Happy Turkey Day!

 We had such a great Thanksgiving weekend.  We stayed at a house in Port Angeles with Lance's brother Aaron and family, and then we spent our days at his other brother Peter's house.  The kids had so much fun playing with all the cousins.  Amazingly, there was no arguing or fighting.  Everyone had a genuine good time.  It was awesome seeing them together.  Makes my heart full.

Cousins Tamryn and Morgan on the left.  Skype-ing Gramma J on the right.

We all took a walk to get some fresh air.  The kids spent most of the weekend outside playing in Uncle Peter's backyard.  He has a zip line and a big trampoline.  Super fun!!

Such great cousin bonding time!

Uncle Peter even took us for a ride in his plane.  The kids thought that was so cool.  (Who wouldn't??)

So much to be thankful for.

Frozen on Ice

 A few weeks ago us girls went to see Frozen on Ice.  We started the afternoon with nachos and margaritas (for the moms!) at a Mexican restaurant and then headed over to the show.  The girls were adorable in their Elsa and Anna dresses.  They  absolutely loved the show and I've gotta say, us moms did too!  And who new they served alcohol?  What a fun surprise! 

Mom's weekend in San Diego!

 Last weekend I took another trip to San Diego to visit my good friend Elisabeth.  It was fun to hang out with her and her kiddos without all the chaos of bringing my kids along.  Her parents were nice enough to come over and watch the kids one day so we could have a girls day out!  We had a blast taking the ferry to the Gas Lamp district and exploring downtown and eating and drinking at a few different restaurants.  The rest of the weekend was spent simply relaxing and catching up with a dear friend.  

We spent another day checking the little beach town of Encinitas.  Super cute!  

This was one of the sunsets from the place they are staying.  Beautiful! 

Carriage driving

Rylee has been loving her horse riding lessons.  Last week she even got to carriage drive for the first time!  She was nervous at first but got the hang of it quickly.

Carson's first sport... soccer!

 Carson started playing soccer a couple of weeks ago and he absolutely loves it!  He is pretty good at it too!  He's in a class with ages 3.5- 5 and he can definitely keep up with them all.  He is so cute to watch and so proud of himself!  Now to work on the no hands thing...

Happy Halloween!

 We had a great Halloween.  We tried a new carving technique... drilling!  The kids loved it (no surprise there).

 The rain stopped for about an hour Halloween night, just long enough for us to trick-or-treat around the neighborhood.  Rylee dressed up as Rapunzel and Carson was a Gladiator (complete with a sword and a shield... his favorite part).  Afterwards we went over to Jon and Mandy's house for a Halloween party.  Fun times!

Giddy up!

 Rylee has a new hobby!  She started horse riding lessons last week and I would say she's in love!  She's always loved horses, so it's about time she learns to ride and care for a horse.

 We've started lessons at a place called "Friendly Horse Acres" in Buckley.  It's a local non-profit run by a sweet woman named Laverne.  Rylee gets to ride and learn to groom a sweet horse named Rain.

Look Ma... No training wheels!!!

Rylee told me she would let us take the training wheels off "when I turn 6."  She was way more than ready...

The 1st video is the very 1st time she tried to ride on her own.

This 2nd video is of her at the end of our walk/ bike ride.  It didn't take long to get her confidence up.

The 3rd video is of Carson being the daredevil that he is... scaring his mother half to death.

Happy 6th Birthday Rylee!

Rylee had a busy, fun-filled birthday weekend.  Friday was her actual birthday.  She came home from school and we immediately started the celebration.  She opened presents and then we went out for dinner at Red Robin.  After dinner she chose to go to a movie night at her school.  Where she proceeded to sit next to a boy.  A cute boy.  And they wrestled.   Are you kidding me... it's starting already???!

Saturday night she had a "slumber sleepover" with her friends Madeline and Alexis.  The girls had a blast playing dress up, doing artwork, making pizzas, and just hanging out.  

Sunday we went to the zoo with Grandma and Papa and Aunt Mandy.  It was a gorgeous sunny day and we all had fun checking out the animals.  Afterwards we went to an early dinner at Duke's on the waterfront in Tacoma.

Rylee went to bed tonight with a huge smile and told me all the things she loved about the weekend.  I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful, sweet girl to call my own.   Happy birthday Rylee!!