Ryan

Oh, what to say about this boy.  For starters he turns 2-1/2 today.  Half-way to three?!  Where has my baby gone?  He changes daily...I can hardly keep up.  We've definitely been having a little dose of the "terrible two's" around here.  We still think he is the cutest though.  Lucky for him! :)

I wanted to write down some of my favorite things about him right now.  He chatters non-stop and cracks us up with new phrases all of the time.  This is where we have to watch what we say because we hear it right back!  Some of the common things we hear are:

"Mmm....Ummy dat!" (That's yummy!) 
"Dewishes!" (Delicious!)

"Mommy, watch this!" (as he shows me some new trick he's learned)

"Darn it!" (when something doesn't go his way)

"And, and, kick!" (before he kicks a ball...he says it every single time)

"Mommy, jwumpy me?" (Mommy, jumpy me? when he wants to jump on the trampoline.  He says this with the cutest look on his face...it melts my heart every time!  I pretty much always say 'yes.')

He calls Anna "Na-na," Aimee "Mae-mi," Nathan "Dae-din," and himself "Wynin."  His favorite part of the day is when we pick the kids up from school.  As soon as he sees Nathan walking out from class he runs over shouting "Dae-din!" and gives him a big hug.  It's a heart-melter!  He also likes driving carpool with Anna's friends and is finally learning all of the kid's names (as opposed to calling everyone "Weeyah" (Olivia) like he's done for the past several months.  I think he's got a crush... :) 

Ryan runs everywhere he goes.  This boy has so much energy!  He's given up the stroller for the walk to school, and darts down the sidewalk yelling, "Mommy...fast!" as he leaves me in the dust.  It's great for getting to school quickly, but not so great at Target!  I may have to trade in my flip flops for running shoes.

What else...?  He loves to pretend that he is a puppy (I tell the kids they don't need a dog, they have a little brother!), or even better, that one of the kids is a puppy.  He leads them all over the house saying "Come on, puppy!" and giving other commands.  His favorite animal in the whole world is a "hee-hee" (horse.)  He carries around his plastic or stuffed horses everywhere, and make the most hilarious "neigh-ing" sound we've ever heard.  I had to make sure to get it on video so we don't forget it when he figures out how a real horsie sounds.  I'll post it for you grandmas. :)

Ryan loves to get dressed up for church (especially loves his tie and getting his hair nicely combed), and when he is all ready and we've told him how handsome he looks, he goes to the mirror on the closet door to admire himself.  We may be in trouble in a few years!

I don't think I've had a child this busy and in to everything before.  He makes more messes a day than the other three combined and doubled.  But, I guess that's a two-year-old.  He's quite sassy and has a little bit of a temper, and we are hoping it is just a phase.  Luckily he only gets that way when he is tired or has been teased mercilessly by one of the kids...or Scott (sometimes I think I have more than one two-year-old!!!)

That being said, he is a sweet boy most of the time, and will always give me a kiss on the cheek at my request.  We spend our days while the kids are at school building trains, reading stories, watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (so I can get some things done), jumping on the trampoline, eating Cheerios, and playing with his Lightning McQueen cars.  He is also my best helper when it comes to the laundry.  :)

What a fun little guy he is.  I'm so grateful that he is a part of our family.  I still can't believe that we are so lucky to have him.  I think of how different our family would be if he hadn't have come along, and I commented to the kids the other day that we sure wouldn't laugh as much without Ryan around.  He's brought us so many smiles over the past two-and-a half years.  We love you, Ry-guy!

Volleyball

A few weeks ago, the BYU men's volleyball team was in town, so we thought we'd take the kids out for the game.  They had all just gotten some cool BYU gear for Christmas (thanks Grammie and Poppa,) so they got all dressed up...go Cougars!

They won the first set pretty easily...

The kids were very into the game:

This was serious stuff!

Ryan was sure to clap for every point scored:

BYU won the second set as well...one more to go!

The last set was a nail-biter...

...but they pulled it off!

The crowd went wild...I think there were more fans for the Cougars there than fans for the home team.  What a fun evening...and a bonus that it helped us in our attempt to convince the kids that they want to go to BYU someday!

Dorothy

Anna had the opportunity to perform in a little community group's production of The Wiz of Oz. She had so much fun (well, until the crunch at the end with long rehearsals every night...) and she did a wonderful job. The whole cast did...it was absolutely darling, and the music was fantastic! Grandma Beth and Grandpa came down for the performance, which was a special treat for all of us. :) We were all surprised to see a great little actress emerge from our usually quiet and reserved Annalyn! 

I snapped a few quick pictures before the the play:

Doesn't she make a great Dorothy?

