Dylan's 4th Birthday

This Year was Dylan's Golden Birthday. So we had a pretty big party complete with bounce house!
Dylan wanted a Monster Truck cake, but a firetruck party......So we used firetruck decorations.

Baby

Well, his name will be....(insert drum roll here)......

Aydan!

Starting Pre-K

For the last two years we have used the Funshine Express curriculum program for daycare. I’ve just been amazed how much all the kids have learned! Even the youngest kids are picking up things way ahead of others their age. It’s also so much fun – even for me!!



Dylan has had such a boost for when he starts school in just a couple of weeks. I still cannot believe he’s old enough to go to school. I guess I have to let him go though – I think at this point it would break his little heart if he didn’t get to. He’s been looking forward to it all summer….

Smoothing out the wrinkles......

I guess Ryan thought the cat was a little wrinkled…..



The funny thing is….Molly slept through the whole thing ~ I think she’s finally getting used to having Ryan around! :)

Pancakes with Daddy!

On weekends one of our favorite things to have for breakfast is JD's homemade pancakes! They are awesome! I'm spoiled! Anyways this last weekend JD decided to get the boys involved. They had so much fun adding all the ingredients & mixing it all up! Both of them have always enjoyed cooking which I think is awesome, espesially these days when I don't feel much like doing it.

Catch the Reading Bug!

The theme for this years Summer Reading Program was "Catch the Reading Bug". The boys have had a blast! They each got 20-25 hours of reading down this summer. For Ryan it was mostly books about Bunnies(I'll explain another day), and for Dylan Bug books...imagine that! At the end they each got a certificate for their participation in the program.


On Tuesdays & Thursdays they had special guests that put on different programs for the kids. Storytellers to Jugglers! The only one The boys made it to was a balloonist - he made all sorts of bugs out of balloons. The boys loved it! Especially Dylan!

Our friends Elle & Emma were also there, which made the boys very happy! Dylan & Elle have become pretty close friends and Ryan & Emma.

Finger Paint? Finger? Are sure thats whats it's for??

A few weeks ago I decided to let the boys finger paint. All started out great....until....they decided to paint themselves. They had a blast though! I'm just glad it all took place outside!! :)
Thank goodness for water hoses!!!

It's a.....BOY!!!

Boy number 3! My mom has always told me "do it right the first time & you don't have to do it again" well, we felt we did so good we went on to do it 2 more times! LOL



We are all so excited to welcome the new little guy into our family! Now we just have to figure out how to take care of a winter baby. We are too used to our spring babies!

Little Swimmers

.............Coming Soon!!

This little one is due to make his/her grand entrance around Nov. 13th. (Nov. 8th if we have anything to say about it)
A little unexpected but still exciting!!
This ultrasound was taken at 10 weeks, so it'll be about 6-7 more weeks until we find out what our little blessing will be (yes for those of you who will make the joke...we know it's a baby, I mean we will find out if it is a girl baby or a boy baby).
At our last ultrasound the dr. looked to see if we could tell yet, he said he thinks it has a "winkie" yes Dr.s words! I still think it was just it's tail/spine not completely in place yet, it's way too early to tell anyways.
Either one would be great though...but...I still need a sidekick too! JD has two of them so far. :P

Pillows for Research

I've started sewing pillows for research! I've been so touched by Progeria that I want to help. The pillows are 13" x 16" & come with a pillow case. I am sewing the cases in whatever fabric design the buyer chooses. I'm selling them for $9.00 each. Extra Cases are $5.00 each. 50% of the proceeds are going to Progeria Research.



These are perfectly sized for toddlers, travel, preschool, daycare, gifts. If you are interested in one let me know!

If you dont need a pillow but still want to help go to the Progeria Research Foundation website http://www.progeriaresearch.org/ways_to_donate.html

He's going to be Okay!!

Well we found out today that Ryan’s x-rays turned out fine!! So our next step is off to the Endocrinologist to look at what is the best course of action now.

This weekend was the most stressful JD & I have had in a long time.
The waiting was awful. I really don't think any parent should have to go through that.

JD & I now have a whole new respect for families living life with a child who has Progeria. It must be so hard sitting around just not knowing what tomorrow will bring. I have learned one thing though. These children truly are gifts from God. They are the most amazing people I have ever had a chance to learn about. I have had a little time to e-mail with a few families living this blessing daily. I discovered it is nothing to be afraid of because we are all going to die someday. So we can choose to either hide from it or live everyday to its fullest. These kids are the most beautiful people ever! Inside & out!

Our new adventure....with Ryan

Age: 21 months

Ryan went to the Dr. today for an ear recheck. While there I was discussing some things that had been bothering me about him.
Weight has always been one of his biggest issues. Today was no different. We went in & he weighed 18-lbs 10-oz. Which doesn't even get him close to the lines on the growth chart.
His height hadn't changed any from his 18 month appointment either.
Recently we started to notice changes in the veins in his hands, eye lids, temples & forehead.
His hair has started thinning also.

So we have today started a round of tests to try to find out what is going on.

His first test today was a set of x-rays. One of his hand, another of his chest. They want to I guess look at his bone development. He greatly enjoyed this though. He had a blast & didn't want to leave. He even though "Monkey" needed x-rays too!

We should hear back on Monday what they find. Then we will know our next course of action.

New Curtains

My Mom just taught me to sew...

"Sew" far I'm loving it!! Hehe...

JD & I decided to make some curtains for the boys room. We did their room in the Disney Cars theme, and haven't been able to find curtians so we made these, they turned out great!! They look professional and it was a first for us.



We took the picture right after they were finished. We had to hang them in the guest room at first because the boys were sleeping in their room.
They are hung using Disney Cars shower curtian hooks which are so cute!

