Rylee's Lemonade Soiree!

Here are some pictures from Rylee's birthday party! Thanks to my mom and sister for all their helping putting this party together!

Rylee is One!!

Sweet Rylee Faith had her 1st birthday this past Saturday. We had a fun party with our friends and family and I will post pictures later. My camera died half way through so my sister is e-mailing hers. Rylee had her 1 year check up on Monday and all is well! Stats:

Weight: 20lbs (She stood on the big girl scale so I'm sure there should be a few ounces added in there)
Height: 30.5 inches
Appetite: The biggest of all! This girl will eat everything, and she'll eat all day long! Olives, tomatoes, pasta, deli turkey, you name it!
Talking: She says Mama, Dada, Bubba (for brother), and byebye sometimes
She has started taking several steps at a time and gets a little more confident each day. I'm sure in a week, I'll be running after her!
Wears size 9-12 month clothes
Hates wearing hair bows :(
Has a little attitude and will let you know very quickly when she doesn't get want she wants
Sleeps from about 8pm-9am (Blessed, I know!)
She doesn't meet a stranger and still the happiest baby I know!

Knee Deep in the Water Somewhere...

Yeah, I know. It has been a while since I have blogged but our summer has been pretty busy! It hasn't allowed me much time for extra-ciricular activities such as blogging so I'll do a short wrap up. We've been knee deep in the water all summer...

Beaching it at Cape San Blass

Beaching it at Dog Island

Cook out with friends at the campsite

Beautiful Longboat Key

Preggo Kait

Hunter take swimming lessons



Add knowing how to swim!!

We hope you are enjoying your summer as well!

Boating on the Wakulla River

Eggstra Special Easter

Of course this Easter was special because it was Rylee's first! She didn't understand anything going on but she did have fun crawling after the bright and colorful eggs her Bubba scattered throughout the house!

This year was the first year I attempted to color eggs with Hunter. It was so fun and he loved it! My mom came over to help and we had a lot of fun! Although, after coloring eggs for about 10 minutes he asked "How are we going to get the candy in these eggs?!" So I had to scramble for candy and plastic eggs to hide those as well!

We took Hunter to the egg hunt at Tekesta Park where he hunted gathered the eggs that were thrown on the ground and met the Easter bunny.

And Easter morning we hunted eggs in our yard and the kids tore into their Easter baskets. Hunter was vey excited to get his Pterodactyl pillow pet and tickets to see Thomas the Train! Rylee was also pleased with her new toys :) (Unfortunately, I didn't get any pics of them with their Easter baskets!)

And once we again, we failed to take a decent family picture! One of these days, we'll get it together!

Little Miss didn't nap until 3:00 that day so she was exhausted by the time we left Luke's parents house!

9 Months and a Little Weekend Fun

Rylee had her 9 month appointment last week and checked out healthy as a little horse! Here is an update:
Weight: 17lbs 5oz
Height: 28 inches

She is eating anything and everything she can get her hands on. As of her 8 month birthday, we switch exclusively to formula. Pumping at work and trying to keep up with her growing appetite was too much for mommy. She adjusted very and didn't know anything different. Me on the other hand was very emotional about it.

She is crawling full speed, pulling up to a stand and cruising around while hold onto the couch, her crib, etc.

She is wearing size 3 sposies and size medium cloth diapers; size 9 month/6-12 month clothes.

She has two teeth completely in on the bottom and 4 trying to break through on the top. Poor little baby!

As she has always been, she is the happiest little girl I know and laughs all the time. She doesn't meet a stranger and waives at everyone when we are out and about.

This weekend we had an Easter Party including an egg hunt at my mother-in-law's house. Here is a picture of all the kids!

Then Hunter, my mom and I went to the Garnet and Gold game!

Beach Bunny Big Britches

This weekend we enjoyed a fabulous weekend at Blue Mountain Beach!This is a small beach community situated along Florida's secret highway 30A. I absolutely love this area as it is nestled between Santa Rosa and Seaside and only about a 10 minute drive away from San Destin. This was Rylee's second beach trip but she was only 8 weeks old during her first beach trip so she wasn't able to play on the beach then :) She LOVED the beach and is quite the little beach bunny! She loved the sun, sand, and sea!

And of course, Hunter loves the beach as well!



One of my favorite summer treats is a Sno Cone. The funny thing is, Tallahassee does not sell Sno Cones ANYWHERE! Crazy, huh? So we always have to make a trip to Frost Bites to get one.

Rylee Faith is growing so fast and thinks she is Ms. Big Britches. Rylee was playing in the living room while I was in the kitchen. The next think I know, she pulled up on the couch! I ran to get my camera and caught her letting go of the couch and standing by herself! She is also waiving hello and bye bye. She can clap her hands on command and she will mimic you. She is such a happy baby. My sister kept her today and said her cheeks should be hurting from smiling and laughing so much.

