Happy 3rd Birthday!

The big day finally arrived - Ryan's actual 3rd birthday! We spent the day (or last couple of days) at Grandma and Grandpa Loken's house as Daddy is in Lincoln, NE visiting a friend for a few days. The kids and I arrived on Wednesday night and spent the evening watching for storms - luckily none of them came our direction. Thursday was a fun-filled day. We (Auntie and I) started out by taking the kids for a walk up to Grandma's work for a quick visit, then it was off to get a birthday cake (Spiderman ice cream cake), birthday candles, and some liquor (for the big kids). By the time we were home, Ryan asked me if he could "take a rest" - sure thing buddy, whatever you want. After naps we had a snack and it was off to the playground. We finished with dinner and baths, and then it was off to bed, but bedtime was a little different this night. Auntie had borrowed a tent from her friend and the two of them spent the night "roughing it" on the deck - his first "camping" trip - thanks Auntie!

Finally, the big day . . . Friday the 13th - Ryan's birthday. When he woke up and came inside, I said, "Ryan, it's your birthday!" His response, "no Mom, it's tomorrow." I guess he heard that a lot the day before. When I told him it was today and he accepted that, he was excited - it was truly a day for him, well almost. Unfortunately we had to start the day off by attending a funeral, but after that, the focus was all on Ryan. First fun thing . . . playing in Grandma and Grandpa's pool. The water was a bit cold, but Grandma was able to dip him in everytime he ran around the pool - talk about endless fun. After that it was lunch and a nap in the tent. His nap was cut short as the tent was pretty hot and he woke up sweating - who cares, more time for fun. After a quick snack we headed down to the local pool for some more swimming (Ryan's choice even though it was a bit windy) and then back home for ice cream cake and tractor riding (Grandpa's lawn mower). Usually by this time of night we would be getting ready for baths and bedtime, but this being his special day and all, we skipped both and went onto a campfire and smores. The big kids all had adult beverages while Ryan slammed a hot chocolate - a treat for him as he usually only gets one a day now. To end his day, he got to play with the neighbor boy all by himself (we sat in our yard and watched him, but never went over by him as he was a big boy now and didn't need me right next to him). The night ended around 9pm with Auntie and Ryan sleeping in the tent again - the perfect ending to a perfect day (at least I hope it was, we tried hard).

Quick note . . . Lauren cut her fourth tooth - at this rate she should have a mouth full by the time she is one!

Tractor time!

You know what they say about giving your kids all the things you wanted when you were young, but never got. Well, our birthday gift to Ryan falls into that category. Trav and I decided to get him a pedal tractor for his 3rd birthday. Not that I wanted a pedal tractor necessarily, but some kind of cool pedal vehicle would have been nice - who knows, maybe things like that didn't even exist back then (I'll go with that so I don't feel like Mom and Dad denied me). Anyway, Ryan is big into tractors now and he likes to drive around our cul-de-sac with his other ride-on toys so we figured this would be a perfect fit - we were right! The minute he saw the tractor, he was all smiles. He kept saying, "That's my tractor" - almost like he wanted to ask just to make sure no one would come and take it from him. Once he got over the excitement, he was ready to give it a try. The whole pedaling thing is sort of new to him so it was tough going at first, but once he got the hang of it, he was able to pedal on his own (at least on the downward slope as the tractor plus the wagon weighed a bit too much to go upward by himself). We had debated on whether to go with a battery operated tractor, or pedal, but opted for the pedals to help burn off more energy when he played with it - at this point, I think I am the one burning all the energy from the constant need to give him pushes to keep him going - I'm really rethinking that decision! He loves to play make believe with the tractor - he'll take it to the gas station to fill up, play "farmer", or "busdriver" when he can get someone else to sit in the wagon - talk about fun! Last night he had a came up with a new racing game with the tractor. When we were out riding around, our neighbor came out with his riding mower and instantly, Ryan needed to "race" him. Scott (neighbor) was nice enough to go along with the game and "raced" him a few times around the cul-de-sac. Ryan/mommy's pushing, won everytime!

