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Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Sweet Little Shadow

Ryan was my little shadow yesterday. He followed me everywhere and tried to do what I did. When I was folding laundry he sat in the...
Laundry Posted by Hello

When I was on the phone he was...
On the phone Posted by Hello

"ahh ba gaga mama. babababa."
When I sat down on the couch he brought over a book and sat in my lap. When I watched Dr. Phil he watched with me. Until he got bored and started playing with his toys;-)
Row, row, row your boat Posted by Hello


It was all very sweet.
Well at least until daddy came home...
Yea, daddy is home! Posted by Hello

Then he became daddy's little shadow.
snuggles Posted by Hello


Okay it was still sweet, but I'm a little jealous:-(

Monday, December 27, 2004

Stringing Two Words Together

I almost forgot to tell you the most exciting part of the weekend. In the car on the way home from the Christmas party Ryan dropped his juice. He said "uh-oh juice". It took me a minute to realize what he said...it sounded like a lot of his other "words" that he constantly babbles. It sounds a little like "uh-oh jew" when he says it. It was the first time he made a two word sentence all on his own! Sure he will say "Thank you" [heard "Dah doo"] when you give him something or "Here ya go" [heard "hiya oh"] when he gives something, but he is just copying those. Those took me a while to realize too. I guess when you are used to hearing babble ALL THE TIME you just think it's all babble(or maybe it's just me). Anyway, yea for Ryan's first two word sentence!

Merry Monday After Christmas!

Since I have not had a chance to post for a while....Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a good one. We did. Christmas Eve we spent with Jay's family. Christmas morning we opened gifts at home. Zach had lots of fun passing out the gifts. He especially liked giving the ones he made and bought for us. Ryan didn't love taking off the paper as much as I thought he would, but he really liked the things inside. We opened the boxes for him as he went. His gifts took quite a while because it was too hard to drag him away from his last toy to open a new one. I had a chance to call my parents in the afternoon. Jay's parents and brother came by to see the kids Christmas day as well. Then it was off to see my dad's side of the family. Zach had lots of fun playing with my cousins. TJ called while we were there. Poor guy was stuck at an airport on Christmas:-( [TJ- I hope you're back safe and sound where you belong and that you have the package we sent.] After gifts we were off to Mom's side. We got there just in time...they were opening gifts. We didn't get to spend too much time there because the boys needed to get to bed. Luckily we got to spend a good bit of time there on Cookie Day a couple weeks ago. Then Jay took me to see the lights on 34th St because he knows how much I love them:-) Ryan was awake to see them, but Zach was out cold. It was a good Christmas. The best part for me is seeing joy on people's faces when they open a gift that you put a lot of thought into. I had some photo gifts made up this year for some people on my list. Those were my favorites to give. Most of the gifts we gave were very well received and that is always reassuring. I worked hard this year(as I try to most years) to get people something tailored to them. I think for the most part it was successful, YEA.

Christmas Eve we opened gifts by the tree at Jay's parents' house.
Ryan and Daddy Christmas Eve Posted by Hello

Zach explained how the first Christmas worked to Aunt Bee and Ryan.
"The wise men lined up like this to see Jesus" Posted by Hello


Christmas Day we opened gifts from Grandma and Grandpa ...
For "Mommy's Little Monkey" from Grandma and GrandpaPosted by Hello

Incredible! Posted by Hello

And then we tried out our gifts from Uncle TJ...
Wee, I love my train! Posted by Hello

Wee! Posted by Hello


For more pictures see my December Album.

Friday, December 24, 2004

Happy Christmas Eve!!!

Today Zach made candy with the candy making kit Grandma and Chief(aka Grandpa) sent him. He had lots of fun making the candy. He made up bags for some of the people we are going to see for Christmas:-) He is a regular little Kris Kringle!
Zach making candy Posted by Hello

Bummer

This morning I was up, showered and dressed before the boys got up. I was so excited I thought I'd get a little blogging in before they got up. I got down to the computer and NO INTERNET!!! It was awful. It's a good thing comcast has such an easy number to remember since I couldn't look it up on the internet like I always do when I don't know a number or an address. They told me "There was an outage in your area. We are working on it. You should have internet access in a few hours." A few hours?! I would have gone crazy thinking about it. Luckily I was dressed and ready to go so I took the boys out to get the cinnamon rolls and candy canes. We couldn't find candy canes anywhere. Sadness:-( I think I'll get over it since I have my internet back;-)

Thursday, December 23, 2004

The Gift?

