4 Years Old!

I can hardly believe it's been four years since we brought our sweet little boy home!  He is full of energy and keeps us smiling...which is a good thing because he can be a total stinker too!  He is smart and silly and I love seeing his little personality grow.  This years interview was much easier.

What is your name? Rylin Marshall Everhart

How old are you? Four

What is your brother's name? Miles

What is your favorite thing about Miles?  His baby toys

What does Daddy do during the day? work

What does Daddy do at work?  He talks on his computer, and works

What does Mommy do during the day? You go to work

What does Mommy do at work?  Check on your computer

Who is your best friend? Atticus

What's your favorite thing to do with Atticus? play Spiderman and Batman

Who are your other friends? Adelay, Bea, Penelope, Leighton, Luke, Mitchell, Emmie, Curry (Cory), Carson, Ms. Bass, Jaxon
What is your favorite color? green

What is your favorite song? Astronaut (no idea?)

What is your favorite food? pizza

What is your favorite food to cook?  eggs
What is your favorite book? Jake (Jake and the Neverland Pirates)

What is your favorite movie? The Iron Giant

What is your favorite toy? Optimus Prime and Heatwave (Transformers)
What is your favorite sport? Baseball

What is your favorite football team? Luke's Team! (loves watching his cousin Luke play baseball)

He still loves his bulldog, Duke.  In fact, I'm usually telling him to leave Duke alone.  Though Duke is quite patient and probably just enjoys the little attention he gets these days!

We may have him on a paleo diet, but this kid would lead you to believe that all he likes is candy, pizza, chocolate, and french fries!

He's gotten really good at riding his bike and I think it won't be long before he ditches the training wheels!

He's a great big brother and likes to love on his "best little brother".  He's great at giving him his paci, making him laugh, and scaring him too!

He LOVES both sets of grandparents and visiting them at their houses.  He recently discovered fishing and go carts at Mimi and Papa's.

His favorite activity by far is cooking!  I love this!  He is great with helping me and Jordan and his kitchen is still one of his most played with toys.

He always wants us to scratch his back!  He loves it when you comb his hair, clean his ears, and rub his feet too!

September is Almost Gone!

September started out a rocky one for us.  Poor Mr. D came down with a virus and we ended up in the hospital for fluids.  

He was a trooper though, and after an overnight stay, he went home.  The nurses and Dr.'s took good care of us and our stay was almost a mini vacation.  Almost.

Part of the reason it seemed like a vacation was because Rylin went to stay with Mimi & Papa!  He had a good time riding and feeding the horses.  Helping Papa with the hay and entertaining Mimi with his endless barely translatable vocabulary!

On Friday, as D was doing much better, we headed to West as well.  Labor Day is WestFest weekend and on Saturday morning we took the kids to the parade.

Then to WestFest to enjoy a few complementary rides thanks to Papa.  Rylin was not interested in much except the big slide and the Ferris wheel...and even that I had to practically drag him on screaming.  He was in a mood.

A mood that shows in this picture!  We got to watch Shelby and KK preform for the Junior Historians Czech dance club.  I was a member back in the day and found it humorous that the show was the exact same we had done...narration and all! 

 After we left, we managed to leave a wave of stomach virus in our wake.  I felt horrible as we thought Mr. D was no longer contagious.  Somehow Jordan, Rylin, and I escaped it.

Rylin and D have become great friends.  They love to play together in Rylin's room.  D is moving a lot these days and even took three steps today!  He has come a long way from being in a cast for six weeks just two months ago!

Rylin had his first day of Mother's Day Out.  He was so ready to go!  He loves school and is always grins when I drop him off and pick him up.

We enjoyed some cooler weather and a few last chances to swim in our giant pool!  The chickens are very curious when the kids are in the back yard.  They looked so funny pecking around while the kids splashed.

Then from out of nowhere, Sissy decided my arm looked like a nice perch and flew up on me while I was typing on my laptop.  Crazy chicken!

Jordan and I celebrated our 8th anniversary this month too.  We enjoyed a child free weekend thanks to Mimi & Papa of which we kicked off with a fantastic dinner with our friends Shala & Matt.

