May

Braden started off the month with a stomach bug...he was quesy all day and needed to lay down to rest but also had just enough energy to want to play some. He really wanted to play "shooter guys" with me ... We run around the house with guns and shoot invisible bad guys...not 

my cup of tea...I suggested puzzles, not his thing...sooo we settled on this:

It was really fun and we had a blast doing it together!

Josh and I got to go on a double date with Becca and Gary...I had been craving to try some new foods so they recommends Dhat Island, caribbean creol and it was DELICIOUS! We hit up a gourmet icecream shot after :) fun night with really good friends. 

Braden has been working really hard on hand stands in the bounce house and against the wall but lately has been trying to fine tune enough to do a headstand without the help of a wall. And Max has been practicing weird faces!

I taught Braden how to put your knees on your arms and to slowly raise your legs up! Braden is really close to being able to hold it steady. 

Caiden was a good student too!

Max was not playing nicely one day so I sent him upstairs to play quietly on his own in his room. When I went to check on him a little later, he was in Riley's room, asleep in Reese's crib! Josh and I do NOT let our kids even stand on the side of the crib let alone get in it!!!

(Max has been a lot to handle lately but I think that deserves its very own post)

I signed riley up for "mileage club" an after school running club that meets twice a week. She did not want to do it but I told her she had to try just one practice. I'm glad I did because she loved it and her love continues to grow!        There are 5 elementary schools in our district and one of them put on a real track meet! (they obviously never ran track because they were not staggering the kids at the starting line! Frustating to watch but hopefully next year that will be fixed)  the track meet was a lot longer then schdeduled but so fun to watch! Riley did great, not as good as I was expecting but she ran her heart out and loved it. It was so funny at the start each time they shot the gun it scared her and she got a slightly slower start. And at the end she "jumped" across the finish line instead of running straight through haha. 

3 cute cousins! They did a 4x400 relay together and did great! I swore they got 3rd but guess I was wrong because they didn't receive a ribbon for it 

She received a ribbon for placing 3rd out of all first graders in the 200m dash.

At the beginning of this month Reese got very good at rolling front to back to front again. When I try to put her on her stomach so she will NOT attempt crawling she just rolls to her back to grab her toes!

Lots of fun with cousins

   Me and my big girl

     William "Liam" russel fisher was born

The week Reese turned 7mths old she started to reach both arms up when she wanted someone to hold her. I just love this mile stone for some reason. 

Reese is learning to like baby food now. She still prefers solid food over anything puréed. (Toward the end of this month she would only eat 1/3-1/2 of a jar at a time. But give her something solid she can hold and she will destroy it!)

At 7mths and one week Reese started being less satisfied just sitting. She started reaching forward to get on her knees. About the same time she started to roll EVERYWHERE and by the end of this month she was "purposefully" rolling everywhere! She would roll then get up and on hands and re-asses where she was and where she wanted to go and then get down and roll again. Repeat until she reached her destination. 

I wanted to remember this to read in the future and laugh...Braden was playing the wii and stopped and very proudly said his Arms were "strong like a weasel". And he has referred to it a few times after. Not sure where he got that or what he thinks a weasel is...

When Braden woke up early from a nap I said "why are you up so early?" (kind of disappointed because I wanted more quiet time for myself) and he was so sweet and said "because I love you" good reminder for me to soak it all up...

Max is talking much better but still very hard to understand. He did start putting two words together this month.  Such as instead of telling me "no" now he says "no, mommy".  I can tell it requires effort because he pauses between each word. I have a hearing test scheduled for the middle of June for him just to rule any hearing impairment out. 

At 7.5 mths Reese wants to crawl bad! She gets on all fours and rocks and rocks. Sometimes she propels forward with her feet and face plants to get where he wants and sometimes he puts her head down and pushes with her feet shoving her head along the carpet. She relies on rolling to get where she wants to be a lot still but i suspect it won't be much longer for her to figure out how to use her hands and arms!

Riley lost her other bottom tooth while she was at school and josh and I forgot To play tooth fairy that night! (how horrible!!!) LUCKILY the next morning she got her tooth from under her pillow and was hanging it over the bannister and dropped it and couldn't find it! That was when I said maybe while she was searching the tooth fairy got it first! I wrote a quick note something about the tooth fairy helping a kid with a toothache so she couldn't be there last night and thanks for the shiny tooth. Phew...I got off easy! We still haven't found that tooth she dropped...lol maybe the tooth fairy is real ;)

While boys were at the father and sons overnighter at lake perris Katie invited us girls over for mani/pedis and facials. It is so cute to see them get pampered. 

Meanwhile...

Apparently they had a blast!

Reese gets everywhere by rolling...nothing is safe anymore!

Riley really wants to open a day care and was pleasently surprised when I said yes...

