Easton is 2!!

This post is about a month late, I just could never get around to doing it.  Anyway, I can't believe my baby is 2!  He is so much fun to have around.  He is talking like crazy.  He loves to sing Twinkle Little Star and I am a Child of God.  We've also got him saying 'I workout', its from a song and it's pretty funny when he says it.  His favorite thing is still his blankets which he calls his 'bundies'.  He loves playing with cars and books and even the occasional barbie (he has sisters so I guess we had to expect it).  He loves his sisters and always wants to play with them.  Lately he has been into Shrek and always wants to watch it.  He also likes monsters, and meow meows (cats).  His nickname is still Beaston because he is into everything and is very destructive.  He is definitely in his terrible twos.  He can throw a tantrum that I have never seen my girls throw.  He likes to get his way.  We took him out of his crib and now he sleeps with mom and dad.  Naps are also a chore to get him to take.  He is always on the go and doesn't want to miss a minute of anything.  I'm 100% positive he is my last baby.  I am so exhausted all day because he keeps me so busy.  It is fun to have a boy though, and we love him so much.

 We had a small birthday party for him on November 6 which is Porter's birthday.  I think it is kind of fun that their birthdays are only a day apart.  I'm not exactly sure what Porter thinks about that, but I think he likes it too.

Easton got a lot of really fun birthday presents and had fun with them all.

 His birthday was monkey themed because he basically is a monkey with as much climbing and mischief he gets into.  I made the monkey birthday cake, which was a little harder than I thought it was going to be but I think it turned out alright.

 Easton liked blowing out his candles but didn't really enjoy eating the cake.  He is the pickiest eater and doesn't really enjoy cake and ice cream.  He is more of a protein eater and not much of a sweet eater like most kids are.  At least he tried some of it, which surprised me.

 This picture was a little bit after everyone left.  He was exhausted and fell right to sleep.  I think he had a pretty good day.

Halloween

I don't think I like Halloween on a Monday.  It seemed like it went by so fast.  The girls got out of school at 4:00 and we had to hurry home and get them dressed in their costumes.  The schools don't let the kids wear costumes except Brynlie was able to put hers on for her class party and Rylie's class had pajama and crazy hair day.   So, we hurry to get ready to leave to go to my parents house.  I like the kids to experience real trick or treating by going house to house and my parents' neighborhood is the best place for that.  Our wards trunk or treat was at 7:00 so we had to hurry and eat dinner and take the kids around the block.  Jared and Mindi were there and the kids always love to play with Jared.  Easton had a blast going from door to door.  At the beginning we had to tell him to hurry because the other kids were running and leaving him behind.  Once he realized that he got candy at the doors he was off and running.  He kept telling himself  "Hurry, buddy, hurry."  Which is what we were saying to him at the beginning.  The kids were having so much fun that I felt bad that we had to leave.  We then went to our wards trunk or treat and the kids got a ton of candy.  Then we went to a scary decorated house that really goes all out for Halloween and they have people that hide and jump out and scare you.  Then we went to one of Porter's friends houses to visit for a few minutes.  Finally we got the kids home and in bed because they had school in the morning.  It was a really rushed Halloween but the kids had fun and I think we got to do everything that we wanted to do.

Rylie as our version of the bride of Frankenstein.

 Brynlie is dressed up as the Monster High doll Clawdeen Werewolf.

Easton as a monkey.

Bike riding

 My girls finally learned to ride their bikes without training wheels.  We've been working with Rylie for a couple of years but she was too scared to even try.  She would get angry and I would get frustrated so I finally gave up.  I had taught her all she needed to know she just had to want to do it.  Brynlie wanted to learn without training wheels but I was discouraged to even let her try because of my experiences with Rylie. 

