Awesome....Semi-Weird....Pic

.........And just so you know, I did absolutely NO editing to this picture....isn't it kinda cool lookin'??!!.....Yeah ok, maybe a little pyscho, too!

Park Fun

On Saturday, Jessie, Jeremy & I took Rylee, Patrick (aka - 'Magic', Jessie's little brother) & Kendall (Jessie's step-son) to the park. It was SO MUCH FUN!! Rylee had a blast with Patrick & since she couldn't pronounce his name exactly & she thought she heard us calling him 'Magic' (instead of Patrick), the name stuck. From then on out, it was 'Come on, Magic!,' 'Come over here, Magic!' It was too cute for words!

Rylee's favorite thing at the park is the slide. She will do that over & over & over. It's funny too, because her hair gets full of static :)

This is Rylee, Aunt 'Wessie' & 'Magic' on the merry-go-round. Patrick was so sweet, he actually kept pushing them slow so that Rylee didn't get too scared! But....let me just tell you, the girl isn't scared of anything!!!!

And here's 'Magic' tickling Rylee!! She loves Magic :)

'So, She Thinks She Can Dance!'

So, my girl can dance!!

Which comes to no surprise, I've got moves, too :)

She is hilarious!! I was laughing so hard last night, I was almost crying! She is so full of personality, spunk, attitude (sometimes good....sometimes bad) & character!

Ok, so I'm not real sure what this 'move' is, but she sure knows how to make it cute :)

Big Girl Bed!

So, we finally did it --- we ditched the crib & upgraded to a toddler bed!!! It all started Saturday night, when I returned from St. Louis, Rylee was running a fever. She seemed to have a chest cold, she was a little wheezy & clingy. So, of course, I had to have her sleep in our bed with me. I was afraid the wheezing & shallow breathing would worsen & I wouldn't hear it if she was in her room. She wasn't much better by Sunday or Monday, so I kept her home with me on Monday.....which also meant that she was still sleeping with me. I knew this would be a hard habit to break her out of once she started to feel better. We started her on breathing treatments Monday & her fever broke later that night. I took her to the Dr. Tuesday morning & got her on antibiotics. Well, even after she began to feel better, at bedtime, she continued to plea, 'Sleep in Mommy's bed....ppllleeeaassee.' (the girl knows how to play me, that's for sure!) So, I decided today that maybe if we got her her own 'big girl bed,' she would be more interested in sleeping in that. Well, so far...it's worked. She has yet to sleep in it, but right now she is laying in it watching a movie.......I will let you know tomorrow how the night goes!?!?!

Here she is showing 'Penguin' their new bed :)

UPDATE: It's 9:26 p.m. & Rylee is asleep in her own bed!! :)...for now.

Cubs vs. Cardinals

This past weekend, my Mom, Mary, Kara & I had the privilege of attending a St. Louis Cardinal's game! We had AWESOME seats (5th row behind the dugout)!! And even though the Cardinal's didn't win, we had a fantastic time! I have to admit that the road trip on the way down was the best part. I cannot remember the last time that I laughed so hard, for so long! It was just really nice to get away with the girls and do our own thing. We spent the night Friday night & of course, shopped all day Saturday! And what trip to STL is complete without a stop @ The Cheesecake Factory?!! My fav!!

We had decided that this was our first annual 'AMI Girl's Weekend' & it will happen once a year from here on out!! I work with the best people -- it's always.....well...interesting -- there's never a dull moment :) It sure makes going to work everyday seem not so bad!

I think someone has a crush..................... :)

My Point Exactly

If you read the post before this one, you know what I'm saying. This just reiterates the fact that Rylee is a tomboy & a 'natural born hunter.' The girl can't get enough of anything that has to do with ducks, fish, turkeys, deer, or geese!! Here she is practicing (or should I say, perfecting) her duck call with Dad :) And I must admit, she's very good. I've tried to do it myself a couple of times & let's just say it sounds more like a 'sick duck.' She's a natural!

Fishing!

I started to notice that Rylee was becoming more interested in fishing/hunting, ect. during our last few Wal-Mart trips. Instead of wanting to bee-line to the toy section, she begged to go get some 'jigs.' (I'm positive that 'idea' came from her father) First came the tackle box, then she had to have the lures, jigs & bobbers to put inside her tackle box. Well, this last trip she went straight for the fishing pole. What can I say, it's in her blood. (Her choices were 'Cars' or 'Barbie' -- even though her personality matches better with the 'Cars' theme, she wanted the pink one) And, of course, Mommy had to get a new pole as well. Now it's always a family outing :)

So, last night we took her out to Jeremy's Dads. He has a pond on his property that Jeremy likes to fish. She had a blast!!! She was so into all the aspects of it. She wanted to cast, catch one, touch one, etc... She is a spitting image of her father. There is no doubt in my mind that she is a tomboy. Which I am completely fine with. There is nothing 'girly' about her & we love it!!!

Look how excited she is!! I love it!!!

And NO, that is not our dog! (that's 'Buddy', Jared & Emilee's dog)

Busy, Busy...Bad

Well, this past week has been a busy & draining week for me. It all started with the Labor Day Parade, then we had a picnic with all of Jeremy's family at Rand Park. After that, Jeremy & I got the 'pleasure' of tarring part of the roof @ AMI :) It actually wasn't that bad & I hadn't been up on the roof in so long, I forgot how GREAT the view was!!

