Rylee Gets a Visit from the Tooth Fairy

Rylee has been informing us every few days that her front tooth is loose. She messes with that poor tooth all the time. Waiting for it to fall out has been torture!!! Yesterday, as she was checking out its progress, tells me that it is really, really loose and now it is bleeding a little bit. I smiled and told her that this is normal and that her tooth would be coming out soon. A few minutes later, she comes charging outside screaming that she lost her tooth. Yes, there was screaming, laughing, jumping, etc. Part of having a girl, I guess. I never seen anyone so excited about a tooth. She makes me smile. Rylee has such a sweet spirit. Everything is done with enthusiasm and passion. You can't help but me sucked in. It is wonderful. As we congratulated her as a family we learned that Kallie was the one that convinced Rylee to let her pull it out. Brave girl!! I would not let Kallie anywhere near my mouth. They were so sweet, though. Hugging, laughing and telling the story over and over to the other kids. It was a big event in our home. After dinner, as the kids were getting ready for bed, Rylee comes tearing into our room to inform us that Kallie pulled out another tooth. Two teeth lost in a matter of hours!!! Wow!! Rylee was thrilled. We got a baggie and put the tooth under her pillow so that she would get a visit from the tooth fairy. I tried to tell her that the Tooth Fairy goes on vacation in June so she was out of luck, but she didn't buy it. Hayden made sure to tell me that the Tooth Fairy never goes on vacation. Ok, busted!!! It was a memoral night, for sure. Never a dull moment around here!

What has happened to my girls?

Most moms would agree that the most stressful part of their day is getting the kids off to school. At my house mornings bring out the best in all of us. :) My kids wander around the house like they are stuck on a foreign planet. What are school clothes? What are shoes? How do we get dressed? Why do I have to comb my hair and brush my teeth? Really? Really? Most mornings, I feel as if I am teaching them all over again. I try to get a routine down and get as much as I can done the night before. (this does not always happen, shocker) So, last week, I wake up, ready to face the chaos and get the kids out the door on time. In the kitchen , I find Kallie (7) and Rylee (5) dressed (with shoes) and smiling at me. They were totally ready for school and had even brought up their book bags and made their own lunch. They made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cut the sandwiches and placed them into baggies and put them in their lunch box. They also included: drink, fruit snack, chip, and a brownie. I was shocked!! I rubbed my eyes, convinced that I was dreaming and looked again. Yes!!! They are learning!!! I am an amazing mom!! I told them I was so proud of them and that they were going to get to pick out a treat at the snack bar at school. This was answered with squeals of delight!! Who knew that simple reward would be worth so much to them. They asked me if they could make lunches again tomorrow morning and I said, "you can make lunches every morning!"

The next morning:

I hear the girls in the kitchen and I thought I would go see if they needed any help. I crawl out of bed and walk into the kitchen. The girls are dressed and all ready for school. I smile and ask if they need any help. They request a few items from the cabinet and as I reach for the door, my eyes happen to glance at the clock on the stove, 5:30am. What!!! It is 5:30 in the morning and my daughters are ready to get in the car and drive to school. I turn around and tell the girls that they have 2 1/2 hours until they have to leave for school! You have to go back downstairs and get into bed and rest. All I got was blank stares. "Go try to rest and I will get you up in a little while." I was glad to hop back into bed, but I am pretty sure that they did not get back to sleep. They were wide awake by this time. School will be a challenge today. I will be getting calls from the teachers asking when I get these kids to bed. We need to work on telling time!!

My Little Rylee Starts School ...

Birthday girl! They grow up way too fast!

She loves to discover new things!

The many happy faces of Rylee girl!

My big girl! I can do it on my own, mom!

Proud Daddy with Ry on her 1st day!

Mommy is trying to be happy!

Rylee, we love you and are so proud of you. May you enjoy every minute of school. Be a good girl and learn a lot. Have fun sweetie!

Love, Mom and Dad

A Conversation with Daddy ...

This morning Rylee and Emma came to our room and jumped into our bed, much too early. They are incapable of sleeping while laying still. Needless to say, our sleep time was over. When they can't sleep, they talk. Shocker!!! This was their conversation ...

Emma: (in a whinny voice) Rylee, are you still my best friend? Please!

Rylee: (a long, dramatic pause) Yes, you are my best friend.

Emma: Good!

Daddy: Rylee, am I your friend?

Rylee: No

Emma: You are not a kid!

Daddy: I can still be your friend and your Daddy. What is a friend?

Rylee: Someone you play with.

Daddy: I play with you. Anything else?

Rylee: Nope.

Mommy: Am I your friend?

Rylee and Emma: Yes!!

Daddy: Can I be your friend?

Rylee and Emma: Yes!

We might need to work on the definition of friendship, but we enjoy these conversations with our little girls. They are precious memories. We love you, girls!! You will always be our friends!!

A conversation with a 5 year old...

My daughter Rylee woke me up this morning wanting to talk. This is how the conversation went ...

Rylee: Mom, mom get up! Dad says you have to get Kal ready for school. Come on!
Mom: ahhh, 2 more minutes!

Rylee: Mom, wake up. Why are you so tired? If you are tired, you should just lay back down.
Mom: that would be nice!

Rylee: Mom, guess what? We unlocked the punching bag game in the Wii. It is so fun! You punch like this (she is giving me a demo) left, right, left right. You do it a lot of times, very fast. Then, mom, you can win the game. I don't know who unlocked it. Oh, I know DAD unlocked it. Did Dad unlock it, mom? No, wait a minute, you unlocked it, right mom! Oh, probably it was Emma!
Mom: (totally confused, and half asleep) What? Take a breath, child! (I am listening to this as I am running around trying to get Kal ready for school, with my talking shadow!!)

