Rylee’s 1st Birthday

A year ago, this lil girl entered the world pushing and pulling herself out, and she hasn't stopped since! She's in constant motion - climbing, walking, sliding, laughing, clapping, waving, toilet lunging, pulling hair (sorry Brooke!), giving lip-smacking smooches and obsessing over everyone else's belly buttons. And doing everything except sleep.

May your energy and passion never end!  In the meantime-- please share with the rest of us!!!

Happy Birthday Rylee!!!

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First, we celebrated by playing ALL day long on her birthday. 

Her new fave – Open Gym at Pinnacle Gymnastics!  She rocked this place!  And I spent most the morning chasing this crazy around.

   

Brooke was also running around non-stop too. 

Then we went to lunch at Pizza West – and ate our hearts content until we became obese.  Rylee approved too - pretty sure she ate more than any other kid there.

Once Tanner got home from school, we went to Zonkers for more bounce house jumping and arcade games.  Whew! 

Later that night we picked up Grandpa Callison from the airport and he got to play all weekend long. 

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On Sunday, we celebrated her birthday with the whole family (minus my parents who were in NC visiting Jeremy & Corrine’s newest edition – Harper!)

  

A party isn’t a party…without all these goodies.

 

This little girl got lots and lots of attention…from her Uncle Jon…who is AWESOME with kids. 

 

And from her mommy too!

I kept trying to take pictures of her, and she kept chasing after me trying to get the camera.  *sigh*

But I do have to say, that there is truly something magical about those baby steps.  I could watch her little drunken walk all day long!!!

And of course, lots of shenanigans!  Taylor was dressing up all her little subjects. 

And Rylee’s favorite part…the CAKE!

It was hard holding her back…she wanted to grab the cake, birthday candle and all!

 

Tanner thought it was going to be so cool that Rylee was going to do a CAKE SMASH!  He couldn’t stop laughing when I told him about it. 

And thankfully, she didn’t disappoint.  She dug right in!  before I could even get the camera out.

And I wish I should have had filmed the ENTIRE thing – especially when she picked up the entire cake and tried to fit it in her mouth!  She was going crazy!!!

Can’t say I blame her, it was delicious Strawberries ‘n Cream cake, baked from scratch with over a pound of strawberries covered with cream cheese frosting.  Yummers!

And finally, I got a video of the very tale end. 

And the PRESENTS!

Grammy and Grandpa gave her this adorable baby doll…and she couldn’t wait to get her hands on it.  Not only does it have moving eyes (from some reason, she’s obsessed with the eyes) but it also signs “Jesus Loves Me!”  This is now everyone’s favorite doll…

 

What do you get the girl that already has everything?  One of her favorite things to do is go to a music and movement class once a week so I got her a music cd and rhythm sticks.  And she LOVES playing with these  sticks. 

   

Best $2 ever spent. 

Then we pulled out all the kid musical instruments and jammed out!

Some more than others, love this :)

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And I would like to go on the record for saying part of me feels like I reached a HUGE milestone.  I survived ONE whole year. 

   

ONE whole year of not sleeping.  There was never one night were she didn’t wake up at least 2-3 times a night, most nights were closer to 4-5 times, every 2-3 hours just like a newborn.  And she wasn’t any better during the day – I can count on one hand the times were naps were over an hour long.  So it’s a been a LONG year. 

ONE whole year of exclusively nursing…the longest I made with the other 2 was 10-11 months.  And Rylee, if it were up to me, would be done too! 

ONE whole year of constant motion.  Toilet plunging, hair pulling, stair climbing craziness.  But it’s been a fun ride, and now I can say, it’s gone by SO fast.  My little baby is all grown up!

But I’ll be honest, I’m ready for life’s next adventures.  Now I’m prepared – and holding on tight!  Wahooo…let’s let the next year’s adventures begin!

PS – And thank you Scarlett for letting us “borrow” the adorable pink dress.

First Grade for Tanner

Tanner started ALL DAY school this year…FIRST GRADE!

