Our Camping Trip (minus the camping part!)

I had to go on travel for work last week, returning late Thursday night.  Since I’d be off work on Friday, we decided to plan something fun to do with Ryder since he’s been through so much this summer with the Botox and Casting.  What a perfect time for his first camping trip :)

We invited Dwayne, Jess, Sydney & Kacy (my brother, sister-in-law, and nieces) to go with us and of course they didn’t want to miss out on the fun.  We’ve all been so excited for this for weeks so when it finally came we were ready to go!  We headed out to our campsite Friday morning, set up our tents, then went over to the canoe rental place to do our raft float trip down the Shenandoah River. 

Taking it all in on the drive up the mountains (through his aviators!)

The Massanutten mountain is experiencing wild fires right now which we could see & smell on the way there.

Ryder & Uncle Dwayne taking in all the peace this property has to offer…although Ryder and the word “peace” probably can’t be used in the same sentence! 

Ready to get on our rafts!

 

My girl, having a diva moment! :)

Ryder SO enjoyed playing in the river with his Daddy!  Alan has been taking trips there since he was about Ryder’s age so this was a really exciting thing for him to experience with his son as well.

   

Taking a dip with his cousins and Aunt Jess.  It was a HOT day on the river, so this was very refreshing!

Being on the river is one of those calm, serene experiences where you have to look around and realize how amazing God is.

After our float trip it was back to the camp site.  Alan made us a fire and we sat around waiting for the perfect time to make our s’mores.  Ryder kept us entertained…anyone surprised?!

About the time we decided we’d start making s’mores, we got a warning that there was a severe thunderstorm coming.  We decided to get all of our clothes out of the tents and loaded into the cars just incase our tents got wet so all of our stuff wouldn’t be ruined.  We barely made it inside the tent and these probably 80 mile an hour winds came out of NOWHERE!  Our tent was literally trying to blow away, with us in it!  Alan yelled for me to take Ryder to the pavilion, so I scooped him up and in we ran, my nieces following us.  Our tents went flying across the field, with ALL of our belongings in them.  Alan & Dwayne had to run and rescue them, we were all trying not to panic and keep the kids calm.  The wind was so crazy it was making the doors of the screened in pavilion fly open and slam shut, knocking things off shelves, our perfect s’more ready campfire started blowing all over the place, sparks heading straight for the pavilion, we decided it’d be a better idea to get all the kids into a vehicle.  I ran the kids from the pavilion to the truck and we prayed asking God to keep us safe and calm the storm!  Ryder was trying so hard to be brave and not be afraid, but even the scariest circumstances can’t take his words away.  With the shakiest voice he’d say things like “Mom, we could just go home, and do nothing…does that sound like a good plan?” “Kacy, don’t cry, it’s not scary, right Mom?  It’s not scary, is it??” as he’s fighting back tears.  My favorite line was “I think beds are better to sleep in than tents, because tents blow away!”  He kept me and Sydney laughing which helped to ease our nerves.  As the storm started to lighten up we were able to gather whatever we could see that had blown around and finally get out of there.  We thought driving home would be the best idea at that point, only problem is that every road we turned down had trees down!

That little speck of gray is my husband (my hero!) trying to break enough branches off these fallen trees to allow us enough room to get by. It seemed like we could only go a mile or two before him & my brother were getting out trying to clear us a path OR we’d have to sit behind a fire truck while they did the same thing.  It took us every bit of 4 hours to get home…after 2am and we were SO exhausted! 

Thank God we made it home, seeing all the damage on our drive home made us realize how lucky we were that no trees had fallen on our around us!    

The next morning we had to re-set up camp in our front yard to make sure none of our stuff was ruined and dry it all out.  Gotta make sure it’s ready for our next camping trip, there’s no way we can leave it in Ryder’s mind on that note!

Luckily none of the kids are traumatized and all are eager and excited to go back!  Can’t wait :)

12 Months!

12 Months = 1 Whole Year Old!  I can hardly believe it.

Here’s what our 1 Year Old is up to these days:

• Her sleep schedule seems to be pretty set, goes to bed around 8 and wakes up around 7.  We don’t hear much from her throughout the neat besides a few occasions where she woke up screaming!  I think maybe she’s at the age where they start dreaming now.
• She weighs 19 pounds 10 ounces, wears size 4 diapers, size 3 shoes, and 6-9 or 12 month clothes. 
• She has her 2 bottom teeth and there have been no signs of anymore popping through.  She eats any and everything though.  Eating is one of her favorite things to do!  Her favorite foods are corn on the cob, bananas, watermelon, and a bite of whatever Daddy is eating at the moment!
• She walks all over the place now!  She can go so far without falling, it’s the cutest thing ever to watch.  She’s a climber too, the girl really never stops moving.  Even when she wants to be picked up, then she points where she wants you to take her!
• She is learning SO much these days!  She does sign language for “more”, “all done” and “eat”.  She can point to her ears, eyes, nose, and mouth.  She says “uh-oh” when something falls.  She can say the words “drink” and “doggy”.  She actually calls every animal or moving thing “dogggyyyyyyy”.  Ryder thinks this is absolutely HILARIOUS! 
• She loves music so much.  She knows how to turn on anything she can reach that plays music and will dance and clap her hands.
• She is so into reading books right now.  She’ll grab a book, bring it to you and start grunting, which in Maisy language means “read this to me NOW!”
• She is still 100% Daddy’s girl.  He can do no wrong in her eyes and if he’s home she has to be with him.  Recently he went in our room and shut the door, she was on the other side of the house, heard the door shut, got there as fast as she could and just started screaming and banging on the door.  He opened it and said “Really Maisy, is it that serious???”  Yes, it was that serious to her, she needs access to him at all times!
• She got lots of new toys for her birthday which she is thoroughly enjoying!  Along with big brother!  I love to watch them play.

