Guy Time

 While Kim spent last Saturday morning getting some professional development hours in (so I can keep my Texas teaching license current), the guys had a great time together!

Soon after breakfast, they went swimming in our neighbors' pool. Then, they headed to a local hardware store which was celebrating its 1st birthday with all kinds of special things ... a "tour" of a new fire truck and free snow cones, popcorn, and cotton candy. Matt said that the boys had a great time! They even saw one of Ryan's friends from Sunday school (and one of Matt's coworkers from school) there!

Thanks for being such a fun daddy to our boys, Matt! :)

Apple Day

 I was so happy to be able to volunteer in Ian's classroom last Friday for their "Apple Day." My sweet friend Kati watched Ryan so I could really be involved in the special day! :)

It was even just a special treat to see Ian "in action" in his classroom -- interacting with his classmates, going through their morning routine, etc. (This momma would love to hear more details about school than Ian is willing to share on any given day. Ha!) All of us parent volunteers heard the whole class recite the pledge to the American & Christian flags. And we watched the kiddos finish their "apple tree cycle" pictures.

Then, Apple Day officially began. All three kindergarten classes participated and rotated between three stations. The first station was watching a Johnny Appleseed cartoon movie.

The second station included drawing, weighing, and measuring one of two apples each child had brought from home. One little boy in my group, Ben, brought a HUGE Honeycrisp apple. He was elated that he had to use all 100 teddy bear manipulatives in the balance ... and even that wasn't enough to even out the balance.

The final station included many different parts -- seeing the "star" inside the apple when it's cut open, getting a picture taken,

taking out and counting apple seeds, 

 making apple prints with paint,

 peel, coring, and cutting apples,

 and even decorating some construction paper apples.

The teachers cooked up the apples that the kids (and moms) cored, cut, and peeled and made it into applesauce. Ian said that he didn't really like it because it had "too many lumps" and "too much cinnamon."

The kids did some other fun activities in the classroom after we moms finished helping. Each child tried a yellow, green, and red apple slice and got to vote on the best color. What a fun day!

You'd think after all of the apple activities that Ian would've been all "appled-out." On the contrary, Ian insisted that he use our apple corer-peeler-slicer immediately when we got home from school. He peeled six apples almost completely on his own, which we used to make apple cake. Yum! Ryan was a willing helper (and taste-tester), too!

Ryan at the museum

As our due date approaches, I'm trying to get in lots more "just Ryan" time. :) One day last week, Ryan and I met up with some friends at The Woodlands' Children's Museum. We were apart more than together as the kids bounced back and forth between stations, but we all had fun!

Ryan & Ethan at the train table

Samuel, Ethan, and Ryan at the "grocery store"

Sammy, mopper extraordinaire :)

We enjoyed eating lunch together on the patio. Sammy, Kati, Ethan, and Ryan

Train Show

Last Saturday, our family drove to downtown Houston to check out a train show. We've been wanting to go for the past few years, but it's never worked out. We figured that our boys were at the perfect ages to really enjoy themselves.

Unfortunately, we ran into some snags along the way. Part of the interstate on the way there was completely closed down, and it ended up taking us 1.5 hours (instead of 45 minutes) to get there. The boys started out the day tired after a later night at small group the night before, and (as we found out later in the day) Ian had impetigo on his face, too.  Needless to say, we weren't at the train show all that long before Ian said he was "bored" and wanted to go home and Ryan seemed super, duper tired.
After everyone got naps that afternoon (and we got Ian started on some antibiotic later that day), life seemed better. In fact, over dinner both boys identified the train show as their "good thing" of the day. It was pretty impressive. We'll have to try the train show again another year (and check the road conditions before leaving our house :)) ...


There were lots and lots of model railroads set up around the convention center. It REALLY bothered Ryan that he couldn't touch the tracks and the trains.

Ian got to climb into a train car and push the horn. Ryan seemed interested in doing this, too, until we got to the front of the line.

More model trains ...

Ryan's favorite part of the train show was probably the "toddler play area" complete with trains, tracks, puzzles, and other toys.

Ian's favorite part was riding this "train." He had to pump a lever back and forth in order to propel the train car. It was so cute seeing the kids ride around along the circle track.

One of the neatest parts for Matt and me was this amazing Lego train display. Everything (even the train cars) were made of Legos. Super cool!

Getting Ready for Baby! :)

Tomorrow we hit the 30-week mark! Our baby (who we're officially calling Nathan Paul :)) is growing like crazy! It's fun to watch him move and kick as he contorts my tummy into all kinds of interesting shapes. :) We can't wait to meet him in just a few weeks!

