Dandelion wishes

Yesterday we dropped off flowers at the cemetary after church. Right before we were leaving, I noticed Riley was on the bench and looking down being very quiet...
Me: Riley honey, are you ready to go?
Riley: Not yet.
Me: Are you telling Mimi something?
Riley: No, I'm just making a wish on this dandelion. See, I blew them all off.
Me: What did you wish for?
Riley: I just want Mimi to come back alive and live here with us again.
Me: (instant tears)...

Happy One Year Ryan and Kelsey!

Happy first anniversary!

Snow gear

All bundled and ready for a snowy ride on the four wheeler.

Fine motor skills

The boys are working on their fine motor skills today...

Field trip

I had to go to the chiropractor today, so we had a little outing to Petco and McCalisters. We also went to Kohls, but the boys weren't very impressed with that. :)

Snow cream

I made ice cream out of snow today from a recipe off of pinterest. The kids thought it was great. It really tasted pretty good, but melts super fast.

Obsessed

...with strawberries. Both me and Myles. The two of us have eaten 3 containers in the last 24 hours. Yum!

Outakes

Getting a good picture of these two is impossible...

Good thing...

...that booty just got out of the bath :)

Rough

Myles hasn't felt very well since Monday, and today didn't take a very good nap. He was so grumpy about everything. At one point he sat like this for about 10 minutes. Here's to hoping he sleeps well tonight!

Crazy

Well, today was crazy hair day for "Say No to Drugs" week.  This was just the beginning of the crazies today...

Riley told Micah he felt like he was going to throw up on the way to school.  I told her to make him try to go to the bathroom to see if that helped.  He came back and said he was fine, so on to school he went.  Riley told me that he kept telling his teacher that he didn't feel good, but she didn't feel a fever, so at school he stayed...until about 2:15.  They had their fall party today at 1:45 and apparently Riley threw up everywhere in his classroom.  I get a call from the school and our conversation goes a little something like this:

Nurse: Riley threw up everywhere in his classroom.  They were having their fall party, and he told me he was allergic to sugar, so maybe that's why he threw up.
Me: Wait? What? Who told you he was allergic to sugar?
Nurse: He did.
Me: No, that is false information.
Nurse: So he is able to have sugar?
Me: Yes. I'll come get him

That kid sometimes.  I don't know where he gets his stories.  I asked him when I picked him up why he said that he was allergic to sugar, and he says (holding his stomach) "I think I was..."  That pretty much ended his "Crazy" day at school.  :)

So proud...

 Riley had a bit of a rough start to the school year concerning behavior.  It took him a few weeks to learn the new rules and mostly control his excitement.  His class has a color scale for their behavior of the day.  They always start on Green and can move down to yellow, orange, and red if they are not making good choices.  If they are making good choices, they get to move up to pink and then purple.  If you make it to purple, you get a "sparkle" added to your clip.  He now is doing very well, and has made it to purple 5 times this school year!  Once you get 5 sparkles, you get your picture and clip in the hallway on the "Behavior Wall of Fame".  You also get to go see Mr. Ide (the principal) and show him your sparkles on your clip.  He got a pencil and a keychain from Mr. Ide and was totally excited.  He plans on using the keychain for his four wheeler key. :)  We are so proud of him for being so good at school.  We look forward to many more clips on the wall!  The only downfall to him working so hard to control himself and be good during the day...he is a total maniac when he gets home.  Oh well, one day he will be able to last all day.  :)

Credits: Pictures compliments of Mrs. Bruner...aka...Aunt Micah and transportation specialist  :)

Long time, no post

Okay, I know it's been a LONG time since I've posted.  My promise to you all is to try to do better!  At the end of the day, all I want to do is lay on the couch and never get up.  :)  My kiddos wear me out!  I need to desperately download pictures off my camera and phone, but tonight I was busy (finally) ordering some pictures we had taken in May.  One of my friends from college, Annie, took them and she is beautifully talented. You can find her facebook page here.  She is one creative gal.  :)  Anyway, here are a few of my favorites.  I also updated the photo at the top with one of my favorites.  I attempted to update my background, but failed.  Blogger has changed a lot of things since the last time I blogged!  Updating my photo and this one post seriously took me almost an hour!  I promise to do better.  :)

