It doesn't get any better....

2011-10-23T12:41:00.000-07:00

Guess what we got to do this weekend!

That's right, we got to go on a tour of a real live submarine!

Corey has a cousin that is in the navy, he is a Submariner. His boat was here in Annapolis this weekend. So he called to see if we wanted to come out and take a tour.

It was so cool!

This is the boat that took us out to the Sub.

Ry really loved the boat ride.

As we approached, this is one of the gun ships patrolling around the Sub.

There it was, our first view.

Ry and Corey's Cousin

Going down below...

This is the only picture we took inside, state secrets and all.

Ry after the tour, he loved it.

Palmer Lake

2011-08-20T08:12:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of our time at Palmer Lake with The Grimmers and Ju & her boys.

What a beautiful view from the the deck!

So peaceful

Sweet Lucy, such a smart puppy!

Ry loved playing in the water, the lake was perfect!

I only have pictures of Kar skiing, but you should have seen her on the wake board. She was catching air!

Mark was having fun even if you can't tell by this picture.

Oli did it!

Millie, the water skiing pro! She was so fun to watch.

These three boys had alot fun playing together.

Oh yeah, I can ski! I was pretty proud of myself.

I know it's blurry, but I even got up on the wake board.

It was a really great time. I can't thank the Grimmers enough for letting us join them! And Julie for talking me into it.

Rocket Launch

2011-07-18T06:50:00.000-07:00

I discovered shortly after we arrived in Florida that the Rocket Launch I was so anxious to see was scheduled at 3 am. My plan of being at Kennedy Space Center for the launch was not going to work as they are closed at 3 am. But, it did mean we would see a night launch if we could get up for it.

First it was schedule for early Wednesday morning. I set my alarm and when it went off we all got up. Ryan was especially excited, talking non-stop as only Ryan can. We went out to the beach and waited, there was a German guy out there waiting too. We waited until it was outside the launch window, and then went back to bed. The next morning they said on the news it had been postponed (mechanical issue). It was re-scheduled for the next night.

Again I set my alarm and we went to bed. Corey and I woke up at about 1 am due to a pretty bad storm. I check the website and it had been scrubbed due to weather. It was rescheduled for Friday night, which would be our last chance since we were leaving Saturday morning. That next morning when Ryan woke up he came straight to my bedside very upset I hadn't gotten him up for the launch. It took Corey and I both to convince him it hadn't gone up yet.

Finally on Friday night, Saturday morning, we got up and went down to the beach. This time there were alot of people on the beach so I felt pretty confident. We didn't have to wait very long. The whole horizon around the launch site lit up so bright. It was amazing!

I realize the video is probably kind of lame watching a light in the dark, I just like listening to Ryan's chatter.

Meet Stripes...

2011-02-22T15:38:00.000-08:00

Ryan finally got his fish....
Ry was having trouble sleeping at night and staying in his bed. So we made a deal about getting this fish, that involved him doing better about sleeping in his bed. He finally met his end of the bargan and got his reward. We went to the pet store last night and he picked him out. Ry is very excited. (Of course, right on cue he woke me up last night, but he did stay in his bed and went back to sleep fairly easy)

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-18T08:00:00.000-08:00

All dressed up for the Christmas Program at school. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures or videos there. Which is really too bad, because I would love to be able to show you how he was singing and rockin' out on stage! He is quite the performer. Maybe I can get a copy from someone else. He really put on a show. I could hear him clearly among the other kids.

Here's our beautiful Christmas tree.

We need to eat more carrots......

2010-12-17T16:46:00.000-08:00

We got a note from Ry's school the other day saying he had failed the vision test. They had done a hearing and vision screening and said that Ry needed further testing. So I set him up an appointment at an optical center.

The doctor put the letters up on the board and asked Ry to read them after a few minutes he turned to us and asked, "He does know all his letters, Right?" He was not doing so well. Initially I thought maybe he just wasn't cooperating when they did the screening at school. Nope, the doctor said he needs glasses and he is to wear them all the time. Plus he has a stigmatism in both eyes.

We finally picked them up today. When he put them on for the first time at the store, I asked him how they looked and he said wow, it's so clear.

He looks pretty handsome!

Trick or Treat!!

2010-10-29T08:04:00.000-07:00

Last night was Trick-or-Treat in our neighborhood. Ry's still prefers to give out the candy instead of actually going to get candy. We made up 225 candy/glow-sticks to give out and then I had another 2 bags of candy bars, about 50 pieces, so about 275 total. Gone in about 45 minutes. It's amazing how many kids (and I use that term loosely, as the age range that came to our door was between 0 and 65) showed up.

Ry was dancing to help advertise that we had candy

Notice Chica in her lobster costume. Always a big hit with the crowds.

We did finally go to a few houses, but not many. He got his fill of T-o-T pretty quickly.

He's almost 6....

2010-10-29T07:52:00.000-07:00

Today I am taking cupcakes into Ry's kindergarten class to celebrate his birthday. Here are the cupcakes I made.

I am pretty pleased with the end result. I only had a few minor issues that no one but me would even notice. I can't say I am a pro at making the chocolate frosting for the cupcakes that W posted on the cooking site. My frosting turns out really crumble-y and doesn't stick to the cupcakes very well. Fortunately with these cupcakes you cover them with dirt (aka cookie crumbs) so you can't tell, and it tastes good so that's what really counts right?

Anyway, hopefully the kids will like them.

Hot Air Balloon Festival

2010-08-02T05:45:00.000-07:00

We went to a Hot Air Balloon Festival this weekend. It was so great! It was a local event so we didn't have to drive far to get it. While I think they had a good turn out, we don't like big crowds and while we were there it was not overly crowded.

They had tethered balloon rides

We only had to wait about 20 minutes

Here we are going up...

It was scary, loud, fun, exciting and hot!

We went up about 100 feet and I was pretty freaked out. Our Pilot said it gets better the higher you go becasue you lose your perspective of the ground.

You can really feel the heat when they flame the balloon. It's really only a few feet above your head. I was surprised how close it was.

We all loved it. I would love to do an actual balloon ride, but that was alot more $$$.

Best 5th of July Ever!

2010-08-01T14:00:00.000-07:00

We had a great 4th of July, except we did it on the 5th! Daddy had to work on the 4th so we had our celibration a day later. I'm sure my neighbors really appreciated it. The kids loved it!

mmmm chips!

He loves it...

He's not so sure..

He loves it....
It's loud....
Daddy safely extinguishing all fireworks!

Climbing trees!

2010-07-31T05:36:00.000-07:00

Isn't he getting tall!!

Home Improvement

2010-07-02T05:24:00.000-07:00

Look at the beautiful pergola we put up on the back porch. We are still looking for some patio furniture to put under it, but even now it's such an improvement from the nothing we had out there before. Since we are not great at the do-it-yourself stuff, we feel pretty proud of this project. What you can't see is that the concrete pad was pretty chipped up so C had to use concrete patch to try to even out the concrete. That was quite an ordeal, I'm so proud of him for all his hard work.

