Happy 2010!

Goodbye 2000's What a decade it was for us! Ten years ago if you told me that in a decade I would be a completely different person, settled down and married with kids, I would not have believed it. However, here I am, just that and I couldn't be happier. There have been downs but what sticks out in my mind most are all good things. I married a terrific guy, we bought our first house, and most importantly, our babies were born. They are without a doubt the best thing to ever, and probably will ever, happen to me. I could not be luckier when it comes to my family. Sure Robby is a bit of a slob, but overall if that is my biggest complaint, I have it made. I really, really do and I am thankful for it. I must have been pretty damn good in a previous life to deserve them.

Last year I went to a funeral and saw all my cousins, that I had not seen in years... there are quite a few of them. I am the oldest by a year or two. I am also the only one married and the only one with kids. I admit, I was jealous. They all seemed to have such exciting lives... jobs, parties, etc. Just for a moment, I missed those days, the freedom to come and go as I please and no one to be responsible for but myself, partying all night, sleeping all day. Then I came home, kissed my kids and it all disappeared, I realized I AM the lucky one. There sure were good times, but nothing that comes close to comparing to the good times I have now, different as they may be. I would not trade it for the world. So all in all it was great decade for me, I hope this one comes close, it would be hard to top 2000 though.

Christmas was wonderful, the best one yet. Well it could have been better, Saige come down with a 103 fever on Christmas day and kept it for the next 5. The poor thing didn't really get to enjoy the day or her gifts. All she wanted for Christmas was Bendaroos and Paperoni. She asked for nothing else. Santa provided, they were the first gifts she opened before she got sick, but they sat in a pile all week with the rest of her stuff untouched while she laid on the couch :( Rylan and I had a bout of not feeling so great as well, but we were lucky, it come and went quickly. Unfortunately it ruined our plans to meet up with Amnesty and her family at the Museum of Play. They were in Rochester for Christmas week and I was so looking forward to meeting them, I hope we get another chance. As for the Strong museum, we are going to attempt that next month, if all goes well, lol.

Anyway back to Christmas... Christmas eve everyone opened up their new pajamas. I have never seen a kid so happy to get new PJ's as Rylan was. He "got" it this year, as far as opening presents. He tore open the paper and opened the box. He saw the firetrucks and jumped up squealing in delight, he was kissing them and hugging them, then insisted we put them on him right then and there TUCK ON TUCK ON NOW! Saige liked hers too but the excitement didn't compare to Rylans. I tried to get a good picture of them in front of the tree but it just wasn't happening. They were more interested in pretending to sleep in the chair.




We were all spoiled rotten. I saved up all my survey money all year long and used it all for Christmas. Robby got all sorts of new tools and stuff for me to find all over the house or more likely for Rylan to seek and destroy. I got a Wii fit to go with the Wii Santa left us, which I am LOVING. I also got my biggest present ever. My mom got me a new washer and dryer!!!!! They were way more than I was expecting or even hoping for. I can't even describe how happy I am. They are fancy, they stack and the washer is a front loader. I'm not sure how sad it is that I am this excited by the prospect of doing laundry, but I am. Of course I am still waiting for Robby to get them hooked up for me, and I am getting impatient. We need to go get some plumbing stuff, the stuff he forgot we needed when we went to Lowes the other night. I told him he can't open his new saw until my washer is hooked up, so far that hasn't motivated him enough, it is cold out there. So tonight I hid the guitar for Guitar Hero, I'll "find" it when I am finally loading and folding, lol. In all our years together, he hasn't really been into video games but he is loving that one. Everything that needs to be done, is "just one more song" away (he doesn't count well, lol). As terrific as the washer and dryer are, this is my favorite gift, made from my favorite little finger prints.



My kids were spoiled as well but in a good way this year. There weren't many toys. Rylan got more toys than Saige, mostly cars, trucks and dinosaurs... including a gigantic one with a remote control. He also got a new Spongebeob bed, we haven't set it up yet. I keep asking him if he wants it, he keeps saying no. I'm not in a hurry, he climbs IN his crib. But, has never climbed out and I fear moving him to a bed will mean the end of naptime. I am NOT ready for that. I am loving my time alone in the afternoon. He goes down when Robby leaves and gets up shortly before Saige gets off the bus. That gives me time to pick up, catch up on tv online or nap myself. There is still 20 months before he heads off to school too. I know time flies but I am araid without nap time that flying time will turn into an eternity, lol. He still NEEDS the nap, without it he is cranky and miserable for the last 3-4 hours of the day and that is no fun for anyone.

