Revitalization

I was making a book of Lily's first year yesterday. I know I'm a slacker, but the point is I spent some time checking through my old blog entries. I was looking for facts about her firsts, but what I found was much more than that. As I read I relived moments in time. Some moments I didn't remember until I read the entry. Some moments I remembered, but loved thinking about again. It was wonderful. I realized I want to keep capturing those moments so I can look back and my kids can read them some day. I have not been doing a good job keeping up with my blog, but today I am making the decision to revive this old blog.

Can we go to the post office?

Yesterday Ryan came up to me and said, "Can we go to the post office tomorrow?"
"Sure," I said.
He beamed and held up an envelope with "To God" written on the front.
I said, "Oh, you wrote a letter to God. What did you write to him about?" I was expecting something about Christmas.
"I asked him to make Petey (his friend from school) feel better tomorrow." Apparently Petey has the flu, poor kid.

Sometimes a child's faith and innocence can really melt your heart.

Away from the Manger...

When I went to turn on the tree lights this morning I noticed something amiss.

I guess Mary didn't feel like another long ride on a donkey... it does seem a bit crowded though.

PS This is what my mom is referring to in the comments. Just in case you haven't been playing along since 2006.

Wedding

My brother is getting married today. I've never been more excited for a wedding besides my own. Jodi is amazing. I already love her. She brings out the best in TJ, or Thomas as everyone has been calling him for the past two days. They are so cute together. TJ is a great guy and he loves big. I've always known he deserves someone like Jodi and I'm so glad they found each other. I'd been praying for him to meet just the right girl and I believe whole-heartedly that this is the answer to that prayer. It's a very exciting day!
Lily is one of the flower girls and Ryan is the ring bearer. They are going to look so cute! I'll also be standing up for them as a bridesmaid. I can already tell Jay is going to play a pivotal role in the background based on all he did during the rehearsal yesterday. Lily might need some guidance during the ceremony and he was right there when she needed him yesterday. Today she won't be able to do flips up my legs or run up to Uncle TJ and get picked up, so Jay is key to the whole process.

Lily's Way

Today was a rough day. Especially since Lily was up so late last night with ear pain. We went to the doctor this morning. Lily had some wax blocking the doctor's view. It was hard to get it out so they tried to flush it out with water. Lily hated that part. She sucked it up for a while, but after the third or fourth time she started crying. She cried so hard. It didn't work, but it did soften it enough to pull it out with that long earwax tool they have. They removed a huge chunk of wax the doctor said could have been causing the pain and preventing her from hearing anything in that ear. (Talk about making me feel like a bad mom! I feel so bad when they have chunks of wax, but the doctor always tells us not to put anything in their ears. What do you do?) It turns out she does have a 'pretty bad' ear infection. There was a bunch of hullabaloo about getting her prescription covered by insurance. So even though we had gone to kill some time around town we ended up at home. When everything was ready and I could go pick up the prescription I told Lily it was time to go. "I'll just wait here," she said. I told her we needed to go right then so we could be home to pick up Ryan. To this she said, "I can't go. It's in my story, 'Lily waits here.'" If you watch Super Why you know why I was cracking up at this point. Luckily I have watched Super Why and I said, "Let's change the words 'waits here' to 'goes with Mommy.'" She got up with a wry smile on her face and we went. Phew! I really didn't need to take a fussing girl to the pharmacy. She has a way of brightening even my bleakest days.

Branching Out

I'm starting a new blog. I'll still be posting on this one. The new one is very specialized and just for me and my creative endeavours. I'm hoping to keep myself on track with some new goals in my life and I think the new blog will help.

Master of the Indirect Insult

Our Explorer is at the mechanic right now having some "major electrical problems" looked at and hopefully fixed. So we all packed into the MUCH smaller Corolla this morning for church. It would have been fine except Uncle Ben stayed over last night and there is not much room between the car seat and the booster. Uncle Ben squeezed into the tiny spot and made an off hand comment about being fat. When we pulled up to the church Ryan said, "I can't get out because Uncle Ben is...what he said he is....you know before we started the car." I guess he figured if he didn't say the word fat he wasn't being mean. He really wasn't trying to be mean. He just couldn't undo his seat belt because Uncle Ben was blocking it. If you know Uncle Ben you know he is truly not fat, but the space was very small, so he filled it up. We all had a good laugh about it. Truth be told I'm still laughing a little bit right now.

Dress Up

Today I put on Christmas music in preparation for doing the dishes. Lily saw me putting the CD in and asked me if it was music. I told her it was Christmas music, of course she informed me that she wanted "Gecha, gecha, gecha, gecha head in the game." That is what she calls High School Musical. I told her *I* was listening to music right now and it was going to be Christmas music. She acquiesced. Then she informed me she needed to "be like a princess" so she could dance. She donned her Belle costume and began spinning and twirling around the living room. This, of course, was so adorable I had to put the dishes on hold and get my camera. ::shucks:: Unfortunately, the light was not good enough to get an action picture without my flash, but they turned out pretty cute anyway. We had a great time dancing, spinning and rolling around the floor...like princesses mind you.

I'll post a picture once I have access to some editing software that will let me shrink the size.

Ryan's New Joke

Why do some people wear hair?

Because they don't want to look all bald and silly!


Can you tell he made it up himself?

Dear Santa (and any relatives that need ideas)

If you are not related to us you probably won't be at all interested in this post:-)

Christmas Wish lists


Family:
Wii Fit
Guitar Hero for Wii
Wii Music

The adults:
Patio furniture
a fire pit
a new kitchen sprayer (the part of the sink kind)
a small brushed silver trash can with a lid
a Li-ion battery 3.7v for Canon TX1
Star Wars Clone Wars for Wii--lightsaber battles!!! so cool!

