The zoo again

We visited the zoo again on Sunday. It was much better this time. It was a very pretty day. We met Tiffany and Todd up there, it was her employee appreciation day...this is why we have been so much lately. Then we also met Kathy, Bob and the girls up there. So we had alot with us. And it was a lot of fun. We did see more stuff this time.

Ryan did much better with the animals. Sure he was still kinda scared of some of them, but he was worse in the beginning of the day, once we ate he did much better...go figure!

We went to the Sea Lion show, and that was fun, the kids were just amazed with them.We also did the carousel, that is always fun. Ryan didn't seem to enjoy as much this time though.

This last video is me and Ry dancing to Polka music. I know I have mad skills...so don't steal them. It was just a fun moment with mommy and son ( I said it, son...not baby).

Barney, Elmo, Mickey Mouse, oh my

When did it all start? My child within the last 2-3 weeks has been obsessed with Barney. Before that it was Elmo and Cookie Monster, and now it is becoming Mickey Mouse. It just happened. We don't have an over abundance of these characters in our house. Well it all started so cute and innocent, well know he is that child that even the color of Barney on something will stop him in his tracks. Yesterday we went to Wal-Mart and he found every Barney, Elmo and Mickey Mouse on every shelf that was in the store. When we would pass a bright colorful shelf you could see his eyes scanning it for someone he knew. I swear this happened over night...is this how it all starts?!?

Authur Day at the Park...by PBS

Today was a lot of fun. We are all so tired, Ryan was in bed asleep by 7:15. It is going to be an early night for me as well. Ryan did get to met Clifford today, after an hour wait in line. It did move pretty fast, but it was a very long line. Everything was free so everyone was there. The whole time we were in line and could see Clifford Ryan was waving, he would not take his eye off him. I think he was leery but excited. Well can you guess what happened when we got up there, he cried. Matt sat him on his lap and he immediately started screaming, but he might have done that with any one. He was okay once Matt took him, but you only get 2.5 seconds per child, so that is what we got to accomplish with Clifford the Big Red Dog. They also had Sesame Street there, I have no idea what characters, I heard Elmo. Super Why and Curious George was also there, I think Ry would have liked to see them too, but there were so many people there.

We went with our friend Shaun and his girls Claire and Sophia, Carrie was out of town. They had a lot of fun. I was told today by Claire that her and Ryan were going to get married when they grew up, and she was going to be his wife and he was going to be her husband. It was really sweet. After we left there we went to the Science Center, the kids loved playing there as well. We walked around for bit decided the food was to expensive and to go somewhere else. It was just the right temperature today, it did get a little warm in the sun, but we did okay.
This last picture is just really cute, it is Matt and Ryan sharing an apple this morning.

Just a couple days off.

Well I have had the last two days off, and they were wonderful. I came home Wednesday night and did not leave the house till Friday afternoon. Well I did have another dentist appt Thursday morning, but my dad came over and watched Ry, I was only gone an hour, so I am not counting that. But it was nice not to have to do anything. I think it might have made Ry a little stir crazy though. He has just been whiney till we left Friday afternoon, and he was completely fine while we were gone...thank God cause we had a lot of errands to run, including getting his hair cut.



Thursday afternoon, my friend Corie came over with her little girl, Chloe. I just love play dates. Chloe is getting bigger and bigger every time I see her, she will be crawling before we know it, and Ryan and her can become true play friends. I think Ryan will be excited for that, he didn't know what to do with a baby, even though he is very good with her. He gave Chloe her first 'knuckle up'. It was just nice hanging out with Corie again, we used to get to do it alot more, then you know kids come along! She is going to be moving closer to us, well atleast on this side of the river, so we are very excited that we can see each other so much more.

Yes, in the above picture his outfit is on backwards. And yes, in the below picture he has powdered sugar all over his face, I was bad and was eating one in front of him so I had to give him one. He usually is not allowed anything sugar based, but he loved it,everyone deserves a treat every now and then.

This weekend is going to be very busy for us, but fun! We are going to Aurthur in the park, it is in Forrest Park, put on by PBS. So alot of Ryan's favorite characters will be there, so we think he will love this, we hope any way. Then Sunday is the big day...we are attempting the zoo again. We haven't practiced like I thought we would, we never went back to the Troy zoo since last Sunday.



So I will let you know how everything went sometime next week!!!

Parenting 911 - Part 2

PARENTING IS SERIOUS BUSINESS

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Parenting is series business, in my opinion its also risky business. You are always asking yourself, Am I doing this right? Is he learning a lesson from this? Does he know my unconditional love for him? Did I just waste a million of his brain cells on Barney for a half hour? Constantly I am struggling with these questions, and from what I am told they never go away, they just turn into more difficult questions.

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We need to get an objective with our children, where or what is our target in parenting.