Saige for the most part aside from just a couple of toys, got things to do, which is terrific. Books, puzzles, games, art kits and supplies, and playdoh. She got some really neat stuff that will keep her busy. Anything that that doesn't end up forgotten about in a pile is good in my book. She also got her own camera which she adores. I should load up her pictures from Christmas, they are probably better than mine. My mom did get her a giant furreal dog- but she wanted him to stay at her house (thankfully) and she got a Fancy Nancy doll from my MIL and books and a game to go with her, she loves her. A month ago I had never heard of Fancy Nancy and was pretty sure Saige wouldn't know who she was either but she did, apparently from school, and she was thrilled. We have read the books so many times already I can recite them by heart.

On a good note, Rylan's speech is improving so fast! He has made great progress these last few months, and even more in just the past couple weeks. It's great how much he is talking all of a sudden, and he is finally parroting us. Better late than never, but mommy needs to learn to watch her mouth, lol. Oh and he is singing his first song! Granted it's not the typical Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or Itsy Bitsy Spider, but, this is huge for Rylan- he hates singing. He will slap you and scream stop if you try to sing to him, he just doesn't like it. So he has never really followed along enough to do it himself. He got a car for Christmas that plays Tom Cochrane's Life is a Highway when you press the button, and he sings along! It's not completely understandable but it's totally cute.

Saige, what can I say about Saige? There isn't really anything new to report, she is still just an all around great kid. She loves school, she is doing well. Her reading and writing skills are improving rapidly. I got her a set of books for Christmas that she can read to us- she thinks that is just the best. She loves anything creative, and takes pride in her work, which in turns makes me super proud.

I hope everyone's holidays were as great as our and best wishes for the New Year!

Merry Christmas!

The kids had a blast making Christmas cookies. I put them in and took them out of the oven, they did everything else. They mixed them, cut them, and decorated them. They worked together and did not fight, it was nice. Saige decorated each one of hers different. Rylan just through some frosting on and went straight to the sprinkles, lots and lots of sprinkles. Unfortunately when all was said and done they were inedible. I'm sure you probably could have eaten them but the frosting was gross. But they had a good time anyway, that's all that counts. Hope everyone has a great Christmas!

It's almost Christmas!

The last couple weeks have been a blur but we are ready. Tomorrow I'm taking Saige Christmas shopping. I take her to the dollar store and let her pick out something for everyone all by herself. Some people end up with something neat and others not so much. Two years ago my dad got a blow up punching bag with a hole in it, lol. Then we are going to start on cookies. That should be a blast, lol. She has been busy making homemade cards and writing everything all by herself this week and she still isn't done. I am so proud of her.

Last week our Daisy troop decorated cookies for a bake sale. Saige had a great time, all the girls did and we did well on the sale too. This week the troop had a Christmas party. Next month we start selling cookies. Hopefully we will earn enough for a really fun trip. She is loving Girl Scouts (and I don't mind it either) we finally got her uniform smock. She has been putting it on after school and wearing it ever since, she's so proud and it's so cute.

Today was the Kindergarten concert. It was really good, everyone did really well. It was all the Kindergarten kids and they all had a small part to do. Her class all had these really cute Rudolph teeshirts made from their hand and foot prints. They made them last week for the field trip to the play Rudolph. Robby was able to go in late and got to go, Saige was so thrilled to have her daddy there and Rylan behaved through the whole thing.

All in all, It was a good day. I let them stay up and watch Frosty and they both went to bed without a hassle. Rylan seems to be getting excited about Santa. I know he doesn't quite get it yet but everyone keeps asking him if Santa is coming and he see how excited his sister is and it seems to be contagious. On a funny note, it was almost a perfect day. Robby has spent days digging out his remote controlled cars and the remotes for them. He even cleaned the basement, that's how much effort he put in to finding them. He finally found the remote for the big ones this morning for him and Rylan. When we got home from the concert and I was getting dinner ready, Saige came out and asked me for her scissors to cut a string. I thought nothing of it and told her where they were- she came back and said don't worry mom I got those strings off, with the antennas off the cars and remotes in her hand. He probably isn't going to find it as funny as I did but she WAS trying to help.