The Ruby Slippers (her favorite part!)

Some of the other cute girls in the play:

And a quick post-play shot:

She won't commit to another play anytime soon, but we're hoping she'll want to do another one after a little while.  I think she felt a lot more pressure than she ever let on, but she pulled it off and did a beautiful job.  Go Anna!

Nathan is 7!

Seven years ago today, at 8:59 am, Nathan came to our family.  We all fell instantly in love.  I didn't think I had ever seen such a sweet baby.  I felt like the luckiest mommy ever holding him in my arms, and I knew without question that he was a special little guy.  

Here are 7 reasons we are so LUCKY to have Nathan in our  family:

1.  He is the sweetest boy.  When I went to the parent conference with his teacher a few months ago that was the word she used to describe him.  Glad we're getting good reports so far!  I have the feeling that he'll keep it up. :)  He leaves sweet little notes for me around the house telling me that he loves me or that I am the best mommy.

2.  Nathan is a little gentleman.  He helps me carry in groceries or with little chores around the house.  This probably goes along with his "sweetness."  I think he knows what he's doing, because I've heard reports that several little girls at school have a crush on him.  Hmmm...better watch that one.

3.  He is the best big brother, and absolutely loves Ryan.  I wondered if the almost 5-year age gap would keep them from being very close, but he loves to play with and include Ryan in just about everything he's doing.  (Except for Monopoly...Ryan totally messes that one up...)

4.  He is very thoughtful and loves to do "secret service" around the house.  He'll make the girls' beds, clean up one of Ryan's messes, or unload the dishwasher once in a while just to give us a nice surprise.

5.  Nathan gets us to play and have fun.  He's loves to play games, basketball, soccer...and he is always recruiting us to play with him.  We probably wouldn't do those fun things as much without him around!

6.  He makes us laugh.  Nathan loves to tell jokes, and he is always saying those cute, funny little things that first-graders say.

7.  He is a happy boy, and is good at helping others feel happy too.  Nathan tries very hard to do what is right, to say nice things, and to be a peacemaker.  I can't imagine life without him...he is such a good boy.

We love you, Nathan!  Happy Birthday! :)

Catching Up!

We've had so much going on around here lately that I haven't had a chance to record our 'fall' happenings.  Let's go back a couple of months to October, shall we?  Here come a lot of pictures:

First, we had our ward's annual Trunk-or-Treat (Anna was not very happy about posing for pictures, as usual:) :)

My cute little "Indie" Jones

And that was the end of the pictures because Ryan was very grumpy and I didn't see the girls the rest of the evening!

Here are the kids sorting candy afterward:

Now Ryan sees the point of getting dressed up in that silly costume:

And now on to one of Nathan's most anticipated activites of Halloween.....carving pumpkins!  He was ready to go:

Ryan too!

And the girls finally made it out to the backyard after a while too. :)  I outlawed pumpkin carving in the house this year!

Nathan was having a little trouble getting the top off of his pumpkin, so Aimee offered to help out: 

It was a little harder than she thought it would be:

Some days I don't quite know what to do with that girl... :)

Lots....

...and lots...

....and lots...

....of pumpkin guts...

...that Anna just had to play with.

Daddy jumped in to help Ryan:

Stay tuned to see what his pumpkin turned out to be!

Anna got to dress up for school (not the other kids though...)  I guess middle school does have it's perks!

Aimee and Nathan did have class parties, however, so Ryan got to tag along (or get dragged along!) the entire day:

Candy Corn Math:

Pumpkin Bingo:

And decorating sugar cookies...yum!

Then on to Aimee's class!

Ryan and I made some dips to take over for their "salty bones" breadsticks.

And finally, the moment they've all been waiting for, Trick-or-Treating!  Nathan changed costumes at the last minute and decided to be a cowboy:

Aimee the "nerd"...

Ryan fell asleep just before we were about to go...he was very grumpy (again) about getting into his costume!

Aimee went out with a couple of friends:

Anna did too:

So Nathan, Ryan and I set off for our own T-ot-T adventure.  (That's pretty much what Ryan looked like for half of the night...and he would not wear a hat!:)

We met up with some of Nathan's friends, and he had the best time...it was so cute.  (He is in there somewhere...)

After a while we headed home and he and Ryan relieved Daddy of the handing-out-candy duties.

Ryan perked right up when he started digging through his candy bag.  He even shared!

Oh, yes...we can't forget his pumpkin...he loved it.

The girls got home and unloaded:

Aimee put on a little potion demonstration for Nathan, and then we called it a night!

And, of course, Ryan was more than happy to wear a hat the next morning...