Cowboy Staduim

 

Last week Michael's brother was attending and presenting at a conference in Dallas and had some free time Thursday afternoon/evening so we decided to take the 5+ hr drive to spend some time with him.

 

We're very blessed that the girls do so great in the car. I was a bit surprised that Rylee didn't fall asleep at all on the way up. Here she is sharing her snack with Dolly. 

 After we got into town we decided we'd take a tour of Cowboy Stadium.  Its a pretty amazing building.

 We learned all sorts of interesting facts about the Cowboy's, the stadium, the gigantic TV, and Jerry Jones in general.

 They were getting ready for a motor-cross event over the weekend so the actual "field" was rolled up and stored inside.

 This is the box where Jerry himself sits for all the events. 

 Rylee was obsessed with her uncle.  She refused to hold anyone else's hand and if he left the room she didn't stop asking questions about him.  (She did occationally call him Uncle Shaun, and then more frequently would state "That's NOT Uncle Shaun". . . . .we had just talked to him for his birthday)

 We got to see another suite- those glass panels can be removed and they slide down a track and stored in a closet in the wall.  Pretty nifty. I thought it was funny that the rooms are leased - not purchased. I don't remember the exact number of "standing room only" tickets the stadium can sell for each event but it was insane. Though I'm pretty sure that's the only way we'd stand a chance to actually be inside the stadium for an event.

 Then it was off to the locker rooms. First the cheerleaders, then the players.

This is where the players enter the field.  Of course there's a giant star, the floor is lit up and then fans seated in certain sections can come and cheer the team on as they enter the field.  Apparently most other arenas the players enter at the endzones. . . . not here.  The visitors side also has cowboy fans line their walkway. . . . though they are separated by plexi glass.  lol.

If the field had been out we could have gone out and played around out there, which would have been cool, but oh well. Maybe another time.

After the tour we grabbed a bite to eat and headed back to his brother's hotel since we were going to bunk with him for the evening.  I was reminded quickly as to how annoying it is to share a room with our children.  It took a long time for them to fall asleep and then they were up several times in the night.  Around 5:30 Rylee asked if we could go home. . . . . I was this close to taking her to the car.

That morning we leasurely packed up and headed our separate ways.  It was nice to be able to visit for a little bit since we don't get to see each other often.  Thanks for inviting us up!

ouch!

Rylee's had a rough couple of weeks.  A couple weeks ago she was stung by a "naughty bee". This is her sad face:

 She immediately asked for a sticker.  She just kept crying and crying.  We felt so bad. Poor girl, after benadryl and a nap she felt much better.

 Kelsey however was able to benefit from Rylee's misfortune as we attempted to console her with ice cream and Kelsey got a taste as part of the fall out.  She loved it - even if it was chocolate flavored. bla!!

 THEN, a couple days ago Rylee sprained her wrist.  She was in a lot of pain, and not using her arm at all.  It was so sad to see her hold her arm close to her body and block it with her other hand.  After several hours the pain didn't seem to subside and she was shaking, with some swelling we decided to take her to the insta care for an x-ray.  Just to be safe.

The support for the "bandage" seemed to help relieve the pressure/pain and a couple days later she asked to take it off.  If she did too much, and was in pain she'd revert back a little but she seems to be back to 100%.

Michael and I both commented how nice the extra snuggles for 2 days were.  But I guess all good things must come to an end.

 Kelsey girl is as monstrous as ever.  You know, eating the dirt from the plants, trying to drink from the toilet bowl (I already fished her own poop out of her mouth once), just touching one of Rylee's toys makes her go bazerk. But, man she's cute.

