Gainesville Stewart News

Becca's New Haircut

2010-03-18T12:02:00.001-07:00

Becca had been begging to grow her hair long, and had finally done so. However, she didn't like washing it; hated brushing it; and refused to pull it back. So, we talked about other options. She decided to get it cut. She smield from ear to ear in the hair salon, and was absolutely thrilled with the final result. She's gotten tons of compliments on it, and the best part is that she can take care of it all by herself. YEA!

Christmas 2009

2010-03-18T11:43:00.000-07:00

Here's a mishmash of pictures from Christmas. The kids as per usual had a hard time sleeping on Christmas Eve. Ryan didn't fall asleep until after 9PM, thus delaying Santa's arrival. Becca woke up for the FIRST time at 9:30 PM, just after Santa had arrived. She later woke up at 1:30AM and 3:30 AM...and both kids were up for the day at 5:30 AM. There was no getting them back in bed. By the time I raised my sleepy body to greet them, they had opened their stockings and were literally jumping up and down with excitement. Happily, we were able to convince them to lay down and take a mid morning nap, which was EXCELLENT! All 4 of lay down and slept for about 45 minutes, and as a result, we all had a lovely day. No meltdowns or temper tantrums from anyone. THAT was the best Christmas present for me as far as I'm concerned.

Here is the roast that Art cooked for Christmas Dinner. Isn't it gorgeous?

Becca has been wanting glasses forever (several of her friends recently got them.) However, the eye doctor said she didn't need them Santa brought her a pair with plain lenses, and she was thrilled!

Aunt Deb selected this outfit for Becca and she wore it every day over Christmas Break. Since then, she has worn it every week, at least once.

Nancy and two of her sisters, Shirley and Barbara

Santa brought an air hockey table which has gotten much play.

Becca got a stand up microphone from my mom, and Ryan got a guitar from Nancy and O. These were probably the most played with toys on Christmas Day.

Nancy and O

Grandmommy singing requests from the crowd.

Grandmommy and the kids, both pretending to be asleep. I don't know why.

Crazy Ryan

Cute Christmas Pics

2010-03-03T06:44:00.000-08:00

some of the pictures are nice pictures, and some just make me laugh because they really capture the kids personalities...

Ryan's Holiday songs

2010-03-03T05:36:00.000-08:00

Make sure you turn the volume WAY up! These are the 5 songs that Ryan sang in his school holiday presentation. From where I was sitting, I couldn't see him, so I have no video of him in action.

Thanksgiving

2010-02-15T05:37:00.001-08:00

Isn't this the MOST GORGEOUS turkey you've ever seen???? and this one was just for decoration. Turkey was yummy as usual. O made many of us tear up with his Thanksgiving toast to Nancy sharing with us how thankful he felt to be included in her large wonderful family. I feel exactly the same way. I love being part of Nancy and O's large extended family, and I love that the kids have so many cousins to play with too.

Here's a cute pic of me and Ryan that I took on Thanksgiving Day.

Thanksgiving at Nancy and O's is always a festive experience. Lots of family gathers, and we spend most of the day gabbing, eating, and laughing. Here is part of the table assembled to eat dinner. See our festive hats?

Nancy always decorates the outside for every holiday. Love the scarecrow.

My poor attempt at a fancy angle picture of the table...

O's sisters had this neat idea for a table decoration. They brought lots of beautifully colored leaves, and all of us picked a leaf and wrote what we were thankful for on it. Then, the table was decorated with all of our thanks! (Mine was my old standy- modern medicine.)

Ryan's field trip to Publix

2010-02-15T05:28:00.001-08:00

Ryan's preschool class took a field trip to the local grocery store in November. It was soooooo cute. First, the kids were all given their mesh hats so they could look just like the employees. Here they are watching someone chop up a pineapple. That was hard work, so they all received a banana to eat while watching.

This was a favorite station - watching this woman decorate a cake. It was pretty neat to watch her put dozens of icing roses on this cake in a matter of seconds.

The other favorite station was getting to pet a lobster. Ryan was NOT interested in doing that, and quickly retreated to the outside of the group.

Becca at the Art Fair

2010-02-15T05:02:00.000-08:00

Becca loves all things involving using her creative imagination. Every year, Gainesville sponsors a Downtown Art Festival. There is a special FREE area set up just for kids that is staffed by the UF art students. There are about a dozen tables set up, each with their own craft project. I took Becca and her best friend, Kaitlyn, while Kaitlyn's grandmother watched Ryan and Kaitlyn's brother Jeffery.

In addition to the craft projects, there is also a little theater area where various performers put on their childrens shows throughout the day. Here is Becca actingt he part of the flamingo in the puppet theatre performance.

And here she is writing a book. Notice the fancy headpiece she had just created at the previous table. She sat at this table for a loooong time, writing her story and drawing the pictures to go with it. It was a fairy tale involving a princess and some animals.

Spiderman

2009-11-01T06:06:00.000-08:00

Ryan chose Spiderman as his costume this year.

Here he is with his class at school after the costume parade. I don't know what this face is about

Here he is in the Mentone Kids Parade

Dancer and wizard

2009-11-01T05:50:00.000-08:00

These are the outfits that the kids wore trick or treating

This is Becca with Grace, our next door neighbor, dressed as Ariel.

Hollywod Starlet

2009-11-01T05:45:00.000-08:00

As per usual, my kids wear different costumes to different Halloween events. This is Becca's first costume: A Hollywood Starlet. Doesn't she look fancy?

Pumpin Patch

2009-11-01T05:42:00.000-08:00

Becca's Fun Run

2009-11-01T05:38:00.000-08:00

Becca was excited for the fun run this year, and had collected enough money in pledges to win a bicycle helmet and knee pads. Cool!

Stormy takes 3rd!

2009-11-01T05:33:00.000-08:00

OK- read the post below first...this is out of order

When we went to pet store to get Becca's mice, the store was holding a hamster ball race- open to all rodents in plastic balls. Moments after purchasing the mice, we entered them in a race. The competition was a white rat and a hamster. The rat had clearly been practicing all morning. The second he was dropped on the race track, he booked it for the finish line. Becca's mice, not so much as they had only just been placed in the balls, and were trying to figure out what had happened to them. Still, Stormy took 3rd place and won a ribbon, which was very exciting!

Becca's Birthday Party

2009-11-01T05:24:00.000-08:00

WOW! Becca is 7!!!! I can hardly believe it. After 3 years of high maintenance birthday parties for Becca, we opted for the backyard pool party this year. Usually on her birthday, it si scorching hot, so a pool party makes total sense. This year, we had a cold front move through the week before, and the pool water was pretty cold. Only the bravest kids stayed in the water for very long. So, instead the kids played in the backyard, the toy room, the kids rooms, the dining room, the living room, the kitchen...you get the idea. Still, a great time was had by all. Including Becca. Whew!

Becca has been asking for a pet for 3 years running. It's the only thing she's been asking for consistently. So, this year, we decided she could get something small. These pictures are out of order, but below, is the picture of her opening her present of a small rodent cage. She was very very surprised, since for 3 years we have told her we're not getting any more pets. Above, is a picture of her with her brand new mice: Stormy and Spotty.

2009-08-24T06:12:00.000-07:00

First day of school! Yea! Becca starts first grade this year. She has been assigned a fabulous teacher according to everyone we've spoken to. Unfortunately, we haven't met her yet. Her teacher, Mrs. Walton, had to leave town last week because of a family emergency, and we're not sure when she'll be back. So, Becca's class had a substitute teacher today instead. Becca was mostly excited about getting HER OWN DESK, so it seemed of little consequence that the actual teacher wasn't there. I think she'll do great. She got right out of bed this morning, and told me in the car that she loved school, and was so happy to go back. Yea! Ryan is in Pre-K this year. He got dressed and was ready to go right after I left to take Becca to school. Very bummed he couldn't go right away, and bugged Art the whole time I was gone, asking him when I was coming home to take him to school. After we parked the car at school, he sang the whole way "I'm going to school. Yea! I'm going to school. yea! and skipped at the same time." He was very excited to be back at school. One of his teachers is the same as last year, and he was in the same classroom as well, which made it even better for him. His teachers gave little bags to all the parents that had a cute note and a bag of tissues in it for parents who might break down in tears. Not me, I did the happy dance all the back to the car. We've had a wonderful summer, best ever in fact, but this past week we were all a little (ok, a LOT) edgy, and were definitely ready for school to start. Woo hoo!

Some favorite pics from Pawley's

2009-07-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

We had a GREAT summer vacation in Pawley's Island over the 4th of July. Our good friends Cathy and Jeff Roberson and Jeff's brother's family go every year over the 4th, and so does my friend Alicia Summers and her extended family. Our kids had so much fun on this trip in large part due to the fact that there were always other kids to play with. It was the best vacation we have ever had as a family by a long shot. These photos are just a few that showcase the fun we had.

Becca took this picture of us. I think it's pretty good. Art and celebrated our 15th anniversary on the 3rd, and we're still going strong!

The last day we were there, Ryan and I (and later the big girls) dug a humungous hole and then created a tunnel big enough for all the kids to crawl through to get to another hole. It was a lot of work, but a ton of fun too.

Morgan is 7 and she and Rebecca became fast friends during the week. Everyone thought they were sisters on the beach because of the blond hair.

Love this picture of Ryan even though it's blurry. It totally captures his personality. Always laughing and always in motion. He was playing hide and seek at the time.

We got the kids boogie boards for this trip, and both them spent hours riding the waves at the beach. It was a great investment.

Missing Teeth

2009-07-13T09:47:00.000-07:00

Becca lost not one but TWO teeth while we were on vacation. Very exciting. It was explained to her by our good friends Cathy and Jeff Roberson that when you lose your teeth on vacation the tooth fairy brings you double the money and triple if you lose it on a holiday. (Thanks for that, by the way.) After she heard that, she wiggled her top tooth relentlessly till it came out. The bottom one came out a few days later, so ended up with a total of $5 from the tooth fairy. $1 for losing the tooth, $1 for losing it on vacation, and $1 for losing it on a holiday.

Pawley's Island Parade

2009-07-13T09:33:00.000-07:00

Every 4th of July, the town of Pawley's Island sponsors a small parade. Anyone can be in the parade for $5, and families use trailers, their cars, boats, and more to decorate in all different themes. Many of the people on the floats throw candy to the kids watching the parade, so our kids were psyched about that...especially Ryan. We told him to say "Happy Fourth of July" to all the people coming by so that they would think he was cute and give him more candy. He shouted
it at the top of lungs to each and every passerby until each person acknowledged him and said it back to him as well. He ended up with a ton of candy as everyone thought he was entirely too cute.

