Little Mommy

Lily got 2 dolls for Christmas, one from "Santa" and one at our family party. She was so sweet with the dolls- feeding them bottles, pushing them around in the little stroller she got, giving baths in the baby doll tub, etc. No one told her or showed her what to do it was like she was running on instinct. She was so cute.

Last night after dinner Lily had pudding for dessert. I was in the kitchen when I noticed her spooning pudding on her place mat. I started toward her"No, Lily. That is not what we..." and that is when I noticed she was placing the pudding very deliberately on each of the Sesame Street character's mouths. I had to turn around to hide my laughter. It was cute, but I didn't want her to do it again. There are about 15 characters on her place mat, so it was quite messy. I don't know if it was me telling her know that triggered something in her brain or what, but it was this point when she realized she had made a mess. She gets upset when things are messy, especially her hands. While she was pointing out the mess to me, "Mesh! Mommy, isa MESH!", she dipped her hand in one of the pudding piles. She got very upset and needed a napkin RIGHT NOW! Oh boy was is a mess. We got it all cleaned up and it was cute how she fed all the characters, but I think we might flip her place mat over to the side with more shapes than characters for a while.

What's Goin' On? (in bullets)

-I'm done all my Christmas shopping! (well, I do have to buy the secret wrapping paper for the kid's gifts and some ribbon, but that doesn't count)

-Lily is very into imaginary play. She likes to take care of Ryan's Caillou doll. She rubs his back to put him to sleep, gives him drinks and "yummies" and carries him around. This is a fairly new development and it's so fun to watch.

-Ryan seems to have turned a corner. He is not disobeying and whining for no reason so much anymore.

-Lily is in her own room now and everyone seems to be sleeping better.

-I got twin sized sheets and a comforter to try to get Ryan to agree to a new bed. I think he is slowly coming around, but he has had a lot of change lately and he doesn't seem to like it very much.

-Ryan had early preschool the other day because the elementary school closed early. Lily and I had the best time. It was so fun to have one on one time with her. She is usually napping or cranky because she won't nap when Ryan is at school. Since he went in the morning that day she was bright and cheerful. We played ball, grocery store and cooked in the play kitchen. Then we sat down to a pretend meal with tea. She is so fun!

-Last weekend we had Cookie Day. Ryan decorated his trays all by himself this year. In typical little kid style he covered his multicolored, patchwork cookies with mounds of sprinkles and/or jimmies. Lily got her first taste of decorating. It didn't last too long because she spilled blue food coloring all over herself and me. It did all come out thankfully and she'll be a better decorator next year. That's how it works- you get better and better every year.

-It snowed in early December so I was able to get a picture for our Christmas card while the kids were sledding. I love it when I can get snowy pictures for our Christmas cards.

-I had the worst case of PMS this month. I rue the days I thought people were putting on about PMS using it as an excuse. I find it terribly annoying that it is a real thing and I can't stand that I don't have ANY control over it. What annoys me most about it though is the way guys throw that word around whenever a girl is in a bad mood. Anyway, I'm better now and I feel very silly about the whole deal.

-I am excited for Christmas and it seems so far away. That is until I start thinking of all the stuff I have to do first and then it seems much too close.

-We had a crazy lesson about fire and candles this weekend when our Advent wreath caught fire. We are still not sure what happened, but the whole side of one of the candles is gone and the greenery below it was ablaze until I blew it out. Now I have to go out and find a purple candle before Sunday. Do you know how hard it is to find purple candles?! And if you are luck enough to find purple candles they don't have the same kind in pink. I was so excited to find Advent Candle packs a few years ago I bought multiple packs. This was the last set I had. I should have known something was wrong when I realized one of the purples was not the same color as the others.

Christmas Came Early to Our House

The work is done! Our house will be back to normal soon! I'm so excited to be ale to do what I want when I want and not have to worry about working around the project(s) of the day. I am so happy we did this. It has been such a blessing to us to have the extra room. Now all 3 kids will have their own rooms which will mean much less running up and down the stairs at night to stop them from playing with each other. So without further ado, I give you pictures.

Here is our living room. We added 2 windows, painted and added hardwoods. I LOVE it!

The hardwoods extend over into the dining room. So now every night we thank God for our food and then after we eat when I'm cleaning up I thank Him for my hardwoods! It's so much better than carpet under the table where I feed my kids!

