June's Come and Gone

Sad to say but June has already come and gone and not one blog post from me. This is going to be a conglomeration of some of the events that went on during June. The first part of June was our California vacation. It was so much fun we are hoping to do something like that again next year but stay a little longer. I don't want to bore anyone with too many details.... so I will show a bunch of our trip pictures.

The first day we met at Newport and ate at Perry's Pizza. We played at the beach for awhile and then went to the house we were staying at. It was pretty awesome. The pool was heated and it also had a section that was a hot tub. The next day Vern, the kids and I went to Disneyland with my mom and my uncle's family on Saturday. That night we went back for a BBQ with Vern's aunt and some other relatives that live in California and Cody's birthday. I had a terrible headache. We had plans to go back to Disneyland that night but I felt sick. The next day we went back to Disneyland with everyone at is was a blast! The new Star Tours ride was pretty cool. Riley loved it. We all wore green shirts that Lynne had sewn mickey ears on. You could see us all a mile away. It turned out to be pretty handy.

Perry cousins at Perry's Pizza

Burying Cody in the sand

On Small world with my mom and uncle and his family

Cody's birthday cake

Tea cups

Aren't the green shirts awesome?

In line at Splash Mountain! Riley loved it!!!

Mattie and Grandpa

Tom Sawyer's Island

Verlynne and Mattie

Downtown Disney outside the Lego store

The big boys building stuff at the Lego store

Outside the house before we went home

Riley did so well with swimming lessons with Mrs. Suzi that he did another session with her. He also had another Karate belt test and passed! He now has earned two black loops for his belt. His next test will be for a yellow belt, but it won't be for awhile. There are a few funny things that I can remember off the top of my head that happened during June~

We were in Globe at a BBQ and Riley was playing on a metal swing set. He ran and jumped trying to grab onto the traipse bar. He missed and fell. That is not the funny part. After he fell he was upset and then got angry. He kicked the swing set and was yelling. He said, "I hate Globe!" He got over it a little while later.

One night I was laying in bed with Mattie. She kept putting her finger in my face. It was dark so I couldn't see her finger and asked her if her finger hurt and if she wanted me to kiss it. Then I kissed it and felt a bugger stick to my lip! I screamed. Mattie laughed hysterically. She knew exactly what she was doing. If she ever comes up to with her finger, don't kiss it without a thorough inspection.

Riley- Hey mom that's where we got those doughnuts~ funking doughnuts

Me- what?

Riley- Funking doughnuts

Me- Dunkin Doughnuts!!! Not Funking Doughnuts because that sounds like you are saying something else....

Mattie is out of her crib and in a toddler bed sniff sniff. I was so upset when she came running into my room after I had just put her in crib. The first night in her toddler bed was a long night. Vern stayed in the room with her for over 2 hours until she finally went to sleep. Its progressively gotten a little better each night. Now, it usually takes around 10 minutes for her to fall asleep. But, bless her heart, she stays in it all night and so far, knock on wood has not come running into our room in the middle of the night yet. Riley is doing better at bedtime too. He goes to be when Mattie does and falls asleep before she does. He is even staying in their room all night most of the time.

Aubrie and Mattie

Vern's brother Jason and his wife Aubrie and their kids Conner and Cody have stayed with us a few times this month. The kids just love it. They have so much fun together. The play the Wii, legos, and sometimes just run around plain crazy. The other night they all had light sabers and were instructing each other on how to fight. Conner was instructing Cody and Riley was instructing Mattie. Then, Mattie went wild and kept yelling "fight fight fight!!!!!!!" and was hitting anything she could. I'm not going to lie, it was a little scary. Here is the video of what I could catch.

Summer is here

Whew! The last two weeks have been a whirlwind. I can't believe how much time the kids swimming lessons took up. The lessons were only about 45 minutes total but it still took a lot out of us. Riley did so good with his lessons. I was pleasantly surprised. Last year at the AJ pool when the life guard would ask Riley to do something he didn't want to, he would freak out and then the life guard would move on to the next kid and Riley basically did not learn much. This year however, I found a new place for swim lessons. Suzi's Swim and Fitness. Suzi is awesome. I could not be more pleased about her method of teaching. This time when Riley would start freaking out she would make him do it and then by the end of the two weeks he was doing everything by himself! He can even swim under water. At the beginning of July Riley will be going back to the AJ pool with a friend for lessons but at least he can actually do some swimming now and is more confident. Here is Suzi's website if anyone is interested http://suzysfitnesszone.wordpress.com/

Riley is on the end in the red shirt

Mattie did awesome. Suzi would put Mattie under the water and then Mattie have to come up and find the edge of the pool and get out by herself. She was quite the trooper. She is also very strong. At one point she had quite a grip on Mrs. Suzi's neck and Suzi said that Mattie is incredibly strong. That's my Mattie. Maybe she'll be some kind of athlete or gymnast or something. Maybe a weightlifter.