Butterfly Exhibit

2009-07-13T09:26:00.000-07:00

A traveling exhibit about butterflies is at our local museum for the summer, and the kids and I visited one extremely hot and humid day to escape the heat. It was a ton of fun, and we'll definitely be going back.

Here is Rebecca being careful not to touch the "hairs" of the caterpillar.

Here is Ryan pretending to fly like a butterfly on a modified zip line.

Here is Becca showing off her pretty colors and trying to get a mate!

The kids are climbing on a spider web of sorts- trying not to get caught by the spider!

In their cocoons!

Grandmommy

2009-07-13T09:25:00.001-07:00

When Grandmommy comes for a visit, ineveitably, the kids end up snuggled on the couch with her to read a good book. I have dozens of pictures of the kids with my mom on a couch or a chair o a bed reading books. Both kids tell me that reading books with Grandmommy is their favorite thing to do together.

Wiles Water Day

2009-07-13T09:15:00.000-07:00

The last week of school, the Kindergarten classes have a Water Day. There were 7 stations set up around the Kindergarten building all with different themes. The kids had sooo soo much fun splashing and squirting each other, but by far the favorite station was the shaving cream station where the kids smothered themselves in shaving cream.

Last day of Kindergarten

2009-07-13T09:06:00.000-07:00

Parents were invited to come in to Becca's class on the last day of Kindergarten for a little presentation. The kids all sand "I've been Going to Kindergarten" to the tune of "She'll be Comin Round the Mountain." Then, each child came to the rocking chair and read a piece they wrote about their favorite thing about Kindergarten. Rebecca's was catching the big catfish at the fisheries a few weeks earlier.

Rebecca had a WONDERFUL Kindergarten year and a WONDERFUL Kindergarten teacher. Rebecca cried several times during the last week of school because she was so sad about not being able to see her teacher and friends. After school let out, I would often catch her staring at the class picture and then walk away moping. We can only hope that next year she has such a positive experience.

Becca's Ballet Recital

2009-07-13T06:38:00.000-07:00

Becca's ballet class performed a piece to "Favorite Things" from Sound of Music. Grandmommy flew down from CT just to see it, and we all thought that Becca was a beautiful ballerina. Sorry the video isn't any better...Becca is one of the tallest kids in the group- so not too hard to find in there. I'm not sure that she loves ballet- she could take or leave it I think. So, we're thinking about maybe trying something else this year like gymnastics. She did LOVE watching all the other dancers, and Grandmommy and Becca and I stayed till the very end of the performance to watch all the performances.

Panama City Beach trip

2009-06-04T05:08:00.000-07:00

For Memorial Day weekend, we joined Art's Uncle Tom and Aunt Kathy in Panama City Beach along with three teenagers they brought along. The weather started out dreadful--it rained pretty much all day Friday and Saturday, but both days we had a couple hours of sun both days, and all day Sunday and Monday thank goodness. The kids LOVED hanging out with Tom and Kathy and the big kids almost as much as they loved going to the beach.

Becca at the Fisheries

2009-06-04T05:04:00.000-07:00

Rebecca's class recently took a field trip to the UF Fisheries. The kids all got a chance to fish, and because it was such an overcast day, all the kids caught 3 or more fish. Rebecca caught the biggest one of all- a CATFISH! Boy was she excited, and couldn't wait to call Daddy to tell him.

Rebecca Update

2009-05-10T17:11:00.000-07:00

Rebecca is a girly 6 year old girl. She loves to shop and to wear dresses and play with her dolls and stuffed animals. She insists on taking something with her wherever and whenever we go anywhere. She cannot leave the house without a baby or a toy or a purse or something. Lately it has been the doll stroller...which must be filled with stuff and then loaded into the car in the back seat with her.

She has a great imagination, and can often be found in a corner, acting out elaborate make believe tales with her dolls or stuffed animals. Although she is able to read now, she still likes to read books "her own way" and I love to listen to her crack open a new book from the library, and just make up the most creative and interesting tale to go along with the pictures. Believe it or not, she sometimes will take blank books, (like a pad of drawing paper) and turn the pages, while telling a story aloud of what is happening in "the book." Fascinating and lovely.

She loves being in Kindergarten and has learned SO MUCH in one year I can hardly believe it. She has a wonderful wonderful wonderful Kindergarten teacher. Miss Brochu is young and excited about teaching. If you met her, you would guess that she was a Kindergarten teacher. Becca is learning to read, and can now read most Easy Reader level 1 books by herself, with a little help. She is also able to write sentences, and simple stories all on her own. It's so exciting to watch her learn these hugely important skills. She gets so excited and is so proud of herself when she sounds a word out by herself, and can figure it out on her own. Becca loves going to school, is excited about learning, and is doing really well. Her Kindergarten class is the only one in the school doing weekly spelling tests, and Becca has gotten 100% on all but one test. She is so excited whenever her class starts a new unit, that on the first day of the new unit, as soon as she jumps in the car, she asks me to take her to the library so that she can check out as many books as she can about the new topic.

Becca also joined the TBall team, and has gotten really GOOD! She is one of the few kids on our team who can hit ball off the pitch, and she's got a pretty good swing too!

Becca is a very social being, and is always happiest when surrounded by other children. Any children. Any age. If they are younger than her, she loves to direct the play, and from my observation, other kids enjoy having her do so. Ryan especially won't move until Rebecca tells him who he is supposed to be and what his role is. "OK, you're the puppy, and you lost your mommy." She attracts kids like bees to honey at the playground. I've never seen anything like it. She has a "boyfriend" in every port too. One in playgroup, one on TBall, one in her Kindergarten class, one in another Kindergarten class, one in the neighborhood...although she'll tell you that all these boys have professed their love to her, she just likes them as friends. Fine by me.

Health update PART A: As most of you know, she is sick ALL THE TIME. Primary symptom is a wet phlegmy cough. Most of the time it develops into a bacterial infection and she has to use antibiotics to get better. For the past 3 years, she has been on antibiotics about 10-12 times a year. Usually her cough goes away for about 2-4 weeks at a time before coming back, but often she can have the cough for 6-10 weeks before it goes away. This doesn't really get to her though, and she rarely misses school or other activities because of it. She's gotten used to it, and never complains about having the yucky cough. After being bounced from one specialist to another, she was recently diagnosed as having a primary immune defiency. Our immunologist started her on a monthly IVIG treatment of an infusion of high levels of IgG plasma to boost her immune system. So, this means getting an IV once a month for a treatment that lasts 3-4 hours. She's had two infusions so far, and unfortunately had some bad side effects both times. We're told that the side effects will lessen with each treatment, so let's keep our fingers crossed! We haven't seen any health improvement yet, but we're keeping our fingers crossed this works! She's been a real trooper about the whole thing. She is obviously scared about the process, and worries about it a LOT in between treatments, but she did much better the second time around. Hoping that trend will continue.

Health update PART B: Rebecca's behavior can often be challenging. She can be tempermental, have mood swings, and can often be snappish and irritable or just plain mean. At times she loses impulse control, and at her worst she has meltdowns and temper tamtrums resembling a toddler's. The worst behavior is when she's in a situation that is chaotic or noisy, or stressful, and transitions have always been challenging. When I spoke to my pediatrician about her behavior, he recommended that she be evaluated for sensory processing disorder or sensory integration disfunction. She was on a waiting list for 6 months, but we recently were able to get her in for an evaluation, and the occupational therapist we met with agreed with our pediatrician's assessment.

In short, this disorder is when a person's body receives input from one or more senses, but the brain doens't process it correctly, and in turn this causes the person's arousal system to set off alarms because the brain is interpreting the input as a threat. It triggers the "flight or fight" mentality. Twice, Becca has become so scared that she's actually run away, although usually she goes to "fight" mode.

Becca has always been a clutz. When she was younger, she couldn't cross a room without falling down. She's a little better about that now, but the child trips and falls down almost every day. She falls off chairs and drops stuff and bangs into things on a regular basis. She is also afraid of trying new physical activities, particularly if they involve leaving the ground- like climbing a new slide or sledding down a hill. The therapist shared with me that all of these are signs that her vestibular system is not working properly. The vestibular system controls your sense of balance, and let's you know where your body is in relation to your environment. It also tells you whether you are moving or not.

The vestibular system is closely linked to the arousal center in the brain. So what this means is that because Becca's vestibular system is out of whack, her arousal center is often set to high. Meaning that at times she has a low tolerance for all kinds of sensory input, and that's why she acts out inappropriately. I say "at times" because it feels very much like she has an ON/OFF switch. When her swtich is ON, she can be a pill to be around- everything sets her off. When the switch is OFF, then she is lovely to be around, and she experiences none of the issues I've mentioned. This is apparently a hallmark of this particular disorder. Unfortunately, there is no way to access this switch or to unplug it. The best we can do is work with her to give her coping mechanisms for when the switch is ON.

The therapy sessions involve physical activities intended to increase her tolerance for activities that normally make her feel scared. Most activities have to do with increasing her sense of balance- like swinging side to side without holding on to something. In addition, the therapist have given me some things to do with her at home to be proactive with her in depressing the arousal center so that she doesn't get worked up in the first place. One of these activities is using a surgical brush to rub on her arms, legs and back, followed by joint compressions. This is similar to a massage, in that it relaxes her and makes her not feel as scared.

I share this with you knowing full well that several members of my family feel this is all hogwash and nonsense. No one had ever heard of this disorder when we were growing up, and kids who acted the way she does were just thought of as poorly behaved and in need of more discipline.

While this may be true- I want to share with all the doubters out there, that I think the occupational therapy and brushing is really working. Before the therapy, getting her out the door in the morning was a huge battle, often involving screaming on my part and yelling and door slamming on her part. Now, after she eats breakfast, we do the brushing, and every step that she has to take to get to school after that (brush teeth, get dressed, do respiratory therapy, etc.) is done pleasantly, with little to no resistance. She is like a "zen" child in the morning now. Happy and peaceful. She used to break into tears or fits of anger every day when I picked her up from school, and now she is happy and smiling and easy to be around.

I really don't care what the label is, or that it has a label at all. I was really just looking for help in any form for ideas, discipline strategies, therapy- whatever! to help improve her behavior and attitude, and I do feel that we're on the right track. For me, this has been a life changer. I'm hoping it continues.

