Entertainment Center

The girls have fun playing in this little part of the entertainment center. Ashlyn can barely fit standing up. I don't know why they like it so much- it's the little things!

Spiderman

Rylee loves Spiderman. We watch the movies many times a day. It used to be just the first movie, but then we borrowed the second from Grandma, so we watch that sometimes too. The first one is the red one and the second is the yellow one (the colors of the DVD boxes). We still watch the red one more, but it's nice when we get a break and she wants to watch the yellow one. At first I thought they might be too scary for her, but she doesn't seem to be scared. I thought this was just going to be a short phase. It really started when our neighbors let Matt borrow some of their Spiderman cartoons when he had his back surgery. Well Matt got her hooked! That was back in August. Then her cousin, Isaiah, was Spiderman for Halloween. So she says Isaiah is Spiderman and she is Mary Jane. But she still pretends to be Spiderman sometimes when she does the web thing with her hand.

Two of my kids at school had birthdays and brought cupcakes with these Spiderman rings on them. The girls in my class weren't too excited, and I told them my 3-year-old girl loves him. So one of the girls gave Rylee her ring! Rylee knows all of the characters- Harry, Osborn, the Green "Globin," Aunt May, Uncle Ben. She can tell you the whole story- what happened to my little princess?!? I miss Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty!!

For You, Aunt E

Rylee brought me a picture she made last night and I asked her what she drew. She said it was Erin. She loves her Aunt Erin very much. We all miss going to Boise to visit her. Now she lives with Aunt Lindsay and her family in California and we haven't been to visit them yet. Rylee talks about Erin all the time- she makes dinner for her in her kitchen and sets the table with a place for her at dinner. She asks if Erin's coming and sadly, I have to say not today. She even got mad at me when I was in the bathroom that her and Ashlyn share. She told me to get out of "Erin's bathroom." Erin uses it when she comes to visit. We miss you, Erin!!! Come and visit us soon. We will try to visit you guys soon too!

She even used Erin's favorite colors- purple and green.

Clarification

I just want to clarify something about an earlier post. I wrote how Rylee said Matt doesn't have any friends, but I didn't mean to say that he doesn't really have friends. He just read my blog and wasn't happy with what I wrote. So I just wanted to make sure everybody knows that Matt has friends!

Yee-Haw!!

Rylee wants to be Jessie from Toy Story 2- she loves to be a cowgirl. I don't know where she got this pose with her hands under her chin. My sisters probably think I taught it to her, but I really don't know where it came from!

Chocolate

What girl doesn't love chocolate? This girl is no exception- she just eats the chocolate off of these cookies. YUM!

Earrings

Here are some better pictures of Rylee in her new earrings. She loves them and is very proud of her blue earrings!

Notice Anything Different?

While we were at the mall in Provo, Rylee got her ears pierced!! Matt has been wanting to do it since she was born, but I thought she should wait until she could remember it. Matt's been asking her if she wants to get them pierced so she can wear pretty earrings like Mommy. So we walked past Claire's and kind of jokingly asked if she wanted them pierced and she said yes. There was a girl about 5 years old getting ready to get hers done, so we had her watch. She cried after they did it, but not too bad. There was another girl waiting before us, but Rylee said it was her turn. We told her she could be next if she really wanted to do it. So she picked out her earrings- blue, of course! Not my choice, but she wasn't going to have it any other way! Blue is her favorite color, but maybe she did it because we were in Provo and she did it for BYU. So she watched the next girl who didn't make a sound- she was all smiles afterward. Rylee got up on the chair by herself and let the girls get her ready. Meanwhile, my heart was pounding- I thought should we really be doing this?!? I was so nervous- I didn't know how she was going to react- she's just a little girl! But she seemed ready. They were going to do both ears at the same time, so the one did it and the other one's thing got stuck, so she did it just a little after. Rylee cried a little- not quite what she expected. But she got a blue sucker and was fine. I can't believe my baby has her ears pierced!! And Matt said we should have done Ashlyn's too- I think we'll wait!

