My 'Baby' is Three

 

It's true...Ryan is three today!  Words can do justice to what this little guy means to us.  He is so cute and so fun and so crazy and cracks us up every day.  I was thinking a few months ago about how much more we've laughed in the past couple of years because Ryan's been in our family.  He's got each of us wrapped around his little fingers (I guess that's pretty typical of the baby of the family, right?)  This boy is a big tease and I love that he deliberately does silly things just to make us laugh.  He makes funny faces, says things in crazy ways, and has the cutest little voice.  I've seen people at the store just stop to listen and smile as he chatters away.  He's also got more energy than our whole family combined.  Good in lots of ways, exhausting in others.  Ryan can make big messes much faster than the rest of us can clean it.  (We're working on channeling that energy into cleaning up too... :)  This boy definitely keeps us on our toes.

 

Right now Ryan loves:  playdough, horsies, nectarines, riding his scooter, his 'Cars' toys, the 'trantholine' (trampoline,) getting dressed up in his church clothes (the tie is his favorite,) watching anything that has to do with Mickey Mouse, eating anything with sugar in it, reading stories, getting into mischief, playing with Nathan, chocolate milk, and giving his mommy hugs. :)

 

Ryan reminds me of my Dad and my Grandpa Jensen (Blain.....Ryan and my Dad share his middle name.)  Scott and I had both (independently) felt that this should be his middle name before he was born.  I think it's interesting because his personality is so similar to theirs....fun-loving, always teasing, a little bit of a stinker, and full of love.

 

This is one of my favorite videos of Ryan at the beach this summer with his little friend.  This is what you get when two-year-olds have a conversation:

 

 

 

And with that....

 

Happy Birthday Ryan!!!

 

We love you and we're so glad you're ours!

 

Ruby's Story

A beautiful video about the sweetest little baby and her amazing family:

Ruby's Story


Donate Life!

Thirteen!

This girl is an official teenager today!  I've been pretty impressed with myself about not getting emotional or sad about this fact, but last night as I was saying goodnight, it hit me hard.  Where has the time gone?  I could've sworn it was just yesterday we brought our tiny 5-1/2 lb. baby home from the hospital.  I would spend hours over those first few months dressing her up in tiny outfits and taking picture after picture (I really do have hundreds...and this was before we had a digital camera!)  Thirteen years ago???  Impossible.  But I guess it's not because here she is...my sweet, wonderful, officially taller-than-me girl.  Anna is a good friend, an amazing help at home, and is so much fun to hang out with.  What a lucky family we are to have her. :)

I have loved watching her personal and spiritual growth the past year.  She has jumped right into Young Women's and is loving every minute of it.  I'm a little sad to know that the next few years are going to get busier as Anna gets more involved in church and school activities, but I'm so excited for the experiences she is going to have.  The time is flying by, and we're doing everything we can to make the most of it!  How I love this girl.

Happy Birthday, Anna!

Cutest Mayor I've Ever Seen

Last week Nathan had his turn to be "Mayor" of his class.  He got to bring something special in each day, be the line leader wherever they went, lead them in the daily Pledge of Allegiance, and lots of other fun stuff.  Here is the poster he brought in to show the class "All About Nathan..."

Here is a better view (notice that when he grows up, he wants to be a 'right ingenere' (Wright Engineer...just like Daddy:)

Waiting to show his poster to the class:

The Presentation (he was so cute...maybe I'll post the video:)

The Mayor taking his lunch break:

...and getting a "high-five" from little brother for a job well done:

He took a story to read to the class:

He did a great job!

I think his favorite was taking in a "Mystery Item."  He gave the kids clues and they had to try to guess what was in the bag:

They had some pretty good guesses!  He had taken his "headlight" that he uses to read with in bed at night.  It was tricky, but one little girl finally guessed a helmet with a light on it.  Nathan decided that was close enough. :)

He also got to take treats for the Estimation Jar (71 Easter suckers to be exact!)