Ryan update

2009-05-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

Ryan is doing great. He is a total joy to be around most of the time. I've said it a thousand times, but I'll say it again, he's a funny kid. Total strangers will often stop on the street just to watch him walk down the sidewalk. This is because he often chooses to walk while skipping, or making funny faces, or nonsense sounds.

He loves to make people laugh, and LOVES to have other people make him laugh. He cracks up when he realizes someone is making a silly joke and begs to have them say it again and again and again. He has an infectious laugh and honestly he smiles most of the time. The expression, "Smile! It makes people wonder what you're up to!" is totally applicable to him.

He is in preschool 5 days a week, and absolutely loves every minute of it. He can recognize all his letters and numbers, can count to 20, and is able to write his name without help now. He is learning to write the other letters of the alphabet too, but still gets stuck sometimes. He loves circle time, and pays very close attention to the books being read, and the lessons being taught. When I pick him up from school, he is always able to tell me what he learned in school that day, and usually that "it was SOOOO COOL."

He's extremely well spoken for 4 years old, and insists on being told the definitions to all words he doesn't know when we're reading books together. People are often surprised at how well he can express himself, and the vocabulary he uses to do so. He loves to read books, and to have books read to him. The best present in the world for him is a stack of library books. He especially loves big huge books that have collections of stories in them- books with 500 or more pages are the BEST.

He has a HUGE sweet tooth. On Easter this year, he ate an entire bowl of candy when no-one was looking, and then proceeded to eat 25 more pieces of candy throughout the day, and remarkably he didn't puke once. Recently we watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and Ryan's eyes just about popped out of his head when it got to the scene where the kids entered the factory and everything in sight is made out of candy. Ryan went speechless, and then breathlessly pointed at the screen, and said in a sweet and desperate voice, "Mommy! I want to go there! PLEASE! can I go there?"... One of the hardest parts of parenting is dashing a child's fondest dreams...sigh.

He has really enjoyed playing TBall this year, and has shown a lot of natural talent for hitting the ball. He will tell you that he is a super fast runner too.

Having a boy (and a super active one at that) is a challenge at times. Art and I can get exhausted just watching him run and bounce and jump and skip and run and run some more. He doesn't stop going until he drops off to sleep at night. He is also a mischevious monkey. He is COMPLETELY aware when no grownup is paying close attention to his whereabouts, and takes those opportunities to get into mischief. Sometimes getting into a jar of Vaseline and rubbing it all over his body. Other times, getting into the freezer and eating the ice cream with an ice cream scoop. He requires more attention than Rebecca in that respect. His brain is hard-wired for "I wonder what would happen if I..." and all kinds of things happen because of it. A few days ago, he stuck a popcorn kernel in his nose just to see what would happen (!?!) Another time he filled the toilet bowl with toilet paper just to see how much it could take. Aye aye aye he keeps us busy!

Here is our little Ry-Ry as we call him. Isn't he a cutie?

Spring Break at the Nick Hotel

2009-05-10T16:17:00.000-07:00

For Spring Break this year, we decided at the last minute to head to Orlando for a few days of fun and relaxation. (Becca had been really sick earlier, so we hadn't planned anything.) We stayed at the Nickelodeon Family Suites Hotel. We had a BLAST! The weather was awesome, and we spent nearly every waking moment in the pool. There is so much to do there for kids under 12 that there's no reason to leave the hotel. We swam in the pool, played in the water parks, goofed off in the arcades, saw a show, met some characters, did some arts and crafts, and of course watched hoardes of people line up to get slimed at the pool once a day. (We passed on that event.) The only down side to our visit there was that Ryan was up at 5 AM every day ready to play. Ugh.

Becca's broken arm

2009-04-09T13:32:00.000-07:00

So, we couldn't get an appointment to have her arm set in a splint until 4 days after she had broken it. By the time we went to the appointment, she was barely using the sling anymore, and had regained a lot of mobility in her arm. The doctor didn't seem all that convinced that she needed a splint, but Becca was VERY excited to get one, and he suggested she wear one for two weeks. Um, I can report she wore it for exactly 4 days before abandoning it completely. Now, it does hurt her if she bangs it, or y'know, her brother attacks her with his light saber, but other than, she's pretty well recovered.

Anyhow, here we are waiting to get the splint put on. I took this one myself.

Becca got the camera and snapped a few of us...

Here she is getting the splint molded to her arm. Notice the look on her face. Such AGONY...can you tell?

And she got to choose her own colors, and opted for rainbow. The next day at school, she reported to me that so many people asked her what happened to her arm and that she got so much attention that it was "annoying." I was speechless. Never, NEVER! has she gotten so much attention that it was annoying. She LOVES getting attention. So funny.

The Cellon Oak Incident

2009-04-09T13:28:00.001-07:00

After we went to the strawberry patch, we went to explore the Cellon Oak, which is about amile up the road and purports to be the largest oak tree in Florida. The kids LOVED being monkeys, climbing all over the low lying limbs. The top picture shows the kids on the tree. The limb Becca is on, is the same one she fell of when she broke her arm. She was having a lot of fun till then...

Strawberry Patch

2009-04-09T13:23:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back we went to pick strawberries at a local patch with our friends from playgroup. This was our first time, and we ALL loved it! So much so that we each filled our buckets with juicy, sweet ripe strawberries and left with almost 15 pounds of strawberries that day! I tried to get a snapshot of the kids and the patch. Both of them got it in their heads to say "Happy Strawberry Day!" which made it challenging to take a natural looking picture of them. I implored them to not say "Happy Strawberry Day" and instead if they could just pretty please point their heads in the direction of the camera, that would be awesome. No such luck. This is the best of 5 shots I took that day.

TBall

2009-03-21T05:34:00.000-07:00

We signed Ryan up for TBall this year. There is a league through the city for 4-6 year olds. Art got rooked into being Head Coach as well. Ryan LOVES it, and spends an hour a day in the back yard practicing. Sometimes by himself. After a few practices, Becca decided to join the team as well, which was great, and a lot easier on us as a family actually. She is one of two girls on the team. Our first game was last week. No-one keeps score, and no-one gets out. The kids are allowed to run all the bases, even if technically they get "out." Every kid gets to bat every inning. The kids had lots of fun, and are looking forward to the next game. We are playing a game every Saturday afternoon, and starting next month, we have a game every Monday night as well! I'll try to get some pics of the game to share soon. My camera battery died shortly after taking these pictures last week...

Kindergarten Patriotic Play

2009-03-21T05:23:00.000-07:00

Becca's Kindergarten teacher Miss Brochu, wrote and directed this year's Kindergarten production, titled, "A Patriotic Play." There are 7 Kindergarten classes at Becca's school, and there about 140 Kindergarteners in all. Becca did a great job learning the words to 8 different songs, plus the 3 sentence presentation by her class. Plus, she looked so adorable in the patriotic outfit!

Happy Birthday Ryan

2009-03-01T12:05:00.000-08:00

Well, this year, I decided to go with the flow, and invite the whole gang to Ryan's birthday party. Almost everyone from playgroup came (totaling 12 kids not including mine) plus 8 kids from Ryan's school, plus 5 more friends. Whew! We had the party at our neighborhood playground and pavilion, which was really great and convenient. The best part of the party was that Magic Mike came to do a show for us. Ryan is a HUGE fan of Magic Mike. He could be a stalker if he was able to drive a car. Magic Mike is a local magician and entertainer. He does performances at the library periodically, and we never miss a show. He also works at several local restaurants during the week, and we often catch him there as well. Magic Mike does a great job entertaining the kids as well as the grownups, and as you can see from the expression on Ryan's face, he belly laughed the ENTIRE time. He had a great time at the party. Unfortunately, the wind was out of control, and we were not able to keep the candles lit for his cake, so once again, no picture of Ryan blowing candles out. He didn't really care about that though- just the part where he got to eat the cake!

Monkeys

2009-03-01T11:59:00.000-08:00

These are my children. They look like monkeys, but they are actually my children.

cute pics

2009-03-01T11:49:00.000-08:00

Look Ma! No wheels!

2009-02-04T07:16:00.000-08:00

Rebecca got a new big girl bike for Christmas, but it had no training wheels. She has been really anxious to ride it, so Art has been working with her after school teaching her how to ride her old, smaller bike with no training wheels. She is doing GREAT! After 3 days of practice, she can ride about 15 feet on her own. Check out the video below.

Boosterthon Fun Run

2009-02-04T05:55:00.000-08:00

Rebecca's school had a big fund-raising event last month. She collected pledges from all her grandparents and my sister too for a dollar amount per lap that she ran on the event day. Each lap was 1/16 of a mile. This event raises big big money for the school. I haven't heard the final dollar count yet, but Rebecca's class alone raised over $55/lap- and all the kids ran over 20 laps. So her class alone, raised over $1000. There are 7 Kindergarten classes in her school, and they all ran together on the morning of the event.

The Boosterthon organization is a well organized fun machine. The event started with all the classes running through a tunnel while being cheered on by the parents and others who came to support the kids. It was a little chaotic, and a lot loud, and Rebecca wasn't with her class when they ran out on the field. As soon as Art and I realized this, I ran to find her, and she was back by the tunnel sobbing that she had gotten scared by the noise and the crowds, and had lost her class. We escorted her up to her class, and she was calmed down and excited to race soon enough. Here is her class (without her) running on the field.

Next, one of the guys from the Boosterthon group got on a high perch and got the kids all pumped by teaching them cheers, singing silly songs, and generally getting them really revved up and excited to do the fun run. All the kids got a tshirt with a picture of the course on their backs, with numbered spaces 1-35. Each time they completed a lap, a teacher or volunteer would mark it off on their shirt. At the end of the race, all the laps were counted up and the total was written in the middle.

They're off! Rebecca is on the far right side. The fun run portion lasted about 45 minutes. The had great fun music playing the whole time, and every five minutes or so, the announcer would create a silly way to run - like "pretend you're an airplane" or " Skip this lap" or "Play the drums" etc.

Go Becca go!

This is AWESOME! she said as ran by.

It was a GREAT event. Every single kid enjoyed it and had a smile on their face the whole time. Rebecca completed 27 laps in all. We were very proud of her, and she had a great time. ( Although she was a puddle and a couch potato after school because she was so wiped out. )

Jacksonville Zoo

2009-01-24T05:17:00.000-08:00

One of our favorite day trips is to the Jacksonville Zoo. Here are some cute pics from some recent trips there.