Star of the Week

This week is Riley's turn to be the "Star of the Week" at preschool and the school sends home a paper to fill out with their responses. Here are Riley's responses:

I am 5 years old.
My favorite sport is baseball.
My eyes are green & brown.
My favorite book is my bible.
My hair is dark blonde.
My birthday is December 10th.
I live in Walton.
My favorite bible story is Jonah & the Big Fish.
My favorite thing about preschool is the Gym.
My family is Dad, Mom, and Myles.
The special times my family celebrates are birthdays, 4th of July, Christmas.
My favorite food is fettuccine.
My favorite color is green & blue.
My favorite place to go is Chucky Cheese (he originally wanted to say Olive Garden)
My favorite thing to do is collect rocks.
My family enjoys going to the children's museum.
My family works together when we make cards.
Someday I would like to travel to Texas.
When I grow up I want to be a builder.
I love Jesus because I want to stay healthy.

Christmas program

Pictures from Riley's Christmas program at preschool.

Myles watching his brother

Nice hat Riley :)

Happy 5th Birthday Riley

Okay, so I found my camera cord. Turns out a certain husband shoved it in his laptop bag and didn't realize it. Imagine that. :) Anyway, I have a lot of catching up to do, so hopefully I will post a lot really soon! Here's a start...

RILEY TURNED 5 LAST MONTH!!!

I don't know how time has gone so fast, but I sweet cuttlebug baby boy turned 5! Here are a few of the highlights of his four-wheeler, camouflage party. He is a SUPER DUPER DONUT FANATIC and there are no donuts around here better than Dirty Dan's, so I drove to Kokomo very early that morning to go pick some up for the special day. I'm not gonna lie, Josh and I were pretty excited for his special breakfast. :)
I don't know why I didn't get a picture of Riley eating a donut, but I did get a picture of Myles eating one. Maybe because I was thinking about that recurring Mom of the Year award I receive daily by feeding my (then) 10.5 month old eat a donut for breakfast. Anyway, we all enjoyed them. :)

Mimi hanging with Myles during the party. On the menu for a 5 year old's party: hot dogs & Mac-n-cheese! Hey, it's what Riley wanted. We did have some spanish sauce for the adults, and I must admit, everyone loved it. :)

Opening LOTS and LOTS of presents! Pictured: his new cowboy hat from Megan and Woody and his new real cowboy boots from Mimi and Grandpa. On the floor are the Four wheelers that Myles got for him. :)

Camo 4wheeler cake (not made by me) I ran out of time to make the cake :)

And the big present from Mom and Dad: A GAS powered 4wheeler!!! He has had a Powerwheels 4wheeler now for a few years and he has literally rode the life out of that thing. He has been telling us for some time now that he needs a GAS 4wheeler. Now we just need it to warm up so he can ride it (they don't like to start very well in the cold weather). I am hoping he will get lots of use out of this come summer.

Happy Birthday to my big 5 year old!

One day...

...I will find the cord to my camera so I can upload them and blog! :(

Happy Halloween!

Woot! monkey Myles
T-Rex Riley

Posing on the porch by their pumpkins
Myles' pumpkins (and Booker)
Riley's pumpkin (after being nibbled on by Booker)
And a giggly Happy Halloween in their matching outfits. :)

Happy Halloween everyone!

9 months

Yesterday my sweet baby boy turned 9 months old. Here are the things he has been up to this month...

Pulling myself up to standing...
Lots of rides in the stroller. Mostly to get the mail on nice days...
Playing in cardboard boxes (Mommy got a new dishwasher)...
Wrestling with Riley...
Legos...
My first bike ride...
My first bonfire...
and Crawling! (still won't roll over...)