Hunter is spending his spring break at my grandparents house in Alabama. He says he is staying forever but I'm just waiting for his phone call saying "Can you please take me to mommy's house now?" As he did last time he stayed with my grandparents. :) I have to say though, to be 4 years old, he does really well being away from home. Even with Rylee, I think Luke and I are both bored. Rylee and I went grocery shopping and it was such a breeze! The bagger asked if he could help us out and I actually declined! I miss my little buddy though and I'm going to get him in a couple more days even if he isn't ready to come home!

Fun Times

Luke and I had a very special Valentines Day this year. Since we have had kids, we usually don't do much for Valentines. This year, Luke arranged childcare (Thanks Kait!) and surprised me with dinner at The Melting Pot. We haven't even been out on a date since who knows when so we really enjoyed ourselves. The Melting Pot is one of my favs and as always, it was delish!!

I have taken a little time off from work this week to hang out with the kids. It has been good for my soul, for sure. Here are some fun pictures...



Don't worry, I didn't let Hunter drive off!




Happy Girl even when she isn't feeling well




She loved swinging!

Rylee's friend Amelia came over for a little play date. Amelia's mom, Megan and I have been best friends for about 15 years and I hope Rylee and Amelia will be best of friends as well!

We were trying so hard to get them both to smile at the same time... they only thought we were crazy!



Rylee wanted to borrow Amelia's cute socks. I don't think Amelia wanted to share :)



Weekend Wrap Up

This weekend we didn't have any plans so we just went with the flow and hung around. Today we took advantage of the beautiful weather and went to Lake Ella.

And I didn't post a 7 month picture of Little Miss yesterday so here it is!

Welcome Weekend!

What a week this has been! I am so happy the weekend is finally here. There is nothing more I look forward to the most than spending the weekend with my family. I travel for work about every six weeks. Thursday and Friday I traveled for the first time without the fam since I have returned from maternity leave. I felt like I was gone for an eternity! I was trying to think positive and try to enjoy some time to myself but all I did was think about the kiddos! However, I am very thankful to have a hubby that will, can, and enjoys taking care of the kids by himself so I don't have to worry about that. He even did two loads of laundry yesterday!

I have been contemplating making my own baby food for Rylee. I want her to have as much organic food as possible and the organic baby food is pretty pricey. I think I'm going to start with some peas this weekend and see how it goes. I'm hoping I can make it on the weekends and freeze it for the week. We'll give it a go and I'll let you know how it works.

Rylee was 7 months on Wednesday. She can sit up by herself for quite a while and when she is tired of holding herself up, she has figured out how to get on her tummy and scoot on along. She still hasn't got her arms and legs coordinated to crawl but she can definitely get herself to where she wants to go. Especially if she eyes the cat on the other end of the room. She's off! The cat doesn't mind Rylee (thankfully) because Rylee likes to grab her fur and pull her tail. Rylee also loves to play. She could play all day long, skip her nap (which is only about 30 minutes anyways) and not even pretend to be tired. This little girl laughs like no other 7 month I know! Actually I take that back. Her friend Emily who is also 7 months old, thinks Hunter is the funniest. A couple of weekends ago we got together at the Scileppi's home and Emily sat in the recliner and belly laughed at Hunter throwing a ball. It never got old to her and it was so cute!

I have really been slacking on pictures but maybe I will have some to share on my next post. Enjoy the weekend!

Welcome to My Crib

Rylee has slept all night, in her crib, in her room for the past two nights! I know I am probably jinxing myself but I hope this continues. We moved Hunter into his room when he was about 4 months old and I was afraid we waited to long to move Rylee since the last couple of weekends did not go well in her crib. She has slept through the night since 8 weeks but this transistion to her crib disrupted that. Since I work during the week, I couldn't bring myself to be disciplined enough to do this during the week. Hopefully we are on a winning streak now. All of Rylee's friends right now do not have her sleeping habits so I truly feel extremely blessed. I honestly don't know how other mamas do it, especially when working.

Speaking of Rylee's "crib", here are a few pictures of her room. Shamefully, I'm still not done with. I still have a few finishing touches to complete but it is done for the most part. Her room was made with lots of love. My grandad made over half of the furniture in her room, which I think is pretty cool.

This is my favorite piece. In 1989, when my mom was pregnant with my sister, Kaitlin, she tore a picture out of a magazine of a changing table exactly like this. She gave it to my grandad and be built it. The picture doesn't do justice but his craftmanship is amazing. Kaitlin will be needing this come August so we may have a knock down drag out over this :)

Kaitlin, my mom, and I handpainted the circles on her wall to match the inside of her crib bumper. Kaitlin and I picked out the fabric for her curtain and made it. I thought it added a different dimension and a pop of color. Kaitlin also made the mobile above her crib. It cast cool shadows on the walls for Rylee to follow.

My camera setting was off so sorry for the graniness. My grandad made this shelf for me when I was little. I painted it white and painted the end of the knobs to match the circles on her wall.

My grandad also made her accent table but I didn't get a shot of it. He is a very talented man!

Happy sleeping! :)