Just being cute!

Ryan, being his 3 year old self is always doing something that's just plain cute. Most of these events I never catch with pictures or video, but I just wanted to share a couple of things I do have pictures of! Ryan discovered the "Santa" Mr. Potato pieces fit him too!

Ryan: "Yum, what is it?"

Mom: "What do you think it is?"

Ryan: "Brownies?!?!"

Mom: "Do brownies usually smell like pumpkin bread?"

Ryan: "Sometimes..."

The best part of Christmas is the empty wrapping paper tubes....

Ok, this one you will only get if you've seen "The Polar Express" - Dylan & Ryan's favorite movie - Ryan was acting out the scene with the "ghost" on top of the train pretending to be Santa...
He's so much fun when his little horns are covered up.. :)
(okay really he's fun all the time- I Love this kid!!!)

It's been almost a full year since we went on the wild goose chase trying to find out why he wasn't growing. I'm so glad we finally gave up! I knew he'd grow when his body was ready! The other day I measured him to discover he had grown 3 inches since last March!! Isn't that awesome!!! Now he's upto 26 lbs too!!!

Picture with Santa 2009

Every year we go to the mall to get the boys picture taken with Santa...of course this year was no different. I think it turned out really cute although Aydan wasn't sure what to think of him!

I Do Believe?..........!!

It's 2:25 a.m. & I find myself unable to calm all the things in my head enough to fall asleep. It the last month it has somehow felt as if the world around me - my safe haven is coming apart at the seams. How does a person keep standing tall when everything around them is crumbling??

Let me start from the beginging...

July 2009 my Grannie's brother passed away from cancer. Leaving her pretty much alone in the area of Oklahoma which she lives. After talking in depth with my brother (all the close family she still has is 1 sister & 2 grandkids -> my brother & I) we come to the agreement that Grannie is going to have to move. She'll be 80 in Feb. & someday in the near future is going to need some assistance and being 4-7 hours away is too far. Finally after much talking it is decided the best place for her to move is to Stillwater to be near me since it's easier for me to take care of her. The ball is set in motion with us putting in an application at a local 62+ low income housing apartment complex.....Now We Wait.....

Late Oct. 2009 some of our worst fears are confirmed as we find out J.D.s Grandmother is diagnosed with early stages of dementia. Of course we stand up ready & willing to fight this battle to the fullest. We set a path with medication mishaps, lost belongings, and memories fading as the first few stops. J.D. decides it's time for him to control the medication since it's not going to help if it isn't taken correctly. He makes plans to visit nightly to dose out her meds & fill her pill box for the following morning & fix her dry erase board on her fridge so she can do check marks as she takes each of the items in it. First thing every morning he gives her a wake up call and reminds her to take her medication - while he's on the phone.
All of this maybe making it sound as if things are very bad, I want to let you know as of right now it's not. She is just forgetting short term things who has come to visit, fed or not fed the animals(sometimes feeding more then once I'm sure), taking or not taking her meds - things of this nature. Sometimes things such as repeating the same things over many times in one conversation.
She now does many things with us such as grocery shop & spend time eating together & watching movies. We find ourselves wanting to capture every great memory and put it in a bottle on a shelf to give back to her later, but we wont be able to return them.

