Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Easter Time

Where is the time going? I don't know about you all, but I sure feel like time is flying by these days. Sometimes that is a good thing but it does make me a little sad. Kylie Reese is trying her best to keep up with her brothers and she is not too far behind:-)She went for her one year doctor visit and she weighs 21lbs, 12 oz.and is 29.75 inches long. She has moved down to 65th percentile for both! Some of you may remember this picture from an old post. This is when the boys decided it would be fun to get the oats and spread them out all over the kitchen floor.
Well, there must be something about oats that scream "open me and pour me all over the floor for your mom to clean up" to kids! I was back in the boys room playing with them and come into the kitchen to find Kylie happily playing in the kitchen floor with oats everywhere. I couldn't help but laugh. The oats have now found a new home in a higher cabinet!
Oh, how I hate lizzards but thank goodness for papa who will catch them and show them to the boys. Right when my dad picked up the lizzard he bit him..the lizzard did:-)
I sure hope those Flav-R-Ice pops do not have too much in them that is bad for kids because my kiddos probably eat too many of them each week. 25 calories for a snack isn't bad is it even though there is some sugar in them?!!
The sad part is that Kylie can just about eat her popsicle as well as the boys can. When it is a normal opsicle, she can eat that thing with no problem. Braden definitely loves to play ball. He has a pretty good arm on him for a 2 year old. Random picture for this post but this is what bathtime looks like at our house. The kids love to take a bath(most days they will take 2), and Kylie will even throw a little fit when me or Ryan take a shower and she cannot get in.
Harris' Easter Egg Hunt - we had a great day on Friday at Harris' house. The weather was beautiful and the kids had a blast. The kids played outside for a long time then we had lunch then the kids hunted easter eggs.
Pictured below is Macey, Madison, Harris, Cameron, Camille, Colton, Reed and Braden. "Macey, smile for Keeley" ...priceless then sweet Madison hanging out on the steps!
I wish that I had the following even on video because it was so funny. This was a conversation where Reed was telling Camille to go ride a cars with him and she did not want to go. Needless to say, Camille ended up grabbing Reed and trying her best to get him to go back to the swingset. Too cute! Camille still adores Kylie and cares way more about her than Braden and Reed. Kylie gets so excited when she sees Camille. Carolina and Harris riding the motorcycle together. Don't they look like a cute couple?!
The night before Easter, Ryan and I went out to dinner with people from my work for a wedding dinner shower. We ended up spending the night with my parents so we wouldn't have to wake the kids up that night.
Easter morning was very busy because we not only had to do the kids Easter baskets, but Ryan and I had to be at church at 7:30am since we were part of the church service. A family tradition of Ryan's growing up was that the Easter bunny leaves a trail of candy leading to the Easter baskets. The boys were way more excited about the candy than the actual baskets!
Now onto why we were part of the church service. I don't know if you have seen a "cardboard testimony" service but it was wonderful! I will hopefully have the video to post soon so you can see exactly what it was because it was very powerful. The front of the cardboard has your need and the flip side shows how God answered your need.
There were a lot of people that participated and we thankfully did not have to talk at all. We just walked on stage with Reed and showed the front side then flipped over the sign. Too hard to explain the whole thing so hopefully I will uploadthe video soon!
We had to participate in both services so we let the kids run off some energy after class before the second service. Braden payed back Camille for messing with his brother at the Easter egg hunt!! I love you Camille! I can see these being used in their Senior slideshow:-) After church, we went to my parents for lunch. Isn't Charley's outfit too cute?!! By the wa, she is walking now too. She knew she needed to keep up with Kylie.
Daddy tickling Kylie!
I hope you all had a great Easter too. Now onto summer fun!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Happy First Birthday Kylie Reese!

This past weekend was full of fun things. Ryan's parents came in town for the weekend to celebrate Kylie's birthday. They brought the cutest Easter buckets for the kids and they loved them! Braden was busy checking out what all was in his.

I would have never thought that a 2 year would like harmonicas but both of them really enjoyed trying to get noise to come out of them. Thanks Granny Carol for such a great idea and bucket full of fun stuff.
Kylie even got a bucket full of candy, chocolate bunnies, pinwheel, hair bows, etc.

