Sleepover with Taylee

I had spent the later part of the summer convincing the Vansickle's that I could keep Taylee one night so that they could celebrate their 10 year anniversary. Thankful Taylee was on my side and when Melissa asked her if she would want to spend the night with Abbie she responded with, "It's what I have been waiting my whole life for." Yea, Taylee! So September 25, 2010 was Taylee and Abbie's first successful sleepover. I was a little worried that Taylee would get homesick and want to head home but she was great! We had lots of fun playing dress-up, coloring, building a fort, eating chicken nuggets and mac and cheese, popping popcorn, and watching a movie.

Rylee had a good time with the dress-up too...

More into the movie than my picture taking...

Halloween costumes are here

I have found this cheap website that has hundreds of costumes to choose from and so Abbie and spent one afternoon looking through costumes and picking just the right one. Abbie fell in love with Sleeping Beauty and since Aurora has been her favorite Disney princess for at least the last year I felt it was appropriate for her.

Rylee's costume was harder to decide since she had no preference and there was literally 500+ to choose from. Abbie and I narrowed it down to about 5 and decided on a pink ladybug. The antenna hat was what put me over the edge to decide it was as cute as a bug! :)

Billings Marathon

When you read the title of this entry I hope you didn't think I would ever consider running a marathon of any kind. I do enjoy running my 3o minutes a day with my friends but more than a 10K and my attention span seems to be too short. I headed down to the Billings marathon as a cheerleader instead. Melissa and I took Taylee and Abbie and had a fun girls weekend where we ate at Chuckie Cheese, swam in the pool, and cheered Melissa on as she completed the marathon.

What a pair of cuties!

The bubbles in the hot tub were a lot of fun to play with.

Taylee and Abbie even met another little girl their same age while we played in the pool (while I was relaxing in the hot tub and watching the girls play Melissa had been running 7 miles)

While we waited for Melissa to circle into the last lap in the stadium, the girls showed me how fast they could run too...

I would not look like this after running 13 miles......HOORAY for Melissa!! She is amazing in my world.

1st Dance of 2010

September 13, 2010 was Abbie's first dance class of the 2010-2011 year. The first class is always a viewing lesson. I love to videotape this lesson because it is so fun to compare this lesson to the one in the spring to see how far she has come over the year. This year she is in the 2nd level of tap class where there seems to be more dancing and practicing and less game playing then there was in the 1st level of tap.

Abbie's First Campout---Almost

I had had this idea this summer that we should camp outside where Abbie got to see what sleeping in a tent was like while having her first sleepover. I figured the girls were too young to have a sleepover by themselves, but if the moms came too then hopefully it would be enjoyable for everyone. I proposed the idea to Melissa but the summer came to a close and I still hadn't acted on this idea of mine. Thankfully, she took the idea and ran with it. September 11th we attempted Abbie's first sleepover and camp out at the Allen's. We spent the day packing all the possible necessities we would need to head to the yard 1/2 a block away. Abbie had been running a fever the day before but other then seeming tired she seemed good to go for the sleepover. We headed over to the Allen's after dinner and started setting up the tent....

The girls all took turns pounding in the stakes and had a great time putting up the tent.

Ah, now doesn't this look great......

We rolled out the sleeping bags and blankets and were getting ready to roast some marshmallows when Abbie started to cry uncontrollably complaining of an earache. I gave her some Tylenol hoping that would work. It worked just a little but there were still tears and pain. With Carrie's connections I was able to get a prescription so Rylee and I (did I mention I had both girls at this campout) headed to Walgreens at 9:30 for an antibiotic. I gave Abbie her antibiotic and we tried to climb into the tent and go to sleep. I had put Abbie next to me in the tent so she was unhappy about that and so there were still lots of tears in the tent. I assumed the tears were because she had to sleep by me instead of her friends and I threatened that we would go home if she didn't quit crying. By 11:30 I had had it so I packed up both girls and we headed home. The campout was over. I don't get mother of the year for certain because the tears were because her ear, she probably could've cared less where she slept that night. I finally got Abbie to sleep after 2 am, a heating pad on her ear, and a second dose of antibiotic. I felt horrible about the campout and how devastated she was that she had to miss it and that I totally blew off her ear pain. Nice parenting!!

Rylee's Taking Gymnastics

As of September the only organized activity I have put Rylee in was one month of swimming lessons this summer. The swimming lessons were trying on me. Rylee is VERY used to getting her own way so if she wanted to jump off the side of the pool rather than practicing floating on her back she would scream until she got her way. As an adult this is humiliating in front of other parents and there was one swimming lesson where I was certain that we wouldn't be back. Since teaching my kids to be quitters wasn't really the motto I was striving for, I decided to head back the next Thursday and try it again. It got a little better over the course of the month of swimming when she finally realized that we were going to do what we were supposed to do rather than just what Rylee wanted to do (which again was jump off the side of the pool by herself...she has NO fear). It was during swimming however, that I decided I was going to need to sign Rylee up for something else that helps her to understand we need to follow directions, wait our turn, have respect for others, and so on. I decided gymnastics really helped Abbie at that age, so I signed Rylee up to start parent participation gymnastics on September 1, 2o1o.

We'll see how it goes...the first night she liked jumping into the pit and running down the floor and then turning around and running back to me. She wasn't much for waiting her turn, or doing what the teacher asked her to do.

