Adventures in June.

I turned 32! Getting older doesn’t bother me but I’m starting to get annoyed by all of the gray hairs I have now.  I haven’t dyed my hair in over ten years so I’m thinking it’s about time.  

The girls had a fun week in the middle of June.  Their bio dad came into town.  It had been a couple years since his last visit.  He spoiled them like crazy and took them all over town.   I was afraid the visit would be uncomfortable since he and I don’t really get along but we were surprisingly mature and didn’t fight with each other! Woo!

We took trips to several nearby nurseries to look for trees and get an idea of what we wanted for the new landscaping.  The nursery that we ended up buying our trees from has goats that you can feed.  It turns out that Ryan really doesn’t like animals up close but he’ll wave hi like crazy from a distance.  He did like to feed the fish in the pond.  I think they were far enough away.

May.

Ryan had his first trip to the dentist!  The dental office I found near us is very family friendly.  They had a little play area in the waiting room that Ryan loved and then when we got back to the exam chairs they gave him a pair of sunglasses to wear and turned on Netflix to Mickey Mouse!  He sat still the whole time!

 We explored Spokane a little bit.  There are so many parks tucked into the city.

 After the park we had lunch at a place called Anthony's.  It's right off the Spokane River so it has an amazing view of the falls.  Ryan kept looking out the window and gasping, it was hilarious!

 We started to work on potty training a little bit.  He'll sit still and watch movies on the iPad.

 May also meant our double birthdays.  Maylyn invited a couple friends over to decorate cupcakes for her birthday party.  She LOVES horses so we made horse cupcakes.

 Kaeleigh had initially thought she was "too cool" for little sister's cupcake party but then decided that it might be fun.

Ryan's birthday was the 18th.  I can't believe this little boy is two years old. Trying to get a two year old to cooperate and take pictures was fun. 

Stand still. Leave the glasses on. Smile!  Ugh.

 He fell and hit his eye two days before his birthday so it looked like he had been in a fight and got a black eye.  At his well visit he weighed 27 pounds.  His height, weight, and head circumference all fell in the 50th percentile. He's not the best eater but he does have some favorites.  Pizza is definitely number one with peanut butter close behind.  I'm doing like his doctor said and continuing to offer him everything we're eating but he's a turkey and picks at his food.  He's not much of a talker.  While his pediatrician isn't concerned about it, it worries and frustrates me.  He'll sign things like, "more." "Please." "All done." His doctor says that he has his sisters and me to answer for him so of course he's not talking.  The one thing he says consistently is Dad.  This little mama's boy refuses to say Mama.  Oh well, what can you do?

We celebrated both birthdays together with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law and we Skyped during present time with my parents so it was almost like they were there!

Maylyn turned 9 this year.  She has started to outgrow the Barbies and is now all about Lego Friends.  And she still asks for a horse every year.  Who am I kidding?  She asks nearly every day for a horse.  Can you guess what she picked as the theme of her room?  :)

I need to get a better picture of the two of them for this year but I just love seeing how much they grow and change each year.

Family Pictures.

Prior to our Arizona trip I had contacted my friend Julie about getting some family pictures taken while we were in town.  We met up at The Grove in Chandler.  Julie got some really great shots.  You’d never guess that Ryan was being a turkey and didn’t want to sit for pictures.  Here are a few of my favorites.

The only thing that would have made these better is if Bill had been in them.  You can Photoshop him in, right Julie?  J  

You can check out more of Julie’s work on her blog:  http://www.becomingjuliegriffin.com/

November.

The beginning of November marked our first snow fall.  It wasn’t too much and melted and was gone the next day.  The girls had to walk uphill to the bus stop…in the snow.  Ha ha!  Now they have a story for their grandkids someday.