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"And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men." Luke 2:52

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Our kids lives need to reflect Jesus. Some how we need to get clarity ( I don't even know what that word means anymore). There is so much parenting advice out there that messes up all the clarity you once thought you had. If you are anything like me, I get about 5 emails a day on different moms and babies websites, atleast 1 magazine a week, not to include the books I will read, then you have the doctors telling you what you should do, and don't dare turn on your TV in chance you may catch Dr. Phil or 60 minutes telling what all you did wrong raising your child. Then you have your friends and family...which I think is the best advice/help you can get. So looking to God to help you find your clarity and reading his word is something we (I mean me, but I can't be alone, atleast I hope not) need to focus more on. We need to trust him to take over, go by his guidelines for parenting.

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I am completely aware that all this is so much easier said then done. I am sure with in an hour I will be asking my self now what, how am I going to deal with this situation, and not even think about praying about it. But that is where our objective on how to raise our kids comes into play. Matt and I need to sit down and discuss and come up with a mutual agreement on all of this....soon, before I loose my mind!

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TO BE LIKE OUR HEAVENLY FATHER...

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1. I must understand my children.

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we must know you children's strenghts and weaknesses, they are different from child to child. We must know I children, and I mean KNOW them, not what we think we should know about them. Remember when you were a teenager, I am sure you thought your parents knew nothing about you or what you were going through...I know mine didn't, atleast that is what I thought. An interesting stat for ya, 90% of teenagers said there parents don't understand them. That is really high. I want Ryan to be in that 10%, I know we all do. We have to study our kids, everyone one of them have a purpose and meaning.

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"a patient man has great understanding" Proverbs 14:29

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2. I must accept my children

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"The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich to love" Psalm 145:8

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3. I must discipline my children.

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"The Lord disciplines those he loves..." Hebrews 12:6

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Direction/discipline is driven by love, if we don't do those then we don't really love our children. That is a harsh statement, but I think it is true. If you don't discipline your children, then you are just setting them up for failure as adults. And I know none of us want that. I had a teacher in high school ( well a couple were like this) , but this one really sticks out. I thought she really disliked me my junior year, she was so hard on me, would make me re-do things. I would talk back to her and just be really mean, and refuse to do things. Well my senior year came around, I knew I would have her again, she was my Health Occ. teacher so I knew I would have her both years. Well, my senior year was different. I did much better, I guess you can say I matured a bit, and she wasn't as mean or strict with me. I asked her one day, why she was so mean to me and would give me such a hard time, and she said she knew I could do much better if I would apply myself and the only way she could show me this is through discipline. I remember that moment like it was yesterday. It has made a huge impact on my life, it did that day. She signed my yearbook "He broke the mold when he made you". Some of the stuff she had done for me, made me who I am today. I am sure she had this effect on many of her students.

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4. I must express my love to my children.

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6 ways to express love

1. saying the words "I love you", they are the most powerful words in the dictionary.
2. affirming them- even if they fail, its okay as long as they try.
3. investing in our marriage.
4. giving them our attention.
5. having fun with them.
6. passing on our faith.

Well that was our service on Sunday, I hope all of you are enjoying it as much as I am. If you actually want to listen to Pastor Paul give the sermon you can go to http://www.metrocommunitychurch.com/

just a simple day with many blessings

Sunday was just a normal day, church in the morning, then we were going to go see my brother, then off to bowling once again. Well the day was falling apart minute by minute after church, nothing bad, just nothing was going as planned. Well we did not go see my brother, we went and picked up Ryan he was with my parents and it was around 2 and we did not know what to do. We are usually at his parents around 4:30 so they can watch Ry while we bowl. So it was to early to go over there, but not worth it to go home. So we decided to go to Troy park. We go to the park alot, but today was different. It wasn't planned, we were there as a family, just hanging out wasting time. It was so beautiful, and hardly any one there. No pressure to hurry on any thing.

Sorry if these pics are bad, they were all taken with my phone.

Ryan has become very fond of ducks all of sudden, I have no idea why, so he was very excited to see them all at the park. He just kept creeping up to them, pointing and squatting. And would say du du duck at times. Him and Matt would chase the ducks and watch them all fly into the lake as well. I finally took a seat on the bench and watched the two of them. Ryan was just so free, he was running every where, of course with over protected daddy 3 feet behind him. But it was all just so beautiful. And of course I cried, I am so sappy for moments like that, then all I could do is thank God for such a wonderful day and a wonderful life.Then we headed over to the zoo, the park has a very cute little petting zoo, and of course they are closed on Sundays, but you can still walk along the edge of the fence and see the surrounding ones. He did much better with these animals then he did with the St. Louis Zoo ones. So I told Matt we were going to have to go to the Troy zoo everyday so he can get used to them since we are going to the St. Louis Zoo again on Sunday. He is going to love these animals I tell ya. These are two donkeys in this picture, their names are Hanna and MontanaSo that was our afternoon, but I still have a bit of exciting news. We went bowling that night as usual and my first game was a 95...I know not so good, but the next game was a 201, can you believe it, I was so excited. I beat everyone we were playing including my team. And we were playing like the best team, a guy who gets like a 300 every season, I even beat him. I was soooo exited. It is the highest I have ever bowled. My next game was a 169. My average is a 108...so wow!!! The score under mine is Matt's.Once last thing...Happy 17th month birthday Ry!!!

