A few of Mylie

Spring is fabulous and it is helping inspire my picture taking. On Sunday after church Mylie and I decided we would try a few shots with her new parasol. There were a few problems. She was hungry, it was very windy and the noon sun is harsh for pictures. She let me take 17 pictures. That is a small number for me, but originally she said I could only do 2, so I guess 17 was good.

Improving my photoshop/image processing skills has been on my to-do list forever. There is a photoshop book sitting next to my computer, just waiting for me to improve my skills. Alas, they still suck! I did, however, play around with a few of these images. I know I have mommy goggles on, she is just so adorable to me, but looks so grown up too!

Hopefully we will have another go at these pictures later this week. Blake has a "handsome shirt" so perhaps, if we are brave, we'll have him make an appearance in some of them.

In the last 26 hours

Blake has done the following:

• cracked 5 eggs on the kitchen floor
• scooped dog poop with his bare hands {twice}
• tried the "pull my finger" trick on the speech therapist ... seriously
• attempted to flush a bag of garbage and a package of wipes down the toliet
• colored Bosco orange with sidewalk chalk

Nope. It is really, truly never boring at our house.

Apprehensive ...

If I had to pick a word right now for how I am feeling, it would definitely be apprehensive. Blake has a speech and developmental evaluation tomorrow morning. Two people, who don't know Blake, are going to come to our house, meet with him for an hour and then decide what will help him best. I don't know what to expect and quite honestly, I don't even know if he will talk to them.

This has really made me think back on my days as a probation officer. On a daily basis I went to other people's homes, met with them, and then made decisions or recommendations about what should happen with their children. I haven't been a probation officer since I became a mom and I often wonder how/if would be different in that job. Tonight as I was straightening the house, mopping the floor and wiping handprints off the wall, I thought about judgements that I made about people when I went to their house. If their homes weren't spic and span clean, what did I think? Did I consider that maybe they were tired? Or perhaps they worked two jobs? Perhaps they were battling depression? That maybe they have been sick? Or did I just make a judgement about them right then?

When I met their children, I had to make determinations based off what I read in a file and what I learned about them in a short time. I didn't know things like what they were like as a baby or things they did that make the whole family laugh. I didn't know all the wonderful things that made that child unique and special.

This process has made me think. Because when I see Blake I don't see a little boy with speech problems. I see a handsome little boy with chocolate brown eyes. I see a michevious little dude who is always thinking of what he can get into next. I see a little guy who clings to his Daddy. I see a little boy who is in awe of his big sister. I see a little boy and his puppy who are always plotting and playing. I see my baby who still throws his arms around my neck and squeezes so tight, who kisses me and snuggles me. I see a boy who loves to play outside, who loves cars and balls, and sometimes Barbies. I just see Blake. And I love him so much it hurts.

Game day

Soccer Saturdays have started for us again. This is Mylie's 6th season of playing. Wow! She is on a new team this year with only one of the same teammates from last year and new coaches. She has already made friends with the girls on her team.

I just get a kick out of watching her play.

This is her about to score one of her two goals. Go Mylie!!

So cute! Her teammate just scored a goal. Look how excited they all are.

We don't keep score in this league, but the girls do. I could hear the girls on the field discussing how many goals we were losing by (5 I think). Nevertheless, they had fun. Grandpa Breach came to watch and Mylie was excited to have him there. Blake kept yelling Mylie, ball and yay. It was a great way to spend our afternoon! Go Sparkly Princesses!

86!

Happy Birthday Grandma!
Today would be Grandma's 86th birthday. She has been gone for three and a half years and there are still days that out of the blue my eyes will well up with tears thinking about her. I am very aware that I am so lucky to be close to my grandparents and to have had 30+ years with my Grandma. I am aware of how lucky I was to be close to her, not just in physical proximity, but emotionally as well. I am lucky that I had to opportunity to be taught by her and to learn from her. In fact, I am quite certain that it wasn't luck at all, but that I am blessed. My life was definitely blessed by hers!

Discovery!

First of all, the spring break schedule here is so weird, it makes no sense to me why all the school districts in the treasure valley wouldn't have the same spring break ... OK, vent over.

