Children do the darndest things

This morning I just had to laugh. Rylie was being extra cranky and there wasn't much I could do to get her to calm down. Daniel finally called from the next room over-- "Rylie do I need to turn up the music?" He then went to my radio in preschool and turned on the radio full blast. I had to just laugh, this is what I did in the car when Daniel would get out of control. He hated the sound of the loud music and would usually calm down instantly. So funny how he now used this technique for Rylie. Oh, and by the way-- it worked!

Sunday Nap

Our church just got changed to 12:30 which means that Rylie only gets about an hour nap (if we are lucky) before church. This past Sunday she got about a 30 minute nap before church, but seemed just fine. When we got home she was eating at the table and then fell off of her chair. There was a good thud, but it seemed like a run of a mill fall. She hollered until Darin took her from me and within seconds she was out. Side note: I always love the image of my sleeping child in my husbands arms. Nothing warms my heart more. Anyway, we laid her down, but worried she could have a concussion so I had to mildly wake her up every couple of minutes to make sure she was okay. Sure enough, she was just tired and needed a late afternoon nap. Don't you wish you could just crash like this too sometimes?

My mom's amazing knitting

This past week we got a package in the mail from my mom. Inside were 3 matching hats for Daniel, Rylie and baby boy. They are soooo cute. My kids adore them. I can't wait to post another picture of all three of our kids wearing their hats. AZ may be warmer than many other places over the winter, but we still have chilly mornings and days where hats are a lifesaver! Thanks mom!

More painting

I watch 2 girls periodically throughout the week and then have another girl come after school for just an hour until her sister can pick her up. One day all of them got bored and very emotional at the same time (this is very unusual since they usually just play their hearts out until their parents arrive) so I tried to think of something different they could do that would keep them entertained. Well, since we had just painted the guest bedroom, painting was on my mind-- so I had them paint the shelves for that room. Unfortunately the novelty of the task wore off way too quickly and about 10 minutes later I still had 3 very emotional girls and now a mess to clean up. Good news was I got another task off of my to do list.

Pickles Anyone?

We are apart of a co-op where you can get a produce basket with tons of fruit and veges for super cheap. This last week they offered a 35 lb. box of pickling cucumbers-- so I called Darin to see if he was interested. Sure enough, we are a family of pickle eaters so we decided to try pickling our own cucumbers. 6+ shopping trips later, 26 quarts, 14 pints and 9 8-ounce jars later we are done. I have to say I'm impressed with my efforts especially since I'm 34 1/2 weeks pregnant and have a 3 1/2 year old and a 1 1/2 year old on top of this all. The only real casualty is a very sticky floor (sorry Darin, especially since he had just mopped it 3 times on Sat. to get all the previous stickiness away.)

You will see that Daniel had an absolute blast helping me out. Every afternoon he allows me to take a nap while Rylie is napping. Yesterday, he was so excited to see me when I woke up. His first question was "Are we going to make pickles now?" He had already started lining the cucumbers up by size just to help me get started. Cute kid. I gave him the job of putting the pickles into the bleach water so they could get cleaned, and then to transfer them to the clean water. He was really on top of it and actually a huge helper. He also loaded all the bottles into the dishwasher. He did try to sneak a ton of cucumbers, but really- who can blame him. They really were tasty and they are vegetables so why should I stop him. He helped me for over an hour, all up until Rylie woke up. Rylie showed some interest, but she had a bad habit of taking one bite out of each cucumber and playing in the water-- so I finally sent them off to play another place.

I had to laugh how many shopping trips I did have to make. I had wanted to buy my own canner, but found out at a 2 different stores that canners are a seasonal item. Thank goodness I have a friend who was willing to lend me hers. I then went to the store 5 times-- once for bottles, once for more dill pickling packets (actually Darin did this one for me), once for another batch of bottles (got the 8-ounce accidentally), so once again for another batch of bottles, then this evening I went again to get some herbs so I could try a batch of bread and butter pickles since I still had tons of cucumbers left over after using all my quart and pint bottles. I think our local Frys has greatly appreciated our donations to keeping them up and running.

So here is to a total of 49 bottles of dill and bread and butter pickles. Anyone else a fan of pickles? You are more then welcome to come join us in enjoy our bounty!

Here you can see Daniel loading the bottles into the dishwasher.
The box of cucumbers.
Daniel's initial efforts of organizing the cucumbers. Look at his smile. Can you see how excited he is.
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Daniel got creative in how he would transfer the pickles from the bleach solution to the water. Daniel loves to figure out different ways to do things. He has always had such a curious mind.

Here are pictures of Daniel sneaking the cucumbers.

This was all of the cucumbers after they were cut. Notice the bitten cucumbers on the end of the island thanks to Daniel and Rylie.
Getting ready to pickle the first cucumbers. Daniel even helped me stuff them into the jars.
Proof that we really did do 49 bottles. 40 of Dill and 9 Bread and Butter. Hopefully they actually taste good.

You had to be there moments...

These are the moments that you wish you had on camera.

Sunday was our day to drop the water tray at sacrament meeting. I said sorry to the Deacon as I handed him the tray with a large amount of water in the bottom sloshing around. I think there were a few cups left that he could still pass. He tried not to laugh out loud.

During church, Heidi pulled a classic mom move by licking her thumb and trying to wipe a smudge off of Daniels mouth. Daniel made an less likely reaction by loudly protesting and exclaiming: stop, that's yucky, you have germs, you'll make me sick! You just have to smile at everyone that turns to look at you.

