Lazy weekend

Not much exciting happening at the Quast household. The kids and I took in a boy's high school basketball game on Friday night. The three of us were sitting around with nothing to do so I did some checking and found out there was a game so we went. This was a first experience for Lauren and a first for Ryan - he has watched a girl's game, but never a boys. Both kids did pretty good. They sat and watched intently for about the first 10 minutes, then they were off making friends and chatting away. Ryan was really into wanting to know, "why do the boys keep pushing each other down?", or "why did that guy hit that other guy's arm?" - lots of questions followed by lots of simple answers - at least it showed that he was somewhat interested. After the game, the rest of the weekend was pretty much spent just hanging out at home. The kids got out some old Halloween costumes and played ninjas, we made the kitchen and the food downstairs into "Ryan's Restaurant" and the kids served Trav and I. We even went as far as making real menus to go with the whole restaurant thing - Ryan loved it, Lauren could care less just as long as she got to give someone food. Other than that, it has been pretty low key. Lauren has been doing a lot of sleeping which is good considering she still isn't 100% herself yet. I'm still not sure what she had going on, but whatever it was,it has definetly taken a toll on her and now after lots of sleep, she is finally starting to recover. Ryan continues to hone his Wii skills. Last night he tried table tennis for the first time and beat me about 5 or 6 times (although in my defense I was sitting on the couch and not in my best "table tennis" mode). That's all for now. I'll leave with some pictures of the kids sharing the ninja costume.

Another karate graduation

Ryan had his third graduation tonight for karate - this time he went from a yellow belt to a camouflage belt. I don't know what it is about the camo belt, but that was the one he really wanted so I'm glad he was able to squeeze it in just a day before karate ends for him. We had planned on attending the graduation as a family like we have in the past, but Lauren had kind of a rough day (running a temp and very tired) so I opted to leave her home to sleep with Trav while I went to take in the big event. Because everyone couldn't make it, I did a lot more videotaping. Unfortunately, I was not prepared for how fast everything went so I didn't get the best videos, but at least this will give you an idea of what happened. The first two clips are Ryan performing what they call a "one step" - I have no idea why it is called that, but it is.


The third clip is Ryan doing his self defense.

And the final clip is when Ryan gets awarded his belt - the highlight of the night.

Ryan was so happy when graduation was done he ran right over to me and held up his new belt. After a few more minutes of excitement, we headed back onto the mats to get a picture with his instructor, Mr. Singewald - look how happy he is!
When we got home from karate, Ryan showed off his moves and his belt, we played a bit, then it was bedtime (which is why I can now sit here and type without being interrupted every two seconds). Hoping Lauren feels better tomorrow and Ryan doesn't take it too hard when karate officially is done on Thursday.

But guess what . . .

I'm not sure if it is just me noticing the small things or not, but it seems like over the past few days Ryan's storytelling has really ramped up. And whenever he tells me a story I hear the phrase, "but guess what" at least a million times! It goes something like this . . . "Mom, today at school, but guess what?" (me) "What?" (Ryan) "we got to use real tools but guess what?" (me) "what?" (Ryan) "I used the hammer and a real saw but guess what?" (me) "what?" I think you get the idea. I'm not sure where he picked up that phrase, but it is driving me crazy! His already long stories have been lengthened even more and it makes it much harder to follow what he is actually saying. I'm hoping this is just a phase and passes sooner rather than later, but guess what, if it doesn't, we'll manage!

Other than that, we haven't been doing a whole lot. Just the usual school, library visits - nothing too out of the ordinary. We did have to drop Auntie off at the airport on Wednesday and what should have been an easy drop turned into a full on meltdown by Ryan. Apparently he wasn't too keen on the idea of Auntie leaving on a jet plane without him so to show his anger with her, he cried, told me that Auntie ruined his dreams, and threatened to throw her "new blue car" (his words) into the garbage. The height of his meltdown came when he started sobbing and told me he was so mad that he smashed a pair of sunglasses. I told him it wasn't a big deal but he was insistent that we needed to fix them and not tell Dad. To show me the damage he did, he put the glasses on and told me to look at him. When I did look, I had to turn my head away so he wouldn't see me laughing at him. As it turns out, he just popped one of the lens out and when he had them on his face, it was just too funny to see. There he was with these huge glasses on, pointing and crying saying this side is yellow, and this side isn't it - if you would have saw it, you would have laughed too. Luckily we were able to salvage the glasses when we got home and everything turned out alright. Needless to say, Ryan took a nice long nap that day. The rest of the week wrapped and we were onto the weekend!