A little catch up

1. *correction* my dad does not literally sit on the couch the whole time he does watch Ryan. Matt was a little upset with that comment. My dad even did my dishes and cleaned my stove for me on Friday morning...thanks pops!

2. Saturday was a busy day for us. In the afternoon we had little Holly's 1st birthday party at Alfonzo's. Can you believe she is already one, she was always Ryan's little baby friend, well now they are about the same age. I know there age difference have not changed but my goodness it sure does seem like it.

The whole time Holly opened her presents Ryan sat there and played with these b-day hats. He kept stacking them and singing into them. Every now and then he would throw them on the ground and Loni would have to pick them up...thanks Ya Ya. I should have kept these hats in his diaper bag for when we are out!

3. Saturday evening we had a house warming party. Congrats, Danyale and Maurice, your new house is beautiful!!! For whatever reason we did not take any pictures, well probably because we were to busy chasing him around to take any chance to do any thing else. We actually got home at a descent hour and went to bed early... yay us!

4. Well we all know what happened Sunday morning. WOW, I have never seen any storm like it. We lost power somewhere around 7 and it looked horrible I thought some of the houses were going to be blown away. So, of course I freaked, I called Loni, if any one would know what was going on it was her. She filled me in the details, which were helpful. Everything settled down, we went to church. We were one of the few fortunate ones who's basement did not flood. Which is a HUGE blessing since we had no power and our sump pump was not working.

5. Then we decided to brave it anyway...we went to the Zoo. It turned out to be a wonderful day. There was hardly anyone there. All the exhibits were free due to the morning crisis. So we got to see alot that we usually don't see. It was different than last time, Ryan loved the animals, he could not get enough of them...not this time. He was actually afraid of them. Especially the hippos, and they were his favorite last time. He even jumped when they swam up to him, which was quit funny. They had a dinosaur expo too, he screamed and cried when he got close to them. This is all so weird, he has never been afraid of any thing. So we are going again next weekend, we will see what happens then. Thanks alot Tiffany for such a wonderful day, and spending the whole day with us, especially bowling!!! She had to go with us, we ran out of time so we could not drop her off, she was forced to tag along.

we had to tell him he was soft like Clementine before he would touch him.

I wish this was a video, he was screaming his head off in this picture, which I know sounds mean, but it was just silly to be scared. Well now that I look at the picture again, I can see how it was scary, but we were right there.

This is baby Raja, can you believe he is 16 now, he is the father of he new baby girl. It doesn't seem like it was that long ago when he was born. He is an adult now, if you can't tell by the picture. he he he...we can still be so childish at times, we were giggling just like the 3 little boys that walked up.

the markings have begun

Well once again I have learned a new lesson...never ever say well my baby does this or won't do that! With in the last month or so I was at a friends house ( you know who you are, I am not going to say who, due to shear embarrassment) and we were discussing crayons and markers and where all the kids liked to use them. Well there I sit on the couch all tall and proud "Ryan only uses the crayons were he is supposed to, only on paper...he is very good at this". I can only imagine what was going through her head...'just wait your baby will mess up, I hope he colors your whole house!!!'

Well guess what he did. I was getting his breakfast ready this morning and I looked down and to my complete amazement, there it was...red and blue scribbles all over the white drawer. I could not believe it, I just bent down and stared in awe...this could not be my baby he only colors on paper, oh I was so upset, but more with me than him.

In my defense, this did not happen on my watch. (pretty sure anyway, just like I am pretty sure it wasn't me who lost the remotes) I think it was either my dad or Matt's mom who did this. Probably my dad, I was told today he just sits on the couch and Ryan has the run of the house, and if he doesn't here from him for a bit, he will call his name. So, for the record it was not my fault he was running through the house with crayons and no paper in front of him. I would have guided him...he he he!

Wordless Wednesday

Parenting 911 - Part 1

Kid CEO

This is the first part of our new series at church - Parenting 911. I am very excited about this series, for obvious reasons. I am going to share our service with you and my feelings on it for the next few weeks.

Part 1 is Kid CEO...who runs your household. Well at first I thought they meant the older kids, the teenagers. Mostly I think they were, but the more I thought about it, Ryan is starting to run ours. Not in a bad way, things are just different now, our life is more geared towards him. So now is the time to slow that pace down before he becomes the CEO.