Christmas Carol

2009-01-24T05:13:00.000-08:00

Our church put on a childrens production of A Christmas Carol this year. Rebecca played the part of a school mate of Scrooge's past. She had one line "See you after vacation!" and she nailed it! Grandmommy sent this beautiful dress a week earlier, and it turned out to be the perfect costume for Victorian England, don't you think?

The Nutcracker

2009-01-24T05:06:00.001-08:00

I decided this was the year to take Rebecca to see the Nutcracker. Nancy and two of her sisters joined us at the Phillips Center for the local dance company production. Rebecca LOVED the first act, at one point saying to me, "Thank-you Mommy for bringing me here. I love it!" The second act, not so much. The main thing she kept saying during the 2nd act, was, "How many more dances till it's over?"

Doesn't Rebecca look beautiful in this gorgeous dress? Grandmommy sent it to her to wear to this event. Totally her color and style of dress. She still wears it once or twice a week.

Christmas

2009-01-24T04:56:00.000-08:00

Usually Nancy and O host all family get-togethers at their house. This year, we offered to host Christmas at our house. Everyone had a GREAT time. Me included. Of course, I had 3 or 4 or 5 glasses of wine punch which probably helped. Anyway- here are a few favorite pics from the day.

OK- This was funny. We gave Rebecca the DVD game Dance Dance Revolution. O and Rob had had a few drinks in them at this point, and decided to join in the fun. I have a video of this too...

These matching PJs are a gift from Nancy and O. So CUTE! The kids wore them every night the week of Christmas.

Ryan's Christmas Show

2008-12-19T07:40:00.000-08:00

All of Ryan's songs from his Christmas Show are posted to the right- under "Our Movies." They are in reverse order, so It's best to start with the third one down. Halfway through Rudolph, Ryan realized that Pop O was there and after that his performance picked up a bit. Sorry the footage is so dark. The teachers requested the lights be kept off so that the candles could have the greatest effect.

cousins

2008-12-08T07:52:00.000-08:00

My step-brother Steve and his family came to Disney for the Thanksgiving holiday, and we caught up with them at Animal Kingdom for the day. My camera was not cooperating much of the day, but I was able to capture this one photo of the 4 kids. They had a great time playing around with each other. Honestly, I think they enjoyed their visit with each other more than the park itself.

some cute pics

2008-12-08T07:14:00.000-08:00

My camera is dying. It has suffered multiple contusions, abrasions, loss of parts, and is malfunctioning with increasing regularity. So, I don't have very many pictures from the last month or so. Here are a few that my camera consented to capture.

Update on Rebecca

2008-11-13T13:18:00.000-08:00

Following my sister's lead...here is an update on each of the kids, starting with Rebecca.

Rebecca is all girl. She often skips or dances/ twirls from room to room. Often singing at the same time. Usually both the songs and dance moves she has made up herself. She plays with her baby dolls, stuffed animals and (still) toy animals the most.
She is doing well in Kindergarten. Her teacher told us at the first parent teacher conference that she is right on track, and she has experienced no behavior problems. (Yea!) Rebecca is learning a lot, and more and more often she seems to be able to report back to us what she's learning in school.
Every day, she asks, "Where are we going?" If it were up to her, we would go somewhere every day all day. Last weekend, we had lots of fun events we attended, a festival, a fair, a birthday party, the circus, and more. After our third event of the day (around 5:30) she asked as soon as we got in the car, "Can we go somewhere else?" When we have friends over to play (an acceptable second choice to going somewhere) as her friend is packing up to leave, she always ask, "Can another friend come over?" Exhausting.
She is just starting to learn to read in Kindergarten this year. However, as I predicted she much prefers to be read to, or to read stories "her own way." She is often disappointed when she read the actual words of the story. They are hardly ever as imaginative as the stories she has created.
Speaking of imagination. She has a wonderful one. The other day she told me that she can speak to cows, and that she understands cats meows. She often creates a whole fantasy world and lives in it for a whole afternoon. She'll be happily playing by herself, and I can hear her acting out the parts of a princess, a fairy, and a mean witch all at once.
Her newest obsession is coloring. Every day when she comes home from school, she immediately gets out her crayons or markers and stats drawing. She makes at least 20 pictures a day. We go through paper like crazy. She often draws pictures of things that happened during her day, or of characters in books she's read, or sometimes just make believe stories.
She has a temper too. When she gets really mad at one of us, she writes our name on a piece of paper, draws a circle around it and then draws a slash or a x through the circle and brings it to us to show us how mad she is. She calls this, "X-ing you out!" Ryan dissolves in tears when she X's him out.
She's in a phase right now that I hope passes soon. She wants everything. More of everything. Nothing is good enough. If you offer to give her one thing, she wants 2, or she wants the most expensive of the one thing, or a different version than you had intended, and is completely put out that you won't get her exactly what she wants. Sigh.
Things she is excited about: She is 6! She lost a tooth, and has 3 more wiggly ones!

Ryan update

2008-11-13T12:40:00.000-08:00

Here is an update on Ryan.

He is a 3 1/2 year old bundle of energy. Many mornings he's up before dawn- 5:30 or so and when I say, "up," I mean "UP." If he is the first to wake up (most days) he yells from his bed, "Mommy! You forgot a wake me up!!!!!! I AWAKE NOW!!!!!" He only runs form room to room. Never walks. Sometimes somersaults from place to place, and loves to be upside down.
Although he is perfectly delightful most of the time, he does have a temper. He reminds me of the Incredible Hulk because when he gets mad he squeezes his hands in fists, tucks his body in a ball, clenches his teeth and growls "rrrrrrrrr" so hard and so loud I half expect him to turn green.
He LOVES books and stories and songs and dancing. If they can all be combined, all the better. He loves going to the library for the storytime programs they have there. He participates fully in each story, hand motion, dance move and craft activity. His teachers report that they always have his rapt attention during circle time, and that he loves that part of the day the best.
He is FUNNY. He makes funny faces, he makes funny sounds, he does funny things JUST to make other people laugh. He does this so often when we are out in public that Rebecca will often tell the grownups that he's entertaining, "Um, my brother's just a little bit crazy."
As much as he delights other people, he is constantly delighted with other people. Everywhere he goes, he looks to be delighted, and he is rarely disappointed. He makes eye contact with everyone, and if they make eye contact back, (and even if they don't) he starts a conversation with them by sharing something he has just learned or seen or thought about. Many many times, these complete strangers stop what they're doing so that they can continue talking to him, or so that they can make him laugh. He often has this look on his face like he's just getting ready to laugh, like he's just waiting for the punchline, and any little thing can make him laugh.
When he is asked what his name is, he always responds, "Wyan Wiyam Stewat." This is humorous to watch because most people do a double take, expecting a shorter answer. The other day he was wearing a t-shirt that read "Hello, my name is Trouble." People kept saying, "Well hello, Trouble." Every time he responded, "I not Twouble! I Wyan Wiyam Stewat."
As long as he is being entertained, he can pay attention and sit still for long periods of time. This summer we attended a series of free childrens programs at the library featuring a local magician and juggler, Magic Mike. Ryan was front and center for each program. He paid close attention, and tried very hard to figure out how Magic Mike could do all the tricks. This fall, I took the kids to a community production of Into the Woods. The first act was an hour and half long, and Ryan watched the whole thing sitting on my lap. I was going to call it a day at intermission figuring I had pressed my luck with a 3 year old sitting still that long. The people behind us stopped us when we got up to let us know that there was another act. (Thanks folks.) So, we stayed, and Ryan sat still for another hour and a half. Not only did he basically sit still on my lap for 3 hours, but he really enjoyed the performance. The director and star of the show approached me afterwards to let me know how impressed she was, and to let me know she thought I had the best children she had ever seen attend live theater!!!

Happy Halloween

2008-11-01T14:47:00.000-07:00

The kids were so pooped after Boo at the Zoo and all the fun activities at school, that they only made it to about 6 houses before they were all done trick or treating. They both helped pass out candy for a little while, but were in bed and asleep by 7:30.

I carved this one myself from a template. Rebecca colored it with a green crayon, which was helpful and decorative.

Costume Changes

2008-11-01T14:36:00.000-07:00

So, each year we have several Halloween dress up events to attend. The kids opted for a different costume at each event. The first was the MOMS Club Halloween party. It was very chilly the morning of the party, and we were expecting to be outside for part of the party, so thye opted for winter outfits. Rebecca chose a "Snow Princess" dress she got as a hand0me0down from my friend Alicia. Ryan chose the infamous Hermey oufit Santa brought Rebecca two years ago.

As you'll see below, Ryan chose the pumpkin outfit for his school parade, and Rebecca chose Little Red Riding Hood. Both of those days it was in the 30's and 40's for much of the day.

Then, for Boo at the Zoo, since the weather was warmer, both kids decided to change into different costumes. Rebecca chose the one costume I di buy this year- it's a Disney fairy costume, without the wings because they were bothering her...And Ryan chose the Little Caesar costume I bought for Rebecca two years ago at Caesar's Palace.

Then, after dinner, while preparing to trick or treat, we noticed that the temperature was dropping fast, and we recommended changing into a warmer costume, or at least putting on a long sleeve shirt. Ryan chose to back to the pumpkin costume, and Rebecca changed into an Ariel princess dress she received as a present from Alicia two years ago...this dress looks very much like the fairy dress she was wearing earlier, and not a bit warmer.

The kids love dressing up, so I don't really mind all the costume changes. Especially since I only paid for one of them this year. This is Ryan's 3rd year in a row wearing the pumpkin costume to one event or another. We've gotten great use out of it.

Boo at the Zoo

2008-11-01T14:20:00.000-07:00

This year, the kids friends Kaitlyn and Jeffrey joined at our annual outing to Boo at the Zoo. The weather was beautiful- mid seventies!

Ryan was a riot, as usual. He chatted up each of the characters we passed. He asked them who they were, what they were doing, why they were doing it, and often asked for further clarification, or added his own commentary/ thoughts to the responses he received. I don't think the students were used to so much conversation from a little kid. This particular encounter was really amusing, because the characters were sirens- you know like from The Odyssey. As the kids walked by, they beckoned to them, saying, "Come closer, so we can take your soul!" All the time they had beautiful smiles and seemed very friendly. Ryan asked them, "What souls are?" He got no answer from the sirens, who were kinda stumped as to how to give an answer that a 3 year old would understand. Then he asked, "What you want em for?" Also, the sirens hadn't prepared an answer to this question. "Finally, he figured it out. "Oh- You tricking??" Yes. Yes. that's it. He pronounced them very silly.

