June 2013

June was a BUSY month for us!!!! As I was looking back at pictures I couldn't believe all that went on during that month!! AND my two older kids were in TX for 10 days.  CRAZY!! Here's a quick review at what went on during the month of June. 

 We started the month out with a visit from Nana and Pop.  While they came for a visit we went to a demolition derby at a local place.  Jayce thought it was pretty awesome. We sat font row and so it almost felt like we were a part of it.  You could smell the burning rubber and sometimes you even got mud flung at you. It was pretty neat watching them crash into each other!

 The same weekend Layne's parents were in town, Layne got ordained as an elder in our church.  Several weeks prior, church members nominated people who they thought would be a good fit as an elder.  Then the previous elders went through the list of people and interviewed them as well as their spouses to see if they would be interested and fit the part.  SO after much prayer Layne became an elder at our church.  On this Sunday, the previous elders were praying over the new elders.  IT was really neat to see it and be a part of it.  I'm so proud of my man for loving God and being such a great example to our children of what it means to love God and put God first. 

 That same Sunday, our church had our annual church picnic.  SO after a great church service, we all gathered together at a local park and enjoyed some great food, fun and fellowship! My kids LOOOOVE this Sunday! And so do we. :)

 this was Brynna's first experience with cotton candy :)

 Ryleigh is not a fan at all of the 'normal' princess dress-up dresses.  She thinks that the material that they are made of is "scratchey."  So her awesome Nana  made her a Rapunzel dress before we left for Disneyworld.  She loooves it!!!

 While Nana and Pop were here visiting we also made a trip to the DC zoo.  It's an awesome zoo for many reasons...the first one is that it's FREE :) Second one is that it's a zoo...so it's awesome all on it's own.  Ha! My kids love the zoo and seeing all the animals! But who doesn't?!

 This was such a bittersweet day for me....Jayce's last day of Pre-K!! I couldn't believe that he was actually going to be a kindergartner! He did so great this year in PreK and I have no fears of him going to Kindergarten...just that I'm going to miss having him around.  He will be at school ALL DAY and that's such a change from what we've been used to for the last 5 years.

 Mrs. McNey and Jayce on the last day of PreK

 After going to Disneyworld, Jayce and Ryleigh stayed in Texas with their grandparents.  So I got a week of just Brynna and I!!! It was so fun and weird all at the same time.  I love this girl so much and couldn't ever imagine not having her in our lives!! She's so spunky and her cheeks are to die for!!

 My boy and girl return from TX!!!!! Oh how I missed them sooooooo much!!!!!!!! This was one happy momma!!! And I'm pretty sure Jayce and Ryleigh were just as excited to see their momma! :)

 AND this little love so super excited to see her Daddy!!!! He had been gone that week too on work travel.  So everyone was happy with all the reuniting going on! HA!!

 As soon as they got back we were on full GO mode! VBS for them had already begun and they were so excited to go!

 Brynna's first "back of the head" ponytail.  She's got so much hair and it's so different from Ry.  Even today, she has so much more hair than her older sister.  Poor girls. They are going to fight over this one day.

 I ended the month with a trail run with my running buddies! I love these girls and how they challenge me to be a better me.  It was a TOUGH run!!! I had been training for it, but whew!! It was HOT that day and the trail was practically uphill the whole time...on tree bark...and did I mention it was hot! I was so glad to be done with that run.  It was my first run in many many years too.  It was just fun, even though it was tough. Hopefully it will be the beginning to many many more runs.  I am enjoying challenging myself and staying in shape.

   

May 2013 Pics

This is going to be tough....going back several months and trying to remember the things that went on...but here it goes

 Brynna and Ryleigh are going to fight one day over their hair....poor Ryleigh has thin, fine hair...and then there's Brynna who has more hair than Ryleigh ever has. So at 14 months I can already put her hair in little piggie tails. How cute are those little pig tails and how cute is she??!!

 I love having multiple kids and I love seeing them teach each other.  Ryleigh loves every time Brynna follows what she does.  So one afternoon I taped up some toilet paper rolls and had them practicing dropping pom poms into a bowl.  For Brynna it was more just practicing her fine motor skills...but for Ryleigh we practiced counting...colors...and being a helper to her sister.

 The circus came to town and we went!! It was a small traveling circus and thought it would be fun to go.  The kids didn't care that it wasn't a huge performance.  They loved it and all the fun things that went along with the circus. 

 Ryleigh of course loved seeing all the animals and Jayce loved seeing the motorcycles! 

And then this what happens to Brynna after you take her piggies out...they stay! HA!

