October in Pictures

Life has been extremely busy! The kids are loving preschool and AWANA! I am babysitting 2-3 days a week for a 15 month old and her 8 week old brother as well as working one day a week at church. We made a trip to Illinois at the beginning of October, went on a field trip to the critter barn, had a visit from Grammy, and enjoyed "Trunk or Treat" at church!

some pictures and a check up

Here are some recent pictures, mainly of Lily. They aren't the best pictures ever, but I felt like I hadn't put any up in a while. We were in Illinois for a few days last week to see family and friends and to celebrate Lily and Wyatt's birthday with Ryan's family. It was fun but busy trip.

Papa Steve had balloons and streamers at his house -- it was hours of entertainment!

Chairs they got from Papa Steve...they were watching either Goofy or Chip and Dale (the classic cartoon DVD's from Auntie Amanda and Uncle Nick).

On Friday, we celebrated with Grammy. We went to Woodfield Mall and ate at Rainforest Cafe for the first time -- it was not too traumatic, they just had to get used to the thunder. Lily wanted her picture taken with Grandma and the snake that hangs outside the restaurant.

Lily was happy to come home and see her Papa Les too!

Monday I took the kids in for their 4 year check-up. I am sure most people don't want to know the details of their weight and height, but I like to write it down so that I can remember it. (I wanted to compare this year to last and I didn't write it down. :( ) They both did great at the visit. They were excited to do the vision and hearing tests and get weighed and measured (HUGE improvement for Wyatt who used to scream about getting on the scale). The worst part for all of us was the 4 shots that they each had to get -- they both cried and Mommy almost did too.

Lily Grace:

Height: 37 1/2" (10%)

Weight: 27 lbs. (3%)

Vision: 20/30

Wyatt Ryan:

Height: 41" (70%)

Weight: 36 lbs. (50%)

Vision: 20/30

Christmas in Pictures

Well, Christmas 2009 has come and gone. It was a whirlwind of parties and craziness, but a lot of fun too.

Traditions of Christmas:
ornaments ~ one for each of the kids to represent something about their year and a family ornament
watching some Christmas classics (Charlie Brown & the Grinch) together in our jammies (new this year)
making some sort of birthday cake for Jesus and singing Happy Birthday to him!

Schedule of our Christmas week ~ BUSY!:
Christmas Eve's Eve (Wednesday): made cupcakes and watched Christmas classics
Christmas Eve (Thursday): decorated cupcakes and cookies with friends, opened some presents on Skype with family in Florida, Christmas Eve Service at church
Christmas Day (Friday): Christmas breakfast -- singing Happy Birthday to Jesus, opening presents as a family, celebration with my family, celebration with my Dad's extended family
Saturday: packed up and headed to Illinois (and a winter storm), party with Ryan's extended family, checked into our hotel, party with Papa Steve (Ryan's dad)
Sunday: church (at the church Ryan and I were married in), party with Grammy (Ryan's mom), quick visit with Papa Steve, dinner with friends
Monday: packed up and headed home!

something to laugh about...

This is a very short video of Wyatt playing this past weekend with Papa Steve. I am sure that it will make you laugh! :)

Remember to pause the music on the right hand side of the blog.

Happy Birthday, Papa "Seeve"!

Today is Ryan's Dad's birthday.

Lily and Wyatt wanted to send along their birthday wishes to their papa in Illinois! :)

Remember to turn off the music playing on the blog.

Wyatt was saying "see, see, see" at the end because he wanted to watch himself on the camera :)

Weekend...

We had a good weekend! Papa Steve came up to visit and we just hung out at the house most of the time. Papa Steve did babysit for awhile so that I could take my mom to get her birthday pedicure!

Here are some fun (and rare) pictures of Wyatt from dinner last night!

The other "exciting" part of our weekend was getting the end tables that my dad built. Ryan and I never had end tables, we just used tray tables. My dad makes wonderful wood furniture and I decided to have him make me the tables. (He has made most of the wooden furniture in our house: my headboard, dresser, and night stands; the cribs; Lily and Wyatt's rocking chairs; Wyatt's barn bookshelf; Lily's doll house bookshelf.) Hopefully some day I will be able to have him make a coffee table to match (and maybe a dining room table too)!

Thanks, Dad, I love them!

a BIG weekend

We had a BIG weekend this weekend.

Papa Steve came up to see us again, so that always means an adventure filled day. We started out with a trip the apple orchard and where we saw a BIG apple. We also enjoyed warm cinnamon-sugar donuts and fresh apple cider. I bought some apples to make homemade applesauce. We also saw the really BIG horses that they use for hay rides.

During nap time, Papa Steve stayed home with Lily and Wyatt (who never actually slept) while I went out with my parents to pick up their BIG kid beds. I thought that I had my mind all made up, but of course I didn't. We ended up going to a few different stores, but I got them a bunk bed (separated into 2 twins).

While their "2 Papas" (what they call them when they are in the same room) were putting the BIG kid beds together, Nana and I gave the kids their baths. Before getting into the tub, Lily went potty on the BIG potty for the first time EVER -- yippee!!!

Lily and Wyatt watched their "2 Papas" finish putting the BIG kid beds together before heading to bed late (a bad combination with no naps). They did great last night in bed. They didn't get out once and they waited until I walked in this morning before getting out.

Naps today are not fairing so well. I have had to go upstairs a couple of times. One time they were both out of bed, the light was on and they had pulled out their choo-choo and were playing with it together. They are now just being loud and crazy...grr... I know it will take time, but BIG kid beds and potty-training are two tasks that frighten me as a mom :)

A Time to Explore

Papa Steve, Ryan's Dad, is here to visit us this weekend. He got here bright and early this morning, so we ventured off to the Grand Rapids Children's Museum. The kids and I have never been here, but we had heard great things about it. It was the perfect place to take two 2 year olds! Lily and Wyatt had so much fun exploring all the different stations throughout the museum (Papa and Mommy had a lot of fun at the bubble station!) We were there for over 2 hours and the kids did not want to leave. It will definitely be a place that we visit again!



Also, thanks to everyone for their encouraging words today! It helps to know that there are so many people out there loving us and praying for us. I am so grateful that you allow me to be open about my grief!