We had a bit of an unconventional father’s day this year since DJ was scheduled to fly to Atlanta at 2:30 Sunday afternoon. We decided to do most of our celebrating on Saturday night because church starts at 8:30 a.m. and we don’t get home until noon.

So the first thing we did was take Daddy out for dinner at Italianni’s — where we helped him enjoy a very scrumptious dessert. Then Raine helped him open his presents.

One of his gifts was a Daddy themed lift-and-look book for him and Raine to read together. It was a huge hit!

The next day, DJ wore his “Raine tie” to church (the one that he got last year with pictures of Raine on it). Then we took him to the airport and had a few minutes of fun before he had to go through security. You know, fun like riding on his suitcase . . .

. . . and riding the escalator . . .

. . . and running as fast as you can while laughing gleefully!

Today was Raine’s last day of swim lessons and I’ll be honest, it ended in tears. Raine had so much fun in the water that she didn’t want to get out. She could have stayed in there for hours and still not have gotten enough, so the 30 minute classes were WAY too short.

Last Friday DJ was able to skip work for a few hours so he could swim with Raine.

They practiced scoops, kicking, blowing bubbles, and jumping off the side.

Raine has been the teacher’s special helper the entire two weeks. She LOVES Ms Patricia and runs over to her every chance she gets. Patricia uses Raine to demonstrate the skills and then always takes her out to play motorboat a few times.

Since today was “fun day” and DJ wasn’t there to take Raine down the slides, Ms Patricia took her. As soon as they made it to the bottom Raine would drag her back up to the top to do it again. Raine even went down the white slide by herself with Ms. Patricia at the bottom to catch her. No wonder she didn’t want to leave!

Teeth brushing is a regularly requested activity at our house, and it always takes place while seated in the sink. You can’t go into the bathroom without hearing “up peas” as Raine stretches up onto her tip-toes, willing herself onto the counter top. This is always followed by a “seeesss,” aka teeth, indicating that she wants to brush.

If you’re in the bathroom when it’s time to brush, you are going to get your teeth brushed — Raine makes sure of that.

This weekend we took an early Memorial Day vacation and drove down to San Antonio Thursday morning. We stayed at a very fun resort that had its own water park. Here is the view from our room, looking out over the kiddie pool, the golf course, and the beautiful Texas Hill Country.

First thing we did was put on our suits and head to the water park. There was something for everyone. Raine’s favorite was this little water slide in the kiddie pool — she must have gone down it at least 50 times while we were there.

She had the biggest smile on her face as she ran from the slide to the stairs over and over. It was all DJ could do to keep her from drowning as she tried to run through the water.

That evening, my cousin Ritchie and his family came over and we all went swimming. Raine and 13-month-old Jessica loved splashing around in the pool. We had SO much fun, in fact, that I forgot to take any photos.

Friday morning we headed back to the water park, this time with Aunt Sarah and Uncle Dallin (DJ’s sister and brother-in-law who are living in San Antonio for the summer).

We had a blast riding the slides, floating the lazy river, and swimming in the pool.

That evening we all headed downtown to the Riverwalk where we ate dinner.

Saturday morning we had a scrumptious breakfast at the hotel.

Raine tried to eat her weight in fresh blueberries (“bew-bries”).

After breakfast, we went back to the water park for a few more trips down the slide. Then we packed up and met Sarah and Dallin for lunch. Around mid-afternoon it was time to say our goodbyes and make the four hour drive home. It was such a fun vacation . . . and we still have Monday to relax and get done everything else we need to do!

Today was Raine’s last day of school, and she didn’t even get to attend because she is STILL SICK! We went over to the school anyway to say goodbye to her teachers and to pick up all her art projects and extra diapers.

Here she is with her teachers, Ms. Melissa and Ms. RaeAnn.

Raine really loved these ladies, especially Ms. RaeAnn. Every time I dropped her off she got a big smile on her face and reached for Ms. RaeAnn, who always gave her a big hug.

Here are a few more photos that Ms. Melissa took at school. On April 28 they dressed up like clowns and had a parade for all the other classes. Here she is with Ms. Cindy, the director.

These next two are from May 12, out on the playground — Raine’s favorite place to be.

Today was Raine and DJ’s last day of tumbling. This has been such a fun class, we will have to do it again next fall.

Here they are doing stretches.

Raine’s assisted backbend.

Walking on the big balance beam.

Raine with her teacher Ms. Tammy on the bars.

Walking solo on the wide balance beam.

Doing the vault.

And Raine’s favorite, the obstacle course.

A quick note about Raine’s weekend “illness”: we are pretty sure now that it was all just related to teething. Even though I’ve heard that those two-year molars are bad, I wasn’t expecting THAT, that was some serious teething. Now however, she is fully back to normal, except for her sudden attachment to a pacifier — this from a child who screamed bloody murder if I even got near her with a pacifier when she was a baby — and the vast amounts of drool constantly streaming down her chin — I feel like getting out the burp cloths again.

