March Quotes

Rylan:
(March 7, 2012)
Ry: "What is faster than light?"
Me: "I don't think there is anything faster than light."
Ry: "If you're already there than that's the fastest thing on earth. It's like if someone wants to go home but they are already there, that's faster than light."

(March 8, 2012)
While riding scooters outside the boys were showing Kevin what they could do. Asher said "look dad!" while he attempted something and fell down. Rylan said "Asher, everyone knows how to fall on a scooter"!!

(March 14, 2012)
To me: "I love you more than my birthday!"
This kid melts my heart :)

(March 22, 2012)
Rylan was wanting to paint a hat and shirt with yellow and black stripes so he could dress up like Winnie the Pooh (they watched the movie a few days ago). When I asked him why he wanted to dress like Winnie the Pooh he said "Because it looks so dreamy". He's a cutie :)

(March 26, 2012)
Ry: "Where's my coloring book?"
Me: "In the bag in the pantry."
Ry: "What bag? The bag with the coloring books?"
I just had to laugh!!

Asher:
(March 5, 2012)
While waiting for Rylan to get out of school we were listening to primary songs. Asher was singing along to "Choose the Right". After he sang "...when in the right your heart confides" he said "Mom, it said your heart can fight."
What are my kids learning in primary? :)

(March 15, 2012)
Kevin was leaving and Asher wanted to go with him. He told Asher when he got home he'd give him a big kiss. Asher said goodbye and came to me and said "Daddy told me when he gets back, he'll kiss on me!" He sure loves his daddy!!

(March 31, 2012)
While walking to the park on the trail where there are lots of trees: "Is this the deep, dark wood?" The rest of the way we were on the lookout for the Gruffalo :)

Rylan came out of his room last night crying. Something hit him in the face and it hurt. What? Did a picture fall off the wall? No, he and Asher had sneaked into the closet and were trying to sleep in there. A back up drive was sitting on top of a box and it had been knocked off, right onto his face. Ouch! We got them back in to their proper beds, got Rylan calmed down, and kissed them good night. Ry woke up this morning with a bruise--sad! I tried to get a picture of it but photography is not my skill and Rylan is basically against getting his picture taken but he sure is handsome.

Asher was there, too, so I took a picture of his cute face.

Then the boys got silly and wanted me to take pictures of their feet.


I haven't been getting up early to go to the gym because Tyce has been so off schedule. I'm really feeling it emotionally. The last couple days I've done a workout at home but it's just not the same for me. I probably don't work hard enough. I need those hard workouts that make me sweat. Asher usually joins me for at least part of the workout. He told me his favorite exercise was push ups! We walked to Ry's school today to pick him up. It was such a nice walk! Tyce fell asleep on the way there and slept the rest of the time.

I'm trying to finish my book today for book club tonight. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. It's brought tears to my eyes a few times. He is a psychiatrist and tells stories of his time in a concentration camp...so hard for me to even imagine. But I'm looking forward to book group and girl time :)

We got to meet up with Jana and kids at the park today. We always do our talking at the swings where at least one of our kids is needing pushed. It works well! I'm looking forward to more park days with them!

Kevin should be home soon and our house is a mess. Typical. One day he'll come home to a clean house. Of course that may not be until after the kids are grown and gone and that's a day I don't like to think about :)

