Days of Summer

Swimsuits and Junkfood make for a fun stay cation

Our Build-A-Bear trip - Summer 2013

Putting love into Holly's heart (her Build-A-Bear).  

Reegan was so excited to give her bear a bath.  

Cheeto Walrus faces at the campground

Monkey See, Monkey Do - Cheeto Walrus #2

Sister breakfast at camp.  Summertime + Winter Hats = Great time!

Um, just wondering how she got so big and cute?

I love all of the different expressions Riley makes

Family fun at Morris Arbortetum, PA (it was wicked hot there too)

This look of summer reminds me of my sister and me a few years ago (ok, maybe more than a few)

The girls and their Grandparents in Pennsylvania

We ALL had a good time at the Crayola Factory

Riley was made for spa treatment :)

Purple, Pink and bright Green - the colors of 4 year old fun

Big girl getting her first mani/pedi

Toes!

Fingers!

The girls started school 3 weeks ago.  Our school district does a modified year round program which means we start in the middle of summer but have long breaks in October, December and March.  In some ways it works great because it is so hot here it's nice to be off for extended breaks during the nice months.  But I couldn't believe how fast summer went.  I hear lots of parents ready for their kids to go back, but I can honestly say I was sad it ended.

We had a great summer.  In June we did a staycation at a local resort.  It was so awesome I told Chris I would like that to be my present every year for my birthday (I declared it my birthday present after we were there).  We went up on Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday.  We played at the pool, rode the water slide and lazy river and played mini-golf in our swimsuits.  We ate tons of junk food and enjoyed our break from the every day tasks.  It's amazing how far technology has come.  I remember having a VCR that had a WIRED remote and when it didn't work we had to actually get up from the couch and go walk all the way to the TV to turn the channels.  Can you imagine?  Now we take our TV with us.  We subscribe to Netflix and Amazon Prime.  This means the kids can still watch their shows anywhere we have an internet connection.  I know there's lots of opinions on how this can lead to watching too much tv, but I actually think it leads to efficient  watching.  Instead of turning on the channels, flipping around and settling on something we can go in watch something that we really like and move on with our day.  On Saturday at the pool, Chris scored us some GREAT seats early in the morning that had shade almost the whole day.  This is key in the summertime heat.  Even with the pool and drinking lots of water, Reegan was looking pretty beat by 1 or 2pm.  We thought she needed to go spend some time in the air conditioning.  We didn't want to lose our seats so Chris suggested I stay at the pool with our chairs and he take the girls back to the room for a break.  And here is where we demonstrate just how awesome our technology is (and I am sure some day when the girls read this they will laugh at how "behind" it was)...Chris hooked our kindle up to the TV with a HDMI cable so the girls could watch their show on the big TV.  He watched a show he liked on our iPad and I sat at the pool reading a book on my phone.  We were all so happy.

In June we also did our first family trip to Build-A-Bear.  Riley has been to two birthdays there but Reegan had never been. This was a splurge I built into our summer budget and as you can see by the photos was worth every penny.  I was surprised both the girls picked the same bear because Reegan picked hers first (if Riley had picked and Reegan had followed suit this would not have surprised me in the least).  Riley named her bear 'Diamond' (naturally) and Reegan named hers 'Holly'.  Riley put a song in hers (Call Me Maybe by Carle Rae Jepsen) and Reegan put a bubble gum scent in hers.  Reegan was so excited to give hers a bath (sans real water) that she gave hers two :)