Winter already?

I blinked and it's almost Christmas. We've been busy. I am almost done shopping and Yesterday we all took the day to do Christmas stuff. We got our tree, Saige picked it out... it's interesting. We decorated the house and took the kids to see Lights on the Lake. It was fun. Rylan LOVES Christmas lights so he had a blast. IT was pretty cool, I tried to get pictures but they didn't turn out so well. It's 2 miles of lights. Then we came home a decorated the tree, This is my favorite part. Getting out all the ornaments and remembering where they came from. The kids did most of it so there are 3 or 4 branches on the bottom with 20 ornaments, lol.
We finally got snow today that has stuck around anyway. Saige got off the bus begging to play. Got them changed and they played until dark. It was just starting to accumulate here but it was good sticky snow. She went out and immediately wailed Rylan with the worlds tiniest snowball. I thought for sure he was going to ball but he laughed and tried to get her back. Mostly he just stuck his glove in the snow and threw a couple flakes but they had fun. He fell over backwards twice trying to catch them with his tongue like Saige.

Monster

I just shaved big bald patches in my pretty- not meant to be shaved- dog. Robby broke out the spray foam insulation this morning to go around the new door, he took it outside and I thought nothing of it. But, apparently before he went out he did a bottom corner on the inside. So while I obliviously looked on, Rylan drove his truck through it and then down the head and back of poor Lola. Lola noticed something wasn't right and proceeded to jump up and run around all the furniture trying to rub it off her back. This stuff is impossible to remove when wet. Same for surfaces that can not be scraped with a razor blade when it dries. I got most of it off the sofa and chairs, Rylan's hands are still sticky but most of it's gone. Getting him to sit still so I can scrape it off is not happening. The blanket is ruined, the truck is in the trash and the dog was hopeless. It stuck her fur together so every time she moved it pulled at her so I had no choice. I broke out the clippers and shaved off chunks. It's freezing out so I didn't want to take off anymore than necessary.

Halloween

Halloween was a lot of fun. I was sick but I made it through, lol. The weather was great, the rain stopped just in time and it was warm. They were fine with just their costumes over their clothes and I didn't have to try to fit them over coats, lol. I was a bit nervous about Rylan, he had been refusing to even try on his costume. However when it came time to get dressed for trick or treating he said "okay" and put it right on. He figured it out right away. He followed Saige to the first house, it was amazingly decorated and everyone was in costume... he liked that. I got him to open his bag and the woman dropped some candy in and his eyes just lit up and he started pulling me to the next house. He loved it! After an hour Saige was tired and wanted to go home, so we headed back and hit some more houses on the way with Rylan leading the way. He never did say trick or treat but he did say "tank you" to everyone. We saw some really neat costumes, all in all, a great night.

misc

Halloween post is coming next. I finally got around to getting the pictures off the camera, what an adventure that was. For some reason they would not load on my laptop, where all my pictures are. They haven't been deleting either, I always click to delete after uploading but it seems that has not actually worked, there were over 600, but they were not visible on the camera? Oh well, anyway I figured it out and here's some misc pictures.

This is my favorite page from Saige's October journal from school. She is "writing" all the time, she comes home from school and writes about her day. She is doing really good at recognizing the sounds from words she doesn't know. It says One firetruck is red, lol. It is so much fun to see her so excited by reading and writing.

Saturday was our last soccer game of the season, the kids played great and we had nice warm weather and sunshine for it. I finally remembered to have Robby bring the camera and here she is about to score. I am amazed at how much they all improved in the last few months. Their biggest problem is crowding each other and taking the ball. They were good, most games we ended up switching kids from the other team or telling them they had to pass it 5 times before making a goal so the other teams had a chance. I was very lucky to have such a great well behaved and eager team. A great assistant coach sure didn't hurt either.


I just thought those two were cute. Last is Saige's Halloween Kitty she made at Build A Bear last month.