Sneak Peak - Daffodils

I've been looking forward to the daffodils blooming for a long time now.  Not only do they mean spring is close, but they are a great photo taking opportunity and I sure loving taking photos :)  My poor children are relatively good sports, especially when M&M's are involved.  I'm fairly certain one of these photos will be used for Abby's birthday invitation and maybe a fun welcome spring design, so be sure to act surprised if/when you see them again!



Cousin Extravaganza!

So as if six snow days weren't enough, we've been on Winter Break all week.  And since Ryan's preschool & speech follow the school calendar, we packed up for Maxim's house and partook in 48 hours of cousinly fun. 

We met them for good food & good playing at Chickfila on the way in to town, gotta love Chickfila no matter where you are! The boys had fun in the playplace and eventually even warmed up to the Cow long enough to give high-fives. 

The boys shared lots of snacktimes, playtimes, outside times, etc.  They were very good together most of the time and I really think they are starting to play together instead of just near each other.  Highlights for Ryan included riding Maxim's bike on walks and going to playgrounds and Hungry Hungry Hippos.  Highlights for Auntie Sarah & I were watching them play together on the slide & basketball hoop.  They worked together very well to put all sorts of things through the hoop and were focused entirely on each other & their project.

Rub a Dub dub three kids in a tub!

 

The coolest adventure of the trip was the airport!  We met Mary & Layla and all the kids had a blast watching the planes take off & land.  We ate lunch at the Runway Cafe which was yummy.  And yes, I don't that it's an intentional and it didn't last long enough for us to even notice in real time, but Maxim & Abby are holding hands in this picture, love it!

We also were able to hang out with Uncle Tyler and Aunt Jennifer one night.  The boys had a great time playing with them and climbing all over Tyler and eating pizza.  And we enjoyed lots of good food while there including a turkey sandwich on a sun dried tomato bagel from a real Jewish bagel bakery, I wish we had things like there here in Canton :)  Thanks Maxim & Auntie Sarah & Uncle Christian for having us and letting me bring my craziness into your lives for a little while.  We had a really fun time and look forward to seeing you guys again soon!

A Grand Adventure

Ryan and Grandma spent the day together at the Yellow River Game Ranch today.  From what I hear, they had a great time!  Ryan was so excited to talk about all the animals and feeding them and petting them.  Apparently you can get up close to several animals and hand feed them.  But you can't do that with the bear and buffalo and what not, so there is a chute that you put the food in and it comes out in their cage - Ryan talked about the chute a lot tonight :)  He also mentioned eating lunch at "welcome to Moe's" (yes, it all runs together and Ryan has no idea it's only Moe's).  Anyways, thanks Grandma for spending the day with my little man, looks like you both had fun!!

 

Ryan started taking pictures too. This is Grandma in front of General Lee's house. Yes, the groundhog, how fun!

 

My Cousin & Me

I love these crazy kids!  I love watching them grow up together.  I love watching them interact a little more each time we are all together.  I love that they have built-in best friends and I love knowing that they will grow up & grow old together.  Best friends are a wonderful blessing for sure, but best friends that are family & thus have to love you forever are a special type of blessing for sure!



He'll hate me for this in ten years

A few memorable Ryan moments ...

On Monday morning Ryan decides he wants to walk on his head.  Picture a downward dog type of thing with his forehead on the carpet.  I'm thinking to myself this is kind of ridiculous, but hey pick your battles and this ain't worth it.  He didn't go that far, maybe ten feet, but all the while rubbing his head on the carpet.  When he gets to me and stands up his head is red and raw and totally rug-burnt.  Oops!  So I decide to be a good mom and use this as a learning moment.  I explain that maybe we shouldn't do that again, it hurts your head and now you've got a boo-boo.  Not a good move, he'd be fine up until now, but at the mention of boo-boo he burst into tears and cried for probably fifteen minutes.  Two days later his head is still a mess!  Poor little guy and yet at the same time you just gotta laugh a little :)

But despite the boo-boo he is still quite the lady's man.  Valentine's Day we had one of his best friends over to decorate cookies and play and let her parents have some quality time.  They had a great time as always and as Madeleine was leaving they gave their usual hugs except this time Madeleine gave him a big ole' kiss right on the lips.  Happy Valentine's Day my little stud, your first kiss!  So cute!  (of course when they get older and understand what kissing is really all about, I don't think it will be quite as cute!).

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Busy Bees

I feel like this weekend was just go-go-go-go-go!  It was great fun and we accomplished a lot, but it just left me plain wore out! 

Friday was errand day and we didn't get home from the grocery store until nearly 6:00, not good when you've got plans to cook a nice big dinner.  But it was still yummy and only took an hour or so!  Then the bedtime routine and killing some time on the computer (and making a lovely Valentine picture for everyone, hope ya'll enjoy the next post!). 

