Chef in Town

I was lucky enough to walk around the block tonight with a little chef:

She caught on to the concept and enjoyed herself IMMENSELY! She was very diligent in saying, "Trick or Treat" to every house we approached. Sometimes she'd start saying it way before we were within earshot. :-) After receiving her delightful morsel she'd stand there and stare at the person/house/other kids until I'd urge her to keep going. 

"Wow, I have lots of caaandy!!" 

"Look at that guy!"

"We going to that house?"

"I walkin' on the side of the road. Right here, Mommy?"

Our little giraffe promptly fell asleep in the Moby and missed out on all of the activity. No wonder, judging by how comfy she looked:

Good Night

No more naps! That's been the theme of our past few weeks. This was the result at 6:15 this eve:

She had been playing with stickers. I let her perch on the table for a while, but she started to sink really deep into sleep. She was tossing, turning, and rolling around. I cautiously carried her to her bed, gingerly took her shoes off, and slipped a pull up on. She halfway woke up in the process so I expected a little resistance. Instead she said, "You can leave now." I couldn't help but grin.

The grinning ended when she woke up 2 hours later when Brielle was fussing. Yikes. Screaming. Pitching blankets. Chucking her pillow and bunny. Wailing my name. Pushing Brielle's hand. Smacking the side of my head. Not cool. We finally got things figured out (potty break, Brielle in swing, snack, snuggles) and she wanted me to rock her back to sleep. When I laid her back down I tucked her in tight and said, "I love you Rhya" In her delirious state, she reached her hand up and blew me a kiss. Heart melt. 

The night is not done. We shall see what happens next!

This is what Brielle does whenever she sees her mama:

My heart is constantly in melt mode. How can I resist those reaches? She does NOT want anyone else to hold her when I am present. I have to disappear. 

This little man is hard to resist also:

Gary and Amber were brave enough to have us over on Sunday. Reid is already 10 weeks old and quite the jabberbox/smiler/cooer.

I tend to only write about stuff that I have pictures of but there's a certain mall experience I want to remember. Right, Kristina?

Something compelled Kristina and I to go shopping at the Burnsville Mall last Thurs. Hop on over to her blog for a documentary. 

Rhya kept forgetting to stick right next to me so after I lost track of her for the SECOND time I was very firm and let her know it was NOT a light matter. She said, "But Winky runs away!" I knew exactly what she was talking about. You know that song, "Wee Willy Winky runs through the town?" She likes to sing the song but evidently has been processing the words. In her mind she was just 'Winky'. Oh boy. It was hard to not belly laugh over that one.

I informed her that if she stayed RIGHT next to me for the rest of the time she could have a ride on the elevator. She practically tripped me from there on out. Her whole body was TOUCHING mine she was so close! She kept looking at my feet and body and readjusting her steps so she could be as close as possible. She looked up and announced, "I stayin' right next to you!" 

Needless to say, Kristina and I exchanged many silent 'this is hilarious' looks throughout the day. Never ending hilariousness.  

Pet Parade

Small town living means fun little activities every now and then. Our local paper contained an ad announcing the FOURTH annual pet parade on Sat! 

I was clueless as to what to expect, but it sounded like fun, so I formed my idea, gathered some props, and our whole family arrived at Tractor Supply Company.

 We used Sakari's skijoring harness and rope and attached it to the wagon. Nate's tattered belt secured the woodcutting vest, and our childhood radio flyer hosted the very excited little girl! Travis' old hat adorned Rhya's head (I was very surprised that she allowed this, and even more surprised that she LOVED it).

Everyone received a number and paraded around the judges a couple of times. It was so cute to see all of the dressed up kids and dogs. 

Dogs and kids galore! We received an 'honorable mention' prize. :-) 

Our lovable cowgirls! Rhya was so sad when we headed back to the car. She asked if Sakari could pull her home in the wagon.

This little girl pulled around her two pet gold fish- Bump and Smear. There were also a couple of bunnies present that we hoped no canines would ingest.

It's so refreshing to see families enjoying creative, carefree activities. We're already looking forward to next year! Maybe the chickens will be involved...in a dog proof cage!

All in a Day's FUN!

These kids love the chicken pen. They were actually able to pet the chickens! Maybe it's because the chickens were hungry and eating. When I saw the kids climbing on the coop, I wondered out loud if we should let them do that. Nate responded that he'd probably do the same thing if he was a kid. :-)

They were supposed to be napping!

Happy Birthday Shanda!

Hope you have a fun filled day! You're still in your 20's so nothing to worry about yet, right? 

I asked Rhya if she wanted me to read her a book. She said, "YES!" I said, "Okay, pick one out while I go to the bathroom." This was the stack waiting for me when I returned. High hopes from the 2 year old!

The girls played in the leaf pile on Sat before we ground it up and put it in the garden. Sat. was a fun, productive day. We got the house clean, lawn raked and picked up, cupcakes, made, camper cleaned...then we had a bonfire and slept in the camper. Before we purchased the pop up I was a little nervous that we'd get cold. NOT SO. That heater really kicks out the goods. I got cooked out about 12:30. I lasted 2 hours before going to the house. ha. Nate and Rhya stayed the entire night.

Any resemblence?

Here's a picture of Rhya at the same age that Brielle is right now. Can you tell that they are sisters? 

My observations:  Same nose. Rhya has rounder eyes. Brielle has rounder ears. Same EXACT size.

What's your Faaayvrit?

Rhya points to a yellow toothbrush- "this is my faaayvrit. Jordan likes the blue one"
Points to a random object in a book- "This is my Faaayvrit!! Which one is yours, Mommy?"
This goes on and on. She's constantly picking something out and dubbing it as her 'favorite'. It is the cutest thing ever.