Nov. 2009 - We get the call!! Grannies apartment is going to be ready Dec. 1st!!! Yay!!! ....But....she has to give 30 days notice where she is and being half way through the month already that puts us mid December. Though if she moves into the new apartment she'll have to pay rent both where she is & where she's going.
Her current rent is $150 her new rent is $400. Being on a set income this is made impossible for her to do so we check into housing assistance for her & discover "Section 8". We get her application in to be told there are over 800 families ahead of her & it will be at least 14-16 months before her name makes it to the top. J.D. & I quickly go over our finances & decided we'll have take care of the extra $250. We set a plan of moving in Jan 1st. Of course that's when the new landlord tells us that shes going to have to rent out this apartment before then because it is actually going to be ready Dec. 1st & can't stay empty that long - so she moves on to the next person on the list, but tells me that she has another one that should be ready right when we need it - speaking of which I need to call & check on that! Then of course we have moving expenses such as gas, U-Haul, food, turning on utilities, apartment deposit, cleaning supplies for old house, possible motel, and I'm sure there is something else that I've forgotten. Luckily my bro is going to try to help some with those things.
So our planned move out date for her is Dec. 24th, 25th, & 26th. For my kids sake this makes me sad because they'll somewhat miss Christmas or at least Christmas day. Of course with everything else this year Christmas money is a little short anyways so there aren't going to be as many items under the tree as I'd like (well, there may be, but they wont be the things I really want to get). Dylan at school made a chain of rings to cut apart counting down the days to Christmas - I found myself wanting so bad to add a few rings so he wouldn't know that we wont be here when Santa arrives. At the same time though the gifts aren't what Christmas is about & I don't want to loose sight of that during all of this.

Dec. 7th - J.D.s uncle Lyle calls (keep in mind through all of this back a few months ago Lyle was diagnosed with cancer & is undergoing chemo at the moment) to let us know J.D.'s Dad has had a small stroke & has a large blood clot in his neck putting him at even greater risk for a major stroke. With all of this he is almost out of firewood right before the coldest night so far this winter.
So yesterday J.D. took off work to go find trees to cut down for some wood to get him to the weekend. After arriving out the he learns there is a place that has some wood they can have - it just needs to be hauled to his house. Two hours of hauling and he has firewood!!! (for now)

Last night(Dec. 8th) - my Mom calls to tell me they are heading to urgent care because she's having chest pain. (side note, things are supposed to come in 3's - if you've been counting this is #4) I start praying right away for this to be nothing, but am scared out of my mind at the same time. I mean this is my Mom we are talking about!
A while later they let us know that her EKG showed a little something so they are being moved over to the ER. I sit by the phone until a little after 11 p.m. when Mom calls to let me know they are keeping her over night just to be on the safe side & to do a few more tests. As of the last time I spoke to her at 8 a.m. they were still waiting to hear something.

So as you can see things are very busy around here.

At some point a person begins to wonder how much stress they can take. I'm physically, emotionally, & financially drained. Everything I do is lacking in it's completion. Starting with my involvement it Dylan's schooling all the way to my house just being flat out dirty. Laundry piles up because I don't have the energy to move the load in the washer to the dryer. We go back to newly wed meals(mac n cheese, ramen, corn dogs..etc)from lack of funds as well as lack of energy to actually cook(or the thought of cleaning up afterwards). I'm behind on daycare activities - but have to be caught up by our Christmas party. Sometimes I wish for a vacation, but know it's just a band-aid and at some point I have to come back to reality. As I sit here J.D. & I have just made the decision to keep Dylan home from school today, not because he's ill but because neither of us had the energy to search for clean clothes or pack him a lunch(school lunches are a whole other issue that I will not dive into at the moment). Although I know that is very pathetic thats just the way today will be in hopes that tomorrow is better!

I know that things are rough, but I also know they'll get better. I've been asked if I'm depressed, and the answer is no, I'm not...I'm just worn out. I love my life & truly would do nothing to change it. Through everything I'm trying not to complain but every now & then I have to, or seem too, but it's more of just needing to vent.

So to the title of my post - I Do Believe!! I believe things will get better, I fear they will get worse before getting better, but I know they WILL get better! For this reason I have decided to make today count!! I will start trying to catch up laundry, I will sing, dance & play with all 6 little people here with me! We will rejoice in the day & be glad!

I thank each of you reading this for letting me vent & hope God will bless you all today in whatever you are doing!!

'Tis The Season For....Cages???

Okay, so as you can see this year we were very worried about our tree running away...or at least the ornaments....

This cage has become a yearly tradition in our house for about 3 years now. Between daycare & our own youngsters this is the only way to protect the tree & the contents of the packages below it.

