How do you spell........?

Last year we struggled with writing our letters. Mainly no interest. It's a boy thing. They develop their fine motor skills a little later and it gets frustrating for them. Well, this year is a whole new story. Ever since school started, Kyle has been writing like crazy! He is a master at his name and quickly becoming a master of the entire alphabet and numbers. He's always wanting to write words, so he's constantly asking me how do you spell this or that. He loves to write "recipes" with words like eggs, milk, etc. I can also see that he is trying to figure out how to read. We let him "read" stories that he knows to Ryan at night. It's so much fun for me to watch him grow and learn. I'm so proud of him! We were outside the other week playing with chalk and we just HAD to write everyone's name!

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Cheese Please

For the almost 2 years of his life, Ryan would not touch cheese or any cheese product for that matter! But, for some reason, over the last two weeks he has decided not to snub the cheese and try it. He has actually eaten sliced american cheese, mac-n-cheese, a few bites of pizza, and last night he had his first grilled cheese! Whoo Hoo! Who would've thought eating cheese would be so exciting. Just say yes to cheese!

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Rainy Days

It's been raining the last couple of days here, so we've been trying to keep ourselves busy indoors.

The boys painted their pumpkins. This was actually Ryan's first painting experience. I think he liked it :)

Here are the final masterpieces!



We made a fort under the train table. Who doesn't love a fort on a rainy day? Even Abbey liked it, she went nuts when the boys disappeared.



And Kyle and I did a few science experiments. You've gotta love Chick-fil-a. They've been giving out little Mad Scientist experiment kits with their kids meals. So much fun!



And of course, we've played with lots of crayons and lots of play-doh! Bring on the sun please so we can get back outside!

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The Monster Mash

A friend of mine had done this with her family and she and her girls have been begging us to make our version. So, here it is, in the spirit of Halloween. Have a good laugh!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

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Cooking in style

It was a long road, 9 weeks to be exact, but the kitchen is DONE! It's been done for a month and a half now. I'm just posting about it now because hearing the word kitchen no longer causes me great anxiety! So, here are some pics, starting with the before picture.

I think it's definitely a big improvement!

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Rewind

The boys are getting so big. Kyle is in preschool, learning so much. Ryan is talking up a storm, trying to keep up with his big brother. Life is pretty easy these days, relatively speaking. Now we're about to push the rewind button and start all over again. We're expecting baby #3! Part of me thinks we're nuts and the other part of me is so excited to have a baby in the house again. I love my boys so much that one more will just complete our family. We don't know what it is yet. We have 4 long weeks until we find out, but I'm just wishing for healthy and happy. No colic please. Kyle thinks it is going to be a girl and that her first name should be Happy and her middle name should be Dora. Hmmm... Happy Dora...we'll have to think about that one.

I'm at 14 weeks now, so this picture was taken 2 weeks ago.

Even though this is our 3rd time through this, it's still so exciting! Check out those itty bitty legs. It truly is a miracle.

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Happy 4th Birthday Kyle!

I say it every year.....where did the time go? How can he be 4 already? It's just amazing how quickly they grow up. Well, Kyle was a lucky boy again this year. I think we probably celebrated his birthday this year a good 5 times! It all started 2 weeks before when Nana and G-daddy came to visit. Since they weren't able to make it to the big party this year, we had a little party of our own complete with balloons and lots of Transformers decorations.

Kyle and Nana made a really yummy cake and Kyle decorated it all on his own with lots and lots and lots of sprinkles :)



Oh, did I forget to mention these lovely teeth that Nana picked up at the store. Let's hope all those sprinkles don't send us to the dentist looking like this!





Kyle got a cool new swing for the playground and a new ride (a plasma car) to add to the collection of vehicles in the garage.


On to celebration #2. Aunt Stacy and Uncle Markie came up to visit Grammy and Papa, so we headed to their house for the weekend and managed to squeeze in a day at the beach too. Kyle had asked for an Optimus Prime transformer for his birthday, so Aunt Stacy and Uncle Markie came through.



He was super excited until it came time to "Transform and roll out!" This Optimus Prime guy turns into a MAC truck. Easy enough, the box is labeled Level 4, age 5+. It comes with directions. Piece of cake! Uh not quite. Daddy worked on it for quite a while, got almost there, but couldn't get Optimus Prime's head to disappear. Mommy worked on it for quite a while. She decided to read the directions, thinking Daddy might have skipped over something. You know how men are with directions. Then Uncle Markie gave it a shot. Now here we are two engineers and an aircraft mechanic and we're 34+, mind you, and we still couldn't get this thing right. So, we sent Optimus Prime back to Wal-Mart and picked up his level 3 friend Bumble Bee. Much better!

Here they are with the boys!



Now for celebration #3. This was the big party day. Bounce house and all. Only one problem.....the radar is showing a giant green blob over our town right when the party was supposed to start. Hmmmm.....now what. We so didn't want to cancel the bounce house, Kyle has been looking forward to that for weeks! So, we improvised and put the bounce house on the driveway, got a few pop-up tents, rented some tables and set up in the garage. It actually worked out pretty well. And the best part......it didn't rain. We were SO lucky! The kids all had a great time and wore themselves out! Thanks to Grammy and Papa for helping out.





And Mr. Kyle got his requested Star Wars cake. I think he was pleased :)





And of course he got lots of great presents.



And Ryan even got one too....



And finally celebration #4 and #5. This was the day of his actual birthday, September 22nd! He started off celebrating with his friends at school. He brought in some special treats for everyone. Here he is with his cool birthday sticker he got from his teacher. So proud!



Then we had a little family celebration that evening. I was told he wanted a car cake for this birthday. Little did I know this was a "different" birthday, so a piece of the Star Wars cake just wasn't going to cut it. Of course, this mommy couldn't disappoint. So, here's my car creation and one happy boy!



And here Kyle is with his present from Mommy and Daddy! A big boy bike! He loved it!



Oh, and I forgot one more thing. This might count as celebration #6! Grammy and Papa's present didn't quite make it in time for the birthday party, so they brought with them the next week. Here it is! How could he not love this! It even has a radio! And yes, Papa bought a Ford product! Can you believe it? I guess anything for those grandkids!



Check out Ryan! He just rides along with his arm out the window. This is my glimpse into the future when they're 16 and 14. Later mom!

Well, Happy 4th Birthday Kyle! It's been a great year! We love you!

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