Jen:
Cuddl Silks size small (this is a brand of cute long underwear- I've seen them at Macy's and Sears-on sale this week at Sears) I have one pair and LOVE them
Adobe Photoshop Elements
socks
Nice camera bag with room for lenses and a flash
Camera accesories-UV filter, camera cleaning kit, flash bouncing card(I don't know what it's really called, but you mount it behind your flash to bounce the light), shadow box

Jay:
Crisis Warhead
electric shaver (Braun series 5 or 7)
travel coffee mug that won't leak even when turned upside down


The kids:
Balloon Lagoon by Cranium
2 Wii remotes
cash register
real gymnastics mats (available through our gymnastics place and other places)
9' folding practice beam (also available through our gymnastics place and other places I'm sure)
High School Musical 3 Dance for the Wii
Lego Star Wars for Wii

Lily:
Princess bedspread and/or sheets- toddler bed size
Princess anything
Imagination movers CD (it's a kids group from the Disney channel)
dress up stuff (I saw these whole kits at Target for $15- they had Snow White and Cinderella when I was there)
Little People sets
a small flashlight
Cariboo by Cranium
Full length mirror
crib or cradle for doll babies
slippers (size 7)
preschooler durable music player (CD or MP3)

Ryan:
....according to him....
Mustangs
Soccer goal
cool robots (we got one, the U Command Wall-E)
Brio Building sets-motorcycle and race car (These are not readily available. However there is an erector set that I think would fit the bill. One of the models is a motorcycle. I've seen it several different places, so you don't have to buy through that link.)
cool cars
Lightning McQueen toys
Wii games
cool book about Dinosaurs
....added by me....
a small flashlight
slippers size 11/12
Didj by Leap Frog
art "how to" books- he has suddenly taken a huge interest in drawing

Zach:
Wii games- Mario Cart and Super Paper Mario
DS games- Mario party, Pokemon Pearl, Guitar Hero
books by Brian Jacques
comic books

Please note that I will be using this list too.
I will probably continue to add things and I can take something off if you want me to.

Hair Salon

Lily and I played our first game of hair salon. She found the detangling spray I use on her and Ryan and started spraying in my hair. I think she was trying to tease me and expected me to make her stop, but I didn't. We both decided to go with it. She told me she needed to get something and she ran up to my room and got my hairbrush. She brushed my hair and did something that was supposed to be styling it. Then she turned my face to look at her and said, "Look how pwitty!" I love having a girl to do girl things with. The best part is she is not a frilly girly girl. She's a real down to earth, fun girl who likes her femininity, but it doesn't define her. LOVE it!

The votes are in and the winner is...

paper!

Ryan is polling princesses. The first vote was for paper or pencil and paper won. It works like this: Ryan looks around the room and picks two things. Then he asks Lily how each princess vote on the "issue." She gives him an answer for each one and he counts them up. In the second election cars beat out robots. Babies won in a landslide victory over strollers and Mustang edged out digger. It's fun to watch Ryan develop his understanding of real life things. I'm glad I ended up taking him with me today when I voted.

Happy Halloween

Beautiful Belle

I wanted to get a picture of Dash, but he was too fast!

Dash stops running to give Princess Belle a hug.

Never Again...Maybe

Remember that post about Lily being potty trained? I take it all back. As I was writing that very post Lily had an accident. The first of many. These are not usually full fledged pee running down the leg accidents, but they are enough that we need to change her clothes. Some might call it irony, some might call it the blog curse, I just call it annoying. I'm hoping it's just because she has been sick. I'm really, really hoping it stops soon.

The Pants

Lily put on her own pants after she used the potty...backwards. As I fixed them I told her what a good job she did pulling her pants up, but they were on backwards. When I got them on she yelled, "They are NOT right!" She immediately took them off and put them back on backwards. Of course since the snap and zipper were in the back she couldn't fasten them. I thought she would get tired of it after a while, but she went about her playing like everything was okay. So I buttoned them for her. After that she started walking around backwards. So her pants were coming at me the right way, but nothing else was. Silly girl.

Lessons in Spelling

Lily- "G-R-A-C-O. That's how you spell Potty!"


Guess where she got those letters.

Good News

I am now declaring Lily officially potty trained! I probably should have done it earlier. We had a great start and then she started having accidents. They were averaging about one a day for a while. It was probably a combination of me not reminding her as much and the novelty wearing off making her slip back into the old "I'm covered" mode. In the past 3+ weeks she has worn undies at all waking times and only had 3 mishaps. Mostly minor ones having to do with wanting to do everything herself. She's doing really well. I don't even worry when we go out anymore. We are done with the rewards and have been for a while now. It's just a part of daily life now. I can't wait to see how much we are saving on diapers!



Way to go, Lily! I'm so proud!

When Will it End?!

You know why I hate politics? Well, I'll tell you. Every four years our country gets split in two. He's on that side, she's on the other and everyone starts feeling angry at each other. Tensions are high and people you normally like seem like complete jerks and buffoons. We almost all align ourselves with someone and when we hear someone trashing "our" candidate we get so mad. I have to admit that I feel a little bit annoyed just seeing ads and signs for the "other"candidate. I don't know why it get to me, I really don't. The uncertainty of what is to come gives me even more stress. The mud slinging, name calling and general nastiness of people (and I'm not just talking politicians) is unbearable. Then there are my little pet peeves, like stupidity, that come into play. The whole thing just makes me want to stay in my house with my kids, my husband- sometimes anyway (he can get a little to political for me), and my recorded shows so I don't have to watch the political ads. We could invite friends over as long as they sign the "no political conversation" clause or at least agree with my politics;-)
The worst part of it is even though I've picked someone to vote for I don't even agree totally with the positions of that candidate. I just feel like I need to prioritize what is important to me. This two party system where everyone just tows the party line sucks. I wish there could be a candidate that stood for all the good stuff that had a chance of winning. ::Sigh::

Guess What We Did Yesterday...

Ryan LOVED it!

Fun with Photo Editing

I know most people have photo shop or some variation and almost titled this "Fun with Photo shop" except I don't have photo shop anymore. "Fun with Memory Manager" just didn't have the ring I wanted, so you get the best I could come up with under the circumstances. I don't even know why I'm talking about the title. Who cares?

So, anyway, I've been trying to get a good portrait of each kid lately because my favorite photographer moved away. I've never really had a great experience with portrait studios though I'll probably end up there again eventually. There is something about a professional portrait. I've been trying my best to get some good ones of my own. I got this one the other day. I love it except for that red shirt that just glares at you. I wish my daughter didn't feel the need to control her wardrobe as she does, but she does and I just have to live with it. It's part of who she is. I'm fine with it most of the time, like when she wore a beautiful pastel dress and rain boots with bright red cherries the other day. When it starts getting in the way of getting good pictures I get a little annoyed. It makes me want to go put all those old shirts of Ryan's with Lightening McQueen and Thomas right back in the box where she found them. She loves them and that's what keeps me from going all control freak on her. Just let her be who she is, so when she is in her 20's she can look at me the same way I looked at my mother and say, "How could you dress me that way?" Then I can say to her, "You insisted on those clothes. See where stubbornness gets you?" Maybe she'll learn the lesson I'm still working on. All hypothetical future conversations aside, I really didn't like the look of that red shirt in this picture. I thought about trying to change the color, but that always looks so fake. I couldn't crop the shoulder out because that would ruin the composition. The idea of black and white seemed like a good one. While I was looking I saw this "take color out" tool. I thought I'd give it a try. I think I like it.