 We flew to Arizona to visit family.  The Husband found out last minute that he had to work and wasn’t going to be able to make the trip with us so I flew by myself with the three kids.  Flying out of Spokane wasn’t too bad.  Bill helped us get inside and to the security line.  I had Ryan in a carrier on my chest and was carrying his car seat.  And because he was on my chest they sent us through a family line where I had to have my hands swabbed by a TSA agent.  It didn’t take too long and we were on the plane in no time at all.  When we got on the plane a flight attendant helped carry Ryan’s seat to an empty row for us where I buckled it in and got everyone settled.  Ryan was by the window, then me, Maylyn was next to me, and Kaeleigh was across the aisle.  Well, as the plane begins taxiing down the runway another flight attendant (a different one than who helped me) comes over and tells me that Ryan can’t be over the wing of the plane and we’ll have to move seats.  So she asks these gentlemen a few rows back if they’ll trade seats with us and the first flight attendant who put me in that row came and apologized and offered to hold Ryan so I could carry all of our crap to the now vacated row.  Talk about embarrassing.  The pilot had to stop taxiing so we could do the seat swaps and everyone on the plane was staring at me as I unbuckled Ryan’s seat moved rows and buckled it back up. To top it off, Ryan was just starting to fall asleep before the move and then refused to sleep for the whole flight after the switch.  It was great.  I don’t know how many cookies that kid ate but I was doing anything and everything to keep him from crying.

 We celebrated Kaeleigh’s 10^th birthday while we were in Arizona.  Everyone came to Peter Piper Pizza to celebrate with us.  It was so great to see my family and friends.  A few of Kaeleigh’s old school friends came to her party also. 

 It was a short trip but lots of fun…until the flight home.  Sky Harbor airport is a nightmare.  It makes the airport in Spokane look like a library in comparison.  We got to the front of the security line very quickly, surprisingly. Ryan was on my chest again in his carrier but had fallen asleep this time around.  So again they pull me aside to swab my hands but this time I set off an alarm.  I have no idea why but the TSA agent grabbed all of my stuff and took me to this separate table where they proceeded to swab all of my belongings and wouldn’t let me touch any of it.  I had to be taken into this little room so that I could get a pat down from a female agent while another female agent and Kaeleigh and Maylyn looked on.  Keep in mind that Ryan is still asleep on my chest this entire time.  It was ridiculous.  Obviously I looked like a dangerous individual with two kids and a sleeping baby.  Let me tell you something, those agents have to pat you down everywhere.  I had to loosen Ryan’s carrier so she could feel under my boobs and everything.  Luckily we arrived early for our flight because that whole fiasco took forever and stressed all of us out except for Ryan who slept through the entire thing. Until we got on the plane and then he was all rested and didn’t want to sit in his car seat so I spent another flight with a wide awake one year old trying to entertain him with snacks and all of the pamphlets in the seat pockets in front of us.  I even took advantage of the free Wi-Fi on the plane and the free TV they offered to distract him.  It didn’t really work.  He spend the last half an hour or so fussing.  Getting home was a lot harder than getting to the airport.  Bill had flown out a few hours before we flew in so he left my car in the parking garage and I got a luggage cart to transport all of our things to the car.  It was exhausting.  I told Bill that I am never flying by myself with all of the kids ever again.

 Kaeleigh’s actual birthday was November 15^th so we took her out to dinner.  She chose Olive Garden.  And when we got home we had some cake and the kids got to Skype with family.  I don’t know if I’ve mentioned how much of a Harry Potter fan Kaeleigh is but the girl just loves HP.  Bill found the perfect gift for her.  It’s Hermione’s wand and time turner necklace.  Sadly, about five minutes after Kaeleigh opened her gift she and Maylyn started arguing and Maylyn sat on Kaeleigh and broke the wand.  We haven’t found a glue yet that will keep it together.  Maybe it really is magic…

 I also buzzed off all of Ryan’s hair this month.  It had gotten to the point where he would twist his hair around his fingers and pull handfuls of it out.  He actually sat pretty still while I cut it; I was very surprised.  And now he looks like a little man!  It makes me sad to think about how quickly he’s growing up.