Also in June we went camping.  We went back and forth on whether we wanted to camp because there were fire restrictions and part of the fun of camping is sitting around a campfire (for us) and having s'mores (for the girls).  But in the end we decided to go for it.  We could not make reservations but when I had called the campground weeks earlier they told me they almost always have walk-up sites available.  So we got all our gear together, made sandwiches and gathered food that would not need to be cooked (to keep it easy).  It all went pretty smoothly but is still a bit of work.  We stopped for lunch on our way and then as we were getting close I said to Chris "you know its possible we did all this and they might not have a site?"  He said "I was thinking that but I did not want to mention it."  And as we were pulling in we saw the sign "Campground Full".  Uh-oh.  But we decided to pull in and ask if they could point us to another nearby campground that might still have sites available.  Good thing we did...turns out they had one site left...we grabbed it.  We had a good time trying to get our second home (i.e. large tent) set up and the girls loved playing at camp.  They are really imaginative and make up little stories and games to play.  We ate some dinner and went for a walk.  We brought the girls scooters (and mine) and so we rode them around camp a little.   We each got to pick a game to bring and so in the morning we hung out in the tent playing Headbands and Uno.  It was great family time. I find my bucket is most full when it is the four of us.

At the end of June Riley had her first solo play date.  Upon entering Kindergarten I discovered when someone asked if Riley could play it was not necessarily a family invitation.  Whoa was I shell shocked?!  It seemed like just yesterday we were having Mommy play dates where the kids came along.  I was not prepared for this, to say the least.  I am still not ready.  If I am really honest it feels crazy to send her to someone's house where I don't even know the parents' last name.  So this play date was a big deal for both of us.  She did great and felt very comfortable. I also did pretty good (thanks for asking :).  I am not sure we are ready for a whole bunch of these yet.  After a lot of hemming and hawing and trying to make myself feel ok with this I have come to the conclusion that for us I think lots of family time is still really important.  The day will come when I know spending time with her friends will be much more fun, but I am not in a rush to get there.  And fortunately, we have lots of friends with kids that Riley loves to play with so she can get ample friend time with them.

Over 4th of July we took a trip to visit my parents.  It was the first time we had been back to their house since Reegan was born 4 years ago.  It was also the first time we have spent one on one time with my parents since Riley was 20 months old.  We took a trip to an arboretum near their house and spent the day at the Crayola Factory.  The girls got to know my parents a little bit and Reegan made herself right at home cuddling up to Grandma Q like she sees her every week.  Both the girls enjoyed playing in my parents' basement with a mix of old and new toys.  They played with dolls that Grandma Q had as a child.  At the end of the trip each girl got to pick out two Precious Moments to take home.  This was great because Riley has been asking if we could pass something down that I had as a kid.

Also in July our friends, the Flecks, visited from Washington.  We always have a great time with them.  Our kids all play so well together and the parents do too.  Our mutual local friends came over to hang too.  We played in the pool and the kids put on a show for us at the end of the night.  I know the days are coming when they will be too old to get up and sing and dance for us.  We were soaking up every moment.

And the last weekend before school we were reunited with our good friends, the Roughsedges, after they returned from their summer in Oregon.  Its always a good time to hang with them because they are the closest we have to family in Arizona.  Everything feels so easy and comfortable.

In between the big events above, we did some day activities like bowling and ice skating.  Turns out 3 of us have these kind of feet that get blisters from the plastic ice skates, but overall we still had a good time.  I had taken Reegan and Riley once by myself so it was nice to have the extra set of hands this time.  Riley previously loved it but got a bad blister very early on that made it painful to skate.  Chris did too so they watched us for a while.  And Reegan had to be dragged off the ice.  She made a friend who wanted to share all her 11 year old advice and Reegan was eager to take it.  Not that she applied any of it but that girl loves making new friends.  Reegan's blister came later after we got home.  They were all in those spot right where the top of your shoe hits so the next few days were filled with lots of neosporin, band-aids and love.

Our final back to school activity was mani/pedis for the girls.  This was also a first for Reegan.  I loved it.  Riley picked black for her toes with a white flower (this girl is ahead of her time...it looked fabulous but how many 6 year olds pick black?!) and pink/red for her fingers (I had to suggest a few not so red colors b/c I mean hey she is 6!) and Reegan picked green and purple for her toes (alternating each toe) and pink for her fingers.  Riley was first and done sooner so she sat back and "read" an article about One Direction in Glamour Magazine.  I swear she is my 14 year old six year old.

So that is our summer in a nutshell.  I can't wait for next year!