Original

I liked this one okay, but I thought if I could just lighten the color a bit...

This is what I came up with in the end.

I think I like it better than if the shirt had been a better color in the first place. A blessing in disguise?

The First Cut

Lily got her first hair cut. I was really unsure about it because I love her little curls. She won't let me put barrettes in to hold back the front though, so I had no choice. I had to get some bangs cut. I wasn't brave, or foolish enough to do it myself, so I took her to my good friend, Sheri. Sheri is wonderful. She does my hair, she's done my mom's hair and Ryan has never gotten his hair cut by anyone else. When Sheri was on maternity leave she came to our house to cut Ryan's hair! She's always been great with Ryan and Lily was no different. She sat on the chair all by herself. She mostly did everything Ms. Sheri asked. She was still and patient. She even talked about how fun it was later. The bangs are really helping keep her hair out of her face. I even had a little bit taken off the back. I wasn't sure when i went in if I would. I my exact words were, "Okay, here's the thing...I don't want to be one of those moms who can't bring herself to cut her little girl's hair and it ends up being a scraggly mess,[insert knowing laughs from every hair stylist within earshot] BUUUUUT I do love her curls. If you think cutting the back will make her hair look a lot fuller I'll do it." She did think it would help to cut off about 3/4 of an inch to help the shorter hairs catch up. I knew it would help to cut it, but I was afraid how much would have to be cut to make a difference and I wasn't sure with her curls how much of a difference it would make. It did make a difference and it really doesn't even look much shorter. All in all I'm happy I was brave enough to get it cut.

Oh, you want pictures? Well, if you insist. I think I have a few.

Bangs first. Okay, just don't cut off all her curls.

All done.

We got a smile!
That's more like it.
This is how we got the smile;-)
Do you love the boots? She picked out her whole outfit.

After shot.

It's Lily...with bangs:-)

Little Helper

Lily came into the kitchen while I was making dinner last night. When she noticed I was cooking she tilted her sweet little head and said, "Can I give you a hand?"

Where does she get this stuff? I don't think I even say that. It was very sweet though. She helped me add the spices to the spaghetti sauce, but that was really all I had left to do for a while. She seemed satisfied enough with that.

Ew

PETA is stupid. According to this article they want Ben and Jerry's to make their ice cream with human breast milk. Show of hands...who would never eat ice cream made with a stranger's breast milk?

http://www.wbaltv.com/health/17539627/detail.html

Ben and Jerry's is so right to say no. What about the fact that you can't control what humans eat or what medications or drugs they take that could be passed through the milk. What about those human babies that are not getting the milk they need? They will just have to be on, or be supplemented with, formula made with ::gasp:: cows milk. Plus it would change the taste of the ice cream and they wouldn't be able to maintain taste even if they found one that worked because what you eat changes the taste of your milk. Apparently the PETA people need to talk to some lactation consultants and get educated on breast milk. This is just silliness.

I can't believe PETA has any members and supporters anymore, much less 2 million, especially after they killed all those strays and unwanted pets they promised to protect. How do you measure supporters anyway? I'm all for treating all of God's creations with respect and care, but you can take things too far. And PETA? They are out there. I have a hard time believing anything they say. Sometimes I want to create a group of animal supporters and environmental supporters that have good heads on their shoulders and won't be taken in by this craziness. You know, just people who care about the environment and animals that do what they can and encourage others to as well. Ones who rely on real science and common sense, not scare tactics and sensationalistic garbage. Maybe some day there will be such a group.

::Stepping off soapbox::

Now back to our regularly scheduled blogging about kids and real life.

Really?!

So I'm walking through the local craft store. I've noticed this family because they are scaring this little girl(about 3 or 4) with the Halloween decorations. Mostly it was the big brother doing it. The mom would say stop meanwhile they were all laughing hysterically(except the poor little girl).

Cut to next scene:

Ryan, Lily and I were checking out the cake aisle. I hear the mom say, "Okay, bye." She walks by our aisle as we are emerging. The little girl runs toward them screaming. They met right in front of us and the mother chides the little girl, "Look at that little girl," pointing at Lily, "She isn't screaming. Why are you screaming? She isn't."

I just kept my eyes fixed on my kids and said, "It's time to go. This way, please." They trotted along with me. We checked out and left the store. What I really wanted to do was look this woman in the eyes and say, "Seriously?! Do you seriously wonder why your little girl screams when you tell her you are going to leave her in a store?!"

Just so you know, I am not trying to brag on my kids' impeccable behavior, far from it. Maybe if Lily had not thrown a fit when we left the party store with no balloons... ::sigh:: I'm just baffled at this woman's complete lack of awareness that she was causing the exact behaviors that upset her.

Emotions

I've spent the last 4 days in hospital waiting rooms. I've seen a lot of emotion. I've felt a lot of emotion. It's a scary feeling waking up to an early morning phone call finding out someone you love was taken to the emergency room. Several EKGs, CTs, aneurysms and 15 minute visits later and we know she is doing better. It's a relief, but there were many hours spent in the ICU waiting room not knowing. There were several families in the waiting room. Each one anxiously waiting to send 2 members in for their 15 minute visits every 2-3 hours. The times in between excruciating, boring, filled with chit-chat that seemed too meaningless to be going on while we had loved ones alone and in pain on the other side of those doors. What else do you do? For us things got easier hearing positive news and having hope that things would be getting better. There was such a mix of emotions in the waiting room. Some families burdened with having to make huge life and death decisions, so families receiving news that their loved one is recovering from surgery faster than expected, some waiting anxiously during an 8 hour surgery and some just waiting to hear news. It was a flurry of emotions. Maybe it's because I was feeling so emotional myself, but I almost cried with some of the families.
I'm thinking maybe my emotions are getting away from me, but I can't help feeling like some things in my life are falling apart a little bit too. Things that I've valued for a long time seem to be slipping away and I don't know why or what I can do about it. I'm feeling replaced and lonely. I want to be direct without seeming overly needy or silly and I don't know how. I want to know if I'm reading something into situations when it's not there or if I've done something horribly offensive. Gah! I wish I had more confidence in my ability to be interesting enough for people to actually like me. I'm such a mess.