A few weeks ago Porter's brother and sister-in-law, Luke and Elyna, gave us one of their kids old bikes that they had grown too big for.  It didn't have training wheels and was the perfect size for Brynlie.    When we got home, Brynlie was so excited to try it out.  It took one push and she was off.  She caught onto it so fast I was surprised.  She only had a couple of falls and now she is a pro.  Rylie saw that Brynlie had done it and so she wanted to try.  We took off the training wheels on her bike and kept trying with her but she would keep putting her feet down and getting mad and saying she couldn't do it.  I finally had to explain to her that we have told her all she needs to know on how to ride a bike and that the rest was up to her.  I told her she just had to practice and keep trying.  I felt so bad when I would see her face while she watched Brynlie and the frustration she had when she had a hard time doing it.  So after a little while she finally got the hang of it and after a few days she was really good.  Now both Rylie and Brynlie are great at it and are starting to think they can do all sorts of tricks on their bikes.  There are a few falls every now and then but no more tears.

I really wish I would have gotten some pictures on a better day but they ride their bikes every day and this is the only day I remembered to get the camera.  Rylie still likes to wear her knee and elbow pads and her gardening gloves when she rides her bike.  She had always been my most cautious child and will always try to prevent injury.  I am glad they love riding their bikes, it's just too bad there are no sidewalks where we live so there aren't too many places to ride.



Kids New Pics

A couple weeks ago we went and took the kids pictures.  They needed new pictures really bad.  We went to a couple of different locations and got some really good pictures.  Easton had quite a few meltdowns and we had a hard time keeping him still long enough for the pictures but I'm happy with the way they turned out.  Of course I'm only half way done with the editing, so I'm only posting what I have done so far and I will post the others when I'm done.  It is going to be so hard to decide which ones I want to print and hang on the wall because there are quite a few to choose from.  How does one choose?



First Day of School

The girls started school last week.  I can't believe summer is already gone.  Now that Brynlie has started school I had them hold up signs in the pictures so I could remember what grade they were in.  I was so worried about them starting school.  Rylie has a new teacher that no one has heard of, so I've been nervous to see if she is any good.  Rylie seems to think she is nice.  Rylie has made a few new friends, but she still likes to play with her old friends.  She seems to like school a lot better than the previous years.

 I was super nervous about Brynlie starting school.  She doesn't like to listen to me very well and can't stay on task for very long so I thought her teacher was going to have a hard time with her.  You should see her in primary!  She is taking off her shoes, twirling, standing on her chair, I thought for sure she would be the same in school.

The night before school Brynlie was really nervous and had a hard time sleeping and had tummy aches.  When I took her into her classroom she asked me to help her find a spot to sit and then asked if I could stay.  I felt really horrible about leaving her.  This is my baby girl!  When I went to pick her up she ran to me and said " I love school!"  Then she asked if she could go the next day.  When I told her she only goes two days a week she said that it wasn't fair that Rylie got to go everyday.  I was worried about her being at school all day but she seemed to be adjusting really well with the long day.  I also found out that she is really good in class and does her work and is doing really well.  Nothing at all like Primary.  I shouldn't say I was surprised, but I was.  Hopefully the school year will continue to be a good one for my girls.

Rylie's Baptism

Rylie was baptized Aug 6, 2011.  We are very proud of her for making the decision to be baptized.  We were also very thankful for all of the family members who showed up to make this day extra special for her.

After the baptism we had family come up to our house for a luncheon.  We had just poured curbing and laid sod the day before so we were really excited to be able to have people come over to our house and actually be able to entertain on our back porch.  We had a yummy lunch and I made Rylie cupcakes because she never got a birthday cake, so we had to sing Happy Birthday to her.  We finally got Rylie the badminton set she wanted for her birthday and had it set up.  She got brand new scriptures with her name engraved on them from G-ma and G-pa Galloway and a birthstone necklace that said 'I am a child of God' and a bunch of cute earrings from G-ma and G-pa Dahl, we gave her a journal and she got a bunch of other cute things from her aunts, uncles, and cousins.  The kids all had fun playing together and it was a really good day.

Happy Birthday Rylie!