At Kelsey's appointment last month her stats proved that she's still really tall, but she only gained 3 oz in 3 months.  The fact that she's still gaining is good - and she certainly doesn't look malnourished- but she should be gaining more than that.  So, we left with instructions to offer her lots of food/snacks and then add a feeding (nurse/bottle) back in.  She was down to just 3 feedings a day.  I'm not sure if its a supply problem, but she refused the before bed nursing several months ago.  I loved being 'done' with that roll by 4-5 for a solid 15 hours.  So she gets a bottle now.  She started by barely drinking an extra ounce - after about a week of that she drinks more now (usually 6).  The Dr said if I don't think she's getting more calories to bring her in for a weight check in December though, I don't think that will be necessary. But seriously does eating dirt and play dough count?

voting

Did our civic duty and voted this week.

Maybe one day I'll live in a state where my vote actually matters (not that I'm disapointed in our state's 'expected' outcome).

 

I was the crazy person that took my two kids to the poll with me.  Well, you know our vote site is the library and we were already there for story time.

 

Rylee kept the older lady in front of us well entertained, as with most parents she went on and on about how she misses when her kids were little.  I guess I understand - Rylee says some pretty hilarious stuff.  Her life is so simple.

 

Rylee asked if she could vote too.

Seriously though, the most important decision she has to make is whether to watch Dora or Super-Why

 

We picked up more than our fair share of "I voted" stickers and met Daddy for lunch at the park.

a few videos + thoughts

Rylee is at such a fun stage. She really does make me laugh every day by what she says and does. When she does something fun that I want to remember, I just have to ask her if I can record it and she usually obliges (I'm sure its mostly because she loves watching the videos of herself).

My goal is to 'trick' my girls into liking football so that they will want to watch the games with their Daddy and I can get some serious crafting/reading done all football season. We've got a Green Bay Packers fan on our hands:

She's demanded we sing "twinkle twinkle little star" before bed for a while now. She's recently started singing to "dolly" when its time for her nap too.
I am amazed at the number of books/nursery rhymes she has memorized. seriously. Even books we haven't had long from the library. I love that after she wakes up from a nap she quietly flips through book after book. Often "reading" them out loud to herself.
Of course I had to throw in a video of Kelsey too. That little girl is growing too fast!! (obviously this video isn't exactly 'current' as she still had her glove on) She's started climbing up to stuff and even took a few wobbly steps along the couch. :( I may have cried a little (and contemplated pushing her over)


A few random things:
the other day in the car Kelsey was crying and Rylee screamed "Kelsey! Be Quiet!" The best part is Kelsey actually listened to her :)
Every Sunday Rylee cries during the intermediate hymn because its not time to go to nursery yet. Rylee picked up my phone asking if she could call Lily, I said sure and the 'conversation' went like this: "Hi Lily, what doing? playing? on stairs? OH, Good! bye!"
After a big lightning storm about 6 weeks ago (that woke up everyone but Rylee) Kelsey started having a hard time falling asleep at night. She was fine during the day, but at nights I'd have to spend a few extra minutes rocking her before she'd let me lay her down without screaming. She's just starting to get better at letting me just lay her down again.

I am convinced that 2.5 year olds are the epitome of 'opposition in all things'. While often what she says and does brings so much joy, she also can throw a fit like its no body's business, and certainly knows how to drive her Momma CRAZY! I try to focus on the positive :)

Clubby

Kelsey has acclimated quite well to the giant club she's been forced to lug around. In fact I think she's complained the least of all of us. I've gotten my toes caught between it and the ground too many times to count (and it doesn't feel good). Rylee and I both have taken a few good punches as she tries to join us for stories or just for fun or because we happen to be where she would like to go.  My chin gets in the way as she tries to touch my cheek/jaw and a 'hard' cast against a shin is louder than you'd think. She smacks it really hard against the highchair tray or table as well. It started out too heavy for her (and end up hitting herself in the face) I keep thinking once its gone (tomorrow!) she'll be used to the weight and start hitting herself again. I had to record her crawling with it. She often will put her weight on the cast and move her other had and feet and just slide across the floor on the cast. Its pretty funny. She can get some serious speed :)

 {Thanks Auntie for the Doggie - it plays music and its ears flap.  Sometimes she loves, and sometimes it terrifies her :) }

 

Who needs an actual dog when you have a crawler? Her favorite spot is under the table. . . . . usually after the snacks she threw on the floor only seconds prior.

