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.