Family Vacation -- Cabin on the Little Manistee

Where have I been?

Honestly, I couldn't even tell you.  We've been around but we've been caught up just doing life and somehow the blog has fallen by the wayside.  It's not that I haven't wanted to post, but things like my etsy shop have taken precedent or ya know, raising kids, keeping the house somewhat tidy, etc etc etc.  And then, I got so behind it felt like I couldn't just jump right back in.

But, here I go.

We recently got back from our Summer Family Vacation in Michigan!  I know, what the hell is in Michigan?  Well, my Dad's entire family is in Michigan and his parents own a beautiful cabin on the Little Manistee River near Irons, MI.  I went there a number of times while I was growing up, but it had been 13 years since I had had the opportunity to go.  My parents generously decided to fly not only my family out, but both of my sisters and my brother and his wife too so that we could enjoy a week together.

We had such an amazing week despite the fact that both of the girls ended up sick.  Rory ran a 103 degree fever for the first three days and Ryan followed with a similar fever the last few.  Seriously, it's always something right?  They literally had not been sick since we had traveled to California in February.  Honestly.  I had lots of help though and Josh and I still got to spend some time away from the kids.  Thanks fam!

As you can see by the photos, we kayaked, we went to the lake, we drank, we ate loads of ice-cream, we Josh fished, we hot tubbed, we drank, we ate ice-cream , we tubed down the river, we ate ice-cream (sensing a theme here?) , we made S'mores, we sat on the porch and drank coffee, we watched home videos galore of previous years at the cabin, and most importantly, we ate ice cream, we spent lots of time together.

There are three things I came away from the trip knowing.  One, my parents are the most amazing people.  They are always willing to give of themselves and continually make sacrifices for each and every one of us kids.  Two, my kids have the very best aunts and uncle I could ever ask for. My siblings (sister-in-law included) love to love on my kids.  Josh and I are basically non-existent to Ryan when they are around and that is a very great blessing.  And three,  Josh and I are going to have to work very hard to work off all the beer and ice-cream we consumed on this trip!

The Terrific and Terrible Twos

It's been quite some time since I did a post entirely about Ryan.  I've done so many updates about Rory the last few months, but in reality, Ryan changes just as much from month to month as Roars does.  She is only a couple of months away from being a three year old which in and of itself amazes me, but since she is still a two year old as of now, I think a post about how simultaneously terrible and terrific two years of age has been with our eldest child is in order.

Terrifically Independent:  Ryan has developed such independence these days which is honestly a great blessing, especially when I'm dealing with her little sister.  She plays extremely well on her own, she can be asked to do small tasks like grabbing a diaper or her shoes, she can go up and down the stairs by herself, get into her chair at the table and find a movie on the iPad all without help.  It is certainly nice when, as a Mom, you feel like you finally don't have to do every little thing for your child.

Terribly Independent:  The problem comes with the fact that she also thinks that she can do EVERYTHING on her own.  She wants to buckle herself in the car, get herself food out of the pantry,  walk in the street by herself and basically do everything by herself, which means once simple tasks now take much longer and I have to do things like clean up an entire tub of oatmeal that fell out of the pantry closet as a result of Ryan helping herself to some pretzels.

Terrifically Imaginative:  She has such an imaginative mind.  I regularly hear her playing with her toys, coming up with games to play with the bottles of lotion or pretending she is the mommy to her baby dolls.  She stacks blocks and pushes them around as if they were cars, builds castles with the DVD boxes, does Dr. check ups on her babies and cooks dinner for us all with the help of her play kitchen.  She creates all sorts of fun games in her two year old head.

Terribly Imaginative:  With that ever increasing imagination, she has also begun to be scared of monsters, dinosaurs, and who knows what else at night.  Bedtime has become a challenge and our once great sleeper has recently become significantly more difficult to deal with than her infant counterpart.  I have had some extremely frustrating nights with her because I refuse to let her sleep in our bed and yet I want to acknowledge that her fears are real and therefore I need to help her work through them.  It is a hard line to walk, especially at 3:00am.

Terrifically Verbal: This child of mine has always been quite the talker.  Even at a few months old, she was a constant babbler and that has never really stopped.  She has extremely strong verbal skills and at a doctors appointment around age 2.5 years, the pediatrician said she had the verbal skills of a four year old.  She can communicate anything and everything to me that she needs to.  She sings all kinds of songs, "reads" books, and lets you know what she wants and when she wants it.  She cracks me up daily with the things that come out of her mouth.  She regularly tells me that she loves me and that I'm her best friend or that she loves her "stis-ter" or that Daddy is her pal.  She loves to exclaim that ice cream is "licious" as in "delicious," and whenever I suggest something fun to do, like going to the park, she says "Oh that's a good idea Mommy!"  If Rory is upset or crying, I'll hear Ryan say things to her like "It's okay Rory, Mommy's coming, don't be sad."