She refused to let the club slow her down.

 We've been very limited in the wardrobe department.  Though we have more items that fit around the cast than I originally thought, she definitely has been wearing the same few outfits, and I've loosened up on my "always in sleeves" rule as onsie sleeve hems have zero stretch and its been kinda weird to see that much of her shoulders, but those few sleeveless or cap-sleeved shirts/dresses we have are the only items with a big enough arm hole.  We've had a particular difficult time with pajamas (we have one short-sleeved pair that fits if I *really* pull) so most of the time she sleeps in what she's wearing.  Its funny because when its time to get the girls ready for bed Rylee gets excited and says "jammies on! And socks too!! Kessy wear jammies? no, fit on her cass." I love her little raspy voice.

 

I couldn't let the opportunity go by without signing her cast.  I went for a slightly less traditional signage. :) I'm sure it would be covered in stickers if I let Rylee know it was acceptable behavior.

 

 We had a picnic dinner and watched a movie last Friday night while Michael was out of town. While I was getting dinner and popcorn ready I couldn't help but laugh at what was going on in the living room and pulled out the video camera. All that Olympic watching must have made an impact on her. Stick that landing!

The "ta-da" is my favorite.

O-Wympics

We thoroughly enjoyed watching the Olympics this year.  It was both the girls first {Rylee was born the day after the closing ceremonies in Vancouver}.  I don't really remember watching much besides a few gymnastic routines as a kid, but I've watched a lot more since we've lived here. Rylee was really cute about them:

When she saw the first divers she said "Whoa, pretty swimming!"
She then became obsessed with them going "under water" or "dancing under water!" for the synchronized swimmers
She practiced her stokes a lot during the day. (for some reason more so while in a shopping cart)
One afternoon after waking up from a nap we had the following conversation:
"Momma, watch Dora?" "no, hunny"  "wympics?!" "yes, we can watch the Olympics"
Having the Olympics to watch was good neutral ground for her and my Mom while we were gone.
by the second week she was clapping along with the crowd, insisting we all clapped as well "Momma, clap! Daddy, Clap! Grandma, CLAP!"

We celebrated the games {as many I'm sure did} with an epic dance party during the closing ceremonies.  Rylee had been enjoying it all so much we let her stay up late, at least for the Spice Girls reunion. (The Spice Girls was the very 1st CD I ever purchased .  . . . . funny the things you remember)

Blue Bell

If you haven't tasted Blue Bell ice cream, you are missing out! Ok, so maybe its more of an iconic thing to me than anything but on our way home from Houston last week we decided to take a detour and visit the factory in Brehnam Texas.

We learned all sorts of interesting things like they are the 3rd most popular brand of ice cream sold in the US (pretty amazing as its only available in parts of 20 states), they have their own in-house bakery (for cookies in their cookies and cream etc), they only know what flavors they will be making about a week in advance as the flavors available are entirely based off of purchases (aside from seasonal products).  They have several nozzles feed into one carton and that is how they get even portions of different flavors (such as the great divide and Neapolitan) and we also learned the reason the ice cream is packaged then conveyored upside down is to create a seal with the lid to preserve freshness as well as reduce product cost (no plastic wrap needed).  Employees really can eat all the free ice cream they want.  Hence one of their many slogans "we eat all we can, and sell the rest".  We were surprised the tour took us by offices, locker rooms and the employee lunch room.

 Too bad Rylee missed out. We brought her back a souvenir anyway.

We had our included 'scoop' of ice cream and were back on the road.  It was fun and we're glad we stopped, but its not really worth the trip just for that.