 Brynna is beginning to start playing at the park and loving it.  She thinks it is pretty fun to climb and be daring. And then Ryleigh is always so fun with her expressions! These girls are so much fun!!! The park is pretty much our daily routine.  The weather here makes park days awesome!!!! So while Jayce is at school, we enjoy some outdoor time.

 Jayce and Ryleigh are just the best of friends.  90% of the time they really get along and play exceptionally together. They make believe, create and have a ton of fun together!! On this afternoon they were outside playing and I was upstairs folding laundry.  The windows were open and I was listening to them play while doing my chores.  I seriously loooooved their conversations.  I heard them say, "shhhh, don't tell mommy....mommy can't know that we....." and then I came outside and saw that they had created "food."  This brought back so many memories from when I was a kid and would pretend to make food with mud.  My brother and I would play in the backyard and make mudpies.  These two are FUN! They just want to have a good time all the time.

 One of the cool things about living here is all the little farms around.  On this warm day we decided to hop into the car and drive to this nice little farm where we could pick our own strawberries, eat lunch and then play a little bit.  It's such a fun little place to go!

 Happy Mother's Day to ME!!! These three call me MOMMY.  They bless me every single day! They challenge me every single day.  They make me a better person every.single.day!!!!!

 This little one LOOOOVES the dishwasher! She loves to climb in!!! She loves to take the dishes out...and I've been teaching her to put them away! yay!!!

 Our town doesn't have a skating rink of any type...but we do have a indoor hockey building that is used as an indoor soccer field and other things...so a few times a year they open it up as a skating rink.  This night we had ADULT only skate night.  It was FUN! I was AWFUL at skating and a laughing stalk to all our friends, but we had a great time doing it.

 

So for Mother's Day this year myself and two of my best girlfriends asked our hubs for a girls weekend.  SO on Memorial weekend we hopped in the car early Saturday morning and off we went to Leesburg, VA.  We did some outlet shopping and some wine tasting at a couple different wineries.  We also were able to do a little pampering and get a pedicure at a local salon that we highly recommended.  We loved everything about our weekend away!!! I love these girls to death and can't wait to go on another getaway!

When I got home from my getaway I found this.....the kids and Layne were planning a camp out in the backyard.  They've got the best Daddy ever!!! So Layne, Jayce and Ryleigh slept outside...Brynna and I were smart and staying inside where it was warm.  Halfway through the night everyone was inside...it had just gotten too chilly for my family :)

 This girl and her fancy self....she loves to be dressed up and feel pretty. What girl doesn't!? But at FOUR?!?!??? This is what she chose to wear to Jayce's T-Ball game! Oh well...she looked GOOD at that game :) And Nana and Pop were able to come to Jayce's t-ball game.  Jayce thought he was pretty special having his grandparents come from TX to watch him play some baseball!!

 

Blogging Hiatius

I have taken a serious blogging hiatius....for some reason I just haven't felt like blogging.  I post pictures on facebook and just don't take the time to blog.  I'm sure I'm going to regret that later.  Poor Brynna won't have her life documented in blog form like Jayce and Ryleigh have. So here's to trying to go back several months and update stuff.....

1st day of Pre-K!!

Ryleigh has been sooooo excited about starting school.  She asked me numerous times over the summer if I had signed her up for school.  She didn't understand that we were going to have summer and then school would start.  So yesterday and today has been something she has thought about for A.LONG.TIME!  Yesterday I took her up to her school and she met her teacher.  Her teacher had her do a scavenger hunt through the room so that she could get familiar with where things are.  She thought that was the coolest thing! She was so excited to find out what the next thing was on the list.  Her teacher seems SUPER nice! I'm just so excited for her this year!! She has begged to go to school for so long now and it's actually here!  She has always lived vicariously thorough Jayce going to school.  She would just ask Jayce question after question about what he did while in Pre-K and then she would tell either Layne or I what Jayce did, as if it were her in school.  She would beg me to do school work when Jayce was working on stuff or while he was at school.  She just wanted to do the same thing he was. Now she is and she is the happiest little thing ever! 
Today when we got to her school she walked right up to her class, kissed me, waved goodbye and just walked right in! This was something she had been waiting for! She had prepared herself completely!! When I picked her up, she had the biggest smile on her face and couldn't wait to tell me every thing she did!!! She told me about the book they read, the snack they ate, what she played with, going on the playground and how she couldn't wait to go back the next day, and the next day, and the next day and the next day, and the next day....you get it.  SHE'S EXCITED!!!