Lily's Potty Training Progress

Lily has had lots of highs and lows with the potty. She started using the potty so long ago, but she doesn't really care to waste her precious play time sitting on the potty. I've tried lots of different things. She is not motivated by a sticker chart, cheery songs or stories on the potty. I've tried the underwear only approach, but she doesn't care if she gets wet. She just tells me that she is wet once she's already left a little puddle on the carpet. Basically we were in a place where she used to potty, but only when she wanted to. Lately that was not very often. One might even say she was on a potty strike for a while. Feeling like I could no longer leave this up to my way too stubborn two year old and dreaming of all the money I'd save on diapers I broke down. I used candy. I told myself I would never use candy for potty training, so I got myself off on a technicality that make me feel better about the whole thing. The first day she got a sticker for using the potty and a lollipop for having dry undies when she did. I bribed her with lollipops often and she stayed dry the whole day. As I do not want to spend all the money I save on diapers paying the dentist I intend to cut the lollipops way back fast, so I've been using Lily's other currency. What's Lily's other currency you ask? Actually it's currency. She loves coins, any coins. She plays with them constantly. So I've been using a mixture of coins and lollipops for the past 3 days and she has not had one accident! She's doing soooo well. I'm really excited. She even tells me sometimes when she needs to go. I won't call her fully potty trained until she tells me every time she needs to go, but I think we are finally make progress toward that goal. Yippee!

Man, He Really Does Love Michael P.

We went to lunch at a restaurant today. As we were waiting Ryan asked me, "Who is that? Is that Ms. Debbie?" I looked around to see if I knew anyone in the lobby. I looked back at him and said, "I don't see anyone I know named Ms. Debbie. Who are you talking about?" His reply? "You know, Michael Phelps' mom." As if we know her personally. He cracks me up. Honestly I had to Google Micheal's mom to make sure the name was correct lest I look stupid. I should have known he was right. He picks up on quite a bit. By the way, there was a lady with dark hair in a similar style to "Ms. Debbie" and she had a similar build and face, but it was not her.

Happy Birthday, Ryan!

prelude
I'm not very good at birthday posts. I tend to be overwhelmed by the expectations set forth by other bloggy moms. I don't want to sound all braggy even though I am very proud of my kiddies. I guess I'll have to just put that aside and write so Ryan can know when he reads this he knows what he was up to at age 5. So if you don't want to read about how great my kid you can skip this post.

begin post
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Ryan is 5! It's hard to believe that 5 years ago I gave birth to my first child. 5 YEARS! He's getting so big. He's very inquisitive. People keep telling me that asking questions is a sign of intelligence. Let's just say that if the number of questions someone asks is directly correlated to that person's intelligence my child is a stinkin' genius. I usually don't mind all the questions, but I can tell other people get frustrated when there is at least one question for every answer. It can seem rather endless. It's all good natured, he is just genuinely curious, but it can be exhausting. It takes him a little while to warm up to people, but once you're his friend he is devoted and loyal. He likes school and loves riding the bus. Every day when I ask him what he did in school he says I played and had fun. He usually remembers something specific to tell me later. He really seems to like art and PE. He is such a handsome little guy. He has worn polos about 90% of the time and almost always wears khaki shorts. I was a little surprised that he didn't argue with me about wearing the athletic shorts I put out for him on PE day. He was probably okay with it because I coupled it with his soccer jersey. He loves that jersey. He had so much fun at soccer camp. I love when I see little bits of me in him. I love soccer, but I didn't discover it until much later in life than Ryan. He has also discovered his love of photography a lot sooner than I did. He likes taking pictures so much we decided to replace his Fisher Price camera that's designed for little kids with our old Cannon G2. The fisher price camera is a cool idea, but the pictures just didn't turn out great. Since the G2 has been sitting in a closet unused for years we decided it would make a good camera for Ryan and at least it would be getting used. We gave it to him for his birthday. We also gave him Hyper Dash which is really cool. We had some technical difficulties with his party, so I need to figure out exactly when I'm going to do for him. I'm thinking It's going to have to be pushed back to the 20th. I'm sure he will survive, but I hate feeling like the mom who can't get it together enough to have her kid's birthday parties in a timely fashion. On his actually birthday we celebrated by letting him watch Star Wars for the first time. We were going to have a marathon of IV-VI, but we had so much fun doing other stuff that day we didn't have time. We had some family rounds of Hyper Dash. Grandma and Grandpa were here and good sports that they are they played too. Lily even got in on the action. Then we made a town with the Legos Grandma and Grandpa gave him. He took pictures with his new camera. I think he really enjoyed his birthday. It was a good day.

There is so much about Ryan I thought lists would be a good way to share.
likes...
playing soccer
watching swimming in the Olympics(especially Phelps)
reading
having chapter books read to him (especially Magic School Bus)
school
doing math problems
playing math bingo
teasing his sister (you didn't think they were all going to be good, did you?)
chocolate milk
ketchup
cars
getting money to do chores
playing Wii
playing dolls with Lily
Rush Hour game
building (Legos, Brio, blocks, etc.)
playing tickle and chase games with Daddy

dislikes...
eggplant
any kind of melon
getting punished for teasing his sister
when people at unfair
cleaning up
being the center of attention

Obviously I can't contain everything about Ryan in one post, but I think this captures the essence of who he is and what he likes.