Look Ma no training wheels!

2010-06-14T03:14:00.000-07:00

(Okay, I think I am finally caught up. This post actually happened this weekend. June 12, 2010)

Daddy took the training wheels off Ry's bike about 2 months ago. They spent about 5 minutes that day trying to ride with out the t.w. and Ry quit. He said it was too hard and he has not wanted to try ever since. I tried to talk C into putting the training wheels back on because I felt so much safer with them on. (Over-protective much? yeah, I know) But, he wouldn't, said Ry was ready. C just kept asking Ryan if he wanted to go out and practice, to which Ry would say "No thanks, I want to ride my scooter. He's gotten really good at that scooter, which actually I think helped give him that sense of balance.
Saturday early afternoon after a little extra coaxing C talked Ryan into going out to give a try one more time. I kid you not, fifteen minutes later he came back in and said they had something to show me. I was so impressed. He totally got it. He was so proud of himself, and we were too!

Next up teaching him to tie his shoes....

2010-06-13T10:28:00.000-07:00

The kids put on a little presentation for all the parents as an end of year celebration. It was really cute. They sang some songs, the teachers spoke and there was a picture slide show. Ry was so funny singing the songs, he was dance and really getting into it. Such a showman!

Ry, his best friend and Mrs. Scheaffer, his teacher

Ry and the two assistant teachers Ms. Laura and Ms. Gina

Soccer star

2010-06-13T09:55:00.000-07:00

Ryan is now in his second season of soccer. This season it's outdoor soccer and he's doing really well. See him scoring.....

or this...

Soccer star

2010 Joint Services Open House

2010-06-13T07:09:00.000-07:00

We went to the JSOH Air Show again this year and had a great time! We were very excited about the air show this year because Ryan has been studying his "Big Book of Airplanes" for the past few months. He is really into air planes right now. He can tell you all about the planes featured in his book, the Gee Bee, the Concorde, the Blackbird, and the speed of sound and sonic booms. During show and tell at school he went through the book page by page and told all the kids about each plane. His teachers were so impressed, I was so proud. I can't wait until he's piloting his first mission for NASA!

One of the main improvement from last year was thanks to the hearing protection we brought. Much better, and he is so sensitive to loud noises it really helped.

He looks good in there!

He brought the book so we could find the planes from his book.

It got pretty hot and the sun was so bright...
We found some shade in these tents, so we sat

and watched the show, Ry got silly...

Then really cranky,

so we went home!

School days

2010-06-13T05:47:00.000-07:00

During one of my parent volunteer days I took some pictures of Ry at school. Ry's school is a Montessori school so the push they kids to be self sufficient and independent. Here is Ry during snack time. As the mother of an only child I generally just do everything for Ryan, partly out of impatience and partly because it just doesn't dawn on me to let him do it himself. (This was one of the main reasons I choose this school. We needed an intervention!)

So imagine my surprise to watch him during snack time. They have a really impressive little set-up, including a wash tub to wash their hands before, the snack is set up in bowls to serve themselves, then a clean up station. It's out so they can choose when to have snack. There are 6 long bead necklaces, you put on a necklace and that says it's your turn.

Washing up

Serving himself

On the white board it tells them how much they can take,

3 pretzels, 1/2 glass of juice, 3 scoops of applesauce.

Enjoying snack time with friends

My son washing dishes!

Ry and his best friend washing dishes together

So cute!

Ry's favorite thing to do during recess, the bikes! He is so his father's son!

(It was silly hat day, he's wearing his Mario hat!)

And finally here is my boy doing some "work", and with a girl!

It's catch-up time...

2010-06-13T05:38:00.000-07:00

Okay so it's been months since I posted any thing. I'm going to try to go back and fill in the for the past few months, here's what we've been up to.....

Easter -

Ry got found some eggs and a sweet soccer basket!

My Soccer Super Star!

2010-03-11T16:42:00.000-08:00

He's quite the dancer!

Valentine Crafts

2010-02-10T16:45:00.000-08:00

Ryan had a homework assignment to create a valentines day box. This box will be used for collecting valentines from his classmates. With the assistance of our circut we cut out a copious amount of hearts, stuck them on his box and, splattered them with mod podge. What started out as a Dryel container, in just a few hours time, was magically transformed into the most beautiful valentine collection container this town has ever seen.

Superbowl Party

2010-02-10T13:35:00.000-08:00

We were actually really excited to watch the Superbowl this year. This is a first for us at our house. Neither of us are football fans and have never followed the sport. For some reason this year we did, and we did it together as a family. C and I would each pick a team to cheer for and we would watch. I have to admit it was fun. I would never sit down and watch a game by myself, (BORING!) but together it was actually fun. We watch all the way through the playoffs and we were excited about the teams going to the big game. I had picked the Saints and C was pulling for the Colts.

The day of the big game we made a big deal out of it. Planned a family Superbowl party. I made all kinds of traditional football game foods. (being snowed in and bored and all I had plenty of time on my hands).

I made White Chicken Chili,BBQ Wings, and 7-layer dip. For desserts I made Raspberry Cheesecake Bars (see the cooking blog for the recipe...yes Wendy, I fixed the ingredient list Sorry!) and Karli's Choc PB Cookies. (delicious!)

Ry wasn't really into the football game, but he did watch some of it. Mostly he was excited about the cookies as you can see...

Another Big Snow

2010-02-09T17:11:00.000-08:00

This is why I had to cut my trip to Lisa's short. I think the pictures speak for themselves. I got home after midnight on Thursday/Friday morning. And it's a good thing I did because it's now Monday and the airports are still mostly closed. As of today a few flights have gotten in. Our neighbor, again very kindly plowed our driveway and we will forever be in his debt. It's just so much snow.
My work was closed Monday and it will be closed again tomorrow. They are calling for 5 to 10 more inches of snow to come Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday morning. If that happens I wonder when I'll be back to work. I'm not complaining. Ry and I had fun today working on a Valentine's Day project. We'll see what we get into tomorrow. Hope everyone else is have a wonderful winter!

Daddy had to work on Friday night when the snow first started falling. This was one of his calls.

****UPDATED I woke up Wednesday morning to another foot of snow! This is so crazy! It feels like it is never going to stop.****

Arizona

2010-02-08T19:44:00.000-08:00

Ryan and I had a great time visiting Lisa and her family in AZ. We also got to see Linny and Linc before they left town. It was so fun watching the cousins play together. It was especially great to see that new baby. He is so sweet. I'd share some pictures of him, but I didn't seem to come home with any. I got a few of the kids though....

Ryan waiting for Linny to pick us up from the airport.

Ry and A playing at the park.

They had so much fun together.

This is the only one I came home with.

Linny and I took the boys to an air museum.

It was really cool and the boys loved it!!

Ry took a quick trip to the moon.

Here's our Pilot....

And Co-Pilot!

