Drinking Straw Competition

Basketball

Logan started basketball yesterday.  For whatever reason, this was the sport he chose.  We probably should've practiced a bit before it started, but this way, he's bound to get Most Improved Player. :)

He did great & tried to dribble really hard...the coach was great.  Most of the other kids could dribble fairly well or at least didn't chase their ball as much as Logan, but he would stop to help him & was super encouraging. :)

John took Logan to Target last night after work & they got a youth-sized basketball so he can practice at home. Per his Daddy's suggestion, he slept with his basketball....so cute.

We have 6 more weeks....so here's to hoping he continues to love it every week!

Their stretches...Logan is in the orange shorts near the front. :)

Stingray

Carter: (after having pooped, he called me in to wipe his butt.  I 'm not allowed to stand there cuz he needs his "privaseat".). "Mom, if you don't wipe my butt I might get a stingray".

Me: you mean a skid mark?

Carter: no a stingray.

Me: what is a stingray?

Carter: some poop in your underwear

Me: yeah, it's called a skid mark.

He just cracks me up!!!

Mmmmm....pancakes

Weight issue for this lil guy?  I think not.  This is his 5th pancake!

Because we love them so much (John is the only one that doesn't 'love' them), I've experimented with ways to make them healthier and the boys continue to shovel them down & ask for more! I may have to start making a recipe & a half....

I use ground up oat flour that I did in my magic bullet instead of enriched white, pumpkin or sweet potato purée (magic bullet again), coconut oil instead of canola & we always do blueberry or strawberry pancakes.  Oh and today I used half vanilla almond milk/half 2% regular.  I need to perfect a berry syrup recipe, but for now they only use a little of light syrup anywho...

Zoo Day

Yesterday we headed to the zoo with my good friend, Jen & her 3 boys.  It was gorgeous weather & all the boys had a great time!  Ryan was a lil under the weather & also enjoyed standing in the wagon....but eventually that cutie laid back & took a rest. :)

3 in a wagon...here we go!

Checking out the fish & sharks

Boys will always find an obstacle course...

A highlight for Ryan & Ash - being set free on the playground!

A highlight for the older boys: war hung the coins spin around.  Another highlight I didn't catch on camera....a Bison peeing while another bison came up behind him & drank it like it was a waterfall....GROSS!!

Sweetie Vann was shading a sleeping Ryan while we walked in a sunny area. :)

St. Louis

We decided we wanted to start showing the boys more vacations than just beaches & Disney (though those are great). :). St. Louis is in driving distance & had some fun things. 

We saw the Museum of Transportation - a bunch of trains that the boys got to climb on & ring the bell.  They loved it!

It closed at 4, so we went to the next suggestion ... Granny's Farm.  It was closed already, so we headed next door as we saw an information center & a pretty green house behind it.  Lo & behold it was President Grants house!  So we toured it real quick before it closed....  

The boys checked out the ol' chicken coup...

And we saw their refrigerator house!

We also checked out the museum; I read old letters they sent back & forth; Logan & carter tried on old clothes & Ryan took a break...

We then headed to the hotel.  The boys had a blast playing on the motorcycle video games.  Best part - they don't care about playing them....just sitting on them.  Free games!!

I love that when another kid wanted a real turn, they shared!!

This hotel had milk & cookie hour - so yummy!!!!  Then the boys played upstairs & we headed to bed.  What a fun day!

Fatten this boy up!

Ryan had his 15-month appt today.  Since it was at 6pm, John not only offered to come home early so all the boys would have to go but he took Ryan.  This was Johns first time taking a kid to the doctor.  It went well & he even witnessed Ryan get 2 shots.

Though....I am going to call the office tomorrow as I have a discrepancy on his height & a question about the weight.  This whole 'adjusted scale preemie' business is what is confusing.  He is: 30" tall & 18 lbs 15 oz.  What is funny is that Logan was 1" shorter & 1 oz. heavier at 6 months old!!!

I did obsess over Ryan's percentages (5% for weight & 12% for height)...I am pretty sure those are not his adjusted age.  Regardless, I busted out the yardstick & think they mis-measured him by a good half inch.  I know it is not exact, it is just hard for me to believe that he only grew an inch in 3 months.