Terribly Verbal:  Of course there are many words that come out of her mouth that are not nearly so sweet.  I've heard the word no so many times that I sometimes feel like my head is going to explode. Recently she said "Mommy! I'm made with you!  Why you make me cry?" after I wouldn't let her do something she wanted to do.  She tells me to leave her alone or get out of her room when she's angry and I want to laugh almost every time because it's so hilarious that this attitude is coming out of her little two year old mouth and yet it also infuriates me to no end.  We also need to work on what is appropriate to say outside of the house and what isn't.  For instance, she is very interested in ahem...anatomy these days.  Josh and I have decided to teach her the anatomical words for everything if she asks and the other day at the mall, she exclaimed to a woman in the bathroom, "I"m Ryry and this is my nose and these are my eyes and this is my gina!"  Oh good Lord child.  I left the bathroom slightly red faced but also with tears in my eyes from laughing so hard.

Terrifically Determined: When she wants to accomplish something, she does.  Or at least, she works extremely hard trying to.  She loves to build castles and color and organize things.  She wants to do everything the bigger kids are doing or the adults and will regularly follow older kids around the playground.  She will move stools or chairs around the house in order to get things off the counter or table as well.

Terribly Strong-Willed:  Her determination also rears its head in terms of being extremely strong-willed.  She throws stage 5 tantrums when she wants to do something and I won't let her.  There are days where I find it very challenging to deal with her because everything seems to be a fight.  I am the queen of letting her throw tantrums no matter where we are because I refuse to give in to her demands, but that has lead to a number of very loud outings and I'm sure there are many customers out there that are really sick of "The Ryan Show."  I swear I wanted to drop kick her in the grocery store the other day!

Terrifically Emotion Filled:  When Ryan is excited about something, her excitement is contagious.  I can basically light up her whole world by saying we can go outside or that she can have a popsicle after dinner or put color bombs and bubbles in the bath tub or see her best friend Avery.  She jumps and screams and giggles and starts talking a mile a minute, which is saying something cause the kid never shuts up.  She is a little love bug always wanting to give hugs and kisses, hold hands, dance around the house in your arms and cuddle on the couch to watch a movie.

Terribly Emotion Filled: She may be an excitable and loving little two year old when you do something she likes, but oh boy when she's angry, watch out.  Her tantrums make me want to pull my hair out and I've resorted to time outs and being sent to her room recently just so I don't have to hear the screaming as much.  It amazes me that such a little person can make so much noise!  There are days where it seems I can't ask her to do anything, changing her diaper (yes we're still in diapers) is the biggest challenge, and even though she loved macaroni and cheese last week, she's flat out refusing it this week like I'm trying to feed her asparagus.  I gotta hand it to her, the kid knows what she wants and what she doesn't.

Ultimately, Ryan Cathleen is our little spitfire.  She loves life and her smile and laughter are contagious.  She is Daddy's girl, my best friend and the most amazing big sister to Rory.  She may drive me absolutely bonkers some days but I feel so blessed to be this terribly terrific two year olds Mama.

Easter Sunday 2016

We had such a good Easter Sunday.  I was a little worried because as per usual, Josh had to work overnight Saturday night.  I knew it was possible he wouldn't be home on Sunday morning for the surprise of Easter baskets and he'd also be sleeping most of the day after working all night meaning he'd miss church.  I know I say it about almost every major holiday, but it really is tough to be away from all of our family.  I prepped the girl's Easter baskets and set everything up the night before.  I get WAY too excited about the thought of Ryan's excitement but when you are a stay-at-home mom, it's the little things in life.

Thankfully, Josh did make it home just as the girls were starting to stir and he was able to witness the finding of the baskets.  Ryan's excitement lived up to my expectations although she was definitely most thrilled about the jelly bean filled eggs and the fact that we let her have some treats for breakfast.  Rory was content to take it all in for her first Easter.  But I will say that both Gumby and Pokey have made excellent teething toys and were the big highlight of her basket.

After, I scrambled around getting myself and the girls ready for church which is absolutely no easy task.  We left the house covered in plastic eggs, fake pink grass, and half eaten jelly beans and made it to church only 10 minutes after the start of the service.  I basically call that on time when you are a mom of two and doing it solo.  It was a beautiful day by Massachusetts in March standards and we were able to spend some time in the backyard playing after church.  It took about 207 pictures for me to finally get a couple of decent ones of the girls in their Easter dresses.  They sure make me work for it these days!

We even got Dad to join us outside for a bit at the end of the afternoon.  I made hamburgers for dinner and we treated ourselves to ice cream from a local creamery for dessert!

It was a beautiful and low key Easter and we were so thankful to celebrate together as a family of four.  I hope everyone's Easter was equally fun and that you were able to spend some time thanking  Jesus for sacrificing Himself to be the Savior of the world.