Bath Buddies

Recently a cousin came to visit after dinner the boys were a little messy sooo.....

Look A-Likes

Ok, so I was looking for something the other day & came across a pic of JD when he was a baby. Later that day I was looking at stuff on my comp. & found a pic of Ryan that looked so much like JD's.

Soooo...I decided to start looking for more pic...these are the ones I found.

Making Cookies for Santa

Christmas Eve we made some chocolate chip cookies for Santa. Dylan & Ryan both had so much fun. It was great to be able to spend time together like that.

After the cookies were done we poured a glass of milk, Dylan & Ryan each chose a cookie for sant & put it on his plate - then went off to bed to dream of sugar plums...

The next morning Ryan was the first one up. He was so excited to go see if Santa had come. I had put a gate up in the hallway so they couldn't get into the living room without us. Ryan was wanting over the gate really bad so I told him he had to go get Daddy up first. He ran into our bedroom to JD saying "Daddy Up...up!" Whenever we made it to the living room the first thing they did was look on the cookie plate & in the milk cup to see if Santa had ate their cookies & drank their milk. They were so excited to see he had!

Green Peas.....

Oh wow its been a long time. I have a lot to tell you about Christmas, but that will have to wait. It's time to talk about Green Peas!

Ok so Green Peas are yuck! Though I have always encouraged my boys to try new things even if JD or I don't like them.
So back when Dylan first started eating table foods I made it a game for him to get to eat my peas if we had them. It has always been kind of a special thing & he loves doing it. I've never wanted to tell him I don't like them because I have a feeling he'll try to be the same & stop eating them.
So when Ryan started eating table foods of course he became a part of this little game. Now when I have peas (that most likely I have picked out of some other food) I always ask "who wants mommys peas?" and they both usually respond "ME!" So I then divide then between the two.
So tonight was no different we had bought a bag of frozen mixed veggies and of course it had peas in it. So tonight we started eating, and as usual I was eating everything but the peas. When I was done I asked "who wants Mommys peas" and as usual they both responded "ME!" so I proceeded to divide them up. Then Dylan asks the long awaited & much dreaded question - "Mommy why don't you eat your peas?" I've always known that someday I would have to answer this, but I hoped I still had awhile. So as a thought really quickly I respond to him saying "because I know how much you guys like them & I want to give you and Ryan a special treat!" It worked!! He then said "Thank you Mommy I do like them, I Love You & I love veggies!!" He's such a sweet heart! He then quickly went into his rendition of the Veggie Tales theme song. Which let me breathe a much needed sigh of relief.

The joys of having two wonderful little blessings are overwhelming sometimes, but I thank God everyday for giving them to me.

Visitors - from far away...

Last month the Upchurch family (-1) came to visit us! It was great, we loved seeing them! Dylan enjoyed having more people to play with. We sat around our house until my daycare kids went home then we went out to eat. It was great to just sit around talking. I'm just upset that I forgot to take the camera with us so I only got a couple shots while they were at the house.



Thanks guys for stopping by to see us!

Halloween 2007

This year for Halloween Dylan was Sorcerers Apprentice Mickey Mouse & Ryan was a Playful Puppy! They were soooo cute in their costumes.
The day before Halloween we took them downtown to the Halloween festival. They had a great time, each ate a hot dog(Ryans favorite part) and got a lot of candy(Dylans favorite part).
:)
On Halloween night we took them around town to see Nana & a few of our friends. Then came back home so they could trick or treat in our new neighborhood. Even Ryan got into it! He was great at saying "trick or treat" and "thank you". Dylan was ready to go to the next house as soon as he got his candy. We'll have to work on the "thank yous" for next year!!

Circus!

Tonight the boys & I went to the circus. It was okay, but I can't wait until a nice one comes to town. This was our second one to go to this year. The boys had more fun at this one though!

We were there with Dylan's Friends Kaylee & Zane.

There were Pony rides & Snake pictures. So I scanned in our snake picture. Dylan was so excited....I better get used to this kind of stuff...I have boys....

Pizza Pizza!!

Well, this was our first meal in our new house. We didn't have our table moved in yet so we sat on the floor.

Of course we hadn't actually moved it yet either. This was the day we signed the contract & got the keys. We stayed here for the weekend just because we could!!

Painting - Family Style

All the walls in the house were white, don't get me wrong whites a great color(or lack there of) but they had to go! So we painted!!
First our room, then Dylan & Ryans.

The boys helped with there room as you can see. They now have "hands on" experience with painting! They "hand" painted their closet.

Welcome Home

Well we did it! We finally did it! We purchased a house! Our very own!

So far we are loving it! Still moving in, hopefully to be moved in completely this coming weekend!

The boys are loving it too! We now have 4 bedrooms which is a big change from 2. So the boys have a playroom which is wonderful in my opinion - its been a big help with us trying to paint & unpack boxes.

Lots of extra room for visitors too!!! :)

We found this little guy at the new house. A little Skink Lizard. Dylan loved it. Mom turned the picture into a cartoon.

Theme Time - Celebrating Friends

For Daycare we have been using the Funshine Express curriculum program. A couple weeks ago one of our themes was "Celebrating Friends". We did so many activities about making friends and what having friends means. One of our activities was to make friendship bracelets out of pipe cleaners & cut up plastic straws. Dylan & Ryan loved it! I was amazed that Ryan was so good at it! He had great hand eye coordination at 15 months. He made his all by himself!

All of the kids really are loving this program. We've been doing it for about 8 weeks now & I am amazed at how quickly they are learning! Even the 1yr. olds! They are learning colors & are able to point as I count while following along correctly at 15-17 months! Their talking and sign language have improved a great deal also! I'm soooo glad I found this stuff!