9 Months Old

Ok, so we skipped 8 months. We'll just catch up here! At 8 months, she went from roly poly to the backwards scooter. She would get up on all fours and then just scoot backwards, usually ending up stuck in a corner, under a table, or with her legs under the couch :) Katie turned 9 months on December 16th and 3 days later, she was crawling (forward)! Not only has she learned to crawl, but she is now waving Hi and pulling up to her knees. She's also saying Baba (we working on the Mama and Dada). She also got her two top front teeth, so we're up to 4 now. It seems like in just a short period of time she is growing up so quick. She loves sitting there playing with her toys and banging things together. She loves to watch her brothers run around and they love playing with her and keeping her safe from anything she isn't supposed to have. She's now decided that the baby food is not all that and enjoys spitting it out and spraying everything and everyone within a 3 foot radius. She totally does this on purpose and just waits for your reaction. Daddy loves this and she knows it :) I usually shake my head and tell her "No", trying my best not to laugh at her cute little devious face. So, then she decided to spice it up and shaking her head "no" too after spitting! Thanks Katie. And yes, she still is the happiest baby ever! Ooh, and I almost forget to mention she had her first trip to the ER. She ended up catching the virus her brothers had. We share the love around here. She had a really high temperature and when the fever broke, it dipped pretty low. She ended up "warming" up on her own after several hours, but we were pretty worried about her. She's a tough little cookie, the nurses loved her. She also had her 9 month check up this month and is keeping it steady at the 97th percentile for weight, at 24.5 lbs. It's been an exciting month, can't wait to see what's next.

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Happy Birthday Daddy!

Somewhere, amongst all of the birthday celebrations and Thanksgiving, we managed to give Daddy his props for turning 35 this year! Ahhh....the mid 30's. Welcome to my club :) Anyway, we couldn't let his birthday go by without his own cake, of course. This year... a homemade peanut butter pie! Yummy! I love how all of the kids, even Katie, are staring at the pie!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband! I love you with all of my heart!

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I'm 3, Yippee!!!

My little Ryan turned 3 this November. Hard to believe. He's really matured so much over the last few months, it's amazing. He loves school and is doing so well. He's really into puzzles, books, the computer, dinosaurs and dragons these days. He's also a really great story teller and he has an amazing memory, just like his brother. He's growing up so fast and becoming so independent. We're so proud of him!

Well, he had a pretty sweet birthday this year, lots of celebrations. I think he might be the winner for the most celebrations to date. It's kind of getting out of hand, I mean, a birthday is supposed to be a birthDAY, right? We apparently are still celebrating birthweeks around here. We started off celebrating with Grammy and Papa. They were in town for the big party, but we had our own little celebration with them.

Ryan got this birthday card that sang, "Happy Birthday to Ryan!". Well, he just loved it. Can you tell? We heard "Happy Birthday to Ryan" for weeks and it made him smile every time. Oh, did I mention he expected us to sing along with it every time too :)



He got some great stuff, but I think the highlight was that he finally got his very own treasure box. Kyle had gotten one for his birthday and someone has been jealous ever since. Who would've thought a little wooden box with their name on it would be so much fun. They collect all kinds of "treasures" and put them in their boxes. Don't they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure? Very true :)



Moving on to celebration #2. We actually did a joint party with his friend Ella who has a birthday around the same time. They run in the same circles, so we thought, why not have everyone together at one time! It was great! We had it at a place called Romp-n- Roll where they can pretty much do that..... romp and roll.











Both Ella and Ryan had their own cakes. Ryan's was of course related to Buzz Lightyear, a Toy Story cake, and Ella went with the lovely Ariel. We had more cake than we knew what to do with, but you didn't hear me complaining, you know I love cake! Our good friend Toni actually made Ryan's cake and it turned out AMAZING!





The kids had such a good time!

Then Nana and G-Daddy came into town over Thanksgiving, so we celebrated, yet again. That's #3. We got all decked out with Thomas the Train this time and had a pizza party.





Kyle and Daddy had some fun too!



Ryan got lots of great stuff, but he was super happy to finally have his own camera. Mommy might have been happier, now I don't have to hear the fighting over the one we have. He loves to go around the house taking pictures of everything. Now it's payback, I'm the one saying cheese all the time :)

Then came his actual birthday, November 28th! If you're still counting, that would be celebration #4. We invited some of our friends and neighbors over to help celebrate. This time we went with a dinosaur theme. Can we say Out. Of. Control.



Anyway, we all had a good time. Ryan enjoyed the green icing a little too much, don't you think?



Ryan got so many great presents from our family and friends. He's one lucky boy! Mommy and Daddy decided he needed his own Leapster now that he's 3! He was pretty excited!



