May Quotes

Rylan

 (May 8, 2012)
"I'm shooting bombs at you mom. But they're love bombs"
My boy knows I'm not into fighting!

(May 17, 2012)
Ry: "It's no fair we get to drive the new car."
Me: "What? Why?"
Ry: "Because we can't make messes. I want us to drive the old car."
(I giggled at this. Such a boy...such a kid!)
Me: "Well, we shouldn't have been making messes in the old car either. Unfortunately it just happened."
Ry: "So will it happen in this car, too?"
(Again I had to laugh. What, he doesn't think we can keep our car looking brand new? Yeah, me neither :)

(May 29, 2012)
Ry: "What would happen if daddy never mowed the grass again?"
Me: "It would keep growing so tall it would grow over our fence. And then it would keep growing and we wouldn't be able to see Nate's house. And then it would keep growing and growing and growing, we could climb up it and dance on the clouds."
Ry: "That's not true cause it would just bend. And anyway, you can't dance on the clouds. You'd just fall through."

Asher

(May 11, 2012)
To unload the dishwasher, Rylan usually puts away the silverware and Asher puts away the bowls, pots and pans. They decided to trade today so I was helping Asher to make sure he put the silverware away in the right spots. I pointed to where the small spoons go and he said "I know, silly bum!"

(May 14, 2012)
Asher: "Mom! When I sing to Tyce, my feet dance!"

(May 15, 2012)
Upon seeing a dalmatian Asher said "It's a fire truck dog" :)

(May 19,2012)
Asher went to his first birthday party and he brought home some "Go, Diego, Go" party favors. While showing me (and later Rylan) what he got he said "Look, it's San Diego"! I guess all my excitement for our August San Diego trip has been ingrained in his brain :)

(May 23, 2012)
We were in the gift shop at the mine and Asher spotted the stuffed animals. He showed me one and said "Can we buy him because he wants me!"
I just thought it was so cute he said the animal wanted him :)

(May 26, 2012)
While driving:
Asher: "I think that's a rich house."
Me: "A rich house? Why do you think that?"
Asher: "Because it's made of bricks."

Welcome Summer!

I needed to go to the grocery store for a few things so I told the boys we could make a stop at the park after our shopping trip. As we were all getting in the car Rylan asked if we could go to the green park. Why yes! That's where the splash pad is so I ran inside and grabbed swimsuits, towels, snacks, and sunscreen.
We made our way to the splash pad where the boys changed into their swimsuits in the car. When we got to the water I saw a couple girls from my ward so I sat next to them to chat while Rylan and Asher played in the water. Tyce hung out with me eating a cucumber :)

Ohhhh, it was so nice! I couldn't help but sit there, so happy for the sunny weather. We eventually made our way over to the park which Tyce really enjoyed because he got to swing!
By the time we left I was not in the mood for the grocery store so I called Kev and asked him to stop on his way home. He agreed--yea for a great husband!!

Yep, I'm happy it's summer!

Let's Go Red Wings!

Rylan started T-ball this year. His first year! Kevin practiced with him a bit before the games started. His team also had some practices which was good. I don't think Rylan even knew how to run the bases! Kevin taught him to "squash the bug" when he's batting and really, Ry has great form when he's practicing. When he gets up to bat he sometimes forgets it all. Even when he pretends to catch a grounder and throw it to first base he has great form. In a game...well, that's a different story! He's a pretty laid back kid so it's all been just fun. Maybe in a few years he'll understand the importance of sprinting from base to base instead of the cute leisurely, joyful jaunt of his :) It's all about having fun!

Check out that form...doesn't he look good?!

He's had a lot of fun and even though there's not a whole lot of action, I enjoy watching his games! Go Red Wings!!!

Bedtime Stories

For some reason we've never bought a gate for the stairs for any of our boys. We're just resourceful and block off the stairs with toys :) Rylan had blocked off the stairs for Tyce and they all ended up playing with the toys right there. It's always cute to see my boys playing together so I (unsuccessfully) tried to get a cute picture!

 

 Okay, so maybe there is a cute picture or two :)

He Did It!

Rylan made it through kindergarten! And I'm certain he had a pretty great year. He and Christian became the best of friends, being in the same class at school and in primary. He loved his teacher. She started out the year as Miss Miles and then became Mrs. Gunter after getting married in November. We've loved her and I'm happy Rylan was able to have her for a teacher...especially since she's not coming back next year :( Rylan was disappointed because he had these big plans of stopping by her classroom to say 'hi'.