This is Lily's room. It's a very lovely shade of lavender.

The carpets finally went into Lily's room and the upstairs hallway today, so we can move her in now!!! I'm so excited!

Did I ever post pictures of the new parts of the house (our room and the family room) when they were finished?

Oh, That Boy

So Ryan has had some behavior issues lately. I think he is still adjusting to 5 day preschool. He has been cranky, clingy and defiant. It's been a hard couple months. Really hard. Just when I think I'm at the end of my proverbial rope he does or says something that give me hope that my sweet little boy still exists inside the over-tired crank pot that currently lives in our house. Like the other night when he had had a particularly hard bed time. I went in and said prayers with him. I got up to leave and as I turned the light off I heard his little voice, "Mommy?" I was still frustrated with him so I was probably a little too short with him when I replied, "Yeeees, Ryan." Imagine my guilt when he says to me, "I love you any way you feel." It's a line from one of the books we read. I love that book and I'm so glad the message is getting through to him. Of course I replied with another line from the same book, "I love you too, Ryan, no matter what you do." The next morning didn't seem as bad.

Sweet Song

I was singing Lily her normal bedtime songs tonight and she was singing along. Not too much unusual about that until I was singing "Jesus loves little Lily." She usually sings "Jesus loves Ryan" which makes sense because I usually do their songs together and sing "Jesus loves big Ryan" before or after. Tonight as I sang her part she sang "Jesus loves Mommy" all on her own. [melt] So even though it took an hour to put her down tonight I can't be too mad. What can I say... the girl knows how to work me.

Testing, 1, 2, 3

Lily counted to 10 almost all by herself yesterday. She got stuck on 4, but when I said it for her she went on to 5 and finished up to 10. Just out of the blue she started counting and since she can't quite get the word four I helped her out. Today she did all the counting by herself except the four was pretty unintelligible. The only reason you'd know it was a 4 is that is came in between 3 and 5. Still pretty good for 19 months old!

And the weight was lifted...

My brother came home a couple weeks ago and we met my dad at the airport tonight. It's nice to have my whole family in the same wonderful country again. Love you dad and T. We're so glad you are home safe and sound. [Thank You, God]

We met both of them at the airport with lots of family because they live close. We clapped and cheered for all the servicemen and women as they came out. It was a lot of fun. Seeing the smiles on the faces of the people coming back was priceless. Some stopped to shake hands with us and say thanks to us for the welcome. Some waved in appreciation, some just smiled and some(the ones who are probably most like me) just kept going and pretended they didn't see us. I get that, it's cool. I hope they feel appreciated and not too embarrassed.

Is Bob the Builder in Your Bible?

Ryan was looking through his children's Bible for which story he wanted to hear. He stopped on this page...

He asked, "Is that Bob praying?"
He is of course refering to Bob the Builder. We have a book that shows Bob without his hat and the resemblance is uncanny.

I couldn't help but laugh as I told him, "No, sweetie, Bob the Builder is not in the Bible. That is Daniel praying." I went on to tell him what was going on in the scene.

He patiently waited for me to finish then said, "Mom, Bob the Builder might not be in the Bible, but Pilchard is."

For those who don't know Bob and Pilchard see below. Pilchard is the cat. The chick is Wendy.

The Things Lily Does...

to get someone to get her from bed.

Some nights Lily does not want to go to sleep when we put her down for the night. We usually let her fuss or call for a few minutes before we would go check on her unless of course it sounds urgent. When we do go in we try not to have to pick her up to get her to calm down. That hardly ever works, but we go for the least intervention that we can until something works. Usually rocking in her room does the trick. Those are our strategies.

Now for Lily's strategies...

1) Call for Mommy
if that doesn't work
2) Call for Daddy
if Daddy isn't home or doesn't come
3) Call out, "I'm stuck!"

She pulled out her first strategy for getting out of her room last night. She took off her diaper and tinkled in the corner of the bed. Jay found her diaper when he was looking for her blanket in the dark. Good times.