Mom and Dad,
Ryan loves what you sent...

The Box Posted by Hello

Ready or not?

Well it's two days before Christmas and I am ready. Well, more or less. I have to put one big gift in one of those giant bags and organize the 30+ gifts into bags according to their destination; Christmas Eve at Jay's parents' house on one bag, Mom-mom and Pop's house in another and Dina's house in another. Then I should be all ready to go. I'm thinking I'll do that during Ryan's nap. I am not sure what to do with myself. I've always been such a procrastinator about everything that I had something to do until the last minute. Now I am fighting the urge to stuff the boys stockings early?! Having everything pretty much ready should make for a less stressful Christmas Eve Day though:-)
We are starting our own Christmas tradition this year. Well, our own as in it wasn't passed down from family. I got the idea from my small group leader. We have a stocking hanging for Jesus. I hung it under the happy birthday sign we use for all our family members. We are each going to write down something we are going to give Jesus this year and put it in the stocking. Next year we will take out the notes and read them to remind us of our promises. I think it will be a good lesson for the kids that gifts from the heart are special. I also hope it helps them remember that Christmas is so special because it's Jesus' birthday.

Addendum: I just realized that I don't have cinnamon buns or orange juice for Christmas morning! I'm not ready for Christmas at all! It is a tradition in my family and Jay's family to have cinnamon buns on Christmas morning and I don't have any. I am going to have to go to the store and get some ASAP! I'm not going to make them from scratch like Jay's mom, but the thought is still there:-)

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

List update

I updated my Christmas list for those of you(Benjamin) who are still shopping for gifts and don't know what to get.

Duh

Is it weird that I still have to think twice before I use the computer when I'm expecting a phone call? We've had cable internet for several months now and I almost didn't get on the computer just now because I'm expecting a call. Maybe it's mommy brain!

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

It's for you...

Today while I was talking to Erin on the phone when Ryan started "talking." He was having this whole conversation as if everything he said was totally understandable. Erin and I were talking about how cute it is when they talk to themselves or other things as if they are really saying something. Then I realized Ryan was holding his little play cell phone to his ear. Awwwww. He was talking on the phone like Mommy! It was so sweet!

Sunday, December 19, 2004

Zach's Birthday Trip to Hershey

For Zach's birthday we took him and the friend of his choice(Amanda) to Hershey Park for the Christmas in Hershey celebration. It was a great time. It' was frigid, but lots of fun. We went in the afternoon to have the warmest part of the day. We headed for the chocolate tour just before dusk to warm up and then we went back to see the lights. The lights were fantastic! It was beautiful. We did a few rides and then warmed up at a Christmas show in a heated theater then braved the cold for two last rides. If you didn't notice we spent a lot of time being cold and a lot of time trying to warm up. I can't wait for spring!!!
Amanda, Zach and a Christmas kiss Posted by Hello

Ryan likes the Christmas kiss too Posted by Hello

Friday, December 17, 2004

What do you think now?

Is my blog easier to read now? Jay said the gray didn't even show up gray on his computer at work, it was white. And as you can see I got several complaints about how hard it was to read. I'm glad for the feedback. I want it to be easy to read, but I also want it to be "me". So here is my solution. I still get to keep my periwinkle, but it's in the background. This works well on my computer, but every computer shows color a little bit differently, so how does it look for you? I'm a little worried about the color when you "hover" over a link. Suggestions? Comments?

Thursday, December 16, 2004

No Thyroid Problem?!

For all those keeping tabs on my health- all my blood work came back normal. I have no thyroid problem. As a matter of fact my thyroid level is not even on the high side of normal , it's right smack dab in the middle of normal. On the surface this seems great, but now how do I explain this inability to get up to a healthy weight?! Goodness knows I eat enough! Is chasing an active toddler around really that good a fitness program?

New Address, New Title, New Look

I thought it was time for a change:-) As much for anonymity as anything else I changed my blog address. I hope it didn't cause too much trouble for you. Look for more changes to come, but not now because the baby is napping and I am dying to get in the shower!!!

Addendum:
Okay, I made some changes now. What do you think?