I asked Ry what his favorite thing about kindergarten was and he said it was the games they got to play. He explained one game to me: They got to roll the dice and if they rolled a 12 then they'd color 12 boxes up. I asked him if they learned while they played games and he told me "No mom, they are just fun games"! We'll keep it a secret that he really was learning things all year while playing those fun games!

Ry has become a great reader this year. In preschool it was a bit frustrating to sit down with him to read. Even at the beginning of this school year it was frustrating. He'd just sound out the first letter or two and then guess what the word was. I'm sure that's a common thing for kids to do, but it sure did take a long time to get through a book, even a page! Rylan will still guess the words occasionally but he's sooo much more confident in his reading skills that he'll take more time to sound out the entire word. It's been thrilling to hear him read full books and sound out bigger words. He's surprised us several times by pulling out a book and saying "I can read this whole thing by myself"...and he will! I think our daily reading habits have been set so reading through the summer will continue.

Rylan seemed to develop an interest in numbers this year as well. He's often asking me what this big number plus that big number equals. The fact that numbers never end is also something that he talks about often, making up new numbers and adding one, two, three...

The kindergarten graduation was very cute. He had his part memorized: But I'll be my best friend each day of my life, because I like being me." He said it with 3 girls and unfortunately he was blocked by one girl so we didn't get to see him. But I knew he knew it! There were some really cute songs and all 3 kindergarten classes were darling! Rylan was himself, holding back a bit. I still thought he was the cutest one there :)

They received their kindergarten graduation diploma, or rather "Promotion Certificate" and then we picked him up in his classroom. He gave his teacher a little gift, including a note he wrote her, in this cute little owl bag I made (my sis saw it online and gave me the idea) that says "Thanks for making me wiser!" We took a few pictures and that was it. Goodbye Kindergarten!! Actually, he has a 20 minute assessment on Tuesday and then, Goodbye Kindergarten! :)

His note to his teacher :)

We celebrated by taking the boys to get a frosty at Wendy's. Since when is 10:30am too early for ice cream? Now we're ready for SUMMER FUN!!!

Rylan 6 year check up

Ry's birthday was in March but just had his check up today (May 18th)

Weight: 50 lbs 4 oz (71%)
Height: 46 inches (53 %)
Eyes: Both 20/20
         Left 20/30
         Right 20/25

His eyesight was the reason I made him a check up. Sometimes I'll ask him to read something (mostly the scriptures or a magazine) and he'll tell me the words are too small. I suspected he was just trying to get out of reading! The doctor said if he did have problems it would be seeing things far away, like the board at school. So I think Ry was just looking for an excuse to not read...little stinker!
Dr. Fullmer guessed that Ry will be about 5'10" or 5'11" when he grows up. We'll see!

Tyce's One Year Check Up

Tyce at one year:

Weight: 17 lbs (2%)
Height: 28 incehs (2%)
Head: 18.2 (54%)

He's healthy! He does have dry spots like my other boys. Rylan has mostly grown out of it but Asher still gets really dry.

My Sweet Little One Year Old

I can't even tell you how great this year has been. This little boy is such a joy! He's happy, content, laid back, and too cute :)
We didn't do much to celebrate Tyce's big day. I took him with me to buy a van (yippee!!) which took most of the day. We went to dinner with the McQuarries and then came back to our house to eat chocolate cupcakes. Not a huge celebration but we did manage to sing 'Happy Birthday' to him! Actually, several times throughout the day I tried to sing to him but he didn't like it. He'd turn his head a get a little fussy. Maybe he didn't like the attention :)

We all sat and watched him squish his cupcake.

Kevin gave him a little bite and Tyce took a few more bites on his own but he mostly just played with it!

Of course we all enjoyed the cupcakes!!

 Even though I still feel sleep deprived with dark circles under my eyes, Tyce is a great sleeper. He's in bed by 9pm and sleeps until about 6am. He wakes up very upset, screaming, and it's not until I get some food in his mouth that he'll stop crying! I guess he's hungry in the morning!! 6:00 is too early for me but I've really grown to love that time we have in the morning. It's quiet, the sunlight is peaking through our windows, and we get to have a bit of time together. I guess since he's not nursing anymore I look at it as our bonding time :) His schedule isn't exactly set anymore but most days he's awake for an hour and then will go back to bed. Some days he's awake for several hours before taking his morning nap. He takes 2 good naps a day, sometimes three.