But the highlight of the week was probably something not even related to being Mayor.  We are lucky enough to have a home teacher who works for an ice cream company, and he brings us a nice stash of ice cream every once in a while.  Well, last month Nathan asked him for some Cotton Candy ice cream and he said he'd see what he could do.  Apparently they only make that flavor for ice cream shops and he had to get it in a 3 gallon container:

Oh yes!!!  These kids were pretty excited.  We had to do some serious rearranging in the freezer to fit that baby in, but it was worth it.  Cotton Candy is now one of our favorite flavors.  I stocked up on cones big time at Target.  We'll see how long it takes us to get through it!  

Best Present Ever

For Christmas we decided to combine funds from grandparents and get the kids something they could all use.  So after much deliberation (and talking with every single person I know who owns one...) we decided to let them get their hearts' desire:

a trampoline!  Let me tell you, this thing has been used more than I'd ever dreamed.  Not a day has gone by (with the exception of Sundays and a few extremely rainy days) that the kids haven't been out jumping and playing on it:

Grandpa showed us some of his tricks (I didn't catch his back flip...dang it!) and taught the kids how to play T-Rex:

They've all spent hours and hours and hours out on that thing:

It has been used for naps and picnics:

...and all kinds of fun (including bouncing Ryan too high...)

The look on Aimee's face says it all...crazy girl!

(I just say a little prayer every time they head out there that no one will get hurt! :)

Ryan

Oh, what to say about this boy.  For starters he turns 2-1/2 today.  Half-way to three?!  Where has my baby gone?  He changes daily...I can hardly keep up.  We've definitely been having a little dose of the "terrible two's" around here.  We still think he is the cutest though.  Lucky for him! :)

I wanted to write down some of my favorite things about him right now.  He chatters non-stop and cracks us up with new phrases all of the time.  This is where we have to watch what we say because we hear it right back!  Some of the common things we hear are:

"Mmm....Ummy dat!" (That's yummy!) 
"Dewishes!" (Delicious!)

"Mommy, watch this!" (as he shows me some new trick he's learned)

"Darn it!" (when something doesn't go his way)

"And, and, kick!" (before he kicks a ball...he says it every single time)

"Mommy, jwumpy me?" (Mommy, jumpy me? when he wants to jump on the trampoline.  He says this with the cutest look on his face...it melts my heart every time!  I pretty much always say 'yes.')

He calls Anna "Na-na," Aimee "Mae-mi," Nathan "Dae-din," and himself "Wynin."  His favorite part of the day is when we pick the kids up from school.  As soon as he sees Nathan walking out from class he runs over shouting "Dae-din!" and gives him a big hug.  It's a heart-melter!  He also likes driving carpool with Anna's friends and is finally learning all of the kid's names (as opposed to calling everyone "Weeyah" (Olivia) like he's done for the past several months.  I think he's got a crush... :) 

Ryan runs everywhere he goes.  This boy has so much energy!  He's given up the stroller for the walk to school, and darts down the sidewalk yelling, "Mommy...fast!" as he leaves me in the dust.  It's great for getting to school quickly, but not so great at Target!  I may have to trade in my flip flops for running shoes.

What else...?  He loves to pretend that he is a puppy (I tell the kids they don't need a dog, they have a little brother!), or even better, that one of the kids is a puppy.  He leads them all over the house saying "Come on, puppy!" and giving other commands.  His favorite animal in the whole world is a "hee-hee" (horse.)  He carries around his plastic or stuffed horses everywhere, and make the most hilarious "neigh-ing" sound we've ever heard.  I had to make sure to get it on video so we don't forget it when he figures out how a real horsie sounds.  I'll post it for you grandmas. :)

Ryan loves to get dressed up for church (especially loves his tie and getting his hair nicely combed), and when he is all ready and we've told him how handsome he looks, he goes to the mirror on the closet door to admire himself.  We may be in trouble in a few years!

I don't think I've had a child this busy and in to everything before.  He makes more messes a day than the other three combined and doubled.  But, I guess that's a two-year-old.  He's quite sassy and has a little bit of a temper, and we are hoping it is just a phase.  Luckily he only gets that way when he is tired or has been teased mercilessly by one of the kids...or Scott (sometimes I think I have more than one two-year-old!!!)