Our First Field Trip

We went to the pumpkin patch on Ryan's first field trip today. He had tons of fun. We took a hay ride to the pumpkins and picked out one pumpkin for Ryan and three gourds for the table. Then we went back to the game area. It took a little while for him to interact with his classmates, but once he got started he was off. He ran through the hay maze with his friends. Then more friends came along and it turned into Ryan running and everyone else trying to catch him. He was running so fast he kept bouncing off the hay walls like a pinball. There was one kid who would tackle him every time he caught him. Ryan seemed to think it was fun though I was a little worried when I couldn't see what was going on and they were down for a while after he got tackled. He had one collision that brought him out of the maze for a minute or two for a kiss. By the time he got to me he had a big red bump, but after a few kisses he was off again. After about a half hour more of the running into hay walls (very prickly hay walls) I decided his little body had had enough even if he didn't know it. I called him out and he came right away (this was particularly impressive because several other parents had told their children it was time to go and they were ignored). He was sad about having to go and you could see it on his face, but he didn't fuss. I told him we could do the bean bag toss if he wanted and he decided to give it a try. Again he had a blast. He has a decent arm. At some point he made this noise when he got it in the hole. He said, "That's what I'm going to do when I make it and I'm going to say 'Awwww' when I don't make it." Here is a little video so you can get the flavor of the next few minutes.



This kid cracks me up!

Guess Where I Didn't Sleep Last Night

About the time I would be thinking of going to bed last night we heard some coughing on the monitor. It sounded like Ryan, sort of. Jay went up to check it out. The next thing I hear on the monitor is Jay whispering, "Jen, I need your help!" So I run up and find Jay holding Ryan. Ryan is barking like a seal and crying. Jay wanted to get him out of his room because we had just changed rooms around and Lily was in the room with him for the first time. It would have been a huge disaster if Lily woke up crying too. Ryan couldn't stop coughing or crying. I brought Ryan to our room and snuggled with him in our bed while Jay ran around getting medicine and such. Nothing was helping. I turned on a movie which stopped the full out crying, and helped him relax a bit, but he was still coughing and his breathing was labored. Jay was concerned that he might be having an asthma attack. So we took him to the ER. We were given a room right away. They gave him a nebulizer(sp?) breathing treatment and some steroids. Then we had to wait there while the steroids kicked in to make sure he was comfortable enough to go home. It was a little iffy for a while if we were going to come home or if he would be admitted for observation. The good news is that is was croup and not a lifelong disease like asthma. At 3:30AM we were released with the understanding that if he had trouble breathing again we would be right back in the ER. I didn't have any idea that croup could be that bad. The room we were in had one bed and one chair that didn't seem all that comfortable when I really wanted to be stretched out on my nice soft mattress. Since Jay and I had both gone with Ryan (luckily my mom is here so she stayed with the other two) we took turns sitting on the bed with Ryan and in the chair. After a couple hours the sitting on the bed became lying on the bed. Don't think there was one bit of rest going on while we laid on that bed though, Ryan was practically bouncing off the walls after he could breath better. I guess it had something to do with side effects from the breathing treatment. He is still sleeping as is Jay.

How was your night?

Guess Where I Slept Last Night!

In our new room of course! It was a little strange, but wonderful, to go to sleep there last night. I think I woke up with a smile on my face for possibly the first time in my life (I'm not exactly a morning person). It was just so bright and beautiful I couldn't help but beam. I can't put in to words how much I love the new space, upstairs and down. The family room is just as great as our bedroom. Yesterday all three kids had their own things out on the floor and there was plenty of space for everyone. My mom was playing with Lily, Jay was on the computer right there with everyone and I was just soaking in the togetherness. I LUV it!!!

It's Getting Exciting People!!!

It's been a while since you've gotten a construction update. It's not because nothing is happening. It's mostly because I have not made time to post. Today is an exciting day. The inspector came yesterday and did the final inspection. Matt passed and that means we can move in to the area. That's all fine and good, but the carpet didn't go in until today. I think we'll be spending some time tonight moving stuff in to our new rooms! We still need bars in the closet and glass around our shower, so it's not a fully functional bedroom yet, but it's getting close. It's strange and wonderful all at the same time to have these new parts of our house that we can actually use now. I'm actually not sure I want to sleep in there tonight because we don't have window coverings yet and I do NOT want to wake up at the crack of dawn, but I might anyway just because I can;-)

Here is our contractor, Matt, putting the hardwoods in our closet. They are done now, but there is stuff on them so I can't really get a good picture.
Here is our sink. We need to get a new vanity because that one came damaged:-(

Working, if not enclosed, shower.

I think you can tell what this is. It works too.

Here is the family room and you can see the office area to the left.

This is our room all carpeted and ready to go!