Sweet Cousins!

These last few pictures were taken just minutes before I had to throw all our clothes into the suitcase and rush to the airport. With a snowstorm headed straight for DC it was my last chance to get home before they started canceling flights. I felt bad leaving Lisa's early, but she had things completely under control. We made it just in time.

Ryan grabbed my phone and started interviewing Lisa.

Pretty funny!

Soccer Star

2010-02-07T07:20:00.000-08:00

Sorry, I've been seriously lacking in posts lately. Since we are snowed in this weekend I am going to try and get a few things posted.

Ryan started his sports career finally. We made his debut in Soccer. I'd like to pretend that this was calculated, but honestly it's just the first time I actually found a team registration before it closed. Unfortunately Ryan was given parents who have no clue when it comes to sports. I don't know about the seasons, who plays and when? So trying to get him involved in sports has been quite a challenge. I signed him up at the YMCA for their indoor soccer. He is having fun with it. Our attendance so far has been somewhat spotty. We missed his first game, due to a schedule change, which I can't really decide whose fault it was, we arrived just after the game ended. Then we missed last week while we were visiting my sister in AZ. We have a game today, but because of the mountain of snow outside, I don't know if it's still on. We shall see.

So here are a few photos of my Soccer Star!

He is pretty good at handling the ball in motion.

He actually talks to the girls on his soccer team, which is progress because at school he DOES NOT!

The coach taught them to stop the ball, this is his interpretation. It's like he's doing the "freeze" thing.

My latest collage

2009-12-29T18:44:00.001-08:00

So this is my latest collage. I took pictures along the way so I could show you my progress.

Background done and the basic house built.

Added the details of the house and the fence and a few clouds.

Then I added this tree, which I am particularly proud of. Have I mentioned that I got a Cricut for Christmas. I love it!

I was at JoAnn's the other day, and I found these beads. They looked just like little paving stones to me. Perfect for my sidewalk.

Okay so they have little holes in them, but I still love it.

I still have a few more details to add, but this is what it looks like as of now.

2009-12-24T13:11:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all!

We hope you all have a safe and happy holiday!

Buried Alive...

2009-12-20T08:10:00.000-08:00

I feel a little like we were buried alive! It was one of those snows they will compare all other storms to for years to come. It started snowing around 10 pm Friday night. It continued to snow until about 8:00 pm Saturday night. All in all I think we got about 2 feet.

This was around 11:00 pm Friday night

This was Saturday morning around 8:00.

Saturday around Noon.

Just a little later...

These were taken on Sunday....

Ryan and I went out to play and try to dig ourselves out. I am not really a fan of snow, but I have to admit we did have fun playing in it this time. It was a little hard to maneuver in, being so deep!

He said "Mom, I'm going to throw a snowball at you!"

Well, I guess it will be a white Christmas for us! There is no way this much snow will melt before Friday, plus they are calling for more snow, maybe even on Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all! Have a safe and happy Holiday!

a glimpse of NY....

2009-12-13T06:39:00.000-08:00

We took a quick trip to New York a few weekends ago. We didn't go to any shows or do anything specific just wandered around the city. We had a marvelous time! We got to put our new SLR camera to the test. Here are a few of the pictures from our Trip.

My Sweet boy turns 5!!!

2009-11-07T05:06:00.000-08:00

This post is about a week overdue, but here is (finally!)

We had a great time celebrating Ryan's 5th Birthday.

I started out the morning making him home made waffles. (I actually had to go out and buy a waffle iron because even though I am embarrased to admit, we usually just do the eggo waffles. In my defense I usually bought the nurti-grain kind, does that make it any better, yeah I know not really!) I can tell you, that this is the family's favorite new appliance. I've made waffles about 6 times in the last 8 days!

I also made Ryan a birthday crown. I borrowed the idea from one of my new Brave Girl Friends, (http://bushelandapeck.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/10/where-has-the-time-gone.html) (I loved the idea, Thanks Jeanne!) and it gave me another excuse to break out the mod podge, and glitter. I really went all out too, I don't know if you can tell, but it's fur-lined and everything. It turned out great, except it ended up just a little bit too small, and wouldn't really stay on. I really don't know how that happened considering I took measurements and every thing. Oh well, I had fun making it! Around lunch time we took him to Dave & Buster's, which is kind of like a restaurant with a game room, too. Kind of like Chucky Cheese, just better food options. Mostly we went because Ryan loves skee-ball. He got to play and play and play! He had a blast!
Played some racing games
Won lots of tickets!

I will be adding a video soon, I just wanted to hurry and at least get this much posted. We all really had a fun day! Happy Birthday my sweet son. I love you!

Halloween Fun

2009-10-31T17:13:00.000-07:00

Ryan's School Costume Parade

Getting ready for Trick or Treating

Mario found a familiar face among the trick-or-treaters

No one loves a costume more than Chica!!

Mod Podge

2009-10-24T18:48:00.000-07:00

Before I picked Ryan up from daycare on Friday I stopped by Michael's to pick up some new art supplies. The whole experience of Brave Girls Camp changed me, I feel like I have this new perspective on life and I learned that I really like crafting. Sooooo, off to Michael's I went and I left with Mod Podge (my new most favorite item), and a blank canvas. I also picked up a little wooden airplane that I thought would be a perfect project for Ryan, he loves to paint.

When I picked him up I told him we were gonna have some fun! We were going to do some arts and crafts.

Here he is painting his plane. He had fun, but I got him set up first and let him get started while I was laying all my stuff out. Due to the extreme volume of stuff we were sent home (from Brave Girls Camp) I was still laying my stuff out when he started to lose interest in my fun little activity.

See....it's alot of stuff!!

Greatest stuff ever!

Ryan insisted on taking a picture and I was pleased that he at least captured the Brave Girls logo.

We had fun, but like I said he was pretty much finished before I even got started. Then he played while I "Mod Podged". Occasionally he would run over and ask me, "Mom, are you almost done with Arts and Cracks?" I laughed so hard the first time he said it. Later, when Daddy got home, Ryan said "Daddy, look at Mommy's Arts and Cracks" Daddy laughed too.

I have corrected him, but I really love it when he says it that way. I guess it wouldn't be so funny if he was still saying that way when he's 12.

I want to finish this post by saying thank you to Melody and Kathy for creating such an amazing experience for all of us who attended. I really feel changed and I hope I can hold on to that feeling. So many of the other girls posted eloquent and beautiful entries about the camp and I second every last thing they said. AMAZING!! I truly loved every minute of it.

To the staff, otherwise known as the hardest working girls ever! Thank you for putting so much effort into making everything beyond amazing. And, doing it so happily. It was a joy to see you interact with each other.

To all my new Brave Girl friends - I miss you guys!!! Thanks for all the laughs, and tears, and shared experiences!

Now on to leading a "Life Uncommon"!

I am A Brave Girl....

