Elfie has been busy...

Elfie has been pretty busy the last few weeks at our house. 

Recently he was found in Ryan's bathroom, looks like he was trying to brush his teeth!

Ryan got a surprise...

...when Ryan came home from Grammy & Papa's house on Saturday afternoon, look what he found!

He actually didn't like the fact that Elfie had been in his room while he was away at Grammy & Papa's...so he picked up all of his monster trucks and put them back in his room!  HA!!

That crazy Elfie...

This morning....this was the mantle.  (Can you see Elfie?)

Silly Elfie, he was playing Play Station while we were sleeping!

Ryan thinks Elfie is pretty smart!

Is 9 the Appropriate Age for Having a Girlfriend?

Let me set the scene for you, and prepare you for the conversation that took place in our house last night. 

I was in the kitchen making 132 meals/snacks/cake balls for upcoming Christmas Party Potlucks (ok, only 3 different meals but it felt like more than that!) and Ryan and Jake were eating dinner in the living room - Don't Judge!!!  It was pretty quiet in the house, except for the tv and Ryan gets up from his seat at the coffee table, walks over to Jake and the following conversation occurred:

Ryan:  (In a sad face/tone) Dad, when I'm 9 will I have a girlfriend?
Jake:  When you're 9?  Maybe.
Ryan:  Cause I really want one.
Jake: (Fighting back laughter) Oh really?
Ryan:  Yeah.  Do you remember (said someone's name but I couldn't hear him)'s girlfriend?  She was hot!  I want a hot one!
Jake:  LAUGHING HYSTERICALLY!
Me: LAUGHING HYSTERICALLY!

I'm pretty certain that school years are going to be lots of fun with this outgoing, funny, lady-charmer kid of mine!  :)

New York City

Yesterday morning we were all buckled in the car and backing out of the garage when I noticed that there was frost covering the ground and all the houses in the neighborhood.
The following conversation took place:

Me:  Look at the frost on the neighbors houses.
Ryan: (Being as serious as can be) That's where the neighbors used to live, but they moved mom.
Me:  Yes, they moved.  But someday we'll have new neighbors there.
Ryan:  Where will they come from?
Me:  I'm not sure.  They could be from anywhere I guess!
Ryan:  Hmm....maybe they'll come from New York....City.

HA!  Maybe he's right.  Maybe our new neighbors will be from New York City!?  We'll have to wait and see!

Meet Elfie!

Meet Elfie!

This is Elfie, our Elf on The Shelf that comes to visit during the holidays, to keep an eye on Ryan and report back to Santa Claus on how well behaved Ryan has been!

This is Elfie having a little fun while we slept last night, having a snowball (marshmallow) fight with his bear friends!  Ryan thought this was hilarious! :)

Our Schedule

Our routine for Ryan while we're working is that he goes to his Nanny's house (my Mother in Law) until Jake gets off, and then Jake picks him up.  On Jake's days off (they rotate weekdays off) he will keep Ryan home with him, and of course I'm off on the weekends.  Ryan is very aware of the days that he will be home and the days that he will be at Nanny's.  Last week as I was explaining that he would spend 4 days with me, 2 days at Nanny's and 2 days with Daddy, he cried that he didn't want me to go back to work!  I said something along the lines of, "I HAVE to work.  I work so that we can have a house, food, clothes, toys, and a bed for you to sleep in."  He responded with, "I don't want food!"  HA!

This morning he was laying in bed watching cartoons while I was getting ready for work and he said, "Momma, I don't want you to go to work."  I told him I had to and that he would have a good day at home today.  He said, "But I don't want a house!"  Oh my, this kid!!  I sat on the bed and said, "Well, if you don't want a house and don't want food...then it looks like I'm going to lay back down and not go to work!"  He laughed and when I got up and said, "Just kidding, I have to go to work today" he said, "I knew it, you were just joking!" 

Today I am thankful for having a JOB that helps us provide a safe and loving home, food on the table, warm clothes on our bodies and beds for us to sleep in!

Spiderman.....at Chruch?

Last night as we were talking about going to church this morning, Jake thought it would be a good time for Ryan to check out Sunday School.  We tried once before but Ryan usually likes to sit with me in service.  This morning as I was getting ready for church, Ryan was so excited to be going to Sunday School today!  He was glad that he's a "big kid" now and wouldn't have to go to nursery with the babies. 

I walked Ryan into the 4-5 year old class, got him signed in, met our friend Miss Kristin there and she tried to help encourage Ryan that he was going to have a really good time.  As we walked through and got the run down on what would be happening, Ryan whispered in my ear that he did not want to stay there.  He was pretty sure that he didn't like it already.  Miss Kristin told him to just try it out today and if he still didn't like it, he wouldn't have to come back again.  Nope.  He wanted nothing to do with it.  I didn't push him.  I decided that if he was ever going to stay, it would need to be his idea.  He went with me to service today.  The only downside to him not going to Sunday School was that I didn't come prepared with coloring books and crayons.  :(  So he was quite wiggly.

Of course we had a laughing out loud moment in church!  After we were settled in our seats, a young man came and sat down in our row.  Ryan was really watching him.  This particular young man was dressed all in black, wore a hooded sweater and had black, fingerless gloves on.  Ryan reached up and whispered in my ear... "Spiderman is at Church today!"  Ahahaha!!!!  Not sure how all black and fingerless gloves relate to Spiderman but it was hilarious!

Happy Sunday!

Commercials

Ryan is so funny!  (I think he watches too much t.v. - but it made for a great blog post today!)