Mattie and Mrs. Suzi

Our Perry family vacation is in less than a week. 5 days to be exact! So exciting. Of course I have a ton of stuff that still needs to be done before we can go and I am dreading getting it done. But my reward will be a good one~ California!!

One quick story before I go- Mattie has been talking a lot lately. Mostly repeating what other people say which is not always the best thing but often funny. Last night we were driving home from Globe, the kids had been terrible that day and thrown several fits. Both of them. Vern and I were talking about it and Vern said you guys were throwing fits and Mattie said, " Fits. Fits. FITS!!!" and Vern asked her if she had been throwing fits today and she answered extremely happy, "YES! FITS! FITS!" It was funny because Riley was refusing to talk to us and we were asking him about the fits and he wouldn't talk about it and said he wasn't going to say, "Fits" and we couldn't get Mattie to stop saying it.

WWF and Swimsuit Shopping

So I made the terrible mistake of taking Riley and Mattie swimsuit shopping with me. I know, what was I thinking right? Swimsuit shopping is bad enough without any extra stress or embarrassments. I found a few suits to try on and during this time they had already had several arguments/fights in the basket and a cup of ice was spilled. We went into the dressing room which was pretty big. Mattie kept attacking Riley and trying to, much to my dismay WWF wrestle him. No kidding. She pulled him off the bench onto the floor and was on top of him. Riley of course didn't take this lying down, oh no he screamed to the top of his lungs. In the meantime, I'm half clothed trying to get things under control hoping we wouldn't get kicked out. I separated them and began getting dressed in my own clothes. However, Mattie runs over to Riley again and was trying to unzip his pants- I've never seen her do this before so I'm hoping its just cause she saw me undress or something. Riley yells "Mom Mattie is trying to see my private". He yelled it really loud. I seriously doubt that's what Mattie had in mind but by then probably all of Target did. I was so embarrassed to come out of the dressing room. We booked it out of their. Note to self~ no more clothes shopping with both of my children.

Mattie with a pair of high heels on and she could walk in them way better then I could

Riley's preschool and t-ball finished up last week. I hope he will be able to continue karate during the summer. Riley and Mattie are both going to start swim lessons tomorrow. That should be interesting. I have different concerns for each of them Riley~ I hope he doesn't get all shy and be difficult about getting in the pool and Mattie~ I hope she doesn't act of control and listens to the teacher. Wish me luck!

Riley at his last day of preschool

Riley and Dustin

Mattie got to go to Riley's school swim party too.

I can't believe Riley is going to start kindergarten in few months. I hope he will be ready. I can't believe how much Mattie has grown up from last summer. Here is a picture of her at the beginning of last summer and now. She hardly had any hair last summer! How fast they grow.

Look at all the hair she has now! Those are her first pigtails. Aren't they cute? Except I can't get her hair to look like that when I've tried to do pigtails again.

Karate, Easter and a two year old

Its already the end of April!! Where did April go? I feel bad that I've slacked on the blog for the past few months. Not because I think people are that interested in what's happening over here but its a good way to keep a record of things that happen and stuff the kids say. I'm going to try to update it more often, now that Vern's school semester at UVU is finally OVER!!! YEAH!! And with Vern's new work schedule he is home more or I should say awake at better hours. His work day generally starts around 7:00 a.m. now instead of 12:00 a.m. or 2:00 a.m.

Update on Vern's job- he has two students! They are both brand new to flying helicopters and are working on obtaining their private licenses right now. Vern is loving it but feels a big responsibility because he is teaching these students to fly.

A few weeks ago Riley had his first karate belt test! It was the cutest thing ever. The belt test was at the Dojo that his instructor goes to for her lessons. I was sooo nervous for him. I think I was nervous because I didn't know if he knew what to do or what would happen if he messed up and got embarrassed. He had to go up in front of everyone and the three judges and perform his test. He and one of his classmates were allowed to go together. They were the smallest/youngest ones there. Riley was the smallest of all. But he was one of the cutest!! He did everything and knew exactly what he was doing. I was so shocked and so proud. I wished that everyone could have been there to see him. Unfortunately Vern had to work so he missed it and I couldn't tape it because I was struggling with Mattie (trying to keep her on my lap and quiet- not an easy feet). All the students in his class pasts their belt tests. Riley now has a black loop on his belt. I just can't express how awesome this was!!

All the people that were belt testing that day- Riley is the second one in on the right side

Denver and Riley testing

After the test

Lately Riley's been saying he wants a brother. However, he doesn't just want another sibling, he wants to trade Mattie for a brother. His reasoning is that a brother will be nice to him and not scratch him like Mattie. I told him that a brother would do the same things that Mattie does. He doesn't believe me.

