Am I four now?

So Trav and I have been contemplating what to get Ryan for his fourth birthday - usually we stick with something small, but this year, we went bit overboard (for good reason though). Trav and I have always talked about the fact that both of us always wanted a Power Wheels when we were growing up. Unfortunately for us, neither of us ever got them. So we made a decision way back before we ever had kids that someday we would buy a Power Wheels for any of the kids we had in the future. Well, the future is now, and it's time to stick to our word and buy that Power Wheels, and what better reason than for Ryan's birthday! So I started my search for the perfect, and reasonable priced, Power Wheel. With a little help from my mom, and an afternoon focused on the task at hand, I was able to find the perfect vehicle for Ryan (I had shown him some different choices earlier in the day to get an idea of what he wanted). Unfortunately for Trav and I, Ryan has expensive taste, and really, really liked the "Monster Truck", which just happened to be on the higher end as far as price was concerned. Not wanting to go bankrupt buying a birthday gift, I searched the Internet high and low and was able to find the exact vehicle he wanted at a price that was about $100 below retail - yeah! After finding this, I made a call to Trav to make sure he was okay with my decision, then called the retailer, negotiated the price a little more, and scheduled a pick-up time for the following day - how exciting! On the day of the actual pick-up, I'm pretty sure Trav and I were way more excited than Ryan was. We knew we were going to buy the truck, Ryan just thought we were going to "try out" some of the cars. After the pick-up was made and Ryan was clueless to the fact that is was hiding under a sheet in the back of the van we were riding in, I made another call to Trav to tell him, "the goods were in the van." At that point, Trav said, "so how long do you think Ryan will be able to use the car?" My answer, "probably until he is 5 or 6." His answer, "well, the summer is short and we want to get the most we can out of the vehicle so maybe we should give it to him tonight." This sounds eerily similar to last year when we gave him his tractor a week early. Well, whatever, I was excited too so I agreed and we decided that after supper that night, we would give Ryan his birthday gift a whole two weeks and one day early - lucky kid. So here is the video of him seeing his "Monster Truck" for the first time. After his initial excitement, you'll hear him say, "Am I four now?" Apparently we confused him with our inability to keep his present hidden until his actual birthday - we'll try harder next year.



Ryan hasn't stop driving it since he got it - good thing we bought an extra battery so we never run out of juice. He also hasn't stop telling Trav and I, and anyone who will listen to him that, "his dream has come true." Here I thought his bathrobe that I bought him a few weeks ago was, "his dream", but it turns out that was just a momentary "dream" while the monster truck is his "real dream." It's pretty cute though, today I walked in on a conversation that Ry and Trav were having. It went something like this . . . "Dad, I got my dream, what's your dream?" Trav - "having two great kids just like you and Lauren." Ryan - "that's a good dream Dad, know what my dream is . . . my Monster Truck!" He just can't stop talking about it - guess that means he likes it.

End of the year picnic

Ryan had his end of the year picnic today and by all accounts, it was a blast! The weather could have been a little bit warmer, but all the fun activities, friends, and good food made the weather seem like a minor issue. To make the picnic even more special, Trav took the morning off and joined in on the fun - always a bonus in Ryan's world. The teachers did a great job of putting this whole thing together. They had special bags for each of the kids. The bags had some goodies, and a "our school picnic" handbook. The handbook detailed all of the "stations" and what to do at each station. They had bracelet making, binocular making, bubbles, sailboats, the sunflower station, rock painting, you name it, they had it. I would say we got threw about half of the stations before Ryan was too busy playing with his friends to care anymore. After all of the activities, we all sat down for a picnic of hot dogs, chips, juice, and desert - cookies, ice cream, and cake - what a deal! I seriously think this was Ryan's favorite part of the day. When we tried to convince him that maybe we should skip the picnic and head to a restaurant, he started crying and said, "I really want to have a picnic with you." Talk about breaking our hearts, so we agreed and joined Ryan in his love of picnics. After lunch, Ryan said one last good-bye to his teachers and friends and then we headed home for a long afternoon of naps - the kids were pooped! I (as you can tell) jumped right on the computer, and Trav headed off to work. It was a great end to a great school year. Here are some pictures from the day. Everyone started with the parachute . . Then it was off to make some binoculars and search for all he hidden birds (the teachers actually put up cutouts of different birds in different trees for the kids to find - talk about cool).After that we made our way to the sailboat station. Once we built our boat, Ryan gave it a test run before the rest of the kids joined him. After sailing for a while, it was time to paint a rock for our front step.With all the "stations" behind us, Ryan decided it was time to throw the ball around with Travwhile I kept an eye on Lauren (who was pushing her imaginary friend in the swing).And finally, the best part of the day . . . the picnic. Here are the boys just finishing up a cookie before it was time to head home.

