It's a MacWonderful Life

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Let's Catch Up

Here it is. The long awaited post. I guess I took a blogging vacation. Yes, Mother's Day was over 2 weeks ago! We did have a good Mother's Day here. It was nice to spend the day just doing stuff together and Rick tried to take the load off of me for the entire day which was much appreciated.

So, let's catch up.....

It seems like Ryan is growing up over night. He's been upping his vocabulary all of a sudden, despite having a 3 1/2 year old personal spokesman. I do have a couple of favorites. "Truck" is one. This he says with a lot of spit, but it's definitely his version of truck and no truck goes by without him letting us know. "Oh no" is another. This he says with the most concerned look on his face. Too cute! "oh maaaaaaan" is probably my most favorite. We all know who he got that one from. He seems to use this most when he gets his hands dirty and is wanting a napkin. I guess this proves he is my child. If you eat dinner with me often, say like my husband, you might notice that I tend to use a lot of napkins. Oh well, there are worse habits :) Ryan has now graduated to a fork and spoon as well. As you can see, we're still working on the spoon a bit!

Ryan has been doing great on his Gluten-free-free diet :) He's pretty much able to eat anything now, he just doesn't want it! He's at that picky eater stage, so if you set something new in front of him, he does this great move where he presses his back against his high chair and turns his head to the side to get as far away from the food as possible! Won't touch it. Seriously, this kid has no idea what he's missing. I'm talking food with flavor here! Oh well, I'm pretty sure we'll outgrow this sooner than later. He also decided recently, that milk just sucks! I've tried it in a bottle, in a sippy cup, and in a straw cup. I've tried it warm, cold, room temperature.....nothing. I've even tried chocolate milk....no dice. He actually spits it out when he realizes it's milk. What the heck? Yogurt is the only dairy I can get him to eat or drink. Did I mention the kid hates cheese too. So, it's a good thing they make drinkable yogurt now, at least I can switch it up a little :)

Ryan's new thing lately is trying on shoes. Not his own, always someone elses. He loves to clunk around in my flip-flops and these boats.

As for Kyle, he's been playing soccer after school once a week for the last couple of weeks. He absolutely loves it! So, I signed him up for a session over the summer too, so that Daddy can take him. Maybe he'll have his little soccer star afterall.

I gave the kids some watermelon the other day. Ryan actually ate this because it falls into the fruit category. Both boys love fruit. Kyle use to choose fruit over a cookie, but he's since wised up and realized he can have both :) When we were done, I pretty much had to hose them down along with the deck! Sticky, sticky, sticky!

The jeep has made some significant progress over the last few weeks. It is now driveable, well, at least in the neighborhood anyway. Still needs some tweaking, but way to go Rick! Kyle thinks this is the best thing in the world. He did get a ride up the driveway, so that was pretty cool.

Rick's Grandfather passed away last week. We're so sad to lose such a special man, but we know he's in a good place now. Hopefully he's up there doing what he loves, fishing for the big one! We also celebrated Memorial Day last week, which is fitting, since Rick's Grandfather was a WWII veteran. He was a member of the U.S. Army's 9th Armored Division and the 52nd Armored Infantry and had earned some very distinguished medals during his duty, including a purple heart. He had said long ago that he wanted Rick to have these, so we are now honored to have these in our posession. We love you Grandpa (and Great-Grandpa). We will miss you!

Nana and G-daddy came for a short visit last week on their way to and from Florida to take care of things for Rick's Grandfather. It was nice to see them, despite the circumstances. The kids loved having them here, as did we.

Ok, so I don't even know how many weeks are left since I've been MIA for a few weeks. So, here's the pic of my kids and I + one and the back of the dog :) I'll figure out where we are next week!

Phew....I'll try to keep up this time!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Happy Mother's Day!

This is for the 2 special moms in our lives that we love so very much! Happy Mother's Day!

WHAT IS A MOTHER?
by Katherine Nelson Davis

A mother is someone to shelter and guide us,
To love us, whatever we do,
With a warm understanding and infinite patience,
And wonderful gentleness, too.
How often a mother means swift reassurance
In soothing our small, childish fears,
How tenderly mothers watch over their children
And treasure them all through the years!
The heart of a mother is full of forgiveness
For any mistake, big or small,
And generous always in helping her family
Whose needs she has placed above all.
A mother can utter a word of compassion
And make all our cares fall away,
She can brighten a home with the sound of her laughter
And make life delightful and gay.
A mother possesses incredible wisdom
And wonderful insight and skill -
In each human heart is that one special corner
Which only a mother can fill!