1st day of School

August 25, 2010...........My baby isn't a baby anymore! I cannot believe my first born child is old enough to be going to kindergarten. Wasn't it just yesterday that I was walking back and forth every evening trying to comfort the colicky infant? Wasn't it yesterday that I was sleeping next to her on the couch staring at her to make sure she was still breathing? Wasn't it just yesterday that I was shoveling in baby food peas as fast as I could? As much as I loved those stages in Abbie's life I love the little friend that she has become...she is so fun to talk to and laugh with. I hope she loves school and that it will come easy for her. I worry about her because she is so tenderhearted and such a people pleaser.

Abbie is in Miss Thunstrom's class, a teacher I have heard nothing but good things about. She has been very excited about going to school and each time we pass her school she yells out that now that will be "her school." We read a book about kindergarten and after we were finished I asked if she was nervous or scared about anything, "Nope, I'll be OK" was her reply. I think it helps that her two buddies, Jenna and Norah, are also in the same class.

Our first day of school in 2010 (this is Abbie's 1st day and my 29th)

Jeremy and I took Abbie to school and were expecting that she was going to look back at least once at us with a look of worry or concern. Nope....not once. She found her friends and we (me) had to yell at her to get her attention to say good-bye and tell her to have a good day. That is exactly how I wanted it...just hard to realize that me baby is growing up so quickly. Surprisingly I had just a few tears as she walked into the building....instead I was so happy she was so excited and already had such great friends.

Norah and Abbie

Jenna, Norah, and Abbie

Norah, Abbie, Jasmyn, and Emily

Learning to Ride a Bike

One of my favorite things about this summer was teaching Abbie to ride a bike. In the moments of actual teaching it wasn't maybe a great experience, but now when I reflect back...I loved it!! Jeremy and I both started trying to teach her off and on all summer. We started with the running beside her and holding onto the bike, saying a lot of "Keep your head up" and "Pedal, Pedal, Pedal". One trip around the block and we would have to change parents....it was exhausting crouching down that low plus hard on the patience when she just wasn't getting it. This was the process we did for all of July.

Then one afternoon in August, Jeremy decided we would put her at the top of the driveway and she would pedal down and he would catch her at the bottom. My job was to run alongside again just in case. That day was the day she finally understood about balance and the importance of keeping up her momentum. It took one more afternoon on the driveway and then she was riding around the block on her own while I was having to break into a jog to keep up. It was amazing to watch the excitement on her face when she finally rode down the driveway by herself!! Those moments are the ones that make parenting the most rewarding thing in the world. I am truly blessed to have my two little girls!

Camping at Hoover Creek

Our last camping trip of the year was in mid August at Hoover Creek. Although we have spent a lot of time traveling in the camper this summer, little of that has been spent camping in the mountains. For some reason I associated camping with the mountain setting and so it hasn't really felt to me like we camped this summer, so I enjoyed this trip so much. When we are in the mountains we relax and spend so much time playing and watching the girls play that I hate to go back to the distractions of TV, computers, cell phones, and selfishly...other people.

Abbie taught Rylee how to make some of the famous "soups" we have made here at Hoover creek in the past. This time is was "Mermaid Stew". Yummy!

Rylee is trying a little of the "soup" out on her swimsuit. Who knows with the mud, twigs, and berries it may be good for the skin.

Jeremy made us some beautiful princess headbands.

The headbands made Jeremy look prince-like too!

Rylee still isn't saying many words, however she is developing quite a personality. She loves to do everything that Abbie does. Apparently she likes to do everything Sissy does too because on this trip we would throw the ball, and Rylee would go "fetch it"....

and bring it back.

This camping trip to Hoover Creek brought a lot of firsts for Abbie. Jeremy taught her how to shoot a gun this trip. She had a large mountain to shoot at and so she and Jeremy made some targets and spent about an hour having a target practice. Who needs boys??

Jeremy also taught Abbie to drive the 4-wheeler by herself this weekend. She had no fear at all. In fact she would start from a standstill and floor it to go as fast as possible. She also wasn't afraid to climb any and all hills. She was willing to go up hills that I wasn't even willing to try.

During one of our family 4-wheeler rides, Rylee fell asleep. We were used to Abbie falling asleep at Rylee's age on every ride, but Rylee fiddles and fidgits and looks around the whole ride so falling asleep was unusual. When she fell asleep she fell asleep hard so we had a little fun with her....

Professional Photographer---Take 2!

I was so happy with the pictures from Morony Dam that I decided to take the girls out again during the same week and try again. It was much too light out so I didn't like all of the shadows, but I still think the girls themselves are cute. Abbie now picks her own poses..I enjoy letting her pick everything since I am just happy that she is willing to let me take some photos and I like to see her personality come out in the poses she chooses.

This looks like a senior portrait pose...5 going on 15!

This one is my favorite of the day!

Rylee's poses are more of a challenge since she doesn't really like sitting still or looking at the camera, or basically doesn't like pictures in general!

Way to sunny for pictures but I do like Rylee's somewhat mischievous look.

This is my favorite of Rylee for the day. She looks like she is about to explode with giggles.

Professional Photographer

The beginning of August I decided to try out my photography skills with my girls as well as Melissa and Taylee. We packed a picnic lunch and headed out to Ryan Dam where we hoped to take some pictures.


The places where we had hoped to take pictures at Ryan Dam were blocked off due to construction so we drove on to Morony Dam and found a great house that provided some shade and some great pictures...if I do say so myself.

Taylee brought some pettishirts that she was willing to share with the girls. To them, that made the whole photo session!

Melissa was also nice enough to snap some photos of the girls and I as well.