Ry's Quotes (And one from Asher!)

(March 2, 2011)
As I was making dinner...
Ry: "Did you put cheese on that to make it better?"
He knows food all too well--cheese always makes it taste better!!

(March 3, 2011)
If Rylan goes outside to play with friends I make sure to always remind him to not go into anyone's house.
Ry: "How come you tell me that every time?"
Me: "I'm just reminding you because it's very important."
Ry: "But I already know that so you don't have to tell me anymore."
But guess what? I'm still gonna remind him every time!

(March 6, 2011)
I had just read the monthly primary theme to Rylan about how God speaks to us through prophets.
Me: "Who is our prophet today?"
Ry: "Teekees"
Me: "Nope, try again."
Ry: "Yep, it's Teekees, that's French for President Monson."

At scripture time we were talking about how good people go to live with Heavenly Father in Heaven, but bad people who don't choose the right, won't be able to live with Heavenly Father.
Ry: "If there's a bad guy who steals will he go to heaven?"
Me: "If he repents and says sorry than he can go to heaven."
Ry: "What if he really is a good guy but his name is 'Bad Guy' and everyone just calls him 'Bad Guy'. Can he still go to heaven?"

(March 13, 2011)
The last few days Rylan's been calling everyone a "Tutu head". I explained to him what a Tutu is but he must just think it's funny to say it. The other night Ry said "Asher, you're a tutu head." And Asher replied "Yep, Toot Toot" while pumping his arm and pretending he was a train. Cute :)

(March 21, 2011)
Tami and the twins stopped by for a quick visit before picking up Mykenna from school. So of course when they were leaving Rylan wanted to go with them. After some thought I told Ry he could go and I'd come pick him up after Asher's nap. He looked at me, put his two hands on my cheeks and while looking straight into my eyes he said "You made a good choice".

Later I went to pick him up from the twins' house and Tami gave me a baggie of some nut cluster thingies. So on the way home I was snacking on them and Ry asked if he could try one. I warned him that I didn't think he'd really like it but sure, he could have one. He took one bite and gave it back to me and asked "Do you think I'll like those when I'm six?"
Me: "You might. We'll have to try again next year and see what you think."
Ry: "Then you can't eat those so we can save them."
I smiled thinking he for sure wouldn't like stale year old nut clusters. So I told him we could buy some next year!

(March 25, 2011)
Ry's never been one to want to talk about what he did in primary or preschool, but I ask him anyway. Today I picked him up from preschool, had a brief chat about this and that, and then asked him what they did in class.
Ry: "Nothing."
Me: "Nothing? I hope you did more than that."
Ry: "I just said that because I don't want to tell you about it."
Yeah, he's gonna be a fun teenager to try to talk to!

Ry was talking about owls being nocturnal and then he asked what animals sleep at night and wake up in the morning. I said most animals sleep at night but he insisted I list them. So I began...dogs, cats, birds, giraffes, hippos, horses, zebras.
Ry: "What else?"
Me: "Cows, rhinos, monkeys, sheep."
Ry: "What else?"
Me: "Well, there's lots Rylan. Why don't you think of one and ask me?"
Ry: "Man?"
I just started laughing so hard. I told Kevin later and he didn't think it was as funny as I did. But it still makes me laugh :)

At 5 Years Old...

Rylan's favorites as of 03/07/11

Color: Yellow. Although he said he likes all colors except white because "when I color with white it doesn't show up on my white paper". Very true!

Show: Peep and Curious George

Friend: Kaleb and Kade

Food: Spaghetti and peanut butter sandwiches--he usually wants pb and honey but recently has started asking for pb and jam. And he didn't mention it but I will add, he likes toast with peanut butter and then he'll top it with pretzels...his own creation!

Snack: Chocolate chips and marshmallows

Toy: The new firetruck. The Holmans gave it to him for his birthday and when he answered this he even said "It's more exciting than anything"!

(03/30/11)
Rylan had his check up today which included Kindergarten immunizations. I warned him of the bad news and he got the biggest tears in his eyes. The whole way there he was sad and once we got to the doc's office he held onto the car door, not wanting to go it. I don't blame him! He ended up doing really well though and later told Kev that only one of them hurt. He just cried briefly after the 4 shots and limped out of the doc's office saying if he walked really slow it felt better. He didn't move his arms from his sides for the next hour!
His eyes were checked as well. This is the first time he's had his eyes checked since he was a baby! Maybe it's because we switched pediatricians (to a closer office...Payson rather than Provo, but mostly because with our other ped. it seemed like we were always waiting over an hour and I was done with that. I will miss Dr. Adams though. He's been our pediatrician the last 5 years and I really did like him. That wait time just killed me!) Anyways, Rylan's left eye seems to not be so good. His right eye was perfect and together he had 20/20. But his left eye was 20/50 so they suggested he see an eye doctor. Guess we'll have to do that soon.
So, Rylan weighed 44.6 lbs (76%) and is 42.5 inches tall (42%). He's a healthy boy and now he's all ready for kindergarten!
After his appointment we stopped at the gas station for a treat (both boys chose chocolate donuts. And so did I!!) and then headed to Tami's house to play for the next couple hours. It was the perfect way to help Ry forget about his shots and the pain!

