Let's go fly a kite

We went to a kite festival over the weekend.  We went later in the day so we missed some of the demonstrations, but it was fun to visit a new park and take inventory of our sunscreen :)  There were some pretty cool kites - Rylee's is the ladybug.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 One of the booths was a kite hospital.  I thought that was pretty funny.  We walked around a bit, rode the train and headed home. 

 It was a nice lazy day and kinda fun to see the sky full of kites.

I then finished off the weekend at an Eric Clapton concert. I'm always willing to be a concert buddy.  50 years of touring - wow.

Front Door

Project: Re-finish the front door has been on our to-do list since we moved into our house. The seal and stain were starting to peel, mostly on the bottom half of the door and we finally got around to doing (half) of it this weekend.  I really wanted to get it going before it started getting too hot to have the door open/off all day.  We sanded, sanded, and sanded some more then a couple coats of stain and sealer and back on the hinges it went (I say this like it didn't take over 12 hrs)

 

Maybe I'll attempt another coat of sealer while hung as I really don't care to to that whole process again anytime soon, and we didn't even get to the inside of the door.

I know its a nice wood door but I kept thinking "wouldn't paint be easier?" That sucker is HEAVY!
I does look much better though, don't you think?

Stock Show

In our 5 years in Texas (has it really been that long??) we've only missed the stock show/Rodeo once - the year Rylee was born.  Cuz, you know, who wants to take a week old baby to that? We used to do the rodeo, but now we just hit up the stock-show portion ona dollar day and call it good.

 

We've even found a tiny strip of road not too far away where you don't have to pay to park.

 

Rylee was really funny, she'd walk right in front of her Dad, stop, and then sortof fall down because she'd want him to give her a shoulder ride. We're working on asking. What's funny is she usually prefers to walk - not that day I guess.

 We hit up the petting zoo (this was before Rylee's birthday event).  When Rylee was Kelsey's age she was TERRIFIED.  Kelsey was the complete opposite.  Go figure.

I set Kelsey down and she was off exploring on her own and headed straight for the caged ducks.  She kept shaking the fence trying to get in. Then a big sheep got right up in her face and she just laughed.  She cried and cried when I picked her up.

 We got a kick out of this funny looking llama.

 We also love HEB's little barn.  They pass out baskets and all throughout the building there's all sorts of things to learn about gardening and different foods and then you can gather a bunch of play food to turn in for a prize. 

We thought the recycled garden boxes were fun.  Rylee was sure to point out the "matches".

 This big girl wanted to carry her own basket and roam around.

 Our little cowgirl.  Apparently we don't use that term often enough as half way through the day she forgot the word "cow" and said "I'm a catepillar girl" lol.

 Rylee even got to ride a few rides at the carnival - those carnival workers have such soft hearts and let her ride a couple even though she wasn't quite tall enough. We had a great time.

Three!

Rylee turned 3 on Friday. She'd been anticipating her birthday for quite some time.  The first time I asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday she thought long and hard and said "dress up and go trick or treating".  That idea didn't really stick, though I was prepared to drop off candy to our friends houses so we could stop by later and 'Trick-or-treat".  Maybe the Valentine's party at the library was enough for her. After that she just kept saying she wanted to share ice cream with Lily and open presents (or prizes). I think I can handle that.

 

Our neighbor gave her this dress-up dress and she's worn it every day. She would get the biggest grin when anyone would sing her Happy Bithday.

 We made owl cupcakes and ordered pizza for dinner.

 then it was present time! I decided to make her a tinkerbell costume 1.because sewing is fun 2. She loves Tinkerbell and Peter Pan 3. store bought Tinkerbell's are pretty skimpy

She (sadly) doesn't love it quite like the pink dress. . . . maybe because she can't put it on by herself or its not as soft or she's just trying to make me feel bad after spending all that time and money on it . . . . she's coming around though. That's about as modest a Tinkerbell you'll ever see.  and um, I keep forgetting to make wings.

 She got a few puzzels, a couple games and a boll bed and blanket.  The cradle was actually one I played with growing up (it just got a fresh coat of paint) that my Grandfather made. Kelsey immediately climbed in. She thought it was quite funny.

 

I also made a little quilt for the cradle/dolly.  Its a little bigger than I thought I'd make (24" square) and was really fun to make.  Rylee can't part with dolly on her bed so her new Barbie gets the blankie and bed.  Just a new part of the night time routine. We have had to impliment a rule that only ONE toy/doll/barbie can come with us in the car but (depending on my mood) can even come inside the store. I think its actually really sweet she wants to 'mother' all her toys. The blankie could use a few washes, as its pretty stiff.

 I let her pick the ice cream she wanted, and believe me it was a tough choice: bright pink strawberry, or light pink strawberry and homemade vanilla. Ultimately the bright pink strawberry won. She was so excited to finally be able to eat/share the ice cream I just passed out the cupcakes without thinking and we forgot the candles and song.  woops. re-do! good thing she hardly ate the cupcake ;)

Its pretty much been non-stop princess"E"s yahtzee since Friday and I'm just fine with that! 

Oh Rylee we're so happy you joined our family! We hope you had a great birthday and we love you so much!

Thank you to our friends and family for helping her feel special.  Love you too!

Birthday at the Farm

It just so happened that on Rylee's birthday there was a pre-school field trip of sorts planned at the petting zoo. So we headed out to spend the morning with friends and animals

 The kids loved feeding the bunnies.

 Kelsey just sat on the horse for the photo op.  Rylee got to ride Buttercup twice. She loved it.

The fact that Kelsey is walking around exploring the places we go makes her seem that much more grown up to me.  Its fun to watch her experience it, but it makes me sad that those baby days are ending.

 Rylee and her friend loved the tire swing.

 I took the girls and a couple friends on the hayride. A neighbor friend and then a friend from church. Their Momma's stayed back with the babies.

We packed a lunch and brought birthday cookies to share. . . . though, the petting zoo isn't really an ideal place to hand out edibles. . . .  wore her out enough that she was asleep before we made it to the main road. I'd say part 1 was a success.