Our spring break is next week, but Helen's was this week. We planned to get all the kids together this afternoon (something that doesn't happen as often as it used to). Our original plan was to go to the zoo, of course then it started raining like crazy. Plan 2 - the Discovery Center. I had not ever taken the kids there, so we decided to give it a try. It is full of different science type exhibits specifically for kids. They loved it! In fact, we ended up getting a year pass before we left.

Of course, Mylie and Helen were happy to see each other.


This one was fun, you could blow ginormous bubbles. Here is Helen testing it out.

Blake and Daniel thought it was hilarious!!

Here is Miss Lillian, Melissa's youngest (10 months).

One of the most fun areas was a grocery store. The kids could shop or work at the check out counter. Mylie liked being a check out girl.

Blake was a big fan of shopping, unloading his groceries, then shopping all over again. In fact, he may have had a 2-year old reaction when we had to put the grocieries away. Sad day.

But Blake's favorite part had to be throwing the balls into the airstream. Oh he loved it! It was so fun to watch his little mind work and figure things out.

It was definitely a fun afternoon!

Snug as 3 bugs in a rug

{or in a Pontiac}
Jeff isn't home on Wednesday nights, so when I picked the kids up from daycare, we picked up Drake too and headed off to Carl's Jr (1/2 price kid's meals on Wednesday nights) for dinner and some play time. Blake was so excited to sit next to Drake in the car and the three of them had such fun playing, climbing and sliding. It was so funny though, there was another little boy named Blake playing in there so with 2 Blakes and a Drake, the boys got a little confused!

The kids had a great time and were all so good. I only had to tell them once it was time to go and they all got their shoes and jackets on and made me a happy lady! Drake is such a sweet and polite boy and we love having him spend time with our family.

The Tale of the Tires

I realize I have blogged about tires before, but apparently I am going to blog about them again today. Remember, I am the granddaughter of a tire man. I should be predisposed to good cosmic luck with tires. But really, I don't have any luck with tires. In my pre-Jeff days, I used to always get flat tires at work. I thought it was because of the gravel lot of our office. However, in retrospect, it might have not only been the parking lot.

I had what I thought was a slow leak on my tire so I took it in to our friendly tire shop {which by the way if you are in the area, we have had FABULOUS service from Bruneel Tire in Caldwell}. I anticipate this to be a quick little trip, patch it up, call it good. But no, they take a look at it, and the inside was all torn up and the tire needed to be replaced ... did I mention it was only 349 miles out of a 40,000 mile warranty? Sigh. Of course while we were there my other 3 tires were at minimum tread and so I ended up with a lovely spring break present of 4 new tires today.

These are the funny parts of the story. We bought this car in 2005 and these are tires #9, #10, #11 and #12. I need a punch card or something (buy 9 get one free). The funnier thing (at least to me) is I was talking to the guy there (who I don't know) when I picked up my car and going over the warranty and I made some comment about me and tires and he said, and I quote, "Ya, I recognize your car!!" Yikes.

Jeff has become a pro at changing tires. Oh how I am grateful for my wonderful mother-on-law who taught him to change a tire. That man has changed my tires so many times. He can put the spare on very quickly ... at the gas station, on the side of the road, in the parking lot, on the Ashton hill. Sigh. He is a good man. To sum it up, the other day I mentioned to Jeff that I had now had my driver's license for 19 years. He quickly replied by saying, "And obviously that hasn't been long enough!"

Moments with Mylie

This girl is cute, but she is sassy!! Yesterday at lunch we were sitting at the table talking about what we learned about in church. Mylie was talking about her lesson and then asked what my class was about. I teach the Mia Maids (14-15 year old girls). I told her we had a lesson about being a peacemaker. She asked what that means, and I told her a peacemaker is someone who talks nice and helps others and tries to make their home a happy place. I told her that I was going to try very hard all week to be a peacemaker and asked her to try as well.

Fast forward to this morning. We both did such a good job of keeping calm. When Mylie started to get upset, I reminded her about being a peacemaker and she calmed down. Right before we were getting ready to leave for work/daycare, Mylie lied to me about something stupid (we are having a big of a struggle with lying). I calmly told her she needed to go to her room for timeout for lying. She got mad and again I calmly told her to go to her room. She then yelled, "You aren't being a peacemaker!!" Oh Mylie!!