When I picked him up from school, his very first comment was: “Mom, I saw the note in my lunch!  Did you write that?!?”  Of course, what’s not to love about this little sentimental cutie pa-tootey.  He’ll always be my little Tanners!

First Day Pictures (taken AFTER school, lol):

   

And apparently, waking up at 6:30 was NOT enough time.  Rylee was up at the crack of dawn, along with her brother, so we took our time getting ready.  Heck, I even made waffles for breakfast.  Then I glanced at the clock – and it was nearly 8:00!!!  Tanner was dressed, fed, all ready to go.  I thought we were doing great.  Then I looked down at myself.  And the girls, Rylee needed her diaper change and clothes, Brooke was still asleep.  And somehow we still managed to leave her shoes at home – so I was carrying both girls into the school.  So we rushed and rushed and made it to the front door just as the bell was ringing.   Thankfully, mornings have gone much smoother since!

First day was only a half day – so we walked to the school to pick him up and got extra time on the play ground.  When he was eating his plum, “Look – I made a heart just for you!” 

 

Apparently he sticks his tongue out when concentrating, just like mom.  Poor kid.  

Then went to our favorite place for lunch – Pizza West!

And on the first (and only!) attempt, he won a prize out of the “claw” machine. 

If he’s mastered that machine…maybe he really is ready for first grade!

Tanner was so excited to go back to school.  He had an amazing class last year, and a teacher, and they’re all so close.  While I’m definitely ready for him to go back to school too, I'm going to miss him being gone so much.  Why can’t half day school be a permanent thing?

I’ve been having so much ANXIETY about him going back to school, which all started when I found out that all his friends were going to be in other classes.  From leaving our best friends in Dallas, to being the only boy his age group at church, to having our closest friends here move away, it seems like we’re always searching for new friends. 

Then I realized it was all in my head.  When I explained that he was going to have a new teacher with new classmates, that he’s get to make a whole new set of friends and still see his old classmates from last year, he responded “Yeah, and we’re going to get TWO recesses now!”  He was so excited to be starting school…he didn’t really care!.

The first week of school – everything was so good.  He was loving school.  Then 10 days into school, he had a complete melt down.  Like I wanted to check him into a child psychologists kinda melt downs.  The kid is usually easy going, but from the time he wake u p, he wanted nothing to do with it.  He’d be crying and in tears the moment he’d wake up.  At first  he said he wasn’t feeling good, and that he couldnt’ go to school or he’d make the other kids too.  He may not have been feeiling 100%, but he definitely wasn’t sick either.  So when I pushed him, he’d finally admit…”I DON”T WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL!”  Getting him to school involved every single bribe out there.  Yes, I’ll walk you to your classroom.  Yes, I’ll come have lunch with you.  if you’re still having a bad day, yes you can come home early.  Yes, we’ll go get ice cream after school!”  I even had his friend Charlotte stop by one morning to see if that would do the trick.  Physically – it took all of my strength to get him out the door, into the car, and into the school.  Pretty embarrassing when you even need a Principle escort!

When he came home, he’d always have good things to report about the day.  And thankfully, it only lasted a week.  It was a LONG week, one I hope to never ever repeat, but we got through it.  

The secret?  Tanner told me, “Mom, it’s not MY fault that I didn’t like school – it was my Brains!  I just had to tell my brain that I like school and then I did!!! 

Still don’t know what caused it.  If something happened at school, if he though he’d be missing out on fun things at home, especially when Grandma came to visit,  or if he just realized school is super long and boring, or lunchroom craziness, or other unmet expectations.  But he’s been doing fine since he had a little talk with his brain :)

 Sneak a Peak:

 

A few nights before school, we got to go to school, meet the teacher, and drop off the supplies.  Pretty much organized chaos.  There were no assigned seats – the kids just got to pick where they wanted to sit.  Seriously, is this middle school?  The kids were so confused they didn’t even know what to do.  

Back to School Night:

The best part, by far, was getting to see this masterpiece.  Tanner’s self-portrait.  We were supposed to pick out from all the other drawings, which was no easy task, lol!  Oh those eyelashes! 

The most encouraging note was when Tanner brought home a piece of paper that said this.  #justlikedaddy