This Saturday we had Grandma Connie up for a visit. She came up to watch Ryan in one of his final karate classes and to bring up Lauren's window valance. First up was the karate class. Ryan did great as usual. He loves the class and I just hope that when it comes to an end next week he won't take it too hard. After the class we went home and put up the final piece of Lauren's room - the window valance which Grandma Connie sewed. I absolutely love it and feel like it brings the whole room together - thanks again Grandma! After that, the four of us played and hung out until lunchtime. That's when we decided to make the day a little more interesting and packed up our things and headed out to catch up with some Aunts and Uncles. First up, a visit to Troy and Nicole's house to check out all the renovations they have been making in anticipation of their baby's arrival in just a few short weeks! The house looks great (at least the parts that are done), and the guys continue to make progress. Seeing all of that reminds me of how happy I am that all of our major remodeling is done - I'm not sure I could go through it again! After our visit there, the kids and I headed over to Aaron and Ann's place to catch up with them. Turns out they only live about 5 miles apart so it was an easy trip. Ryan was pleased to find out that Aaron and Ann got a Wii for Christmas so that is where he focused all of his time. Lauren was in a crazy mood so for the majority of time we were there, she ran around with her pants down at her ankles. I have no idea why she did this, but she had a great time doing it and did finally allow me to pull up her pants when it was time to go. Getting out too see everyone was a great way to spend a rather crumby (weather wise) day. Both kids were out cold on the drive home as they really didn't get a nap in. When we got home, we ordered some pizza, relaxed for a while, then went to bed. Everyone was tired after the long day so an early night was welcomed. No big plans for today (Sunday) other than watching the Vikings win their big game. Hopefully I'll actually stay up long enough to find out tonight, if not, I'll read about it tomorrow!

Sesame Street Live

Mom and I took the kids to the "Sesame Street Live" show this Saturday and judging by all the smiles we saw, I would say the kids loved it! Ryan has known about this day for a while now so when Saturday morning finally came around, he could hardly wait to get going. Unfortunately for him, the show didn't start until 2:00pm so we had a little time to kill. After a late breakfast, the kids and I packed up and headed to Ryan's karate class. When class was done, we went back home to find Grandma Donna there waiting for us - a very fun surprise for the kids. Of course Ryan wanted to head right in and get dressed to leave, but unfortunately again, it wasn't quite time. So we killed some more time getting dressed, having lunch, and just talking. Finally at 12:45pm, it was time! The four of us packed into the van and were off for our day of fun. We used Grandma's new GPS system and got to our destination in just over a half hour. That left plenty of time for us to park, find the place, and get into our seats well before the show started (I would rather be super early then super late). When we got into the Target Center, there were kids everywhere! As we were walking to our seats, we saw a souvenir stand. Now I usually wouldn't buy anything for the kids, but they (and let's be honest, me too) were so excited, I decided to pop for one thing for each of them - Ryan picked out a pennant with Elmo on it, Lauren got a little thing that lights up and spins - both of them were very happy. With our souvenirs in hand, we headed into the arena. Our seats were right on the floor, seven rows back - not too shabby for the kids' first big event. Other than a slightly rude lady behind us, a grandma who couldn't stop moving in front of us, and a lady who wouldn't stop eating right next to us, the show was great. There was constant action, dance, and music - all things that are key to keeping a kid's attention. Ryan was pretty focused on the show for the entire time, Lauren had her moments of interest. When she wasn't watching the show, she kept herself entertained by taunting the little girl in front of us with her toy, or dancing next the "eater" beside us (I'm sure the lady was getting a little annoyed but I really didn't care considering she was taking up half of Lauren's seat anyway). Here are a couple of pictures from the big event. After the show we met up with Auntie and Mike for supper and then headed home. It had already been a long day, but instead of giving the kids baths and getting them to bed (which was our plan), we (Mom and I with the helping hands of the kids) decided to do some decorating. First of up was Lauren's old room, now known as the baby's room. In there we put up some new pictures and tried out the new crib bedding. After we were satisfied with that room, we headed into Lauren's new room. Lots of deliberation went into the room and when the night was done, we had only hung one picture and had ideas for everything else but, they would have to wait until tomorrow because the kids were getting crabby and we were getting tired - time to call it a night. Mom took Lauren and I took Ryan and within twenty minutes everyone was bathed and in bed - finally some time to kick back and relax with a warm cup of hot cocoa. Everyone other than Mom slept in on Sunday morning so we got a late start to the day, but once we got going, the room decorating was in full swing. We made a couple of stops at some stores in town and two hours later, Lauren's room was looking good! Check it out.The room is almost complete. The final touch will be the window valance that Grandma Connie is working on - thank god for mothers and mother-in-laws - without them, the kids would have boring rooms with white walls and no decorations. And here is a quick picture of the baby's roomwith the new pictures on the wall.Today was also a big day for me . . . just a day shy of my 31st birthday, I bought my first two things (I don't know it you call them items, or pieces) of make-up! It was just some foundation and blush, but this pregnancy is taking it's toll on my skin so I needed something to help out. Mom assisted in the purchasing of the items and was even nice enough to show me the perfect way to apply it - what a nice mother (I'm assuming most moms have this moment with their daughters when their teenagers, my mom just had to wait a little longer).