So stinkin' cute

The title to this blog should probably say, "so stinkin' handsome" as Ryan doesn't like to be called "cute", "adorable", or any other word that describes him besides "handsome" (he might be a tad conceded) but "cute" was the word that popped in my mind first so that's what I'm sticking with. Anyway, I was reminded this weekend that Auntie Traci's wedding is coming up in just 5 short weeks and I still haven't found a suit for Ryan yet. So when we hit the mall today technically to "play", I also managed to squeeze in some time to look for some formal wear for the little man. We found two different options - neither of which is actually what I'm looking for, but it was still fun to try them on. And of course, Ryan loved them! His favorite outfit of the day was the tuxedo, which he wanted to buy and take home immediately. He also wanted his "dancing shoes" to finish off the outfit, but unfortunately I didn't pack them in our bag to take to the mall - I'll make sure to do that next time. Anyway, here are the pictures.

You see his eyes in the picture above . . . I had to take three pictures of him in this outfit before I got him to look at the camera and not the mirrors right next to him - like I said, maybe a tad conceded.

Neither of these options was really what I was looking for - the tux is too dressy, the vest look, not dressy enough, so the search continues. At least now I have an idea of what size and what style fit him the best - can't wait to find "the one."

Oh, and one quick story from the mall. When we were walking in, we said "hi" to a few people. Most of the people said "hi" back, but there was one lady who just put her head down and kept walking. Ryan asked me why she didn't say "hi" back and I told him that she probably just didn't hear him. He obviously didn't believe me because he said, "she's probably dead, yeah, dead people don't hear." All I can do is nod, smile, and keep walking - seriously, where does he come up with this stuff?

Memorial Day Weekend

We spent the Memorial Day weekend at the lake, and it was a perfect weekend . . . lots of eating, drinking, playing, sleeping, boating, you name it, we did it. The kids had a blast playing on the new swing set that Grandpa Doug built. They also had a blast playing in the lake, yes, they actually got in even though I thought the water was freezing. Ryan was down to his undies; his skinny little arms and legs had goose bumps, but he loved it. Lauren only got her feet and toes in although I think she would have went in all the way had I let her. The late nights, crazy days, and non-stop action seemed to have caught up with everyone as it is 7:45pm right now on Monday night and everyone (with the exception of me of course) is sound asleep - yeah for long weekends! Here are some pictures from the weekend.She wouldn't wear her pink hat, but she loved Ryan's Scooby-Doo hat. I'm pretty sure she would have jumped overboard had we not been watching her every move.Wrapping up a long day with Ryan's favorite activity . . . cuddling with Grandma while watching a Scooby-Doo movie. Life really couldn't get any better!

School's out for summer!

Today was Ryan's last day of school. He was very excited, but also very sad knowing that he won't get to see his teachers and classmates every other day anymore - poor guy. Anyway, we made a special shopping trip the other night to pick out the perfect gifts for his teachers. Here he is getting ready to leave for school - backpack on, gifts in hand, and one happy little sister standing beside him.

The good news is that he has an end of the year party next Wednesday - then the true reality of not having school anymore might really set in. A quick update on Lauren . . . this picture below pretty much says it all. She is sitting in time-out for hitting Ryan again (no surprise there), but the sad thing about it though is that she actually seems to enjoy her time in time-out. I seriously think she doesn't even care anymore and she obviously isn't too remorseful as you can see by the huge smile on her face. So now we are left trying to figure out a different way to discipline her - Trav says we should hit her back - yeah, I can already see how that would play out . . . Lauren does one of her "walk-by hits" to Ryan so Trav gives her a swat. Pretty soon child protection services are called and we're down two kids - nice try, but I'll think I'll look for something a little less physical. Just so everyone knows, she doesn't usually hit anyone else, mostly just Ryan, and occasionally Trav too if she feels he needs a little reminder of who is the boss - such a little angel.