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Gentlemen...start your engines!

Ok, how about your Mario Karts :) Kyle and Daddy broke out the Wii before bedtime tonight. Do you know that the person probably most excited about this ended up being Ryan! He sat right down next to Daddy and was cheering them on, having the best time. I took Ryan up to put his jammies on and afterwards he immediately wanted to go downstairs and finish watching the race. He sat his little butt right back next to Daddy. Here they are....the three musketeers!

On a side note, today was Day 2 of reintroducing gluten to Ryan's diet. The wheat product of choice was none other than every kid's staple snack food....Goldfish. He liked them, he didn't devour them like I thought he would, but he liked them. Here is happily eating them with his lunch. Let's hope he stays that way!

And of course, we can't forget about Kyle. We were at a recent trip to the grocery store and I asked him which yogurt he wanted and he begged me to get these squeezable cup things. No spoon involved. I don't know if someone at school had them or he saw them on TV. So, against my better judgement I bought them. This is why yogurt is meant to be eaten with a spoon.

I was going to pack these in his lunch for school, but I think we'll just save these for home :)

Monday, May 4, 2009

Town Day

This weekend we took the kids to Town Day. They have a bunch of activities, rides, and things for the kids to do. Even Ryan found a ride just his size.

Kyle of course couldn't wait to get into the bounce house and go down the giant slide. There is nothing better than a bounce house in a 3 year old's eyes! I think he would bounce until he passed out if we would let him. They also got to see inside a fire truck, which is always a thrill for them. So, here's our 35 weeks to go: My kids and I....

After working up an appetite, we got some lunch. Here's Daddy and Kyle finishing off the funnel cake and a few grapes (the only healthy thing we had all day).

Then we headed home. We didn't make it too far before they both zonked out in the back seat!

It was a fun afternoon!

Monday, April 27, 2009

Fountain Fun

I took the boys to the fountains today to meet up with some of their friends. This was Ryan's first trip to the fountains. One word.....fearless! I remember having to coax Kyle to stick his foot in, let alone run through them. This kid just walked right in and had a blast. Check out the video.....

The water was a little cold. I had to keep toweling them off because they were shivering, but neither wanted to get out!

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Another year gone by

Somehow these birthdays just keep creeping up on me. I know it has nothing to do with these two little monsters sucking up my every minute :) So, now I'm 34, approaching those mid 30's all too quickly! Rick and I went to a nice dinner downtown last weekend to celebrate. On the way down in the car we were listening to a station that was playing songs from my late teenage years and early 20's. For a few moments I actually felt young again. You know, all dressed up, going down town, singing along to a good tune and then while eating dinner we watched all of the "12" year olds walk by heading to the bars. That's when I remembered I was 34 again. But, life is good at 34, I can't complain! No need to relive the past!

With my birthday came this beautiful summerlike weather. We've been playing outside a lot these days. Here's Ryan playing Peek-a-boo...

From April 2009

I couldn't resist taking this picture. She looked so pretty just sitting out in the middle of the yard keeping tabs on everything and everyone.

And here's our new favorite toy of the week! We were at a party this weekend and the kids were riding scooters. Kyle hopped on one and thought it was just too cool. Can you believe we don't already have one of these? If you have see our garage, you wouldn't believe it either. So, we actually scored one from our neighbor who was going to sell it in the yard sale.

From April 2009

He loves it. We were riding it this morning out in the dead end and Kyle says to me," Let's go back to the clubhouse." I thought for a minute and realized I had heard that somewhere before and then it clicked....Tigger and Pooh, of course! The Super Sleuths are on the case! In case you haven't kept up with your Tigger and Pooh, the characters in the modern day version turn into Super Sleuths who ride scooters through the Hundred Acre Wood to solve problems. So, I guess we'll call him Super Sleuth Kyle now.

And for those of you that know about my husband's latest project, the one near and dear to my heart.... the Jeep. Kyle "The Tough Guy Mechanic" decided to help out his Daddy today.