With all that was going on during the weekend, Mom still managed to squeeze in some time to pre-make me a birthday meal and some birthday cupcakes (which Ryan assisted with) - like I said, what a nice mom I have! Thanks again for the great weekend!

Busy, busy

We've have had a lot to do around here lately. Being the go-getter that I am, I am already trying to get the baby's room ready for her arrival in May (just a few short months away). In order to due this, we had to do a major remodel of Ryan's old room to make it into Lauren's new room. Trav of course thought we could leave the room the way it was (covered in cars, trucks, and lots of blue), but I finally convinced him that that was not an option considering Lauren is a girl and not a boy. With Trav finally on board, and some new bedding picked out, it was time to decide on paint colors for the room. Me, being the horrible interior designer that I am deferred to Trav's ideas for paint color and sure enough, he pulled through . . . a light lavender with a chocolate brown stripe - who knew I married such a good decorator! Here are the results of Trav's hard work and dedication . . . I realize the room looks pretty boring and blah right now but if you'll notice the bags on the bed - those are full of room decorations that need to find a home. I'm leaving that task for this weekend when my mom will be up to help out. Even with the lack of decorations, Lauren loves the room. Every time she walks into the room she points and shouts, "oh, ah" - her appreciation and excitement makes all the hard work worth while. With the room almost done, we plan on moving Lauren in this weekend. That way she'll be plenty of time to adjust to the new room well before her baby sister arrives (we hope).

A quick side story about Ryan. The saying on Lauren's wall says, "Dream until, your dreams come true." When Ryan saw that, he said he wanted one in his room too because he had dreams and wanted them to come true. I told him he didn't need anything on his wall to dream - he could do it without the saying and his dreams would still come true. He seemed satisfied with my answer, but is still thinking about whether or not he should get something on his wall - I'm sure he'll let me know his answer in the near future.

Other than the room rearranging we did this weekend, we also had a "family focused" weekend planned. On the agenda . . . check out the new YMCA that opened in the area, visit a local church, and spend some good quality time together. So we started out Saturday with a trip to the new YMCA. Trav and I spent some time working out while the kids got to have fun playing in the huge kids area. They had a blast while we got a good workout in. After the "Y", we headed back home and just spent the day hanging out together. On Sunday morning we all got up and decided to check out a local church. It was a very "modern" church with a huge congregation, lots of technology, and lots of singing (something the kids both loved). During the children's message that day, the pastor talked about how all baptized people have an invisible tattoo of a cross on their forehead. This apparently confused and amazed Ryan because when he came back to sit by us, he leaned over to me and whispered, "Mom, did you know I have a tattoo on my forehead?" And then, rubbing his forehead, he says, "Mom, can you see it or is it really invisible?" He was just amazed at the whole idea and his questions didn't stop when church ended. I'm pretty sure he talked about that "invisible tattoo" another twenty times before the day was over - guess that means he learned something in church! After church, Trav had to head to work for a while so the kids and I went home, had lunch, and then took a nice long nap. When Trav got home, we all bundled up and headed back out to the "Y" to do some swimming. The kids were both very excited about this activity and we made sure to make the most of our time in the pool. In the two hours we were there, Ryan went from being scared to get his face wet to full on dunking himself under the water on his own - still not sure exactly what Trav said to get him to do it, but I was very happy to see him doing such a good job and having so much fun. Lauren also enjoyed the water - maybe a little too much. She wasn't really a big fan of going under or getting splashed, but she has no fear when it comes to walking right in and not stopping even when the water starts to go over her head - apparently we need to teach her a little more about boundaries. After swimming, we grabbed a quick bite to eat, showered up, and got to bed - swimming wore out everyone so it was an even earlier night than usual.