I was ready to see my boys again when the weekend was over.  Monday night we hit up Chick-fil-a for some play time.  Rylin took advantage of having the playplace to himself!

In September Rylin finally started sleeping in his own bed...most of the time!  Sometimes he still sneaks in early in the morning.

We got to visit the Plano Balloon Festival with our friends from church and though Rylin was more interested in running around with the other kids, he did get excited about the balloons upon take off.

We've been going to our local YMCA a lot lately and taking advantage of the childcare!  Jordan and I get a few hours to work out and the boys get to play with friends.  Jordan has been playing some racket ball and has shown Rylin a few moves!

We went to a few more of our friend's birthday parties in September too.  It is definitely the season of birthday parties for us!  Yesterday, Rylin left Carson & Avery's without his shirt...it was an extra fun time!

We've been getting some much needed rain so the whole family took advantage of our wet Saturday to run around and be silly.  Rylin & D loved splashing in the puddles and getting Daddy wet!

One month in photos...backwards!

 4th of July with family in Arlington

 Rylin cheesing with Nana

 my little dare devil flying off the diving board

 the chickens asking to come in for some air conditioning

caught in the baby headlock...and Rylin's attempt at photobombing

 Jordan and Rylin at the spray park

 sassy little hula dancer

 Playdate with friends and the sprinkler I made out of PVC

 my silly preggo friends...Hannah, Deliahna, & Bethany

 first trip down a water slide and loved every second

 mowing with Dad

 homemade beef jerky...yum!

 splashing in his giant pool

my first two babies wanting some attention

Rylin at 2 and Almost One Half

As I said before. THIS guy is due a big update! I can't believe that he will be 2 1/2 in just a month! He has changed so much in the last few months and so I can't deny that he is getting older. He is Mr. Independent these days and pretty much refuses a high chair, sippy cup, or anything he deems "for baby". That is except the diapers! We are making progress in potty training though, and he has gone a few times on the actual toilet. This week I thought since it was Spring Break and I didn't have Atticus or Adelay that we would make some headway, but as you can see in the picture below, he was more interested in watching his boy parts while jumping on the sofa!


Or working on the computer AND watching TV.



Rylin LOVES to be outside and would rather dig for worms (he calls them all "Slimy" like Oscar the Grouch's worm) or tearing up leaves than color with sidewalk chalk. He wants to swing high and fast and "one more time" when I tell him Mommy's tired.

He LOVES the camera when he can see himself. I can turn the web cam on and he will preform all kinds of silly made up songs. He sings all the time now. His favorite songs are "Jesus Loves Me", "ABC's", "The Cookie Monster Song", and "Itsy Bitsy Spider". I can't even sing to him at bed anymore because he sings all my lullaby's with me!

A few months ago I dramatically changed my diet in an effort to be healthy and loose some weight. Part of this change was eliminating grain and potato carbs. It has been easier than I thought and I feel great at almost 25lbs lighter! A side effect has been how I feed Rylin. Since I started cooking without the extra carbs, he has started eating much healthier himself. Now instead of crackers or breakfast bars, he asks for fruit, eats most vegetables, and enjoys snacking on nuts and beef jerky. He still loves his green smoothies too!

He LOVES playing with the big kids. If there are older kids around, he always tries to be a part of what they are doing. He loves his cousins, "Yuke" (Luke) and Mitchell (who he calls Emmie...don't get me started).

I love that at this stage I can understand what he is saying a lot more. We can have conversations and really communicate! He likes to tell you to "sit down", "one more", "not yet", "yeah", "O.K.". He is still pretty hard to understand, but when you're around him like I am, you start to pick up on his language. Some of his funnies are..."Titty" for Candy (my cousin), "Dukers" for Duke because that's what we sometimes call him, "puck" for cup, "Hesus" for Jesus, "Bees" for fruity bunny candy, and "shickens" for chickens...which will be my next post:)

I love this little man so much and I tell him every day that I don't know what I'd do without him! He is a handful, but so much fun and so affectionate. He's gonna break hearts!