Just You and Me Sista Daughter

Since Ryan is in school all day now Lily and I have time to just spend being together. It's really the first time in her life that we've had this much of an opportunity since her nap time was the same time as Ryan's preschool last year. We have had a lot of errands and things like dentist appointments that we needed to do this week. We have had something every single day. I really intend on deliberately making time to just play with her, but everything this week was time sensitive. We have not had a fully open day where we could go to the playground or something fun like that, but we've managed to have some good times at home. We've played a bunch of board games. Maybe it's because it's a new thing, maybe it's because Lily knows it means one on one time, maybe she just really enjoys them, I don't know, but she has really been on a board game kick lately. We've played Cariboo, Balloon Lagoon, Chutes and Ladders, Green Eggs and Ham and The Very Hungry Caterpillar to name a few. We've read books. We've had tickle games. We danced and sang. We did sidewalk chalk. It's been fun.
It's been so quiet with Ryan at school I feel like I might be able to get some of my sanity back. The teasing starts as soon as he gets home along with the fussing and screaming, but I have 6 solid hours without it a day now. I finally understand all those moms who can't wait for school to start during the summer. I'm not sure if I'm one of them or not, but I really relish not having the teasing and screaming all day long. Lily seems to like having the freedom to play however, where ever and whenever she wants while we are home. I really have to fight the temptation to use the time to get a lot of housework, errands and other stuff done because it's so much easier with one child. I think I've been doing a pretty decent job of balancing the time I have let in the day after all the "need to" stuff is done. Tomorrow I need to bring cupcakes to Ryan's school for his birthday. Lily will have to have a babysitter, but she enjoys her babysitter (sometimes more than she enjoys me, but that's another post). After I do the cupcake thing she and I will probably have to go to the store to get Ryan a birthday present, so tomorrow doesn't look much better than the rest of the week. Next week we will hit the playground, Lily, I promise!

Ryan's First Day of Kindergarten

At Ryan's school they do a gradual entry for kindergarten students. So Ryan's first day was only 2 hours with me there. I drove him and he went home with me. Tomorrow will be his first day all by himself and riding the bus. Tomorrow I'm more worried about than today. This is Ryan before we went in to the school in the morning. You can see the slight trepidation on his face. He keeps talking about how excited he is and I think that's true, but I think he was a bit nervous too. Who wouldn't be?

We went into his classroom and they did some of the things that will be in their morning routine while the parents filled out paperwork. I don't have any good pictures from that time that don't have other kids with name tags on, so I didn't want to post them on the Internet.

We went down to the cafeteria to have a "practice lunch" so they would know where to go and what to do tomorrow. Ryan enjoyed his cookie and juice.

When we went back to the classroom the teacher had them draw self portraits. The had little mirrors and crayons. Ryan took a little too long drawing the stripes on his shirt and didn't have time to draw arms. His mouth is blue because when he showed me I told him not to forget the mouth and he had a blue crayon in his hand(not because he was feeling cold or anything.)

They read a story and then it was time to go.

This is how Ryan looked at the end of the day. Much more relaxed. I think he really enjoyed his first day. I hope he's not mad tomorrow when I have to pull him out for a dentist appointment. His dentist only does kids under 6 before noon, so he will have to miss school whenever I schedule it. ::sigh::

School Starts Tomorrow

Ryan starts Kindergarten tomorrow and I'm going through all the emotions I went through last year and more. I wonder if I'll be this nervous at the start of every year or if it's just the idea of "real" school and bigger kids that make this year especially nerve racking. Whatever it is tomorrow feels like a big day. I know I don't like the idea of putting him on the bus and not seeing his teacher daily. Maybe I'll be able to volunteer in the classroom to get a better idea of what goes on and who his teacher is.

On the plus side I am looking forward to having some alone time with Lily.

Magic

Ryan: Mom, I want to do a magic trick for you in my room.

Me: Okay.

Ryan: Sit down here. See this coin? I'm going to make it go in my ear. Excuse me for a second. ::disappears behind bed:: Don't look!
A few seconds pass..."Abracadabra". He emerges from behind the bed, head tilted to the side. The coin falls from the upper ear almost before I could even see it there.

Ryan: Did you see that? It feel out of my ear. I'm amazing, aren't I?!

hmmm

I can't help but wonder if it is someone [from the children's cartoon company that shall remain nameless]'s idea of a joke to create the chorus "Shake, shake, shake your peanuts!" for a show geared toward an age group that generally doesn't pronounce its 't's. This keeps reoccurring to me each time I hear my innocent little Lily around the house singing this line over and over without the "t" sound. It's just not right.

Nuts

I'm sitting here snacking on some mixed nuts and I decide to look at the ingredients to see how much other stuff I'm eating (plus I kind of want to find out what the big nut is). So I see peanuts, cashews, almonds, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, pecans, peanut and/or cottonseed oil, salt. Cool not too much "extra" stuff. Then the big bold lettering just below the ingredients jumps out at me...contains: peanut, cashew, almonds, Brazil nut, hazelnut, pecan. Well, duh, I just read the ingredients. It makes me want to go check my milk label to see if it says, "Contains: MILK." While I'm in the fridge I'll check to see if the egg carton says, "Contains: EGGS." Now I'm all for allergy labeling. I've found it helpful on several occasions, but I just think it's a little silly to list allergy ingredients that are practically the only ingredients. If I'm buying nuts I know there are nuts.

All About the Cars

Our Father's Day was all about cars. Jay loves cars, so this is a fitting tribute to him as a dad. We started the day with breakfast at Jay's favorite breakfast restaurant. Then we went to church. Conveniently our church has a Father's Day car show every year, so we stayed to check out all the cool cars. It's amazing to me that our church can actually put on such a great car show. The first year we went I thought it was going to be some rinky dink little thing where we look at a couple cars and go home. I was pleasantly surprised that first year and each year it has gotten even bigger and better.

Here is our crew (minus me of course because I'm taking the picture) in front of a cool Mustang.

The guy who owns this Model T let my kids crank it:-) He was so nice.

Those were my two favorite cars of the show, but I'm partial to Mustangs and old fashioned cars. There was an old Bel Air there that my kids commented "looks just like Flo." It's kind of funny that they relate old cars to a cartoon movie. I guess that shows what a good job the artists did. Jay and Ryan were in their element. Jay must have excitedly called, "Ryan come look at this!" 50 times or more. Some of the things you would have heard if you were with us at the car show..."This car has a parachute to slow it down because it goes so fast!"; "There's no engine in the front of this car! What do you think happened to it?! Oh, look it's in the back."; "Look how the doors on this car open!"; "Look at that big engine!"; Lily saying, "Look! A monser twuck!"

After all the excitement of the Car show I took the wheel to take the family to Jay's surprise Father's Day outing. We went to this really cool place called Ride Makerz. The best way I can describe it is like Build a Bear for cars. You pick out a chassis, wheels, rims and accessories. You even get to make a certificate that comes with a personalized license plate for your car.

Here is Jay putting his car together.

Here he helps Zach do his.

This one is Jay helping Ryan attach his monster truck accessories.