I think back to past years - before the "cage"..... How did we ever make it?? I remember having a very small tree our first two years of marriage one of which was child free. The next 2 were our big tree but no gate & don't remember the youngsters ever bothering it. Couldn't imagine giving them free reign at it this year though 3 - 1 yr. olds could be a real disaster! Not to mention the 2 year old who's arm is just barly long enough to finger-tip them anyways....luckily Dylan & Ryan aren't too interested in the ornaments unless we have guests over - of course they want to show off their favorites, but have decided it works just as well to point & not take them off of the tree.

Our tree is supposed to be decorated with an Orange & Black OSU sort of theme this year. Every year we do a different color theme on it & last year after Christmas found wonderful orange & black glass ball ornaments, we as you can see we never found any other orange or black stuff so it's just a little bit naked, but oh well! We still like it, and we very proud of our decorating skills! Dylan & Ryan did most of the ornaments from the bottom to a little over half way up the tree. JD had to do the ones on the top since we don't trust Ryan near a ladder or anything he could try to "fly" (jump) off of....

Durring our Thanksgiving break Nana also put up her Christmas tree. She put an extra one up on her kitchen table (just a little one), but it had no ornaments just lights so we decided to make some new ornaments for it. All 5 of us pulled out the craft stuff & went to work on some creative new things for her tree - even Aydan "helped" - ok so really he played "how big of a mess can I make while Mommy & Daddy aren't looking", but oh well he had fun! Sorry I didn't get any pictures of that, I was too busy cleaning it up to worry about the camera.

So as you can see Christmas is in full swing around our house!!

What?!?! Turkey!!! Where???

Last Thursday Dylan brought home a "Family Project" to do & return to school. He had to disguise a Turkey so it wouldn't get eaten on Thanksgiving. The idea was to disguise it as something to do with your family (sports, hobbies..etc..). During the cold months one of our favorite family activities (besides doing art work) is watching movies - so....Dylan wanted to design his turkey as -Tin Man- from "The Wizard of Oz", but before starting this project we copied it so Ryan could do it too! Another one of our favorite movies is "The Polar Express" - and although I think dressing a turkey as a train would be fun, I have a feeling it would be difficult since trains have no eyes....We decided to go with Santa....

Here are the turkeys we made...this was so much fun! Dylan & Ryan LOVE doing any type of art work so this was wonderful for them plus J.D. & I love getting to spend family time doing it with them.

They both turned out so cute!!

Dylan did most of his J.D. did have to cut out the part for the"arms", boots, hat, & axe because the cardboard stuff we were using was a little hard to cut with safety scissors, but the rest Dylan did as well as gluing it all together (which I guess needed a TON of glue because he used 1/2 a bottle, but oh well!!)

Ryan needed a little more help with his he is still learning how to use scissors(ever since he cut his own hair he hasn't got to practice much). So I cut out almost everything, but let Ryan scissor at it a few times while I held it still for him then he glued it altogether!!

I'm not slee......

Just so we're clear & everyone knows - Ryan didn't need a nap today, he wasn't tired....LOL

Who took the cookies from the cookie box??

Aydan Did!!

Sunday night J.D. & I were cooking supper, but not fast enough for Aydan - he was hungry. The box of cookies was just too close so he opened it & helped himself to a bite of every cookie. Well, he had to make sure he got the tastiest one!! :)

We let him go ahead & have one. He picked this one - it must have been the best!

He was very happy (& messy) afterwards, but he still ended up eating all of his supper too!

I started singing the little song "Who took the cookie for the cookie jar." & he started laughing & pointing at me!

Happy 1st Birthday Aydan!! - Family Party

We decided on a Sesame Street cake - but were not too happy when we got it back. It looked nothing like the picture in the book at the store & it was very sloppy! It was also supposed to be half chocolate half white - we got it and it was 100% chocolate....but oh well, Aydan still had fun....
This was the cake they gave Aydan as a personal cake - for free. He very much enjoyed it. Took a little bit to get him started & he actually cried at first but once he tasted it he was VERY happy. He munched down 3/4 of the cake!!

