Today is Whitney's first day of first grade. She was so excited to be going all day!! She only had two kids from her class last year in her class this year. Lucky for her one of them was Hunter (be still Whit's heart!)! He happens to be her boyfriend, she tells me all the time about their future life. The funny thing is that Hunter talks the same way about Whitney. Apparently it was his idea that they live in Hawaii. I hope your 1st day is everything you imagined it to be!
Monday, August 30, 2010
1st Day of School
Today is Whitney's first day of first grade. She was so excited to be going all day!! She only had two kids from her class last year in her class this year. Lucky for her one of them was Hunter (be still Whit's heart!)! He happens to be her boyfriend, she tells me all the time about their future life. The funny thing is that Hunter talks the same way about Whitney. Apparently it was his idea that they live in Hawaii. I hope your 1st day is everything you imagined it to be!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Happy 3rd Birthday Ryan!!
Today we celebrated Ryan's birthday. We had a Spiderman birthday party. The kids had a great time. I snapped a few pictures then handed the camera to my mom so I could do my duties. Four hundred pictures later we have a very well documented 3rd birthday party! I'll go through them and post my favorites later, but right now I just wanted to post a quick happy birthday and an I love you to Ryan.
You have been so fun to have around these past 3 years. I love the funny things you say and do and the snuggle time you are still willing to give me!I love you most,
Mom!
Summer Fun
We have been having a rocking good time this summer. So good in fact that I have not had a moment to blog about it. Okay actually I have just not been in the blogging mood, but I have repented and here is a little run down of what we have been up to this summer.
In June we were able to take Jean along with Adee, Brad and their kids to Yellowstone. Jean went in August of last year with the exchange students. All the locals know this typically is not a good time to go if you want to see any animals, but they did see the beautiful scenery. He saw one bison and I can't remember what else, but it wasn't much. On our trip we saw herds of buffalo (affectionately called duffalo by Ryan). They were following the road from West to a meadow by the junction. What typically takes 20 minutes to drive took 1 hour. But, that was why we came so we weren't irritated like the honking cars behind us. 
Sorry but we can't just run over a 2000 lb animal and it's baby. It wouldn't be pretty! One of the perks of having to wait for them is that we were able to get up close and personal with the bison without having to leave the car.
We stayed the night in Gardner for easy access to the park in the morning. (It's closer to were the animals actually roam.) 
We saw mountain goats just outside of Gardner and two bears. Well, I have pictures of two bears but I did not go back into the park that evening or early in the morning. I opted to stay at the hotel to entertain the kids that didn't want to sit in the car anymore. (I live the closest so I can go back anytime.) So we'll have to have a count from Adrienne or Jean for the exact number of bears. I believe there was a baby in there too but since I didn't see it I don't remember what they told me.
I love taking new people through Yellowstone. My family has worked out a great system to maximize viewing on minimal time. We were able to see most of the main animals (yes we make people get up at 5 am, but that is when you see the most bears) as well as Mammoth,
Tower Falls, the Yellowstone Grand Canyon, the lake, and Old Faithful. This trip we omitted the stink pots because he saw those in August when no animals were about. There is still quite a bit we didn't make it to, but we hit the main attractions and gave Jean a good feel for what actually is Yellowstone.
While Tom and Jean went on the high adventure the kids and I went to the Hogle Zoo. There was a new baby elephant that was the highlight of the entire trip. But feeding the Giraffes was a close second. Talk about good timing at that exhibit. There was a zoo keeper there letting the kids give the giraffes a snack. Ryan just thought it was neat to watch. Whit got close but chickened out at the last second. That long black tongue was a bit creepy!!
July had two major events in our lives. First we finished the living room remodel. When I say finished I mean all the construction is done. It is not decorated and I only have two chairs in it and they need to be recovered. This project is pending a couch purchase. I had intended to re-stain the book case and redo the entry table but by the time I was finished, I was finished! If you know what I mean. I'll post pictures of it just as soon as I actually take them.
Second, after 11 months with us Jean flew home on the 8th of July. It was different not having him around. He just fit in. At first I felt super guilty for feeling sad because his mom hadn't seen him for a whole year! But then I felt justified because when she sent him to me she knew he would return in a year. I have no idea when we will see him again. The first week was strange, but we have kind of gotten into a routine again. Ryan still occasionally tells me that we needed to go get him and bring him home. And we still refer to the room downstairs as "Jean's room". Eventually it will just become the spare room again. What is funny is anytime we do something fun someone always says, "Oh, too bad Jean isn't here, he'd love this!" I decided that I did feel like his mom for the time he was here. Why, because the night he left I had nightmares about his plane and him not making it. It was horrible. I don't remember the details but the moment I woke up I looked at the clock and started counting the hours to figure out where he was and at what time I could expect an email from him letting me know he had made it safe. I found it funny that the poor kid had two mom's worrying about him on his return. He was almost in trouble when I didn't get an email in the time slot I had figured out. But I now blame my email because the time sent showed the time I had guessed but it just took 4 hours to get to me! Jean is such a good kid and just made hosting a great experience. The best part is that we now have a reason to go visit Switzerland and a personal guide! Woo hoo!
