A little catch up

It seems like everything exciting always happens at the same time. Last week . . . Ryan gets his birthday gift, we take another trip to the zoo, Ryan's suit for the wedding arrives - time to write about it all - well, except the birthday gift, I think I've covered that already. So the kids and I packed up last Friday and hit the zoo again (we bought a year long pass). I decided it would be Ryan's choice what we did and saw so we headed out the door and Ryan planned everything on the road trip there while Lauren slept and I listened. There were two must sees - dolphins and birds - both things we didn't see on our last visit. So upon arriving, we made a detoured (had to watch the monkeys for a while) beeline to the dolphins. As luck would have it, the trainers were working with the dolphins when we arrived so we were able to sit and watch all kinds of tricks - the kids were mesmerized. They didn't move, just sat, pointed, and screamed (Lauren) and said, "Mom, did you see that?" (Ryan). It was pretty cool especially since there was only about 15 people in the area at the time so we were able to sit right in front and see everything up close and personal. Here are a couple of pictures of the kids watching the dolphins swim from below.Here they are discussing the dolphins - Ryan got to share a lot of his knowledge while Lauren kept quiet and stared at him. After the dolphins, we headed over to the bird show. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but it turned out great. The kids sat for the entire 30 minute show. Again, they were mesmerized. There were ducks running, birds flying by, and even a huge bald eagle - a favorite of ours. After the show Ryan was able to talk to the trainers and ask questions about the birds. The trainers did a great job of answering everything and even brought Ryan up on the stage area so he could see the bald eagle up close - he was in heaven (I of course had already packed my camera away so I didn't get a picture). Here are the kids waiting for the show to start, and a couple of pictures of the bald eagle. That pretty much wraps up our events of the past week - busy, but fun. Today we are heading to the park to meet up with some of Ryan's classmates. He is very excited to see everyone again.

When we got home from the zoo, we had a package waiting on our doorstep so we went inside and opened it immediately. Inside was Ryan's suit I ordered for Aunt Traci's wedding in July. I was a little skeptical about what it would look like considering I ordered it on ebay (it was new from a store out in LA) and only paid $32.99, but to my surprise, it was great! The suit came in a little garment bag and was so adorable - check it out. He looks like such a little man in the suit and can't wait for the actual wedding day so he can wear it again. And here is a picture of Lauren because as we all know, she can't stay away when the camera comes out.Oh wait, one more thing. Our momma duck had her babies the other day. We were sitting at the table when I got up to happened to look outside and saw the mom and her babies waddling across the yard - it was pretty cute. We all ran downstairs to get a better look. Here is a picture of the crew - it is kind of hard to see the little ones, but trust me, they were there, about 8 or 9 of them.

Why is fashion so difficult?

I have found the one downside to having a daughter . . . clothes. With a boy, it is pretty cut and dry - pants, shorts, shirts - it is all pretty basic. But girls, their clothes are not basic, not simple, and apparently way too much for me. So Lauren gets most of her clothes handed down from her cousin, Amelia. Well, Amelia's mom is much more into fashion and buying cute clothes than I am. So sometimes when we get the clothes, I look at it, and am not sure what it is, or what to do with it - thank god for Auntie. She is always (usually) there to set me straight and tell me what is what, and what top goes with what outfit. Well, since she started her stupid full-time job (apparently she has bills to pay), she hasn't been around as much and therefore has left me to figure out these wardrobe issues on my own. So the other day I am getting some clothes out of Lauren's dresser and I see this "thing" I've thought was cute for a long time, but never pulled out because I wasn't sure what it was. I figured it was time, so I pulled out the item and put it on Lauren. Turns out I was right, it is a dress.Wait, now she is moving and I can see her chunky little thighs and her diaper. This is not good. I can't have her running around the playground showing off her goods. Pretty soon she'll be known as the playground hussy and will be attracting unwanted attention - time to try something new.There we go . . . it is a shirt after all - just a real long one. The whole leggings under long tops is in now isn't it? Seriously I don't know, but at least her diaper isn't hanging out and she still looks cute. So that is it, the top will now go in with her other "shirts" and will no longer be in her dress drawer. If I'm wrong, I don't want to know about it - just assume I'm trying to set a new trend. Poor Lauren - I hope she doesn't look back at her childhood pictures and wonder why she was always dressed so weird.

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.