Rylie turned 8 years old on the 28th of July.  Where has the time gone!  I can't believe I have an 8 year old.  She is such a good girl.  She is very helpful and sweet and super smart.  She is excited to be baptized.  She acts so grown up most of the time.  We call her our little mother because she takes such good care of her baby brother.  We usually don't have to ask her to look after Easton she just automatically does.

For Rylie's birthday this year we decided to take her out as a family and let her decide what we would go do.  We decided not to have a big party because we are having a big get together for her baptism.  Rylie chose to go miniature golfing and to go to the new Chuck-a rama to eat.

The girls had fun for the first little while.  Brynlie got a hole in one on her first shot and got to pick out a candy.  Rylie got a specialty golf ball because it was her birthday.  Toward the 11th hole we got stuck behind some slow people and it was really hot and the girls started complaining.  So about hole 15 we decided to leave early and to try it another day.  We went out to eat and Rylie got some presents (barbie stuff, of course).  She really wanted a badminton set for her birthday but we weren't able to find a decent one for an affordable price so we are still looking.  I think she had a pretty good birthday.  Definitely different from all of the others she has had, but I think now that she is getting older, the big parties are going to start becoming smaller parties and she is o.k. with that.

Summer Fun

We didn't have a vacation planned for this year so we decided to take the kids and do some local stuff this summer.  We took the kids to the Hogle Zoo and they loved it.  Rylie and Brynlie have been a couple of times but this was Easton's first time at the zoo.  It was the perfect day to go.  It wasn't very hot and it was mostly overcast.  The kids enjoyed the animals but their favorite part was the animatronic dinosaurs that the zoo had on display.  They also had fun on the playground.  It was a little difficult with Easton because he had to miss his nap and got a little cranky and hard to handle, but for the most part we had a lot of fun.

We also got to take the girls to Lagoon this year.  The last time we went was when Rylie was 2 and  I was pregnant with Brynlie so we didn't get to go on very many rides.  The girls were so excited to go.  Brynlie couldn't go on the big roller coasters but there were still a lot of rides that she could go on.  She loved the dragon ride in the kiddie area.  She would giggle and squeal and laugh.  It was so fun to go on rides with her because she had so much fun.  Rylie went on all the big rides.  I couldn't believe she went on the colossus, the new roller coaster called Wicked, the Rocket and a bunch of others.  She is such a tiny thing and was so brave to go on those rides.  I loved going with her.  She is getting so big and is so much fun to be with.

 Brynlie loved the Log ride and had to go again and again.  Rattlesnake Rapids was shut down for the day so this was the only ride to cool off on.

 Look how tiny Rylie looks on this ride.  Nobody could believe that she went on this ride.  I think I screamed more than Rylie did on this one.

Porter got sick after a couple of rides so he had to sit out the rest of the day.  He played games and won several toys for the girls.  He did best at golf and won the girls a big stuffed animal.  We had a lot of fun and the girls can't wait to go again.  Thank goodness my mom was able to watch Easton.  I don't think he would have lasted very long without anything to do.  It was nice to have a day with the girls.

Softball

This was Rylie's first year of coach pitch softball.  She played one year of t-ball and was finally old enough for softball.  The age group for her team was 8-10 years.  She is still 7, so she was the youngest on her team.  Most of the girls had softball experience so her first game I was a little nervous.  I cannot believe how well she did.  She was very timid her first game but she hit the ball and got on base every time.

Her Aunt Cassie played high school softball and after graduating was a coach, so she came over to our house one day and gave Rylie a lot of tips and help.  After that Rylie did amazing at her games.  She really started to love softball and was really sad when it was over.

This was Brynlie's first year in t-ball and she was on a team with her cousin Seth.  She told us that she thought it was boring.  I guess it was too much standing around and waiting.  She loves to move and run.  She did really good at hitting the ball and waving at us whenever she had the chance.  We had to take her on many potty breaks in the middle of games.  She would just run off the field at any time for a drink.

Porter got these pictures of her goofing off and dancing around when it was her teams turn outfield.  She would tell me that Seth would always tell her to pay attention.  She'll probably play again next year but it got me wondering if maybe soccer would be a better sport for her.