Yesterday was a good Sunday. 1:00 church really gives us a lot of time to be lazy in the morning. Getting out at 4:00 really gives us zero time to get ready to go somewhere! Just before Relief Society (my first week in RS after being released from Young Women) I was asked to help out in nursery. It was a quick hour but one that I hope isn't repeated regularly!
After church Kevin went home teaching. I put Tyce down for a nap, did a few things with Ry and Asher and then realized Oh no! I needed to cook my rice for dinner at my mom's house! I was cutting it close but we made it just in time. We left our house at 6:00 (good thing my mom lives nearby!) without Kevin who was still out HT. He later had Dain drop him off at my mom's.
Dinner with my fam was great! We had Cafe Rio salads and cookies, the kids had a ball, and I got to talk with my fam. Deborah brought me some Strawberry Colada cupcakes for my birthday. I ate two right away :) Kacy and Adam announced that Kacy is pregnant...with twins! Holy Moly!! Wahoo!! I just knew she was going to come home from Australia pregnant! So we're all super excited, of course. She's 11 weeks along and due in September but hoping for late August. Yea!
Kevin had the day off today for President's Day. We didn't have much planned but we did get to go to lunch at Cafe Rio with Ben and Heather! They were passing through SF on their way home to California. It was a good lunch and a great visit. We were there for a couple hours, wishing it could be longer. Heather is due in April with boy #3 and she looks great! Rylan and Kyle ran around playing inside Cafe Rio before we ventured outside where they had a snowball fight with the little bits of snow around. It was cute! Asher was not himself and spent most of the time pouting or crying. Andrew was quiet but cute. Poor little guy smashed his fingers in the door :( Tyce was an angel :) Rylan whispered to me "Can I play with Kyle another day?" They always take some time warming up to each other but have fun playing together when they finally break out of their shyness shells!
I took a short nap after reading a bit in 'Outliers'. It's our book club book for this month which is on Wednesday, here at my house. I hope I finish it! Kevin helped Rylan with some of his homework and of course the boys found time to play on the itouch or ipad. At one point Asher was on the itouch, Ry was on the ipad, and I was reading on the Kindle. Funny! Kevin and Asher took a walk to the mailbox where they brought back some jeans Kev ordered (they look great!) and my two swimsuits--I'm ready for San Diego! Well, after some visits to the gym :)
We had leftover Chicken Noodle Soup for dinner which was delicious. A quick FHE, boys to bed and now it's tv time. Great day!

Another lazy morning for me since Ry didn't have school. Kev worked from home so I went to the gym after putting Tyce down for a nap...around 11:30. About halfway through my workout I started to get super hungry. I got a good workout in, but I didn't run as long as I had planned since i was so hungry! It was 1:00 so I hurried home and made myself a big sandwich as fast as I could. It ended up being too much so I felt a bit sick the rest of the afternoon.
Rylan came home from school the other day asking if we could make a leprechaun trap. They had read a book at school about it and he was very excited about the idea. So we spent a good hour making a trap and I hope it works! :)
The boys just played most of the day. They got their chores and activities done so they were allowed ipod/pad time. Rylan was in his pajamas all day until 6:00 when we decided to go get dinner.
I was still feeling sickish from my big lunch so nothing really sounded good to me. Kevin was up for anything and Ry wanted pizza. Kevin dropped me and Ry off at Macey's to get Lucky Charms for breakfast tomorrow while he took the other two boys to get a pizza from Domino's.
Now we need to set up the leprechaun trap before getting the boys into bed. Kev and I have lots of tv shows to catch up on so hopefully we'll get through a few of those!

Parent Teacher Conference

I got to sleep in this morning since Ry didn't have school and Kevin didn't need a lunch. Ahhhh, so nice! Of course that meant that I skipped my morning workout but I especially needed the sleep since Kevin and I stayed up til midnight playing Draw Something!

Kev left for work which meant I needed to be the responsible parent. I got up and got cereal for the boys, fed Tyce, and made myself some eggs and toast (my usual breakfast. That's what I have at least 5 days of the week. And that's what I've had for years and years!) It was after 9:30 when I noticed I had some text messages on my phone...about 12 of them! I'm not very good at checking my phone but I was glad I checked it just in time. My friend Mindy needed a place for her son Cody to play while she was at an appointment. Cody is Rylan's age and Ry was way excited for Cody to come over. Those two plus Asher made a great team--they all played so well together! They played upstairs with trio blocks, dinosaurs, cars, but they mostly played outside jumping on the tramp and building a city in the sandbox. I dragged them inside for a not so healthy lunch of chicken nuggets for Asher, mac and cheese for Ry and Cody, milk and apple slices. They were taking their last bites as they made their way outside for more fun! Mary Kaye called earlier to say she would not be coming down today. That worked out just fine of course, especially since we had to go to parent teacher conferences later in the day.

