This Makes Me Smile...

This little lovin' makes me smile.
Baby sister loves to hug and kiss all over Ryan. If he is upset, she runs over to him and starts smoochin' on him. It's about the sweetest little thing to me.

On another smiley note, the kids start preschool tomorrow. You know what this mean happens in the fantasy I am playing in my head? This means LOTS of wonderful stuff happens around the house...
...I have time to actually start cooking again and dinner is no longer cheese roll-ups, carrot sticks and pudding.
...The clothing in our closets which is no longer worn or is outgrown (hopefully the outgrown part is just in the case of the kids clothes!) is removed.
...The spices which have been residing in the lazy susan for, oh, five years are thrown out!
...The kitchen desk files are cleaned out.
...I actually have time to order some of the pics from our trips this summer so we can frame/hang them!
...The office is organized. (Aughhhh).
...The house gets a mega cleaning--not just a wipe down, but a good ol' real scrubbin!

I can't wait!!! But in the meantime, I think I'll start the morning off with a celebratory breakfast with the other moms. =)

Cardinal Fever

Jeff had planned to bring Ry to the game today-father/son type of outing- and then we were blessed with extra tickets, so Julia and I joined them. (Thanks Darren and Erica!)

The new-ish Busch Stadium.

The kids did great sitting through nearly the entire game. I think the hotdogs, pretzels and cotton candy Daddy kept spoiling them with helped some. =)
Julia was not the greatest fan, however. She didn't like the roaring clapping crowd. ("Too loud, Mommy!" Please tell me we don't have another child with sensory issues!) So when the Cards made a good play, and people were standing up screaming and cheering, she buried her face in me and covered her ears asking if we could go inside.

Lions and Tigers and Bears--Oh My!

I am in denial that preschool starts next week! Excited, but also sad this means summer is quickly coming to an end and my babies are getting older. This morning we decided to head to the zoo to get in a bit more "summer fun" with some friends before routine starts next week!

Julia has no fear. =)

Taran helps Julia, Jake and Ry check out the cool hippo that was swimming circles right past us. I can't believe I didn't get a photo as the hippo swam by right in front of us. It was very very awesome. (Awesome is also now Julia's new favorite word. She's still learning how to use it though. This morning I changed her diaper and she looked at me and said, "Awesome, Mommy!")

Old Mr. Turtle took a nap...something we were having too much fun to stop and do!

The train ride was Ryan's favorite part of the day - of course!

Bye, Left Ear Tube!

"Um, mom, you know that yellow thing in my ear? It fell out and I lost it behind the bed!!" These were the words I woke up to this morning. The yellow thing was actually white, and after pulling out the bed in curiosity and searching like a crazy woman, I found his ear tube! (The measurements below are in cm).

At our last ENT visit, the doc said that Ry's tubes had detached from the eardrum and we were just waiting for them to naturally work their way out. I was hoping we'd know when they did so, because I was really curious to see this little device that has saved us these past two years from so many infections-dr. visits-antibiotics-sleepless nights-cranky boys-missed preschool-etc! Amazing!

The Puppy Man

When this guy pulled up this morning
to drop off a box, the kids ran to the
door saying, "The puppy man is here!"
Understandably, to nonreaders. =)

Happy 2 1/2, Julia!

My mom never misses a chance for a celebration--so of course, she reminded me that it was time for Julia's 2 1/2 party!

Tyler, Papa and Julia enjoy time together in the pool.

Aunt Krista and the birthday girl!

Ryan chilaxin!

Time for presents and sugar! =)

Grandma's Favorite Quote

My grandparents LOVE seeing the kids, and if a week goes by they miss them and are calling to see when we can get together. This morning we drove to their house, and the kids were entertained when Grandma gave them each a fly swatter to kill sweat bees in her backyard that continued landing on their lawn chairs.

Later in our visit, Ry had scratched a scab off his leg and it started to bleed. Grandma brought him inside to get him cleaned up and a band-aid. She tells me as she was wiping his leg off, he was looking intently at her and the following ensued:

Ry: Grandma, you are handsome!
Grandma: What?
Ry: Yeah, you are so cute!

She tells me this made her day, year, century...

Isn't it so sweet how Ry sees beauty at the age of 4? It's not as the world defines beauty. But she was serving him, and in that moment, he was stuck with her beauty-or handsomeness! =)

Butterfly House

Today we headed to the Butterfly House (great idea, Aunt Amy!)

The boys check out a snail.

Julia: All you have to do is try J&J Baby Shampoo, and you too, can have body like this! =)

And the award for "Most Fake Smile" goes to....

Uncle Jeff and Aunt Amy sweat it out in the butterfly house.

(Humidity = 98%).

My knight in shining armor has finally arrived....or my daddy on a purple dino!

Baby Lucas tries out a slide for the first time. He's not a huge fan.

What a great day!