She Asked!

Lily asked to use the potty this morning! She was in her chair at the table and she said something along the lines of "blah blah blah potty." I asked if she wanted to use the potty as I got her up. "Yes!" She exclaimed in the clearest way she has ever said it. She dashed off upstairs and she did. It make me wonder if I should try to train her. If we should use underwear instead of diapers. She seems a little young for that, but I don't want to lose this enthusiasm she has for it. Up until now I've just been of the opinion that every stinky in the potty is one more diaper I have to change...woo-hoo! Now I'm not sure if I should be trying to help this potty thing along.

NINE!

Lily just brought me a number book opened to the page with 9 strawberries, pointed and shouted, "NINE! NINE! NINE!" This brings the total number of numbers (did you follow that?) that she recognizes and says to 3. They are 2, 8 and 9.

She is so cute when she counts. If she has more than one of something she will move the items 1 at a time from one place to another saying "Two, three" over and over until she gets to the end. It's quite adorable.

Out of Curiosity

1) How are design/decorating decisions made in your house?

2) How do you think they should be made?

More Progress

Yellow family room. I like it.

Window trim in the bedroom. You can also see the outlets with wall plates if you look.

Wall tile in the shower.

I love standing in the new bedroom. I just look around and feel so happy. I LOVE the color. At first I thought it was too bright. I think it was because I saw it when it was still wet. After it dried I liked it more. The finish was pearl for the first coat because Jay doesn't like flat. He wanted a shinier finish. I love the flat look for walls, but I deferred to Jay and he "compromised" by going with pearl (one step above eggshell and one below his preferred satin finish). After the first coat Jay deferred to me because he did not like the color at all. I tried a sample of another blue, but decided to go with the first blue because it made me sad to cover it up. So the guys did a coat of flat summer blue and I LOVE it. It might appear a little bright to some, but I really like it. I really love it with the white trim. Matt was very patient with me when I asked him to wait so I could look at the color samples in the light of the bedroom. He was also patient, though he did tease me quite a bit, when I twisted Jay's arm decided to go with the original color.

I also love the way the bathroom is shaping up. I love the colors, the cabinets, the tiles. I just love it. I can't wait to move in!

Lily's Potty Breakthrough

So, the other night (whenever I wrote that blurb, I knew I wouldn't remember and that's why I wrote that) Lily and Ryan were in the bath. Lily stood up, bent her knees and grunted a little. I asked if she had to use the potty and to my surprise she looked at me with a thoughtfully cocked head and said, "Yeah." It sounded like on of those in passing type yeah's you might get if you ask someone if they like their sandwich. For a second I didn't really believe her because she knows when you ask a question and usually replies with a "yeah" or a "no", but I'm not sure she always understands what she is answering. I believed her a little more when she reached her arms up for me to take her out of the tub. She hardly ever wants to get out of the tub. So I dried her off and held her on the big potty since I had not yet retrieved the little on from the basement. She didn't do anything on there, so I put a pull up on her and ran down to the basement to get the potty. I grabbed some cleaner and paper towels on the way back up. I sprayed and cleaned the potty as fast as I could whilst still making sure it was good and clean. [ a little aside: I sprayed the blue shield piece before I realized she wouldn't need it. It was a bit strange pulling it off since I've been through two boys who needed it before her, but I quickly threw it in the sink so I could get the parts that mattered clean.] I sat her on the little potty and Ryan realized he had to go too, so he did his thing. Lily got up and down, up and down. When Ryan got down she pointed to the big potty indicating she wanted to go there. I put her little seat on and she sat up there and produced. We cheered and celebrated, Daddy even ran up from downstairs. She LOVED all the attention. Maybe that's why she continues to love sitting on the potty.

She has used the potty quite a bit since then. She is no where close to not needing diapers, but she knows what to do. Most times I ask her if she wants to use the potty she says yeah. Every time she does she manages to do something. She likes using the big potty better than the little one. She has done all her stinkies on the big potty. Sometimes she will do peeps on the little potty, but if she needs to do more she will get up, take the seat and put it on the big potty. Then she holds her arms up and waits to be lifted to her throne;-)

We're Getting Closer

Tile floor is in in the bathroom.

Tile floor in the shower.
Our bedroom walls are painted.

