Funny Ryan

I remember my mom telling me that the animals talk on Christmas at midnight. She might deny telling me this but I remember it. Anyhow I told my kids and this is what came from it.

Funny 1: Mom, magic scares me. I don't want to celebrate Christmas. Can I celebrate Chanukah instead?

Funny 2: Mom will you watch me while I hide outside at night?
Me: No
Ryan: Can I do it by myself?
Me: No. Why do you want to hide outside?
Ryan: So I can see Santa.

(Different day)
Funny 3: If I am hiding Santa won't know that I am awake.

Funny 4: We have to leave carrots for all of Santa's reindeer. They are going to be very hungry.

Funny 5: Santa does so many nice things right now but he is mean on Christmas.
Me: Why is he mean on Christmas?
Ryan: Because he doesn't let anyone see him.

Can you tell this boy is a little obsessed with figuring out a way to see Santa?

Ryan's Christmas Performance

Ryan's holiday performance was today. He did great. Here is the Christmas Tree skit they did.

They also sang The Little Drummer Boy that Ryan was working on. I think he is the star of the song!

I don't know why the videos came out so blurry on here. They are clear on my computer.

Happy Holidays

It's a work in progress but hopefully he will do better at his holiday program. He really has been working hard to learn this song and the teacher has shortened it three times now so he gets confused as to where to start.

My Fat Cat

Hershey Park

Way back in the beginning of summer the boys and I went on a little vacation. Well here are the last pictures from then.

They have a roller coaster there, The Trail Blazer, that both the boys could go on. We rode the thing about 15 times and I think 6 times without even getting off because there were no lines!

They loved this roller coaster.

Besides the roller coaster the other best part of the day was the kids winning prizes. The first game the kids played they won prizes! I was excited that I only spent $5 and they were excited to have new stuffed animals.

We had a really great time while on vacation. However, the three of us agree that Hershey Park was our favorite.

Faces of Chris

One of the rides we go on as a family is the tilt-a-whirl.

Chris always wants to go on it and I am not really sure if he likes it or not.

While on it he doesn't seem to like it but every time we are at the shore or an amusement park he wants to go on it.

Well, we went on it and I was laughing at all the faces Chris was making.

He went on it a second time just so I could take pictures during the ride of his funny faces.

That is my favorite face and it always makes me laugh!

Day 3

I wish day 3 of our vacation would have gone as planned. If it had I would have pictures to share!

We didn't have anything planned until 1:00 where we were going to the Sights and Sound Theater to see the play Jacob. I figured we would find something to do or go geocaching. Well, we went to breakfast and decided we would go to a science museum. However, soon after the kids were out of control at breakfast so we went back to the hotel where both kids fell asleep.

I woke them up to go to the play and had them eat lunch in the car. They were amazing during the play and actually seemed to like it. I thought the play was amazing!

Since they were so good at the play I decided I would take them to ice cream after it. A huge treat considering it was going to be before dinner. Chris asked to go to the mall to spend the money my mom gave him for the trip. Well in the car after the play the kids decided to resume their behavior from breakfast. They were yelling in the car and hitting each other with water bottles. So I decided we were just going back to the hotel.

It was not the day I planned for but maybe it was too much to do for little ones on a vacation. They were tired boys.

Day 2

On our second day of vacation we headed to Dutch Wonderland.

We spent over 8 hours there mostly going on rides. The boys absolutely love this ride.

Chris even went on the adult version (at Hersheypark) by himself since Ryan was not tall enough. I was pretty impressed when he stayed on for a second time!

We picked a great day to go. We only had to wait in line for a couple rides. Almost every ride we just waited for the current ride to finish then got on the next. It was fun watching the kids on the rides because you can see both their faces when the ride starts and they are not sure of it. By the end of the ride though they love it.

We went on a bus ride that just goes in a circle up into the air. At the top of the ride (when you could be lifted off the seat if it wasn't a kiddie ride) both the boys were nervous. I told them that I bet it felt like traveling in a bubble like on Meet the Robinsons. This was their faces after a couple times going around.


We finished up the day by playing a few games. Of course the kids won prizes since many of the kids games everyone wins. All that matters is the kids are happy and having fun!