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

The Gifts are in the Mail

Does that sound a bit like the check is in the mail? Well, it's true. Now I can only hope they get overseas and to their destinations before Christmas. The post office guy wouldn't even venture a guess as to when they might get there. Maybe next year I won't have to mail gifts at Christmas, wouldn't that be a nice change!
Hopefully I will be able to finish all my shopping on Friday when Jay's mom comes to watch the kids! I only have 5 more people to buy for and I think two of them are getting something from the same store. That means I'm 80% done! and really it's more that that because the boys certainly count for more than 1 share of the shopping each. I'm so proud of myself, I'm almost done all the wrapping for the gifts I've bought too. I know the commercials are talking about last minute shopping, but give me a break. There are 10 DAYS left. It's certainly not last minute yet. Not to me anyway!

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Magnetic Personality

Does anyone else's computer have a human magnet built in? I keep trying to do other things, but it keeps pulling me back. When I try really hard I manage to pull myself away to do a few chores, etc. If I leave the room I might not even think about the computer for a while, but then I'll pass by, see it and it draws me in. I can't get away!

Monday, December 13, 2004

Yo, yo!

On Cookie Day Uncle Tommy and Ryan had this little thing they were doing that really amused everyone. Tommy would say, "Yo, yo!" and Ryan would say, "Yo Yo!!". They went back and forth for a while. It was very funny. Later Ryan went up to Pop(my grandfather)and put his arms up to be picked up. Of course Pop had things in his hands, but dutiful Great-grandfather that he is he passed the stuff off and picked Ryan up. Ryan looked Pop square in the face and said, "Yo, yo." Pop chuckled. Ryan then more insistently said "Yo, yo!" and pointed toward Tommy. Pop walked over to Tommy and Ryan thrust his whole body at Tommy exclaiming, "Yo, Yo!" This, my friends, is how Uncle Tommy became Uncle Yoyo. I didn't have the video camera at Cookie Day, much to my chagrin. There were several very recordable moments, like Ryan lining Hershey's Kisses up along the edge of the table, but only the red ones! Then later the green and another time one of each color, silver, green and red. I think he gets that from Daddy. I digress...I wish I had had my video camera, but I was able to get a little of the "yo, yo" action on video today. I thought I would share:-) He plays with his shapes a little in between, but I don't think you will be disappointed if you watch all the way through.
As always you will find this video on our webpage with the other videos in our collection.

Still No Tree

All that weekend and still no tree! We planned to go to a really cool tree farm where they take you out in a tractor to chop down your own tree and they have a 'cookie tree' for the kids. A real family event, you know? Saturday it rained and Sunday, although nice, was jam packed with stuff to do. From church to nap to party, there was no time to get a tree:-( Now instead of going to the really cool tree farm and having a family outing it looks like we will be dragging the kids out after dinner one night this week to the local home depot to get one of the already dying trees that's been there for who knows how long. I guess it's just as well. This tree will already be cut no matter what we do. Maybe we are saving a poor little tree's life and it will grow up and save the world.

Saturday, December 11, 2004

Cookie Day

Daddy and Ryan decorating cookies Posted by Hello

Zach decorating cookies Posted by Hello


Cookie Day was fun. Ryan was a huge hit:-) I'll add more later.

Friday, December 10, 2004

Busy, busy, busy

In continuing with the continuous activity of December tomorrow morning we are going to get a tree. Later in the the afternoon we will go to Mom-mom and Pop's house for Cookie day where we all paint cookies and have lots of fun. I'm thinking of letting Ryan decorate a tray or two...do I dare let a 1 year old near raw cookie dough? I think I will :-)

Thursday, December 09, 2004

The Sled

This video is for my little brother who couldn't be here to see Zach open the gift he sent. He really likes his sled Uncle TJ! You can also view the video from our website.
I made a couple other changes to the website. I made the gift-book more prominent placing it on the main page. Jay suggested I make it more visible so people would know about it. What is a gift-book you ask? Well, I'll tell you. It's just a way for people to let others know if they are buying a specific gift from our Christmas lists so we don't get too many doubles. It's a bit like a registry. It's not neccesary, just helpful.
PS-I am still not looking:-)