The Things They Say

I know this blog is all but done...I don't keep up with it, but I haven't given up hope that I will come back around.  For reals this time...no more of the empty promises.  Whatever happens to it, no matter how little I write, it's our story and some day when I can't remember anything (well, that could be today) it will be a place the girls can go to see what their childhood and our parenthood was like.

Anyway, I also attempt to keep one line a day journals and I do even worse with those than I do with this blog (if you can even believe that).  But the girls say things.  Really cool or funny or serious things that I want to remember and so sometimes I just shoot myself an email from wherever I am.  Here are some of those emails from the past two months:

MISCELLANEOUS STORIES (part 1)

I told Riley and Reegan they had a new cousin.  Riley asked what did they name him?  I told her Steven Thomas.  She replied " I don't mean to change his name and stuff but I think they should call him Thomas Steven."

We were at Chris' soccer game and Riley draws the number 13 on her hand the way Taylor Swift does.  Then she covers it with the other hand and asks Meema and I to guess what number it is.  Then Reegan draws a number on her hand and asks us to also guess.  We guess a few and are wrong.  Then she gives us a hint…all the lines are straight.  We guess 1, 7, 11.  Still wrong. She gives us another hint "Its in my name."  It was the letter E.

We got butterflies this year.  Well actually we got larva/caterpillars that become butterflies.  Our first butterfly hatched(is that the right term?) yesterday.  I told the girls we should name it.  Riley picked 'Jera Janae'.  (said very french like).  Reegan picked "Riley and Reegan".  This morning she changed her mind and wanted to name the butterfly "Chris".

In the bath Riley was asking me about our friend who's parents are divorced and her mom has a boyfriend.  She had lots of questions about the role of this new boyfriend if they got married, etc.  After many questions and answers, Reegan says "What if Daddy broke up with you?"  I stopped her to let her know "I am too expensive for Daddy to break up with me."  Oh and of course, there's the love thing we have going on.

DREAMS

This morning both girls slept until about 7:30 and awoke within moments of each other.  They came downstairs and I was folding laundry.  They plopped on the couch and I asked them if they slept well.  They both did.  Then I asked them if they had any good dreams.  They both said they did.  So Reegan began telling us hers.  "I dreamed about princesses."  I replied "that's awesome, what were their names?"  I don't think she answered before she moved on to tell us she dreamed "she married a prince."  As you can see they have been watching a few princess movies.  I asked her the name of the prince and I believe this time she said she didn't know.

Riley then told us her good dream.  "I dreamed I was 17."  

Haha she is so ready to grow up.  When I asked what was so great about being 17 she told me she could have a computer in her room.  

CONVERSATIONS BEFORE BED

So I am helping Reegan to bed…I am rubbing her back and she asks me to sagge (i.e. 'massage') her feet.  I tell her 'no more.  Tomorrow we are off and I will massage them after Riley goes to school.  All we are going to do tomorrow is relax and work on your birthday invitations."  

Reegan: "tomorrow is my birthday?"

Me:  "No.  We are going to do your invitations"

Reegan:  "Mama I want to invite 3 people." 

I ask her who.  She mentions one of her friends from school (she always mentions this same friend).  Then she asks me why we can only invite 3 people.  I tell her we are inviting more…Then we talk about who we are inviting and what we will do.  And right in the middle of this conversation she says "Will I get those dots like Riley had?"  

Naturally, I assume we are still talking about the birthday and say "I am not sure what you are talking about."  Then she says it again and I think she is talking about the little jewel type tattoos we did when Riley's friends came for a playdate.  I ask her and say we can do those jewels for Riley and her before the party.  She says "no I mean those dots on her face.  pointing at her cheek then her forehead then the other cheek."  And it clicks "you mean freckles?"  Yes, that is what she meant.  Most of Reegan's conversations go like this…skipping from one thing randomly to another.  

LESSONS

Riley and Reegan were talking this morning and here is what Riley (6) explained to Reegan (4)==>  "It goes in this order.  Friend ==> Boyfriend ==> Groom ==> Husband."  Ok, that works. 