Here we are showing him how to use it :)



And the 5th and final celebration.....the celebration at school. I sent in cupcakes for the kids.... nice, super, messy, chocolatey ones:) Daddy surprised Ryan at school and came in to eat lunch with him and read the class a story. He LOVED it! He's still talking about it! He got this birthday crown and sticker from his teachers at school, which we still have floating around the house :)



5 celebrations, 4 cakes and a bunch of cupcakes later, he's 3 years old! Happy 3rd Birthday Ryan! We love you so very much!

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Contest

I should be updating my blog, considering I haven't made it past Halloween, but instead I'm going to be participating in the Invisalign Teen Bright Smiles Holiday Photo Contest with Dumb Mom for a chance to win a $250 Amazon gift code. Check it out at.... Invisalign Teen Bright Smiles Holiday Photo Contest.

So, here's my little Ryan with his quirky little watermelon face that just makes me smile every time I look at it!

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'Tis the Season

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Happy Halloween 2010

As usual, it was a struggle committing to the costume. When we finally did, we had one strawberry, one Buzz Lightyear and one Woody, both from Toy Story. Oops...Woody costume now sold out. Oops...Buzz lightyear wings sold out. Ebay came to the rescue on the wings, but not the Woody costume. So, we settled on Batman. I was a little worried that he would change his mind after I had ordered it, considering his aversion to blue these days. Have I mentioned that before? For some reason, Kyle just up and decided that he DID NOT like the color blue. Turquoise blue is ok. Regular blue, as he calls it, is NOT! That means no blue cups, no blue snack bowls, no blue anything. Anyway, we went with it and all was good when it arrived! Phew!

We started off the Halloween festivities 2 weeks early with our annual trunk or treat! Nana even got to join in on the fun this year! The kids had a ball going from car to car. Ryan was the leader, that kid was on a mission this year.....get as much candy as possible. His Motto, "Screw the little Halloween pencils, spiders (a.k.a. non candy items) and give me a stinkin' lollipop!" Something about lollipops this year, he was all over it.

Then, the week before Halloween, the kids had their parties at school. Kyle's class is too cool for the parents now that they're the big kids of the school. We just had to send stuff in, so I quick took this pic of him with one of his teachers when I dropped him off in the morning!



Ryan's school on the other hand had a big to do and all the parents were invited! Grammy got to join in on this one. It was fun to see all of the kids in their costumes. They all paraded in and sang us a few songs. Ryan had been singing his Black Cat song for a couple of weeks, but when it came down to show time, he was too busy trying to whack everyone with his wings!





Afterwards, the kids indulged in lots of treats and had a chance to run off all that sugar on the playground!



Mommy even got to go to a Halloween party this year! Daddy was in England for two weeks during all of this, but fortunately, he made it back the day before Halloween. Anyway, Auntie Julie and I decided to go out to a party. Let me tell you....adult costumes are are a rip-off! So, I justified my costume with the fact that the boys could play with the accessories :) They thought it was pretty cool, as you can see. They ran and got their gear on. Don't you love Ryan's boots? He wears those around the house All. The. Time.





And finally......Halloween night! I thought it would never come. We carved our pumpkins, of course. Kyle helped dig his out, but Ryan wasn't too keen on getting his hands dirty. Here they are from left to right: Mommy and Daddy's, Kyle's, Ryan's, and Katie's.





We trick-or-treated this year with a couple of their buddies. I don't think anyone was excited to go :)





They had so much fun going from door-to-door. They lasted a good 2 hours or so. Here they are sorting through their loot!





I was actually a little disappointed this year. It seemed like there were more dark houses this year and a lot of houses that ran out of candy. I really shouldn't be complaining since they got more than enough candy, but it's Halloween people! We don't even trick-or-treat in our own neighborhood anymore for that reason.

Well, I must tell you that I'm good for another 365 days as far as Halloween goes. Happy Halloween!

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The Missing Tooth

It's been a long time coming. I think it was just about 6 months ago, we were at the dentist and he told us that Kyle had a loose tooth. Well, it finally came out. I picked him up from school and half way home, he said his tooth came out. I asked him if he had it and he said no, it must have fallen in his seat. So, I told him not to move and we'd get it when we got home. Well, I searched all over and couldn't find it. Come to find out, he thinks it may have fallen out on the playground and he just noticed it when we got in the car :) Ok, no problem. Fortunately, moms think of these things way in advance. I told him a few weeks prior that if he lost it or if by chance he accidentally swallowed it, the tooth fairy would still come. Phew! Meltdown avoided. Score one for mom! So, we wrote her a letter, explaining what happened and tucked it under his pillow.

He was so excited! I'm surprised he fell asleep so quickly. The next morning he came running into my room with a note in one hand and a 5 dollar bill in the other! Yes, the going rate is no longer a quarter :) The note was from the tooth fairy thanking him and letting him know that she found it exactly where he had told her he had lost it. Again, so excited! Here he is....toothless!



The one right next to it is pretty wiggly, so I guess there's another $5 in his near future! One down, 19 to go! Yikes!

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