Storybook Character Parade

2008-11-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

Rebecca's school holds a Storybook Chacter Parade every year for the Kindergarten and 1st grades on Halloween. All the kids dress up and then parade through most of the 2nd-5th grade classrooms. Rebecca was SOOO excited for this day to come. She opted for Little Red Riding Hood. Nancy found this hooded red tshirt at a dollar store, which worked perfectly as the cape. (That is a black cat tattoo on her cheek.)

This is Rebecca's friend, Isabella with whom we carpool now. She lives in our same neighborhood, although a little more than a mile away. Her mom painted her face. Amazing!

Can you believe it?? Rebecca's teacher dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood too!!!!

Ryan's Costume Parade

2008-10-30T09:26:00.000-07:00

This morning was Ryan's costume parade at his pre-school. All the kids dressed up and trick or treated around the Haile Village Center where Ryan's school is located. The shop owners were great, oohing and aahing over each costume, and the kids had a great time. Ryan chose to wear the pumpkin costume for the 3rd year in a row. Gotta love that. He will tell you that the hat is "a little snug" this year. Usually it's still hot this time of year down here, but we've had a cold snap this year. Yesterday and this morning, it was in the 30's when we left for school! This is why you're seeing all the long sleeves, pants and jackets on the people in the pictures.

This video below is Ryan is saying Trick or Treat. Soooo cute since he doesn't pronounce his "R"s...Sorry this video is sideways...um just tilt your head.

Pumpkins

2008-10-30T09:20:00.000-07:00

A pumpkin patch is hard to find here in Florida. On the day we had scheduled to go to the pumpkin patch as a family, the pumpkin patch was almost out of pumpkins, and we didn't get any good pictures. The next week, we tried a different pumpkin patch, and luckily, they still had some pumpkins left. But the best part for the kids was that there was a free bounce house as well! Ryan was not interested in carving the pumpkin as he felt it was "too yucky." Rebecca was a good helper though, and enjoyed each step of the process this year.

Rebecca lost a tooth!

2008-10-21T17:24:00.000-07:00

So- the dentist pointed out the wiggly tooth to us at her 6 month appt on October 8th. It was barely moving. I mean you had to use a little imagination to see any movement.

It hadn't made much progress 10 days later on the 18th, and I didn't give it any thought when I gave Rebecca an apple for a snack. After 6 or 7 bites she told me her mouth was hurting and that she was bleeding a little bit. I took a look, and that tooth had gone from barely moving to a full board wiggler. She played with it non stop for the next 24 hours and then the next night when she brushed her teeth, she spit it out with the rinse water. Luckily we caught it before it went down the drain. She is VERY excited about it!

Yard of the month

2008-10-21T17:22:00.000-07:00

Yup- we won this month! And the same day we won, my perennials decided they were all donw for the season...

More fall fun

2008-10-21T17:15:00.000-07:00

Here are some random pics some several different festivals...

Tractor boy. He rides a tractor any chance he can get.

Rebecca gets her face painted any chance she gets. She chose a unicorn this time.

Both kids got a kick out of getting their hair sprayed...Still haven't gotten it all out after 3 shampoos...

These are kids from Rebecca's dance studio performing Thriller in the street in front of the ballet studio for Oktoberfest. I thought it was a riot. The kids were very confused about the concept of zombies...

Grossology

2008-10-21T17:07:00.000-07:00

So- we headed over to Grossology. If this exhibit comes to a museum near you, be forewarned that it is indeed gross. There is one area where you prime a pump and a nasty smell comes out and you have to guess what it is: stinky feet, an armpit, bad breath, or poop. So gross. The kids favorite part was climbing into a mouth, sliding down the throat and then crawiling into the intestine and coming out as poop.

Can you see Ryan in that gigantic nose?

This was fun- a giant Operation game.

Rock wall of skin problems...

And here, you can make this attractive dude burp and belch.

Butterflyfest

2008-10-21T16:49:00.000-07:00

Next great event is the Butterflyfest at the Natural History Museum. The kids get to make a mask, some wings, and antenna for a complete ensemble. Ryan chose butterfly wings and antenna but opted for a bat mask, so we decided he was a "bat-erfly." Not a lot of picture here, because...at the Natural History Museum, there is a traveling exhibit called, "Grossology" based on the series of popular books by the same name. One has to walk by this exhibit in order to get to the free butterfly crafts and childrens area. Well, Ryan got a sneek peek, and that's all he could concentrate on. He sat down and worked on his butterfly wings for about...2 minutes and proclaimed that he was ready to go see the gross stuff. I explained that we needed to stick together and wait till Rebecca was finished before we could go see the exhibit, and maybe he might want to spend more time on his butterfly crafts/ costume. So, he sat down and worked on it for about 30 seconds more and announced he was done, and wanted to go see the gross stuff. Since he wasn't getting anywhere with me, he sought out the nearest grownup for assistance. Happily, this happened to be a museum staffer. Here is the conversation that took place...

Ryan: You know they have gross stuff here?
Staffer: No way!
Ryan: Yeah! Wanna see?
Staffer: Yeah! Show me!
Ryan: (Runs out of the childrens area and over to the exhibit.) You SEE! There it is! It's GROSS stuff!
Staffer: That's so cool! Thanks for showing me.
Ryan: Want to go with me?
Staffer: Well, I think you should stay with your mom.
Ryan: Oh man, we have to wait for Becca. (Walks away dejected)

Rebecca has become extremely interested in anything artistic lately, was all about the butterfly costume, and wanted to take her time decorating it with markers, stickers, glitter glue and paint. She was happily ensconced at the craft table for 30 or 40 minutes in her own world working on her costume. Ryan and I entertained ourselves by talking to the vendors and scientists, anyone who was interested in having a conversation with him.

Cute kids

2008-10-21T16:44:00.001-07:00

Here's a couple of cute pics of the kids...with my poor camera that is in bad shape and has some dust caught on the inside of the lens which causes that flare in the middle of the picture.

Maybe my talented photographer sister could photoshop that out for me when she comes out for air sometime next year...

Corn Maze

2008-10-21T16:24:00.001-07:00

Every year there are dozens of fun events, happenings, festivals and must do family activities in October, and we try our best to get to as many of them as we can. The Newberry Corn Maze is a perennial favorite, and we look forward to it every year. Unfortunately, this year it was very very hot, and the kids were restless and excited to be there, so I didn't get many great pictures.

Here is the Corn Hut, where Rebecca and Ryan could spend hours if allowed. In this picture are some of the kids from our playgroup who joined us there.

So, last year we did the corn maze and enjoyed the walk. Last year, the corn was about 3 feet high, and mostly dead. This year, as you can see, the corn was WAY over our heads, and the paths were hard to find at times. The walk was a little treachorous as there were several giant anthills housing fire ants. About 30 minutes prior, Rebecca had been bitten by about a dozen fire ants and had broken out in hives, so she was very wary of them. (Luckily Jocelyn brought her Benadryl cream.) Also, there were some pricker types of bushes which each girl walked into at one time or another and at various times we moms banded together to gently pull the prickers out of their hair, or to pull a girl out of the pricker bush. After the third time this happened, we appointed one of the taller boys to pricker alert duty and moved him to the front. He shouted back to the group when he saw some prickers so we could all avoid them. We got lost a couple of times as well, and it took at least 25 minutes for us to get out of the maze. Needless to say, we were happy to be out!

Ryan and Elyse held hands the entire way. They reported that they were protecting each other from the dangers of the corn maze.

Ryan was so funny (well ok - he's funny a lot.) He was a little nervous about this decorated area. There was an archway that hard to see in this picture, and other kids had just run through it. He was checking it out from a distance, not sure he wanted to get any closer...

Then, he put on his "fierce" face and quickly ran through the open archway. Happily, he lived to tell the tale.

Becca's Birthday Party

2008-10-05T09:02:00.001-07:00

Rebecca is 6 years old! I can hardly believe it. We had a Pet Show birthday party this year and asked all the guests to bring their favorite stuffed animal to play with at the party. The weather was so nice, and we all enjoyed being outside. Everyone had a wonderful time.

Here is Becca with "Pup." She received Pup just the day before - a present from Ryan.

Here is the cupcake cake- designed to look like a paw print...sort of

The kids gave their pets checkups

And made sure they looked their best

Later we made collars, name tags and decorated tote bags for them.

Lastly we had a pet show where each guest introduced their pets and told us how old they were, where they had gotten them, why they were special, etc. It was very cute. Rebecca loved every minute of it.

cooler weather

2008-10-05T06:52:00.001-07:00

The weather has gotten so much nicer the past few weeks. We had Kaitlyn and Jeffrey come over to play one afternoon and the boys had a great time playing with a hose, a big tub and some soap. What could be better?

African Market Day

2008-10-05T05:45:00.000-07:00

Becca's school hosted a wonderful event last week. There were seven "stations." The 7 Kindergarten classes visited each station in rotation. The first stop was African food. Rebecca drank the non-African soda and that was it. On the plate were things like plantain chips, sweet potato chips, mango, pineapple, a jello cutout in the shape of Africa and a mixture of stuff like coconut and chocolate chips. Oh yeah, she ate the chocolate chips too.

This was great. All the kids practiced walking on balance beams with baskets on their heads. Only the little girl behind Rebecca, (her friend, Grace) was able to keep it on her head.

Don't know why she posed this way...here is some African clothes

Here is an African musical instrument. All the kids played different instruments at the same time. A bit loud, but very interesting to watch.

Here's Rebecca's class doing the Conga. I think Rebecca's got the rythym.

School Update

2008-09-21T04:47:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've updated the blog. I don't have any new pics- so here's our news.

Ryan: He LOVES school, and I love this new pre-school he's going to. He's learning so much, and having so much fun. He gets a whole hour of outdoor play every day, which probably is why he's taking a nap every day. He still is getting about 10 hours of sleep at night too.

Rebecca: Rebecca likes school...I think. She's a hard nut to crack. I get feedback from her in bits and pieces, when she's in the mood the share. Her teacher sends home positive comments and reports that "she is a pleasure to have in her class." I can't say she's been "a pleasure to have at home" lately, so I'm guessing she must be pretty happy at school.

