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!

Happy New Year

January 1, 2013
We rang in the new year with John's you get brother, Andy, Brittany & my niece Myella. To prep the boys & I made new year hats, noise makers and a cake. We had fun doing it and we all looked soooo good!

The kids stayed up till 10 & all fell asleep nicely. Ryan woke up for a brief hello & a picture. We chatted thru the evening and noticed at 11:58 that midnight was close. We got champagne in glasses, hats on, noisemakers ready & grapes prepped to eat (a fun tradition to eat 12 grapes within the 10-second countdown).....by 12:05. So we did our own countdown, ate the grapes....Andy & Brittany were incredibly fast....all 12 down while I was on number 5.

We went to bed & woke up with a lovely breakfast. Stayed for a bit, then headed home. It was a great way to bring in the new year!

Will post more....

I recently inherited a few of my Papa's journals (my moms dad). He journaled everyday for SO many years. I'll ask my mom when he started. Anywho, reading through some of them gave me a renewed energy. Even if my post if just a picture or a couple sentences, I will do it. It is so nice to look back & see what he was thinking.

So here goes nothin...let's see how close to daily I can get....