Perhaps I'm just crazy cuz I didn't take him.  It was the weirdest feeling watching John pull away with my baby.  Even Carter watched then pull away & came back up to me crying cuz he was worried about baby Ry guy.  So cute.

Anyway....regardless of things....I think I need to fatten this boy up!!!  So right before bed, I gave this kid a cookie.  And this is how he ate it...  Strange & he took

Forever, but he got it down & chugged some milk.  Hopefully project beef up the baby works. :). Though to me he is truly perfect.  

What is not to love about this kid...

Busy Ryan

Ryan has been very busy these days crawling everywhere, playing in Buddy's food & water bowl, putting random things in his mouth, attempting stairs & pulling books off the shelf.  I love this little man so much I don't mind restocking the bookshelves several times a day!

Trick complete

These past few weeks Ryan has learned how to get from a laying down to a sitting position, but today he did it in his crib! So proud if the lil man learning so many things.

Ryan's First Haircut

True - Ryan doesn't have a ton of hair, but the hair he had was growing long over his ears & hanging long in some places & driving me a bit crazy in pictures. So off to KidSnips we went!

I was surprised at how well he sat for his quickie cut. He loved driving the police car that he was sitting in and watching Team Umizoomi on the TV, though he was also interested in Amy ( the hair dresser)'s name tag and was just looking around. It was very cute. He looked like such a big boy!!

They kept his first lock of hair & gave us an official certificate for his baby book. Love it! :)

Spring!

While the older two napped, Ryan & I spent some time outside. He enjoyed some time on a blanket & probably didn't need his fleece......while I did not enjoy picking up the endless piles of dog poop. :(

I love love love his cheesy face!

Carter

L: Mommy be the dinosaur & say ROAR!
Me: ROAR (at first quiet, the loud)
C: mommy, stop....you need to be a little dinosaur. You don't want to scare Ryan.

Good point, Carter.

At bathtime tonight Carter was taking my pretend picture with his bath camera. I posed several times (trying to set a good example with how often I take their pictures). He looked at it and said, Mommy the camera says your beautiful.

Oh, I love that little man so very much!!!

A piece of my day

I'm feeding Ryan in the recliner. I notice is almost 1 PM. I told Carter to go potty and wipe off his face now because I forgot to do it after lunch. Carter does. He notices a couple of drops of pee landed on his pants; he comes to show me. I tell him to go change his pants. He goes to get a pair of jeans and shows me. They are Logans. I told him to go back and get a pair of his jeans. He does. He then notices that he has a couple of drips on his underwear. He decides he needs to change those too so he takes his underwear off and grabs a fresh pair of underwear. He comes to me and has them on.... backwards. I tell him they are backwards, to take them off and turn them around. He does take them off. Instead of turning around he turns it inside out and he puts it back on. I told him that they are again inside-out take them off and fix him. He fixes them and puts them on backwards again and put both legs through one leg. He bursts out in laughter. He then fixes that, but they are now inside out again. I call Logan over to help. He gets them all set. Carter puts them on backwards. Logan helps again and we have achieved success. Yay!

Now, the pants. He manages to squeeze (he's a growing boy & the pair he picked a pair that is getting snug) them on. I help him button those (it is a slide clasp; kinda tricky). Victory!

I notice his face is still a mess. I tell him to go wipe it off again. Off he trots. Water turns on. Wiping happens. Mom.....I have too much water on my Arm. What?! He goes to get a different shirt as the arm is soaked!

Repeat underwear process for the shirt, including Logan helping. Not ever inside out but backwards many times. At one point Logan gave up, but came back. They finally got the shirt on!

Carter's face is still messy. By this time I was done feeding Ryan, so I took him into the bathroom and showed him what I wanted him to do in the first place. I wiped off his face; it was now clean. I told him to go take a nap with Tao and he asked for 10 more minutes. We negotiated for about one minute and he finally laid down. I changed Ryan's diaper and came back to read him a book as part of the negotiation; he was already asleep.

Yeah, you could say that exchange was a bit exhausting. It was funny too....however at the end he scored a nap and I didn't. Hmmm...

I love it all though. :)

Love FaceTime

We FaceTimed with Grandma Battermann & Aunt Sandy tonight. Logan was sleeping & Ryan was splashing like crazy in the bathtub (seriously, I should wear a poncho).

Carter just took the iPad, sat in his recliner & chatter away. Too cute!