Good news: I really like her teacher a lot. I've volunteered to stuff the Friday folders, in part so I can spend a few minutes with the teacher and observe the class. I like what I see and hear and I'm very glad that Rebecca is in this class, and I expect that she will have a great year there. Interestingly, her class is really diverse. Really diverse. She is the only caucasian girl in her class actually. There are kids in her class from at least 6 different ethnic groups. Only one child doesn't speak English as a first language though. Rebecca has only made one comment about this - she is fascinated that some kids in her class know how to speak other languages, such as Korean, Spanish and Farsi. I signed her up for Spanish class after school on Wednesdays (our short day here) and she totally loved her first class.

Challenges: 1) Although we had a state mandate that K-2 classes were to be limited to 18 students beginning this year, the state also cut the school budget significantly, and didn't provide any funding for things like hiring more teachers or building more classrooms in order to accomodate the state mandate. So, the mandate got "relaxed." Rebecca's class had 24 students in it until last week. Another Kindergarten teacher had 26. All 6 teachers had at least 23. Another Kindergarten teacher was hired and a Kindergarten class was created in a mobile unit behind the school. Happily, 4 kids were transferred from Rebecca's class, including a little boy who repeatedly told Rebecca that he hated her, and picked fights with her on a regular basis. The class seems soooo much quieter and in control now that there are only 20 kids in the class.

2) Rebecca is having a tough time adjusting to the school schedule. Like me, she is not a morning person, and it takes her a long time to get going in the morning. We need to leave the house no later than 7:20 each morning, and have found that we need to start working on her to get up around 6:15 in order to make it out the door on time. Because school starts so early, her class eats "lunch" from 10:30-10:45. I have learned to pack more food in her lunch box than she will eat at one sitting, because she is so hungry when I pick her up at 1:45. This way, she can snack on her leftovers while waiting for me. She eats a big meal when we get home around 2:15 or so after picking up Ryan. As many of you know, Rebecca gets overstimulated more easily than other kids, and she is burned out after school. Often she cries or screams and has a temper tamtrum for about 30-45 minutes after school until she gets fed, and involved in a quiet, solitary activity to calm down and redirect herself. Tough adjustment for the whole family on that note...

We are really enjoying the cooler weather now- and October is always a busy busy month in Gainesville. Lots to see and do, so I'll probably be updating the blog more often in the next few weeks.

First week of school...sort of

2008-08-22T05:49:00.000-07:00

Monday: Ryan's first day of school.

6 AM- Ryan wakes up. Soooo excited to start school at Abacus. School doesn't start till 9 am. We live about a mile and a hald from the school. LOTS of time to kill. Rebecca and Art are still sleeping. I don't go get him out of his room until 6:30, when he starts kicking on it shouting that he is the MONSTER!

7 AM- Ryan has eaten breakfast and is watching his favorite show for the second time. Rebecca is still sleeping.

8 AM- Ryan is dressed and ready for school. He is busily playing computer games, his latest obsession. Rebecca is still sleeping.

8:42 AM- Not able to wait any longer, Ryan is READY TO GO. He has his lunch box in hand, and is standing by the door, patiently waiting for me. Rebecca is STILL sleeping.

8:45 AM We arrive at school exactly the minute we are allowed to arrive without paying extra for before-care. See the blog entry below for more details. When I ask him about his day, he tells me all kinds of stuff; the games he played, the book they read, and the rules of classroom that were introduced that day: "No kicking, no pushing, no hitting, no fighting and keep you hands to youself." Great!

9-2: Rebecca "tolerates" being at home with me. A little put out that we're not going anywhere and that none of her friends are coming over.

Tuesday: Ryan's second day of school.

7:30: Ryan wakes up at a decent hour. (YEA) Alas, Art and I realize this is the last day we will both be sleeping in past 7 since Rebecca's school starts at 7:45 and we'll need to be out of the house by 7:15. Rebecca is still sleeping.

8:00: Ryan is still happily playing in his room by himself. I leave him there.

8:15: Rebecca wakes up and Ryan comes out of his room to play with her.

8:50: Rebecca comes with me to take Ryan to school. We need to park in a parking lot across the street from the school today because there are people trimming low hanging branches over the normal parking spots in preparations for Tropical Storm Fay. Ryan gets out of the car first and while I'm waiting for Rebecca to get out, Ryan turns to me and says, "Bye Mommy!" and turns to walk to school by himself. I laugh and remind him that we are all going into the school together. He laughs and tells me that he forgot. When I pick him up later and ask how his day was, he tells me that the teacher told him, "Lay you head down." He then told me she was mean because she wouldn't let him play during rest time. Uh huh, fraid of that. Otherwise, he had a great day.

9-2: Rebecca's friend Elyse comes over to play for the day. Her school doesn't start till the next day. She had been running a fever over the weekend, which is why she hadn't been able to play the day before. The girls have a GREAT time playing. I get lots of stuff done.

Wednesday: Rebecca's first day of school.
6 AM: Everyone has warned me about how bad the traffic is in the morning, and how early the parking lot gets full the first week of school. So, I wake up early to take a shower and get completely dressed and ready before waking Rebecca up.

6:25. I wake Rebecca up. I am prepared for her to drag her feet since she's been sleeping past 8. To my surprise, she pops right up.

6:35: Rebecca is dressed, has her shoes on and has let me brush and style her hair.

6:45: Rebecca has eaten breakfast and declared herself ready to go. Ugh.

6:48: Rebecca has no brushed her teeth and used the bathroom. Now, she's REALLY ready to go. Ugh.

6:52: Rebecca says goodbye to Art. Ryan is still sleeping.

6:56: We get in the car. (This is REALLY early.) I "forgot" my coffee and go back inside to retrieve it.

6:58: We leave for school. As I am leaving our neighborhood, I see the school bus coming. I could probably make it onto the road if I want to, but as I am desperate to kill time, I wait for it to pass along with the mile of traffic behind it. The drivers in the cars behind me are probably steaming. There is almost no traffic this morning.

7:07: We arrive in the school parking lot. It is 3/4 full! I ask Rebecca if she would like to sit int he parking lot for a little bit to talk since her teacher won't be ready for her till 7:15 at the earliest. (Yeah right!) We slowly walk to her classroom.

7:10: We arrive at the classroom. Surprise- her teacher isn't there. Neither are any other students. I take a picture, see below.

7:14: Her teacher, Miss Brochu arrives, and happily tells us she is ready for Rebecca to come in the class with her. Rebecca has a smile on her face that I haven't seen in a long time. She is SOOOO HAPPY to be in school. She can hardly wait for me to leave.

7: 20: I arrive back at home. Ryan is still sleeping. I start picking up my house for my housecleaner who arrives later that day.

8:00: Ryan is still sleeping. I continue to clean my house. (so much fun.)

8:30: Ryan is STILL sleeping. I wake Ryan up.

9:00: I take Ryan to school.

9:02: I do the happy dance. FINALLY! The kids are in school!!!

9-12: I do boring stuff like go the grocery store, get gas, and clean my house. Tropical Storm Fay is expected to hit later in the day. Not a fun first day- but I think to myself, tomorrow I can fun stuff.

12:10: I get in line to pick Rebecca up for school. School gets out at 12:30, but I have been forewarned about the long pick up lines. I am 10th in line.

12:35: Rebecca gets in the car. She is ecstatic. Grinning from ear to ear. I ask her about her day, and she starts to unpack her back pack and immediately bursts into tears. I gather through the sobs that she has left her science project inside.

12:36: We park the car and go inside to retrieve the science project. Tears have stopped.

12:40: Having retrieved the science project, we are back in the car to pick up Ryan. The science project is in a ziploc bag. It looks like green goo- sort of like silly putty. I ask her how she made it. She tells me, "Special sugar, water and a green vegetable to make it green." Hmm. I ask her another question about school and she tells me she doesn't want to talk about it. Darn. I only got one question answered. Usually I can get to to three...

12:45: We pick up Ryan early. I was positive he wasn't going to sleep since he got up so late. Yup- not sleeping. Teachers tell me how great he is and and all the things he loves doing. It's clear they enjoy him there.

1:30: I try again with Rebecca. I asked her if she met any new friends today. She says, yes. First her body met them, and then because her body met them first, she wasn't shy, so she met them second. OK...That's all I got.

2:30: Art's Uncle Tom comes to spend the afternoon. His meetings in Orlando were cancelled, so he drove up for a visit. We have a very fun afternoon playing together.

7:30: Art and I crawl into bed after checking the school website and noting that schools are scheduled to be open the next day. We are both asleep by 8:15.

Thursday: Both kids go to school...

6:30 AM Ryan is awake already. I wake Rebecca up. I note that we did not receive an automated phone call about schools being cancelled. I note that the storm has stalled. I note that it is not even raining.

6:45 AM Both kids are dressed and ready for school. I make a note to myself to wake Rebecca up at 6:45 from now on.

7:05 AM Rebecca and I leave for school. There is again no traffic. Argh

7:10 AM We arrive at school....There are only 2 cars in the parking lot. There are no lights on in school classrooms. I call Art to have him check the school board website to see if schools are closed. Yup. They are are. We turn around and go home. Argh. Happily, Rebecca thinks this is all very funny, and does not throw a fit about school being closed. She giggles most of the way home.

12:30 PM It is barely raining outside. The storm is still stalled on the East coast. My friend Kris calls and asks if she can come over with her girls. YES! Carol calls and asks what we're doing. I invite her and her kids to come too. YES! We have a fun play date until 5:30

5:30 PM Hard rain finally starts. Kris left around 4:30. Carol makes a run for it before the storm picks up further.

6:30 PM Power goes off and on several times. Finally stays on. Yes!

7:00 PM Both kids asleep. We note that...

Friday: School is closed again!!!!

This morning however, we all sleep till 7:45. Winds and rain are expected to be worse than yesterday. Everyone's hanging at home today. Really bumming with the knowledge we just lost two vacation days. Also bumming with the knowledge that I'm home with the kids all day...again. Looking forward to Monday!

One down, one to go

2008-08-19T08:29:00.001-07:00

Ryan started school yesterday. He was soooo excited to go. When we parked the car, he jumped out and looked in the window to his classrom, and told me, "Mommy I see my teachers. I love em. You love em too?" He practically sprinted into the class and gave one of his teachers a great big hug and kiss. No tears. Today when I took him to school, he got out of the car and said, "OK, Bye Mommy!" and started walking off to school. I had to remind him that I was going to walk him to his class.

Rebecca starts tomorrow at 7:45. Unfortunately for her, she's been sleeping from 7 pm till 8:30 am. She's going to be a wee bit tired tomorrow when I wake her up at 6...

