Impossible Photo Shoot

Now that Emerson is 6 months and Rilyn is 3 I have been trying to get one good photo of the girls together. I actually took them to the Picture People a couple weeks back and that was a waste of a day. I have come to the realization that no matter what pose or how many photos I take, these ages that the girls are at are impossible to get a good photo of the two of them together. Separately, they take awesome pictures but it defeats the purpose. Here is yet another example of an exhausted effort of getting just ONE picture. By the way, I probably took about 30-40 pictures and here are the best, which I am sure will show you what I am talking about. I guess I will just have to keep trying. Kelsey, I need you to come do a photo shoot for me, your pictures of the kids always turn out so great! I couldn't get Rilyn to move her head to the side so that she wasn't hiding behind Emerson's head, which actually looks bigger than Rilyn's! Trying yet another pose.......

Not only is it impossible for me to get them both to look at the camera at the same time, but if they happen to, only one is actually smiling at that moment, oh well! I will keep you all updated at my attempts and we will see how long it takes for me to get that ONE amazing photo.

Happy 3rd Birthday Rilyn!!

Yesterday was Rilyn's 3rd Birthday and it was a day filled with mixed emotions. First off, I can't believe it has been three years since we first had Rilyn. Time sure has passed quickly and we have been truly blessed with having her in our lives. We never knew what true love was until we had Rilyn, it is unconditional and so intense it makes you want to cry when you think of how much you love that one person. Don't get me wrong, Jeff is the love of my life, but loving your child is such a different and amazing love. Anyways, Rilyn is such a happy and social little girl. Our only challenge with her these days is her independent spirit, she wants to do EVERYTHING by herself. I can't tell you how often she tells us to "please leave me alone" or "no, let me do that". Rilyn is such a great big sister, she loves her little NiNi so much! I am so thankful for Rilyn, her health and the smiles and laughter she brings to us each day. I hope 3 is her best year yet! Happy Birthday Pumpkin, we love you SO much.....

To make Rilyn's birthday special I decided to follow Christina's lead in taking Rilyn for her 1st pedicure. It was hilarious, as you can tell by her face, she was very confused/concerned at what was going on at first. As she got a little more comfortable she began chatting with the lady giving her toes "a bath". Thankfully, the lady gave Rilyn some chips to keep her occupied and keep her from moving while my pedicure was finishing up. Her toes turned out very cute, just what she wanted, pink toes with flowers on them.

I think she is starting to enjoy this..........

The finished project.....beautiful!

Last night, once Dada got home, Rilyn informed him that she had been patient all day and thought it was time she could open up her presents. Jeff thought she was ready for her first t-ball set, and I really couldn't tell who was having a better time at bat, her or Jeff. :) All in all, I think she had a good birthday. She will get to celebrate once again when we head to Cali next week with both families. What a lucky girl!

Backyard Fun

It's official, it's HOT! Yesterday was 98 and we decided we needed a little relief. Once the girls were both up from naps, we took a trip to go get an inflatable pool for the backyard. We got home and decided to give it a try. Rilyn really seemed to enjoy it, especially the slide. This pool will be perfect on the days I don't feel like packing the girls up to head to the big pool across the street. Considering how hot it is already, I am starting to get anxious about our first summer here in AZ. Any suggestions on what you do with two kids when it is too hot to go outside??

After some fun in the water we decided to bbq and eat dinner outside. It was so nice to spend the evening in the backyard with the kids.

I don't know if you can tell, but the whole front of Emerson's onesie is wet, I have to believe she is teething, but who really knows?

Emerson has really been enjoying eating her solids lately and I just introduced her to some fruit after a few weeks of only rice cereal and veggies. It will funny to see if she "hums" like her big sister!

A Little Bit Of Everything

This last week, with Nana in town, we were jam packed with things to do. I didn't have much time to post blogs, so I figured I would just post some pictures of our week all at once. This year was the first year we actually were able to celebrate Easter and it was so much fun since Rilyn is at such a great age for egg decorating and anticipating the Easter Bunny. I have to say, I was pretty impressed how delicate Rilyn was with the eggs and not making a mess. Her eggs turned out very beautiful. With Rilyn's 3rd birthday next week, we celebrated early and took her and her friend Kayla to dinner and to see Disney on Ice. We made some cupcakes together before that evening to have for after dinner. I think Rilyn enjoyed frosting them and sprinkling them more than anything. I know, it probably wasn't the safest thing for me to do, but I let her lick the knife. Here we are at dinner, Red Robin, where she was definitely enjoying all the attention she was getting. The servers came over and sang her a bday song too! By the way, this evening almost turned into a disaster. On the way to the show I pulled out the tickets for the first time and noticed they had been printed with the wrong date on them. I contacted Ticketmaster about the problem and they said since I purchased them online there was nothing they could do. I was so upset that we couldn't get a refund or even credit and just prayed that the show wasn't sold out. Could you imagine how disappointed the two little girls would have been? Thankfully, the show wasn't sold out and the box office at the arena accommodated us with new tickets in exchange for ours. I actually think our new tickets were even better! It turned out to be a great night.

Here we were heading to a bday party for our neighbor and Rilyn was thrilled it was sprinkling a little so that she could wear her rain boots and use the umbrella.

Emerson enjoying the ride!

Thanks again Nana for all your help, we had a fun and busy week!

Wildlife Zoo

With my Mom back in town to help out, Jeff and I decided to take advantage of his day off and take Rilyn to the Zoo while leaving Emerson at home with Nana. It was so enjoyable to only have Rilyn and give her all the attention. She loves the zoo and now it has an aquarium there too! It was Jeff's first time being there and he was pretty impressed. There are so many fun things to see and great rides to enjoy. Here Rilyn was checking out the fish, she just LOVES fishy's!!

This is the one ride Rilyn was adamant about riding, the Sky Ride, which goes up over the entire zoo.

Luckily, the zoo has a Merry-Go-Round which is one of Rilyn's favorite rides!

Here this peacock jumped down right in front of Rilyn, we couldn't figure out whether it was supposed to be out of a cage or if it just roams around the zoo. We had a hard time keeping Rilyn from not running up to grab the bird. Rilyn's Favorite Ride...........

Fun In The Sun

Okay, so I know these aren't great pictures of Rilyn, but I still thought they were cute of the kids. My friend, Annette, brought her kids over for one last visit before heading off for the season and luckily the weather was nice. We hit the pool, which they now have heated to 80 degrees, and the kids loved playing in the water and around the splash pad. I could tell Rilyn has missed the pool lately, since she didn't hesitate running in with her turtle floaty. We will miss The Ginter's throughout the summer and wish them and all our other friends a healthy and successful season!! Rilyn and Maya snuggling to keep warm, so cute!!

Some More Interesting Outfits.....

First off, I realize by posting this picture makes it public knowledge that yes, my daughter is almost 3 and still has a binky. Regardless, I thought the picture was precious and said screw it, I will let it be known! Back to the interesting outfits, which as you can tell, she is so proud of what she put together. The funny thing is that her friend, Kayla, was probably thinking what the heck is my friend wearing?? Hey, atleast she let me do her hair, I can't imagine what that is going to be like once she wants to do that herself too.....

Notice how she has her Duckie tucked under her tutu. This one, she decided she wanted to wear Mommy's hat for the day. I actually didn't care too much since I thought it looked so cute on her.