Getting Ready for Christmas

Chris had his Christmas concert on Friday. It was very cute. Unfortunately I can not get the videos off the camera so I will wait until I get to my parents house and use their program. It was pretty dark in the auditorium so these are the best pictures we got.





Today the Community Center had pictures with Santa (using a Polaroid camera). We also visited Santa at the mall last week but didn't buy any pictures because they were awful. I took my own pictures of the boys with Santa today. Ken and Chris showed up earlier then Ryan and me. Of course Chris refused to sit with his brother so they have separate pictures.

Chris just doesn't like pictures.


Chris thinking this weird man isn't so bad after all, he gave me a gift!


Ryan was diagnosed with pneumonia yesterday. We figured he would be fine since he was fine at home. When he got there though he had noticeably less energy then normal.





I guess Santa pictures were a bust this year.

A Little Pre-game Speech From the Little Ones!

Come on Eagles....beat those Giants. We are trying to get them excited early so they might actually win!



Chris has been cheering for the Eagles since the day he was born!

The Joys of a Box

Chris got his new coat yesterday from Grandmom and Ryan found a great new toy.

Ryan's Getting It.

Ryan is finally getting sign language. Although it has not stopped him crying at the pantry. Now he goes to the pantry, signs eat and immediately starts crying. At least I have an idea of what he wants rather then just to play in the pantry.

Finally

I finally was able to get the videos from my off my camera. Of course I can not get them off every time. Maybe I will figure it out soon. For now enjoy the video because who knows when another one will show up.

The last week

Last Saturday we had Ryan's baptism. We were lucky enough to have my entire family here.





It was pretty funny. The priest asked Ken to do the first reading and then handed him the book. Ken immediately started reading out loud. He had no clue the priest wanted him to do it in front of the entire church. So after a practice run Ken got up and read perfectly in front of everyone.



We headed to my parents house for Thanksgiving. Ken sat on the computer playing poker with Brian the entire time and I sat at the kitchen table making snowflakes. Boy, it was nice to have some time for ourselves! Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Brian and Ryan.

Us

Everyone

Ryan's Small Party

Unfortunately, today was a busy day. Chris and I decided to make cupcakes for Ryan. Well, during Ryan's first nap Chris was at school. So we had to wait until Ryan's second nap. We started as soon as Ryan fell asleep. Ken came home at 4:30, Ryan was still asleep and we were able to ice the cupcakes.
As soon as the cupcakes were iced we woke Ryan up. Chris had soccer today at 6:00 and I had my parenting class at 6:30. That meant we only had about a half hour for cupcakes and dinner.

We didn't have enough time for dinner. So we all had dinner after our activities. Thank you Ken for cooking dinner tonight.

Ryan wasn't really sure what was going on. After a quick try of the cupcake he decided he liked it. Ryan kept looking at us and laughing while eating the cupcake. It was almost like he was thinking "my parents lost their minds, I am eating tons of sugar.

At the end, he was our typical birthday boy. We decided to give Ryan his presents on Saturday when my family is here.

Happy Birthday, Ryan!

Hide and Seek

Chris's lip is healing. He says it doesn't bother him but I beg to differ. He holds his lip up when talking so many words sound funny. Yesterday I had to keep asking "what?"

I love when kids play hide and seek. I think it is so cute that they think since they can't see you, you can't see them.



After a quick hide and seek game Ryan was off to play soccer. I remember when I taught Chris to kick a soccer ball. He would crawl to the soccer ball, pull himself up, kick it and usually fall over. Ryan will only try to kick the ball if he is holding onto the table or couch. Instead he just walks into the ball and thinks it is wonderful that it rolls forward.

Chris's Accident

Chris fell off some playground equipment while at daycare. After an hour of being home his lip already looks better. Ken originally thought a tooth was loose but after further inspection we decided it was not. We tested to see if there was any pain by giving him an Oreo. Just ask Ken's mom...Oreos and Children's Tylenol fix most injuries. Since he bit down on the Oreo with his two front teeth we figured they were not bothering him. There was no need for the Children's Tylenol this time.

Art

Ken decided to let Chris paint. He covered the entire table in packing paper and let Chris and Ryan have at it.

Here is Ryan wondering what happened to that orange crayon he was using! Ken said that he was helping Chris and when he looked over Ryan was chowing down on a crayon!


Chris hard at work.


I love that the boys are shirtless with bibs! Sometimes Ken is so funny.

BBOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

I got one picture of the boys before heading off to trick or treat! Of course it came out a little blurry too.

I was a little disappointed (to say the least) at the amount of people who were not giving out candy today. I was so angry when one person said at 6:00 that he didn't have any candy. I informed him that the Commissary was still open. I also said that next year I was taking eggs and encouraging my kid to throw the eggs at all those houses that were decorated for Halloween, but not giving out candy.