Our family room is painted(picture to come) and the switches and outlets are in place.
Woohoo. We're getting closer:-)

The First Pre-school Drop Off

Today was Ryan's first day at Preschool by himself. Yesterday we went together and we spent about an hour with half of his class and their parents. They had some free time, then circle time and a craft that we helped them with yesterday.

Ryan has afternoon preschool, so we had Coffee Break this morning then came home for lunch and went to drop him off. I brought my camera (of course!) I can't believe I was the only one. Oh well, I'm not going to miss having a starting preschool scrapbook page just because I'm the only nerd with a camera! One other person had a camera yesterday. Maybe all those kids went to pre-school at 3 years old too so their parents didn't think it was a big deal. It was a big deal to me. ANYWAY, today was much less involved for me. We waited outside the door with the rest of the class until the teacher came and opened the door. I gave Ryan a kiss and he walked in to his classroom stopping to give me a big "cheese" smile in the doorway. Lily and I started to leave and guess who started crying...Lily! I never thought to prepare her for taking Ryan somewhere and leaving him behind. As we walked away she cried and said, "Where Yai-ya?!" [translation- Where's Ryan?!] "Wan Yai-ya!" [I want Ryan!] As we walked out the the car I explained to her that Ryan was going to preschool. We would leave Ryan at preschool. Lily and Mommy would go home and then we would come back and pick Ryan up. Amazingly enough she stopped crying. I totally expected her to fall asleep in the car because it was nap time, but no dice. So we did our normal nap time routine. I put her in her crib and finished her songs. She was still, so I started to walk out. She popped up on her elbow, waved with her other hand and said, "DYE-dye! Dye-dye!" Somehow I actually took this as a good sign, maybe because she was smiling. A couple minutes later I hear a very distressed sounding "MAMA! MAMA!" I found her straddling her side rail with a mixed look of terror and pride. ::Sigh:: By this time I figured she wasn't going to get a full nap anyway since Ryan had a short day, so I let her stay up. I'm hoping that wasn't a mistake. I changed a load of wash, talked to the contractor, tried to pick out a carpet color and paint color for the family room and checked out the progress on our bedroom color. Then it was time to pick up Ryan. Lily and I waited patiently in that same hallway for the kids to be dismissed from class. Ryan was called to come second. He seemed to take a while, but had a huge grin on his face when he finally appeared. He came out and threw his arms around me. I asked how preschool was and he said it was good.

It was drizzling, so we got his Diego umbrella out of his backpack to walk the 10 yards to the car. It wasn't really necessary, but it makes him feel cool. In the car I asked what he did today. He said he played with trains and drew a picture of himself and that's it. I probed him a little more and he added that he played in the kitchen. I asked if he had circle time and he said, "Yeah, but it was boring. They just talked for a long time." I could almost feel his eyes rolling from the front seat. I asked if he had a story in circle time and he said, "No. It was boring. They just talked." I asked if he listened to what they said and he said "Yes, but it was boring." I asked if they did the weather for the day and he perked up a tiny bit and said they put up a rain cloud. I'm thinking he is not a big fan of circle time. I asked if they did a craft and he said they just drew pictures of themselves. Then he giggled and said he called his picture of himself "Rockman" because he drew it like a rock. I'm not sure what that means, but he seemed amused. I asked if he was ready to go back tomorrow and he said, "No." At first I was surprised because he seemed like he had fun and he said he liked it earlier. I understood as he continued, "because circle time was so boring." I pointed out all the other things that were fun and he changed his tune.

I guess he has forgotten about the dreaded circle time by now because I just asked if he was ready to go back to school tomorrow and he jumped up and exclaimed, "YES!" Ah, the mind of a 4 year old.

Pictures from the day:

Come on mom! Let's go in.

Down the hallway to his classroom.

In front of the classroom.

Going in.
Too bad the focus is so bad because this is a cute picture of him saying cheese for me (I didn't ask, he just said it) as he went in to his classroom.

Breaking News

Lily did a stinky on the potty! More later.

Oh the Milestones They Keep a' Comin'

We went to Ryan's preschool for the open house today. It was a nice classroom and the teacher seemed sweet. It was kind of crowded and very loud, but I think that was more because of all the parents and siblings. They had two classes in the same room and Ryan was a little overwhelmed. The teachers had made a scavenger hunt which was a fantastic idea because there was just so much to take in I think we would have missed a lot. Ryan looked right at the bookshelf 3 times before he found the books. That was with looking for one item at a time! He liked it and he can't wait to start Monday.