Mother’s Day started on Wednesday this year, when Raine brought home a flower she potted and a card she made at school. She finger painted the pot and her teachers turned her fingerprints into adorable little bugs.

The card featured her handprint and a very appropriate poem!

Saturday afternoon is when the test began. I returned home from a Relief Society Conference around noon and Raine was very sad and clingy. I attributed it to being tired but then noticed that she felt really warm. Sure enough, she had a fever.

The rest of my Saturday was spent holding Raine, trying to get her to sleep. Any time I tried to lay her down she would wake up and start crying. It was so sad. She wouldn’t do anything, wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t drink, wouldn’t play, just wanted to lay on my shoulder.

The REAL test came that night. Her temperature was just over 102, Tylenol wasn’t bringing it down, and every time she fell asleep, even on my shoulder, she would twitch and wake herself up. Just after 2:00 a.m. she woke up and said she was hungry. DJ got out all of her favorite foods but she refused to eat anything. So we forced some more Tylenol down her and DJ took over being the human pillow. Luckily, sometime in the wee morning hours, she fell soundly asleep and we were all able to get a little rest. Needless to say, nobody made it to church at 8:30 the next morning.

When Raine woke up the next morning, she climbed down and went over to her toy box to find something to play with — a VERY good sign. We took her temperature and it was down below 100. She still wouldn’t eat anything and we are pretty sure that she has a very sore throat, but at least she was somewhat back to normal.

The rest of our Mother’s Day was spent in a sleep-deprived daze. DJ made a fabulous dinner, complete with a BEAUTIFUL loaf of made-from-scratch garlic herb bread.

I also received some very yummy chocolates, which Raine was very eager to help me eat!

Needless to say, I was asleep quite early Sunday night and vaguely remember DJ telling me that Raine wouldn’t go to sleep, to which I think I responded very unhelpfully. Somehow it all worked out and Raine slept by herself until 5:00 a.m. when she came in to our room asking for a drink and then fell back asleep in our bed until almost 8:00. I think I passed the “mother” test, although not very well, I just hope it doesn’t come around again next year — let’s just stick to flowers and chocolate!

Last weekend DJ was at the father-son campout so Raine and I had a girl’s weekend. (No, he doesn’t have a son, yet, but he “adopted” one of his former 11-year old scouts who didn’t have a dad to take him.)

Our girl’s night didn’t quite go as planned. It all started when Raine refused to take a nap. I tried to put her down, DJ tried to put her down, but she was having none of it. So this is how our night ended up:

5:15 DJ get’s packed up and leaves to pick up his “son” and head up to the campground.

5:30 I give Raine a bath.

6:15 Raine starts eating her noodles while I heat up my dinner. (We would have gone out but since Raine didn’t take a nap, I didn’t take a shower and was not feeling like going anywhere.)

6:20 I sit down at the table to eat . . . look over at Raine . . . and see this:

Yep, that marked the end of our girl’s night. It was over before it even began.

To make up for it, we decided to have a girl’s morning. We woke up early — not by my choice — and headed to IHOP for breakfast. Mmmmm, yummy!

Raine took at least one bite from each of her five pancakes. She was in heaven with so many options before her all at the same time.

After breakfast we stopped at Godiva for some delicious chocolates. After all, no girl’s outing is complete without fine chocolate, and I’m so glad that Raine agrees. Chocolate is about the only treat that she will eat; she LOVES it!

I attended Raine’s tumbling class for the first time this evening and saw first-hand just how much fun they are having. Raine put on an impressive performance, participating in all the activities and even doing a few firsts. I wish you could see her face in the videos because she had the biggest smile on it the entire time we were there.

The class starts with warm-ups and some group activities like the parachute . . .

. . . and the bear crawl (this one is still a work-in-progress).

Then she did the vault. Her face as she ran down the mat was priceless, she could not have been happier.

Next, it was time for the obstacle course. That “wall” is higher than it looks, but tonight Raine made it over without assistance for the first time. Just look at the determination on that face.

Here is a short video of the end of the course.

Next we headed over to the bars to do leg lifts. Raine has only been able to do the bars since she got her cast off, but despite the late start she is doing very well on them.

Finally, it was time for the balance beam. Raine did great on the narrow beams as you can see in the video — although she is easily distracted — but what I didn’t manage to capture was her walking unassisted on the wide beam. This was the first time that she mustered the courage to do it without holding Daddy’s finger.

This class has been such a blast for both Raine and Daddy. I am excited to see just how much more she will learn in the final two weeks.

It is that time of year again, when the sides of the road are the prettiest sight around. So we took a trip out to Cedar Hills to take some photos and do a little bike riding.

First we had a picnic on the grass in the sun.

Then Raine and Daddy took a walk to see the ducks, dogs, and everything else they could find.

Then it was finally time for a bike ride.

Our first stop was the bluebonnet field.

These bluebonnets were a lot taller than last year. Here is Raine standing in them.

And here she is last year sitting in them.

It has only been a year, but I hardly recognize that little baby! She is such a different little girl now — with a lot more attitude for sure!