2009-10-20T05:07:00.000-07:00

I got back from Brave Girls Camp late late Sunday night, and then went to work early Monday morning. Needless to say I was pretty tired and didn't quite make it a full day. I spent the evening playing with Ryan. He said to me "Mom, I want to give you a kiss", so I bent down and he said I'm going to kiss you here and here, pointing to each cheek. It was so sweet. I really miss my sisters, and all my new Brave Girl Friends, but that was really nice to come home to. This is one of the MANY gifts we got at Brave Girls Camp. I put her on my bookshelf where I can see her easily and she will remind me to be brave. I feel so rejuvinated after our week.

I can't say enough Thanks to Kathy and Melody and the wonderful staff who pampered us at every opputunity. I felt so special.

http://www.bravegirlsclub.com/

Before and After...

2009-09-29T18:12:00.000-07:00

So a couple of my sisters have said something about actually posting a picture of myself so they could see my weightloss success.

(Drumroll please.....)

This is me back in February

C took this tonight.

Now granted I haven't completely reached my goal I still have 6 lbs to go, but I am feeling pretty good about it. Monday, I went shopping for some new jeans and the ones I bought are 5 sizes smaller than pants I bought at the beginning of the year!

First trip to the Dentist

2009-09-18T13:28:00.000-07:00

Ry finally made his first trip to the dentist. I admit we should have done this probably a year ago, but I just hate the dentist so much I was having a little trouble making him go. But, I know it's very important and he needed to go so we finally went. It was a great appointment. One of the reason I waited was because our insurance only covered us for one dentist in town, and he wasn't very kid friendly in my opinion. I was waiting to change insurance plans so I would have better choices. That turned out to be very smart, because the office we went to is GREAT with little kids. Our hygienist was amazing, she took her time, showing him each tool before she used it. He was so much braver than I thought he would be. He did everything she asked and was a total champ! All in all we got a great report, his teeth look really good.

Who looks more nervous in this pic, me or him?

What a champ!!

Winnie and SM's visit

2009-08-23T06:20:00.000-07:00

Right after we got home from our trip to Seattle we were so excited to have Winnie and SM visit us. We took them to DC to see the "Rockets" at the Air and Space Museum. The day ended up being a little more of an adventure than we'd planned on. After wandering through the Museum we were walking down the sidewalk looking for a hot dog vendor when Ryan tripped and fell, splitting his knee open. It was a pretty nasty cut that sent us through the underground maze of the museum to the nurses station. Where it was suggested that he could use a stitch or two.

Unfortunately that took a back seat when we got back to the parking lot where we discovered my car had been stolen! Well, at least I thought it was. Turns out I'm just one of those people who can't remember where they parked. I don't think I've ever felt so stupid! The supervisor of the lot, a very smug gentleman, tried to convince me that "no car has ever been stolen from the lot", while driving me around the lot looking for my "stolen car"! And just as I had finally convinced him that my car was in fact stolen, we drove to the back corner of the lot near where I thought my car should be, I saw my car parked neatly just where I left it! In my defense this spot looked exactly like the spot I thought it should have been, and Winnie was in full agreement the whole time! Yep, that was embarrassing! After that 45 minute adventure and the 2 hour drive home Ryan's knee looked like it would survive with just some neosporin and Band-Aids. We decided that stitches would cause way more trauma than they would help. It's been a week since the accident and his knee looks good so I know we made the right decision.

Here are some pictures before all the excitement:

Winnie and SM on the metro

Ryan and the Rocket

Ry was very excited about this plane since it had his name on it!

SM and the Spaceman!

A couple of boys who didn't want to pose!

On Saturday we had some fun painting pottery and feeding the ducks and fish at the park. Don't tell Juju, but then we had Cheese Steak Sandwiches for lunch. Then we had to take them to the airport and say goodbye!

(I love SM's face in this one!)

We're so glad they could come and visit and hope they had fun!

Summer Vacation 2009

2009-08-22T05:01:00.000-07:00

Ry and I had a great summer vacation! We had lots of fun visiting the family. So much fun in fact that I spent zero time taking any good pictures! Here are a few pictures....

Don't ever let me complain about flying anywhere with Ryan. He does so great! He just makes himself right at home!

It was really HOT when we got there so the boys spent a lot of time with the sprinkler under the trampoline.

The G family took us to the River for some Crawdad fishing. We had so much fun. Someone took a good picture of Ry "petting a crawdad, I think it was Linny (Can you send it to me please)

Then it back to JuJu's and Nana's!

We took the kids fishing. Ry caught 2 fish!

The three musketeers!

Sweet Linc! What a good baby!!

Cousins!

Maryland Crabs!

2009-07-11T14:07:00.000-07:00

For dinner tonight we had Steamed Crabs! It's probably not something we'll do again anytime soon, but it was good. Little too messy for Daddy taste, and Ryan was not impressed with the idea of eating them. He does love corn on the cob though.

Happy 4th!

2009-07-05T14:23:00.000-07:00

This is actually what we did on the 3rd. We spent most of the 4th hanging out at home. Poor daddy had to work this whole weekend. On the night of the 4th we chased fireflies, and watched some fireworks with the neighbors. Ryan finally warmed up to the fireworks. After each one was lit he would cheer and cheer!
We only have a few weeks until our trip to Seattle/Oregon and we can't wait!!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

2009-06-24T17:51:00.000-07:00

We didn't actually get to see daddy tonight because he had to work, but Ryan sure enjoyed the cake!
We love you.

Home improvement

2009-06-20T07:56:00.000-07:00

About a month ago we jumped in with both feet on some home improvement. We painted the whole downstairs, the kitchen is now green and yellow, the family room is beige and the living room/computer room is red. Then we put up crown molding in the living room/computer room, and we did it by our selves. The last thing we wanted to do was put up backsplash tile in the kitchen. This was something I wasn't willing to attempt myself. (Honestly, I thought we were nuts to do the crown molding, but actually that wasn't that bad!) We found someone to do the tile and it was put up yesterday. I could not be more thrilled. It turned out beautiful! Check it out:

this is the beige Family Room

This one is from the day we painted the red in living/computer room, you can see the furniture all in the center of the room, plus this is what it looked like before the crown molding.

Oh, and the green in the kitchen.

View of the red living/computer room with the crown molding in.

And finally some shots of the kitchen with the new tile.

I love it!

Granted the big kudos to the guy who installed it, but I think we did a pretty good job at picking it out!

Wii Fit

2009-05-26T10:16:00.000-07:00

Here’s my workout partner using the Wii Fit. For all you hard core fitness experts, it may not be enough to really get the blood flowing, but we novices love it! Ryan really likes it, which can be a problem when I am actually trying to use it to workout. He’ll say “Mama, you have to take turns!” Not especially good when you are trying to keep your heart rate up.

It is day 21 and I am down 8 lbs. I’ve joined a gym and am working out pretty much every day. When I can’t go to the gym this is a decent substitute. I am also keeping a very strict count of calories using my iphone app “Lose-it” (Thanks to JuJu! Excellent find on her part!) My weightloss plan is much more hi-tech this time.