Wait- the other 'cutest thing ever' is the way she talks. She jabbers away and is very easy to understand but the grammar is hilarious.
"I is a girl. You is a girl, Mommy?"
"My very like hot! You no like hot?" (usually after we've told her that the food needs to cool down a bit)
"BiEll (Brielle) no how to eat. She too little. I is a big durl (girl). My two. You is big, Mommy?
Tory (Cory) at work? To make money?
Jordan coming amorrow (tomorrow)?
I hungwy for sometin. I wanna snaaaaack.
What's in your mouf? You have um (gum), Mommy? I want um.
When her words can't keep up with her brain she says, 'un un un un un' super duper fast until the next word pops out.
She thinks it's just HILARIOUS to shorten words just for fun. Nama has been called 'Nam'. I have been called 'Ma'. Brielle has been called 'Bee' Granpa has been called 'Gamp' She says it, then laughs with uncharted glee.

Jordan and Rhya have a 'thing' with monsters right now. They run through the house like wildcats saying, "Monsters are coming!!" They proceed to hide in ever nook and cranny.

Friends were made last weekend. Makenna (almost 4) and Rhya are second cousins and played for two days straight! Thanks for hosting the fun family weekend, Curt and Cindy!

Brielle and Rhya are clicking more and more each day. They seem to have their own sort of communication. Brielle knows to scream at the top of her lungs when she knows that Rhya is just trying to bug her (like pop the paci out of Brielle's mouth 'just cause it's fun'). She also knows to let out happy squeals, jabbers, and belly laughs.

The other day Brielle was hanging out in her crib looking at her mobile (or so I thought). I walked into the room and discovered Rhya laying right beside her reading a book out loud. They were both very engaged in the task at hand and hardly noticed I was there.

Brielle has started to reach out at people when they're about to pick her up. She also hangs on with all her might when she doesn't want to be set down.

Her favorite activity is to grab at people's glasses, hair, ear, nose, and whatever object they are holding. Almost every person comments on her unforgiving grasp while they hold her.
We are masters at pushing our chair waaay back and balancing food from our plate to our mouth. Good thing Sakari is around to clean up the spilled morsels.

She is happy happy happy and thrives with tons of activity. Is this a 2nd child thing? ha. She'll squirm and laugh with pure joy whenever there's a lot of upbeat talking and commotion, like she's trying to enter in.

I thought I placed the tuna melt ingredients out of her reach. Not so!

May Fall last a loooong time!

We drive past a certain township park every single time we drive to Mom and Dad's. You think we've ever stopped there? Nope, just gone whizzing by. I swung in the other day. It was worth it!

 The Little Trimbelle Creek at the same park- this would be a perfect summer swimming spot for older kids. It's deep and fresh! (there is a fence separating kids from cows)

Dad was cutting hay as we arrived. I love the combination of early summer's round bales, future hay being cut, and a bounty of corn waiting to be harvested. Dad finished cutting in time for us to explore the newly groomed trails via horseback!

Enjoying a 79 degree day at Afton Apple! Melanie and the kids joined us. Check out this awesome PVC pipe slide! We moms tried it out and got our butts tenderized and brains jarred out! The kids were light enough to just bumpety bump down the thing. Jordan and Rhya did it over and over.

Little apple pickers. The trees were a perfect height for short arms!

Poor Rhya was feeling under the weather. It came on super fast and she threw up on the way home. Rhya is NOT one to like to be carried, but she snuggled right into Saraiah on this occasion. 

One result of cooler weather that I hope doesn't last a long time is ailments! Rhya got over hers quickly but we could've changed her name to Miss Crabbypants for a few days. wowswers.

Brielle ramped up her teething and seemed to have caught my recent fever/sore throat issues. She screamed for two hours the other night, and has been waking up every few hours for the past three nights. yawn. Poor baby. 

We went to Hastings last night and picked up natural teething stuff to put on her gums as well as homeopathic chamomile to put under her tongue. Anyone have other suggestions? Night is when it shows up. She's fine during the day.

We completed our Hastings outing with a visit to Panera Bread. I was discreetly nursing Brielle when Rhya announced that she had to go potty and went trotting off to the bathroom (I have no clue how she knew where they were- we've never been there). The restaurant was almost empty so I took a minute and finished nursing Brielle. Right about then I heard Rhya's squawks echoing off the bathroom walls and into the eating area. I found her in the MENS bathroom, in the farthest stall back, door wide open, leggings on her ankles, wrestling with the toilet paper dispenser. I was proud of her solo potty accomplishment but we made sure to take a look at the MEN and WOMEN bathroom signs and discover the difference!  

Rhya's thoughts

Rhya is playing with Jordan today:

 She just picked up her meeting bag and a container of Puffins.

I said, "Where are you going, Rhya?"  Rhya replied, "Going to convetion (convention), to meeting, to talk about God and Jesus, and I'm the Mommy"

Rhya's been potty trained for a long time. However, she had a few weeks where there was a relapse with lots of accidents. I told her she could have gum at the end of the day if she kept her undies dry. It worked, and she's conquered her relapse. 

Recently we were driving along and I was chewing gum. Rhya asked, "Momma, are you chewing gum cause your undies are dry?"

Rhya had a stomach bug which included, a fever (chills, aches, dizzy), and throwing up. She decided to get out of bed for a few minutes, and teetered toward me saying, "Mommy, my head is moving." (in other words, she was dizzy and everything was spinning).

Clever husband story: Rhya recently had an issue in the night (nightmare?) so Nate laid on her floor for a while. He noticed that she kept checking to make sure he was still there. When she finally fell back asleep and he figured it was safe to leave, he placed a doll on the pillow on the floor, and fluffed up some blankets below the doll in an efforts to create a 'mummy'. He was pretty proud of his handiwork, and she never called for him, so the mummy must've been pretty realistic!