Balloons and Other Exciting Things

Zach had a good birthday. He took cookies and brownies to school and he got to pass them out to his class. He also got to wear a birthday crown and got a special birthday pencil. When he got home I had tied a happy birthday balloon to the lightpost, one to the door, one to Zach's bedroom door and a Scooby Doo one to his chair at the table. I think this was his favorite part of the day. Each time he saw a new balloon he gasped with excitement. He played with the balloons for hours. I'm always amazed at how much he actually likes balloons. He was also excited at present time(who isn't?!) when he got a book from Grandmommy and Granddaddy, a sled from Uncle TJ and a baseball and glove from Daddy, Mommy and Ryan. He wanted to blow up the sled right away. He and Ryan both pretended they were sledding(although I'm not sure Ryan knows what sledding is). Then we played some catch. After presents was cake. I know this is a little backwards, but the cake wasn't cool enough to frost before dinner. Zach of course wanted a piece with LOTS of sprinkles. He got a few birthday phone calls and then it was bed time. He told me when he went to bed that it was a good birthday. That makes it a success in my book.

Exciting to me was getting some of the special gifts I ordered in the mail. I'm a touch disappointed with the quality, but the specialness outweighs it I think. I can't wait to see people's faces when they get their gifts! I hope they like them.

Jay had some excitement as well. He got a flat screen monitor for some crazy deal(my husband the wheeler dealer) and he got to set it up yesterday. It's very cool! The screen is much bigger than I'm used to, but it takes up so little room! I have to admit I'm a little excited about the flat screen myself[don't tell Jay;-)]

What about Ryan you ask? Well, Ryan is just excited about life...and the Wiggles;-)

Wednesday, December 08, 2004

It's a special day...


Happy Birthday Zach!!!

Zach is 6 today:-) Posted by Hello


Feel free to leave a birthday message for Zach:-) I will let him read them tonight.

6 Year Old Birthday Boy Posted by Hello

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

Album Reconstruction

I have been doing some more reconstruction of my photo albums. I think all the links will still work. I'm planning on testing them when I have some more time. I moved all my high resolution photos into the old albums(March on back). So they are in the albums, but most of them are not captioned yet. The rest of the albums are fully updated. So if you happen to be browsing through any albums before April of this year or my Belgium album you may see two copies of the same picture. I'm going to caption the new ones and delete the old lower resolution copies, but it's going to take a while. Just in case you were wondering. I'm sure you randomly check my old albums on a regular basis;-) Just thought I'd keep you up to date on the latest happenings in Jen's little world. I guess that means I should tell you that I finally went to the doctor on Friday...results are pending.

Updates

I wrapped a bunch of presents last night. I'm feeling like I might actually be ready for Christmas after all. We'll see when we get a little closer.

Right now Ryan is behind me saying "Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle!"(as demonstrated in the video clip below) because a preview for the Wiggles just came on. It's so cute. I just knew I had to get it on video yesterday when he responded to my "It's time for the Wiggles!" with "Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle!" It was just too sweet. At first he was standing up and he bounced as he said it, but by the time I got out the camera he was sitting, so you can't quite see the excitement I saw. Boy, if the Wiggles' live show comes to town we definitly have to go!

Monday, December 06, 2004

Dedication Photo

Our church had a photographer take photos after the dedication ceremony. We just got the pictures in the mail. This one is my favorite. Thanks Mountain:-)

Dedication Posted by Hello

Wiggle, Wiggle, Wiggle

Ryan loves his Wiggles, heres a clip to show how much;-) Make sure your sound is turned up high enough.

Big Helper

Yesterday Jay was raking leaves in the front yard. I took Ryan out to keep him company. At first Ryan was just running down the sidewalk every chance he got. A couple times he picked up the extra rake, but it was so heavy he just dropped it and moved on to something else. Then Jay needed help bagging the leaves. I held the bag open and Jay scooped big handfuls and put them in the bag. Ryan thinks his daddy is great and wants to be just like him, so he started picking up leaves and putting them in the bag as well. This marks the first time Ryan has actually been a real helper. He didn't put some in and take some out like it was a game. He just picked them up and put them in the bag. Mommy is so proud of her little helper bean!

Saturday, December 04, 2004

Hi ho hi ho it's off to hike we go...

