Tangled

We saw Tangled yesterday as a family.  We took all three kids.  It was quite daring I know.  Rylee and Piper have been so anxious to see it.  It was a fun movie and we all had a good time.  Sawyer did not make too much noise.  Piper sat on my lap for the first hour, then got bored.  Rylee loved it.  She sat in her chair laughing at certain points where I think she was the only one in the fairly full theater doing such a thing.  The only problem was the ending.  She was crushed by how the movie ended.  I don't want to give anything away if you have not seen it, but I might try to request an alternate ending so I don't have to answer more questions when the movie comes out on DVD.

A Buffalo Christmas

I want to preface this with a few questions from Rylee for Santa. Let me know if you know any of the answers to these. She was not quite daring enough to ask Santa at the mall.

How do reindeer fly?

Does Santa have parents?

Does Santa take his coat off and wear a t-shirt when he is in Florida?

To prepare for Christmas, we held our annual Christmas tree cookie making event.  It involves stacking cookies with frosting and then adding a red hot on top.  The girls had a fun time putting the cookies together.  They did not exactly pass the hygiene test, so do not be offended that we did not share them with anyone.  Piper did a good job until she realized she had a bunch of cookies in front of her.

 We had a fun Christmas together.  We had some friends come over for dinner on Christmas Eve.  Heather did a fabulous job on everything.  The kids acted out the nativity story from the Bible.  It was probably the most chaotic reenactment I have ever seen, but it was fun.

What a good star!

Rylee as Mary

A wise man with a couple of other guests modeling the new line of strollers

Christmas morning with children is special.  They are so genuine with their emotions and excitement that you cannot avoid smiling.  We are blessed to have such great family and friends.

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Cape Cod

We made a trip to Cape Cod last summer around the beginning of July.  We did not have much experience there so we planned to take a tour of the cape during our week there.  We stayed in Mashpee and made trips to Sandwich, Dennisport, Hyannis, Chatham, Falmouth, Woods Hole, and Provincetown (and I am sure I missed some).  While the cape itself is not huge, doing the entire place in a week is tough with one child who naps and the other one who only wants to spend time at the hotel swimming pool.  I will try to touch on some of the highlights of the trip.

We both fell in love with Chatham.  We spent some time walking down the main street looking at shops. We were blown away by the simple and beautiful architecture of the area.  I wanted to take pictures of the area, but the streets are small and I feel awkward going around with a camera.  We managed to get a picture of one of the houses.

We also visited the Chatham Fish Pier in the afternoon.  We managed to watch a scallop boat come in with their catch.  I prefer experiencing an area much more by doing stuff like that than the other tourist attractions.  The girls had a fun time watching the birds and seals that were following the boats. 

At the fish pier

 

We also went to several different beaches.  The first one by Sandwich was rocky and the water was freezing.  We should have thought something was up when there was only one other person on the beach.  Rylee lost her pink boogie board there in a matter of seconds.  She put it down in the water and wind/current just took it out to sea.  I tried to go after it but I was not prepared for a full out ocean swim in those conditions.  So we resorted to other beaches on the south side that were much more pleasant and fun for the girls (with sand).

Playing in the sand near Hyannis

Another day trip involved quite a drive up to Provincetown.  We debated for a while on whether it was worth it to spend the extra time to go up there.  We apparently just missed the huge Portuguese Festival there, but the place was still full of tourists.  The city had a large marina with lots of tour boats, many for whale watching.  We walked up and down Commercial Street and saw some interesting things.  We bought overpriced and supposedly homemade ice cream on the way.  The girls were exhausted by the end of the trip.  I am pretty sure that is evident by their expressions in the photo.

We also stopped at a really neat place on the way up to Provincetown called the Salt Pond Visitor Center in the Cape Cod National Seashore.  We were able to go on a walk along a salt marsh with a large pond.  It was a great learning facility and I am glad we stopped there.  

We most of all enjoyed spending time with each other.  I might try to post more later about the good ice cream places we went to and the amazing clam chowder, but I have to update about other things first.

 

Just hanging out before bedtime

Newborn Pics

We had some newborn pictures taken by our friend about a month ago. She did a great job and we thought we would post a few of the pictures. Sawyer is doing well and getting excited for Christmas. We wish that we could be closer to family this year, but we are also having a lot of fun doing stuff on our own.