Ken stayed home to hand out candy. We bought about 800 pieces of candy and he handed out two pieces at a time, so roughly we had 300 trick or treaters. You have to leave some room for the kid who grabbed a handful and ran! Well, Ken ran out of candy in an hour and 15 minutes!

Chris was out the entire two hours of trick or treating and we walked at least a mile and a half. This is what he came home with!


So I have to say to all you parents on Dover AFB who let their kids go trick or treating and did not hand out candy yourself....YOU SUCK!!!!!!!!

Happy Halloween

I wanted to get a picture of the boys together but that didn't happen. The teachers at Chris's school didn't look in his book bag for a change of clothes so he wore his costume the entire time at school. As soon as he came home he wanted to change. Hopefully, before he goes out trick or treating I will be able to get a picture of the boys together. For now, here they are.

Yesterday I wanted to make sure Chris's clothes fit under his costume. Good thing because shortly after we were headed to Target to buy some long underwear! He was so funny once he got his costume on. He didn't want to put the mask on because it would scare Daddy.

Getting Ready

Today was a beautiful day, not too cold and not too hot. A very nice change from all the rain we had the last few days! Today will be the last day our pumpkins look like this. Chris is excited to "take the goo out and make a jack-o-lantern."

Since Halloween decorations came out he wanted a scarecrow so bad. Every time we went to a store and saw one he would beg. Well, I granted his wish today when we stopped at Rite Aid and the scarecrows were 75% off!

It Must Be A Good Day!

Sharing and Chris being nice to his brother?!?!?!?! I must be dreaming. The afternoon started with the boys sharing a pear! Yes, that's right! Chris actually ate some fruit on his own accord! I had to snap a picture because who knows when his next piece of fruit will be!

Ryan eats everything so it is not as impressive that he is enjoying the pear.


Chris and I bought Ryan some stacking cups today. We got home and they actually played together! It must be a good day!

Jungle John

Our community center had Jungle John today. He brought with him snakes, a legless lizard, hissing cockroaches, a giant toad, a tortoise and a crocodile. I have to say I was disappointed in his performance and it didn't take very long for the kids to lose interest. At the end he let everyone pet his giant snake, "Julius Squeezer,” a 12-foot albino Burmese python.





Chris pet the snake with a thousand other kids and when it started clearing out he would not stand for a photo. He informed me that he already pet the snake.

Fifer Farm

We went to the pumpkin patch today. Behind us they was an impressive corn maze. The maze was a tractor pulling a trailer and 2007 written above it. Inside the maze we had to find 6 stations. The most amazing part was they planted the corn diagonal so you could not cheat in the maze at all! We found 5 of the stations before my back started hurting from carrying Ryan and Chris started dragging.


Ken and I were pleasantly surprised at all the other activities going on. They had two giant sandboxes. One filled with corn and the other filled with soy beans. Both boys had a blast in the corn and Chris kept begging to go back to play in it.



We loured him away by going on a hayride. The motion of the hayride was making Ryan sleepy, but the sun in his eyes kept him awake. After a quick return to the sandboxes and a run up the hay pyramid we picked our pumpkins and headed home.

Unfortunately this website hit a glitch and won't let me post any more pictures. I guess you will just have to check ofoto for them! There are some pretty cute ones!

The Kids

It seems almost impossible to get a good picture of the boys together. I think in the last 11 months I only took 4 pictures of them together that I like. This picture is one of my favorites.

Learning to Walk Part 2

Ryan has started taking steps on his own. Boy does he look like he has had one too many to drink!

Ryan Learning to Walk

Here is the latest video of Ryan. He got new shoes and is learning to walk in them. Unfortunately, I still don't have my camera back...this was taken with my Dad's camera.

Dancing

Once again it is a silent video. Just imagine the dog singing "Hound dog" by Elvis Presley. Both the boys dance to it and it is really funny. Chris was dancing in the background and kept distracting Ryan so I was not able film Ryan dancing the entire time.

Minor Surgery

The splinter was so tiny Ken needed a magnifying glass! It sure did hurt though. With Christopher's help (and Christopher screaming "Don't hurt mommy") they were able to remove the splinter.

The Park

The park behind our house if finally close to being complete.


Chris has been playing at the park almost everyday this week. I had to take my camera today since the weather was beautiful. The pictures I was taking came out a lot better in my mind!


Chris has his first day of school today (again).


He woke up this morning telling me he was not going. He really wanted his dad to bring him to school and show him how to use a toy. They have some toy that needs to be assembled and looks pretty complex. I could not figure it out yesterday nor could the assistant teacher!


Well, we arrived at school, Chris jumped out of the van and practically pulled my arm off trying to get to the school faster!


Then (the same kid who woke up telling me he wasn't going to school) asked me during lunch if he could pack a lunch tomorrow and stay at school. He also informed me that he already asked the teacher! I guess I am going to have to break his heart each morning!