9 month stats:

25 lbs. 4 oz. (97th percentile)

29 inches (80th percentile)

Clothes: 18-24 months
4 teeth

8 months

Today my sweet baby boy is 8 months old. I just can't believe how fast the last 8 months has gone. Myles is typically a very happy, mild mannered kid. His big blue eyes and 2 toothed smile melts your heart. He is quite the back-breaker weighing in somewhere around the 24 pound mark. He is wearing 18 month clothes. I couldn't tell you what size shoe he wears because I can't get any on his fat little feet. He even currently has red marks on his "ankles" from the socks I put on him 2 days ago. Oops, guess those were too tight. :( He likes to play with a bucket of legos and put everything in his mouth. He likes to pull his socks off right after you put them on. He is starting to figure out how to crawl and is working on his arm muscles to be able to keep his big belly off the ground. I think he will be on the move really soon....maybe he will shed a few pounds once he gets going. :0) He thinks his brother is absolutely hillarious, even when he is bothering him. One day he will learn the truth. :) He also loves to feed himself just about anything you put in front of him...except fruit. He has decided that feeding himself is way more fun than being fed baby food. He still will eat baby food, but only if it's not fruit. I guess he's my meat and potatoes kind of baby. But, he does love vegetables, so I guess it's okay. Happy 8 months sweet baby Myles.

7 months

Well, I had a handful of pictures to put on here, but my computer is not cooperating, you only get one. :)

Myles is 7 months today! I can't believe it has gone this fast and it makes me a little sad. He is such a happy baby most of the time. He is at such a great age. He loves to sit on the floor with a basket full of toys and just play. He also loves sitting in the shopping cart and people watch. It's only fair though because people are constantly watching him. We went to the grocery today and I swear that 15 people stopped me just to talk to him and tell him how beautiful he is. :) Today though he wasn't taking the compliments very well. He usually smiles, but today he just stared at them looking annoyed. :)

I am estimating him to be somewhere around 22 pounds??? He could probably wear some 12 month clothing, but I don't have any 12 month summer clothes, so he wears mostly 18 month clothes right now. He sits up really well on his own and rarely falls at this point. He sits up so well, he is now able to take a bath without the little bathtub. He sits on his little mat and plays. He has become a very good eater of the baby food as long as it is cold straight out of the fridge. He refuses it warm and doesn't like it very much room temperature. So everything gets put in the fridge first. He is still trying to get the hang of his sippy cup and has sort of figured out how to work a straw. He also discovered puffs this month and LOVES them! He is working on getting them from his hand to his mouth. Oh, and he for some reason still thinks his rotten older brother is absolutely hilarious. He will soon learn the whole truth...

It's true...

...I am now the proud owner of a minivan. I said goodbye to the Durango a couple weeks ago and welcomed my Town & Country. Josh and I both swore we would never be minivan owners, but we both LOVE it! I was so tired of not being able to get to the third row when you have carseats strapped in the middle row. I quickly fell in love with the ridiculous amount of storage in these "stow and go" vans and the fact that all the doors can be opened and shut by the touch of a button. Trust me, in the two weeks I have had this, I have put this feature to good use. Can't count the number of times that I had myself all loaded up with a diaper bag, purse, 22 pound child, etc. and been able to shut the doors with no trouble! I never thought the day would come, but I drive a minivan and I LOVE it! :) I will embrace this moment because before I know it, my kids will be grown and I will have no need for a minivan. I'm a Mom and proud of it. :)

6 months

Last week little chubby Myles turned 6 months! More pictures to come, but here are his stats.

6 months
21 pounds 5.75 ounces (96th percentile)
27 inches long (75th percentile)
3 teeth (one eye tooth on bottom, and both middle bottom teeth)
still does NOT roll over at all, but he will start to spin in a circle when he is on his belly. Perhaps he is just going to skip over that milestone.
sits up by himself very well

He is one big baby. At 6 months, Riley was 16 pounds 13 ounces and 25.5 inches long.