Mindy picked up Cody just in time for us to get our shoes on to walk to school. Rylan rode his scooter the whole way and Asher rode his scooter part of the way (a very small part). We met with Ry's teacher, Mrs. Gunter, who only had raving reviews and praise for Rylan! He's such a good student, making progress, well behaved, and just doing great all around. I noticed on his take home books he skipped from level A to level C. I didn't question it earlier because he was doing just fine, reading the level C books easily. When I asked her she said a couple students skipped level B because of some computer glitch. But he's ready to be moved up to level D soon, so no need to go back! Ry and Asher played with blocks while I talked to Mrs. Gunter and they didn't want to leave. It's funny how shy Rylan gets...he wouldn't say hi or bye to his teacher. She said that's very common when a teacher and parent get in the same room. Interesting. I know he loves her though and she's been such a great teacher for Ry. She won't be teaching next year, to stay home with her new daughter. In November she married a guy who had a daughter and who's wife was killed in a car accident. The wife took off her seatbelt to turn around and change the dvd for their daughter when they suddenly came upon an accident. They then became part of that accident. So sad. Always keep your seatbelt on!! Mrs. Gunter is also working on her masters so I wonder if she'll go back to teaching sometime? Maybe in three years when Asher will be in kindergarten?

We slowly walked home. Ry didn't want to ride his scooter but Asher rode his until we got to my mom's house. We stopped at my mom's house to get the chocolate milk we left there yesterday and to sneak a sucker for Asher (Ry already had one). The rest of the way home I pushed the three boys in the stroller, carried one scooter, and precariously balanced the other scooter on Tyce's car seat. I was sweating and hungry by the time we got home!

We all got a snack (well, I ate lunch since I didn't take the time to do it at lunch time) and took a little break. Once rested and refreshed the boys were back outside. Can we keep this weather forever?!

Kev got home from work and read with the boys while I was cooking dinner. Actually he had Rylan read two books--Bears on Wheels and Go, Dog! Go! It's so amazing to me to hear him read!! The neighbor kids were playing soccer, using our fence as the goal. Kevin got out one of his goals and offered it to the kids who graciously accepted. Hopefully next time they play they will find a goal other than our fence :)

We had a quick dinner before Kevin was off to attend the caucus. Neither of the boys ate so I finished off the bowl of broccoli slaw :) I cleaned up while Tyce rolled around the floor and the boys played. Tyce got ahold of a balloon and didn't want to let go. He was so cute with it! I've lost my flip video camera which makes me so sad that I'm not able to record things like this--boo! I got the boys in bed and let them play the ipad for 10 minutes. 20 minutes went by before I realized I'd never heard the timer beep. Rylan "forgot" to push start :) They quickly went to sleep after I sang them songs and scratched their backs. Now it's just me, waiting for Kevin to get home. Guess I'll go clean some more...or maybe just watch some tv!!

I've been so tired lately. Lately as in the last three months. Well, really I haven't had a full night's sleep uninterrupted in who knows how long but these last few months I've felt like some days I just can't function. I've started to sneak in little 20 minute naps when Rylan is at school, Tyce is napping and Asher is sitting on my bed playing the ipad. Come 4:00 I just want to crash. I have dark circles and bags under my eyes that aren't going away. I need a vacation just to sleep!
Kevin set up the tramp yesterday for the boys. They are loving it! And the weather has been so perfect so they don't need jackets or come in because they are too hot. They've been in and out all day and I welcome this spring weather with open arms! Today while they were on the tramp they played duck duck goose. Yep, just the two of them. And they were waiting in anticipation for the other to call 'goose' and laughing hysterically. So funny!
My pictures are always blurry but I very rarely get a picture of my three boys together. I just love these guys so much!
Rylan is off school Thursday and Friday for parent teacher conferences. I'll have to plan something fun for Friday. He's amazed me the last month or so with his reading skills. He's getting very good! Kevin and I both love to read so I hope our kids will learn to love it as well.