Lily can now climb into and out of her crib and she does it often. This girl worries me!

On the Party

As I laid in my bed last night I was thinking about my post and I realized it might be taken the wrong way. I almost couldn't fall asleep- almost, but I was really tired. So I wanted to clear up any misunderstanding. When I wrote the other post I was really lamenting in my failure to plan an engaging party. I don't want anyone to think I was complaining about the kids or the number of people. I was actually really touched that so many people wanted to come celebrate Ryan. It was really just that I had it planned a certain way and so much of it didn't quite turn out the way I planned. Over all I think it turned out fine. I *think* Ryan's guests had fun and Ryan remembers his party fondly. That's really what matters. Thanks to all those who came. We enjoyed your company:-)

Jabber, Jabber

Lily is talking up a storm lately. She still babbles at us with a look on her face that makes you sure she knows what she is saying even if you can't understand it. She likes getting any response, but she delights in it when you recognize what she has said and repeat it back to her. She lights up like a Christmas tree. More and more I am recognizing words when she talks to me. She seems to be speaking multiple new words each day now. I guess this is the verbal explosion I've read so much about on Erin's blog. I can only guess because to be honest I've never actually clicked through to the articles she links. It's really fun to watch her discover. This week she has been repeating cause and effect experiments constantly. Whether she is flipping the switch to turn the light on and off for as long as someone will hold her there or trying to make people laugh again with the same antics that made them laugh the first time she relishes the accomplishment of causing something to happen. She giggles every time the light goes off and every time it come back on for her. She is a pretty fun baby, but don't get her started on a back and forth scream contest with Ryan because that might bust your ear drums. The girl can shriek.

Did I forget to mention that today is Lily's 18th month-day? Yep, 18 months flies when it's your baby. I can't believe she's already a year and a half old! My sweet smiley girl with giggles galore is growing up. Okay, she's not headed off to college yet, but she's not really a baby anymore either.

Ryan's Party- Flop or Fun?

Curious George..it was the theme of the day. I'm not sure the kids really fully appreciated the theme, but I had a lot of fun putting the party together. I created several games and activities based on George's adventures. I planned on taking full advantage of our unfinished floors in the addition by putting paper on the walls and letting the kids paint. So I had that all set up. I went about starting the activities trying to introduce the book as I went along. I knew I wouldn't be able to read all the stories to the kids, but I thought they might sit still for ONE! I started to read Curious George goes to School, but it was obvious no one was paying attention, so I paraphrased until I got to the point I wanted to make about mixing colors to make new colors. Then I was going to give each child red, yellow and blue on a paper plate to mix. That idea feel by the wayside when one of the kids took a brush and dipped it into the first paint I put on the first plate and walked across the room with it to the wall. ::sigh:: So I picked up all the plates and moved them close to the wall and then added the other two colors after the kids had already started painting on the walls. I never got the chance to introduce the second activity. I was going to tell them about George's surprise party where he found a box full of decorations and decorated the room for his own party. I had streamers and paint brushes for the kids to use in a box over by the wall that was to be decorated. We were going to do the streamers first before it got too messy with paint. Too late. We didn't end up using the streamers, but the kids did enjoy painting on the walls even if they didn't know why they were doing it. I guess the kids ended up being more like George than I thought. They found the box and decorated, just like him. Some were also too curious to wait for me to give them paint. They opened some they found behind me and some even thought it looked tasty. ::sigh:: We had two ice cream activities for Curious George goes to an Ice Cream Parlor. First we stuck the sprinkles on the ice cream George was holding on a poster. This game may be a little more advanced than I thought. I think some kids do not like the idea of not being able to see. It was all good though. I think everyone enjoyed it in the end and the other kids were too young to get upset about it not being fair. I declared everyone a winner, gave out stickers and tried to herd them all up to the ice cream table. I thought this would be a huge hit- Make your own sundae with all sorts of toppings- Who wouldn't love that?! Some kids did really like it, but some didn't even want ice cream! By the time that was done I had just about given up on organized games. I had another craft and a couple more activities, but the kids were having fun playing with toys in the living room and sometimes you just have to go with the flow. I changed gears and we sang happy birthday and opened presents. Then it was free play. Some kids decided to paint again and some decided to just play downstairs. It's funny because I went down with the kids and most of the other adults stayed upstairs. The adults were louder- by quite a bit. The kids actually managed to have some organized game action and painting fun. I felt a little bad for ditching all the adults, but I figured if they were being that loud they must be talking to each other and I needed to make sure the painting didn't get too out of hand;-)