Giving out some free ridesFilling up at the gas station

The first birthday party

So we celebrated Ryan's 3rd birthday this past weekend at the lake with Trav's family. This is the first of his two parties that we will be having (next weekend we head home to my parent's place for birthday #2) and as any 3 year old would, he loved it! We got to the lake later on Friday night and basically unpacked, had a bit to eat, and went to bed in preparation for the big fishing tournament the next day. Trav and I thought fishing would be a fun way to spend the day with Ryan. Well, we were wrong, at least half wrong, he liked the boat ride out to the fishing spot and back in from the fishing spot, everything in between he could have done without. I guess I can't blame him though, one fish in an hour and a half isn't exactly a 10 on the fun-o-meter. Oh well, maybe we'll try again some other time and have better results. With the fishing behind us, we were able to start the birthday celebration. Ryan opened gifts and played some games and then it was off for a nap. When he woke up, we all went down to the lake to dip our toes in the water. The whole toe dipping didn't last long as the kids were ready to swim, and it didn't matter how cold the water was. When the swimming was done we headed back to the cabin to eat and have birthday cake. Ryan liked the whole singing to him and blowing out the candles so much that we ended up doing it twice - he asked for a third time, but enough is enough already, plus, he'll get it again next weekend.

Watching a video in his new chair - he is all smiles as the video is all about him!Lauren didn't seem as interested in the video

Staying warm in his new pirate towel

When it was all said and done, Ryan enjoyed his time in the spotlight as the Birthday Boy. Until next year, wait, next weekend . . .

Boogie Woogie Dance Party

A quick clip to get an idea of the party!

The Park and Rec Department hosted the 1st Annual Boogie Woogie Dance Party this morning and by all accounts, it was a hit! Ryan has been talking about this party pretty much all week as I made the mistake of telling him about it on Tuesday so he was very excited. Not knowing what to expect, we (Emily - neighbor and I) were very impressed with the party room. It was filled with balloons, streamers, a stage, a dj, and one pretty cool bubble machine - the kids loved it. Ryan had no problem hitting the floor and boogieing down. Marely was a little overwhelmed so Ryan helped ease her onto the dance floor. Lauren, as usual was content to just sit and take it all in. Although, she got into the music a few times and did her arm flailing and leg kicking - it was pretty fun to see. The kids were all given glow-in-the-dark necklaces at the entrance, so those, coupled with the black light and disco ball made for a great atmosphere. Check out the pictures below . . .

This dance party was just the first of Friday fun to come. The Park and Rec Dept has an event planned every Friday morning through the beginning of August . . . look for more fun to come!

Our secret language

I was thinking the other day after I told Ryan to get his "rooskies" on that my vocabulary has changed dramatically since Ryan's birth. We've used all the common words that parents insert into their vocabularies with the birth of their children - nuk, sippy, blankie - pretty easy, pretty common. But lately, we've come up with some interesting words to describe different things and I really don't even know where they came from. For instance, "rooskies" is our word for underwear. It started out as "underooskies", and has since been shortened to just "rooskies." Ryan and I have used this word for a while, and now Daddy even calls his underwear "rooskies." Some other words we (Ryan and I) have come up with during our many days together: "make me a cheese" is code for grilled cheese, "cheesey, chessey" means a quick lunch of mac'n'cheese. Brushing our sugar bugs means brushing teeth, and finally, "outfit" is our word for pajamas as Ryan went through a phase where he wouldn't wear pajamas, but would put on a new "outfit" at night - yes, I know he is a bit weird, but it keeps thing interesting. By the time these kids are out of school, we'll probably have an entire "Quast vocab" and no one else will know what the heck we are talking about.

Onto a quick update . . . we've been spending a lot of time outside lately with the nice weather so we had a chance to try out this new backpack thing Auntie got from the family she nannies for. I wasn't sure if Lauren would like it or not, but she loves it! I also had my doubts as to when I would ever use it, but in the few days we have had it, it has come in handy more than a few times. It is especially nice to have when I'm watching the neighbor's little girl - throwing Lauren on my back gives me my hands back to help the other two when we are outside playing and Lauren loves being right in on the action.

