I'm a Big Boy Now

Not in size, obviously. Javyn will always be our short boy, but he is potty trained. YEA. About three weeks ago, I woke up one morning and thougt 'Maybe I could potty train Javyn'. And of course the first day is always great, you think they've got it because they do so good. So deceiving. So I decided to continue, and to say the least the rest of the week was a nightmare. Finally, after the week was over, I was crying on the couch to Nick because we decided maybe he wasn't really ready, when Javyn came up and told us he needed to go potty. So we continued. The next two weeks was an up and down roller coaster ride, but this past week I can finally say he's got it. After five years of diapers I am done for a while. Though I have to say, it was a lot easier only having to worry about changing a diaper a couple of times a day than to have to remember every two or three hours to remind him to go potty. But Yea for him.

My New Hobby

I live in the most wonderful place. One of the wonderful things about it is the miles and miles of cross country ski trails. I am ashamed to admit I have never taken advantage of them until this past month, the last month of snow this year. Nick, Mackay and I went the first time. Nick did not care for it at all, and wouldn't go again. I loved it and can't wait until I can really learn how to do it (I was not moving anything like the guy who flew past me and scared the living daylights out of me).

I went with Mackay and his family. We had so much fun, though his mom and I could not wear our shoes to church the next day due to bloody heels (bad socks that day for me).

So if anyone knows where I can learn how to really x-country ski, let me know. Until then, watch out, please. When you are all alone and something just flies right past you, it is kinda scary.

Rylee is 5

Rylee's birthday was on the 11th of Feb, and we had a Tinkerbell party. She is so excited to be 5 like her cousins that she plays with, but now cannot understand why she cannot go to their primary class:) Rylee is such a sweet and grateful girl. The whole time I was decorating her cake she kept saying "Thank you Mama' and "I love it". (I don't know where she gets 'Mama' from. Nick thinks it is hilarious. Drey calls me mom or mommy, and Nick and I always refer to me as mom or mommy. I think it is cute, shows her personallity.) For a week after, every day she would say "Thank you Mama, for making my Tinkerbell cake, that was so nice of you". She is the same way whenever you do anything for her or give her something.

When I put the candle on her cake, Nick asked me if I had forgot to get her a candle. I was offended that he would think I was so neglectful, and told him I had bought it with the other birthday stuff. So he asked why I bought a 4 instead of a 5, and even then it took me a second to realize what I had done. Luckily, Rylee was only interested in blowing out the candle.

Rylee got this Leapfrog for her birthday. She didn't really know what to do with it, but knows her cousins have similar things so she thinks it is pretty cool. Another reason of why she is so sweet, Drey was pretty upset that he was not going to get to open any presents. So when he saw the last gift get handed to her to open, he started crying wanting so bad to open one. So Rylee let him open if for her, and it made Drey's night. He didn't care for a toy, he just wanted to open a presents. Then, of course Javyn LOVED the Leapfrog, so she let him play with it the rest of the night. She is such a good sharer, and always wants to make sure the other kids around her are happy, even if she has to give something up. I do love this girl.

This picture is hilarious. The boys were sleeping and Rylee was in the kitchen with me making dinner. This was back in November, and it was the first snowfall, though it didn't even stick to the ground. Rylee was so excited because she wanted to play in it, and because she knew it meant Christmas was near. So she disappeared for about 10 minutes, the came back in and said, "OK Mama, I am ready to go play in the snow". She was in pants and a long sleeve shirt before this. I did get a coat on her before she went out.

From the time I was little I always looked forward to something later on in life, and wishing the time away until that time came. Turning 16 and being able to drive, junior prom, graduation, getting married, and having kids. Time seemed to go by so slow, always waiting for the future. And then I had Rylee, and my boys of course, but Rylee was my first. I am no longer waiting for anything to happen, I just want time to slow down to prolong every day I have with my children, to do more with them and love them. I try to memorize everything they say and do, write it down, but going back through my journal it is not the same. It is not that I don't want them to grow up, I love and look forward to watching them grow and experiencing new things. I just wish that maybe one day would last as long as a year, that I just had more time to enjoy them. But I guess that is why we should make each day count. One of Nick and I's favorite thing about Rylee is when we pick up her, from school, primary or whatever. She is always so excited to see us. When I pick her up from preschool, from the moment she see me she runs yelling "Mama, Mama", then gives me the biggest hug when she reaches me. It makes my day. Rylee is such a joy in our lives and I love her so much, and I am so thankful she is our little Princess.

What We've Been Up To

I love to cook, and I love to try new things. Sometimes what I cook turns out, sometimes it is a disaster. I have always been afraid to try bread. Something about the yeast scares me, along with worrying if it would come out hard or heavy. And I don't have a big enough mixer and was afraid to do it by hand. But finally I got brave and decided to try it, by hand, and I kept going to make cinnamon rolls and dinner rolls.
The bread was soooo good. I am so excited that I can make it now. I love homemade bread with jam. The cinnamon rolls were made with the same dough as the bread, and they were great too. The frosting even turned out, which is great considering I was adding stuff here and there.

The rolls were a different recipe, and I knew from the start they weren't going to be great. The dough was heavy, and I didn't know how to change that. If anyone knows how, let me know. So it never did rise like it should. The rolls were okay, we ate them with lots of butter and jam because they were heavy and dry, but edible.

These are the desserts I made for Christmas Eve dinner. I saw these recipes and couldn't decide which ones to choose, so I made all of them, and miraculously they all turned out great. Well, except for the frostin on the christmas tree, it was kinda nasty, I blame it on the recipe:) But I had so much fun.

