the amazing bike rider Ryan!

After we got back from Snow Mountain, we finally took Ryan's training wheels off.  He's been asking for forever, but I just didn't have it in me last summer what with being crazy pregnant and all :).  I figured he'd do well with it, but I must say he amazed me!  On his first attempt, Daddy held him of course and Ryan turned left for awhile.  I guess he just had to figure out how to balance and steer all at the same time.  After that he was good to go.  No big falls, no nothing.  He just got on his bike, Daddy let go, and off he went.  It was that easy.  What a big boy and an awesome bike rider!  This is one proud mama  :)

Boys & Girls, Shoes, Trains, and Snow, phew!

T'was a busy, busy weekend!!

Ryan went with Daddy to work on Saturday morning.  I think he really enjoyed hanging with Daddy and being his little helper.  Coleson got a new office at work, so he and Ryan spent the morning up there putting together furniture and hanging stuff on the walls, things that would be hard to focus on during regular business hours.  Plus Ryan got to go this way :)  While they were there, the girls and I went shopping and to a birthday party. 

After the boys and girls met back up, we headed to Northpoint Mall to meet Grandma and Grandpa for shoe shopping and train riding.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!!

 

Sunday was our much anticipated trip to Snow Mountain.  We had decided to give Ryan and Abby an experience for Christmas this year [esp since Santa was getting them bikes ;)] and booked a Snow Mountain adventure.  Thanks to my bout with pneumonia, we had to reschedule and thus the long delay.  But we finally made it!  Unfortunately it wasn't all we had hoped for, but I think the kids still had fun.  The tubing lines were pretty long and the tubing itself just a little too scary for the kids.  We spent most of the time playing in the snow zone at the bottom of Memorial Lawn.  While much more ice than snow, we still managed to make a pretty cool snow castle [Coleson and I tried to close our eyes and pretend it was sand.  Didn't work.  It was still cold and icy.  Oh well].  We also threw snowballs and the kids rode on a much smaller and tamer tube.  It was a fun family day and we enjoyed being together, but I doubt we'll ever bother with Snow Mountain again :)  Oh well, at least now we know, we'd been wanting to go for awhile!  [Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for spending the day with Chloe]. 

 

 

Childlike Faith

Disclaimer, this is a bit deeper than my normal posts :)  I've been trying to keep my blog more about family, our experiences, almost superficial if you will.  I've chosen the route of scrapbook more than journal.  But I wanted to share this, or at least attempt to share it. While I like to think I'm a decent writer, I am still not sure if I conveyed the emotion I was trying to.  I've read and edited this several times and I'm not convinced that I explained it right. But here goes, read it with awe and wonder and longing I suppose [not awe and wonder of me or this post!  of our Lord!]. 

Today's been a good day.  I got an email from a friend saying he had committed his life to Jesus in the wee hours of this morning.  What wonderful and exciting news!  And I loved his story and his honesty and openness.  It was so refreshing and encouraging, a good reminder that we aren't all perfect and we don't have it all figured out [and we don't have to!].  He shared of growing up in a Christian home, knowing all the answers, and yet still feeling so lost and confused.  I know I can be guilty sometimes of looking at someone else's life and thinking they have all the answers and what's wrong with me.  Why do I occasionally doubt this or struggle with that?  Celebrating my friend's story this morning, while remembering that we're all imperfect humans, was good for me.  

Shortly after this, Ryan was building legos while I finished washing some dishes.  He said something random about Jesus walking on water.  We went back and forth a little about that, yeah that's cool, wouldn't it be fun to walk on water.  Then he told me when he gets to Heaven he's going to walk on water with Jesus.  Trying to be the good mother and spiritual elder, I played up the being with Jesus part, but he was pretty insistent about the walking on water part :)  Then he tells me that when he goes to Heaven, he's going to meet Hazen and won't that be fun.  Wow.  There was just something about the way he said it and his total confidence and a bit of excitement about one day meeting his great-grandfather-middle-name-name-sake in Heaven that really touched me. 

So it was a good morning.  A chance for a much needed reminder of the day I asked Jesus into my life.  It's been almost seven years now, wow.  It doesn't feel like that long ago; I still think of myself as a new Christian.  And yet in those seven years, there have been ups and downs, mountaintops and valleys.  And while I know that's normal and I know everyone experiences these same human realities and emotions, I still much prefer the mountaintops!  So thank you to my friend and to my son for these pauses and reminders of what it's all about and to God for working through their stories to stir something in me. 