Lily loved putting these "skins" on her Mini.


Of course as soon as we got home it was time to find batteries and test out the new cars. That lasted quite a while. Then Jay's parents came over for dinner and the kids got to stay up a little late to visit which is always special for them. All in all a pretty fun day. I hope Jay enjoyed his day because we sure enjoy him being the dad in our family.

PS Just so you don't think I forgot my dad, I did call him after dinner and the kids called him while we were waiting to be seated for breakfast.

Bagger

Dear Bagger at the local grocery store,

When someone spends a dollar each on cloth bags it might be a clue that they are environmentally conscious. It is almost certainly an indication that they want you to use them, especially if they send them down the conveyor first. The fact that you asked if I wanted you to bag in them is fine. The fact that you only filled them half full and then proceeded to use an inordinate number of blue plastic bags is not fine. I thought when you asked me if it was okay to put 2 milks in one bag that you got it, but when you double bag the two milks what is the point really. While I grant you that the cashier's suggestion that you double bag something that heavy was probably wise, if you are going to use two bags just put one in each- two milks in one bag is kind of heavy. Before I even left the store I removed the bagels from the bag with two loaves of bread because well, I don't like my bread squished. Lucky for me there was lots of room right on top in my new eco-friendly bags. I was struck by the irony of your bagging practices when I got home and discovered a bag with one package of Oreos. Another bag had just one bottle of juice- this I can understand depending on when else there is to bag. Still another bag had two boxes of snacks, this one would have easily fit the Oreos. About 10 yogurts were spread between 3 bags, all containing something else, but none close to full. In short, I think you need some bagging lessons.

Sincerely,
Jen- a customer who cares about the environment, but still would like to get my groceries home in good condition.

I'm writing a post, Pa rum pa pum pum

Lily has spent the past few days narrating much of her activity to the tune of "The Little Drummer Boy." It's so adorable. My favorite was when she tripped on a brick on our front walk. She doesn't usually fuss unless she is hurt, so when she started I picked her right up and started giving her healing mommy kisses. She looked at me with sad eyes and her lip stuck slightly out. Then she said in a half singing, half fussing voice, "I fell on the ground, pa rum pa pum pum." It was so cute I could help but laugh. Lily loves to get a laugh, so she quickly forgot about her skinned knee. Her sad face was quickly replaced with a beaming smile of pride in her ability to crack her mommy up. I guess sometimes laughter really is the best medicine;-)

Time Warp?

Last week I caught the last bit of a segment on the today show. They were going to commercial to a familiar chorus, "You've got the right stuff, baby..." They were panning around the screaming crowd. Then there was a brief shot of Jordan Knight with the Today Show cast and they went to commercial. "Oh," I thought, "I guess Jordan is having another(?) go at a solo career." Wait, why would they be playing "The Right Stuff"? I spent the commercial break feeling like I was in some sort of time warp. The show came back and all the "New Kids" were there, on stage and they started a long chain of all their old hits. I started wondering when they were going to break out their new song, you know the one they are hoping to come back with using the old songs to get people to listen. They never played one. That's when I realized it was a reunion, not a come back. Like the oldies bands that went around playing their old songs reliving the glory days. OHMYGOSH...Don't tell me this means the bands of my youth are starting to do reunion tours and their songs will now be known as "oldies"!!! That can not be true. First toys I played with as a kid in the American History Museum. Now the bands I listened to as a teenager (don't pretend you didn't) are doing reunions. I refuse to believe I am that old!

Graduation

I never thought I would be one of those moms who makes a big deal out of preschool graduation. Before I had kids you might have heard the words, "Preschool graduation?! Oh, pu-leez!" escape my unknowing lips. But somehow as it approached the gravity of it hit me. My little boy is not so little anymore. Next year he will be required to be in school by the state. He will go to the big building with "Elementary School" emblazoned on it. Not only that, he will ride the big yellow bus there and I won't see his teacher every day in case she wants to share something with me. And what about all those kids, those big kids on the bus and in the school. How will he interact with them when I'm not there?! The worst part is he will be gone all. day. long. As I thought about all that stuff I realized this is a big deal, a transition, a milestone if you will. So it turns out I was wrong about another prediction of my parenting. I'm not sorry though. I know Ryan felt special today and it was a special day for all us.

Here he is getting his diploma.

I thought I'd take advantage of the fact that we were all dressed up to get a nice picture of the four of us.


Here we all are with the cake I made to celebrate the occasion. I used blue M&Ms, his favorite color of his favorite candy, to write his name.

I also got a few pictures of the graduate.

The True Measure of a Man

Jay- "Oh man I missed that ring by 2 feet!"
Ryan- "No, you only missed it by one ankle!"

More...

No, Dank you.= No, thank you.
ouce cweam= ice cream
Mickey Mouse Plubhouse= Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (still her favorite show)
Raisa cow!= She wants to do the cow racing game on the Wii.
Pete= Peep (another show she likes)
Fosey= Horse(y)
Who HA! =What a monkey says
Bwankie= blankie

Bonus- Ryanism (he doesn't have many now, but this one is cute)
Colorful pencils =colored pencils

Lily-isms

Lily has these ways of saying things that are all her own. Some make sense and some don't sound anything like the real words, but they are uniquely Lily at this unique and wonderful time in her life. I find most of them very endearing and I'll miss them when they are gone.



Fufus= Princess

my Crots= my Crocs

Miss Ash-a-we = My dear friend Ashley who Lily LOVES

Jueeya = Julia, Ashley's daughter and Lily's best 6 year old friend

Choco-what miwk= chocolate milk

"No mommy I wan stay inside" =No, Mommy. I don't want to go inside. I want to stay outside.
She often switches inside/outside, on/off, up/down and other opposites. I'm not sure why or if that is normal, but if she tells you she wants you to do something and she throws a fit because you do it she probably meant to say the opposite thing. It's frustrating.

sta-eh-ee= strawberry (one of her favorites)

"I wan usa baf tub." Usually said once we get to the bathroom when I've asked her if she wants to use the potty and she has said yes. The girl loves her baths and is easily distracted, what can I say?

dress= any piece of clothing that goes over her head

I ya you! = I love you! (it's my favorite)

There are more, but I'm tired and I can't think of them right now. I'm sure I will add more posts about the topic.

Look What Ryan Can Do!!!