I’m still waiting for the tough-love personal training that someone promised! Bucket??

It was really just a matter of time.......

2009-05-21T05:26:00.000-07:00

For Mother's Day I received the bike I've been not so subtly dropping hints about for the last year and a half. I wanted the bike for 2 reasons, first Ry loves to ride bikes, he and his dad went for bike rides all the time last year and I was left out because I didn't have a bike. The second reason is because I am actively trying to lose weight right now and I wanted it as a means of exercise. I've had it now for a total of 10 days, and yesterday was the first day I was able to take it out for exercise. It was pretty great, up until I was riding a trail at the park near my house. My ipod earphone cord was tangled up so I tried tugging it loose, at the same time I was coming around a corner where it starts to go down hill. I got a little nervous so I squeezed my brakes, maybe just a little too hard, my front brakes at that. I wobbled and then went straight over the handle bars. I did manage to miss the tree that I was headed straight for, I'm not exactly sure how, flipped over and landed right on my back. Fortunately, I don't think there were any witnesses, and other than some minor scrapes and bruises I am fine, as was my bike. I was able to get back on and ride home, albeit a bit sore.

When I got home, and told my husband what happened, after making sure I was okay, he just shook his head. When he got me the bike his two main concerns were that either I'd never ride it or I'd kill myself on it. I'm known to be a bit clumsy. Ryan's response priceless:

" Mommy, you need 4 wheels on your bike like mine!"

Yes, my son suggested I get some training wheels.

To which his father promptly agreed.

Like I said, it was just a matter of time!

Chattanooga Part II

2009-05-16T19:14:00.000-07:00

Here are more pictures from our trip to Chattanooga back in April.

Here are the boys terrorizing the Starbucks where we had breakfast.

Playing in the water in front of the Aquarium.

Playing at the Children's Museum

Ry loves anything that has to do with water

This fishing was probably his favorite activity. I think he would have stayed here the whole time if I would have let him.

SM directorial debut

G loved the bees

SM manages a smile even though he REALLY wanted to be in the drivers seat.

I have to say I was really impressed with the city of Chattanooga. It is very kid-friendly. We really had a great time. Both hanging out in the city and hanging out with our cousins!

Joint Service Open House

2009-05-16T06:29:00.000-07:00

So many of you may remember our attempt last year to go to the Joint Services Open House (Air Show), and what a dismal failure that was. I am happy to report, this year we learned from our mistakes last year and successfully attended the event. What an amazing show!!!! Here is a video of our day, I know it's kind of long, but there was just so much to see, and I had a hard time narrowing it down. Trust me it could have been longer.
If you ask Ry if he had a good time he'll happily tell you "Yes", if you then ask if he wants to go again he'll tell you "No". He did have fun, but the F-22 and the Thunderbirds were REALLY REALLY LOUD. You can kind of tell from the video, but it's nothing like live and in person. He's pretty sensitive to loud noises, and this was just a bit much for him. All in all it was a great family fun day!

Chattanooga Choo Choo

2009-05-03T05:56:00.001-07:00

These are pictures from our "Day out with Thomas". The boys had a great time!

Ryan and Sawyer got a little competitive playing mini golf.

Thomas is so cool.

Graham really is having fun!

Riding the train. It was starting to get pretty hot when we got on the train, so the nice ride in an air conditioned car was nice.

Ryan's first tatoo!

Posing with Thomas

Sawyer and the Rooster.

Flight School

2009-04-19T15:57:00.000-07:00

Off to the Rodeo....

2009-03-09T05:25:00.000-07:00

Saturday night we loaded into the car and headed out to the rodeo. Ryan and I went to the rodeo once while visiting Kar's family and he loved it, so I was sure this would be a big hit with him. Well, this one was really just bull riding, no barrel racing or anything else, the arena was only 1/2 size. Ryan tolerated it and at times had fun, but by no means did he love it. We had a good though. It's always fun to do something different.

They did have a pretty sweet opening ceremony.

Ryan and I taking pictures of each other.

Sadly, this was the best video of the night, and probably Ry's favorite part.

When the rodeo clown threw out some smarties.

(Never seen anyone eat them so fast.)

Happy Valentines Day!!!

2009-02-14T08:37:00.000-08:00

Ryan presented us with his sweet Valentine. I just love his handwritting!

In our first year of marriage I got 12 red roses for Valentines Day. Now, coming up on our 12th year of marriage, I got a singe red rose. Oh how the years change things, but you know what, it made me just as happy.
Thanks sweet husband! I love you!

Snow Tubing

2009-01-30T16:19:00.000-08:00

We had a family day today. C and I both had the day off so we went snow tubing. Ry had a blast as you can see in the video we made. Actually we all had a great time. Whitetail is only about 20 minutes from our house so we didn't spend half the day in the car which is very nice. At one point it was snowing so hard that everything was white, yet when we got back home, nothing. We may go again very soon!

When asked later that night if he had fun Ry said we were tubing "
Rocket Style"!

2008-12-27T09:07:00.000-08:00

Ry had a great Xmas. Here are a few pictures of our fun....

Before the madness

This was probably one of his favorite things

He was pretty happy about this one too.

This was the squeaky mouse he asked for, he seemed pleased with it.

After the madness!

Holiday Baking

2008-12-22T07:19:00.001-08:00

Ry and I did some holiday baking this weekend, as in, all we did this weekend was bake!

Here is Ryan helping me put the lemon sandwich cookies together. Thanks to Karli for the recipe. They turned out perfect!

These are the chocolate peanut butter candy that mom always made. Thanks JuJu for providing mom's recipe and then the advice on shaping them! They turned out beautifully!

Here we have the Chocolate Mint Squares, which despite this picture turned out really well. and Haylee's "Easy Almond Roca", which even though it looks great in the picture did not turn out at all. I guess I didn't get it hot enough, because it didn't set up.

After the baking was finished Ryan went off to play, he came back and said "Mom, let's be Superheros" This was his "Superhero Getup" A lunch box and the straps to some exercise equipment. I'm not sure who he is supposed to be, but he was pretty serious about it.

Gingerbread House

2008-12-15T07:37:00.001-08:00

Having just gotten back from our trip, I knew that I wanted to spend the weekend at home, leaving the house a few times as possible. Then Saturday morning Ryan woke up sick. He had a sore throat, slight fever and according to him a frog in his mouth. So, I knew we wouldn't be doing much of anything. I got a Gingerbread House kit to entertain us. Hard as it is to believe, I don't think I've ever put one together before. I certainly wasn't brave enough to try making one from scratch. I was a little worried how it was going to turn out, but it was really pretty easy and I think it turned out great. Ryan loved it and it perked him up from "the sickness" for at least a little while.

The finished project!