Silly Faces

Asher, Rylan and I got haircuts today. The boys looked so handsome that Kevin had to take their picture. It's a good thing we have digital cameras these days because Kev took like 30 pictures and only one of them turned out semi-okay.

Actually, maybe it's a tie between these two. How come kids don't look at the camera at the same time?
So Kev put together a collage of all of Ry's faces. Not that it was just Rylan who was making goofy faces every time, Asher had his share, but Ry had so many different faces! Such a cute kid but it's impossible to get him to smile properly for the camera!

29 1/2 Weeks

I always think I should take more belly shots and then when I remember to take one, I wish I wouldn't have! And this is seriously backwards, but I feel smaller than I look. That's a good thing :) And don't make fun of my sandals with pants and long sleeves--I do live in Utah you know! Plus we were going to Tami's house for family dinner so I didn't really need shoes!!
I had my check up last Monday and all is well. I've hit the 15 lb mark. 10 weeks to go!

Trampoline Time!

So the day came when it was time to set up the tramp. Boy, was Ry excited! The twins were over and when Garren came to pick them up, Kev roped him in for some help. Ry, Asher, the twins, and some little neighbor boys were around to help, too. At one point Kevin sent all the kids inside because they were getting in the way. I just couldn't keep them occupied inside long enough. Even though most of them have their own trampolines, they were all too excited to not help!




Project complete. Time to JUMP!!
Asher had been on the neighbors tramp once or twice and I always held his hand. It only took a few minutes of holding his hand this time before he was ready to venture out on his own!




I can tell we have a summer full of jumping ahead of us!

Happy 5th Bday Ry!

So the actual day of Rylan's birthday was on a Sunday but we made the most of it and had a great time! I had decided we'd have spaghetti for dinner since that is Rylan's favorite. And to make it even more fun we invited my family over to enjoy it with us! He was thrilled to be able to spend his birthday with his cousins.
Kev's parents came down and brought Rylan a birthday card. Rylan and Grandpa Doyle sat down together (amongst all the noise and chaos) to read the card and count the money--a five dollar bill and five of each coin--penny, dime, nickel, and quarter. Ry was very excited and wanted to count the coins several times. He was anxious to take them off the card and get them into his piggy bank. We suggested he wait until a more quiet time, just to keep his coins safe from cousins :) Before going to bed he asked for his piggy bank so he could put his money it!



Dinner Time!

Poor Rylan, trying to wait patiently for his favorite dinner!

I asked Rylan what kind of cake he wanted. He asked for a chocolate cake with vanilla icing and pink and purple flowers on top. Hmmmmm, okay. I'm thinking the pink and purple flowers may have come up because that day we read a book 'I Love it When You Smile' and there are pink and purple flowers on the inside cover. We had a conversation about those flowers and maybe they just got stuck in his mind?! But hey, I like pink and purple flowers and I'm not against him liking them! I just didn't really want his cake to be covered in flowers so I came up with an idea. I called my mom and she offered to come help decorate the cake (which is secretly what I was hoping for :) I love my talented mom!. We (ok, she) made a construction sight with a dirt pile (oreos), a rock pile (rock jelly beans), and green grass with pink and purple flowers. It was perfect! And you wanna know something funny? When we cut into the cake every single kid asked for a piece with a flower!! Rylan was onto something with his flower idea! So after the kids got their slice of cake my mom was standing by ready to make them some flowers on their piece. What would we do without grandma? :) (Kevin took some pictures of Rylan smiling with his cake, but sadly he deleted them on accident. These pictures will have to do for evidence of an awesome birthday cake! And it tasted awesome, too! I've thought about that yummy cake in the days following. It was just a box chocolate cake with added sour cream...but it sure was yummy!)