We are so excited to see what this next year has in store for our girl!  It hasn’t started on the best note though.  I took her to the doctor on Monday to get checked before I go out of town for work…turns out she had a double ear infection, double pink eye, and an impetigo infection in her nose!  Needless to say, she’s on a strong antibiotic now!  Funny thing is, all that was going on and it didn’t phase her a bit.  She’s such an easy going baby, love that girl! 

Look, she finally has her own chair!  This was her Birthday present from Mommy & Daddy :)

Maisy’s First Birthday!

What a fun day we had yesterday!  It was the perfect day for a First Birthday celebration.  The only downfall was that Maisy woke up with a runny nose and runny eye, but she’s such a trooper that it didn’t seem to keep her from enjoying her day at all.  For the theme I just went with colorful, polka dots, summer time, you know, all things that remind me of Maisy! 

Of course Aunt B always comes through with the perfect cupcakes and treats to top everything off! 

The bright beautiful Birthday Girl!  Love her!

Nicki sent me this idea she found on Pinterest to make a Water Blob, it was such a great idea and the kids had a blast playing on it! 

 

We had other sprinklers and water toys out for the kids to play with.

 

The Daddy’s and their baby girls :)

Lots of people came out to celebrate with us, I always say this but I can’t express enough how lucky we are to have such a great support system!  Life is so crazy and it’s hard to keep in touch but when life’s important milestones come along some people are just always there.

This picture is funny to me…Ryder needed to have a time out and get a talkin’ to by Daddy AND Poppy!  Look how hard headed he is, you can almost see the words going in one ear and out the other!

Daddy helping the Birthday girl eat her lunch.

Big Brother was front and center singing Happy Birthday to his sister. 

Her face cracked me up, she literally had her jaw dropped the whole time we sang.  Like “all this…for me????”

First in line for the cupcakes!…

I think her cake was finger lickin’ good!

Practicing sharing cake…for their wedding day!

Of course big brother wasn’t going to not help himself!

It took 3 of us to get her not looking like a smurf anymore!

Maisy and Jax toddling around together is SO cute to see.  They were up…

and then they were down!

She spotted this birthday present from across the garage, sat down and went into this “too much cake” trance.

Leave it to Jen to buy one for Ryder too!

Time for presents!

Not just for Maisy, Jen had to sneak one in there for Ryder too!

Maisy loooooves her babies :)

After all that, and an outfit change, she worked up an appetite, of course Daddy gives her a cupcake, like she needed anymore sugar!

My girl had a FABULOUS first birthday party!!  Thanks so much to everyone who made it out to celebrate with us :)

Today was her actual Birthday so Yaya came over with her favorite lunch (as you can see her eye is still swollen):

And Birthday presents.  A lot of people have been asking how Ryder is handling Maisy getting all the presents.  I have one picture that answers that question.

That picture has “It’s not fair!” written all over it!  Lucky for him his sister is pretty good at sharing (for now anyway) and she even lets him help open things.

Look at her supervising with her hands on her hips!  That’s my girl!!

 

We’ve had so much fun playing with all her new stuff today!  Up until now all of the toys in the house have belonged to Ryder and he “allows” Maisy to “borrow” them.  Now she has some bargaining power and is using it for leverage.  I love their dynamic, it’s hilarious to sit back and observe!

So now we officially have a one year old on our hands, I hope this next year goes a little slower!

A Letter To My Daughter On Her First Birthday

Maisy ~

It’s hard to believe that it has been an entire year since you were born.  I remember that day like it was yesterday because it feels like it just happened!  Having a planned c-section takes a lot of the excitement out of the whole labor process since you know exactly what day & time your baby will be born.  Everything goes exactly as planned until the second they pull the baby out.  At that second, things get exciting!  You gave me the joy of experiencing that very second for the 2nd time and those are 2 seconds, out of my whole entire life, that I cherish more than anything.  When you were born all I had to do was look at you and hear your little cry to know that we were both in love, all over again, with our second child and I couldn’t WAIT to get to know you.  If there is something that I wish you could see more than anything, it would be the look on your Daddy’s face the second you were born.

Thinking back to the day you were born really puts into perspective how much time has gone by.  You are now walking and clapping and smiling and laughing and learning.  Oh how I love to hear you laugh and watch you learn.  You have brought so much sweetness into our lives.  The way you cuddle against us when we hold you and your eyes light up when one of us walk into a room are things that make your Mommy & Daddy’s heart melt.  You definitely have that power over us to melt us with just the smallest thing you do. 

You have quite the spunky side that balances out all of your sweetness!  You don’t put up with a lot of crap from your brother and put up a good fight when you’re not getting your way.  Not much slows you down, you have always been in a hurry to get moving and nothing in the way stops you.  You love nothing more than to be thrown around by Daddy, always coming back for more!

I love the bond between you and your brother.  Even though you guys both pick on each other it’s so obvious how much you love each other.  I can’t wait to watch you guys grow up together.  I hope that you each realize how important it is to have each other and that you will stick together through thick and thin.

My baby girl, I can’t believe you are turning one.  As you grow into a little lady I hope that you stay happy.  I hope that you love Jesus.  And I hope that we keep the special Mommy/Daughter relationship that we’ve formed over the past year. 

I love you baby and Happy First Birthday!!

~ Mommy