Other than that, we've just been trying to beat the heat and have some fun. The other day we got the sprinkler out. Ryan loved it, Lauren wasn't sure what to think, which was no surprise considering this was her first time seeing it.

After a couple hours of sprinkler fun, we headed inside for baths - apparently they were both really happy this night.Heading off to the lake to enjoy the Memorial Day weekend. Let's hope the weather cooperates and everyone has a good time!

By the way, our neighbor spent the night in the hospital, had everything checked, and came out in great shape. Other than some serious soreness, which will keep him in bed for a couple of days, and almost no memory of the event, he is just fine - talk about lucky.

Scary night

So last night was very interesting. There we (Trav and I) were in the hallway just getting ready to get into bed for the night around 11:00pm. As we are walking to our room, the doorbell rings - what the hell? I of course jump to the worst conclusion and say, "it is probably someone trying to rob us or something - who else would ring a doorbell at this time of night?" Trav's response, "maybe there is an emergency." So Trav goes to answer the door while I stand behind the wall with my cell phone ready to call the police if I need to. Well, Trav takes one look out the door and sees our neighbor boy. So he opens the door and Tony (neighbor) says, "my dad is under the car." Trav, not sure what that means, slides into his shoes, and heads out as I'm coming out from behind the wall. I stick my head out the door just in time to see Trav sprinting next door so I take off behind him. When I get there, our neighbor is laying flat on his back in his garage not moving with his wife, daughter, and Trav standing over him. So I yell, "should I call 911" - answer, "yes." I go flying into their house, grab their phone, and make the scariest call I've ever made - my hands were literally shaking. As I'm on the phone trying to get help, I'm also trying to figure out what happened. They (wife, daughter, and Trav) are telling me that Jim (neighbor) was working under the car when the jack gave. When the jack fell, he started screaming. Luckily his daughter heard this and went outside to see what was going on. When she saw her dad under the car, she ran into the house to get her mom and brother. The three of them tried to lift the car off Jim but were unable so Cheryl (wife) sent the kids to the neighbors to get some help. Well, Trav was the first one there so he and Cheryl tried to lift the car - not working. So they tried one more time and somehow, the two of them managed to get the car up high enough so Amanda (the daughter) could pull Jim out by his legs. All of this was amazing - how did two people manage to lift a car, and how did Amanda pull her dad out (he is a big guy). Anyway, not knowing all that while on the phone, I just gave the 911 operator what I did know, Jim was working under the car when the jack gave out, a couple of minutes later, he was pulled out, and now he is laying on the garage floor kind of in and out of it - scary. Eventually the police and ambulance came and were able to get Jim loaded up and taken to the hospital. By this time Jim was talking more and seemed to be getting back to reality. Other than some pain across his chest (from where the car fell on him), it seemed like he was doing pretty good - he was talking at least which was something he wasn't doing initially. Also by this time, some other neighbors had made their way over trying to figure out what was going on. When I stood there listening to Cheryl (who was amazingly calm - I would have been a wreck if I was in her place) tell them what happened, I was just amazed . . . Jim was outside working by himself when this happened - thank god his daughter was able to hear his screams while in the house. Then there was the fact that two people lifted a car and a teenage girl was able to find enough strength to pull her dad to safety. And finally there was the fact that a man was trapped under a car for about five minutes and other than some chest pain, he didn't have a scratch on him and seemed to be improving by the minute. When we finally left and went inside last night, Cheryl was headed to the hospital and everyone else went inside. I assume most of them probably did what Trav and I did - rehash the event over and over again. So many things could have one very differently and the end result could have been so bad - how did none of that happen? When I went outside this morning, all the cars were in the neighbor's driveway. I hope that means everyone got to go home last night and everything is okay. Something like that just reminds me of how fast life can change. It also shows me how people can do amazing things when someone's life is in their hand - still just unbelievable to me.

We had to give these two some extra love this morning . . .

they were getting annoyed, but who cares!

