{Ryker Biker}

Ryker Biker you are one silly guy and are always good to make us laugh. You have some pretty sweet dance moves. Daddy and I have no clue where you learned most of these moves but we sure love them! 

Ryker quotes:

{I have started writing them down on my phone so I don't forget them}

• let me grab it real quick mama
• lets rock n' roll mama {this is what I usually say when trying to get out the door}
• mama lives on her phone
• I wasn't getting him with my sward mama, I was just pinching him {poor baby Gray has to wake up to this someday's}
• would that be a great idea?
• can you do that for me real quick? can you?
• excuse me Abs I will get it for you. I'm a super hero!
• I'm busy right now
• the sun feels soft and comfy
• nice to meet you Grayson! while shaking his hand
• dad here's the funny thing....
• Abby's not asleep, she doesn't know how to close her eyes
• I learned everything from France {he has a HUGE fetish with France - not sure if it is because of Auntie Mugs or a book of his}
• you silly goose on a moose

You have such a creative imagination and I love watching it grow. You love to pull the cup cake pans out and fill them with "treasures" aka toys. You also like to pull the cutting boards out and use them as skate boards. 

At church this past week it  was super cute you walked up to your friend Chloe and grabbed her hands and said "lets dance" and ya'll proceeded to dance together. On the drive home you told me and daddy that you danced with everyone in nursery. You are such a ladies man! 

{Spring at the Botanical Gardens}

Spring in Atlanta is by FAR one of my things about living here. It is SO beautiful and full of so many flowers and sunny days. The botanical gardens is having a orchid exhibit right now and it is SO beautiful. I love orchids and I had no idea there were so many varieties of them. 

 This is a MIRACLE that Ryker is actually smiling for a picture with me. This almost NEVER happens.  

 These hills were so cool. They had a single orchid in each of them and they were hanging from a lace covered tree. So cool. 

 The past few weeks I will ask Ryker where he wants to go for our adventure and he chooses the gardens. It surprises me EVERY time. But I'm glad he likes coming here. He loves to play/dig in the dinosaur sand in the children's garden. This last time we went he actually made friends with another little boy {about 6 years old} and he and Ryker ran around and played for a long time. Ryker was actually VERY sad when the boy had to leave. This is a HUGE social step for Ryker. He is usually VERY VERY shy around people he does not know. It was so cute he even walked up to me and said "mom look at my new friend". I can't believe how much he is growing up. I almost have a 3 year old ahhhh! 

 Grayson and Savvy enjoyed some car seat free stroller time. They loved being able to see. These two are so great on all of our adventures. 

 **I can't wait for the tulips to be in full bloom... I think this might happen this week. I love tulips and I miss going to Thanksgiving Point to the Tulip Festival with my mom and sisters.

{Fast February}

Well February came and went and now I am blogging about it... hopefully soon I will get back to current post... someday. 

 We do a playgroup with a few friends every week and for Valentines Day we decided to do a special party and let the kids decorate heart cookies. I had my hands full with my "twin" babies and Ryker so I didn't manage to get a picture of Ryker frosting cookies. Truth be told I was not even the one helping him frost them - Thank you awesome friends for helping me. I was busy feeding these cute chubs. It was fun to get a new picture of Savvy and Gray next to each other. I love how HUGE he looks next to her. Oh and yes they totally love to hold hands. Benjamin on the other hand does NOT like it when Gray tries to hold his hand. 

 We really love these babies. Benjamin is a pretty chill baby like Gray and Ryker is always great to help me cheer one of them up if I am unable to do it. He is such a BIG helper. I think Grayson is going to be a heart breaker. He is such a flirt. Too bad I could not get Benjamin to look at me with his flirty face also. 

 This is how I find the boys more often than not. These brothers sure love each other. Ryker's newest thing is to "play baby" as he calls it. He likes to play with Grayson's toys, be burped, and talk baby. Its pretty funny. 

 Ryker was running so fast and didn't want me to take his picture. But I was able to get a few even though they are a bit blurry I love his smile. 

 Another way we play on the play mat. Sitting in the bumbo. We like to switch it up. 

I just love Grayson's facial expression in the picture. It cracks me up.