I almost forgot! There were actually 3 big events in our lives in July. Ryan is potty trained!!!!!!!! We are now officially a diaper free family. It is such a nice feeling. Because he is small for his age I had not got any of the unsolicited advise from others about the fact that he was almost three and still in diapers. So about a week after Jean left I looked at Ryan and realized he was almost three and it was time to get the whole potty thing taken care of. Not that we hadn't tried to introduce the idea before. He was actually deathly afraid of the toilet. He didn't want to get close to the thing and if I tried or even suggested he get on it he would scream his guts out. That is not an exaggeration he did actually scream his guts out. I had to clean them up off of the floor! It was a mess and explains why we waited so long. Quite honestly, I am glad we did. He was a breeze. He caught on very quickly and is even going through the night without any accidents. So how did we get over the fear. We did a few practice runs. He sat on the potty with the lid down and his clothes on but still got to throw in toilet paper and flush it! We slowly (about 15 minutes later) worked our way to sitting on the toilet with the lid up and finally without the clothes. He switched to underwear that day and he hasn't gone back!
Okay there is a lot more to tell you but this post is getting a bit long and really how do you top the whole potty thing. Everything else just seems anti-climatic! Well, to me anyway. That's what you get when you are a mom.
In June we were able to take Jean along with Adee, Brad and their kids to Yellowstone. Jean went in August of last year with the exchange students. All the locals know this typically is not a good time to go if you want to see any animals, but they did see the beautiful scenery. He saw one bison and I can't remember what else, but it wasn't much. On our trip we saw herds of buffalo (affectionately called duffalo by Ryan). They were following the road from West to a meadow by the junction. What typically takes 20 minutes to drive took 1 hour. But, that was why we came so we weren't irritated like the honking cars behind us. 
Sorry but we can't just run over a 2000 lb animal and it's baby. It wouldn't be pretty! One of the perks of having to wait for them is that we were able to get up close and personal with the bison without having to leave the car.
We stayed the night in Gardner for easy access to the park in the morning. (It's closer to were the animals actually roam.) 
We saw mountain goats just outside of Gardner and two bears. Well, I have pictures of two bears but I did not go back into the park that evening or early in the morning. I opted to stay at the hotel to entertain the kids that didn't want to sit in the car anymore. (I live the closest so I can go back anytime.) So we'll have to have a count from Adrienne or Jean for the exact number of bears. I believe there was a baby in there too but since I didn't see it I don't remember what they told me.
I love taking new people through Yellowstone. My family has worked out a great system to maximize viewing on minimal time. We were able to see most of the main animals (yes we make people get up at 5 am, but that is when you see the most bears) as well as Mammoth,
Tower Falls, the Yellowstone Grand Canyon, the lake, and Old Faithful. This trip we omitted the stink pots because he saw those in August when no animals were about. There is still quite a bit we didn't make it to, but we hit the main attractions and gave Jean a good feel for what actually is Yellowstone.While Tom and Jean went on the high adventure the kids and I went to the Hogle Zoo. There was a new baby elephant that was the highlight of the entire trip. But feeding the Giraffes was a close second. Talk about good timing at that exhibit. There was a zoo keeper there letting the kids give the giraffes a snack. Ryan just thought it was neat to watch. Whit got close but chickened out at the last second. That long black tongue was a bit creepy!!
July had two major events in our lives. First we finished the living room remodel. When I say finished I mean all the construction is done. It is not decorated and I only have two chairs in it and they need to be recovered. This project is pending a couch purchase. I had intended to re-stain the book case and redo the entry table but by the time I was finished, I was finished! If you know what I mean. I'll post pictures of it just as soon as I actually take them.
Second, after 11 months with us Jean flew home on the 8th of July. It was different not having him around. He just fit in. At first I felt super guilty for feeling sad because his mom hadn't seen him for a whole year! But then I felt justified because when she sent him to me she knew he would return in a year. I have no idea when we will see him again. The first week was strange, but we have kind of gotten into a routine again. Ryan still occasionally tells me that we needed to go get him and bring him home. And we still refer to the room downstairs as "Jean's room". Eventually it will just become the spare room again. What is funny is anytime we do something fun someone always says, "Oh, too bad Jean isn't here, he'd love this!" I decided that I did feel like his mom for the time he was here. Why, because the night he left I had nightmares about his plane and him not making it. It was horrible. I don't remember the details but the moment I woke up I looked at the clock and started counting the hours to figure out where he was and at what time I could expect an email from him letting me know he had made it safe. I found it funny that the poor kid had two mom's worrying about him on his return. He was almost in trouble when I didn't get an email in the time slot I had figured out. But I now blame my email because the time sent showed the time I had guessed but it just took 4 hours to get to me! Jean is such a good kid and just made hosting a great experience. The best part is that we now have a reason to go visit Switzerland and a personal guide! Woo hoo!
I almost forgot! There were actually 3 big events in our lives in July. Ryan is potty trained!!!!!!!! We are now officially a diaper free family. It is such a nice feeling. Because he is small for his age I had not got any of the unsolicited advise from others about the fact that he was almost three and still in diapers. So about a week after Jean left I looked at Ryan and realized he was almost three and it was time to get the whole potty thing taken care of. Not that we hadn't tried to introduce the idea before. He was actually deathly afraid of the toilet. He didn't want to get close to the thing and if I tried or even suggested he get on it he would scream his guts out. That is not an exaggeration he did actually scream his guts out. I had to clean them up off of the floor! It was a mess and explains why we waited so long. Quite honestly, I am glad we did. He was a breeze. He caught on very quickly and is even going through the night without any accidents. So how did we get over the fear. We did a few practice runs. He sat on the potty with the lid down and his clothes on but still got to throw in toilet paper and flush it! We slowly (about 15 minutes later) worked our way to sitting on the toilet with the lid up and finally without the clothes. He switched to underwear that day and he hasn't gone back!
Okay there is a lot more to tell you but this post is getting a bit long and really how do you top the whole potty thing. Everything else just seems anti-climatic! Well, to me anyway. That's what you get when you are a mom.
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