Funny family

2008-08-12T09:59:00.000-07:00

My favorite picture from the trip. Silly kids.

Water Park

2008-08-12T09:52:00.000-07:00

The last day, we went to a water park and finally, all had a great time. The water park we go to in Florida doesn't have any water slides for kids Ryan's size to go on, so he was over the moon to be able to ride the water slides here. I think he spent 2 hours just riding this one slide.

This was a really cool feature- called Rapid River. You can't tell from this picture, but the pool was actually a circle with a fast current. You are supposed to grab a kick board to hold on to, because you can swept away if you're not careful. In order to get out of the pool, you have to carefully make your way to the edge and try to make a grab for a metal bar. If you miss it, then you go around again. The first time I tried to get out, it took me three tries. This was Rebecca'a favorite feature, and she spent over an hour an a half going around and around and around.

Magiquest

2008-08-12T05:55:00.000-07:00

So, the first day we arrived in Myrtle Beach, Rebecca saw the billboard and the ad in the coupon book for Magiquest, and insisted that we go there. It was the one place she wanted to go more than any other place. The concept is way cool. You buy a magic wand, choose your experience package, and then go on a magic quest. Once the magic wands are activated, they can be used to open treasure chests, make statues talk, light things open, make tv screens become animated, etc. Plus, you can go on different "quests, " which involve solving clues to find items hidden around the magical world. We thought it was really cool, but unfortunately it was also very very busy, and it was hard to hear what the characters and statues, etc. were saying. The kids were done after 45 minutes, eyes glazed over. The good part is that once you buy the wand, the next time you go back, you only have to pay $11/ hour to play again. So, we're hoping that maybe next year it will go better. (I kind of want to play myself!)

Krispy Kreme

2008-08-11T13:08:00.000-07:00

One morning, we visited the local Krispy Kreme, where you can watch the doughnuts being made. When you order the doughnuts at the counter, the cashier goes right to the doughnut line and picks out some doughnuts fresh off the line. Yummy!

Art and I could have come here every morning. Of course, our kids don't actually eat doughnuts. Here's what they do with them. Ryan carefully picks all the sprinkles off...
Rebecca carefully licks the sprinkles off. The doughnuts remain uneaten.

Summer Vacation

2008-08-11T12:52:00.000-07:00

Last week, we went to Myrtle Beach for a family vacation. Can't really say that we had a great time however. It was pretty hot and crowded, and the kids misbehaved and fought what seemed like the entire time. We left two days early, and both children's exhibited angelic behavior upon returning home, and have been well behaved ever since. So- maybe it will be awhile before the next vacation. Still, we had moments of fun...

The kids loved the big whirlpool bathtub that had just a little bit too much bibble bath...

We went to the Ripley's Aquarium and got to pick up and pet several animals. Here I am holding the horseshoe crab for the kids ot pet.

Aaaahhh- the kids are stuck in the aquarium!!!!

One day, desperate for happy children, I pulled out some pipe cleaners. It worked for a little while. This is what they did with them.

Swim Lessons

2008-07-22T05:23:00.000-07:00

4th of July

2008-07-12T08:50:00.000-07:00

We had our annual 4th of July Kids parade again. Ryan didn't want to ride or walk, so Daddy carried him about halfway through the parade. Ryan was a little disappointed in the event. As we were gathering at the pool to get started, he asked, "Where's the parade?" I told him that we were the parade and he about burst into tears.

Later, we joined Nancy and O at their annual cookout and family gathering. There were well over 20 people and the kids had a GREAT time playing with all their cousins/ second cousins/ aunts and uncles, etc.

A couple cute pics of Becca from Disney

2008-07-12T08:44:00.000-07:00

Just some cute pics of Ryan

2008-07-12T08:40:00.000-07:00

Grandma Camp

2008-07-03T05:55:00.001-07:00

Check out these links below for pics of Grandma Camp. Rebecca had a wonderful time.

From my sister
http://hannapalooza.blogspot.com/2008/06/grandma-camp-08.html

From Grandma Sara
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AaNW7RqzbNWJ7&emid=sharview&linkid=link5

From Grandmommy
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8EaNGzRq0asuW&emid=sharview&linkid=link5

Ballet Recital

2008-06-14T06:19:00.000-07:00

Rebecca had a ballet recital last night at the Phillips Center. She was very excited to be on stage and thoroughly enjoyed watching the other classes dance as well. She looked BEAUTIFUL in her costume and did a GREAT job dancing her part. Grandpa even got tears in his eyes watching her dance. I had a challenging time getting her to smile naturally for the camera instead of hamming it up, but I think you can get the picture here. Clips from dress rehearsal are on the video bar to the right. I hope to get the recital performance up later today.

VPK Graduation

2008-06-14T06:02:00.000-07:00

Well, the moment finally arrived. Rebecca's passage from little girl to big girl is starting. St. Michael's Day School had a graduation ceremony for all the Pre-K graduates. (VPK in Florida.) They all looked sooooo cute in their caps and gowns. The kids sang several songs for the event, but my favorite was "I'll Be Going to Kindergarten When I'm Five." Sung to the tune of "She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain." The lyrics went like this: "I'll be going to Kingergarten when I'm five. (Repeat) I'll learn to read and write. I'll draw pictures big and bright. I'll be going to Kindergarten when I'm five."

The teachers made gifts for all the kids, which included artwork and pictures from the year.

Here is Rebecca and her best friend, Kaitlyn- who never takes a bad picture.

Disney with Daddy

2008-06-14T05:54:00.000-07:00

We convinced Art to go with us to Disney for the Day. This was his first trip since he was a kid. Although it was very hot (in the 90's) the lines were short and we spent most of the day inside in air conditioning. I think we visited more than 10 attractions! For the first time, Ryan was not scared of the dark or the loud noises, and LOVED the Buzz Lightyear ride. Yea!

A highlight of this trip was that Rebecca and Ryan were both pulled from the crowd to participate in the Woody's Roundup show in Frontierland. They got to be part of the show by singing and dancing and riding wooden horses. They could not have been happier.

Ryan liked making the ride go higher and higher. Art liked the ride to go lower and lower. But Ryan had control of the lever!

The beach

2008-06-03T17:47:00.000-07:00

Isn't this the best picture of Ryan? We finally had a great trip to the beach. The first three trips we tried with the kids were all busts for various reasons, mostly that Ryan wasn't into it before. I was worried that I had produced a child who was not going to be a beach lover. (Horror!) However, this time, he LOVED it. At first, he was a little scared of the big waves and kept running back to the sand every time the water touched his toes, but after 5 tries, he was hooked. In fact, after about 30 minutes of Art and I lifting the kids up so they could "jump" the waves, we got a little tired and tried to coax them into building sand castles, but they wouldn't hear of it. More More More! Again Again Again! So, I think we'll be making a bunch of trips to the beach this summer!

Naked gardener

2008-06-03T17:42:00.000-07:00

So, here's my little pumpkin, hard at work. We gave him a hose to play with outside and he promptly stripped off his clothes so he wouldn't get wet. Is there any better way to play outside?

WHY?

2008-05-15T13:54:00.001-07:00

So- Rebecca never really went through the why stage when she was younger, and has apparently decided to make up for it now. Here are some questions I was asked just today...

Why do we have cars?
Why do I go to ballet?
Why did you get me a new toothbrush?
Why do our legs and arms move?
Why are they called trees?
Why does everybody have a mommy?
Why is my name Rebecca?
Why do I call you Mommy?

News and updates

2008-05-10T13:47:00.000-07:00

Ryan's big news is that he is potty trained!! Can you hear the trumpets??? He's been doing really great, although still has accidents when he's having fun and distracted...like at Disney...or at playgroup...but most of the time, all is well. I am very happy as he had to be potty trained before starting school next year.

About 3 weeks ago, Rebecca had her adenoids out along with 4 other minor procedures. The surgery went well, and so far, she has remained healthy. Even when Ryan caught a cold last week. She didn't get sick at all. Woo hoo! The hardest part of the surgery was the night terrors she had for about 10 days afterwards. Apparently a common side effect of the general anasthesia. She woke up in the middle of the night screaming and crying, but was mostly non-verbal. It took awhile to calm her down each time and get her back to sleep. One night when Art and I went to her, she pointed at the blank wall and shouted, "LOOK!" There was nothing there. A second later, she pointed to the letter E on the wall next to her, and cried, "The E! The E" and sobbed uncontrollably. Art and I looked at each other and didn't know what to do. I felt like one of those moms in the movies who doesn't believe their kid who is seeing ghosts or something. Happily, this seems to have passed.

Now that the weather is warm, we are spending a lot time in the pool. both kids continue to love swimming, and we expect to be in the pool every day possible. Expect some suntanned kids this summer!

Fancy??

2008-05-10T13:43:00.000-07:00

OK- so my sister sends us a box of hand-me-down clothes every so often. Rebecca loves to tear into the box and immediately try on all the new clothes. This is the outfit she selected. The top is actually a skirt, and the hat was from Santa. She thought she looked very fancy. I thought that maybe fancy wasn't quite the right adjective. Any PC suggestions for the correct word?

Bowling

2008-05-10T13:30:00.001-07:00

We had a family morning at the bowling center a few weeks ago. The kids LOVED it. Rebecca preferred to use the ramp, as it increased her chances of hitting the pins. Ryan wanted to bowl like Daddy. I included the butt shot (which I'm sure my husband will request I take down as soon as I see it) of Art teaching Ryan how to roll the ball. We all cheered for each other each time. Very exciting. You can see who has the best form of all of us.

Art has had an amazing year bowling. He's bowled a 300 game several times, and had a series of over 750 three times too. He's quite the celebrity at the bowling alley. Apparently, when he bowls, practically the whole bowling alley stops to watch him. Needless to say, Art got the high score on our family outing as well.

Go Ryan Go

2008-05-10T13:13:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows Ryan will attest to the fact that he is ALL BOY. This kid is part monkey, part cheetah, and part Energizer Bunny. From the moment he wakes up till the moment his head hits the pillow at night, he is go go go go. Lately he likes to somersault from room to room. This can take quite a while. Every morning, we have a battle over the car seat, because he insists he would prefer to sit in the car seat upside down, doing a head stand. I have been declared a mean mommy, as I refuse to drive the car with him in this position.