This child loves computers, printers, remotes, phones, or anything that has buttons. He loves to try and figure out what the buttons do on the remote for the TV. Take the letters off the keyboard on the computer. Leave the phone off the hook to hear the loud beeping noise, then run away saying "UH OH". Paging the phones, and transfering calls. Copying papers. Turning the TV up as loud as it goes. He also loves the bathtub. I heard the water running in my bathroom one day and went to check it out. The bathtub is almost full, and he is standing there fully dressed, with his adorable smile trying to get out of the trouble he knows he is in. Luckily he has not figured out how to open doors yet, so we have to remember to keep them shut.

Fun in the Snow

We love the snow. I love the snow so much that I even shovel the sidewalk and driveway. Some people think Nick is lazy and won't do it, but really it is my way of 'playing' in the snow, and it can replace the boring, inside workout on the elliptical. Though tonight, the snow was not that great. I thought our van was good in snow, tonight proved otherwise. I got stuck for the first time coming up the hill to our house, in a dress with house slippers on. Luckily my parents decided to take a ride in the Ranger at that time, saw me and came up behind me and pushed me out. I am brave in the snow with the Armada, not so much in the van. But of course I can't wait to shovel the sidewalk in the morning:)

We have an awesome sledding hill. The trail is groomed, so the snow is packed and it is awesome

Seriously, he reminded me of the kid off of A Christmas Story, he would fall down and not be able to get up on his own. But he loved his first time playing in the snow.

We also have a big hill in our yard, so the kids can go just out the door and sled. We also built a snowman, well, I did anyway, but forgot to get a picture

Princess Rylee
So Nick asked me if our kids will ever know their real identity because all they do is dress up all day long, outfit after outfit. When I explained to Rylee that Disney Land was where all the Princesses lived, she said, "Okay Mom, we will go there and then you guys will come home and I will stay". I said, "No, you will have to come home with us". She said, "No, I am a princess and I have to live at the castle with all the other princesses." Fortunately, she did come home with us.

The Incredible Hulk

He seriously wore this costme out in a week, and the little stinker loved to scare all the little kids with the gloves

Christmas Morning

Nick suprised me with a piano for Christmas

I Love It, and him, he's awesome

Christmas Eve at Grandpa's and Grandma's, minus 7 grandchildren

We have SO MUCH FUN

Rylee's First Christmas Program

The Polar Express

DisneyLand

We had so much fun. It was not too busy on Friday, so that was good. But on Monday it was awesome. It rained all day long, and so we thought by noon we would be done, and so we would head home early. But it was the best day to go. Only those with non-refundable tickets go to DisneyLand on a rainy day, and there must not be that many. We put on our coats, paunchos and umbrellas and headed out, I wish I had a picture of that. We were able to walk on every ride, no wait. Rylee's favorite ride was Splash Mountain, she couldn't quit talking about it. Her least favorite was Space Mountain, too fast and too dark. It was my favorite, the visual is awesome. Drey's was Buzz Lightyear. He was sad he could not ride the bigger rides with Rylee, but we kept him busy with other rides. Javyn was such a good sport. He rode every ride he could, like it or not. Once he got used to the dark he loved it. His big blue eyes would fill with curiosity when we got on the ride, then fill with excitement. We took our kids on the Haunted Mansion and felt like the worst parents ever. They were so scared, I kept telling them it was just a fake movie to try and keep the calm through it. Nick's favorite ride was the Hollywood Hotel of Terror, it was my least favorite. I had already experienced this ride at Disney World and swore I would not do it again, but he should try it. I don't like rides that drop you, and I haven't been on one since. He went and came out saying how phenominal it was because of the story and affects, and the drops were not that bad, and that I HAD to go. LIAR, it was awful. I am sure I gave everyone on the ride something to laugh about as all I could do was scream "Please not again, let it be over". But we had so much fun, it is our new favorite place and we are already trying to plan our next trip. It is the Happiest Place on Earth.
Nick and Javyn on the carousel

Drey having a blast on the flying elephants

Tea Cups

We were coming out of the bathroom the same time as Pluto. The kids were so excited and ran over for a picture. After, Pluto grabbed their hands and skipped around Critter Land with them.

He became their new best friend

We are having a blast

We sat on the sidewalk, while eating dinner of course, for an hour to have a good spot for the parade. It was great.

Sleeping Beauty's Castle was beautiful. All the lights were awesome.

We sat on the sidewalk for another hour waiting for fireworks. The kids had completely given out by this time.

But of course I made them wake up for the fireworks, though I don't think they got much out of it.

Rylee had to wear her Sleeping Beauty costume, so Drey had to wear Spiderman.

Rylee's favorite princess is Sleeping Beauty, and she was so excited to see her that she was speechless.

The kids new favorite thing to do is bowl. The morning we left Nick asked Drey if he was ready to go home, Drey said no he wanted to go bowling.

It was so cold at the beach. I thought it was funny to be at the beach, running in the waves, with our pants rolled up and our coats on.

Just running from the waves

Building a sand castle. Nick would not let the cold stop us from having fun.

We are the Happiest people on Earth

Why you wonder, how do we know?

Because we are at the HAPPIEST, MERRIEST PLACE ON EARTH, and we are having a blast:)

My Baby Boy

BEFORE
AFTER I decided to get his beautiful blond hair cut. Big mistake, I am still crying about it, litterally. I don't care when I get a bad hair cut, I would have taken Rylee getting her hair all cut off better than this. He doesn't even look like himself, not like my babyboy.

This is a picture after one meal. How can a child get this messy, the back of him looks as bad as the front. He loves to cheese it for the camera, at least he still has his cheesy smile. He is such a happy boy. This past week he has been so sick, and his finger got smashed in the door and got infected really bad, but through it all he is just so happy (as long as you don't touch his finger). I just love him.