We went hiking at Rocks State Park today. People who climb up those things are crazy! Those rocks just completely drop off and go down for what seems like forever. I will just stick to the trails, thank you very much! I have come to accept that I am much less daring since I had a baby. I wonder if it's just growing up and getting scared or some maternal instinct about staying alive to raise the baby.
Here is a picture. Jay, Ryan, Elizabee, John and Andy(a friend of the family) from the bottom up.
Hiking at Rocks State Park Posted by Hello

Christmas Shopping Update

A special thanks to Jay's mom who kindly volunteered to watch Ryan Friday so I could get some things done. I managed to get to the doctor(which I have been meaning to do for a while now) and go shopping with Erin without babies! It's so much easier to shop without babies! I got a good bit of my Christmas shopping done. I'm feeling much more relaxed about it now. I only have a few people left to buy for in my extended family and I got a good start on the boy's gifts. Now we just need to buy a tree, clean, decorate the house, make Christmas day plans and wrap everything. Aren't the holidays great;-)

Thursday, December 02, 2004

Monkey Business

There is a sale at Gymboree that I found out about on Erin's blog. Normally I wouldn't even think about spending so much on baby clothes, but they have this Monkey and Friends collection that is perfect for my little monkey. I was able to resist the regular prices, but I am very tempted by the sale prices. Even though the sale prices would seem fairly expensive to me normally I am torn by the apparent bargain off the regular price. I blame Erin for showing me this collection of monkey outfits! Will someone try to convince me it's okay to spend $20 on a sweater or a pair of overalls? If my will power breaks I may end up splurging on the hooded cardigan it's so adorable! ::grasping wallet tightly::

Christmas is coming...

And I'm NOT ready! There is so much to do. Boy I long for the days when I only had to buy a couple presents. Buying four presents for each set of family Kris Kringles and for all our immediate family is so much more than I'm used to. Boy I'm glad we do Kris Kringles though, with my huge family I'd never get my shopping done otherwise! I guess I'm a little over half done with extended family gifts and I have not even been to a store yet. That's pretty good I guess. I'm hoping to get out to the store soon so I can get the kids done and get some things for all the rest of the KKs. I think everyone should have a list! I am totally lost for about 6 of the people I have to buy for. If they just had a list like mine things would be sooooo much easier! I like to buy people something that suits their personality or something that they need instead of just some trinket or generic thing that kinda works for 'all girls' or 'all guys'. But this year I may be pushed to buy Bath and Body works. I just don't have the time I used to have for browsing and trying to find a gift that would be right for each person. It's especially hard when the people closest to the person you are trying to get ideas for don't have any ideas themselves! What to do, what to do?!

Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Silly Quiz

Belle
You are Belle from Beauty and the Beast!

Okay it's a silly quiz with totally unrealistic questions, but I've always wanted to be a Disney Princess and now I am, see? ;-)

What Disney Princess are you?
brought to you by Quizilla


Monday, November 29, 2004

So Many Cute Moments Today!

We had so many cute moments today that I couldn't just pick one. Ryan has been sitting in anything that he could for the past few weeks. This is one of his favorites. He looked so cute I had to take some pictures. Really it's a table that has 2 sides, a lego side and an activity side. He takes out the flipable part and sits in the bin. I took the legs off when he fell over onto a table and hit his head. He still likes to sit in it. I keep thinking how much he needs a chair, but I put a little sofa on his Christmas list. I don't want to go out and buy a chair if someone is getting him the sofa, so we are just going to wait until Christmas. Maybe I'll get a couple bean bags chairs for the play room for Christmas. I've thought of a couple things to add to his Christmas list just by watching him today. Like a portable musical device of some kind. He loves to carry around the Leap Frog Fridge Farm that Erin and Ben gave him for his birthday. He will make it play a song and he holds it and dances. I should write these things down as I think of them because I know there are some I can't remember now.
I was busy thinking about blogging about the table/chair when a package arrived from my mom. Boy was that a big hit! First I got out the very cute, soft bear and Ryan got a huge grin on his face. Apparently one of Mom's German friends made the bear. How cool is that? I've gotten some really great gifts that mom's friends have made. He cuddled the bear for a while. Again, out came the camera. I just missed an adorable kiss that he gave the bear. We went back to the rest of the gift. Ryan grabbed a book from the package and plopped down in my lap to read. After reading the two books I started uploading the pictures. I should have known better because he got the box and put it on his head and started playing peek-a-boo! Duh- The box is always their favorite part! The instant the photos were uploaded I unplugged the camera and took some pictures of his peek-a-boo game. It was a fun day!

In case you don't know-CLICK ON THE PICTURES FOR BETTER RESOLUTION. And if you move the mouse over the better picture's bottom right corner a small square will appear to expand the picture even more!
This boy so needs a chair! Posted by Hello

Soft bear Posted by Hello

Where's Ryan? Posted by Hello


Peek-a-boo! Posted by Hello