My Boy

Somewhere in the last six months Chris became all boy. Suddenly, he likes bugs which he never wanted anything to do with before. He is attempting to climb my parents trees.

Yesterday he started a trend on the beach by picking up a jelly fish and putting it in his bucket. (I have never seen jelly fish at Rehoboth before.)

Just after placing the jelly fish in the bucket we had to leave for little while to place quarters in the meter for our car. Upon returning about 4 kids approached us with their buckets and jelly fish. One girl had a giant jelly fish which I am pretty sure was sitting on the beach earlier. The jelly fish was at least a foot in diameter! I never knew jelly fish could get that big!

I love that these boys have the same swim suits!

It makes it so much easier to spot both of them on a crowded beach.

Day out with Thomas

The first day we were in Lancaster we went to see Thomas the Train!

They had a sign to meet Sir Topham Hatt. We waited a few minutes in line and then found out it wasn't a real person!

After exploring for a little while it was finally our time to board Thomas.
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During the train ride the kids traded Silly Bands!


We participated in the activities they had set up around the train station then headed for another train ride pulled by this giant engine!

A Day out with Thomas was great. Even though Chris claims that he doesn't like Thomas and it is a baby even he had a really good time too.

SNAKE!

The kids and I decided we wanted to hit Brecknock Park today and go geocaching. I found a kids cache on the website and decided this would be perfect. We have walked the trails many times before so from the description I knew around the area the cache was located.

We headed out and get to where the cache is supposed to be. However we couldn't find it. The kids were searching way out of the area the GPS was telling us. So I finally told the kids it was in a certain area and we were going to have to just start looking for it.

After bushwhacking and not finding anything Ryan gave up. I was dealing with him as Chris decided to leave the trail. Chris came running out screaming "Snake! Snake!"

He proceeded to tell me that he found the cache and as soon as he bent down to pick it up a snake lying next to the cache started slithering towards him.

I believed him because I have seen snakes previously while hiking at this park.

So very shortly after the incident it is decided that Chris is going to point to the cache and "Brave Mom" is going to retrieve it.

So I started walking and half way between the trail and cache I ask Chris where the snake was. Then I decided to ask him how long the snake was. He shows me about 18 inches and then tells me "now cut that in half and add that to the snakes tail." So basically I have no idea how long the snake is. Then he proceeds to tell me that he saw the cache, walked up to it, was about to start cheering, moved the stick next to the cache and found the snake.

So my next move as "Brave Mom" is to ask Chris if he is sure he can't grab the cache. He immediately moves behind me and I hear him say quietly "I can do this. I can do this. I am brave."

Then out loud "Mom, I can do this."

I handed him a stick to poke around the area to make sure the snake went and hid and Chris grabbed the cache. I was so proud of him. I couldn't believe that he saw I was nervous about getting the cache and he grabbed it! He really is a brave boy.

First Day of Vacation

The boys and I started off our vacation by going to my parents house and dropping off the dog.

This is what my paretns get to look at from the backyard everyday. I would love to know what this guy is thinking. I guess he figures since they are called privicy bushes he needs to make them look like that!

Graduation Day

Chris' school had a graduation today. It was so cute. Since he goes to a school with only kindergartners they broke up the classes into different time frames. We had about 6 classes in our time frame.

The women sitting down in the middle of the picture is Chris' teacher. Chris is sitting right next to her. I arrived a little late so I was standing in the very last row. I didn't get very good pictures.

Chris asked me to get his teacher flowers before school started. His class was lucky enough to have the last time slot so we returned to the room for a small party. He was able to give his teacher the flowers.

This boy is ready to start 1st grade!

Memorial Day

This year we got to spend a day at one of my favorite places in the world during the Memorial Day weekend....the beach!

Besides being at the beach I also was able to spend the day with some of my favorite people in the world...my kids, my mom, my dad and my sister.

The boys were the only ones who really got into the water. Boy was it cold that day.

After some time on the beach we took the kids to the rides. Chris went on an intermediate roller coaster ride. He loved it and is still talking about it to this day!

Ryan amazed me by going on the swings with Chris and I!

Lost Teeth

Chris lost his two front teeth! He is so excited and waiting for more teeth to fall out.

Moving Up

Ryan participated in his moving up ceramony yesterday. The entire school sang three songs then each class sang a couple. Ryan's class sang the ABC's and Bringing Home My Baby Bumblebee.