Showers & Birthdays

Happy baby shower, Aunt Beth! We can't wait to meet our new neice or nephew!

Happy 26, Aunt Stacy!

Slumber Party

The kids have been begging to go camping.

(ummm..not gonna happen...let's just say: last family camping trip + mommy locked in port-a-potty + 2 yr old Ryan on the loose alone + 1 diarrea diaper + lots of bugs/spiders = never ever doing this again!)

Tonight while I had a GNO, Jeff let them try out their new sleeping bags on the floor in Ry's room.

Star Gazing

After Daddy's softball game and an ice cream treat, the kids stall to stay up even later. Ry begs Jeff, "Please can we go out and look at the stars?" Daddy, who was out of town all week and just returned home, agrees.

Glad you are home!

Those Crazy Kids...and Chalk!

Does this look like something creative to you?
Think sidewalk chalk...with bottled water poured over it...

Smashed up by a 4 yr old's bike tires...
Riding circles around and around and around my car inside the garage.

And, voila...the garage floor has been "painted". (These photos are after I have already tried to sweep out the chalk/chunks!)
"Look, Mommy! Isn't it pretty!?"

Editors note: In case you are wondering, I was in the front yard trimming the bushes and Julia was innocently taking her afternoon nap. I saw what Ry was doing shortly after he started but realized it seemed messy but fairly harmless so I let him continue...and it sure did keep him occupied for a long time!

Those Crazy Kids...and Bubbles!

When you send the kids up to start getting ready for bed....
(by themselves)
They might get distracted by the handsoap...

This pic does not do it justice...the sink was overflowing over the counter all over the floor. (On the bright side, this floor needed a good scrubbing anyhow!)
Ry looked at me and said "But I thought it was a great idea, Mommy!"

...And how can you be mad about this?

Fun Mail

On a recent phone conversation with Grandma, Ry requested that Grandma send him some candy. (Our boy will try about any tactic he can to get a treat!) He knew he hit the jackpot when he put this request in with Grandma...she loves to spoil her RyRy! It wasn't a big surprise to me when a fun package arrived shortly after this conversation...she'd carefully bubble wrapped packages of M&Ms and other sugar fun for the kids, along with some ladybug designs for Julia and astronaut designs for Ryan to stick on the window.

Goodbye Grumpy.

We got some sad news at the end of our Vegas trip...Grumpy (Great Grandpa Hettinger) passed away on August 1, 2009. Although we didn't get to visit with him too often, Grumpy was one of Ryan's favorite people. He talked about him often, and would ask me when he was going to get to see Grumpy again. (He lived in Chicago). Grumpy would make a growling sound that the kids loved, and he had "cool stuff" on his walker according to Ryan- blinking lights and a horn the kids loved to honk over and over and over.
In case you are wondering, I have no idea how Grumpy got his nickname...he had a great sense of humor and never seemed grumpy to me! =)

Here is a picture of the two buddies bonding over some M&Ms (thanks Kathy!) on a recent (and last) visit to Chicago on June 21.

This photo is from a visit in October 2008 when Kathy and Grumpy came down for a visit and we met at MacDonalds for breakfast.

Grumpy's funeral was held on Wednesday, August 5, 2009. His grandchildren were pallbearers, and Ryan wanted to help out as well, so he "held" up the rear of the casket helping out daddy and his cousins.

In preparation for the day, I'd gone to the library and checked out some books for Ry about death. So, he did have some understanding. He didn't seem afraid at all, and he didn't cry. At the wake, he told me he wanted to go see Grumpy, and he went right up to his casket (Ryan called this his treasure chest for some reason) and held his hand and then flew a toy airplane he had in his pocket all around Grumpy, letting it come to rest on his tie lapel.

A few days before the funeral, Ryan told me that he wanted to make a letter to put on top of Grumpy's casket so that they would not dig up Grumpy and take him. I have no idea where he got that idea from (church, where they thought maybe thieves had stolen Jesus' body?) but he seemed to forget about it later, and we never did this.

While I think Julia won't ever remember much of this day, she did have a little idea of what was going on. She told me she wanted to see Grumpy, so we walked up to the casket, and she said "Bye, bye Grumpy" while waving to him.

Grumpy will be missed!

Vegas!

Jeff had a conference and meeting here this week for work. I decided to tag along! Thanks to my parents, Amy & Jeff, Patrick & Crystal and Grandma & Grandpa Schuette who all pitched in helping to watch the kids, we were FREE! =)

SO...what does a girl do with no babies and a husband in a conference all day? I slept in, I shopped, I sat by the pool, I got in the pool (it was 115 F one day!), I people watched, I read 2 books, I ate food I didn't prepare (and didn't have a hot dog or mac n' cheese all week!) and shopped some more! It was AMAZING.

Then I'd meet up with Jeff in the evenings for dinner and such...what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right? (kidding!).