MISCELLANEOUS STORIES (part 2)

At breakfast, Reegan says "yets (i.e. lets) play the quiet game."  So I sit down and look at her.  She is looking at me, we are kind of smirking.  10 seconds later she says "ok we are done."  

Riley must have recently learned the word practically because she has taken to using it all the time.  This morning I said…'come on let's go, it's 7:15.  She looks at the clock and says "no mom, its actually 7:12."  She thinks I mistook the 2 for a 5.  I say "ok well its almost 7:15"  She says "oh so it's practically 7:15".  

The other day Reegan comes crying to me "Riley says I am 4."   I say 'it's ok you are almost 4." Riley yells "yeah you are PRACTICALLY 4"

"Dinner's almost ready"  "Oh, so it's practically ready?"  Yes, I think you have grasped the understanding of the word.  

Our Girls

I decided to take some spring pictures of the girls.  These are them.  I love them.  The girls and the pictures.  The great thing about taking pictures yourself is when your 3 year old doesn't want to look at the camera one day (or all days) you can do a retake any time you want.  And bribe her with a popsicle at 9am if she just goes along with the plan and looks at the camera :)

This has "I am the little sister" written all over it

Riley in all her beauty

Riley picked the poses...this looks pretty real to me.

Sweet Riley with a waterfall backdrop in Arizona

I asked Riley not to smile with teeth...Look at those eyes!

I can't believe she is 6 years old.  She is an amazing little girl.

Best Picture Ever.  

Reegan is in that "I need to be busy stage" so while I took pictures she picked the leaves off our lemon tree.

I'm trouble, but I am so darn cute that you want to join me

Peek-a-boo

This picture is me...happy while I am playin'.

And this little one is about to turn 4.  So much to say about that...in a different blog post.  But she melts my heart every day.

Sisters at play

Reegan - Almost 4

Reegan often surprises me with little pieces of information I had know idea she knew.  Like a few weeks ago at dinner we were talking about what month it is and what comes next and all of the sudden Reegan lets us know she knows most of the months of the year (thru September).

This morning while we were getting ready for school/work it came up again.  And it was magical for me to hear her tell me how juuuuuuune comes after May.  And then comes JUly (emphasized just how it's spelled).

(I mention Riley next here only to give context, not to compare).  When Riley was little I called her my achiever.  She woke up in the morning and wanted me to test her.  If she was cranky or hungry in the car I could distract her by asking her questions.  About anything.  She liked to know stuff and wanted everyone to know she knew stuff.  She loved learning new "stuff" from ABCs to shapes and colors and doing the monkey bars.

Reegan, however, is a bit more of a free spirit.  She is amused by more traditional toddler activities like listening to Old MacDonald and knocking over towers of blocks.  She isn't necessarily motivated by our excitement over her ability to spell her own name.  She's like "yeah, great, I'm all smart...now let's go play some barbies already."

Tonight while we were playing "A Very Hungary Caterpillar card game...

it reminded me of Reegan's knowledge of the months and I wanted to show everyone (i.e. Daddy and Riley) just how much our little girl knows.  So I said "What's after January?"  And she proclaimed 'February!' and after that 'March' and then of course the very special month of 'April!'.  There I stopped her to say what happens in April?  She yelled out "I turn 4!"  And here's where things go a-rye.  Somewhere Reegan heard/learned/decided her birthday is April 17th.  And no matter how many times I correct her she forgets and says 'April 17th.'  This time was no different.  So I mentioned it's April TWENTY-seventh.  She says "oh yeah".  And we finish going through the months.  She forgets what comes after May and she says "let me check my calendar".  She comes back and we finish thru September.  We then tell her about October, November and December.  And then we are going through them again and and again we say "And when's your birthday"  As proud as can be she hollers (in caps) "APRIL 17th!"  So we may just change it.