Cake-face!

Jeff made a chocolate cake after dinner tonight. The minute the kids heard the beaters going, they ran to the kitchen to wait for one. Yay for chocolate cake!!

Signs of spring!

Since today is the first day of spring I thought I would do some springy pictures today. Macro photography is something I want to work on this spring. Here are a few telltale signs of spring around our yard today.

One week until Spring Break, yay! I will have to work some, but school will be out and I don't have court all week. I am counting down the days. Hopefully the weather cooperates.

It's that time

time for spring soccer to start! Mylie is on a new team this year, appropriately named the "Sparkly Princesses!" Oh, she was thrilled beyond words when she found out the name of her team. We had our first practice last night. She looks so grown up to me! Look how tall she is.

Blakey kept Daddy pretty busy during practice. I don't think he stopped moving for the whole hour!

Vacation, part 3 {Disneyland}

We woke up Tuesday morning so excited to go to Disneyland! {Poor Jeff spent a good part of Monday night throwing up, but thankfully seemed to have recovered by Tuesday morning.} Not only did we get to go to Disneyland, but we got to go in an hour early!! {Gramma knows how to get good tickets.}

Posing by the California "R" for Ritchie. Check out the uber cute shirts that Aunt Courtney made for all the kiddos.

Minnie was the first character we spotted in the park. Aunt Bailey and Minnie posing with all the little girls.

Ben and Holli go to Disneyland almost every year so they were our official Disney guides and led us around the park. It was fabulous to have their experience. We went on Buzz Lightyear {too fun} then to the Nemo Submarine Ride. We had to wait in line a bit for that one and so Papa thought he would love on baby Lila a bit. So cute!

After that we headed to Space Mountain. Courtney, Jason, Jeff and I went together. Jeff and Jason loved it and laughed the whole time. Courtney and I both nearly puked. Then we went to Star Tours, Jeff took Mylie, I opted to just sit for a few minutes! Gramma took Blake on the rockets, he loved it. Aunt Holli took Eliza and Blake and Eliza were so cute waiting in line and watching the rockets.

Then we headed to Fantasyland and the first sighting of the princess castle, yay! Oh there were so many fun rides there. The carousel, Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Storybook, Alice in Wonderland and the Tea Cups.

Papa with his grandsons on Dumbo.

In the afternoon we headed to Adventureland! We started with the Jungle Cruise, which is always fun and funny. It was so funny because at one point when the tour guide was narrating the scene she told everyone to duck because the natives were shooting arrows. I don't know if I have ever seen Max move so fast. It was hilarious! After that we went on Pirates, I love Pirates. Blake and Mylie loved it too. Then kids went to play at the treehouse and the adults switched off taking turns going on Indiana Jones. Holy cow, I love that ride. It was so much fun. It is so fun going on rides with Jeff, he giggles like a little girl the whole time.

After that was Splash Mountain. It is so funny because Mylie {I thought} is kind of scared of heights. She won't climb to the top of the Carl's Jr playland, but that girl went on Splash Mountain and LOVED it. So funny. Holli and I took the little kids on the Winnie the Pooh ride while everyone else was on Splash Mountain. We went to the Haunted House {which Mylie, Papa and agreed was kind of freaky}.

By this point Mylie was about to have a coronary. The girl is my daughter and she wanted to shop. She had saved her pennies for so long ($30 of change in fact) and had almost $60 of spending money. She had gotten her ears {princess ears, so cute!} but wanted to shop more.

So everyone else went to Thunder Mountain and we went to the Bibbidi Bobbity Boutique for princess stuff galore! She did quite well looking at everything and asking how much they cost. She was certainly much more conscientious about spenging when it was her own money.

We met up with everyone at the Tiki Room. They have a Dole pineapple stand outside of it and we had delish pineapple soft serve ice cream. I don't think I had been to the Tiki Room before and it was hilarious! It was a show and had singing birds. Blake danced like a madman the whole time. It was so hilarious. After that we headed for the parade. It was so fun to see some of the characters and watch Max and Bailey dance to the music. Mom and Dad offered to take all the kids and feed them so that all the adults could go out for a kid free dinner. Didn't take long for us to agree to that!