Are these not the cutest pajamas?! These were also part of her bucket along with some headbands. Granny Carol doesn't have much experience with little girls and their bows:-) After the kids opened their buckets, Granny Carol and Grandpa hid eggs downstairs for the kids to have a little egg hunt. The weather was not cooperating for an outside one! I didn't know if Reed and Braden would "get it" this year but they really enjoyed filling their buckets full of eggs. I wish that I had Kylie on video because that girl was trying to run to the candy on the floor and stuff as much in her mouth as she possibly could. The pink eggs had cheerios in them but she could have cared less about those when she learned the others had chocolate in them. That's my girl!! Now, onto the party planning! Have any of you tried to make these infamous cake pops by Bakerella??!! They are such cute ideas so I thought I would try to make the cake pops into little chickens for Kylie's party. Well, let's just say the picture below is as far as I got with them. They were a disaster!!!
This was the cake pops before I attempted to dip them in yellow almond bark. All the pictures that I had seen of these had such a smooth candy coating and looked so pretty. Let's just say that mine looked like the boys had rolled them around in the coating and then played with them.

So onto plan B which was to just buy a cake at Publix...I should have just listened to Ryan in the first place:-) I would like to think that we taught Kylie how to show '1' with her fingers but we haven't even tried that. Wow, how things change with your 3rd child. Sorry Kylie, I do know the "pain" of being the last child!!!
I am trying to keep up with taking pictures of her though so that her baby book isn't as small as mine was compared to my brothers, Kyle and Craig. I love you mom, but you have to admit theirs were significantly fuller than mine. Oh well! Those of you who were the third child understand:-)
We had a great turn out for her party even though the weather was not the best. Of course, it had been beautiful the whole week leading up the her party then it stormed the day before and made Saturday pretty cold. So much for an outside party which was the original plan. I have learned that I have had to let my type A personality go with three kids 29 months and younger. I am sure that will be the case no matter what their age is! Sweet little Charley with Tina. She is officially 10 days older than Kylie.
Ryan's dad brought up some crawfish to boil for the party. I was not a big fan of this idea since crawfish does not smell the best. But, I did compromise and let Ryan have it as long as they boiled them outside:-) The kids did enjoy playing outside some but for the most part, most of them stayed inside. We had planned the party for my parent's house since they have a great yard but thank goodness we did because I do not know where all the people would have fit in our house. I hope that Tori, Brady, Colton, Callie, Taylor, Weston, Charley, Reese, Rylie, Maddi, Preston, and Camille all had a good time despite the cold weather.


Kylie waiting for her chocolate cupcake. I had bought her a white cake with white icing for her "smash cake" but Ryan thought that chocolate was better so that it would show up in pictures. Next year, I am going to let him plan the party....just kidding. I love you Ryan!

When does taking a family picture get easier? We are going to get a professional picture done this summer of our family but I sure hope Tucker has much better luck than this!!!

Family Picture Take 1

Family Picture Take 2

Family Picture Take 3

Family Picture Take 4


Family Picture Take 5....Oh well, maybe next year!

This was when we were singing Happy Birthday to Kylie but I think that Reed and Maddi thought we were singing to them! Kylie didn't dig in quite like I thought she would. She ate some of it but then didn't really like the cupcake being all over her hands. Maybe she is going to be a little like her mommy.


Aunt Tina got Kylie the softest and cutest little rabbit. I hope that she falls in love with this just like Braden did with the rabbit Aunt Tina bought him 2 years ago! I don't know what it is about my dad but kids love him. Reese and Rylee sat forever and let him read to them. It was the cutest thing. Reese and Rylee are twins and they have a little brother about 17 months younger than them. I tell Lia that is is very doable but you just have to let some things go. I keep reminding myself of that weekly:-)
Charley was enjoying her some ice out of the cooler.

These were what I had planned for the activity since we were going to be inside. I saw something similar to this online but they only used one finger for the ears. Didn't these turn out so cute?!!
All you do is paint your child's palm and fingers (not the thumb) white then pair up the fingers to make the ears and push the child's hand down to make the print. Then clean off their and and paint the tip of one finger pink to make the nose then paint that same finger pink to press for the pinks of the ears!!! I put the eyes on there with glue and just drew the mouth with a Sharpie. Fun and simple!
We have had a great first year with Kylie and we pray that this next year brings as much happiness as this past year did.