Tyce has been doing his own version of crawling for several months. He'd get up on his hands and toes and then push forward and belly flop. He got around pretty quick but I was always afraid he was going to smack his face into the floor. But just a few days before his birthday he started the hands and knees crawling. And really on his birthday he started crawling more than belly flopping around!

Tyce claps...especially while watching Wheel of Fortune with me :)

 He is a great eater. He would eat any baby food I fed him. Adjusting to table food is taking time but he'll surprise me with some things he'll eat. He loves bananas, green beans, corn, mashed potatoes, very soft carrots, bread, yogurt, crackers. I still mash up pears and peaches. He doesn't love cold milk but he's getting better about drinking it. He does seem to drink a good amount of water, though.

Tyce nuzzles his head into my neck or head. Sometimes it's when he's acting shy but he does it throughout the day. I think it's his way of giving loves :)

He has 4 teeth on top, two on bottom.

He used to be afraid of Asher but now Asher makes him laugh a lot. Rylan is still an excellent brother to him. Tyce loves to see his brothers when he wakes up from his naps. He tries to play with them but that doesn't always work out!

Tyce really is such a sweet little boy. Just thinking about him puts a smile on my face!!

Bridal Veil Falls--Gorgeous!

Deborah invited us to go to Bridal Veil Falls and we loved it! It's been quite some time since I've been there and it's changed quite a bit but it was beautiful and a perfect afternoon adventure!
The walk up the trail was fun for the kids. They stopped to pick up sticks and rocks, they played in a little river, pushed the stroller, and ran around like kids can do!
We got to the base of the waterfall and we certainly weren't the only ones there! It was a hot spot for many families but still plenty of room to play. Immediately the kids took off their shoes and climbed into the water. It was actually pretty cold but they didn't mind!

We always have fun being out in nature and this waterfall did not disappoint!!

Cinco de Mayo

My poor little Tyce woke up with a 101 degree fever yesterday morning. After his nap it was up to 103. I spent the day holding him and cuddling with him as he dozed in and out. And I loved it. Well, I didn't love that he was sick but I did love that I could hold him all day.
On Thursday Kevin got out of the shower and told me we had no hot water. Many of our neighbors have had to replace their water heaters in the last few years so I wasn't too surprised. I, too, took a freezing cold shower after my workout but didn't wash my greasy hair and declared it a day to stay home and go nowhere (well, plus Kev had that car, so that was easy!) I called our neighbor, Rob Winget, who is a plumber and who has replaced many water heaters in our neighborhood. He was with his family on their way home from Disneyland but he said he'd come by when he got in. He showed up after 10:00pm while Kev and I were watching American Idol and making his pinata for work. After his inspection he said yes, we did need a new water heater. He had one at his house we set a time for him to come on Friday morning to replace it. It sure saves a lot of stress when he know and trust someone who can do the work!
Rylan brought home his Scholastic book order from school so we read for quite awhile while waiting for Bro Winget to do his thing. Once he was finished (yea for hot water!!) I took the boys to McDonald's for lunch. Rylan got some McDonald's money at his music class recital so it gave us a reason to go. Tyce mostly slept in his car seat or let me hold him while he was awake. Ry and Asher played and ate and played and ate. We got ice cream cones on our way out!
I held Tyce the rest of the day until he would fall asleep. Then I'd put him in his bed so he could sleep better.
He woke up this morning and still had a fever. It would go down with each dose of ibuprofen and then he could play a little bit. He still wanted to be held. Hopefully by the weekend's end this fever will pass. During one of his naps I made enchiladas for the McShinsky's annual Cinco de Mayo party. We also filled up Kev's pinata (which won 3rd place at his work party!!).

We walked over to the McS's and I realized it was a bit chilly so I sent Kev home to get us all jackets. We talked and had fun. The kids loved the pinata's. Jessica's had candy and toys which was awesome. I missed it while talking, by Bro Keller told me that when Asher got up to bat the pinata was up high in the trees so he just threw the bat up at it! Funny!!

This was the whack that split the pinata in half!!

I wrapped Tyce up and he fell asleep so it was hard for me to eat my food but what I did eat was tasty :) Of course I love Mexican food! I love that the McShinsky's do this every year--I always look forward to it!