Lots of random stuff

So here is a recap of some of the highlights and lowlights (pretty sure that isn't a word) of the past few days. For starters, Ryan planted this little flower for me for Mother's Day last weekend during Aunt Traci's Sunday school class. He loves her (he always calls it a "her") and wants to make sure she is okay. So the other day I checked in on her and oops, it's not looking good for her - one flower dried and wrinkled, the other one not open yet. Ryan sees this as well and gets mad because "she" needs, "water, dirt, sun, and then she'll open up." "Mom, why did you do this to her?" Yeah, blame it on me. Up until that point, the flower was all his and I could have nothing to do with it. Anyway, we give her some water, and for a special "sun treat", we put her out on the deck so she'll grow and open up. The picture below is Ryan sitting by his girl just waiting for her to get better. He only sat there for about 5 minutes (that is because Lauren hit him, which I'll get to later), but if she hadn't decided to wail on him, I'm pretty sure he would have sat there all day - such a caring little boy. So here is the aftermath of Lauren hitting Ryan. This was one of her, "I'm going to hit you just because I want to" moments - such a little devil.

She is like, "what, why you cryin' - I only hit you once."

And here she is trying to redeem herself. She is lucky she has such a forgiving big brother.

A few other randoms things . . . Here is Lauren trying out her new booster chair which I purchased Friday morning at a garage sale (still love them!).

Here is Ryan showing off his outfit. The last couple of days I've been letting him pick out his own clothes. So maybe the outfit is a little bland - not much color, but he made sure to offset the lack of color in the clothes by going bold with his navy socks - he was so proud.
And finally, here is Lauren showing off her "church outfit" for Sunday. It was so cute I just had to take a picture and lately when she sees the camera, she goes into instant "pose mode" - what a cheese ball.

Not a lot to report

Things have been pretty slow around here lately after a busy Mother's Day weekend. We've just been hanging out around the house, playing with the neighborhood kids, and watching our ducks. That's right, I said ducks. No, Ryan did not steal a duck from the farm and bring it home, instead, it seems the ducks decided the brush under our deck was the perfect spot for a nest. We had seen a random duck in the backyard a time or two previous to finding the nest, but figured they were just lost on the way to somewhere else - guess we were wrong. And now that we are ready to get rid of the brush, we can't get to it to move it - the ducks are very protective of their nest. The other day while I was mowing, the mama duck felt like I was getting too close so she poked her head out and gave me a stare down to let me know it was time to move back - point taken, I got out of there as quick as possible. Other than not wanting people too close, the ducks have been easy yard mates - no late nights, no loud noises, just lots of laying around and waiting - the perfect tenant. We can't wait to see all the babies!

Nothing else new to report so I'll leave with a couple of quick pictures of the kids.

Please stop talking . . .

It seems Ryan's mouth just can't stay shut - he loves to talk! So there we are this morning playing in Ryan's room before school. All of a sudden I start coughing (I've had either allergies or a cold for a while now). I can tell as I'm coughing that some phlegm is coming up (yes, I know this is gross). Anyway, I excuse myself from his room and go to the bathroom. Not knowing Ryan has followed me, I grab a kleenex and spit out the phlegm (still gross). When I finished up, I turn to see Ryan staring at me with a look of shock on his face. He asks why I just spit into a kleenex. I tell him that I'm sick and that I coughed up some phlegm. Of course he has no idea what phlegm is so his next question - "what is phlegm?" is no surprise. So I tell him it is like the snot we blow out of our noses. He is still staring at me now, but his look is no longer shock, more like disgust, then he leaves. With that behind us, we pack up and head to school. I always get Ryan out of his car seat first and let him start walking ahead while I grab Lauren out of the car. Well today, his friend Lindsay and her mom happened to be walking just a little ahead of us so Ryan catches up to them while I'm staying back and walking with Lauren. When he reaches them, there are only two words I can clearly hear him say - "hi" and "snot." Great, I can only imagine what he said. When we finally get into the school (Lauren is a very slow walker), Ryan and Lindsay have taken their coats off and are already heading into the classroom. Charlene (Lindsay's mom) however is still out in the hallway with a smile on her face. She looks at me and says, "Ryan just gave me a little too much information - sounds like you had a rough morning." Turns out he went ahead and told Charlene that, "my mom has snot in her mouth." Little does he know that he probably just ruined his chance of any future play dates with Lindsay. After all, who wants there kid to hang out with a person whose mouth is full of snot - I sure wouldn't!