Poor Ryan for a lot of this was coming up to me and saying things like, "It's so crowded. Can I go up stairs and play?" I kept reminding him that his friends were all here to see him and that as soon as they were gone he would be asking me to play with them. I think he kind of realized, but it was of little consolation to a child who likes quieter more focused play. I was right. As soon as all his friends were gone he was asking about them and why they couldn't stay to play. ::sigh:: It's really my fault that it got so out of hand. Usually I am a firm believer in the one guest per year of the birthday child's age. Last year I let Ryan invite 4 kids in case one couldn't come. Two couldn't come, so he ended up with only 2 guests and I felt bad about it. So this year I let him invite 8 kids since half couldn't come last year and if half couldn't come this year it would make a nice 4 guest party. Only two couldn't come...oops. I figured we were good up until the last day. I was even worried that we wouldn't have 4 guests. I got one last minute(and I mean the person was walking out the door to come to the party) RSVP and I didn't fully account for the affect toddler siblings would have on the space, so there was a lot going on. Don't get me wrong, I love siblings and parents, but when you have an average of 3 extra people per guest and you've set up for less guests than you ended up having it gets kind of crowded. At one point I thought I should just plan back to back play dates with 5 kids next year;-) I'm curious to see how other people handle things at this age. I'm thinking with almost every kid we know in pre-school it's going to be a normal thing for them to get dropped off places, so maybe I'll have just the kids next year? Do people still do that? I don't think I've seen a party like that with my kids yet. No wonder the home party is growing extinct, it's nearly impossible to do! The problem with that is I so much enjoy Ryan's friends' parents. I want to spend time with them too. Oh, the dilemmas. The bright side is that having too many friends is a much better problem to have than not having enough. I still have to figure out what I am going to do about next year and Zach's birthday. I'm not as worried about Lily yet because she will be 2. I can handle 2 guests plus accessories;-)
Maybe next year we will just have more of a free play atmosphere. I feel like such a bad party hostess if all the kids are about doing their own things though. I'm about to give up this whole home party idea(which I love) and join the masses by throwing a gymnastics or Chuck E Cheese party next time. It's not like I saved any money by doing it at home with all the decorations, food and supplies. I just love the idea of having friends over to the house where we can do the old fashioned party thing. I really enjoy planning the Ryan's parties too. I love to take a theme and run with it. The games, the activities, the fun I love it all. Sometimes I long for a simpler time with backyard picnics, good friends, simple games and simple fun.

Happy 4th Birthday Ryan!

I should have written something this morning, but the day has just been so busy. We started with breakfast at Panera. When we got to the parking lot Ryan said, "I don't think I'm going to like this place." He had wanted to go somewhere where they had chicken nuggets for breakfast. After he ate his chocolate chip muffie (aka- muffin top, I guess someone at Panera watched Seinfeld back in the day)I asked if he liked the place and got an enthusiastic head shake with a big chocolaty grin. When we got home we played in the front yard for a while. Then he watched Toy Story with Grandma while I went to the store to tie up some loose ends for his party Saturday. While I was at the party store I picked up a balloon bouquet for today. He shared one of his balloons with Lily and I think it made her week. She grinned and giggled and played with that balloon most of the day. Ryan also played with his balloons. Most of his games ended with a big thud as he landed on the floor after jumping off some makeshift apparatus to grab the ribbons. Jay's family and my mom all came for dinner and cake. Elizabee came more for the ice cream than any of that stuff, but they all came for Ryan and he thought that was special. He also got calls from Uncle TJ and Grandpa(aka my brother and dad) who couldn't be here. That was pretty cool too. Unfortunately for Grandpa he called right in the middle of a very cool Lego project Ryan was working on with Uncle Ben. He did talk to Grandpa for a few minutes and he told him some stuff about his day, but his attention could only be held away from that space ship for so long. Sorry, Dad, if it felt like an abrupt end to your conversation. He does that sometimes. It was really special to have the family that could come to celebrate and though Ryan doesn't fully get how much that means it does mean a lot and some day he will look back and it will mean a whole lot more. Thanks to everyone who made Ryan's day special. I love to see my boy smile the way he did today.