I'm loving this nice weather!
A couple weeks ago I noticed a little bit of water under our washing machine. I tried to tighten the hose but I couldn't even make it budge. I had Kevin look at it but that's all he did...he looked at it and forgot about it. I continued doing laundry as towels soaked up the water. It seemed to be getting worse so I turned off the water and just didn't do laundry for a couple days. Why didn't I just fix it? My dad suggested trying to switch out the little washer inside the hose. It still leaked. So I went and bought some new hoses and had Kevin change it. Easy fix! Sometimes I wonder why I put things off. So silly. Anyways, since I skipped a few days of laundry I was waaaaay behind! Our hampers were overflowing and I couldn't take it any longer. So that's what I did today--loads and loads of laundry! I still have probably two more to do tomorrow plus wash Ry and Asher's sheets and then I'll be all caught up. Until Monday... :)
In between loads of laundry I hung out outside with the boys. Rylan got a new scooter for his birthday and I've had so much fun riding around on it!! Actually, he has too--when he can get it away from me :) Asher has taken over the Lightening McQueen scooter which he just loves. Rylan has been setting up race courses and they spent hours outside today going up and down the sidewalk. Oh this weather has been so good for us!
I piled the boys in the car so we could go pick up Kev from the warehouse at 4:00. I suggested we stop by Wiggy Wash to wash and vacuum our car. So nice! And they were so busy! On our way there Christian's dad called to invite us to the park. They were on their way so we joined them after washing our car. Rylan was shoeless so I dropped off the 4 boys and went home to grab Ry's shoes and my jacket. When I got there Kev was holding Tyce and pushing Asher in the swing. Rylan was running around playing hide and seek or tag, depending on who you asked! A friend from school, Alex, showed up at the park and Ry seemed very excited. Alex joined the other boys for a bit. It's good to see Rylan playing with friends. We were there for about an hour and had to drag the boys away so we could get some dinner.
Kevin suggested Little Caesars and the boys agreed. I didn't want LC. Bajio's is nearby so I went it to get a Green Chile Chicken Salad while the boys picked up a pizza and breadsticks. We came home to eat and my salad was so delicious. Just what I wanted!!
We played for a bit and took our time getting the boys in bed. I think Kevin fell asleep in the boys room (which happens quite often). I'm putting of my lesson preparations for Sunday but I shall get to work on that right now!

I asked Rylan to tell me what he liked about his birthday:

"The best present I got was my police costume and the other present was my walkie talkies. And I could go to Christian's house and it was my birthday and I could do whatever I want. That's what I liked about my birthday."
Me: "What did you think about your surprise party?"
Ry: "Bad. It scared me so much that I was almost gonna die. That was too scary."
Me: "Why was it scary?"
Ry: "Because it was like "BOO!!"
Me: "So after you weren't scared anymore were you happy?"
Ry: "Yep" Me: "Did you like your birthday cake?"
Ry: "Yep. Cause it had m&m's on it."

Favorites: 

TV show: Bob the Builder (which we rarely watch. He must have seen on recently!)
Dinner: Spaghettios (He'll occasionally have them for lunch. He's the only one who eats them and he'll seriously eat almost a whole can!)
Candy: Suckers
Color: Green and Yellow
Thing to do with daddy: play outside
Thing to do with mommy: (He couldn't think of anything...sad!)
Thing at school: recess and centers
Best friend: Christian, Kaleb and Kade, Daylen
What do you want to be when you grow up?: Police...like I'm wearing a police costume right now.

How Can it Be?

Today Rylan turned 6 years old and I can hardly believe it! He's been very excited for his birthday and all day long he was happy as could be. Yesterday he kept saying things like "I wish it was night time so it would be closer to my birthday"!! We tried to take the boys to see 'The Lorax' to start Ry's birthday early but it was so nice outside they just wanted to play outside. Okay! (I really want to see it though so I'll drag them to the theater if I have to!!) And we did go to Sam's Club to get some cupcakes for Ry to take to his kindergarten class. He saw the big Angry Birds cake and begged and begged for that to be his birthday cake. We had already chosen a cake I was excited about making so I didn't really want to buy a cake. When I spotted the Angry Birds cupcakes it was an easy sell. He immediately agreed to take those to his class and have the birthday cake we had already picked out!
So last night while the boys were in bed Kevin and I decorated downstairs. Rylan woke up at 6:45 this morning--I think he was just so excited for his birthday! We had agreed that he could open one gift in the morning before school and one gift at night when we sang 'Happy Birthday' and had cake and ice cream. "Good thinking mom" is what he said when I told him the plan :)

So while Asher was still sleeping Rylan opened his first gift--walkie talkies! He was thrilled--it was just what he wanted! We opened them up right away but he had to wait until after school when we had time to put the batteries in. We went to Toys R Us over the weekend and he walked around looking for something he wanted. I was watching him towards the end as he walked slowly, looking disappointed that he couldn't find much that he wanted. When we pointed out the walkie talkies he was so excited about them. Plus he and Kevin found a police costume that Ry was set on. So it ended up being successful after all!