Aydan isn't much into opening gifts, so Mommy got stuck doing it. He loved what came out of the packages though. This one was a Sesame Street bath time boat toy from Aunt Jamie & Cousin Alli. He loves it, but I did have to tell Dylan & Ryan that it was Aydan's & they needed to leave it alone. (They liked it too..) :)
He also got a Sesame Street mail box shape sorter from Gamma & Gampa. He's getting very good at using it too!

This was just as he was getting started on the cake. By the time he was done he was covered in it. He ended up having a sink bath in the kitchen & I was still picking it out of his ears & nose afterwards!

It was a very good 1st Birthday. I still can't believe my baby is 1 now. It seems like only yesterday we found out he was on his way. Hopefully the next year goes a little slower - because the first one was WAY too fast!!

Happy 1st Birthday Aydan!! - Friend Party

Aydan wasn't too happy to get dressed in his "Birthday Boy" clothes - can you tell?? :)

He loved all of his new "big boy" gifts. He hadn't really gotten any new things since Christmas when he was only a little over a month old - he had out grown his baby rattles a long time ago..

He got a puzzle, small fire truck & dump truck, phone, & \/

a Safari Truck & Animals that Dylan & Ryan got him...

Aydan's first time to eat Peanut Butter Cookies - He loved them!! I'm so glad a couple of his friends were able to make it to his party. (the other one had already left before this picture was taken)

It's official ~ He's a clone......

I just walked in the room to find a scene that took me back about 4 years....

Dylan at 11 months on the left ~ Aydan at 11 months on the right
(Yes, it is even the same pj's.....)

Aydan LOVES to eat!!!

Sunday after church we came home & started fixing lunch. About the time we got finished cooking Aydan smelled food & woke up.
I sat him on my lap to share my lunch, but I wasn't feeding him fast enough so he snatched my banana!
This was getting rather messy so I quickly moved him to his own chair!

He was very proud of his prize!!

He loves ALL food! Bananas are a favorite though!

I know it's probably not good, but the quickest way to make Aydan happy is to put food in front of him!! (Someday when he has a weight problem he can blame it on us! I don't think he has that problem yet!!)

Dylan's Field Trip.... :(

When I found out about Dylan's first ever field trip I QUICKLY let the daycare parents know I would be closing daycare for it so I could go with him. As everyone knows I am a devoted scrapbooker - so as any other big event in his life I wanted to be there to capture it myself & spend some fun time doing something new together!

So this morning I excitedly (possibly more then Dylan) got ready for the day. I got up earlier then I have in months just to make sure I had EVERYTHING ready...little did I know - the day would not go as planned.

We get to the school while it is misting rain & I walk Dylan to class. The plan is to leave the school at 9:00 A.M. via school buses(for the kiddos, personal cars for parents with siblings). Dylan asked me to stay with him in his classroom until they got ready to go, so I did. As soon as they started lining up I decided to head out to the van where my Mom, Ryan & Aydan were waiting.

Dylan's class came walking out & loaded into bus 16. Soon we where off! It was a little bit of a drive into the next town. I was so excited! I couldn’t wait to hear all about Dylan’s very first bus ride! We were about 2 buses & 8-10 cars behind him. (He was in the first bus)

As we near the Pumpkin Patch 2 buses from another school hop in front of us as well as about 8-10 of there parents/families cars. At this time I begin to worry as we’ve never been to this place before. Luckily there are BIG signs so we made it just fine.

When we arrive there is a bit of a traffic jam & we get stuck behind a couple of buses & many car so I decide to get out with Ryan & walk to Dylans bus to meet him. At this point we are about 3 or so blocks away from him. We make it about 1 block on our trek to him when parents who are walking in front of us turn around & start back towards us saying our kids are loading back on buses because all the pumpkins near us are green & they are heading to another area where there are orange ones. So trying to make sure I make it to where they are going Ryan & I hurry back to the van to get ready to move.

We see the buses from the other school turning around so we turn too, then pull over to wait for our buses. At this time we worry with the traffic that maybe we should move to let other people get where they are going easier. By this time though the van is on E & the gas light is on. So we drive back to the entrance/owners house Ryan & I hop out to wait for info while Mom drives the van back into town to get some gas.