My troop

We took a group shot (minus daddy & buddy) to send to aunt dawn today since we opted not to visit her during a weather snow/ice storm....and the pic turned out pretty cute! We did a a silly one too because that's just how we roll! :)

...and for my next trick...

Ripping off my bib! Who needs these things anyway??

Good boys

Today I finally got some of the recalls on my van taken care of. While I packed snacks, games & electronic devices, the boys mostly played with the blocks table in the waiting room at the dealership. The wait was supposed to be 1.5 hours but instead was 1 hour....nice! And when we left, the room full of adults that only some interacted with my kids, complimented their behavior. Score!! I felt pretty proud and got outta there as quickly as I could before that changed. :)

Ryan also sat up in his stroller for the first time...and wore shoes for the first time! What a big day...all at the dealership. :)

The Boys

Ryan is such a cutie. Today while changing his diaper, I noticed him studying Buddy. Such a character.

Lately he enjoys hitting people & hisself. His arms just go crazy and start slapping down: it's funny....but painful if you are close by. :)

Another pic is of Ryan & John having fun before dinner.

The older two have been enjoying doing worksheets during school time of which Logan has started doing some addition (pictured - we are using crayons to add. we've also used oranges, marshmallows, m&m's). They enjoy using their imaginations like crazy any other time. My sister warned me that with the type if couch I have, my cushions would be off my couch a lot. She was right, but the boys aren't abusive with them....they make forts & bridges...it's so fun watching them play.

My crazies

Me: Boys in about 10 minutes it's time to get all soaped up. (they are in the bathtub)

Logan: awwww....but mom, soap makes me crazy!!

Yeah. That's what makes you crazy.

One of Carter's new favorite sayings: aw, nuts! And one of his favorite things to do is shake his head back & forth real fast...now that is some crazy!

Hi Baby Ryan

I was having dinner with some fabulous ladies I used to work with last night and we all take turns catching each other up on our lives. While I was discussing my boys I was glad that I can still say that they play so well together. Never all the time, but definitely most of the time. But I have to say that towards Ryan they have never, not once (knock on wood) had any ill will towards him. When they see him, they out on these sweet, angelic, baby voices and say 'Hi, baby Ryan'. It really is very sweet. If he fusses, they bring him a you or try to entertain him. I sure hope this continues, though I know there will come a time when they will all be rough & rumble little men. :).

Here are some random pics from this morning. Play & school (Logan concentrating on cutting straight & Carter coloring....with his left hand. I haven't noticed this much before; we'll see where it takes us).

Oh and yes....I do remind the boys the his name is Ryan....not baby Ryan. :)

Pictures & planes

Today the boys played wonderfully together while I started our picture organization. We have over 45,000 photos. Scary. The thing is , there are many duplicates or just not-so-great pictures.

I decided to start with Logan's birth....that 'a when the craziness of pictures happened. I spent an hour & 20ish minutes and deleted 971 pictures!!!!! Can you believe it?!? And that was only November & December of 2008. It was Logan's birth, thanksgiving, Christmas, his baptism & new year....so a lot going on. It felt great to get that little bit decluttered.

In other news, I am working on several cutsie things for Carter's 3rd birthday party. I'm drawing airplanes, making signs & planning food/games. I sooo love planning parties - all of it!

A boy & his dog

Logan loves Buddy and all, but Carter....Carter loves that crazy dog! As I've sat here feeding Ryan, Carter has entertained Buddy with a flashing light ( to which buddy goes nutso)....but it sent Carter into a fit of giggles....so cute to hear!

A fun visit

January 2, 2013
Today my mom, sister & nephews, TJ & Michael came up for a visit. After Ryan went down for a nap, TJ & Michael babysat/played with Logan & Carter while we went to a local antique/jewelery/boutique type store. A half hour visit quickly turned into an hour.... My mom, sis & I had so much fun checking this stuff out...and trying things on. When we left we all bought a pair of sunglasses, Dawn & I each bought a fashion hat and I bought the boys a nightstand for their room ( the true reason for the visit).

We brought it home and Logan 'helped' TJ & Michael bring the nightstand up the stairs. Logan was all 'okay, that's it; be careful'. It was very cute. Papa then showed up and hung out for a bit.

It was a lovely visit....we can't wait for their summer break to do it more often....and for Grandma to retire!