Ry was given some super cool birthday gifts. A shovel from the Heindorffs and a butterfly net and butterfly sanctuary from grandma and grandpa Mitchell were big hits with all the kids. Kevin and I gave him this Cars couch that he asked for. I suggested we hide it in the trunk of the car but Kevin put it in the top of Asher's closet. On Saturday Rylan discovered it but kept it a secret. He later told me "I looked in Asher's closet for my piggy bank and the Cars couch was invisible"!! What a silly boy :) He asked if he could have it Saturday night but I made him wait until his actual birthday.


We also gave him a trampoline! We had thought about getting one last summer but he and Asher still seemed so young. One year doesn't really make a huge difference, but Ry was always asking to go to the neighbors to jump on their tramp. So one day I called Kev and suggested we get Ry a tramp for his birthday. No debating. It was an easy decision. (Of course we worry about injuries but we're trying to enforce our rules hoping that will help. And I keep saying both Kevin and I grew up on trampolines and loved 'em so we should let our kids enjoy it, too!)
We played 'hot and cold' with Ry so he could find it in the garage. After discovering it under boxes and such he asked if we could set it up. Well, it was after 9pm so we told him he'd have to wait, probably until Saturday. He then ran inside the house and sat back down on his Cars couch. Kevin said "We can tell he liked it because there's a small smile on his face in this picture"! This boy is so funny with showing emotion! But it's true, we knew he was excited just from that teeny tiny grin. And really, what fun is it to look at your birthday present that's still in the box? I'd want to relax on that Cars couch, too!

It was a super fun day for all of us and honestly, Rylan went to bed that night the Happiest 5 year old on Earth! I love this kid so much and I'm so happy that he loved his special day!

Birthday Celebration

It's hard to believe my little Rylan is already 5 years old! And what a fantastic 5 year old he is. This past year he has grown so much and it's been really fun to see all he's learning. Since he started preschool I feel like he's especially grown--from writing and reading to his social skills and independance (which is often times hard for mommy!)
A couple weeks before his birthday he started asking if he could have a birthday party. I thought it might be fun to invite a few friends over for games and cake and ice cream so we talked about it. Then he saw a commercial for Chuck E Cheese's and started asking if he could go there with Kade and Kaleb for his birthday. I gave him several opportunities to choose which one he wanted--a party or Chuck E Cheese's. And every time he said Chuck E Cheese's. That made it easy for me! He also asked if Kade and Kaleb could come over and fly kites with us. That was part of his birthday fun last year, too, so I guess it's now a tradition!
Since Ry's birthday was on a Sunday, we did some celebrating on Saturday. Kevin picked up the twins that afternoon and brought them to our house to play for a bit. When we were all ready to go we piled into our car and went to the park for some play time first.
I told Rylan this was his last day he could swing in the baby swings because 5 year olds have to learn how to pump in the big boy swings. (Partly because he really does need to learn but also because it's hard for me to lift him up into the baby swing. My growing belly gets in the way of that heavy lifting!) He took full advantage and wanted to swing in the baby swings for quite some time. We finally convinced all the boys to have races on the slides.

On your mark, get set, GO!!

After some park time we headed into the field to fly our kites. I don't know why we didn't bring one for each of the kidlets. Two kites just wasn't quite enough and the boys who were not getting a turn weren't too interested in just standing there. I think we only had our kites in the air for about 20 minutes before they were ready to go home to get a drink. I guess if this really is going to be a tradition we'll have to remember to bring more kites next year!

I'm pretty sure that's Kaleb out there with Rylan flying Batman.

We stopped at Wendy's on our way home for some yummy frosties and then had some apple juice once we got home. Kade was a bit tired and wanted a blanket and pillow so he could lay down on the couch for a nap! He laid down for about 15 minutes but the rest of us were too loud so he decided to go play.

Tami picked up the twins on their way up to Chuck E Cheese's since our car wouldn't fit us all. The Holmans were nice enough to join us for a night of less than desirable pizza and games. All the kids had fun and the adults did, too! In fact, Kevin got to play shooting games with Garren while Tami and I got to chit chat. We saved enough coins to play our hubbies in some games, too and guess what?! I totally beat Kev in Skee ball! Woot Woot!






Ry ended his fun day by opening a present from the goofy Holmans.

A Fire Truck! Because Rylan doesn't show much enthusiasm, Tami felt bad and thought he didn't like his gift. She kept saying he could take it back and get something else. But when we got in the car and opened it up for him he said "Mom, will you call aunt Tami?" When I asked 'why' he said "Because this fire truck is the most eskiting fire truck ever!" And it really is a cool fire truck. You can fill it up with water and squirt it out the fire hose!
And check out these shades. You're guaranteed a great prize from Chuck E Cheese's!!

Sleeping Boy

It was time to wake up Asher from his nap and this is how I found him. How did he get out of his shirt like that?