"Binky's Lost..."

Rylee LOVES her bink.



It's pretty sad/ridiculous how many pictures I have of Rylee with a bink in her mouth. She loves it more than any of my other kids did combined. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, I can hear her say, "biiinnkkyyy", like it is the most wonderful thing on this planet. I am embarrassed that she is over 2 and has a binky. We know better, Matt is a dentist for crying out loud, but it is REALLY hard to say no to Rylee (red flag alert for the future!)

Because her love for the bink is so strong, we decided to let her keep it until after the move and baby. She has lots of changes coming up and what's a few more months really going to hurt? So that was the plan. Until we legitimately lost all the binks.

We used to have about 10 and over the past few months one would be left at the gym, one at the the store, one at Jess' house, etc, etc until we were down to just one. Although the plan was to let her keep the bink until after baby comes, I didn't want to buy anymore. I thought we had enough to hold us for the next little bit, but I was wrong. On Friday, we lost the last bink.

Matt and I tore the house apart looking for the last binky and could not find it and, eventually, decided we should just be through with the bink. We made the decision and committed to stick with it. Rylee kept asking, "where's binky, I want my binky." I replied, "binky's lost, it went bye bye." At first she would not accept this and said, "NO! I want binky!" I just kept replying the same way. She was not a happy camper going to sleep that night. I tried to rock her and calm her down, but there was still lots of crying and screaming until she fell asleep.

As you might have guessed, it was a HORRIBLE night. She was up and crying 3 different times, BUT we made it through. Since this wasn't my first rodeo, I knew night #1 would be the worst followed by nap #1 which was equally as horrible. She ripped her entire room apart, but finally went to sleep after her hour long destruction.

Night #2, was completely different: a little fussing and that was it! She slept soundly the entire night! Nap #2 was horrible again, but at least we have the nights down now. I give it one or two more naps until she figures it out. I'm proud of Rylee. She REALLY, REALLY loved that thing, but has moved on very well.

Like I say with most big transitions with my kiddos: I should have done it long ago and would have had I'd known it would be this easy. You'd think I'd learn after so many tries? Oh well, at least she is off the bink! Whoo hoo!

Running Club Meet #3

Running Club has been so fun this year!  The kids have worked so hard and we are so proud of them!  In this last race, Wade got 2nd place of all the 2nd graders and little Sethie did not place and was pretty upset about it (which is why he isn't in the pic.)  It was a great effort given by all for sure though.

In the end, Wade ran 133.5 miles this season and Seth ran 58 miles!  Holy Cow, what amazing little boys I have :).

Valentines Day

We had a great Valentine's Day this year.  It was Arizona's Centennial celebration so it added some special flare to the usual festivities.  Trent, Rylee and I joined the kids at school for lunch:

I loaded the kids up with new soccer balls, "Lady and the Tramp" for Rylee and their favorite treat "Reese's"

and heart attacked their doors.  I loved doing this!

We finally ended the night with chocolate waffles and strawberries (the kids had running club early this morning so we did breakfast for dinner.)

Love all 5 of my Valentines SO much!!

Wade's First Tennis Tournament

Wade has become quite the little tennis player (to Matt's delight) and participated in his first tennis tournament this weekend and totally dominated the whole thing!  He was pretty nervous going into the tournament since he had never done one before, but went in and won every match he played.  He had an awesome time!  We are so proud of him!

Running Club Meet #2

These two are amazing little guys! I am so impressed with their drive and determination. Running is HARD. I do it, I love it, but that does not change the fact that it is hard and it's probably because I know how hard it is that I am in awe of how well these kids are doing in Running Club this year.

Meet #1 was a challenge for Seth, but to be fair, it was his first meet ever and he did not know what to expect. After watching Wade take first place, Seth decided he would try "a lot harder to run fast and hopefully get a ribbon" next meet. There are lots of kids who run in these races and so I told him, "the most important thing is that he tries his best and nothing else really matters after that."

Meet #2 started a lot like #1, the boys were ready to go and anxiously awaited their turn to start to run. I positioned myself on the sidelines so I could see right when they ran into the park and would be able to have plenty of time to make it to the finish line after they passed me.

Wade went flying into the park quickly and was neck and neck with a friend of his. I ran to the finish line and saw them come in...Wade a hair behind his friend. I could see the disappointment in Wade's face, but yelled "Awesome job, bud!" as loud as I could to hopefully brighten his spirits. After about a minute, I headed back over to my first spot near the park entry to wait for Seth.

I waited and waited and waited. I kept thinking, "Man, I thought he was going to try to run fast this time?" Finally, the last of the littlest kids walked/ran past me and I turned around thinking, "could I have missed him?" I looked frantically around and in the distance could see my little, red-faced-coughing Sethie walking with our friend, Nate. I ran over to see him.

I could barely believe I missed him finish, but was thankful he was okay. The poor little kid was hacking his lungs out (we kind of think he has inherited the asthma I had as a kid) and I knew right then he had given it his everything!

Now for award time. We nervously gathered under the pavilion and they started with sixth grade boys. 8 places in each grade takes FOREVER when you are waiting for a second grade and kindergarten announcement! It turned out okay, though, because Matt was able to make it for the awards.

Finally second grade...Wade Roper: SIXTH PLACE! Okay, not as good as first, but we'll definitely take it. Now for Kindergarten....Seth Roper: FOURTH PLACE!!!! What?!?!!! We practically passed out with excitement for Seth! Way to go! So awesome! He was THRILLED as were we! It was so much fun to watch him get his ribbon and stand in front of everyone beaming.

So proud of these kids! Love them both so much!

"What the heck, Mom?!"

The other day, Rylee was sitting at the counter eating a bowl of "goldfish crackers" while I was cleaning the kitchen. She climbed down from the chair and walked away so I assumed she was done. I finished putting the dishes away and then grabbed the bowl from the counter and walked into the pantry to dump the rest of the fish back into the container.

When I walked out of the pantry, Rylee had climbed back up to the counter. She noticed, immediately, that I was holding the, now empty, bowl her fish were in. She looked straight at me, put her little hands up and asked, "what the heck, mom?" Seriously? I had to laugh! She is so full of spunk!

As I was chuckling, I asked her if she wanted her fish back and she told me she did.

My little teenager in a 2 year old body...I couldn't possibly love her anymore than I do :).