While she’s gone I heave that the owners had taken a trailer out to the field so the kiddos could get pumpkins. Though part of the kids were headed back to the front to get pumpkins there. The first bus came, from the other school….so we waited….some parents came along….from the other school….so we waited… Then along came some parents for our school, I asked if they knew what was going on. They let me know that the plan was bus 7 would come back to the entrance to get pumpkins there. Another of the buses were getting there pumpkins from the trailer, and the third bus -the one in the front- WAS STUCK IN THE MUD!!! & couldn’t get out!!! – Guess who was on that bus??? Yes, Dylan!! About that time the owner comes driving out of their barn with a green tractor – to pull them out. About 10 min after that my Mom makes it back with then van. Ryan & I hop back in and head back to the actual patch. We get down there as the last two of the other towns buses are loading up. We see the tractor heading back to the front-meaning they have made it out of the mud!!!

Now though we had to wait for all these youngsters to get out of the road so we can make it down to where Dylan is. As the last ones pass by us we get ready to move, but by this time Dylan class is all loaded up & head towards us so we wait. As they pass us we turn around, get RIGHT behind them, & follow them all the way back to school.

I hop out of the van as quickly as I can to greet him as soon as he steps off the bus! The first thing he says to me is “where did you go while we were at the Pumpkin Patch??” I have to admit, I had held it together until that point, but did tear up when he asked me that….

He was very quiet though & as soon as we got to the door he asked if he could go home to change his clothes because he was wet & muddy. I didn’t answer him right away because I wasn’t sure how wet he was.

They had gotten back a little late for lunch so the school had sack lunches ready for them to eat in their classroom. He got sat down to eat and I noticed he was still very quiet so I decided to investigate this wet clothes thing. Sure enough from his toes almost all the way to his tushie he was soaked!

Being sad we had missed getting to spend this time together already I may have been a little too eager to give into this going home thing myself…. So I checked him out of school, took him home to change (his poor little toes were COLD raisins!!) then we left to meet some friends for lunch. Feeling bad for Dylan still - we went to MD’s because he’s been wanting one of the toys they have. We spent about 2 or so hours there playing! It was so nice to get to finish the day with him. I had taken off work so we could enjoy doing something together – since try #1 didn’t work out, we went for #2 & had a blast!!! Though I still don’t have any pictures of him at the actual Pumpkin Patch to scrapbook with. Please enjoy the pictures I did get….

Moral of the story – pray that all the other parents take their cameras just incase something happens & you miss the events……


Getting Ready to leave school...

Ryan & I waiting at the enterance to find out what is going on...

The wonderful green tractor that pulled my Baby from the mud...

The bus on the way back to school......

Birthday gift to Daddy - From Ryan! (What are we going to do with this kid?!?!)

Last night we put the boys to bed and all was going well until J.D. heard Ryan making noise. He went in to find Ryan jumping on his mattress -off- of the bed. He had pulled the sheet off & ripped it to shreds & pulled the mattress off to play on it & under it...(it is a toddler size)
I think there is enough of the sheet left for me to make a small pillow case with it though, so hopefully not a total loss.
Sometimes we just don't know what we're going to do with him. The wierd thing is - he never does it because he's upset & usually he's very proud of himself & wants to show us....even if he gets things taken away & time-outs...

The night before last we caught him with the bathroom hand soap in his bed - he was painting his head....crazy kid!!!

He will grow out of this...right???? :?

Ryan's Birthday gift to me?!?!

For the past few months this is how I saw today going:
-taking off work
-lazing around in my pj's
-SCRAPBOOKING!!!

Somehow it isn't turning out that way!! Here's how it is going....
-started out scrapbooking
-got a call that my cousin whom I am VERY close to had to be rushed into surgery for a tubal pregnancy
-then Ryan flushed a bath toy down the toilet

#2 slowed the scrapbooking big time, because I couldn't stay focused
#3 put a full end to it

J.D. discovered Ryan playing in the potty & had to give him a bath. While he was bathing J.D. went ahead & flushed the potty not knowing Ryan had filled a small rubber ball with water then dropped it in the toilet - so it had sank to the bottom & was under the toilet paper Ryan had also added.

