Out first Playdates!

Yesterday, a little boy named Graham and his mom spent a few hours at our home with Ryan and Pepere. Graham had a very hard time when he first started preschool and would cry and cry for his mom. Somehow, Miss Arlene thought Ryan would be a good fit with him and buddied them up. What a wonderful team they have made. Graham now loves preschool and they have become quite the good little buddies. Pepere had been trying to get them over for awhile now and they finally caved :). They had a GREAT time. Graham said he wants to come over everyday! Ryan was such a good little host. Pepere loved the adult conversation and made a nice new friend too. Mac tried to play with the boys but Graham is very quite and shy and I think her personality was a bit much for him at the time so she had to sit this one out. As soon as he left thought, Ryan ran next door and told her they were going to play outside. Ryan was running across the driveway and tripped over his new rain boots and took a digger. Good thing he had his helmet on. The only damage is a nice patch of road rash on his arm.

Today one of Ryan's other friends from school came over, Evan. His mom is wonderful and Pepere once again had a wonderful time. They played outside most of the time and really enjoyed themselves. Mac spent the afternoon with the boys and they were like 3 little angels. I am so glad that Pepere is willing to entertain all these woman. I am glad Ryan and Mac are getting a chance to play with lots of friends. I'm a little jealous I am stuck at work while everyone is having a great time though.

This age is just so much fun!!!!!

Just a brag

Everyday, I am so amazed at what we are doing/learning. I attribute a lot of what he has accomplished these past few months to the most wonderful school. I LOVE his school and his teachers and his friends and just everything about it. He is writing letters so well. He is writing out many 3 letter words on his own and can sound out almost any word up to 5/6 letters. I really don't feel like it will be long before he can take a simple book and read it all on his own. He is counting to 100 (so I'm told LOL) and is starting to write his numbers. He loves all of his friends so much and talks about them all the time. He is still in gymnastics and loves the people there. He looks forward to Karate every single day. He loves to sing and dance but he would be lost without his Thomas trains and cars. I can't believe how much he plays with that stuff. every. single. day. He loves playing outside and is already starting to ride his bike again. Him and Mac seem to grow closer and closer each day with her living at moms. This seems to be both a blessing and a hindrance. They definitely act like brother and sister. Mac has changed so much just in the past couple of months with her mom moved out. It's nice to see her smile! Our lives will definitely be a little emptier when she isn't there so much. Maybe we will just keep her!

Thank you God for the greatest family in the world. I can't imagine my like without Ryan and Jimmie in it. Thank you!!!!!

So proud... yet so sad

February 7th, 2009 was Ryan's 1st Karate Tournament. He did GREAT. He wasn't shy at all and did everything asked of him. He was just so cute. His friend Evan was in the same ring as he was so it made it a little more special. He got a huge trophy for participating. He carried it around all day. Even into the bathroom :). Jimmie did great also for his 1st time. Jimmie took 1st in forms and 3rd in One Steps, so 2 trophies for him It was a really great day. Just long. Ryan competed at 9:30 and Jimmie didn't compete until 2:30. At noon, Ryan told Jimmie that we could jsut go home because Jimmie wasn't really ready to compete and wouldn't do well. Great support system. We stayed the night before and got to do a lot of swimming. It was Ryan's first time to actually swim on his own. He had a swim suit float thing on and just went to town. He definately has developed so much more confidence in himself. It is so amazing to see. I am more and more proud of him everyday. I am so glad he is enjoying Karate because it is such a good thing for him.

Okay, now the sad part. I video taped the whole thing. I was so excited to go home an watch it. Mom and Dad came over and we loaded it onto the TV. Yep, you guessed it, nothing! When I thought I was recording, I wasn't and when I thought I wasn't, I was. I am beyond mad at myself for this. It was his only 1st competition. They have another competition in April. I will try to do better next time :(.

An Accountant or An Engineer

When mom pick up Ryan from preschool today, Miss Pat told Mom that her and Miss Arlene were torn... they didn't know if he was going to be an accountant or an engineer when he grows up :).

I'm loving this mom thing!

Christmas was wonderful! We changed our approach this year and spent it at home. Just us. It was everything we had hoped for. Ryan was so excited about Christmas and was so happy to see that Santa remembered that he wanted more train tracks. Even though we stayed home, it took almost a week to recover from all the excitement. I'm sure a double ear infection didn't help much either.

I took some time off before the holidays and we spent it outside on his sled. Once he got the hang of it, he loved it. We need to take him to a big hill and let him fly!

He started back at school this week. It will be his first week at 5 days. Well, it's supposed to be but it looks like another kicker storm headed our way so possibly no school tomorrow. I hope it's not like the one in December where we were out of power for 59 hours. It may not sound like much, but no heat and more importantly, no water, 2 3 year olds and 6 adults all hovered in one room. Not fun! We survived but I'm sure we all lost a couple years off our lives.

We had a rough couple of weeks sleep wise. I'm sure all the holiday fun plus being sick didn't help, but I am so glad to be back to our crazy schedule. Hopefully it will help with the new little attitude that seems to have erupted.

Yellow Yellow Everywhere

Last night was Belt Ceremony at Karate. My amazing little man was awarded his Yellow belt. He puts his whole heart and soul into it everytime he goes. I am so very proud of him!

This was Jimmie's 1st belt ceremony as a student. He has been working so very hard to earn his orange belt. I'm thinking he worked a little too hard because for the 1st time since the school was open, they have a student who skipped a belt. Yep, Jimmie was awarded his Yellow belt also last night. He skipped right over his Orange belt. I'm not sure who was more shocked, Jimmie or Ryan. It's a nice, healthy little competition they have going on.

I am so very proud of my 2 men. I am so glad they have found something they both enjoy so much that they can do together.

Way to go guys!!!!!

Tis the season... decisions, decisions, decisions

We are 3 very busy people. I'm tired. Jimmie is tired. Ryan is tired. I think we all need a 3 day long nap. We went to our town's tree lighting ceremony last weekend and had a great time. We actually met up with a little girl he goes to preschool with and he wouldn't leave her side. It was so cute. They sang and danced together the whole time. We had a couple of nice sleigh rides and got to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas. Who would've thought a kid would need more trains?!?! No interest to actually sit on his lap though. Oh well. We may try again this year or wait another year. He is a big scary man you know.

On Monday night, Ryan tested for his Yellow belt in Karate. There were a ton of people there and he had just woken up from a nap. He was a little freaked out but finally came around. He did very well. The belt ceremony is next week and he will be so excited. He has been working so hard. He gives 110% every time he is in class.

Last week we had parent teacher conferences at his school. They gave us a paper that says he is doing great. I asked if there was anything that we should be working on or any trouble he is giving them. He is a perfect little boy when he is there and they just love him. They said he is remarkable with his numbers. It just was so nice to hear all the good stuff. We did talk about switching him to 5 days instead of 3. They felt it would be a great idea. We just got the new tuition info for if we switched so now I just need to sell my soul to be able to afford it. First we need to decide if we really think it's a good idea to switch and then decide if we can stretch the rubber band called our finances. Right now, it's stretched a little too far.