That being said, he is a sweet boy most of the time, and will always give me a kiss on the cheek at my request.  We spend our days while the kids are at school building trains, reading stories, watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (so I can get some things done), jumping on the trampoline, eating Cheerios, and playing with his Lightning McQueen cars.  He is also my best helper when it comes to the laundry.  :)

What a fun little guy he is.  I'm so grateful that he is a part of our family.  I still can't believe that we are so lucky to have him.  I think of how different our family would be if he hadn't have come along, and I commented to the kids the other day that we sure wouldn't laugh as much without Ryan around.  He's brought us so many smiles over the past two-and-a half years.  We love you, Ry-guy!

Volleyball

A few weeks ago, the BYU men's volleyball team was in town, so we thought we'd take the kids out for the game.  They had all just gotten some cool BYU gear for Christmas (thanks Grammie and Poppa,) so they got all dressed up...go Cougars!

They won the first set pretty easily...

The kids were very into the game:

This was serious stuff!

Ryan was sure to clap for every point scored:

BYU won the second set as well...one more to go!

The last set was a nail-biter...

...but they pulled it off!

The crowd went wild...I think there were more fans for the Cougars there than fans for the home team.  What a fun evening...and a bonus that it helped us in our attempt to convince the kids that they want to go to BYU someday!

Dorothy

Anna had the opportunity to perform in a little community group's production of The Wiz of Oz. She had so much fun (well, until the crunch at the end with long rehearsals every night...) and she did a wonderful job. The whole cast did...it was absolutely darling, and the music was fantastic! Grandma Beth and Grandpa came down for the performance, which was a special treat for all of us. :) We were all surprised to see a great little actress emerge from our usually quiet and reserved Annalyn! 

I snapped a few quick pictures before the the play:

Doesn't she make a great Dorothy?

The Ruby Slippers (her favorite part!)

Some of the other cute girls in the play:

And a quick post-play shot:

She won't commit to another play anytime soon, but we're hoping she'll want to do another one after a little while.  I think she felt a lot more pressure than she ever let on, but she pulled it off and did a beautiful job.  Go Anna!

Nathan is 7!

Seven years ago today, at 8:59 am, Nathan came to our family.  We all fell instantly in love.  I didn't think I had ever seen such a sweet baby.  I felt like the luckiest mommy ever holding him in my arms, and I knew without question that he was a special little guy.  

Here are 7 reasons we are so LUCKY to have Nathan in our  family:

1.  He is the sweetest boy.  When I went to the parent conference with his teacher a few months ago that was the word she used to describe him.  Glad we're getting good reports so far!  I have the feeling that he'll keep it up. :)  He leaves sweet little notes for me around the house telling me that he loves me or that I am the best mommy.

2.  Nathan is a little gentleman.  He helps me carry in groceries or with little chores around the house.  This probably goes along with his "sweetness."  I think he knows what he's doing, because I've heard reports that several little girls at school have a crush on him.  Hmmm...better watch that one.

3.  He is the best big brother, and absolutely loves Ryan.  I wondered if the almost 5-year age gap would keep them from being very close, but he loves to play with and include Ryan in just about everything he's doing.  (Except for Monopoly...Ryan totally messes that one up...)

4.  He is very thoughtful and loves to do "secret service" around the house.  He'll make the girls' beds, clean up one of Ryan's messes, or unload the dishwasher once in a while just to give us a nice surprise.

5.  Nathan gets us to play and have fun.  He's loves to play games, basketball, soccer...and he is always recruiting us to play with him.  We probably wouldn't do those fun things as much without him around!

6.  He makes us laugh.  Nathan loves to tell jokes, and he is always saying those cute, funny little things that first-graders say.

7.  He is a happy boy, and is good at helping others feel happy too.  Nathan tries very hard to do what is right, to say nice things, and to be a peacemaker.  I can't imagine life without him...he is such a good boy.

We love you, Nathan!  Happy Birthday! :)