Puerto Rico

2008-12-10T11:07:00.000-08:00

Puerto Rico was so much fun. The weather couldn't have been better, the beach was fabulous, and our hosts were wonderful! Here are a few of highlights:

(I know I have more to say about this trip, but since we missed our connection flight last night and ended up getting home really late. I am still too sleep deprived to think of anything clever to write. I'll try to add more later.)

This is a view from the beach we spent most of out time at. We loved it because we were protected from the big waves by the rocks. Ry really loved swimming here.

This is in San Juan

Lisa and Ryan trying to climb the wall to get into the City

More beach time

Happy beach girl

These were at the Lighthouse Park

This is a view of some of the Park.

And even more beach time...

Okay so this was at the "Bird Park" ( I can't remember what it is actually called). Ryan was pretty freaked out by the birds but said he wanted to feed them. It was pretty chaotic.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T18:48:00.000-08:00

As a family we have a lot to be thankful for, everyone is health, and doing pretty well. Mostly, Ryan and I are thankful that we get to leave this cold weather in 6 days and enjoy the warm PR sun.

I hope everyone has a nice holiday!
We miss you all!

Favorite things.....

2008-11-23T05:03:00.000-08:00

Right now, one of Ryan's favorite toys is his trains. He doesn't like set the train tracks up in circular routes, however. He's more of a cross-country kind of guy. In the pictures below he put all the tracks together in one big line that stretched from one room to the other. Then he would run from one end to the other waiting for Thomas to arrive so he could turn him around. I don't know, but I think he might have a bright future with Amtrak some day.

Birthday/Halloween

2008-11-11T15:26:00.001-08:00

C made this video....

PR here we come!

2008-11-08T12:43:00.000-08:00

In my excitement about our upcoming trip to Puerto Rico, I told Ryan that we were going. That may have been a mistake. It's just under a month away and normally I wouldn't have told him so far out. For this reason........
Ever since I told him, he has asked me several time a day, "Can we go to Puerto Rico Now?"
To try and help him understand when we are going we made a paper chain to count down the days. We did this for his birthday and that went really well. We would tear a link off every night right before bed, which helped motivate him to go to bed at night. (An added bonus)

Here is our Puerto Rico chain!
I can't wait!

Trick-or-Treat!

2008-10-31T17:53:00.000-07:00

In our neighborhood we don't trick-or-treat on Halloween. We do it on some night prior to Halloween, it varies from year to year and no one seems to know who makes this decision, but everyone seems to go along with it. In the past this has really driven me nuts, but this year it actually worked to my benefit. We did it on Thursday night, so it didn't interfere with Ryan's birthday. Here he is helping me hand out the candy. After the candy was all gone we went out and did some trick-or-treating ourselves. We went up our street about 10 houses and came back. Poor Daddy had to work, but he patrolled our street about the time we were walking back to the house so he got to see us. All in all it was a pretty fun night, even if it wasn't "on " Halloween

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOY!!!

2008-10-31T17:45:00.000-07:00

My boy turns 4!!!

Happy Birthday to Ryan....

He was pretty excited about some new train stuff.

We went to Chuck E. Cheese for some pizza and fun!

He got lots of balloon, which he loves!!!

Hard to believe this was just 4 years ago!

On the Road Again

2008-10-30T06:34:00.000-07:00

Ryan and I headed out again, visiting friends and family in Altanta as you can see Chica was pretty jealous, she wanted to come along...
While in Atlanta we went to the pumpkin patch....

Such a cute family

On the hay ride

Ryan's first funnel cake, obviously he loved it!

Ryan and S. having fun

On Saturday we went to a Halloween Party.......

My little Frankenstein

Vote!

2008-10-24T20:07:00.000-07:00

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Just like Brothers

2008-10-19T09:13:00.000-07:00

We had such a great time with JuJu and Ethan. Those boys just played and played. Here are a few smapshots of all the fun, fun, fun we had....

Helping each other

Feeding the ducks, even the one that bit my poor boy!
Mean Duck!

Watching TV

On a Hay Ride...

Painting Pumpkins

Talking like pirates on our pirate ship
"Arrgh Matey"

Thanks JuJu, for making the long trip here!
Next up, Atlanta, Here we come!

The Rainbow Song

2008-09-27T19:00:00.000-07:00

Ryan was singing The Rainbow Connection so I ran to get my camera and tried to get a video of it. Of course as soon as I got my camera and started shooting, he got silly and lost interest, but I managed to get a little bit of it.

Welcome to Hershey Park

2008-09-21T13:29:00.001-07:00

We loaded up in the car and headed to Hershey Park...

Ryan took this picture, but you can see how excited we are

This was the first ride, he loved it!

Same smile different ride.

When we said it was time to stop for lunch he got pretty mad, until he saw the pizza. I don't think I've ever seen him eat so fast. And of course, he had some Hershey's Chocolate Milk.

This is Ryan, about 5 minutes after we got in the car to come home.

Here is a small taste of Ryan's laugh all day long.

All things with Wheels

2008-09-18T16:36:00.000-07:00

Ryan loves all things that have wheels....

But he really loves this bike...

He says, "Mommy, watch me go really really fast!"

Special Talents

2008-09-10T17:07:00.000-07:00

Do you love the things you are good at or are you good at things you love? Either way I am not good at, nor do I love (or even like for that matter) yard work/landscaping. To put it bluntly I hate it and so we haven't done much landscaping around our house. We have grass, which my darling husband mows regularly, and a rock garden to the left of the front door. There was nothing under the window on the right side. We always felt it looked a little out of balance, but our distaste for yard work kept us from doing any thing about it.
I am proud to announce this is no longer the case. Last weekend we finally found the motivation to put in a planter box, or whatever you call it. We planted two shrubs and outlined it with these rock-looking things then filled it in with stones that match the other side. This may not look like much to the outside world, but for us it was a huge deal.
Karli eat your heart out!

And here's C right before he thought it would be funny to spray me while I was taking pictures
Thanks Dear!

2008-08-20T19:22:00.000-07:00

My boys and Chica

Checking in

2008-08-19T15:15:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I just haven't been in a blogging mood lately. I'm hoping that will change soon, but for now I'll just leave you with a few pictures.

Ryan and his new Easel

Swimming Lessons

Ryan and Corey go for bike rides all the time. This particular ride they were at the school riding around the parking lot and got stuck in the rain.

Lancaster County

2008-07-20T07:54:00.000-07:00

While at the Red Caboose we got to go on an Amish buggy ride. I didn't get a picture of our buggy, but this is what it looked like.

Here are some of the sights:

This windmill they use for power

An Amish farmer on his tractor

View of a farm

While on our ride we stopped at another farm and this little Amish girl brought out there homemade Root beer for us. It was really good.

It was so weird to see all the horse-drawn carriages mixed in with the cars on the road.

We really had the best day. Thanks to Corey's Aunt and Uncle and the kids and most of all Mammy for showing us such a great time.

2008-07-20T07:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay it's been a busy week.......