I just can't wait until the day when he learns to start censoring what he says - although I'm sure that will be a long, long time from now - sigh . . .

Wedding reception pictures

Ann just sent me these wedding reception photos the other day so I thought I would post them for all to enjoy - only a couple quick ones of the kids and Trav and I. Oh the memories . . .

Trip to the zoo

After our field trip to the farm, Ryan had animals on the brain so when our neighbor called to see if we would be interested in joining them on a trip to the zoo, Ryan answered with a big, "YES." So we packed up and headed to the zoo. It was a perfect day to visit - a Wednesday (not too busy), lots of sunshine, and no rain - as I said, perfect. We couldn't get in the doors fast enough for Ryan - he wanted to see the tigers, monkeys, and bears so that is exactly what we did. The monkeys were first - they had some babies so the kids got a kick out of watching them play. After that we hit up some sea otters. Ryan had no idea what they were so he was very interested in watching them and what they did. Lucky for us, there was no one else there so the kids got to stand right next to the glass and watch the otters put on a show for them. Two of them wrestling and splashing right in front of us. Lauren was screaming and pointing from the stroller - she loved it. After the otters we headed to the brown bear exhibit - the hit of the day. Again, the kids got to go right up to the glass and stand literally face-to-face with the bears. At one point Ryan put his hand on the glass and the bear swam right up to him and put his paw on the glass too. It kind of startled him for a second and he jumped back, but when I reassured him the bear couldn't get him, he got right back up there. Pretty soon Lauren couldn't contain herself in the stroller anymore so I let her in on the action too. She was screaming and pointing every time the bears moved. Luckily everyone around us thought it was cute and not annoying. Twenty minutes later we finally convinced the kids to keep moving. We saw tigers, camels, bison, and a bunch of other animals I can't remember. By this time the kids were getting a little restless so we stopped and had a snack and played for a while at the zoo's playground. After everyone had burned off all their energy, we packed up and headed home. Another fun adventure in the books.

Watching the sea otters play.Ryan giving the bear a "high five"Lauren and Marley - at least they were holding hands as they wandered off.

Old MacDonald had a farm . . .

I had the opportunity to go with Ryan and his class on their final field trip of the year which happened to be to a local farm - talk about fun! It was so great to see how Ryan interacted with his classmates and teachers, and the other parents for that matter. He was really into everything about the farm . . . the mud, the animals, the tractors, you name it, he loved it. This was a real hands-on experience and Ryan made the most of it. The visit started with a trip to see some piglets. The kids not only got to see the little pigs, they also got to hold them (if they could catch them). Ryan was not shy about wanting to hold a pig so he went to work and caught himself the biggest little piglet there was - he was so proud of his accomplishment. After the pigs, we visited some lambs and baby ducks. Ryan again made sure to hold and touch everything he could. After that, we went into a chicken coop and the kids got to hunt for some eggs - amazingly there were eggs everywhere (almost like they were intentionally put there - hmm. . . ) so everyone was able to find one or two. With the small animals behind us,we headed into the cow barn to see how cows were milked and to see where they lived. About half the kids (including Ryan) started gagging and plugging their noses so the teachers skipped over the talk about milking and got right down to the fun stuff - seeing the big cows. It still stunk, but the kids somehow forgot about it when they had the chance to actually see and pet the cows - so easily distracted. During our trip to the barn, we managed to see some of the cows "taking care of business." At one point while we were walking down the middle of the barn, tails started to lift and poo and pee was going everywhere. It was pretty funny to see how the kids reacted. The three I had with me tightened their grips on my hands and huddled around my legs and did not move until I assured them it was safe. Once we got going again, it was a dead sprint to get out of the barn - I can't say I disagreed with them. After that we headed down a gravel road to see some baby cows. The kids not only got to see and pet the baby cows, they also got to give them bottles - another very exciting experience. After seeing all the animals, the kids had to run across a field and were then treated to some ice cream cones. To wrap up the day the class took some pictures in front of a big tractor and sang their version of "Old MacDonald" - it was very cute. By the time we got home Ryan was ready to be a farmer - gone were the days of wanting to be a firefighter or Spider-Man. I guess that means he had a good time!