Wednesday morning we first went to Toontown. It was so cool!! Blake was a big fan of all the cars he could sit in and pretend to drive.

We checked out some of the character's houses and then Mylie and Jeff and Blake and Gramma went on the Toontown roller coaster. Mylie, in fact, went three times. Blake had this look on his face when he got off and I asked him if he wanted to go again and he yelled, "NO!" We stopped to buy Blake a Disney baseball hat which he then refused to wear and Mylie some socks because she was getting a blister. {Would you like to know that a 2-pack of Minnie socks costs $12.95, yikes!}

Mylie and I then headed to the Princess Fantasy Faire. Apparently the princesses don't just walk around like the other characters, they are in the area and you wait to see them. And wait. And wait. Seriously, we were in line for well over an hour. Mylie was starting to get a bit ancy. But she was excited, she loves princesses. She especially loves Snow White, her most favorite princess. Right before we got to our turn {like 2 people in front of us} they switched the princesses and Snow White was one of the new princesses. When we turned the corner and she saw her she literally started jumping she was so excited. We first met Jasmine, then Sleeping Beauty and her prince and then Snow White. This is my favorite picture from our whole trip. Mylie is telling Snow White that she is her favorite princess. {This one is getting blown up big for her room.}

Jeff and Blake kept busy while we were in line going on a bunch of rides, including Autopia, where you got to drive a car. Yep, Blakey loved that. Soon after this we all headed over to California Adventure Park. We had lunch and then we on California Soaring, which was super cool. I have a issue with heights, so I was unsure about going on it, but am so glad I did. You sit in airplane seats and there is a big screen {like an imax} and it appears that you are soaring over California. The scenery is gorgeous and the infuse scents into the ride, so for instance when you are flying over the orange trees, you can smell them. Super cool. Mylie was sitting next to me and I was holing her in the seat for dear life. Not that she was scared, just me.

We went on a fun Monster's Inc ride and then the rest of my crazy family wanted to go on the Tower of Terror, seriously? No way. Jeff and I took all the kids to Bug's Life and went on the kiddie rides. Later we found another carousel and went on that a few times. My crazy family then went on Califoria Screamin', nope. We got in line for the Toy Story ride. So cool, it was 3-D and like and arcade almost where you played arcarde games {like shooting, ring toss} from the ride. We waited in line a LONG time, but it was super cool.

After that we went to the parade in California Adventure which was so very cool. Many of the Pixar characters were there and the kids loved it! Eliza was totally getting into it.

And Lila was bouncing and grinning the whole time!

After the parade, Gramma and Papa took the kids and the grown-ups went back to Disneyland. We had so much fun and fit a lot in. We went on the Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Indiana Jones. Then they suggested Thunder Mountain Rail. I don't really like roller coasters and was not going to go on it, but I did and I loved it!! Of course when I was younger I went on it many times, but I am much older now, and much more afraid. I screamed like a girl, but loved it! We finished off the night with one last rendezvous on the Buzz Lightyear ride. It was a competition to see who could get the most points. Jason was the bomb-diggity.

We went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Ben told us it was a short walk ... hahaha. We had a great time and super good cheesecake. What a fun night!

Our tickets were supposed to be 2 day tickets, but ended up being 3 day tickets. Ben and his family decided to stay a 3rd day, we weren't going to, it was going to be a long drive back, but we couldn't resist and stayed on Thursday until 1:30 or so. We went on Peter Pan, Mr. Toad, the carousel, It's a Small World, Autopia and the Toontown Roller Coaster.

We did a little shopping {Mickey and Minnie Mouses for the kids} and then it was time to leave.

Mylie had sad tears because she never wanted to leave Disneyland, which made me have sad tears because I never wanted to leave either.

We had a great uneventful drive home. We were on the road by 2, stopped in Vegas for dinner and then stayed in Cedar City that night {we got in about 10:45}. We headed out the next morning, stopped for lunch in South Salt Lake and then pulled in to our house around 7 that night. We were so grateful that all of us traveled safely and know that we were being watched over.

We had a fabulous time!! We loved spending the time with family. There were many, many memories made last week!!