After the songs they called each kids name. It was very cute.

I realized quickly that Ryan was not going to stop waving until I waved back.

McDonald's

Chris has been hounding everyone to get him McDonald's lately. Well, Chris was having a hard time staying interested the entire game during soccer. He would play well the first half and then not so much the second half. He scored three goals his first two games. The next game he didn't score any and last week he scored four goals. I believe after the second game I told him that if he scored five goals I would take him to McDonald's! I thought this was going to be really hard and didn't think he would do it.

Well, with the right motivation he surpassed what we thought was possible. Today Chris had scored 7 goals under his belt at half time. We don't know how many he scored in total but I think it was around 9! Our team had 10 kids show up while the other team only had 4! We usually have two games going with 4 or 5 a side. Today Chris played 3 a side so the field was much more open and he was able to run with the ball. However this week every time he got the ball he ran towards the goal rather then towards the sideline! He is making tons of progress, especially since he is asking to play everyday after school.

Well, we fulfilled our end of the bargain. Chris got a chicken nugget happy meal with fries.

Ryan got a cheeseburger happy meal with apples.

I knew how this was going to turn out before it even happened. Chris ate all his food, Ryan only ate the apples while Ken and I had grilled chicken at home!

Chris Reading

Chris was reading his book so nice last week so I grabbed the camera to take a video. I am amazed that he was not reading at all in the beginning of kindergarten!

Our New Tree

After we left the Bug and Bud Festival we stopped at a Nursery and bought our first tree! A Thunder Cloud Plum tree! It looks so pretty.

Since we have terrible drainage in our yard Ken had to dig a giant hole and fill it with crushed rocks.

It took him all morning and into the afternoon since our ground is so hard!


This is the closest I have to a completed tree in the ground since it started raining just as he finished! We are hoping that in a few years it becomes a really nice shade tree!

Festivals

I have a few posts but not many pictures. I forgot my camera everywhere we have gone for the last three weeks!

Three weeks ago we went to The Earth Day Festival. Chris got to bring a friend and we had a blast. We watched a kids juggling show and the three boys were picked to go on stage. They stood in a row and the jugglers juggled in front and behind them. That was neat.

Last weekend we went to the Bug and Bud Festival. That was another good time. They gave away free saplings. Unfortunately we didn't get ours in the ground quick enough. I am pretty sure they are dead. We rode paddle boats there and Chris even tried to catch a fish.

This weekend we went to the Dover Day Parade and then Dover Days. The boys got so much candy on the parade route we decided to give different people in the parade some of our candy. Each one of the pageant winners got candy as did the cars that had kids in them. The kids had fun stopping the parade to hand some of the candy back. They still made out like it was Halloween though.

It was a busy three weeks with busy weekends. Unfortunately, I think the festivals are dying down though.

Spring Break

Our Spring Break started out by heading to New Jersey to spend Easter with my parents. Hunting for nice clothes was a bit of a hassle. This was what we came up with.

Next we headed to The Tree House Camp.

We arrived later then we wanted to so we decided to hike a little on The Appalachian Trail.

It is considered an easy part of the trail but it was all uphill. Ryan was a little trooper and never complained once!

We brought our head lamps because we were not sure what time we would get back to the cabin. The boys put theirs on and Ryan kept telling us that his shot lasers!

The next day was a long day! We woke up and went to Crystal Grottoes Caverns.

Once our tour was done we needed lunch. We found this place and couldn't resist it!

Yep...their were guns for sale right next to the kitchen!

You have got to love small towns!

We then headed to Antietam. We listened to a women speak about the battle that took place there and then left. We didn't do the driving tour. Maybe next time.

Our last stop of the day was the C&O canal. Since Ryan is so obsessed with The Erie Canal I thought this would be great.

We walked along the path for a little while before turning around to call it quits for the day.

Upon returning to our car we saw a sign that said in the opposite direction was a lock in half a mile. Of course we couldn't pass up the opportunity! Unfortunately the lock was no longer in operation. It was still great to see Ryan's face and hear him tell us how the lock worked.

By the time we got back to the car everyone was tired from a long day. The kids got their second wind though and wanted to go to a playground. We found one near our campsite and let them play.