Rylee: Mom, is soccer today? I love soccer! I love to play games. I want to play games everyday. How many games do we play. Is it today, mom! Mom, are we going to Landon's house today? I love Landon's house. It is so fun. I am going to show Landon my hair. I think he will laugh and think it is funny. (She has a ponytail that she slept in, hanging half in and half out of her hair. Really cute!) Mom, do I go to school today? Is this the day for school? Mom.. mom.
Mom: I walk away hoping to get Kal out the door before she is late for school.

Rylee: (seeing Emma) Oh Emma, you are gorgeous! I love you! (Big smile) (The best buds go off to play!)
Mom: Bless you, Emma! Now let's get breakfast on the table and get Kal out the door. I am so tired and that conversation has left me dazed and confused.


Rylee, I love your gift of gab. You are always making me laugh! I am sure that I was just like this as a child. Good thing we have a big family that you can share your gift with. I love you, sweet Rylee Girl!!!

The down side to playing defense ... boredom!

On Tuesday night, Rylee learned that playing defense can be very dull. The ball only ventured over to her side a couple of times, so she soon got distracted by everything around her. She was playing with her fingers, watching her brothers and sisters play on the sideline, and even pulling grass on the field. Steve and I were trying to encourage her by telling her to be ready and watch for the ball. As you can see by the pictures, she was not convinced that she was going to see the ball anytime soon. At one point, a player from the other team got hurt and her coach told the kids to take a knee. Rylee was totally confused. "Now they want me to sit in the grass!" She did make contact with the ball a few times, but I know that next game she will be looking forward to playing offense!!

How sweet! I love this shot. I don't know what she is doing, but she is so cute!

She caught a glimpse of the camera. Might as well make the best of it. Get my good side!

By the way, thank you Mariah for taking these great pictures. My camera is still at war with me and I think that the camera is winning!!

Another one bites the dust ... swine flu?

I feel like a broken record ... yes, one of my kids is sick again with the stomach bug. I am getting ready to call Guinness, because we had to of broken some kind of record. Rylee (5) comes to our room yesterday morning and tells us that her tummy hurts. She rested, sort of, for 20 minutes then we made her rest on the couch. After the kids got out the door for school, I tended to the sickie. She kept telling me that she needed to throw up, but she would go to the bathroom and "fake" gag. I thought, well maybe it won't be too bad. She just needs to go potty and get some food in her stomach. Wrong!! Twenty minutes later, it started. Every 15 to 20 minutes, for the next several hours. Poor little thing. Her body was so tired. When she would get done, she would put both hands up in the air, as if to say, "STOP!" At one point she told me that she did not want to throw up any more. I told her that hopefully it would be over soon. Emma (3) and Tanner (2), not wanting to be left out of the action, kept coming in and asking what was going on and why was Ry throwing up, and when could Ry play. (They were bored) Finally around 1:30pm, I convinced her to try to rest and she fell asleep for 3 hours. She woke up happy and healthy. "My tummy feels better mom, I want to go outside and play!" What happened?? That was some powerful nap! Thank you, Jesus! My happy Rylee is back. She is happy because now she will not miss her soccer game tonight! If they are going to get sick, this is the way to do it.

Btw, day #2 in the workout and today, I only hurt when I have to use my legs or butt, which is all the time. Yeah me!!!

Always Speaking Her Mind!

Not a day goes by when I don't laugh at some words of wisdom that comes from Rylee's lips. This girl speaks her mind and holds nothing back. I have to admit, it is one of the many things about her that I love. It is refreshing to hear what is on the mind of a 5 year old, with little life experiences to hinder her opinions. We are trying to teach her the importance of tact, but it is a learning process. I sometimes find myself wishing for her boldness. It probably would not be quite as cute coming from an "old lady" like me!

Let me share with you some of her wisdom. She would be thrilled to know that she is making someone out there laugh!

* Said to her grandma while on vacation..

Grandma: "if you don't finish your chicken nuggets, we will be in a no cookie zone!"

Rylee: "what, you have got to be kiddin' me!"

* I was in the middle of a project of cleaning out our game closet and I had 2 trash bags full of garbage and donations sitting by the door. Rylee comes home from preschool and says, "Oh no, mom is stealing our toys again!"

* We are playing the Wii bowling game as a family and Rylee is killing us. She says,"that's what I am talking about!" With plenty of attitude. Where does she get that? I wonder!

* I was correcting her at the dinner table and told her to shut her mouth (stop talking) and finish her dinner. She whispered, under her breath, "you shut your mouth and finish your dinner." I told you her mouth could get her in trouble. We dealt with this and then had a long discussion about respect. (I told you that my kids are helping me practice Godly disciple :)

* Overheard conversation with her sister Emma:

Emma: I love chocolate!

Rylee: Chocolate is good, but too much makes your tummy full!

* Daddy comes home with lunch from Subway. Rylee shouts," Daddy, you got $5.00 footlongs!"

* Rylee telling me about her wisdom.

"Mom, I taught Emma how to pray. I got down on my knees and prayed for Miss Barb, Mr. Eddie, Jerry and the kids in school. Also, Liam - he is in the army. I showed her, mom!"

(I don't know a Mr. Eddie and the only Jerry I know is the neighbor's dog. So sweet!)

* Words of wisdom from mommy.

Mom: Emma, don't touch that food in the microwave. It is hot and will burn your fingers off! I

( I am a little dramatic. It gets the point across. Don't worry, I am working on it!)

Rylee: Mom, won't it burn your fingers off if you touch it.

Well, that is some of the wisdom that I get each and everyday and it is free. Don't you all wish that you had a five year old living in your house. What would I do without her!!!