The big #10

Wow, it's the big double digit birthday. I know I've said this a million times but I can't believe how fast the years fly by. It was 10 years ago that we moved to Washington and I was 8 months pregnant with Rylie.

The day of Rylie's birthday her choice for lunch was McDonald's. She made sure to remind me though that by no means was I to bring her a kid's meal. She has officialy outgrown the toy and would be so embarrased to have one in class.

A friend of ours had a scavenger/game birthday party for her boys over at the school and Rylie said that it sounded like a lot of fun so we did the same thing. Thanks Stephanie for the awesome scavenger hunt. The girls loved it.

We started off the party with pizza at home.

Then cupcakes and ice cream




playing on the monkey bars

a few relay races

and kickball

Back home for a movie and gifts.




Happy Birthday Rylie!

Surgery 7 & 8

Yes, we are at Children's hospital yet again for another surgery. Sienna and Rylie make # 7 & 8. Austin is the king with 5 and the rest have now had one each. Hopefully this will be the last!

Rylie and Sienna were both born with belly button hernia's. We were not in a hurry to get Rylie's fixed because the doctor said that they usually close by the time they are four years old. Well Rylie's never closed and we just kind've forgot about it until she started telling us that she didn't like her "outie" and was feeling self conscious about it (they can also cause problems as adults and when they get pregnant). By this time Sienna was about 3 years old and her hernia was not closing either. I knew that hers was not going to close either but we waited for the doctor to give us the go ahead when she turned four.

We made an appointment with the surgeon for both girls and decided to do both surgeries on the same day to get them over with at once. Belly button hernia's are a pretty commom surgery and the recovery time is not too long so we felt we could handle both of them being down for a few days.

They let me go back with both girls to the OR while they put them to sleep. I can see how some kids might freak out with all the equipment and dr.'s and nurses in there scrubs. The girls both did great and were out a few seconds after they gased them.

Going home.

Sienna perked up a lot faster after the surgery than Rylie.

Before surgery

Right after surgery

A week after surgery

A month after surgery

We are so grateful for all the wonderful doctor's and nurses who have helped all our kids!

Mulan

For some reason I have been having a really hard time blogging lately. I think partly because life just gets really busy, especially at the end of the school year, but also I just get tired of doing it. I then start to feel guilty because I think what a great way to documnet our life and the kids will love it when they get older. So my goal is to try to get caught up before school ends.

We had another great school play this year. The play was Mulan and Rylie was a maiden. The costumes and set were amazing as usual and I am always so impressed with the amount of effort and time the music teacher and all the volunteers put into the play.

After six long weeks of practice the big night arrived. Rylie did a great job and I was so proud of all her hard work.

Here are the girls and Rylie's good friend Linsey. Rylie was really excited she was able to be a Maiden with Linsey and it made the long practices a lot more fun.

When we bought Rylie's dress we bought one for Sienna as well. They both look so cute in them. Sienna loves to wear hers! We can't get Rylie to wear hers again. Maybe for Halloween?

Rylie was excited to have Nana come visit and see her in the play. Our kids really miss having their Grandparents around so it's a special treat when they are able to come.