Saturday, gee that seems so long ago already.  Oh yes, Saturday was Ryan's first swim lesson!  He and Nana are taking classes down at the Y every Saturday for the next six weeks I believe.  And I guess I should clarify before continuing - it's really only Ryan taking them, Nana already knows how to swim!  I heard he did really really well, no crying at all, and had no fear of the water, yay!  It was a whole lot harder on me than I ever imagined though - scary having your baby at a pool all by himself when you're not there to protect & watch over him!  Anyways, thanks Nana for the swim lessons!  And, yes it is an "inside pool, too cold outside" 

We also were able to visit with Uncle Jason for a bit on Saturday which was nice.  And Coleson & the kids enjoyed a nice dinner with Jason, Jim, & Nana while Mommy had a much needed girl's night out, thanks for taking care of them for me!  I'm so blessed with this group of girls from our old church - five of six of us made it on Saturday which is amazing in itself.  Three of us have known each other six years, the other three joined a little over four years ago.  And we haven't been an organized group in over three years, yet we are still able to get together and have fun, despite nine kids with a tenth on the way!  I love these girls, I love that we can talk about anything, I love that we are still friends even though life has pulled us in so many different directions - only two still even go to the same church, several of us have moved, lots of kids obviously!  Anyways, it was great seeing them and celebrating another baby on the way!

Sunday was church, haircuts, making chili, a quick visit to Grandma & Grandpa's tennis (sorry we couldn't stay longer!), and then a "long drive to (Uncle) Tyler's church" although with Ryan's muffled speech it sounded more like dinosaurs at church then going to Tyler's church.  We were so happy to celebrate with Tyler as he was baptized last night!  Congratulations!  We love you both!  Not sure how sitting on our bums in the car for two hours, sitting in church, and then sitting in the car again was so tiring, but it sure was.  Guess it has something to do with having two little ones in tow!  They did surprisingly good during church though and fortunately slept pretty well in the car. 

So now we are back to Monday again, speech, preschool, repeat, hopefully throw in some fun trips to the playground since it's supposed to hit 60 degrees, yay!  And oh yes, Happy Valentine's Day too!

Fishies!

We spent the day in Chattanooga at the Tennessee Aquarium with our friends James & Rachel & Jake.  We all had a great time!  Ryan loves hanging out with Jake and has really been looking forward to today.  All yesterday he kept talking about Jake & fishies & penguins & all animals.  We also saw lots of turtles and butterflies and sharks and even river otters (like in wildlife bingo). 

Understandably Ryan was not a big fan of the enormous spider crabs; neither did he care much for sting rays.  His favorite seemed to be the jellyfish and sea nettles.  He lit up at the sea nettle display : "there's one, another one, and one up there!"  And of course the escalators were a huge hit :)

Abby enjoyed the butterfly display; she repeatedly reached for them and would track them flying all around.  She also enjoyed all the fish tanks.  She loved standing up against them and pointing and shouting "DA!"  Oh and be sure to notice her cute little fishie outfit - it was one of her baby dresses last summer that made a really cute shirt today!

Unfortunately it was really cold and windy, so weren't able to spend time at the playground and we only stuck around long enough for Ryan to run up the cool bridge once.  We had a very yummy Mexican lunch before heading home.  But we are now season pass holders, so if anyone wants to go, let us know!  We're looking forward to more visits in the future and I think we can save you a couple bucks if you go with us.

After vegging at home for a bit and enjoying some cheesy weekend movies on tv, we finished the day with dinner at Cold Stone Creamery!  Sometimes you just have to be bad :)  Ryan enjoyed his very own kiddie ice cream cup and picked out chocolate chips for his mix-in, yummy! 

Days Go By ....

Well, it's Friday again!  I hate the idea of wishing away my life, but I sure do love Fridays and the promise of the weekend & lots of fun & family :)  Let's see if I can remember anything interesting from this week ... 

Tuesday, Abby had a followup with her urologist and we were told she was "boring" and we thought that was the most wonderful thing we'd ever heard!  The good kidney is perfect, yay!, and the bad kidney has already just about shriveled up and disappeared, so it was a wonderful appt.  We'll go back in a year and then after that we'll probably be able to go several years.  Her pediatrician/ nephralogist will likely monitor some levels occasionally, but we are normal now!!

Wednesday we had a fun morning at Catch Air with our buddies Asher & Andrew.  We love seeing our friends and the kids have such a great time running running running and playing.  Even Abby is starting to get in on the fun and crawling around and pulling up on some of the toys. 

Thursday we made an adventure of lunch and Walmart after picking Ryan up from preschool.  We had a real lunch at the Midway meal house and it was quite enjoyable.  Again, I'm trying to balance not wanting my kids to get too big and yet loving how much more independent Abby is getting.  It's so nice to be able to do things and get out of the house and experience the world.  We ended the day with a fun dinner & book study with some friends while Ryan and Abby and their son Jake tore up their house, oops :)

Today we are hibernating and trying to stay warm & dry.  Weatherwise, it's been a perfectly nasty week.  Abby is taking a marathon nap (I'm sooo jealous, I'd love to be in my bed!).  Ryan is sending random texts to people while I type this.  He loves to type and "spell" on my phone.  I used to be able to get away with him using my notes feature, but now he's discovered the "mailbox" when a text gets sent.  So he isn't content with mere notes anymore, he wants to "push green button, put in mailbox."  And just now, "I put in mailbox for Sarah."  Thanks for being a good sport if you are the lucky recipient of any of these texts!

Happy Friday everyone and have a great weekend!