cleaning up, organizing, and "new" toys

Ryder and I went though all of his toys the other day and organized them. We made piles for donation, and rotated them so that some were more accessible or we moved them to the outside toy bin.

Ryder has been LOVING his "new toys.  He discovered toys that he hadn't played with in months.  We played with blocks and his farm and his legos.

 It also allowed me to get a little photo shoot in.

Here is the little book that jump started the whole project:

 He spent HOURS with his new found toys...

It really felt so good to go through everything!  I feel like I know what we have and it's all organized, that everything is played with, and that Ryder can actually enjoy the things that he has.

birthday celebrations (a little weekend recap...)

This weekend we had the privilege of driving up north and celebrating two very special men in our lives:

Kit's dad Eric and a close family friend, Steve.  They both turned 60 and this weekend was all about getting to celebrate them!

First we celebrated Eric on Saturday.  (He is one of Ryder's ALL TIME favorite people so watching them together was such an added bonus!)

The Rae boys:

 Ryder telling me how good the dutch oven cobbler was.  
(Anything that his grandpa does is a fun thing to copy!)

They were really good!

 I hate that this one came out blurry of Rdyer and Eric, but look how they are both holding hands... and the smiles are so precious!

 All the guests:

 On Sunday morning, before we headed to the beach for Steve's party, Ryder and Eric did one of their all time favortie things: Went to check on the chickens and see if there were any eggs:

 Then we headed to Refugio:

Steve Mori was a neighbor of Kit's mom and they are our extended family.  I think that Diane told me that she has known him since she was in the second grade.

Kit and I think he is just the coolest!

 Eden was enjoying the party while Ryder enjoyed...

 ...the water!

He really could not get enough of the water!

              

While Ryder turned himself into a little churro, Eden and I got to snuggle:

(Thanks lindsey for these photos!)

 

And we got some family pictures!

I had some fun editing this one:

I hope that you have a very happy monday!

a favorite recipe

I know that I have shared this recipe with you before, but I realize that this is such fun summer dish that we LOVE, so I thought I would post it again. The best thing is it's easy and it's meant to be served cold so it makes awesome leftovers.   Ryder loves when we get to use the food processor.  He is such a helper!

Get the recipe HERE.

We have put it in the to-go Chinese food containers and gone on a picnic with it, we have brought it to parties, taken it to friends that have had babies...

Needless to say, I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

We are off to Santa Maria to celebrate Kit's dad's birthday...

We will have lots of pictures on monday.

Have a great weekend!

some thoughts on schedules and new routines

When Eden was born, I really struggled with the constant thought

"There are more of them than there are of me."

It sounds so silly, but that thought gave me such anxiety!  So to handle it, I had them alternate their nap routines.  Both kids sleep through the night beautifully, and during the day, I would put Eden down for her nap at about 930a or 10a.  Ryder and I would play/eat lunch until he would go down for a nap at about 1p.  Eden would wake up shortly after that.  We would spend time together until he woke up at about 3p. Then Eden would go down for her afternoon nap.

All that to say, I would pretty much just have one kiddo up at a time from about 930a-5p.

It was a great way to ease into having two little people, however, I wouldn't get a break because someone would always be up.

About two weeks ago,  I started to realize that I really needed a little mid day break.

So I started to change their nap times.

I have been putting Eden down at 1130a and Ryder down at 1230p.  It has been giving me a break and I am feeling like a new woman!  And even better, a new mom!

Ryder and I really enjoy the hour that we have together.

Our new routine is that during lunch, we get a stack of books, we eat our lunch and we read .

It's been so fun!

In regards to parenting, isn't it so true that just when you think you have something figured out, it changes...  I think that's what can make it fun too! 
Well, we are definitely in the figure it out as we go mindset.
In the end, the best part is that we get to be with our kids.

It really doesn't get much better than that!

speech therapy

Ryder has been doing so great with his speech therapy.  

We love our therapist, Miss Stephanie.

He LOVES her.  She is so good with him.  She has a gentleness and patience that Ryder really responds well to.  It's amazing to watch how she makes playing with play dough or trains such a learning experience.  His vocabulary is growing, he looks forward to their time each week and I feel like I have more tools for helping Ryder to learn new things.  

Thank you Stephanie for all that you do!

i wish i had green thumbs...

I love the planter that we hung in our backyard about a month ago.  part one. part two.

What I don't love is trying to keep plants alive in crazy heat.  Here is what I let happen:

 So we went with our personal favorites: succulents.

 

I love how it came together.

 We ended the planting time by cooling off in the pool:

Our time outside ended with kit clipping some of our dahlias for my favorite jar! 
(Thanks Bekah!)

I hope you have a great day!

tummy time

A favorite part of our day:

I love these kids!

first toy for Eden

My mom bought Eden this "ball" that has little sections that are used as a rattle and she LOVES it!  This is the first week that she has played with any toy that we have given her.  She holds that thing so tight and just shakes it like crazy.  The holes make it perfect for her to hold and it's really flexible so she can chew on it too.

Thanks mom for always spoiling our babies!  

We appreciate you!