And just for fun, my top 5 flavors are: Pistachio Almond, Summer Strawberry Pie, Snickerdoodle, Cookie Dough and Butter Crunch

Come visit, I'll stock the freezer.

dog-sitting and growing

So a couple weeks ago we (I) reluctantly agreed to dog-sit a friends dog while they were out of town.  See, I don't claim to be a dog person mostly because I never had a dog but you-know.  However, I did tell Michael that I do think we could get a dog "someday".  So we decided a week would be a good 'trial-run'.

Well, I do think we took this dog in under false pretenses.  That being he is house trained. If that were the case I don't think I should be getting up in the night with a dog (when my baby has no problem sleeping 10 solid hours).  And dog crap REALLY stinks.

The bottom line is I'm not sure if this experience brought be closer or further from getting our own dog.  I will say Rylee was pretty funny.  She was quite skeptical when the dog first came in.  Michael sat on the ground with her reassuring her it was ok.  Kelsey was in the bumbo and he sniffed around and then got a little bit in Kelsey's face to smell her as well at this point Rylee screamed "KELSEY!!!" As if saying "Daddy, save her!!"  very sweet to protect her sister, but from a distance.

She loved being able to call him "cody. come 'ere, where's cody? come 'ere, Cody"  Then when he actually obeyed her call she'd freak. saying "scared".  There were a couple times she wouldn't leave or pass by a room that she knew he was in but all in all it worked out.  He's a little older of a dog and was pretty mellow.  Our neighbors dogs didn't particularly like the fact that we had a furry one on our side of the fence - but all is back to normal now.

 Not much makes me happier than seeing my girls play together.  Nobody can get Kelsey laughing like Rylee can, and Rylee gets the biggest kick out of her power as well.  If Kelsey is sad Rylee loves to run up in her face and dance around her then run away to see if Kelsey will cry again (which she does) so Rylee can run back in to be the hero.

Kelsey is really growing.  It kindof makes me a bit sad.  A girl in the ward the other day saw me with her and said "Is that YOUR baby?" (she had a baby herself only a couple weeks after Rylee was born). She is particularly tall.

rolling forward and backward all over the living room.

giggling and grasping for toys.

 She has been loving to play with her toes lately too (something Rylee never did). I think its adorable.

We'll probably start her on solids once we get back from our trip.  That and potty training.  I'm not particularly looking forward to either.

Been a little while

A few days ago Michael commented on how I hadn't blogged in a while, as I usually don't go a month without posting.  Its not that I lack content . . . . I do have a little one that is growing and changing by the mintue {if you want daily updates on THAT you can always move closer . . . . . there's several homes for sale on our street) I've been busy doing other things. . . . .

like reading.

The Hunger Games to be precise.

Michael read it last fall-ish and has had the book on my nightstand since.  It took a couples book club deadline for me to start, and then not doing any household duties for 11 days while I finished the series.  I loved them.  Another 'teen' series that after hearing the plot thought I would hate (similar to Twilight) and ended up enjoying.  Because I read them so close to each other (finished Catching Fire in 3 days - a personal record) it really felt like one book.  And although many warned me the ending was lame, I thought it was PERFECT!! I don't get why so many disliked it. . . . so if you happen to be one of 'them' feel free to explain it to me :)

At any rate, here's a few pictures.

 I love catching Rylee staring and smiling at Kelsey, its the sweetest thing, though I havn't been able to capture said moments on camera.

 The weather has been fantastic! Oh how I love a Texas winter!

 I have a billion pictures of Kelsey sleeping as that is still basically what she spends 80% of her time doing, gotta love a sleeping babe.

 And I've been experimenting with Rylee's hair. . . . .  shorlty after this hair-do I realized just how thin and fine her hair is, and she has a forehead that goes for miles.  seriously. she looked pretty boyish from the front which prompted a big milestone for that toddler:   Her FIRST hair cut.  Granted I just trimmed her bangs up a little so they're not in her eyes.  I'm not entirely sure I love them, but I didn't want to pay somebody to do it just yet.

I'll get to further details such as the birthday and other milestones another time, but that seems like a pretty good re-cap for now.