Oh and it was Mardi Gras this month. We LOVE Mardi Gras. Grayson got festive for our party. I made red beans n'rice and king cake and had some friends over to celebrate. We also did a girls bunco night that supposed to be a masquerade but sadly people didn't really wear their masks. One day I WILL make this happen! I have pulled it off in Utah and will do it again! 

We are getting the hang of this 3 kids thing most days if we stay home. We do get brave on Wednesdays and venture to story time at the library. That is always eventful but well worth it in the end. We were pretty boring on the adventure scale during February. It was cold and rainy and we babysat A LOT! 

{Help}

I need help friends. My sweet Ryker baby has officially turned into a nightmare of a sleeper. He no longer goes to bed with ease and once he does he wakes up about every 2 hours all night long crying. We have tried to just let him cry it out but he doesn't EVER give in. He is relentless! He cries for over 2 hours before I give in and go put him back in bed. Any and ALL suggestions are welcome. It has been almost a week since I have gotten more than 3 hours of straight sleep between my two boys and I have officially reached my breaking point and grumpy mama has arrived.

{Grayson:: 5 Months}

Dear Grayson Oliver,

 You are 5 months old today and growing up so fast and just more and more fun everyday. 

 You and your brother are becoming quite the buddies. He LOVES you a LOT and you are starting to think he is OK. This past month you have started to smile when Ryker plays with you and you think he is quite silly. Lets be honest we all think he is quite silly. He loves to hold your hand and play peek-a-boo with you. 

 We had a rough month of sickness and even though you had a yucky cold and could barely breathe you still had a smile on your face. You have started "talking" a LOT more but no longer say "goo" which makes me sad. That was my favorite sound you made. 

 You are getting super close to sitting up on your own. You can do it for a few seconds and then get too excited or too tired and flop back wards. 

 You can not STOP chewing on your fingers and whenever you get the chance you LOVE to chew on mine also. 

 You also discovered you feet this month. You love to kick them like crazy. It is super hard to get jammies on you because of this. You also love to hold on to them and you think it is silly when I kiss them. 

We are happy that you are still alive. Ryker has had some close calls with "loving" you too much this month. Daddy and I are doing our best to keep you safe. Sadly you have turned into a terrible sleeper. You are have been getting up every 1.5 to 2 hours through the night and it is killing me. We have even tried to let you cry it out some and that has not worked. But we did figure out a way to hook the mobile on the pack n play and you LOVE it! We can lay you in your bed and you will go to sleep. You don't have to only be bounced to sleep anymore. THANK YOU! You also slept 3 nights in the big crib in the same room as Ryker. You did awesome with that. Ryker on the other hand was getting up too much and waking you up so we will try again once Ryker is sleeping better. You are enjoying tummy time more and can spin 180 degrees on your tummy.  We love you so much and are so blessed to have you apart of our family. 

Love, Mama

{January}

I know February is almost over and I am just now getting January on the blog..... How you keep your blog up to date when you have more than one kiddo and add working on top of that blows my mind. So props to those of you who can do it. I on the other hand am struggling with it. I started babysitting one of Brady's classmates babies who is a month younger than Gray and I still am watching Abby. So 1 or 2 days a week I have "twin" 2 1/2 year old's and 3 days a week I have "twin" newborns. We don't leave the house much anymore other than to playgroup {which we ALL LOVE} and story time at the library. This a new favorite activity that we all love. Ryker LOVES going with his new best buddies Emery and Braylin. They are so cute together. Ryker loves reading all of his "new" books every week. It is nice to have a switch up on the books we are reading also. And because of going to story time every week is WAY into reading books again. We probable read books for an hour a day if you add it all up. 

 Pillow forts. Ryker is WAY into forts and tents. 

 Future basketball coach. 

Making daddy proud. 

 Freezing at the zoo. But it was SO nice to get outside and enjoy some sunshine. 

 Daddy actually got to come on an adventure with us. Almost everyday when I get Ryker dressed he says "mommy where are we going? "Can we go on an adventure with our friends?" and sadly I have been a bit over whelmed with 3 kids that adventures are not happening as often as we like. 

 Abby and Ryker both had to bring their tigers along to see the real tigers. 

 Our first science experiment..... turned out to be WAY more work for me than fun for them I think....we will try again when Ryker gets a bit bigger. 

 Cartoon snuggling. Ryker LOVES Grayson. It is really sweet. 