She was soooo sad when no one came to drop off kids. She finally dropped the price to free and then even added on a prize to whoever came first...

The local hospital (where a friend works) did their 2nd annual 5k. A bunch of us friends went and had so much fun!!!(I am so so lucky to have such a great group of good friends, this is just part of them. But they will be life long friends. I know I can trust and count on everyone of them)

Riley ran with my friend Becca and they came in first! Riley chose a $25 gift card to stator brothers. Me josh and the kids were the next to come in and we were the first family so we got our picture taken. It was a low key (but i was still competitive and ran my heart out pushing Reese and Max while josh and Braden ran and sometimes pushed Braden too!) race where you run two laps around the area that equaled to 5k and got one raffle ticket per person at different places along the way. You then got to put your raffle tickets toward different prizes. We won 2 diaper bags FULL of baby and kids stuff (lotion, baby powder, sun glasses, sippy cups etc) and we also won a single jogging stroller!

It was AWKWARD for me to win so much, I'm trying to pass on the good fortune and give a few things away...

  I was so proud of Riley. My friend Becca said that riley set the pace a little slower then 10min/miles and didn't stop!

Just because I love her and happen to think she is too cute!

Enjoying the warm weather!

          Memorial Day 

We started off the day by letting josh sleep in a little and making a good dessert to bring to Lynne and Max's later

   Now that the kids are older i wanted to teach them why we celebrate memorial day so josh and I took them to a local cemetery and found a few graves with flags on them and discussed how they possibly served and died defending our country. They had a lot of questions and seemed interested :)

 Then off to Lynne and Max's for a day of swimming!

(max still has one eat tube in place and has to wear his war plug still)

Cute!

(later I compared pictures of Riley and Reese at this age in same bathing suit...wow

Riley is on the left and Reese on the right! Identical!)

Braden kept his floaties on all day and had a BLAST swimming and jumping and getting on the rafts. He especially loved when his cousin Nathan came and joined in. 

Braden "rowed" Max around for a LONG time

I didn't get any pictures of Riley but she was in the water much of the day and had a great time too. 

   Reese loves the water like the rest of them...she happily splashed on the steps or came swimming with an adult

Whispering sweet nothing's I'm sure :)

Max and cousin Lydia

Pooped!

 

Lynne has a sailor outfit for the boys and one for the girls for this age...here are a few of Reese's quick shoot from my phone

All of first grade was in a "vocabulary" parade. Each student was given a word and they had to create a costume to go with it and memorize the definition. Riley was "elasticity". The first graders paraded in front of the parents and then through every single room in the school! I was blown away, there were some great costumes!!

Hanging out enjoying life!

I watched 3 of my friend Shelley's kids while she took her fourth to an appt. the kids stayed for dinner and played lots!

We took the kids to the rain forest cafe for dinner one night because Riley didn't take her "pyramid" down all year (discipline system used in class for mis behaving) this was her reward and a good excuse to eat out!

The kids were so excited and it was worth every penny with faces like these! (animals move and make sounds every 15min and there is a lightening/thunder storm every 30min)

I don't think Max say down a single time. He kept pointing to the animals and trying to say their names. He LOVED it. 

After they chose sweet factory for dessert

On the last day of may I had to make a few returns and Riley came with me, when we passed by a Clair's someone was getting their ears pierced so we stopped to watch and I told her she could do it if she wanted...(she has been wanting to for about a year or so but has been to scared). I told her no pressure but the offer was on the table. She giggled as she thought about it and went back and forth and finally said yes to my surprise! We called josh to be sure he didn't want to be there to witness it, he said to go ahead. I thought she would chicken out once she was in the chair but nervous as she was she went through with it! They pierced both at he same time while she squeezed my hands hard. She picked the december birthstone for its pretty blue green color and it was a great choice, it looked so pretty on her!

  After they finished piercing her eyes got watery and she said it was hurting but she didn't cry (maybe she was too shy?) and i asked if she regretted it and she said yes about 20seconds later she said she was so happy to have done it. 

It was bitter sweet to see her ears get pierced. Like a part of her innocence was taken away...

Before:

After:

She is (literally) counting down the days to put in some new fun earings. 

Lastly, just for records...josh and I gifted each other one month of Crossfit each for Christmas and we finally used it this month. We fell in LOVE with it. It is crazy expensive that is why we both just did a cheaper one month groupon deal. Not a day passes that I don't wish i was there. I only lost a pound or two but gained lots of muscle and strength. I quickly fell in love with lifting weights, loved the confidence it gave me and loved the way I felt soooo strong! We try to use what we have and work out from home a few days a week. Not the same at all but better then nothing...

May was another good month...I am sure to count my blessings...seems we have a lot of good months and very little bad things that happen to us. I am aware that could change in an instant and am constantly trying to enjoy and be grateful for all we have.