Drywall!!!!

It's starting to look like a real room!

Here is our bedroom from the hall entrance.

The other side.

Side wall. Closet on the left, bathroom on the right.

Shower.

Potty cubby.

Vanity area.

Pilates

I'm thinking of signing up for a Pilates class at the local community college. I'm trying to be proactive in getting rid of this second baby muffin top that seems to have taken up residence in my middle. I'm a little worried about it because I don't know anything about Pilates except what I've read about it's origins on the Internet. I wonder if I'll be able to do it. I kind of wish I knew someone who would do it with me. I asked one friend, but she can't do it right now. She did say keep her in mind for next year. Almost all of the other women I think might be interested already belong to gyms. Why would they want to pay for a class? I have one more person to ask before I give up. Don't worry Erin, it's not you;-) If I don't find someone to go with I'm afraid I will lose the will to go. Sad, but true. I need accountability.

Point and Speak

Saturday Lily pointed to her nose and said, "No-s". I congratulated her on her unprompted accomplishment and she beamed. She immediately pointed to her teeth and said, "Teesh". I guess she figured she was on a roll because she pointed to my toe and said, "too" and then my flip flop became a "schoooo". She has been going a little crazy with the new words. I was feeling all proud until the neighbor came to the bus stop this morning with her baby girl that is 3 months younger than Lily and she pointed to Lily and clear as day said, "Baby!" Her words were very clear and apparently she has lots of them. I guess Lily was talking 3 months ago. It just seems like such a new thing. I know I shouldn't compare and I know Lily is smart. For a moment though, just for a moment I thought she *might* not be the smartest baby in the world. Then I came to my senses and realized I was just over reacting;-)

A Long Time Comin'

I knew it had been a long time since I posted pictures of the progress on our house, but I didn't realize until I looked to see what I last posted that it has been since July! Sorry for those following along. Honestly for awhile it seemed like things were stalled. I felt like they were never going to finish for a couple weeks. They were mostly working on the closet I asked them to build for about 2 weeks. The shelves are all built now and I finally got to move the toys in. I LOVE it. This closet is like an answer to my prayers. One central place to keep our toys close to where we will spend most of our time(the new family room). It also creates a bit of a foyer in the front of the house which I like.

Some of these pictures are recap since I have been taking pictures all along, but I did get to posting them.

This is the view from the front door now. Matt put up a really thin drywall to cover the textured ceiling as a surprise for me when I came back from my mom's house because he knew I didn't like them. You'll see the texture if you look at the ceiling of the closet.

This is the hallway to the garage you can see goes off to the left from the entryway.

These are the cubbies Matt suggested. One for each kid.

This is the closet, the second area you see of to the side of the entryway.

Here is the left side of the family room with insulation. See the boards on the wall? Those are in case Jay ever wants to mount a TV there.

This is the other side of the family room.

This is the closet in our bedroom.

Here is the bathroom.

The closet is on the left and the bathroom on the right.

You can't see the roof from our bedroom anymore:-) See that little board over the door? That is where our new plasma TV will be mounted. You can guess whose idea that was. This from the man who made me get rid of the TV I had in my room when we got married.

Jay is installing surround sound before they put up the drywall.

The kids watched him.

Ryan helped.

Lily tried to help, but really she just picked up whatever tools where laying around and handed them to daddy.

This installing hidden wires is serious business.

Lily finally got to really help:-)

Here is the best part of the week...I got to put stuff in the closet! Do you know how much space that stuff has been taking up in my living room?!

Little kid toys on the bottom, then bigger kid toys and finally stuff that could cause a problem for a toddler(small parts, etc.)

We have a few games too;-)

Tomorrow they start the drywall!!! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The vanity and medicine cabinets came today. It feels like things are really coming together. I can't wait to see what happens this week!

To those who are coming to the party this weekend...don't worry I've been promised that the family room will be available for Saturday.

I love this dress!

Don't anyone tell me she looks like a boy in her little blue dress or I might have to beat you down! ;-)

I had to go out and buy Lily some fall clothes because the weather has been so cool and she doesn't have anything. I didn't find much, but I did find two little outfits I love- both dresses. This little dress has a long sleeved hoodie that goes with it. So cute! I debated getting it because of it's blueness, but it does have pink in the skirt and it is so dogon' cute!