It's the first decent weekend day in spring that we didn't have plans, so Jay took off Ryan's training wheels and I padded him out. We went over to the local school and Ryan learned how to ride a two wheeler!

Things about Lily at 2...to be continued

Lily...

1. Height- 33 inches

2. Weight- 24 pounds

3. Counts to 20, but 13, 14 and 15 sound very similar.

4. Favorite saying, "No, Mommy, NO!"

5. Knows the ABC song.

6. Recognizes letters most of the time.

7. Recognizes numbers 1-10.

8. Knows every farm animal and it's sound.

9. Says, "No, Mommy, NO!" in an unbelievably cute way.

10. Talks in sentences most of the time.

11. Can talk for several minutes even if no one knows what she is saying.

12. Loves Disney Princesses (this pleases her Disney loving mommy to no end!)

13. Calls all princesses "up-us" which seems to be currently evolving into "fufus"

14. favorite show- "Mickey Mouse Club House" AKA 'Mickey Mouse Plubhas'

15. Favorite color- unknown, but she likes to wear red shirts and seems to get excited about purple things exclaiming, "Is puple!" translation- "It's purple!"

16. Gets the most amazing twinkle in her eye when she is excited about something.

17. Has an infectious laugh.

18. Still has not had a hair cut.

19. Wears a size 2T. I'm hoping against hope the 24 month winter clothes hold out until the weather gets warmer or we are going to get in trouble.

20. Loves to play with big kids.

21. Is quite the little gymnast.

22. Loves to swing out on the trapeze and drop into the foam blocks at gymnastics.

23. Is not afraid of anything.

24. Loves to climb.

25. Likes jumping and running.

26. Is able to stealthily swipe a car or train that Ryan is playing with only to be found out as she runs away in that telltale way she does.

27. Loves to be a clown like her Daddy.

28. Is a natural leader. Even big kids like to follow her around.

29. She's mostly happy, but can (and will) throw a mean fit if she doesn't get her way.

30. Has hair all the way down to her shoulders (at least in the back!)

31. Can do a forward roll all by herself.

32. Won't do a forward roll when you ask her to, only when she feels like it.

33. Loves Orange juice.

34. Loves chocolate milk.

35. Loves strawberry milk.

36. Loves strawberries.

37. Likes bananas.
38. Calls them monies.

39. Uses the potty, but not exclusively.

40. Has her own sense of style.

41. Has a great little sense of humor.

42. Doesn't take any nonsense from her older brothers (or anyone else for that matter)

43. Says "Sowwy" when someone hits/ bumps her.

44. Says "Da do" when someone gives her something or does something for her.

45. Loves to take a bath.

46. Likes to put her own Crocs on...the wrong feet.

47. Can jump and land on two feet.

48. Likes to gallop.

49. Another favorite saying is, "Hum on!" as she puts her hand out to lead you somewhere.

50. Is very sweet and loving when she wants to be cuddly.

I thought that was girl thing...

This morning Ryan came running down to the family room "buck n*cked" with socks in his hand shouting, "Mom! I need my long sleeve Cars shirt, Cars underwear and white pants (what he calls khaki pants no matter how many times I correct him) or jeans! I have socks." Of course since I am sitting on the computer trying to finish Lily's birthday post (I know, I know) that I've been trying to do since her birthday I tell him to pick something out of his drawer. With a very disheartened look on his face he sighs, "But then Ryan won't think it's cool." [He is referring to one of his best buddies who we are going to see tonight. It gets quite confusing when our families hang out, but they love each other and I love his mom.] The look on his face forced the loving mom that would do anything for her beloved children that resides deep with in me to come out. After a joint trip upstairs to search 2 baskets of clean clothes he is wearing his desired outfit and everyone is happy. I even put one of the baskets of clothes away!

Green

So, I've been trying this "green cleaning" thing lately. I have decided that white vinegar and baking soda are miracle products! You can clean practically anything with them. Bonus- the vinegar reminds me of Easter eggs;-)

Happy Easter!

Isn't this going a bit too far?

Padded Lampposts Tested in London to Prevent Cell Phone Texting Injuries

Okay, I'm sorry people are getting hurt, but look where you're going when you're walking! Duh!!! It's common sense. I've also seen news reports about people texting and surfing the web while driving...let's not be stupid people. If there is one thing you need to drive it's your eyes.

Happy Birthday Lily!

Happy 2nd birthday Sweet Pea!

We had Lily's present waiting at the bottom of the steps when we went down in the morning. She saw it when we were at the top of the steps. *gasp* I told her it was her present. *GASP* down a couple steps, *gasp*, a couple more steps, *gasp*. Needless to say she was excited. It hasn't been as great a hit as I thought, but she does enjoy it. When we saw them at the store she didn't want to get off them, so I thought she would be riding it constantly, but I guess there are a whole lot more things to do in our house than there are in a furniture store. I love it.

[If you recently visited you may have noticed this post was gone. I was updating and meant to save the update as a draft...OOPS! It didn't work. I'll be adding more later when I finish the part about who Lily is at 2 or maybe I'll just make it a new post.]

Lily's Potty Song

So I made up this potty song for Lily as a kind of reward when she goes potty. We are not in full fledged "you must use the potty or else" training mode, but I always try to be encouraging when she wants to use it. She loves Diego. She calls him "Go, Go, Go" like "Go, Diego, Go." It's really too cute. So one day when she was on the potty I sang this song to the tune of the "Go, Diego, Go" rescue song...

It's a stinky on the Potty,
a stinky my friends!
Go LaLily, Go LaLily
Go LaLily, Go!

When she immediately asked for it again I knew it would be something that stuck around. I didn't foresee it being so catchy that the rest of the family would walk around singing it. Well, okay, mostly Zach and a little bit Ryan if he hears Zach doing it. When I heard him singing it in his room I just ignored it hoping it was just a passing thing, but when he started singing it too Lily I had to inform him that it is not a song for him to sing. It loses a bit of it's potty time magic if people are singing it to her all the time. Plus it's a little weird for a 9 year old to go around singing about his little sister's bathroom exploits. Then again I guess 9 year olds think that kind of thing is funny, maybe I've created a new teeny bopper hit;-)

Family Picture

We don't really have a good family picture with all 5 of us, so I decided to try to get one last night. This is the best one...

Oh, Zach ::sigh::

I guess we'll try again another time. I did manage to get some decent crops out of the deal.