My belly is definitely bigger than this pic taken almost three weeks ago. Many maternity shirts are now too short to cover my whole belly. Overall, I'm still feeling pretty good, though I've definitely re-entered a tired stage in the pregnancy. I've talked with the doctor about feeling lots more pressure and discomfort in this pregnancy over the past few weeks. He's reassured me that this is very normal for a third pregnancy since all of my muscles are stretched out. The great news is that he also said this pressure/discomfort should ease up as little Nathan gets even bigger and has to rest a little higher in my belly. For now, though, I'm trying to convince my active 2-year-old to play more games that require sitting down. :)

Since we're having another boy, we don't need to do much shopping to get ready for this new little one. We'll mainly just get out the bins of clothes, toys, and other assorted baby stuff out of our attic and wash it all! Hopefully, we'll accomplish that task in the next month or so! The two main itmes on our shopping list were car seats and bunk beds. Our current car seats will not fit three-across in our Honda Accord. After doing some researching and talking with friends, we've officially ordered some car seats that WILL fit three-across in our Honda Accord (yay!). They're due to arrive this week!

And we found a really neat set of bunk beds on Craiglist. We love that they have a ladder option AND a stairs option (along the right-hand side of the bed). They're sturdy, in good condition, and offer lots of storage, too! We got the beds about three weeks ago and just recently finished doing a little room re-decorating (including hanging Ryan's name on the wall, too).

The beds came with a matching chest of drawers ... which actually sort of coordinates with our existing dresser! Yay! :)

Ian has been sleeping in his bunk bed (almost always on the top bunk) ever since we got them set up. He loves the new bed and has transitioned very easily.

Ryan, on the other hand, hasn't adjusted as well to the bunk bed. I think he's slept there three nights. Each of the nights, he's fallen asleep relatively quickly -- with only one or two trips out of the room to ask us for a drink, a toy, to go to the bathroom, etc. -- and always sleeping "backwards" on the bed (often where the body pillows can no longer function as bed rails :)). But each of the three nights he's had a major issue in the middle of the night with waking up and then having a hard time going back to sleep. One night at about 1:30 a.m., he managed to make his way all the way down the stairs, get himself a cup of milk from the fridge, and come to our bedroom to ask us for "more milk, please."

After those few nights, we started asking him if he'd rather sleep back in his crib instead -- which he most certainly did! We've had much more continuous nights of sleep again, even though our early riser still gets up between 5 and 5:30 a.m. Since baby Nathan will likely sleep in our room for the first six months or so, we'll attempt to switch Ryan back into his lower bunk in another few months ... :)

What's new with Ryan?

It's been a little while since we posted videos. In fact, I think some of the below videos were taken as long ago as May ... oops!

Ryan (age 2 1/4) is at such a fun age now! He chatters up a storm, and we can understand MOST of what he says. Ian can translate the best. :) Ryan loves asking questions like, "What that funny (s)mell?" (often right after he toots), "What that (s)yound?," "What that?" (while pointing to something), or "What that name?" (pointing to a person or person's picture).

Ryan absolutely LOVES to sing. He loves singing "Old McDonald" during dinner, "Jesus Loves Me" at the grocery store, or any toddler-type song that he hears on a CD. He loves it when our dinnertime prayer is the Johnny Appleseed prayer and will sing loudly and boisterously with us (often a stanza ahead of where the rest of us are). :) He sings his little heart out at the library's Toddler Time. So precious.

In many ways, his little personality and routines are very similar to just a few months ago. He still has a vehicle in each hand most of the day, hoards things (especially in his crib), loves to make acrobatic dismounts from our exercise bike (while swinging  Tarzan-style from the handlebars), gives "the baby" (Momma's tummy) kisses, and attempts to delay bed/nap time by asking for water/one more (s)"yong"/a toy that isn't yet in his crib.

He's doing a great job with potty training! He rarely has accidents any more and, though, he wears diapers at night still, wakes up dry most mornings. The toughest part lately has been that he sometimes wakes up during the night to use the bathroom and then has a hard time falling back to sleep quickly.

He gets very excited when it's time to go pick Ian up from school. Though he asks about Ian at least once during most days, he doesn't seem to really "miss" him. Instead, I think that he appreciates the time to have full reign over all of the toys and have Momma's undivided attention. :)

Ryan knows his colors, can count a few numbers in a row though often starts at six, and knows he's two years old. He loves friends (knows of our small group and church friends by name) and going to Sunday school. He doesn't like being away from us and will say "no nursery" when we go to church. He's still sort of a picky eater (fruit is definitely his favorite food category), and he'd much prefer to drink milk from Momma or Daddy's big cup than from his straw cup.

He loves to fill up his dump truck with rocks, leaves, and mulch; play in the water; or help with any task (including laundry, dishes, or making meals).

He's a sweetheart with a charming, charismatic personality. It's been so fun to watch him learn and grow. We thank God for you, Ryan!

Below are some videos, most of Ryan singing songs or saying rhymes (notice that most of the videos are taken while Ryan is contained in his crib or booster seat ... otherwise, he won't stay in one place long enough :)).