Overall it was a very productive and very fun weekend! Glad the hard work part is done, hoping for more fun family weekends in the future!

Here is a quick picture of the kids catching some cartoons early Saturday morning - the cheese ball and the crabby boy who just woke up.

A real sh**ty day

So today started out as usual, kids woke up, dropped Ryan off at school, picked him up, fed them lunch, just normal everyday activities. Things this afternoon however, were different than usual . . . Ryan had a play date and Lauren had her first day of "After The Nap" playtime - fun things for both of them. One would think the kids would come home after these activities and be happy - unfortunately that wasn't the case. Lauren came home first and was in a great mood. But when it came time for me to go get Ryan, everything started to fall apart. Upon entering the door at his friend's house, I could hear Ryan saying, "tell her to leave, I don't want to go home, I'm staying here forever, etc (the etc can be filled in with various other horrible sayings out of his mouth). So there I stand at the doorway while Charlene (friend's mom) tries to talk to Ryan telling him that he gets to come back another day, and that he should hurry up because his mom is waiting. Nothing she says convinces him to get up and come to the door so she turns to me and says, "I'll let you deal with this." So I slip off my boots, walk into the room where Ryan is, and in the nicest voice I have, I try to tell Ryan that he needs to get up and come home with me. When that doesn't work I tell him (in a vary nice tone again) that if he doesn't get up right now and come with me, he won't be able to come back and play again for a very long time. By this time Ryan has managed to squeeze himself underneath a coffee table, is almost crying and is continuously saying he doesn't want to leave - needless to say, I'm was getting a little impatient. All I wanted to do was reach under the table and yank him out, but considering that I was in some one's house that I don't know all that well, I figured that wasn't the best idea. So there I stood at a loss not knowing what to do next all the while Charlene is trying to keep her three kids out of the room so I can deal with Ryan in private. My last ditch effort is to get down on my hands and knees so I can look Ryan in the eye and let him know that I mean business. I said things like, "come on Ryan, you are not making a good choice right now, or, if you don't come out right now, you will not get your Parent Stripe (which means the world to him in karate class). As I was saying those nice things, I was thinking, "you better get your ass out here right now or else" but of course I kept that to myself. Anyway, in the end, he wasn't budging, and I wasn't going to waste anymore time so I looked at Charlene and said, "this isn't going to be pretty" and grabbed him out by his arm from underneath the coffee table. He of course is in a full on fit by now and refuses to stand up or put his coat on so I just grab that stuff too and head out the door. Charlene is doing her best to help by saying how great Ryan was the whole time he was there, but at that point, I didn't really care. Once I finally got him loaded into the car kicking and screaming, it took him a couple of minutes to calm down and when he did, he said he was really sorry and just wanted to hug. My response, "tough luck, you are going straight to timeout when we get home and I don't want to hear another word from you the rest of the way." Too harsh? - maybe, but by this time, I needed to get home, get the kids unloaded, get Robbie ready to go home, and get dinner ready (which ended up being Dominos pizza because I didn't have the time or energy to cook anything). With Ryan's breakdown behind us, we all headed downstairs to relax a little and wouldn't you know it, Lauren takes a spill down the steps. I didn't actually see her fall because I was in front of her, but I heard it and when I went to get her, there she laid at the bottom of the steps with both her feet and arms up in the air and a shocked look on her face. She wasn't crying, but was a little freaked out by the whole thing. Luckily she only fell down the last three steps (at most) so I wasn't too concerned for her well being, but did get a kick out of her shocked reaction - she is still our tough little cookie. And the finale for day . . . my car got hit while I was parked in the Cub Foods parking lot - super! As I was walking out of the store towards my car I noticed what appeared to be a black spot on the bumper of the van. Upon closer inspection I saw that the black spot was actually a decent sized dent/crack in the bumper. So I look at the car trying to find a note or something, but wouldn't you know it, there is nothing there. So much for the $10 I just saved by using coupons - pretty sure that won't cover the cost of a new bumper. Anyway, that was the perfect ending to a real perfect day - hoping tomorrow is better. Also hoping whoever hit my van will get rear-ended, slide off the road, or anything else that make them pay for being such an a-hole!

Goodbye crappy day!