Scratch That

Remember how everyone was better. I spoke too soon. Ryan threw up so violently after dinner it came out his nose. HIS NOSE! I didn't know that could happen. I guess in theory I knew it COULD happen, but it's definitely not something I thought I'd ever see. Wish us (and all the people he came in contact with in the past 2 days while I thought he was better) luck!

Finally better

Just a quick note to say everyone is feeling better. Lily is still in a mood, but who wouldn't be after not being able to eat for 4 days! Hopefully she will be 100% soon. Thanks for all the well wishes on my last post:-)

Roller Coaster

Life has been crazy around here. It seems a bit bi-polar; things have been so up and down.

First Jay gets the flu for a week, Lily gets pink eye and then I get the flu for a week capped off at the end by a sinus infection.
Everyone is better and we head over to the play set place because we saw it was the last day of their clearance sale and we decided to do our part for the economy with the tax rebates coming and everything. We get there and find out there is another sale going on where we get a new set, but it has to be one of the 6 models they have. We picked one and it will be coming by the end of the month. Very exciting. The next day Jay cut down most of the tree that would be in the way because it is in the middle of the only flat area we have in our yard. I painted Ryan's room a beautiful blue color in prepareation for the arrival of his new big bed. Jay had an interview Monday. Wenesday was the first day for my scrapbooking group and the day Ryan and Zach's new furniture arrived. Very exciting until...

Lily started throwing up right before people were supposed to arrive and Jay was supposed to take all the kids the Chuck E. Cheese. That was the start of the great stomach virus of 2008 that wiped out 4/5 of us for 2 days. Jay, the only one who didn't get sick, stayed home from work partially to take care of us and partially to recover from being up every 20 minutes with a puking kid the night before. Since he was home with us the day before a presentation at work he had to go in an hour early. If you know Jay you know it killed him to get up at 5:11 this morning. He was a really good sport about though even though Lily woke up at 10 last night as we were getting ready for bed and managed to empty all contents from her stomach and more for 2 hours, poor thing was miserable.

Oh and Jay got the job:-) It's closer to home and a position he is excited about with a company he is excited to work for, so we're very happy. Once we can all eat normally again maybe we can have a little celebration.

I can't wait for spring.

The Juice Box Incident

What is going on in my house?!
I admit it...We buy juice boxes, but they are strictly for "on the go" use. I care about the environment, but it takes long enough to get my brood out the door. Add the time it takes to pour individual drinks in non-disposable cups and well it's just too much. Occasionally one of my children will beg me for a juice box to drink at home. I don't get it, what is the draw of juice from a box as opposed to a cup? The answer is always no. Today was Lily's turn to try the old ritual. She brought me a juice box from the brand new set I just bought. I took it and told her she couldn't have a juice box, but I would get her another drink in a cup and continued what I was doing thinking she'd just have to wait a minute until I could get her a drink. I guess I was mistaken because Little Miss Independent just went and got herself another juice box, put in the straw and was drinking it by the next time I saw her. Little Dickens! I didn't know she could do that. At the exact time I am resigning myself to the fact that we have wasted a juice box I hear Ryan downstairs obviously very upset at his missing bongs! Apparently my parenting style has become a little too Laissez-faire!

Lost?

If you're a Lost fan you should check out Find815.com . Lost starts January 31, but it will give you a little mystery fix while you're waiting:-) It's pretty fun and interesting. Little tip: create a login before you start to track your progress.

A Day in the Life

I'm not feeling well today. It started with a sore throat last night and now I feel crappy all over. My muscles were burning from walking up the stairs people. That's just not normal, even if I am way out of shape. I decided that I would just let the kids watch a little a lot of extra tv today and just rest on the couch. So much for that idea. Ryan wanted to play on the Wii. The subsequent screaming about Lily messing up his race nearly drove me over the edge. Did you know while you are resting on the couch you will have to get up 6 times in the span of an hour to get drinks and food for your two completely helpless lovely children? What to do when the TV has gotten old, but you don't have the energy to go outside or play with the kids? BATH! Both kids got really excited and they took about an hour long bath. Lily got to choose the color tabs to use today. She chose blue. They played with Cars bath stickups, a couple measuring cups and each other. Lily even asked to get out to use the potty. She used it and got back in. She has been very cute when she uses the potty lately. She opens her eyes really big, looks right in mine and says, "Ah di stinky un da Po-ee!!!" [translation- I did stinky on the potty!!!] yesterday she said this to me for the fourth time on while sitting there and I guess I wasn't celebrating enough because she took my thumbs and put my hands together and said, "Cap!" [clap]. She does like to be celebrated. So today I knew how to react when she proclaimed her victory. We both celebrated accordingly. Bath time was good.

At some point during the day Ryan decided to be the most helpful kid ever. From washing himself without complaining(or even being reminded), to cleaning his room without being asked, he was helpful and thoughtful. He even cleared Lily's lunch dishes when he cleared his own!

My doing nothing has given way to boredom, so I have taken some pictures and now I'm blogging. I'm not sure what I'll do next, but I'm thinking a nap would be nice at some point. I wonder how I'll work that out.

Look What I Did!!!

I made curtains! This is my first attempt and while I realize they are not perfect I am very satisfied to have taken on something new. I think they look pretty good. I'm pleased as punch to have pretty curtains (at least in one window- three more windows to go).


I took this picture when I finished them last night. The colors seem a little more true to life in this one.


This picture is from today when the sun was shining (sort of, it's pretty cloudy) outside.

Incidentally, I'm trying to decide which way to face the finials on the curtain rod. Each one is facing a different direction in these pictures. What do you think?

By Request

Apparently I need to post more pictures. This was not so subtly revealed to me by Erin. So here are some pictures. Some I will be adding to the posts where they belong.

This is Christmas Day. Everyone around was opening presents, but Lily was busy giving her baby a bath.

Lily is sitting in the baby doll tub giving baby a bottle.

Jay's dad schooled him in [Wii] tennis. Apparently he played in high school and was quite good.

More tennis on the Wii.

Just about everyone got a turn.

I think Zach and Ryan are bowling.

This is Ryan playing his favorite game another day. Can you guess what it is? Take a look below...

Here Lily is wearing the bunny shirt. Later that day we got a package from Miss Jodi, Uncle TJ's girlfriend, she sent all the kids crocs. Lily has been wearing hers quite a bit. She really seems to like them.

This is just a cute picture of Lily:-)