One of my friends recently asked me why I don't do more activities with other mommies at night. (She has two mild mannered girls.) Then, she spent a whole day with me and all of our kids together, and said, "Oh, NOW I understand. You must be totally exhausted at night. Ryan exhausts me just sitting here watching you chase after him." Yes indeed. I am wiped out by the time I get the kids in bed. Sadly, I can no longer catch him if he runs from me. He is way too fast. (That's the cheetah part.) AND he has figured out that if he runs one way in a circle, that I can catch him by running the opposite way, so now we sometimes have a standoff. Time for a new strategy...

Anyway- here are a few pictures of Ryan that showcase his personality a bit. He smiles all the time, and continues to make everyone laugh.

Dentist office

2008-04-21T10:48:00.000-07:00

Ryan and Rebecca visited the dentist for a checkup recently. It was Ryan's first visit, and he was very excited to go. The dentist we visit has a great office for kids. It's completely decorated like Finding Nemo, complete with a fish tank containing many of the fish featured in the movie. The kids got their teeth cleaned in a large room, where they could be side by side and see each other the whole time. Ryan did great. He followed directions very well, and laid very still when asked. He was mesmerized by the whole process actually. Rebecca did almost as well. It was a good thing that Ryan went first and showed her how much fun he was having.

Kid City

2008-04-13T10:14:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, we decided to drive to Tampa early enough to enjoy a day at Kid City before Mom's had to go to the airport. We thought this was a wonderful concept and a great iversion for a few hours. This first picture is of Mom pretending to give Ryan a checkup at the doctor's office. He was a very good patient.

This picture amuses me. I asked the kids to give me their best fire fighter pose, and this is what they came up with. Becca is doing her best model pose while Ryan is being a super hero to the resuce.

Ryan loved the yellow brick road and spent a long time singing the song and traveling along the spiral path.

Ryan's favorite building in Kid City was McDonalds. He loved taking orders at the drive-through and bringing people their food.

Becca's favorite part was the doctor's office. She spent a long time practicing walking on crutches.

NCAA womens final four

2008-04-13T10:06:00.000-07:00

So, my mom is a big fan of the UCONN womens basketball team which made it to the final four this year. The games were being held in Tampa, so my mom flew down and I joined for a quick getaway. Unfortunately, it poured rain the entire day...and UCONN lost. We still had fun though.

Downtown, in the Channelside area, each team had a restaurant that was decorated to attract fans of their team. We chose to eat at Stuckey's which was the UCONN team's chosen restaurant. These are the t-shirts that all the servers and bartenders were wearing.

Cute kids

2008-04-12T08:14:00.000-07:00

Rebecca LOVES getting her face painted. This is her most recent art work done at Sea World.

These are Ryan's favorite sunglasses and every where we go, people tell him how cute he looks.

Easter morning

2008-04-12T06:58:00.001-07:00

Easter morning brought wonderful surprises in the Easter baskets. The favorite gifts from the Easter Bunny were rain boots and books. Fancy Nancy books for Rebecca and a pop-up Horton Hears a Who for Ryan. The kids had collected so much candy at other Easter egg hunts that the Easter Bunny decided to hide empty eggs this Easter. We had lots and lots and lots of plastic eggs for the Easter Bunny to hide, so the hunt took a long time and was very exciting because he had hidden them in so many tricky places. Rebecca didn't care one bit about the eggs being empty. She loves the thrill of the hunt. Ryan on the other hand lost interest as soon as he realized there was no payoff to collecting eggs, and left Rebecca to find the bulk of the eggs.

Easter weekend

2008-04-12T06:47:00.000-07:00

Nancy and O surprised us with a visit the day before Easter and brought some fun Easter toys for the kids. This one cracked us up. It's a pacifier style lollipop that looks like a bunny's nose and mouth. Too funny.

This is how almost every attempt at taking a picture with both kids and Nancy and O turns out. We'll keep trying!

Best friends

2008-04-12T06:43:00.000-07:00

Here are Becca and her best friend Kaitlyn. The two of them almost always dissolve into a fit of giggles when they get together.

Easter events

2008-04-12T05:57:00.000-07:00

Gainesville has a plethora of free family events in the fall and spring, and we always try to get to as many as we can. This year, we attended 5. At two of the events, there was a petting farm which the kids loved. The rule with the baby chicks and bunnies was that the children could only use 1 finger to pet. Ryan was very very good about following this rule.

Here are Ryan and Jeffrey getting ready for the egg roll for their age group. Notice how carefully they are paying attention to the woman giving directions (off camera.) The rest of the kids were not paying any attention to the directions. They were getting ready for the race. When the woman shouted, "GO!" all the rest of the kids took off, rolling their eggs as fast as they could across the finish line. Ryan and Jeffrey at first continued to look at the woman for more directions. She of course was moving to the finish line to judge the race. They were very confused until Carol and I shouted, "Roll your eggs!" Then, they got to work rolling their eggs...I think they might have been the last two to finish, but still enjoyed it all the same.

Ryan has a huge sweet tooth. HUGE. He LOVES LOVES LOVES egg hunts, especially when there is candy inside the egg. Ryan has taken home quite a loot at each one. At this particular egg hunt, I allowed him and Becca to have 3 pieces of candy each and then they had to go play with their friends. While the kids played, I enjoyed talking with my friends, while I kept an eye on them playing. I noticed after a period of time that Ryan was all by himself at a picnic table across the playground from where I was standing. He was far enough away that I couldn't tell exactly what he was doing, and I figured he was all by himself because he had pooped. As I was enjoying my conversation, I put off going to get him for a few minutes. When I got over there to change his diaper I realized that he hadn't pooped. He was digging through someone else's Easter basket and helping himself to their candy. He looked up at me with a big smile, and said, "It's OK, Mommy. I SHARING!" Oops. So, we left pretty quickly after that...

At this event, there was a clown who made balloon animals. And what did the boys choose? Swords of course!

Easter fun

2008-03-15T08:27:00.000-07:00

OK- Is this picture cracking you up? This morning was our neighborhood Easter egg hunt and the kids dressed up. I told Becca she could wear her Easter hat. Ryan insisted on wearing an Easter hat too and ran to the toy room and selected the hat below as his official Easter hat. Too funny.

The kids are practicing for an egg roll they will be participating in later today if it doesn't rain.

Grandpa's helpers

2008-03-15T08:24:00.000-07:00

Becca and Ryan love going to visit Daddy and Grandpa at Granpa's shop. This week, they got to be big helpers and made some widgets (my term) and got to use some of the fun machinery.

Funny Ryan

2008-03-15T08:19:00.000-07:00

Ryan is such a funny kid. He is always cracking me up. At least 10 strangers approached me this week to tell me how delightful he is. (Of course they are not around for the temper tamtrums and meltdowns.) He loves to make us laugh by making silly faces, singing nonsensical songs and just being himself. He is a character.

Ryan's birthday party

2008-03-02T06:52:00.000-08:00

Ryan was really funny about his birthday this year. On Thursday, the date of his actual birthday, we had planned to sing Happy Birthday and let him open the family presents. He didn't want any of it. Didn't want the presents, didnt' want us to sing, didn't want us to talk about it. When we told him he was 3 that day, he yelled, "NO I NOT!" So...we decided to drop it and hope for the best for the day of the party. Happily, he had a WONDERFUL time at his party. He laughed and laughed and played all day long, and passed out stone cold at 6:15 last night. Becca was asleep a mere 30 minutes later herself. We had a small gathering this year. Just family, our next door neighbors and the two of the kids best friends, Jeffrey and Kaitlyn.

One of Ryan's gifts was a set of 4 animal tails that the kids had a blast wearing and getting to "shake their booties." So funny.

The theme of the party this year was "backyard fun." We got a bunch of hover discs, a fun roller, a new bubble machine, some foam rockets, a foam golf game and brought out all the other outdoor stuff we have. All the kids had a ton of fun throwing the hover discs around the yard, but Ryan had the most fun. His face looked just like this all day long.

We attempted to take pictures with each of the guests, but that didn't work out so well. This was the best picture taken of Ryan with any guest there. AND they were all wearing coordinating outfits!

Here is Ryan wearing his new hat from Grandmommy. Ryan LOVES to dress up and make believe he's someone/ something else. Lately, we's been wearing his cowboy boots and gardening gloves every day. I have a feeling that this great hat will soon be added to the ensemble!

About halfway through the party, Becca and Kaitlyn decided that they were going pretend to be fairies for awhile...trying to recreate the fairy party I think.

Another great dressup outfit- this one was Rebecca's gift to Ryan. The head actually roars when you press a button on top.

I think this was Ryan's favorite thing he did at the party. I have not heard him laugh so long or so loud at an activity before. He had so much fun with this. Below, you can see that he and Grandpa played a game where they flipped it over each other's heads over and over.

And here is a great picture taken while while we were all singing Happy Birthday to him. Unfortunately, my camera's memory card filled up right after this picture, so I missed him blowing out the candles on the cake.

Bye kids

2008-03-02T06:42:00.000-08:00

I took this picture on a recent outing and (for me anyway) it resonates with me more than the pictures of them looking at the camera. Since Becca has missed a whole month of school due to the pic line, the kids have been spending a lot more time together. Many days the two of them have played for hours together, without any interest in what I am doing. (Very nice for me!) Ryan's favorite game is any game that Becca proposes (and directs of course.) They mostly play make believe games together. For example,

Becca: OK, Pretend that I'm a princess and you're a prince and a mean witch has stolen our baby puppy.
Ryan: OK!
Becca: Pretend that the witch is taking the puppy away and you tell her not to take away your puppy.
Ryan: Don't take away my puppy you mean witch!
Becca: The witch is getting away! Quick quick- we have to catch her!
Ryan: Oh no- let's get the witch!

And off they go. Hours of play like this. Sometimes they conspire to trick me by hiding things or passing secrets back and forth to each other. It's really fun to watch how close they are becoming and how fast they're growing up.

library kids events

2008-03-02T05:50:00.001-08:00

The local library often has free story time activities for kids, and we try to catch them whenever we can. The last time we went, Becca was selected to help tell the story using hand puppets. She had been having a bad morning previous to this, and her face lit up like a Christmas tree to be able to perform and help the librarian with this important task.

One day, the theme was bats, and the blurb in the flyer stated that at the end, we would be able to meet the real Stellaluna (who is a bat.) The kids were excited and nervous about meeting and possibly touching a real bat. All through the program they kept asking me when the real bat was going to come out. To our surprise, the "real" Stellaluna came out instead- not a real bat. Still, the kids enjoyed having their picture taken with her.