and decided to go because we had lots of fun with the whole family.

Easter dress

Here's Reese's outfit for Easter, or so she says.  She found it in the closet and put it on today. 




I'm not so sure about it.  It's my Polly Flinders pink smocked dress from when I was their age.  It's actually a pretty cute dress, but it looks really old fashioned.  The flip flops will have to go, but if she will wear it with tights and cute shoes I think it could be adorable.  What do you think?

Green day

It was Green day at school today.  They were supposed to wear something green and bring in a green item to share.  Ryan brought our green Tag reader pen with the Tangled book and that was pretty cool.  Reese couldn't find anything green that she was thrilled about so she brought a green Matchbox car.  Kinda lame, but we'll make up for it another week.  They told me they can't wait for yellow and orange week.  I'm sure the blankies will be making an appearance.

March is here...

and someone couldn't be happier.  It means things are warming up and this little monkey loves her summer clothes.  She can't stand long sleeves and pants.  I had to hide the summer clothes so she wouldn't wear them, but she found the hidden drawer about 2 weeks ago.  She's been in short sleeves ever since.  Today she wore shorts and a tank top to preschool with a fleece jacket over (so I could look like a decent mom that cares about my child's warmth and safety). 

She also loves playing barefoot.  It creeps me out a bit because I'm a shoe person, but I let it slide when we're in the backyard.  She's such a summer girl. 

I had to throw in this photo of Ryder in the sandbox.  He was having way too much fun and dumping sand everywhere.  He's such a boy!