Year in Rewind

I am going to try and post things that we have done over the year. I figure that if I do a little each day I might be able to get some stuff done. The hard part about this though is that Sawyer is not on them. I could photoshop him in some of them, but I got some negative feedback on the last time I did that. These pictures are from Halloween. Rylee was a beautiful ballerina and Piper was a ladybug.

Busy Weekend

Sawyer is keeping us busy and we are also trying to entertain him when we have a chance. He stares at us quite a bit. I think it is funny. He is a keeper.

Sawyer

After repeated attempts on my life, I figured it was time to post some new pictures on here. These are all from the hospital the first night. Rylee and Piper were excited to see their new brother. Heather is doing great. I will try to post some pictures later, but hopefully this eases some of the tension. Thanks for all of your support.

It's Picture Time

So my life has finally gotten to the point where I can post some pictures on the blog. I hope that my free time expands so I can do some other stuff as well in the near future. We have done quite a bit since the last pictures. The girls seemed to have grown a bit and developed more personality.

Piper loves ice cream. She spent most of dinner the other night crying because she knew that there was ice cream. She managed to get most of it in her mouth.

She loves playing outside. She looks great with the one side of her hair done in this picture.


Rylee in pink.


I went to the Dominican Republic over spring break for a dental mission and I found these maracas for the girls.


We also took a trip to Kirtland, Ohio on a weekend to look at a car. The car idea did not work well because the guy sold it before we got there. Not cool. Anyway, we had a lot of fun looking at sites in the area.


Heather liked the cows at the Farmpark. I liked them too. Rylee even did a good job milking one.


I have found it quite impossible to take a good picture of the girls before church when they are dressed up. They have some cute dresses but I never seem to catch them at the best moment.

What's Wrong With My Fork?

We were eating pasta for dinner last night. We were almost finished and Rylee held up her fork and asked, "What's wrong with my fork? It won't do the spinny thing." I thought it was funny that it was the fork's fault. I love my kids. I will try to post some pictures soon too.

A four year old teenager

This weekend we went to Kirtland and saw the historical sights. We had a wonderful time! After Kirtland we went to a place called Farmpark. There we got to milk a cow, ride in a horse drawn carriage, and see many other farm animals. The kids loved it especially Piper who kept saying Moo over and over again. Right before we were about to leave we stopped at the gift shop. Rylee walked around the store coveting everything. Finally she found a purse that she loved and begged Scott for it. She insisted that she would use it all the time. Scott, knowing that Rylee already has at least five other purses, said no. Rylee was outraged and screamed "You are ruining my life." One of the farm workers turned her head so Rylee could not see her laughing. Even though I find this humorous it also troubles me. I cannot believe that my four year old already thinks her parents are making her life miserable. Isn't she supposed to adore us right now. I feel like I am raising a teenager and not a preschooler.

Hey Hey

I wonder how long it will take for Piper to make faces like her aunt Amy.

The Chicken Princess

Rylee made this picture the other day for mom. She said it was the "Chicken Princess." It even flies because it has wings.

Worst Day of My Life

Today was the scariest day of my life. Piper has been sick with a stomach virus this week. She has been really tired and hasn't wanted to eat or drink very much. This morning she was laying on my chest when she started to convulse. Then her eyes went behind her head. She stopped breathing and her lips turned blue. I started panicking. I could not think of what you are supposed to do when someone has a seizure. I called 911 and they were busy with other calls. I started praying begging God to help me. I thought for a moment that Piper had died. It was the worst moment of my life. She slowly started breathing again. The 911 operator came on and an ambulance was on its way. Rylee ran next door and got the neighbor. We went to the hospital. The doctors said she didn't actually have a normal seizure. She had a febrile seizure. It is the body's reaction to a fever. It causes no real damage but it is horrifying to experience. Once you have one you could have one again. Most kids grow out of them by five. You can try to control the fever with pain medication but they could still seize. They gave her liquids at the hospital to help with dehydration and she is now home and safe. I wanted everyone to know about these seizures so you don't have to experience the same terror.
I cannot imagine life without Piper. She loves to laugh and smile. She often has a mischievous smile on her face right before she is about to do something wrong. She is tough and isn't afraid to fight back. She is extremely independent and wants to do everything herself. I love her so much. She brightens up my life and I am so glad that she is my daughter. Please give your loved ones an extra hug and kiss because they are so precious. I hope that I never have to experience this fear again.