"Johnny Appleseed"

"Jesus Loves Me"

"Old McDonald"

"Monkeys Jumping on the Bed"

"Rockabye Baby"

exercise bike

And, what about Ian? He's lately been obsessed with numbers. He loves noticing the price of gas and how many calories are in the food that we're eating. (Once I told him that calories are how much energy is in food, he wants to know how much energy is in EVERYthing!)  This math teacher tries to introduce "word problems" into most days. One recent day, Ian noted that his cereal had 190 calories while his ice cream that evening had 170 calories. Kim asked which had more (he knew it was cereal) and then how many more. We were so surprised when, after thinking for a few seconds, he said "Two tens," and then when we asked him, "How much is that?" he responded, "Twenty." It made a number-loving momma very proud. :)

He's adjusting to kindergarten well. At dinner the other night, after Matt asked a question, Ian raised his hand to answer. It was so cute! :)

Below, Ian sings part of the "books of the Bible" song from a CD we have. The way he (mis)pronounces some of the books is hilarious. The video was taken right before bed (when he was singing the song anyway), but he's definitely tired and gets very frustrated toward the end of the video. But at least it gives you the idea. :)

Kindergarten

Ian is officially in kindergarten!! (Where has the time gone?!?!) Of course, it was bittersweet for this Momma to send him off to kindergarten. Each one of these times of transition feels like a time to pause and reflect ... and wonder if we've done enough, what we could have/should have done better, if Ian is truly "ready" for the next step, and be just a teensy bit sad that our "sphere of influence" in Ian's life is ever-so-gradually being shifted to other people. Thankfully, we can trust that the Lord has been with us during each parenting decision (the wrong ones and the right ones), and we pray that His Savior is Ian's true sphere of influence his whole life long. The sweet part of the transition for me was thinking about how much more one-on-one time and age-specific events/outings I'd be able to provide for Ryan (at least until the baby comes :)) ... and thinking about how much Ian will just LOVE his teacher and his kindergarten class this year.

So far, Ian truly HAS loved it. When we ask him his favorite part about kindergarten, he'll usually say "EVERYTHING!" ... though sometimes he says math time or rest time (since they sometimes get to watch a video or play on the i-pads during this time). He says that his days go by "really, really fast" (and that's saying a lot from a boy who's used to attending school only 3 half-days a week.) He talks a lot about another little boy in his class, Boston, that he likes to play with at recess and during center time in the classroom. He loves Mrs. Brandenburg and cracks up about the funny things that she does (something about teaching kindergarten 30 years has made her perfectly in-tune with a kindergartner's sense of humor). :)  He wakes up excited to go to kindergarten each morning, is a lot more chatty about the things they do during the day than he ever was during pre-K, and is generally very happy. Of course, he comes home very tired and crabby some afternoons as he adjusts to the new schedule -- especially after a few days of kindergarten in a row.

Overall, though, we thank God for blessing Ian with such a wonderful kindergarten class and for giving him such a smooth transition.

Ian went to a "meet the teacher" night the Friday evening before school started. He got to choose where he wanted to sit and go on a "scavenger hunt" around the classroom.

 On Sunday night, we invited Mr. & Mrs. Brandenburg over to our house for a thank-you dinner. It was fun getting to know them even better. (Matt coached their oldest son's soccer team at CLHS & teaches with Mr. Brandenburg, and I taught their younger son 6th grade math.) Mrs. Brandenburg was so sweet to play a few rounds of Candyland with Ian, and we were impressed with what a good sport he was even after losing about 4 games in a row.

 We spent Monday and Tuesday getting some of Ian's supplies together. He was excited to choose this new Cars beach towel to use as his rest time "blanket." He also chose the navy-blue covering for his nap mat. (Parents were supposed to send in two king-sized pillowcases to cover the mats, but my genius friend Aliceson suggested buying a body pillow pillowcase and just cutting and sewing the end to make it the right length. It works perfectly -- and even has a zipper on one side to keep the nap mat in. If you enlarge the picture, you'll see that I hand-stitched "Ian" onto the bottom of the pillowcase.)

 Last Wednesday, August 13, was Ian's first day of school! He was very excited!

 And here he is in his classroom with Mrs. Brandenburg on the first day of school. No tears for this little guy! He was a little serious when he walked in and wanted to get unpacked ...

 ... and sit at his table for seat work RIGHT AWAY!

We're so proud of our little kindergartner! Keep shining for Jesus, sweet boy! :)

Right after drop off, some friends met (with our littles) at a nearby Chick-fil-A for a "boo hoo breakfast."  So fun!

Kati & Ethan, Emily & Charlotte, Katy & Ellie, Kim & Ryan, Julie & Elise  (not pictured: Aliceson & Samuel, Tanya & Holly)