weekend fun

We spent the weekend visiting cousin Maxim, Auntie Sarah, and Uncle Christian in SC.  We had a great time as always!  The kids adore cousin Maxim and they all play together really well, especially the boys.  We mostly just hung around the house and out back, it was so nice to finally have the sun out.  The new trampoline was a bit hit, and yes Auntie Sarah even caught a photo of my super-star bounce.  Abby had a great time trying to get the boys to do Ring around the Rosy with her, even if she didn't quite know all the words [ashes, ashes, ashes, ashes, ashes].  We ventured out to a park and the kids rode bikes and scooters.  Abby did sooo well on her bike.  She pedaled all by herself and rode it the whole way, maybe a mile?  She's finally got the hang of it!  Now getting her to stop is an entirely different story.  She'd much rather just run her bike into something than pay attention to Mommy explain the whole step-backwards-on-the-pedal concept, crazy frustrating for Mommy.  After the park we feasted on pizza, yumm!  Sunday we enjoyed some more time outside riding bikes and playing at a playground.  After Mexican [where I made sure not to order and eat an entire burrito], we headed home.  It's always sad to say goodbye, but we'll look forward to another fun trip sometime soon! 

 

 

ashes, ashes, ashes, ashes, ashes!

Abby on water:

"I'm gonna bring this drink in.  Then if I get thirsty I can put it in my mouth."

quotations

When blogging, I try to put the things the kids say in quotes.  That way you'll know it's straight from them.  In order to keep their quotes as accurate as possible, I often scribble things down on scraps of paper or napkins or receipts or anything else handy.  These scraps then inevitably end up in my pocket or the bottom of my bag, usually lost or put through the wash.  But some of them make it into a blog post :)  So here's a quote off the back of Ryan's memory verse from church last week.  I believe this was from Thursday.  When I'm driving I can't see Chloe, so I asked the Big Two if she had fallen asleep.  Ryan's answer:  "Her eyes are a little bit open and a little bit closed.  She's half in the middle."

[and this is probably very accurate.  Have you ever seen her sleep?  It's pretty creepy how open her eyes often are.  And usually her eyeballs are rolled back, so it's solid white in the slits of her eyes.  Pretty creepy indeed.]

Wendy's

Awhile back I took the kids to Wendy's for lunch.  You know how sometimes the world comes together just right and you have a near perfect experience?  That was Wendy's in early December.  All three kids were super well behaved; Chloe even peacefully feel asleep in her carseat.  Everyone ate all their lunch without fuss and we enjoyed a game of Ispy.  And for whatever reason, our Wendy's is old people hangout.  I'm not kidding.  We are always the youngest by several decades, which means lots of attention from the grandmotherly types!  And while sometimes a playplace is just what you need, sometimes it's not.  Without a playplace and lots of loud kids, Wendy's can be very nice and stress-free.

   

So off to Wendy's we went again today, trying to re-create that perfect outing.  We love going out with family and friends, but there are occasions when I just need some mommy time with my kids. :) Chloe was not quite as well behaved today, but we still had a great time.  I apologized to the elderly, retired couple at the booth next to us for her fussiness.  But they both quickly assured me that she was fine and then proceeded to engage me in a conversation about how I remind them of someone and how old were the kids and they are so beautiful and so on.  Ryan's kid's meal toy was a minute to win it game and we had a fun time setting that up.  He had to wear a headband with a hook and try to pick up some keys.  He did pretty good with it!  I treasure these special times with them and I try not to think about the fact that Ryan will be in school next year and these outings are numbered.  I am thankful for these three amazing kids and I love days like this! 

 

 

Ryan hung the moon

While they were watching tv together yesterday, I asked:
Abby, you sure do love your brother don't you?
"Yes" cute little shoulder shrug "I do"

Chloe at five months

Chloe Marie is five months old!  How did that happen so fast?!

*She smiles all the time and coos.  She seems to recognize people and she definitely knows her name.

*She can roll over, she just doesn't.  I've seen her do it.  She can go belly to back and back to belly.  I don't know if she's lazy or doesn't like to roll or what.  Ryan and Abby both rolled all over the place.  Remember Ryan?  He never even really crawled, he rolled everywhere. 

*She's started eating real food.  Rice cereal, bananas, and squash so far. 

*She's an avid thumb sucker.  It's cute sometimes.  It's not cute when we're trying to feed her solid food. 

*She sleeps about twelve hours at night.  In a perfect world she'll nap about an hour in the morning and take a three hour nap in the afternoon.  She has a five year old brother and two year old sister; it's not a perfect world.

*She thinks her feet are crazy exciting.  They are the coolest things ever.  You should be jealous that your feet aren't as awesome as hers.

PS - I posted this on time!  Aren't you proud of me?  I didn't cheat and back-date it like I've done once or twice recently :)  Perhaps a new year means a new start to my blogging.  However, I doubt it and I'm certainly not going to make any promises!  I do enjoy blogging though, especially since I'm not current at all on my scrapbooking.  And I've started printing books of my blog posts, so I really do want to do a good job with this blog and keep it up to date. 

Doctor Abby

Abby just listened to my belly with her stethoscope.  When I asked her what it sounded like she told me: "a wolf eating." What?!!  Where does she come up with these things?!