After we left the train station we visited the Red Caboose Motel. It's a motel where all the rooms are train cars. It was the cutest place. The property is connected to an Amish farm, so they had lots of neat things to see.

These are a few of the rooms.

We got to look inside this one. It sleeps 6, a double bed and 2 sets of bunk beds.

You can see the cars go on and on.

On adjacent farm they had a goats and chickens and pigs you could pet and feed.

This goat was the funniest goats I've ever seen. He was walking along the top of the fence.

Then when the kids were getting the feed out of the machine he would stand on top and try to steal it as it was coming out.

Ryan was having the best time! We all were.

4th of July

2008-07-06T14:10:00.000-07:00

We had a GREAT 4th of July weekend. Ryan and I went to visit Mammy (Corey's grandmother) poor Corey had to protect and serve all weekend long. While visiting her we went to the Strasburg Railroad in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Ryan had such a blast.

When we first got there we spent some time walking around. Since Lancaster is known for it's large Amish population they had several Amish displays around the station.

Here are the kids in an Amish Buggy

Ryan and I in an Amish Wagon

Ryan before his train ride

Doing a little souvenir shopping

Ryan on the hand-crank train

Then we finally got on the train, here are some sights of us.....

Here are some of our sights:

To be continued....

(Warning: There was so much to do and see it will probably take me several post to cover it all. And, there will be pictures (lots).

More Photo Booth

2008-07-03T12:02:00.000-07:00

Yes, he is a two-headed monster!

Happy Family

2008-07-02T04:20:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to a quiz on MSN:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25461301/

Could you pass the Citizenship test? I love these kinds of quizes. How did you do?

I won't lie, I only got an 85% I missed #2, 6, and 17. Not too bad.

2008-06-27T19:07:00.000-07:00

While Lisa was visiting we stopped by the temple one morning.

His first Big Boy Bike

2008-06-26T09:22:00.000-07:00

Over Father's day weekend My dad was here for a visit. While he was here, he bought Ry his first big boy bike. Ryan was still riding a tricycle, which his knees were hitting the handle bars. His knees were pretty bruised up. It was definitely time for a new bike. Here is Ry at the store testing out the one we all liked.

After choosing the one, we had to wait until the next day to pick it up so it could be put together for us. (I know "so lazy", I just didn't want to deal with that!)

After we picked it up we took him to a local park with a nice flat and open parking lot so he could really try it out. He loved it, and only had one little crash, but not a scary one.

Then we took him home and let him ride on the driveway. Our driveway does have a slight downward slope and of course all the neighbor kids were there so there was lots of traffic to maneuver through. Here's Dad trying to keep him from going too fast. After a bit he started to figure out the brakes. I felt much better once he got the hang of that!

He rode for a while that day and a little bit the next, but he had few falls that scared him and he started saying the bike is "too big!" I haven't been pushing him, but it did take a little coaxing to get him to ride again. Since then we have taken him back to the park and he really likes to ride there. It's a lot easier and not nearly as many things to contend with (hills, other bikes, traffic etc.)

It sure is fun to watch him.

Thanks for the bike, Pop and helping us learn to ride!

Daddy's Birthday Party

2008-06-25T05:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Daddy

Ryan made this card for Daddy

What a party, balloons, a birthday sign, and a chocolate cake.

Ryan loved the cake!

Happy Birthday Daddy, We love you!

Annoucements:

2008-06-25T05:20:00.001-07:00

Just want to take a minute to mention a few recent exciting events:

My brother Shawn graduated from his Nursing Program and has accepted a job working in the Oncology department at the VA hospital. Shawn Congratulations, I am so proud of you!!!

My sister Lindsey and her husband Matt had their first baby on Monday. Congratulations and welcome to the family. Lincoln Matthew Day, born at 3:12 pm, weighing 6 lbs 15 oz and 20 inches long. A beautiful baby boy!

My sister Julie recently took up running and she just did her first race. Way to go JuJu! I am really impressed with how dedicated you are and how quickly you've gotten so good at this!

Finally there has been a ton of Birthday's so.....
Happy Birthday to the following:

Graham
J.J.
Dad
Sawyer
Ethan
Emma
Lincoln
Stephanie
And last but definitely not least my sweet Husband!
(P.S. to my family, no more June babies please!)

I love my cousin!

2008-06-15T09:11:00.000-07:00

Welcome Lisa and Amelia!!!

Adventures on the cheap

2008-06-10T16:25:00.000-07:00

One of the things Ryan and I do when we're bored, but I don't want to spend any money, is we go to the Pet Store. Ryan likes to wander around and look at all the different animals. It's generally a mix of your standard pet store animals, fish, snakes, lizards, gerbils, turtles etc. We went on Saturday and here are a few pictures (Double click on the picture to enlarge it)

Things he likes

2008-06-08T07:15:00.000-07:00

Speed Racer!

Currently this is Ryan's favorite toy. We got it for Christmas from Corey's Mom (Thanks Grandma!) It's really a great little car. The controls are simple enough that Ryan can handle it all on his own, and since he's at that age where all I hear is "I can do it!", that's very important. When we first took it outside, he kept trying to crawl under our cars to get it when it would roll under them. Now, he finally understands that all he has to do is drive it back out.

Updated: The music in this video was selected because thats the song Ryan likes to play on Guitar Hero.

ooVoo

2008-06-06T14:47:00.000-07:00

This is the program I have been trying to get my family excited about. Being so far away from each other I think this will be an excellent way for us to actually see each other when we talk. I'll admit that when Corey first told me about it I wasn't all that interested either, but that was only until I actually checked it out. Since Lisa is coming to visit she wanted a way for Ricky to be able to see her and the baby. She and I set it up one night, and now I am sold! The only thing is you need to have a web-cam, (which are really cheap now days). Ryan loves to watch the videos of his cousins, using this they could actually talk to each other live! What a great way to stay connected.

www.oovoo.com Check it out, it is very cool!

So here is a screen capture of a call between Lisa, Lindsey and I. Sorry, I messed the video up and there is no sound. I just wanted to give you an idea of what exactly this is. After that Wendy, Me, and Lindsey were on it was so great the kids were talking to each other. Sawyer and Ryan were showing each other their trucks. Lindsey doesn't have a web-cam (yet), so as you can see there is no video of her, but she can still see us.

City Park

2008-06-06T05:21:00.000-07:00

Our favorite park to go to is called City Park. It's really big and has several play areas, an outdoor stage for concerts, and a small art museum. It's full of tall trees that give it lots of shade. It also has a large pond that runs through the whole thing.

There are ducks, geese and swans in the pond,not to mention very LARGE fish. We go there to feed them all the time, it one of our favorite things to do.

(These were taken last winter)

So last night we went to feed the birds and fishes, and then Ryan was playing on the playground. As I was standing there I could here music, so I left Corey and Ryan to go investigate. Turns out there was a full orchestra having some kind of a rehearsal. There were a few people sitting in the audience watching so we brought Ryan over and watched for a little while. Ryan is a big fan of "The Little Einstein's", and through that has learned what a lot of the instruments are. As we sat there he would say "Look Mom, it's a trumpet, or "Mom, there's a Tuba" and so on. It was really neat.