After plunging many times & flooding the bathroom I decided to ask Ryan if anything else besides paper was in there. (Keep in mind he is watching this whole stressful process) At which time he lets us know that the ball was in there. - If only we had asked sooner. Of course by this time we've pushed the ball as far as it will go.

Soon I come up with an idea to try using the wet/dry vac to see if we can suck it back out, no such luck & after about 5 minutes J.D. decides to completely remove the toilet.

I never realized how yuck this could be!!

As you can see we did find the ball and WITHOUT a plumber!! Yay us!!

The little ball was very happy to be removed from the potty & after a good bath has recovered from the whole ordeal un-harmed!!

(Can't you tell how happy he is?? See that smile!! Of course I think the plunging caused one of his eyes to sink further into his head & the vac caused one to pop out, I think he'll be okay though)
After we got the ball out J.D. took Ryan in to try to explain why we don't put things in the potty & talk about what the potty is really used for. (I am concerned that this went in one ear jiggled around in his head for 2 seconds & fell out the other side...)

New Car!!! (Trouble!)

Well, so we finally did it. After being teased that it looked like we were getting out of a clown car every time the 5 of us went somewhere - we bought a new vehicle. A 2007 GMC Yukon. JD had bought our Altima NEW in 2001 & ever since said he'd never buy a Brand New car again because they loose their value as soo as you drive them off the lot, so we went used.

On July 25th we drove to OKC & traded our "Clown Car" the seated 5 in on a "Monster" that seats 9. Our new Dark Blue beauty had some hail damage from the storm that went through OKC the week earlier & the dealership was fixing it(for free of course) we just had to bring it back the next week.

We took it back to get the hail fixed & they gave us a loaner Chevy Truck. Tight fit - not comfy at all! Really was a pain in the tush - really it was - my hip hurt all week!!
They were supposed to have the hail fixed in two days, but it took a week which meant we had to drive this thing close to the OK/TX boarder because Dylan & Ryan were going to go spend a few days with Gamma & Gampa before Dylan started back to school - luckily my mom was able to meet us there because we didn't want to take it out of the state.

Finally the day came for us to go back to pick it up & guess what happened?? It started storming!! We worried all the way there that it was going to end up getting hailed on again before we ever got it back home. We were lucky though, we seem to be in the eye of the storm or something because it stayed clear right over us all the way home & started raining literally right after we pulled into the garage.

:)

Well today it broke down! JD was headed off to work after lunch & the check engine light came on, the thing went into safe mode & would only drive 10 MPH. He got it back home & we had to have it towed!

Wow what a interesting 2 months it's been! Needless to say J.D. says we'll never buy used again, the extra money is worth the peace of mind....

Ryan's Little Piggy's are Growing!!!

Well, most kids want to get a new pair of shoes before school starts right? Well last year before Dylan started Pre-K we went shoe shopping. We got him some really cute little Sketchers. Of course Ryan wanted new shoes too! So we got him some too! We went on Tax free weekend Aug. 1-3 2008.

(Ryans Size 5's)

Well, to the point I go!!! Ryan had been wearing these shoes ever since. Then on July 25th when JD was getting ready to take the boys to their first Lowes Build & Grow class I noticed Ryan tripping A LOT, so checked his shoes & sure enough he had Finally Out Grown his size 5's!!!!! I had already gotten him a new pair of shoes over the summer(when I found $59 shoes for $14). They were a bit big, but he started wearing his size 6 1/2 shoes later that day.
(Ryans size 6 1/2's)

So as we were driving out of town Friday night guess what happened???? Yea, Ryan starts crying..."My Toes Hurt!!!" Sure enough his poor little toes are scrunched in the tips of his shoes already!!! Not that I'm complaining, I'm happy to see him growing!!
We just tried hard over the weekend to do things were he didn't have to wear shoes. We had some of Dylans old shoes at home that he could wear for the time being so I can shop around. I hate paying full price if I can get the same thing cheaper by looking around....

(Dylans old size 7's that will work until we have time to shop)