2009 - The Year in Review

2009 was a good year at the Quast household. In order to highlight some of the events of the year, I figured I would go through each member of the family and lay out accomplishments, and just some fun moments. We'll start with the leader of the pack, Travis

Travis has worked hard all year honing his skills when it comes to household projects and duties. For the first time since we have lived in this house (which has been 4 years now), I can honestly say Travis has done more yard work than I have. To help with his new workload, we installed an in-ground sprinkler system this past spring. I find it kind of ironic that when the burden of watering the lawn was mine, I was just being a baby when I complained about having to lug around the giant hoses, but when the duty becomes his, we install a sprinkler system - funny how that works. In the end though, we get a nice, soft yard for the kids to play in so I guess we all come out ahead. Travis has also taken on a few minor household projects this past year and has accomplished most of them in a timely manner. He still has his moments though, and when he starts dropping the f-bomb, I know it's time to step in and help, or run for my dear life - still haven't figured out a way to decipher which he wants at any given time though so it is still shaky territory. Regardless of how long something takes him, or how grumpy he gets while accomplishing a task, we are still thankful for his efforts - without him we would probably live in a ramshackle house with brown, hard grass.

Moving onto me. I continue to be a stay-at-home mom and would like to think I have somewhat mastered the skill of multi-tasking. Seriously, I can do laundry, dust, and play a board game at the same time - how many people can say that? Aside from my motherly duties, I am also the Quast Family accountant, taxi driver, interior designer (although my skills in this area are lacking), maid, and whatever else you could possibly think of. It may not be a glamorous lifestyle, but it is one that suits me well, and one I have become more and more accustomed to with every passing day. My major accomplishment for the year . . . I find myself pregnant once again (although this was a joint effort so I probably should give Trav some credit as well). Pregnancy this time around has been a bit more challenging than the previous two, but nothing a little rest and relaxation can't take care of. I am very excited for the arrival of our new baby girl in May - should be fun to see all the kids in action.

Now, moving onto the real interesting members of the family, the kids. First up, Ryan. Ryan continues to be our social butterfly. Put him in a group of people, and he'll have told them our entire life story in the first fifteen minutes of meeting them - the kid loves to talk! He also loves school. Although he is only about halfway through his second year of preschool, he is already excited about kindergarten and the excitement of riding the bus all by himself (too bad his mommy isn't' as excited about the idea and might just ruin his fun by insisting on driving him to school). When Ryan found out he was going to be a big brother again, he was apparently so excited that he told pretty much everyone he ran into - at least it made our job of spreading the news that much easier. One of Ryan's biggest (and newest) accomplishments for the year has been moving into his new bedroom downstairs. This just happened over Christmas, but so far, so good (well, at least when Trav is down there sleeping with him, we'll just take it one step at a time). Ryan has grown up so much this past year - he has literally become a mature little boy right in front of our eyes and we enjoy watching every minute of it.

And finally, the babe of the family (although her days are numbered), Lauren. Lauren is a riot and a terror all bundled in one. She is the funniest, happiest little girl one minute, and the sneakiest, naughtiest little girl the next. Too bad funny and naughty sort of go hand and hand at this stage because she has definitely mastered the skill. Want proof, here is a little story Trav told from the other night. So Trav was upstairs giving a Lauren a bath when she starts to get a little crazy with the splashing and pretty soon she is pouring water over the edge of the tub. Trav tells her to stop or else she is going to timeout. Her response, stare him straight in the eyes (never breaking eye contact), blindly fill up her cup of water again, and casually pour it over the edge as he sits and watches everything. The best part is that the more he tells her to stop, the more she keeps staring and pouring - never losing eye contact and just waiting for Trav to make is move. Trav said he finally just had to laugh at her because he couldn't believe her total disregard for everything he just said. So maybe she isn't the best listener sometimes but at least she makes things fun to watch. Aside form her less than perfect behavior, Lauren is truly a blast to have around. The girl can find humor and fun in just about anything and keeps herself entertained for hours taking care of her babies, or just making the most out of whatever she finds laying around. I wish I could live in her easy, carefree world for just a day and see the fun in everything she does. And, I have saved the best for last. Lauren's biggest accomplishment for 2009 . . . she speaks! I must admit, I was getting a little worried there for a while that she might never say a word, but as with most things, Lauren just wanted to do things on her own time. Over the past month or so she has really started to take an interest in everything we are saying and tries to repeat most of the words we say. And even though some words come out sounding a little different, I am just happy to know that 1) she is capable of speaking, and 2) her days of pointing and screaming might just be coming to an end. Check out the little lady in action.

With 2009 behind us, we look forward to all that will come in the year ahead, especially the arrival of the new baby girl in May (and we hoping for early May, not late May baby).

Hoping everyone had a wonderful 2009!