We stayed until Ryan stared getting antsy, which he's 3, it took about 2 songs. Then we headed home.

Another great day at the park.

It's a rough life....

2008-05-31T07:30:00.000-07:00

Just a few pictures to show what a difficult life I lead....

Kicking back, drinking juice after a hard afternoon of racing my truck.

Kicking back eating an ice cream cone.

And here, well I'm just too cool for my own good!

Daddy's Little Helper

2008-05-28T06:44:00.000-07:00

With so many chores to get done over the weekend, we sure are lucky to have such a big helper. Ryan is such a daddy's boy. He loves to follow his dad around and do whatever he's doing. It makes me so happy to watch them. I love my boys!

Here's the live action shot.....how cute is that?

Gone Fishing

2008-05-27T14:57:00.000-07:00

This weekend we went to visit Mammy. While we were there, Corey's Uncle took Ryan on his first fishing trip. We all loaded up and drove to a nearby pond that is stocked for fishing. Ryan was given one of Pappy's old fishing poles and Uncle Dean showed him how to do it. It was very sweet and Ryan loved it.

Unfortunately, the fish weren't biting at the pond so we moved a different spot. It was a creek and they fished off the bridge. No sooner had Dean put the hook in the water did they have a fish. Now Ryan liked fishing but he didn't want any part of the actual fish.

The Big Catch!

Update on my quest for the Wii Fit

2008-05-24T09:14:00.000-07:00

Update: It's now Saturday afternoon, and I still have not located my Wii Fit. My prospects are not looking good either. Several of the places I've check say they don't expect to have any soon. Our Best Buy went so far as to say they won't have any for as many as 4 weeks. It's not looking good!

Wii

2008-05-23T11:47:00.000-07:00

In my house it was pretty much inevitable that Ryan was going to play video games, much to my chagrin. His dad is a “gamer”. In the past, I have been less than enthusiastic when my husband wanted to get a new video game. He mostly played online PC games, but has had various console video game system at different times as well. It has never been something I was into. All that changed last year when we got the Wii by Nintendo.
I love it! We play together as a family. I play it alone after Ryan has gone to bed. I took it home to Seattle, which prompted JuJu’s family to get one. It is great. I love the fact that even though I have always sucked at video games I can do fairly well at this one, even beat my husband at several games. Plus my three year old can play the games. Nothing is more frustrating then trying to explain to a small child that they just don’t posses the coordination required to play most of these other games. It's not a problem with the Wii.

Here is Ryan playing our newest game, “Mario Kart”

The next game on the list to buy was the "Wii Fit". I have been anxiously awaiting the release date, which was May 21st. (Yesterday) I went to Best Buy on my lunch hour to get it, naively thinking it would be early enough that they should still have a few copies. Negative! I tried 3 other places, no dice! Everyone asked, "did you reserve a copy?" Well, no my husband said there was no need to. Unfortunately, that was a bad call on his part. One place told me it will be two weeks before they have any more. I'm very disappointed. Hopefully I don't have to wait that long. I'll keep you posted.

Watch out David Beckham

2008-05-21T03:45:00.000-07:00

Again It's possible I'm a little bit biased but, I think I may have a superstar on my hands, you be the judge.

Musee d'Ryan

2008-05-19T18:04:00.000-07:00

WARNING: Parental Bragging ahead!!

Ryan loves to paint.

I think he's pretty good.

Here are some of his most recent

masterpieces:

This last one is my favorite.

I am actually thinking of framing it

and hanging it up.

Air Show

2008-05-17T19:10:00.001-07:00

This morning we hopped in the car and drove for about an hour to see a spectacular air show. We arrived at FedEx field ready to see our military’s finest aviators push the limits of the worlds most advanced aircraft. Well after seeing a line of about 10 people wide stretching across the entire span of the stadium parking lot, we did an about face and headed to towards the next best thing... Our local Apple Store!

We survived a hair-raising drive on the capital beltway, and arrived safely at the mall. After spending a few minutes wandering the enormous exhibit that is the Westfield Mall, Apple Store, we headed toward Fort Detrick to catch some of the thrills that Armed Forces Day had to offer. The minute we entered onto Fort Detrick it was electric. Ryan oohed and aahed at the hellohopters, and then let out some aggression on the moon bounce.

Best part of the day?

moon bounce.

Worst part of the day?

$3.80 a gallon for 87 octane

Animoto video

2008-05-16T15:33:00.001-07:00

Corey made this video using this Animoto website several weeks ago. The website is pretty cool. You take your pictures load them in and then it does the rest.

Photo Booth Fun

2008-05-14T16:01:00.000-07:00

JuJu requested more of Ryan's photo booth fun.....

Ryan walked for the first time

2008-05-12T13:04:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons I started this blog was so I would have a journal of Ryan’s childhood. Since he is 3 ½, and I’ve just started, obviously I’ve missed a few things. Fortunately, I have several of the bigger moments captured on video. Here is one of those moments.

October 2005-

When I took him to daycare that morning he hadn't even really taken more than a step or two at a time. When I picked him up that day she said "He started walking today". I took this video as soon as I got home that night. It was like he just woke up that day and decided "I think I'm going to walk today". He really had only been crawling for a few weeks, I was really surprised.

The School Playground

2008-05-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

Ryan and I walked to the Elementary School in our

neighborhood so he could play on the playground.

As far as playgrounds go it's pretty, well for lack of a

better word....Lame. But, it is close enough to walk to,

so we go there occasionally. He had fun.

I forget just how red his hair is until I see it in pictures.
P.S. Did I mention how much I love plaid shorts?

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-11T06:38:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day!

I love you Mom!

My Big Truck Book

2008-05-02T01:09:00.000-07:00

My Son never ceases to amaze me. Tonight for one of his bedtime

stories we read this book, "My Big Truck Book" by Roger Priddy.

(I highly recommend it for anyone who has a child that

loves trucks, not much on story, but great pictures!)

As I pointed to the various pictures he named the trucks.

He knew which one was a Backhoe versus a Bulldozer or a Tractor.

He knew which one was the "Airport Fire Truck" as

opposed to the regular Fire Truck.

I mean, yes, we've read this book many times,

but not for a few months. Yet, he still remembers.

He was able to name most of the trucks in the book.

I know I'm biased, and I try to refrain from the

"My kids a genius" mentality, but he really

impresses me. He has them most incredible memory.

Below are some of the pictures he named.

(Sorry the pictures are so bad. I took them with my phone, and even though the iPhone

is the greatest invention ever, it's not the best at close-up shots.)

Fun with Magnets

2008-05-01T16:14:00.000-07:00

For anyone with a young one, I highly recommend

these letter magnets. Ry loves playing with them.

They are a great educational toy.