Ryan and Ashley (neighbor) hanging out

Auntie and Lauren trying out the new backpack

We also got the kids' pictures taken today. This was the first time I had the kids get their pictures taken together since Lauren was first born so I was pretty excited. About two seconds into the shoot, I knew it probably wasn't going to be the best as the photographer actually asked Ryan which background he thought would look best and she was serious - he said blue and that is what she went with. About five minutes into the picture taking, Auntie had had enough so she just started grabbing props and making nice, but firm "suggestions" about how to pose the kids. We got through about 20 minutes before Lauren had had enough. Unfortunately it started to storm pretty bad so we opted to leave before the pictures were ready. I'm going back tomorrow to check them out - I'll let you know how they turn out, but I'm not going to get my hopes up. Tomorrow we are heading to the lake to celebrate Ryan's birthday a week early as Daddy will be gone on his actual birthday - should be good times!

Schools out for summer!

I knew the school year was coming to an end, but I didn't exactly know when. Well, I found out yesterday! Our neighbors, Mike and Sara, and their two kids, Ashley and Gerritt had an end of the school year bonfire yesterday so we all got the invite to join in the fun and help celebrate.

It all started yesterday when the kids, Auntie, Emily (other neighbor), and myself were sitting outside playing with the sidewalk chalk. We all watched Ashley come home with a small group of friends, but thought nothing of it. Ashley, being the nice kid she is, yelled over to say "hi" to Ryan. He of course wanted to say hi back so he asked if he could go see her. I said sure, and off he went. As he was getting ready to walk back home (I'll remind everyone that we live in a culde-sac and Ashley is just two houses away), Sara came driving in their big black pick-up with music blaring and little boys' arms waving out the window. She made a drive around the cul-de-sac while the boys were screaming, "it's over!" It was pretty funny to see, at least for us. When Ryan saw the big black truck coming towards him, he got scared and tried to run. This didn't work out so well as he got going too fast in one direction, then decided to do a quick turn around and bit it in the street. It wasn't a hard fall, but he of course screamed like he had just gotten run over. Ashley brought him over to me and the crying continued. Shortly after the "incident" Sara brought over two cups for the kids. She asked Ryan if it would make him feel better. Ryan didn't answer until he had a chance to see the goodies, which happened to be puppy chow, and taste them - at that point, he said "yup." So easily distracted from the pain. Sara invited us all over to roast hot dogs and sit by the fire. By the time we got out to the fire, they were onto smores, so we made a couple of those and had a drink or two. During the entire time we were there, the kids had Ryan off and playing and he loved every minute of it! Everywhere they went, or everything they did, Ryan got to tag-along. We are so lucky to have such nice neighbors who have great kids. By the time we left, we were all pretty tired so it was off to bed for the kids and us. We look forward to many more "Schools Out" parties in the future.

Long week wrap-up

After our long week, it was nice to have an "extra" day at home with the kids before another week started. The kids got home around 4pm on Saturday and within 15 minutes we were back to reality - crying, screaming, diaper changing, etc . . . the vacation was a fading memory. We spent Saturday evening outside with Ryan as Lauren was in bed early after her long day. We thought about having a bonfire until Ryan got crabby - take a look . . .

He was mad at me because he wanted to take pictures of his trucks - I let him, but apparently the 4,000 he took was not enough - needless to say the campfire was put on hold and off to bed Ryan went. Here is one of the pictures Ryan took of his truck, magical isn't it?

To be fair, Ryan was very good for the most part, here are the pictures to prove it.

Sunday we all got up early to take advantage of the beautiful day. By 8am, we were all done eating and were out the door for an early morning walk. Ryan and I walked to the gym while Trav and Lauren continued on and went on our normal walking route. Ryan was excited to go to the gym "school" as he hadn't been there in a very long time. We even brought along his new pack-pack (as he likes to call it) to hold all of his possessions (a bottle of water). When we all got home, we sat down for a quick lunch and then it was back outside to "sprinkle" (wash) the cars. Trav did this while I set up the sprinkler for Ryan to run through. Lauren sat in her bouncy chair taking everything in. About 30 minutes into our fun, our neighbor came outside with her new pool so the kids and I went over and joined in the fun.

After an hour or so, the kids were ready for naps and so were we! Ryan hit the bed and was out for almost 4 hours! By the time he woke up, it was early evening so we spent the rest of the day hanging out inside watching Scooby-Doo, having dinner, and getting ready for bed - it was a relaxing way to end a busy day. The vacation is over, we are back to reality, bring on Monday!