Vacation, part 2 {the beach}

After lunch it was off to the beach. I love the beach, I really do. It has been 3 years since we have been to the ocean. Mylie was Blake's age at that time.

We headed to Huntington Beach. Max, Bailey, Mylie and Jeff went out to collect shells.

Blake and Eliza were very happy to play in the sand. I took Blake out into the water once, but he wasn't a big fan.

Oh how I love this little boy and all his expressions!

Mylie was off with Jeff the whole time (they are in the middle there) collecting shells. They walked all the way to the other side of the pier. {Take note of the restaurant at the end of the pier there, I'll come back to that.}

Blake was in heaven with a whole beach full of sand, a shovel and a bucket. Fill it up, dump it out, repeat. He was so covered in sand, there may still be some in his ears a week later. He and I saw a guy driving a big remote control all over the beach and he was so fascinated watching it.

After a few hours, Gramma, Papa, Courtney, Jason and Lila arrived at the beach and the whole Craig Ritchie family was reunited after 6 months. What a fabulous feeling to have everyone together.

We played for a while longer at the beach and then got the kids all dried and into warmer clothes and headed down the pier to Ruby's, a 50s diner right at the end of the pier. There were burgers, shakes, onion rings, great conversation and lots of laughs.

After dinner {and once again, grateful for the GPS} we all headed to our hotel. Gramma did good, we were right across the street from Disneyland. Could it really be? Only one more sleep 'til Disneyland??

Vacation, part 1 {aquarium}

Vacation was seriously fabulous!! We left Friday afternoon after work. The kids almost didn't make it to Mountain Home (an hour away), but got all of their naughtyness out of their system, phew! We stopped in Twin Falls for dinner (hello Cafe Rio) and then drove to South Salt Lake for the night. We got up the next morning and met Bailey for breakfast (can you say Mimi's, yum!). After breakfast we were off to Las Vegas. There was a very special little person waiting there to see us!

Lila {and her parents} were staying in Las Vegas on their way to Disneyland. We were staying at the same hotel as them and just couldn't wait to get there. We haven't seen her since October, when she was a tiny 2 month old. Now she is a tiny, smiley, giggly 6 month old. She loved me, really she did! Everytime she saw me she would break out into a huge smile and she has these to-die-for dimples. Mylie and Blake loved her and she pretty much reciprocated. Blake would call her Yiya. So cute! They kept playing peek-a-boo with her and she would giggle like mad. So cute!

Courtney and Jason had dinner plans with some friends. We took our kids to dinner and then drove down the strip to show them all the lights. Mylie promptly fell asleep, but Blake was enamored with all the lights and kept saying "wow, wow, wow." I kid you not, right as we drove past the Hooters Hotel, Blake yelled, "woo woo!" Oh we were laughing so hard.

The next morning we got up and had breakfast and played more with the baby. They were staying in Las Vegas until Monday so we told them goodbye for a few days and we were off to California. We stopped in Barstow at In and Out (because you just have to when you are in California). We made it to our hotel in the Long Beach area to meet Ben and Holli and their family there. Bailey flew in that night and Ben picked her up at the airport. We all went to dinner that night and were so excited for the next day!

Monday morning we got up bright and early and headed to the Aquarium of the Pacific. We were so excited about this! Our family loves going to the zoo or anything like it. We couldn't wait for the aquarium! Mylie was excited to see all the bright colored fish.


They had some great areas for kids to pet the stingrays and the star fish. Blake was fired up because that meant he got to get out of his stroller!

There was an area to walk through with these beautifully colored birds. Max tried so hard to get one to land on his arm.

My two favorite little boys, watching the seals.

There was a fun play area, we'll just call him Captain Blakey.

Apparently Mylie didn't realize about the water, hehe.

Neither did Blake.

I'm not sure whose daughter she is, with the camera out taking pictures of everything.

Look at those colors. Gorgeous!

After the aquarium we went across the street to Bubba Gumps for lunch ... on the patio. Yes people, it was February and we were sitting out on the patio enjoying a delightful lunch. I actually had to get the sunscreen out and put some on Blake during lunch. Oh it was so lovely to have sunshine and to see blue skies. It made my spirits soar.