And then we go back to our game which is also a good game for learning the days of the week.  This is a card game, similar to Uno but with days of the week.  If someone puts down a Thursday card, you can put down a Friday card or a wild (and then call out the day of week you want it to be).  And everyone has a caterpillar (see picture above) that has no role in the game.  Reegan lays all her cards out in front of her for everyone to see, plays for a little bit and then says "let's just hop our caterpillars around.  That's my favwit part."    Who really needs to know what comes after Tuesday if you can have fun hopping the caterpillars around?!

Wow

Has it really been 3 months since I last blogged?  Can I make a comeback?

From day to day it doesn't seem like ages 2 and 3 are more work, but I definitely found time to blog more when Reegan was sleeping 27 hours a day (only a slight exageration).

And then I think I get overwhelmed with the idea of trying to catch up or keep up and so I just stay away.

So I am not going to promise to keep up or even try to catch up.

Today when I picked Reegan up from school she came out with some "work" she had done.  It was a little booklet with Reegan written on the front in very nice handwriting.  On page 2, it was Reegan written in what was obviously Reegan's handwriting.  Same for page 3.  Then on page 4 was a family portrait Reegan had drawn.  She was most excited to show me this.  She said "I scribbled your hair b/c you have crazy hair."  and "I made Daddy silly b/c he is silly."  and "Here is my sister Riley" (in case I didn't know who Riley was).

And as we were driving away she said "Mr. Nando (her teacher ==> Mr. Fernando) told me not to draw Daddy."  I asked "why did he say that?"  She says "b/c I was supposed to be drawing MY letters."  And here is what I picture...her teacher sits to help in her practice to write her name.  He gets her started and then walks away to let her try it on her own...only when he comes back she has instead drawn a picture.  This is Reegan.
.......

Last month we stayed in a hotel when we went to see Santa.  While exploring the room, Riley opened the closet and says "Awesome, they have a surf board!"  Uh, I guess I don't iron enough.

.......

Today we went a slightly different way home from school and there were 3 young (teenage) boys playing basketball in the driveway.  As Reegan is passing them on her bike she is totally like "Hi boys."  Two houses later there are two adult men and she yells out "Hi boys."  A few houses later we run into a girl that Riley knows from school from another class named Sophia and I say "hi Sophia."  Reegan really wanted to be in it and so as they are going inside she yells out "I'm Reegan!"  She is NOT shy...no matter what she says.

........

Currently Riley wants to be a Fashion Designer singer.  She will design clothes for singers and clothes for herself when she sings.

More to come.

Soccer Saturdays

The girl may have just a little bit of sass in her

But look at her get right in there...you go girl

Takes it to the net

Here I like to think she is telling her teammate - go forward, i will pass to you.  I'm sure at 3.5 that is exactly what she is saying

Check out that strut as she leaves the field.  She then declared she was done for the day.  And that was it.

I love this beautiful little girl.  She melts my heart.

Look at her run away with the ball.  

I cropped this picture to remove innocent parties but I love this shot of Riley.  Look at the smile on her face.  As long as she is having fun, I am having fun.

With Riley starting full day school this year and Reegan starting part-time preschool and mom working full time for a few months, we took an extracurricular break.  Yep.  I took a break from soccer (albeit a short 5-6 week one) and I haven't had  the girls in any extra activities.  Originally I thought maybe we would take the first semester off and let ourselves adjust.  However, Riley began asking to do something.  So I suggested she pick one activity.  She chose gymnastics.  I think this is her first love (and possibly only because she hasn't done cheerleading yet :).  Even though I think its completely fine for a 3 year old to not be in any extracurriculars Reegan would not be ok with Riley getting to do something and not her.  So I put it to Reegan:  "You can choose one thing too.  Would you like to do gymnastics, dance, karate or soccer?"  To which she emphatically replied "Soccer!  Soccer!"  Reegan usually goes along with what Riley wants to do/says/eats/thinks :).  But this wasn't entirely a surprise...last year Reegan cried when she couldn't play with Riley's team.

Place your orders

We decided to purchase the digital copy and then order our own prints this year.  Works out great so I can put it right here in the blog, our photo album.  Check out our Kindergartener.

Let me know what size you want and I'll send it your way.