Fun In The HOT Sun

It is already in the 100's here in AZ, which I guess I shouldn't be surprised about. We are fortunate that our neighborhood not only has an amazing pool, but also has a couple playgrounds that have splash pads with water features that the kids love. My friend Keri and I decided to take the kids over to the one the other morning around 8:45am, because yes, it is already hot at that time. It worked out great to go that early since there weren't too many other kids there yet. The kids had a great time and on top of everything the lawn sprinklers came on while we were out there, so the had fun running through those as well!

Emerson watching the kids play in the water, being happy as can be :).

Ever since Rilyn has become "Super Hero Girl" she wears her sunglasses everywhere. I am so thankful since she used to refuse to wear them outside where it is always so sunny here.

Emerson's Latest

Everyone that has had a baby knows that it seems as each week they are doing something new. Emerson's latest has been sticking her tongue out. It's hilarious because every time we look at her she has it hanging out to the side. She is our own little Michael Jordan.
Here's Rilyn and Emerson enjoying some sister time.
Here's her infamous tongue pose.

I don't know why she doesn't just stick it out straight? Rilyn trying to imitate Emerson's tongue pose, which this is a little more what we would have expected from E.....by the way, is KISS looking for a replacement?

Once Again....

So, once again we had another unsuccessful "photo shoot" and once again Rilyn got into trouble regarding her fishy's. Below you can see how Rilyn wanted to be her new alter ego, who she calls Super Cool Girl. She didn't want to take her sunglasses off for the pictures which is funny considering I can't get her to keep them on when we are outside in the sun. Here she is imitating me at begging to just smile and look at the camera. Atleast the girls were holding hands which I thought was cute.

Again, imitating me at trying to get Emerson to smile by doing "peek-a-boo".

Of course, once apart we get great pictures of the girls by themselves.

We had our friends, Kara and Jason Stanford, over for dinner with their 5 month old, Kherington. She is such a sweet baby and is very advanced for her age. Jeff asked if she was already crawling, which I thought was a funny question, but I guess she is already up on all 4's and practically sitting up unassisted! Thanks for the BIG tub of your amazing salsa, Kara!!

Now, you all probably read the situation we had with Rilyn drinking the fish water last week. Well, we thought since we made such a big deal about it and disciplined her for taking the tank's lid off that we wouldn't have any more problems. Once again, we were wrong. After putting Rilyn to bed the other night we thought she was asleep when I started hearing some noises coming from her room. When I walked in to check on her she was on top of her chair with her fishing pole, fishing for the toys she had put into the tank. Her poor fish are probably wondering what the heck is going on lately. We will see how much longer the fish stay in Rilyn's room, we warned her that if the lid comes off the tank one more time that the fishy's can't live in her room anymore. If you look closely in the picture you can see Cinderella floating upside down along with Rilyn's hippo. I have no idea where the fish are hiding in the picture?

One Of Those Moments.....

The other day I had one of those moments as a Mom that you hear about and dread happening to you. We had some friends over for dinner and we were out in the family room when I noticed Rilyn grab Jeff's travel coffee mug and say she was heading to work. I didn't think too much about it, but recently Rilyn has been getting into a lot of things she shouldn't be if I don't keep an eye on her at all times. After a few minutes it dawned on me that I should go check on what she was doing, especially since it was so quiet back in her room. As soon as I rounded the corner I started to put the scene together, Rilyn up on one of her chairs next to the fish tank, the lid of the tank off and her drinking something out of the previously empty coffee mug. She must have seen the fear on my face because her initial response was "I'm just drinking some water, Mom." My jaw dropped and I asked where she got the water from and she just looked at me and confirmed what I feared, the fish tank! To top it off, Jeff has been talking about how he needs to clean the tank because it is SO DIRTY, but hasn't gotten to it yet. This has got to be the grossest thing I have ever seen and it was my daughter who did it!!

Random Pictures

I don't know if this is a sign that Emerson is too big for the bouncer but she can literally lean over the side and touch her face to the floor. Thank God for safety belts!

While in CA the girls and I got a chance to spend a couple days at Jeff's family's house. It was so sweet to see Jeff's Granny holding Emerson and let Rilyn read her books. As you can tell from the picture, Emerson was enjoying her time with her Great Granny!

Once back from our trip, Rilyn woke one morning and had what seemed to be the flu without a fever though. She was sick all day and poor thing just wanted to lay on her new friend Buggy, her doggie that Uncle Grayson gave her for her birthday.

Once Rilyn was feeling better we decided to take her out to Toys R Us and pick out a new kitchen with her birthday money from Grammy and Papa. Jeff seemed a little worried when they brought out the kitchen and it was in a fairly small box, he knew that meant many small pieces. After 4 long hours of blood, sweat and tears, Jeff mananged to finish Rilyn's new kitchen. She told Jeff she LOVED it and it was the best thing ever. She thanked him and told him she loved him for putting her kitchen together, that definitely made it all worth it to him :).

Here's her new kitchen, thank you again Grammy and Papa!

College Friends

The first weekend I was back in Chico was a blast, all my college friends came to town to visit. Both my college roommates stayed with me at my parents house. Our friends traveled from NY, TX, NC, AZ and other parts of CA to make it. We all had a great time and tried to pack as much fun in during the short time we had together. My parents thankfully watched the kids for most of the weekend which allowed me to have a lot of free time with my friends. It was great catching up and I miss them all already!

Our Trip Home

After Disney On Ice and Rilyn's actual birthday day, we finally made our trip home for her much anticipated party at Nana and Gramps. The party was a big success, perfect weather, a bounce house and water sandbox, a surprise guest and of course backyardigan cupcakes! Here's Rilyn anticipating the big day. Emerson also looking excited for the day.

Rilyn helping Gramps set-up by putting up the flag in the backyard.

I thought this was a cute picture of the kids all watching the golfers across the creek.

We had the bounce house from 8:30am-5pm and I don't think Rilyn was ever out of it for more than a half hour at a time. She even took a short nap that day and said she was ready to bounce again once she woke up.

Emerson sporting Uncle Grayson's hat.

Our surprise guest, which if you look closely you can see how much Rilyn liked him. Thanks for trying Uncle Grayson.

Auntie Jenn getting some love from Emerson.

Hanging with Grammy and Papa.

Kisses for Great Grandma Mary. It was a busy day, but Rilyn had such a great time. Thanks Nana and Gramps for a memorable birthday party!