So...I sang Happy Birthday to Ry on the way to school, dropped him off, came home to shower and get ready, then went back to the school at 10:15 (while the kids were at recess) to drop off his Angry Bird cupcakes. I watched Ry on the playground as he ran around holding on his birthday hat. It was so windy he later told me it kept falling off so he had to hold it on. I thought it was really cute that he kept it on!
I came home and got to work on his cake...when I discovered I was short on Kit Kats. I picked up the birthday boy from school at 11:20 and came home for a quick lunch and some walkie talkie play time before music class.
Ry seemed so sleepy during music class--probably because he woke up early! But he made it through and was excited to get home to play with a friend. We invited Matt over (in his school class and music class) and they played for awhile. At one point they were sitting side by side, watching 'Tom and Jerry' and talking to each other on the walkie talkies! When Pam came to pick up Matt I sent Asher's preschool registration info with her--yea!
I called to see if Rylan could play with Christian while I went to the store for some balloons and more kit kats. I ended up dropping him off along with Asher. I rushed to the store and rushed home to finish the cake (well, I didn't put on the ribbon so my mom did that for me :) and do a super quick semi-clean up. Poor Tyce was hungry but I didn't have time to feed him so I gave him his first Mum-mum cracker. He didn't know what to do with it and mostly just broke it up. He puts everything else in his mouth, but not the cracker! I buckled him in the car, we raced over to pick up Ry and Asher and then met Kevin at Winger's for dinner--Rylan's choice.
We were the only ones in the restaurant at 5:45. Weird. Dinner was pretty good. Rylan ate some popcorn and fries and only took one bite of his hamburger. He had fun coloring and doing the puzzles though!
Last week Rylan told us he wanted a surprise party. We kind of laughed but then I thought it could be really fun! So we had arranged for people to be at our house after dinner to surprise Rylan. I had called Tami earlier in the day with the fear that Ry was going to be scared and not enjoy the surprise. We had agreed they would turn the lights on and slowly come out of hiding. So when we got home Rylan ran inside, excited to open his last present. He turned on the kitchen light and as we were walking through the dining room the living room lights came on and everyone jumped out and yelled "SURPRISE!!!!" Rylan's reaction? "Whoa, that surprised me!" He said a couple other things about being surprised and then I could tell he wanted to cry. His little heart was pounding in his chest. Kevin took him in the pantry where Rylan wanted to hide from everyone and not come out. Oh, I felt horrible! I went in and talked to him for a few minutes. He didn't want to go out for cake and ice cream. He didn't want anyone to sing to him. He didn't want to go play. Poor little guy was still so scared he couldn't calm down. It wasn't until he found out he could open presents that he wanted to leave the pantry.




So we finally sang to Rylan and dished up cake and ice cream. Then he got to open presents. First up--a giant flashlight from the Holman's! While giving hugs and saying 'thank you' he hugged Mykenna and said "I like you"--so sweet :)
My parents gave him the police costume he wanted. "This is what I wanted!!"
The Heindorffs gave him an art kit--perfect! He sees these at the store all the time and always wants one! He was so excited about it all!!


It wasn't long before people started gathering up to leave. Darn these school nights--I didn't get to talk to anyone! Asher was so sad when Gavin had to leave. Those guys don't get to play together near enough. We gave Ry his last present (a new scooter) after everyone had left. Grandma was still here to watch him play hot/cold to find it!
I put Tyce to bed while Kevin got the boys ready for bed. I tried talking to Ry about his day to see if he had a good birthday. He said his favorite part was his "presents...and eating I guess." "What? you didn't even eat anything." (He didn't want cake or ice cream...or his dinner!) "Yeah, but I got to eat 2 kit kats, actually 3."



He was a happy boy, pleased with his gifts and his day (well, minus the scary surprise!)
I went to bed with tears in my eyes. Not only because I still feel horrible about the surprise party but because my boy is growing up. It's been so fun seeing him grow and learn so much in kindergarten (really, he's learned SO much!) but I want him to be 2 again. Or a tiny baby I can hold all day long. Oh, I just love this boy so much!
Next year I think I'll throw him another surprise party--with major modifications! I want him to have good feelings about surprise parties :)

Funny Baby

Tyce has been making a funny face lately and I love it! It makes me laugh every time...which is probably why he does it so often :) These pictures are a bit blurry but at least I have his silly face on camera!


And then here are some other pictures, just because :)
I've always loved the profile shape of his head--even in the womb! I remember seeing his ultrasound pictures and thinking his head shape was perfect.

He's just so cute, don't you think?!

What were we watching on tv??!! Actually, it was 'Amazing Race'. Cropping this picture would be a good idea :)