Then, comes the day after a 3-day weekend that everyone dreads! It has been an absolute ZOO here @ work this week!!! Which is good, I guess. It's good business. (aka 'job security')

So...here comes the 'Bad' part of my Blog Title.....on Wednesday, Rylee got her first time-out @ school! Jeremy had picked her up & when they got home, he said that she wanted to call me at work. So, he dialed the number for her & she was just chatting away. Well, when I asked her, 'What did you do at school today?' She handed the phone to Jeremy and said, 'Here, you tell her Daddy.' He proceeded to tell me that she told him she got time-out at school because she hit Trevor, a boy in her class. I hesitated at first, because Rylee likes to 'fabricate' stories these days (what two-year old doesn't), but the more she got into detail, the more I started to worry that it was actually true. When we hung up the phone I couldn't help myself, I had to call Little Angels (her DayCare). When her teacher got on the phone, I asked her if Rylee had gotten in trouble today.....she kind of snickered and said, 'Yeah, she got her first time-out today for hitting someone.' Just to see if Rylee's story was true, I asked if it was Trevor that she hit. And she said, 'Yes, actually it was.' So, to my amazement, my two-year old was capable of telling me a story, even though it was a bad one, that was detailed & true. I was impressed with that. However, I was not impressed with the story itself. We've been having some issues recently with Rylee being bossy and a little 'rough' at home. I never thought it carried over into school, because before if I would ever ask if Rylee was having any problems hitting or pulling hair (which is what she does to her babies at home), her teacher would look at me like I was crazy & say, 'Oh no, Rylee is an angel. She's very helpful and always listens.' What happened to that Rylee??? :) I try to take it with a grain of salt, because even though there are 'rough patches' with her behavior & listening, everyday (many, many times) she amazes me with her vocabulary, her gentleness & her ability to pick up on things so quickly. I'm thankful everday, every second, that she is in our lives. She is such a blessing. And even though the day-to-day things can be tough & challenging, I have SO many things to be thankful for!!

Watermelon Festival

Last night we took Rylee to the Watermelon Festival in Montrose. We met up with my sister, Eddeana and her husband, Tony....and the boys were floating around somewhere (in the words of their mother, 'oh they're around here somewhere...flirting with the girls, I'm sure.'). Rylee had so much fun! Last year we could barely get her on the carousel -- and this year, we couldn't tear her off :) We definitely got our money's worth this year!

I LOVE this picture of the two of them!!

She looks scared here, but I promise you, she wasn't!!

Remodel Update

Ok, so we've now moved to the bathroom. Anyone who knows me will be shocked when they see these pictures, and what color I decided to go with.......I've always been known as a 'white wall' girl......not anymore :)

And you'll notice 'Rylee's Potty Chart' in this one (see how GREAT she's doing)!!

And here are a few of the 'updated, but still remodeling' pictures of our kitchen. It's coming along great....it's just a long & expensive process (and as Jeremy would say, 'It doesn't help that we can't even finish one project before you start me on the next one)! He acts like I don't help :)

(Under the microwave will eventually be countertop, but we're giving our checking acct a break for awhile. Hopefully around Thanksgiving time, we will replace all the countertops.)

Fashion Mogul In Training

So, Rylee's in to dressing herself lately. And her absolute favorite thing is her pink camoflauge rain boots that her Aunt Deana got her! She wears them with everything, and I do mean everything -- her bathing suit, her pajama's or even with just a pull-up. It's really cute!


When we got home yesterday, Rylee couldn't wait to get her sandals off so she could put her boots on! She thinks she's hot stuff in those boots (and so do we!) :)

















Here is Rylee being a fashion mogul (and chef) in training! (She's such a multi-tasker ) This is the new kitchen set that Gonga got for her!! I made a promise to myself...Rylee WILL NOT be like her mother, she will learn how to cook!! (even if it's just with 'pretend' food for now!)

FINALLY!!!

So, I'm finally starting to have people tell me that Rylee is starting to look like me!!! Since the day she was born, it's always been, 'She looks just like her Dad!' Well, FINALLY, people are starting to see some of me in my daughter. Although, I still don't see much resemblance, I'll let you decide.....

'Lay Down!'

Rylee is becoming quite bossy these days (in addition to sassy, independent, stubborn & picky -- hum...I wonder where she gets that from)! She bosses her friends at Day Care around, she bosses Jeremy & I around & she also bosses Gonga around!! Check out the video below to get a glimpse of what I'm talking about.....

Syvon & Rylee

My friends Corrin & Mandy stopped by Friday night. Corrin lives in Atlanta & they were only in town for the week. We've been dying to get her daughter, Syvon, & Rylee to have a 'play date.' Rylee was SO excited to have a 'baby' in the house! Her & Syvon played for awhile while Corrin & I tried to take pictures :) I had to get them to pose for a couple!!

How adorable is Syvon, with that dark hair & brown eyes!!

Swimming with Sydney!

Sydney came over today to swim with Rylee. And although Rylee wasn't 'in the mood' to get into the swimming pool, she was ok with running through her new 'Dora Sprinkler' (that Aunt Kayla bought her) in our front yard! She loves it when Sydney comes over, they always have such a good time together :)

How cute is that bathing suit!!

Park Fun

Yesterday Emilee & I took the kids to the park. Here is Rylee, Ethan & Tait enjoying the swings!