Swimming at the Hotel

We stayed at the Springhill in Provo. It was different from the others we've stayed at. I didn't really like it as well. Rylee wondered where Erin was. Matt liked it, but was very disappointed that there wasn't a hot tub. He sulked the first time we went down, but swam with us the second time we went. The girls loved it- Ashlyn was trying to jump out of my arms. She didn't want to be in the float or let me hold her. Crazy girl! We had fun- it was worth the trip just to see them have so much fun swimming!

(The most exciting thing is still to come!)

Friends

We went to Provo for the weekend- just to get away for a little while. We left Saturday morning and just got back about an hour ago. We had a good time, except for Ashlyn is not a good traveler. She cried most of the time in the car. And she cried a lot in the hotel room and until about 1:00 in the morning. She was great in the swimming pool and at the mall though. But I hadn't been to Provo since I graduated from BYU almost 9 years ago- yes, I'm so old! We drove past our first apartment and my other apartments that I lived in while I was there. It was fun to see what had changed and what hadn't. Provo is pretty much the same with a few changes here and there.

Just as we got on the freeway leaving Idaho Falls, Rylee and I started talking about who my mom and grandma are. She knows Grandma is my mom, but I had to remind her that Myrt was my grandma. (I can see why that might be confusing because I don't even call her grandma!) But then she started talking about Cory and she said that Cory is my best friend. And then she said, "Daddy doesn't have any friends- just us." It was so funny! I don't know if Matt liked it so well, but Rylee doesn't really see him with his friends. She just said what her perspective is about who our friends are.

And then there's Rylee who makes friends anywhere we go. University Mall has a treehouse play area that the kids were playing on and a girl just came up to Rylee and said, "Do you want to play with me?" Well you don't have to ask Rylee twice- they were best friends instantly! We were at Albertsons a few weeks ago waiting in line at the butcher and Rylee saw some kids playing close by. She asked me if she could go play. I didn't want her running around the store, so I said their mom probably doesn't want them to play. Then she said, "Can I go ask her?" So she went up to the mom and asked if she could play with her kids. She said yes, and they all had a wonderful time running up and down the aisles. I don't know where Rylee gets it from. I guess it's from Matt, but he's not really like that now. According to Rylee, he doesn't even have friends!!

Oh, and here's another funny little thing Rylee said on the way home. She got a little plastic killer whale and octopus from a machine in the mall. She said that the killer whale was a dolphin (which I think is what they technically are.) and I told her it's called a killer whale. She said no it's not Mommy, it's a nice whale! I thought it was pretty funny that she would catch that "killer" part!

Stay tuned to the most exciting thing we did on our trip!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I know it's a little early, but we had our valentine party at school so it felt like Valentine's Day to me at home too. One of the girls in my class had her hair in heart pigtails, so I thought I could recreate it on Rylee. She said I could try when I got home and I did it, but they didn't look as good. So here are the girls in their Valentine dresses and Rylee's hair.

Rylee's Art

Here are just a few of Rylee's paintings. She does about 10 a day!

Snap, Snap!

I was snapping my fingers trying to get Ashlyn to smile for the camera, and then she tried to snap too!

Valentine PJ's

I wanted to take a picture of the girls in their new matching valentine pjs from Grandma. This is what photo shoots have become with two crazy girls who don't sit still. It looks like they pose better when they're alone than together. Oh well!

Smiley Rylee

Rylee was taking pictures this morning and then she wanted me to take some of her. She'll pose if it's her choice, I guess! She kept smiling and laughing, so I kept taking pictures!

Our Little Artist

Rylee loves to make all kinds of art. Lately it has been with watercolors. She has painted some really great pictures. I'll have to take pictures of them so you can see. She's our little artist. She takes after Grandpa and Uncle Cory.