Do Dat Again!!!

Whenever you tickle Dempsey, she says:  "Do dat again!"

Whenever you toss Dempsey in the air, she says:  "Do dat again!"

Whenever you do anything fun with Dempsey-girl, she always wants to Do Dat Again!

Trust.

This picture represents Ryker in his entirety.  That speck of a person at the very top of this boulder is Ryker.  As we were hiking in the mountains last weekend, Ryker had to climb the rocks, all the rocks.  We came across this big guy (I wish I had a better perspective shot...but I'll explain why I didn't get it later) Ryker exclaimed, "THAT IS THE BIGGEST ROCK I HAVE EVER SEEN."  Followed by...."CAN I CLIMB IT?"  Who the heck says no????  I mean most of me wanted to say, "Ryker, no Dude.  That is an awesomely huge rock and you can't get up, which means you shouldn't be climbing it.  It isn't safe.  What if you fall?  You could get killed!"  The list goes on and on and on and on.  But instead I said, "yes!"  Which by the way...there have been times recently where I will say yes to something crazy that Ryker says and then he replies with a, "WHOAH.  Mom.  I didn't think you were going to say Yes!"  Me either Ryker.

Anyways, I propped him up onto the boulder and watched in horror delight as he made his way up to the very top.  I wanted so badly to run far away and snap a picture to show the perspective.  BUT damnit if I wasn't going to try and stay close enough so that if when he came tumbling down, I could catch him.  So I settled for this photo of his little chipmunk head sticking out.  His grandparents watched and I was really wondering if they were questioning my parenting abilities, and I couldn't blame them because I was too.  Ryk made his way down to me, partially sliding on needles that had fallen from the trees.  I was pretty relieved when his little big feet touched the ground.  He said immediately, "I can't believe I climbed that WHOLE rock."  You could hear his pride, and I felt it too.  He went racing off to tell the others of his wicked feat that he had accomplished.  When I reached Russell I went to tell him how awesome it was and how far Ryk had climbed, but Ryk had already beat me to it.  The dude was so proud of himself.

<3 momma="" p="">

Thanksgiving 2016

We had an excellent visit from Papa Fruhwirth, Granny Barb, Cousin Annie and Cousin Ellie.  So much fun we had!!  Sleep was rough, tempers were hot at times, but the laughter and adventure was so WORTH it.  Here are some pictures of the weekend!

If you ask the boys what their favorite part was of the whole thing it was throwing rocks in the water with their family!  We are definitely living in the right place!!  Thanks for the fun memories this weekend family!

<3 div="" momma="">

Are you my mother?

I dyed my hair tonight.  It's reddish/brown.  Ryker was NOT a fan.  He ran to the table to get his food, looked up at me and said, "MOM your hair.  Why did you put that hair on?  I don't like it."  When I joined him at the table he kept looking up at my hair and moaning and crying.  HAHAH.  Oh my goodness.... change is super-freakin-ridiculously-hard.

<3 momma="" p="">

Snow Turns 3

It's truly hard to believe that this person                  
turned into this person.....3 years old???!!!!

I sometimes have zero idea how fast these days go by.  Dempsey Snow is a truly awesome person!  She is both sweet and cuddly, cranky and opinionated, lover of nothing and all things.  Currently she loves noodles-mac'n'cheese and the green kind from Noodles and Company.  She loves singing-songs she prefers include the Barney song, Shut Up & Dance with Me, Turkey song, Christmas songs, etc.  She is obsessed with Minnie Mouse-and has scored big lately with Minnie Mouse night light, bed sheets, sweatshirts, matching cards, jacket, and pjs.  We just had a family birthday party and she was SO excited for the Minnie Mouse cake and pinata.  

Demps continues to say the darnedest things...A few days ago she said, "Mom, look at my muscles (as she flexse).  These are for punching bad guys."  <---which a.j.="" again.="" also="" amazingly="" an="" and="" annoying="" ast="" banned="" be="" birthday="" boys="" br="" brushed="" chilly.="" cold="" coldie="" coming="" continues="" emps="" ever="" fell="" from="" get="" gotta="" has="" he="" her="" herself="" hiking="" instead="" is="" keep="" lets="" mad.="" make="" mom="" my="" nbsp="" of="" off="" one.="" or="" parties="" proud="" said="" she="" squeal="" strong="" that="" the="" this="" to="" we="" weekend="" were="" when="">

Lately Demps and I have had some super duper fun Mom and Daughter moments.  We went on a girl shopping adventure.  I grabbed my purse, and she realized that she didn't have a purse but needed one.  We finally found kid size purses at Target and she picked out this one.  

Yup the one that is part purse, part stuffed animal.  She wore that darn purse EVERYWHERE that day.  She said she was "like Mommy".  She told me "mommies have purses, and daddies don't."  I reminded her that all people can have purses.  