God's design for our family:

1. Make God the highest priority in the home.

Jesus - "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment." Matthew 22:37,38

The family tree in your household is to be God, husband/wife, then kids. How many of us truly live their life like that. And I mean truly. Even the ones who don't have God in their lives, do you live husband/wife then your kids. I will admit we do not. I would love to! Unfortunately I don't think society lets us, we are so fast paced with life and its surroundings. I can't even read my Bible on a daily basis little loan put these three things in proper order. I believe life would be so much easier if we did. I need to step back and smell the roses, so to say, I need to get my priorities in order...and not just for that day because it is convenient, but forever...which I think will take forever.

2. Make husband/wife relationship the next highest priority in the home.

" For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the to will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery-but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself. and the wife must respect her husband. " Ephesians 5:31-33

And after this piece was read Matt nudges me in the arm...lol. I truly believe Matt and I are one. We always have been. So we don't battle with this as much, we do have great respect overall for each other. Now I am not saying we do not have problems because WE DO!!! We probably have at least one argument a day, or at least every other day. But over stupid piddly stuff...like, Matt you walked through the house again with your shoes this morning and I had to vacuum first thing when I got up...this is my way of letting him know...it might save an argument for us! But overall, we have an untouchable bond. We are so blessed God had lead us to each other at such an early age. He is the beat of my heart.

3. Make sure our kids function under our authority as parents.

Honor thy father and mother.

I think this is a very good lesson to get when your children our very young. But it needs to be established ASAP. That way when they are older it is already set. That should work right? Teach now, learn now, know forever. I have found the answer to the teenage era. He will know authority know, and will obey forever...YEAH RIGHT. If it was all that easy I would be rich! I do think the more we teach now the more they will know later and make it a tad bit easier. All we can do is try and pray!

We need to set the agenda. Allow God to take over and follow his word.

We need to communicate our family agenda.

We need to connect with our mate daily and date regularly. (Matt and I are willing to trade sitter service with anyone, or we will watch your little ones. I think time alone is very important. Even if you go home and just sit on your couch and have a moment to think. Please do not hesitate to ask us, we really want to do this...well I use we loosely, I have not discussed this entire plan with Matt yet (sorry babe, you don't mind right.))

Make sure nothing competes with God.

"As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15

Now we all need to make that list of our priorities...what are they now and what we need to change.

...I think this was a very good service and I will keep you all updates next week... "Parenting is series business.

what to do

I am obsessed with The Office, I have been watching it every Tue. night on TBS from 9-10. I don't think I will make it home this Tues for it...I am freaking out!!! I can't figure out what episode they are on now to be able to rent it. I can't tape it because I don't know how to program our VCR, plus I lost (ryan) the remotes, plus I have to figure out how to get the Sheild taped. That is a huge priority as well.

working the double shift

The a.m. shift

I am told "wow, this playroom is like a playground"

This morning Kathy dropped off the girls, Annabel and Audrey around 9, I was going to watch them while she was at a meeting for church till around 12. So round 1 started. Everyone was in such a good mood. They all play so well together.

This long green tube, is a miracle toy, in and out, balls in and out, how many kids can we fit in at once. Ryan did get a little confused, he is not used to sharing all of his stuff, especially sharing attention!!!

So we gave Ryan his alone time. He would wonder off from time to time play by himself for a few minutes, then run back to join in on all the fun.

They all loved this cheap-o etch-o-sketch, we actually had to take turns with timed minutes...wow, haven't dealt with that yet. I actually have 2 and ofcourse I could not find the other one...its probably with the remotes that have been MIA for a week now.

It was now time to head downstairs and play. I was also told "wow, its a miracle" when all the Little People came out. Which I do take great pride in since I went a little crazy for them on my man hunt.

Then the girls left a little after 12. Nap time, definitely nap time. Ryan actually slept from 12:30 to 3:30. He was exhausted. His 3 hour naps have been cutting back lately but not today. I ate lunch, ate my ice cream ( it was in the freezer since Saturday, which is a miracle with in itself). I took a nap...yay me!

The p.m. shift

It is now around 5 and Kathy had dropped off the girls for round 2. They had a photo shoot they had to do. So we had dinner, the girls ate very dainty at the table while Ryan was in his highchair, signing 'more more'. I think he ate more than the both of them combined. But he's a boy, that's my excuse anyway!

Dinner is over, time to play and get crazy again. We destroyed the basement this morning now time for the living room. One room per shift.

Ofcourse Ryan had to have all 3 cups, he is such a hog. He was so upset he couldn't carry all 3 at once. And actually 2 of these are his!

The rest of the pictures are just really cute moment I got to capture. And yes I know Ryan's diaper is hanging out of his cloths...remember he eats and drinks alot. I can't keep up with his clothes, they may fit that morning but not by the end of the day. Plus were hoosiers :)

Wordless Wednesday