Seriously- how could he want to trade her in? She just wants to be like him and do everything just like him. See how both their shirts are off? She also wants all of his attention and goes about it the wrong way. That's when the trouble starts.

For Easter we went to the lake with Vern's family. It's tradition, they always go camping Easter weekend. This year it was at Roosevelt. We took our trailer~ so glad we have it! Mattie had the time of her life with her cousins. Verlynne's boys just love her. They played whatever she wanted to and held her hand and walked around with her. She is so lucky to have such wonderful cousins. She also got to enjoy the two babies Brighton and Jaylie. Riley loved being outdoors with his cousins. He got to ride on Grandpa's boat and ride motorcycles.

Mattie coloring Easter eggs- that was a mess

Decorating eggs

Riley, Kyson and Ridge before the Easter egg hunt

Riley and Vern riding a motorcycle

Mattie Easter morning with a recess pieces carrot

In case anyone is wondering, Mattie is definitely acting like a two-year old. She is into everything and thinks she's big enough to do whatever she wants. She's not. She also has started throwing herself down on the floor if she doesn't get what she wants. She also hits herself and will bite anything near here such as a table, counter, play cash register etc... when she doesn't get what she wants. Yesterday she got into the pantry and got out the Nutella and pretzels. She also has a fascination/obsession with brushing teeth/toothpaste/dental floss. I found an entire roll of dental floss strung from my bathroom all the way to the hall by the stairs. We have locks on the cabinet doors but have yet to find something for the drawers. Nothing is allowed to be kept in the drawers because she gets into them- hence all our bathroom products are on top of our counter in one big mess. Whenever I catch her with something it goes on top. This drives Vern insane because all the stuff is in one big mess on top. He'll say, "Where's the floss?" I point to the pile on top of the counter and he gives me a dirty look as he searches through it. I say, "Well its either that or Mattie ends up with it".

Mattie and the Nutella

March

In case anyone has been wondering what has happened to us the last month, I'll try to give you the short version.

The day we left for Disneyland Vern had completed and passed the ground part of his Stage 2 check. The Stage 2 check is a two part test, one part is ground where Vern teaches a lesson, answers questions, etc... the second part is flying where he instructs in the helicopter and performs maneuvers. He was nervous before the stage 2 check. After we got back from California he did the flying part of his stage 2 check, which he passed. Now it was on to the check ride with the FAA to try to obtain his CFII license. In order for Vern to get a job with the school his is at now, he not only had to have his CFI rating but his CFII as well. The lady that is basically in charge at Quantum (his school) would be performing his FAA check ride. So not only did he need to pass the first time (it costs $500 every time you take it) but he needed to do it according to her standards/liking so he would look good for hiring. I can't even tell you how stressed he was before the check ride.

The FAA check ride is like the stage 2, broken down into two parts. Vern completed and passed his ground part. Whew, he could kind of breath a sigh of relief but not quite yet he still had his flight part to pass. To get to the point, he couldn't do his flight part the first time because of too much fuel in the helicopter and then a few days later he took it again and passed everything except for one GPS approach. At this point, Missy (the chief flight instructor) said he could just redo that part of the test in a few days and asked him to come in for an interview on Monday. Well, then the pressure was really on because if he didn't pass the next time, would he still get the interview? Vern did pass, bless his heart. And HE GOT THE JOB!!!!! He is now officially a flight instructor at Quantum!!!!!! Can you believe it? He's worked so hard the past five years and now everything he's worked so hard for is here. Neither of us can believe it. It doesn't seem real yet.

So for the month of March, Vern has been studying, stressing and taking tests. The kids and me have been doing our normal stuff and trying to give him some space to study. Riley started T-ball March 12th and loves it! Riley also had a birthday April 4 and turned 5. I can't believe he is 5. We also found out that he got accepted to Ben Franklin for kindergarten next year. We are so excited! Last Saturday was Riley's first T-ball game and birthday party.

Riley running to get the ball- he ran to get every ball even balls that were across the field. Some of the other kids did to. It was really cute.

Riley running to base after he hit the ball

Mattie at the T-ball game

Riley on base

He had the best birthday party! He had so many friends come and they all had a good time. We played a wild game of duck duck goose and the limbo. Then, the kids had snow cones (Grandma and Grandpa Perry brought their snow cone machine)!

I don't know if you can tell but the piñata is Darth Vadar's head. It looked awesome and we kept it since it was still in one piece.

Children scrambling for candy

Riley's cake/cup cakes. The cup cakes had light sabers or clone trooper rings on them

Grandam in one of the Darth Vadar masks we had for the kids