Rylee's Seventh Birthday

Rylee celebrated her seventh birthday yesterday and it was so much. The theme she chose this year is Candyland. So, I spent most of the day on friday building a Candyland Castle. It was kind of awesome. (Not the time spent, but the castle). The kids had so much fun playing in it, that it didn't even survive the party. Alas, six hours to put it up, and only 2 minutes to tear it down! Luckily, it can be rebuilt for hours of imaginary fun in the near future (after it stops raining). I had big plans for Rylee's birthday cake. I was going to make a giant sheet cake and decorate with assorted candies to resemble to Candyland board game, but then I thought that would be a lot of work after that castle! So, I made Funfetti cupcakes, had 4 different colors and frosting and 8 different types of candy, and the kids decorated their own cakes! A much better idea! Rylee had a lot of fun and I'm kinda glad it's over. (time for a nap!)

Aaaaaaand, even thought Rylee isn't technically seven until Tuesday, here are my top seven things that I love about this pretty little girl:

1. She is super, super, super creative. Those who know me know that I envy that in people. I often attempt to force creativity out of myself and find it awesome how it comes so easily to some people. Rylee is one of those people. She can find any piece of garbage and see the potential in it. That's awesome!

2. She is a good big sister. She loves to help her younger brother and sisters do things and I often catch then curled up together in bed or on the couch as Rylee reads them a story.

3. She is super smart. She could probably graduate high school if we pushed her! okay, maybe not quite to that extreme, but she is really good at school stuff and still enjoys it so far.

4. She loves to sing. I often have to stop her singing just so she can get stuff done. Even on the toilet, we will hear her singing a song, often one she has made up. And she's not quiet either! She just belts it out wherever she is!

5. She enjoys reading and writing stories. I think I like this about her because it's something we have in common. She loves to read, and so do I, but she usually loves to read stories that she writes herself. And while I no longer write stories now, as a kid, I did all the time and even wanted to grow up to be an author (then I think I discovered boys and anything else I was previously interested fizzled out pretty quickly).

6. She is athletic. She loves to dance, play sports, just about anything that's active. We take family hikes occasionally and she's always wanting to run ahead or play a game to make a leisurely activity more exciting.

7. She is super optimistic and positive about everything. Even when she gets in trouble for making a wrong choice, she will point out what she did right! She is very confident and believes she can do anything she wants. Some of you know that she does not have full use of her right arm, but if you didn't know, that's probably because she has never it make her feel that she can't do anything. It wasn't until she discovered "monkey-bars" that she felt limited. And you know, she came home from school just a few weeks ago so excited to tell me that she crossed the monkey bars that day! She is proof that it is often ourselves that get in the way of goals we want to accomplish, not the obstacles placed before us. Rylee has been such a huge blessing in my life. The last seven years of getting to know her as been a lot of things, but mostly wonderful and exciting. I look forward to the next seven!

Wacky Wednesday

Cole's Preschool had a wacky day last week and he was so excited as we came up with what he should wear for the day. Here is what we came up with, along with the wacky pose for this picture. Fun Halloween socks, one pant leg in sock, one pant leg rolled up, shirt inside out, and hair spiked into 3 rows. He was so excited to go to school that day and to tell me about the wacky things his teachers wore. One of his teachers, her name is Tinker, put her hair in a high pony and stuck a roll of toilet paper on it. What fun!

Bree has been so much fun. I can't believe how fast she is growing. I was comparing this video to one we took just over a month ago and what a change! She's already so different and so much bigger! Here are a few things we've come to learn about Miss Bree:

1. She is high maintenance. She loves to be held and held a lot, but I guess that's okay. Life gets so busy around here that I may just forget to sit and enjoy snuggling her if she didn't demand itoccasionally!

2. She doesn't handle milk very well, and since I'm nursing her, I don't get to have milk (only one of my favorite things in the world!) But since giving it up, she's been much happier and sleeps so much better, so it's worth the sacrifice.

3. She sleeps 5-6 hours at night, and I'm lovin' it!

4. She has begun to smile, giggle, and coo a ton more, so we spend a lot of time desperatelytrying to make her smile. It must be humorous to observe what an adult might do to make a baby smile, but what a reward!

5. I change her diaper at least every hour or two and it's never clean! We go through more diapers with her than I ever thought possible!

6. She has brought so much joy to our little family and made us feel more complete. There's six of us now! Can you believe it!?

7. She still has so much hair and it's still brown, which I'm really excited about since our kids always look so much like Justin, maybe Bree will resemble me with her coloring. And BIG blue eyes. Such a pretty girl!