Demps and I also had our first Mother-Daughter coffee date.  I had coffee, she had chocolate milk and we shared a coffee cake (see picture above of her drinking!).  We just sat outside and talked.  I kind of wanted to yell to everyone around us that this was our first date like that, and HOLY CRAP THIS IS SPECIAL.  But I didn't want to embarrass Dempsey.  There are plenty moments ahead for that.

Lastly, tonight Demps and I went to my hair dresser for hair cuts for the first time.  This wasn't the first time we had went to Whitney's together, but it was the first time Dempsey let Whitney cut her hair.  Last time she started crying and just wasn't having it.  Whitney and I decided to not traumatize the kid.  This time went FAR better.  Dempsey was bribed with watching Minnie Mouse, some candy, and a small gift from the gift basket.  But darnit her hair is LOOKING cute!!  She got a little bob, and left Whitney's house by yelling "Bye Whitney!!!! See you later!!!"


Demps is just the perfect girl for me!  She loves to color and loves stuffed animals, but is willing to wrestle and hike and kick the ball around.  She talks about being strong already, and flexes her muscles weekly.  What a gift and an opportunity to be her mother!

BIG shoutout to all my lovely amazing girls that I work with at my school that have let me practice the skills needed to raise a strong, resilient girl:) Not to mention all the Moms that have shown me the way.  :)

<3 momma="" p="">

The First Play

A.J. had his first play at school. He did super well! He had multiple lines with the group,  and had one line by himself.  I was so proud! He spoke into the mic and everything!  After the performance I asked him if he was nervous and he said "I wasn't until all these people came and then I was like
WHOAH!"  Oh I can definitely relate to this feeling! It was so great to have my parents there too for it;). I love A.J.'s expression here in the picture on the right.  That is his nervous/embarrassed face.  I

Sidenote:  The play was all about how happy the Native Americans and the Pilgrims got along with each other.  Everyone was super cordial to each other, peace, love and harmony.  Uh-huh.

<3 momma="" p="">

Safety Dancers

Sure,  these kids like lots of songs.  All  of the popular ones that all kids love these days.

But they always come back to Safety Dance.  On repeat.

They give me hope for America yet.

Kids say the darndest things...

On Saturday morning, Meg and I woke up as we normally do, to little feet walking into our room, and little cold feet  and hands seeking warmth and cuddles with us under the blankets while everybody wakes up slow. 

It's sweet, and we love it.  Except when they come in any earlier than say 4am or so.  And with 3 little wee ones, those odds mean that nearly every night at least 1 of the 3 comes into our room in the midnight hour.  It's not really a bad thing anymore, they all usually sleep pretty good in our bed and don't keep us awake anymore.  Except for those times when, as odds have it, there are 2 at the same time in our bed.  Then things get a little tight, and then I'm the one who usually loses sleep.  But anyway, that's enough of that tangent....

So Saturday morning, we woke to Dempsey coming into our room, on her way to snuggle.  While still walking toward the bed, out of nowhere she said this:

"Momma, I'm going to be in the hospital when I'm 6."

.....

"Really?  Why, Demps?"




She couldn't answer. 





Looking back, I think little Dempsey must've had a dream.  Seems logical.  And far more comforting to think that's the source of her exclamation, rather than some sort of Nostradamusque prophesy. Yeah, let's go with that.

Ah, kids. 

-R

Ore-Gon

We got spoiled this year as far as travel.  But you know what....we deserve it:)  I'll let the pictures do the talking!

What a great trip!

<3 momma="" p="">

Catch Ya Later Pampers!

I don't know why I waited so long to get this post out.  I could blame it on the faulty iphone Blogger app that no longer works, or the long-standing excuse of the "workin' on the basement.  But honestly, I think it is because I was caught in a bit of a "is this really happening" situation.  What's happened, you ask?  Demps has been potty trained for the past couple of months.  She beat the boys.  I'm not paying attention to that of course, #girlsrule.  I think what has been hard for me is that we have had a little creature in our house, In DIAPERS, for the past 6 years.  And now all of the sudden I don't have to carry a diaper bag.  I don't have to harass Russell about ordering diapers, or to delay the Amazon order because WE were dripping in diapers.  It's a whole new stage that we have embarked on, and as much as I am excited about it....I feel weird about it.

This was all too real for me this past weekend.  I took the boys over to my friend Julia's son's birthday party.  I walked in and babies were everywhere!  There was a baby eating from a bottle, a two week old baby. a baby learning to walk. a baby learning to roll over, a momma pumping, and a momma talking about how to handle the thought of two kids.  I sat in the corner for a second and watched this whole scene play out.  I was the mom with the OLD kids.  I was past all of these amazing little milestones.  And I know how this may seem dramatic, but truly....I don't want to forget this moment of thinking.....what the frick just happened?????  How did my kids grow up so darn fast....how did we all survive that?  Three kids in 3 1/2 years happened...to us.  And then POOF...no one is in any GOSH DARN diapers.  EVERYONE has cute underwear now.  I haven't operated a pump in YEARS.  Crazy.  So freaking crazy.

Anyways.....we are alive and well and about to get back to this sweet little blogger, maybe when our kids quit growing.
Love,
Momma