 Monkey Joe's

Ryker, Braylin, and Emery had a BLAST here. I cant wait to take them back. We went at the perfect time of day and there were not many people there so the kids were brave much to our surprise. All three of them can be very timid. 

 Rebelling against naps. One day when Ryker was supposed to be napping this is what I came into. He is WAY into playing with his "friends" aka stuffed animals. I am just grateful he doesn't demand they leave the house with us. Ryker's imagination is just thriving these days and I LOVE it. 

Phew! We survived and only 3.5 more months of crazy babysitting and we will be back to fun adventures. 

{My Kind of Day}

Today was such an awesome day that I decided I needed to document it. It started out with Gray sleeping through the night {so not normal and I don't expect it to happen again for a while BUT it was MUCH needed}. Good morning snuggles, house cleaning, Abby playing,

Popsicle eating, Just Dance 3 playing {mostly just watching me but Ryker and Abby joining me a little they LOVE to do this - its a WIN WIN they are entertained and I get a workout in}, burning a sweat, toy sharing, lunch eating, house cleaning {Ryker helping},

laundry {I get to fold all 5 loads after I am done with this post}, golfing,

smiles and snuggles from this guy,

brother holding,

cup cake making party {we danced around the kitchen as a family singing "cup cake party" over and over and LOVE every minuet of it}. Ryker LOVES to help me in the kitchen ALWAYS. Tonight was a blast cooking together with our aprons on {I think it is time to make him a boy apron}. Poor kid was falling asleep waiting for the frosting to get made so he could eat one before bed. 

 making yummy things ='s loads of dirty dishes - if only I had a fairy who would come clean my kitchen after I was done cooking/baking delicious things. Wouldn't that be the life?!?!

Sleeping kind of day. This little guy napped like a champ all day and now my boys are in bed and I get to finish cleaning up our home after our fun day. Days like this remind me how much I really do LOVE being a stay at home mom. Even with all of the mess making, laundry doing, cleaning, meal making, bum changing, crying, fighting, giggling, playing, kissing, tickling, and snuggling. I know we all have bad/rough days but I have more good days then bad and I couldn't imagine doing anything else other than raising these handsome little guys of ours. Last week I was at a girls night and it was sad to me to hear some of my dear friends talk about motherhood/their lives the way they were. Most of us there are stay at home moms with 2 kids and they were all lamenting on how nice it would be without kids. They would have time to experience more culture, study, have more money, travel, and many other things. All I said was "how boring life would be without these sweet little ones".  And many responded that they have many boring days with their kids. Yes, we all do have boring days but you can turn any day into what ever kind of day you want to. I am happy where I am in my life and would not trade it for anything. I feel so blessed to be ABLE to stay at home and raise my babies.

A few months ago at a stake RS conference we had a sister shared this with us "through out the day when something good happens {usually small sometimes big}stop for a half of a second and thank Heavenly Father". I have been trying to do this right in the moment {other wise we forget - hey we are busy}and it has made such a difference in my life. You should try it out. It makes me remember all that I have to be thankful for. Hey I am SUPER thankful when Ryker is frustrating me when I speak kindly to him and not snap at him.  This does not always happen. Or when Ryker simply walks to our car without a melt down on the stairs. Small things add up. Here is to motherhood.

 Now I am off to fold laundry and clean my kitchen so I can get to bed before my baby wakes up. 

{Dinosaur Museum}

This was the first time Ryker has been old enough to actually enjoy going to a museum. He had SOOO much fun. He would just run from one exhibit to the next. He was so excited to see all of the HUGE dinosaurs. So cool for this little guy. 

 Ryker and Papa had a blast chasing each other through the dark tunnel. 

 My first bottle to feed Gray. Ha this is a HUGE mommy moment since Ryker didn't take bottles. I learned that I don't know how to hold a bottle. Silly I know. 

 The sand table was a BIG hit with my main man Ryker. We all had fun building and playing dinosaurs. I love interacting with Ryker at places like this. It is so fun and is one of many reasons why I love being a mom. 

 I wish my phone took better pictures... I forgot my camera on this adventure. 

Ryker was not such a fan of this HUGE shark.... it is pretty scary. We had such a blast here. Utah friends if you have not been - GO! If we lived in Utah we would totally have a pass here. We could play for hours here.