Ryan and I were watching t.v. in my bed last night, and sharing miniature marshmallows, which has nothing to do with this little story, but it's a little something special we do when we lay in bed watching t.v. together!  Anyway, back to the story.  As we're laying there eating our marshmallows, I must have not been paying attention to the commercial that was playing but a second later I hear Ryan say, "Pier One Imports.  Find what speaks to you."  HAHAHAHA!!!!  He must have heard that and repeated it!  I didn't question him, I just told him I needed to take his picture because he looked so cute laying there next to me, fresh out of the bath in his Spiderman pajamas. 

(Excuse the camera phone quality!)

Love from me and my marshmallow eating buddy! 

8 Years!

1 - How many little ones we've parented!

2 - Number of places we've lived together!

3 - Number of fish that have been a part of our family!

4 - How many cars Jake has driven in last 8 years!

5 - How many cars I have driven in last 8 years!

6 - How many times I change clothes before leaving.....to go Anywhere!

7 - Number of nieces and nephews we currently have!

8 - NUMBER OF YEARS WE'VE BEEN MARRIED!

Happy Anniversary Jake!  It's so hard to believe that 8 years have flown by since we walked down the aisle and said "I Do!"  Doesn't it seem like just yesterday??

Thankful we have each other to lean on and help get us through all the tough times.  And there are way more FUN, SILLY, EXCITING times in our house anyway - you never go too long without cracking a joke and now Ryan is following in your footsteps!  I love being home with the boys.  Life is good!!

Love you Jake!

"Knee"osporin

So the other day Ryan scraped his toe on the fireplace when he was running (barefoot) to his room to get something to show me.  He laid on the floor and cried and cried and cried.  I told him I'd put some Neosporin on it to make it heal faster.  He didn't want any.  A few hours later he asked for some medicine for his toe, so I put the Neosporin on it.

The next day when I asked how his toe was feeling, he said "It's fine, it's just black."  LOL!  It was black from the fuzz from his socks!

Then he said, "Oh mom.  I just got hurt and I need some medicine."  I asked where he got hurt and he said, "On my knee.  Do you have some more of that "Kneeosporin?"  HAHAHA!!!! :)

Pumpkin painting!

We took our pumpkins to a friends' house to paint with Kinedy this year.  Here's Ryan, Kinedy and Kaylyn painting their pumpkins (and Kaylyn painting herself)!

Happy Halloween 2011 from our little Pirate!

Natalie Turned 2 & The Pumpkin Patch

Last month we traveled to the coast for Natalie's birthday party, I only got a few pictures from the party, but thought I'd share them anyway.

 Cute cupcakes Michelle made!

Ryan playing ball with his buddies!


Grammy & Papa had a pumpkin patch with their friends this year so we got to have some family pictures made at the pumpkin patch.  These are a few of the pictures we took on our camera. Picture overload but I wanted to get them on here! :)

(Notice Rhys in the trailer behind Natalie's tractor!)

I Love the cousins pictures!!

Cell Phone Pictures

The latest going-ons in our lives -- courtesy of my cell phone pictures!

Ryan is playing pee wee soccer again this year.  Doesn't he look so grown up?

Ryan's other favorite thing to do is play baseball in the house.  Not sure of this outfit...but this is what Ryan does nearly every day (yes, those are soccer shin guards and a baseball hat being used as a catcher's mask)!

A few weekends ago we took some family pictures on a little pumpkin patch.  Here is Ryan before we left, trying on his new overalls.

And here's 1 picture of all 4 kids (Michelle & David's daughters and Kevin & Shannah's son).

And lastly, Ryan was plain ol' wiped out from a hard day of playing (probably baseball from the looks of his Jake's socks) and I couldn't resist getting a picture!  LOL!

That's a glimpse into our lives from my cell phone lately!  I'll upload Halloween pictures soon.

A new Addition to our Family...

We decided to add on to the family this week....

What do you think?

It's a Nissan Murano.  We traded in the Altima and were able to get a great deal on this mid-sized SUV.  Now maybe, just maybe, we will actually add on another little person to our family someday!  Haha!  (I'm totally joking.  We didn't get this car so that we could expand the family.  Although, having a little extra space might be helpful IF we decided to make Ryan a big brother someday!)

Disneyland Vacation

Last week we loaded up and  headed to Southern California for a few days of vacation at Disneyland and California Adventure!  This was Ryan's birthday gift and first trip to Disneyland.

He did pretty well with the rides.  Some of them he was too afraid to try, and that was ok.  We did a "parent swap" and we each got to ride the major rides we wanted to, while the other parent sat out with Ryan.  Ryan was brave and got on Splash Mountain ride!  He also rode the Thunder Mountain Railroad, which was a pretty quick-moving train ride!  His favorite "ride" was the Monorail!  Ha!  We rode it both days, at his request.

Here is our trip in a few pictures!

Ryan on the Teacups

Meeting Mickey for the first time

Jacey and Ryan with Minnie

Chip 'n Dale

Mickey for the second time, this is Safari Mickey

Us!

In Toontown

Using his muscles!

Stuck in Toontown jail

Ryan and Pluto

World of Color show

He wasn't afraid of the characters at all!  He is still upset that we never saw Donald Duck or Daisy Duck.  We got autographs of all the characters we did see, and have a nice memory book with the autographs and photos will go in as well.

I have more photos but Blogger wasn't cooperating with me last night.  I'll update more soon.  For now, it's back to work!