Blonde Moment Monday

• Hey Ya'll and happy Monday!
• If you're like me, you don't typically look forward to Mondays, so I hope some random Blonde Moments will help cheer up your Monday Blues!
• How was your weekend??
• It's a busy week for us! Brynley had her 9 month well visit at the Pediatrician's office this morning, plans for a movie playdate tomorrow, and I am brave and decided to host one here on Wednesday!
• I don't know why, but I'm always insecure about hosting playdates here because we live in a townhome and not a million dollar home. But then I remember the ladies in my playgroup love me for me, not the home I live in!

•  How was your weekend??
• I have really enjoyed taking the kids each week to the public library in town and letting Ryder pick out as many books and DVDs as he wants. And the best part is that they're all FREE!
• I registered him for a Pretenders class last Friday where he got to stand up and participate with a story and a dance. He didn't want to get up but after some coaxing and agreeing he would stand up if he could hold Brynley's hand, he would participate with the other kids.
• Ryder really takes after Scot with his anxiety in crowds I think haha! Although it was pretty cute to see these two holding hands and dancing and singing "Going on a Bear Hunt"/

•  Afterwards we went to a seperate room where we got to assemble our S'mores and eat them while working on putting together our "campfire" made out of cotton balls for the marshmallows and construction paper for the flames and popsicle sticks for logs.

• Friday night I was invited to a Premier jewelry party that one of my friends was hosting. The husbands and kids were also invited and they got to grill out and let the kids play while we women shopped for pretty things. I definitely needed this little break away, and after the party, we hung out awhile longer and let our kids play. The babies are really interacting with one another now too which is super cute to see!

•  Since we don't have a pool in our townhome development, I feel like sometimes we are at a disadvantage from some of our friends kids that do live in neighborhoods with pools. Ryder is much more timid around water and I really wish he would get over this fear. We have tried different things to help with this fear, including swim lessons, and various floatation devices to help make him feel more confident too.
• A friend let us come use her pool over the weekend and I was determined to help Ryder with this fear of getting wet and getting in the pool. It didn't help that the water was freezing! Luckily the sun was shining bright though and we got him in a few times. I got to layout poolside too, and the only thing missing was an island drink. Great views of the lake though!

•  Afterwards, we came over to see my Mom and Stepdad to help celebrate Fathers Day early as we had plans the next day to do a day trip to the mountains. More on that later.
• How was your Fathers Day celebrating the men in your lives??

• Here is just one of my favorite pictures from our mountain day trip celebrating the best Daddy!

•  My mom left me with plenty of leftovers from Saturday night, and home grown veggies from their garden! It really made me want to grow a garden of my own, but as Scot kindly pointed out, I am having trouble remembering to water the seedlings we just planted, so it may not be the best time in our life for a big garden right now. If only I had a green thumb like my Mom!

• Since it seems that we have been traveling a lot lately, and going out of town a lot, I think that we had been letting things slide with Ryder's defiant behavior lately, not to mention letting him eat meals at his request and not following through with eating meals at the dinner table. This happens. With pretty much everything in my life at some point or another, no matter how structured I try to be. It just shows me that I am not the one in control. God is!
• Our church has a series on being together, and a part of this includes meal times together. It's strange to think that so few families sit down to eat together anymore, considering I was a child that always ate as a family. Yet I admit I was to blame too for getting slack and eating meals in the living room with a tv show on. We have since really made the efforts to sit at the table and discuss things going on in our life which include job changes, money, Ryder's listening skills, cooing and smiling at Brynley, asking as a group what our best and worst part of the day was. Not to mention I have started making Ryder try everything that we have for dinner and he gets either a check mark or X depending on his cooperation. He will get rewarded after 10 times.
• We will see if his behavior continues to improve, but so far so good. I need to put the iron fist down and start reeling him in again! But again, with everything this seems to happen and it's just a matter of taking the steps to get things back in order again. And prayer seems to go a long way too!
• On a sidenote, things are really going well with my inlaws lately and it has really helped speaking on the phone with them every week and letting them see the kids when we chat on Face Time. Because things are actually going so well, Scot and I have decided to take a trip to Florida to see them this October to celebrate my Mother in Law's 60th birthday. We are planning to do Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom, and I've heard great things about it. The kids will be back in school and the weather will be perfect! Ryder has been to Disney World 3 times now, but this will be Brynley's first time and I can't wait! For those of you that have been, I am welcome to any advice or tips you can offer. We only stayed on property once before, but now with a toddler and a baby I am wondering how we will do.
• All I can say is I will make sure to have plenty of wine and margaritas handy afterwards haha!
• Well I hope that your Monday is full of Blonde Moments like mine. Have a GREAT week!