I took him out to go use the bathroom and although he likes to wash his hands, he likes to make faces at himself in the mirror more. If I wasn't there to help move him along I think he would stand there all 3 hours and entertain himself.

After church I asked Daniel how his primary class was. He said: I went potty and when I got back I saw a Dinosaur! That was his complete report.

I've noticed that recently both Daniel and Rylie hop around everywhere they go. They're like little rabbits! They even eat carrot sticks everyday. Although when Rylie gets to the last bite of hers she just stuffs it in her mouth and likes to keep it there. After an hour and a half I finally made her spit it out.

Daniel's first haircut

Daniel is now 3 1/2, but we have never taken him to get his haircut professionally. He hates when I cut his hair because it is so itchy and I sometimes snag his hair in the trimmer. Anyway, I have hated how shaggy he has been looking lately so we finally bit the bullet and took him to Great Clips. He loved the entire experience and did such a great job sitting still. Isn't he so handsome?

Imperfect Crafty Side

Another fun project I have been working on (since I was pregnant with Rylie actually) has been a quilt. Now, I am not a great sewer. I can sew a straight line and can do some creative things. I have outlawed sewing clothing since my things always come out with huge imperfections and although this doesn't bother me on crafty projects, they kill me on clothing. I finally have finished piecing all of my quilt together, but now I am left with putting in the batting and finishing it. From make it with wool contests to a closet full of unfinished projects, by mom always was there to bail me out when things went wrong (like they always did). Ask my mom, I very rarely finished a project growing up so this is quite an undertaking from here on out. I talked to my mom tonight and we just laughed about all the projects we did together growing up. The only thing you can say about my crafty side is how imperfect it is. Wish me luck that this quilt will look at all usable by the time I finish it. Oh and if you have any suggestions on how to quilt the front, batting and backing together simply I would love to hear it!

Spontaneous Painting

So this weekend I got the sudden urge to finally paint our guest bedroom. This will probably double as Rylie's bedroom once baby boy is old enough to take her bedroom over. Anyway-- at 10 am yesterday I went to our garage where we have a slew of oops paint, and leftover paint. I picked out two shades and headed upstairs with all our gear. 5 hours later-- wahlah-- the bedroom is now painted. I let Rylie and Daniel share in the fun. Here are pictures of them painting.



I laugh because although it is now painted, it has imperfections everywhere. If you know me you know that I'm super spontaneous and do things quickly. I think a lot about things before I do them, but rarely does someone get a glipse into my thoughts and so I usually take people by complete surprise when I jump into a project like this. Poor Darin has just come to understand that he doesn't get the thought process behind most of my decisions and luckily so far has liked overall what I have done.

Halloween

So it has been about 2 1/2 months since Halloween, but I'm just finally catching up and who can resist showcasing their adorable kids all dressed up. Daniel and Rylie have it made when it comes to parties for holidays since I celebrate in preschool too. Since I have two different classes, they get two different parties. For Halloween, this meant they were able to dress up 3 times (2 times for our preschool parties, and once for Halloween night). They even had 3 different outfits each and loved every piece of candy and goody they acquired. We only have pictures of their Halloween night costumes where Rylie was a witch and Daniel was Thomas the Train, but on Thursday Rylie was a cheerleader and Daniel was Dash Incredible. On Friday, Rylie was a ballerina and Daniel was Buzz Lightyear. The only problem this year was we couldn't get our kids to pose for the life of us. So here are some of the best we have.

AZ State Fair

So, I'm just trying to catch up on all the fun activities we did in November. Better late than never. We joined Daniel's cousins Emily and Derek and Aunt Becky. Daniel was in heaven.

Both Daniel and Rylie had a blast petting, feeding and talking to the animals.


Daniel couldn't get enough of the rides. He now states that when he turns 5 he will be able to go on all the rides since he will be "bigger, bigger". (I'm a little worried that he will be seriously disappointed once he does turn five since he really believes he will be able to do anything such as be a firefighter, go on all rides, go to Kindergarten, etc...)


Thanks for the great day Becky, Emily and Derek. We loved hanging out with you!

Rylie's makeover

Rylie is obsessed with looking pretty. Every morning she gets so excited when she is able to get her hair done. She also insists on helping her mom get ready each morning by playing with all her makeup. One day in December Rylie decided she was ready to try it out for herself. Darin found her in Daniel's room painting herself with Heidi's mascara. She had also painted Daniel's sheets and blankets. Here is the final result.

Isn't she just beautiful.

When Daniel saw this, he was not to be left out. He went in search of something to paint his face, so Heidi pulled out her preschool paints and painted his face instead. He was thrilled. Here are his holly and Christmas tree.

Old yet exciting news

So, I was walking around church on Sunday when I bumped into someone who periodically checks out our blog. We hadn't seen each other in over a year and she had no clue I was pregnant. Sure enough, I just went through all our posts and we never did post it on here. Oops! So, here is a recap on what you have missed. We are expecting a baby boy on March 4th (although I have been early with both Rylie and Daniel so I'm expecting him to arrive sometime at the end of Feb.) We are going nowhere on deciding a name. Darin and I either don't agree, just don't like it, or overall don't feel it a fit for our family. I'm hoping for inspiration to strike. Here are some photos of me through this pregnancy (I don't like my picture taken too much when pregnant since I just feel over large and unattractive, so there aren't many).

This was me on Nov. 1st. I had just gotten my haircut. I was 22 weeks at the time.


This was me in Nov. We had Young Women in Excellence for YW so we all were to dress up all fancy. I was around 6 months along here (I think I was 26 weeks).

This is me now-- I'm now 8 months along (32 weeks). Looking forward to our bundle of joy!