The Weekend

Dinner at Texas Roadhouse with Friends.

If you have been to our house lately, you have been able to witness first hand, Raylan's screaming voice.....he has learned that he can scream/yell. Pretty much for no reason. It's just short little bursts of screaming like a frog. Yeah, that got annoying real quick. We have been trying to curb this new found skill by patting his lips and saying, "No screaming Raylan." I don't think it's helped at all. So anyway, the point of this little story was that the entire restaurant was treated to the vocal stylings of my child....

What handsome boys!!! Woot, Woot!

Bath time!!!!! Both of them were pretty much covered in apple butter and ranch from being at dinner....

If you are a mother, you will know what I mean when I say that I just wanna squeeze these little tushies all day long!!! So cute!! 

We have been on a point system with Sawyer for good behavior at school and last week he earned himself a treat of going to see the new movie, "The Croods". He was sooo excited! So Saturday morning came and off we went to a matinee showing. Normally we don't let Sawyer get the kids snack box when we go to a movie becuase those things are like $11 bucks! By the time you buy movie tickets, pop and popcorn for everyone, you are out $50! I'm sure in years to come, Sawyer and Raylan will give me grief for being THAT mom who brings popcorn from home in a zip lock baggie and juice boxes....Anyway, not this time! He got to pick out his kid's snack box and he could barely believe it! It was soo cute. The movie was great, Sawyer thought it was hilarious. 

Later that evening, we went out to dinner to celebrate Papa's 56th birthday!!!

Unfortunately Raylan woke up and thought we all needed to hear his screaming voice again....until Nana gave him a huge dinner roll and that shut him up on the spot! It was amazing! He sat there nice and quietly the rest of the time just going to town on that bread! Note to self: always bring a dinner roll in the diaper bag!

As always, we headed back to Nana & Papa's house for gifts and cake. Raylan has just started pulling himself up on everything and the toy basket is the perfect height! He stood there (with his little jeans sagging in the booty) and rummaged around in that basket forever! He never pulled anything out, just rifled through it.

Of course daddy and Sawyer needed to do some blanket wrestling too....

Nana and Papa have been doing P90X (a very intensive workout program) for a few months now and it's totally paying off! They are both looking and feeling GREAT! Way to go guys! Since Papa is getting so buff, we got him some heavier weights and a new pull down bar! 

Happy 56th Birthday Papa!

Nana was pretty excited that she was able to get double use out of her 5 and 6 candles left over from Sawyer's last two parties! Way to really get your money's worth out of those .99 candles! :)

Sawyer has dubbed himself the official ice cream-scooper.....which means portions vary WIDELY in size! Sometimes you get what resembles a chocolate curl and other times, it's half the container.....and of course Raylan wants to be up where the action is! 

Bill took a piece of card board and fanned the boys! Nothing like wind in your hair! :)

The Roof

The world seems to have opened up to Raylan now that he can pull himself up on things. All the places that were previously 'Raylan safe' where we could set down our coffee mugs, cell phones, ipads and cans of Mountain Dew are safe no more! He watches like hawk as you put something down and then makes a beeline for it, and before you know it, this chubby little hand is grabbing away!  

As you can imagine, the Day Care kids really enjoy his new found skill. (They are only smiling about it because they knew I was taking a picture! Usually it's, "Baby Raylan, NOOOOO!!! Nooo Baby!") But I just love those tiny little tippy toes!

The boogie sucker and the hair tie.....the two things that mommy doesn't like me to play with. One, because it's just gross and the other because I could choke. But somehow, I managed to find both of them yesterday afternoon, retreat to my room where I could play with them both and not get caught for a while.

Story of the Day:

Act 1: The Glove.

 Let's set the stage: I am inside, trying to wrangle my Day Care kids because their parents are expected any minute to pick them up. The front door is open, screen door shut. Sawyer is outside playing with his buddies, Nathan and Josh. Somehow Nathan's glove ends up on the roof. 

"Mooooooooom! Nathan's glove is on the roof!"

"Just leave it up there and Daddy will get it down when he get's home!"

.......

A few minutes later I glance out the front door to see that our big garbage can has been pulled up to the front step, with a bucket on top and my son is HALF WAY ON THE ROOF! Yes, you read that right. I fly outside and hank him down. 

"What are you doing?!?!?!"

"I was just getting the glove down...."

Oh my heavenly days....I thought I was going to go into cardiac arrest. The thought of him falling off our roof will haunt my dreams forever! (Yes we proceeded to have a talk about obeying my instructions, making good choices and always staying off the roof.)

But really, with a thrill seeking husband like Bill, why does this even surprise me??

(I decided to reset the scene to give you a visual)

Act 2: The Nursing.

Let's set the stage once again: I have just had the scare of my life with my child dangling from the roof and we have just come back inside after our 'Stay off the roof' talk. I walk into the living room to hear Raylan grunting and squawking. I look over to see one of my Day Care kids, Charlotte (4yrs old, who's mom just had a baby last week.) with her shirt pulled up, Raylan pressed up against her chest and a little blanket covering him up. 

"Charlotte, what are you doing???"

"Just nursing my baby!"  

.......

What a day we had! It's days like this that keep you on your toes and your heart solely trusting that God is going to keep your children alive and well! The guardian angles got their work out today! Thank you Lord or your hand of protection and your sense of HUMOR!

A Little of This & That....

Fun night with the best friends ever-playing lazer tag, zipping around the go kart track and feeding our faces at PF Changs! 

Thanks for letting us celebrate your Birthday with you Melody!!!

These days Raylan likes to make a beeline for our closet, tip over my underwear basket, spread them all out and play around..... He always puts one on as a necklace and wears it around after he's done, so we can always tell that he's been in there! 

Lovies with Auntie Liz!

Last week was Parent Teacher Conferences at school! We always enjoy getting to go and hear about what Sawyer has been doing. He has an excellent teacher who goes above and beyond everyday! He is excelling in reading and writing, loves math, goofs off too much in music, has trouble not blurting out during large group and only plays with the boys at recess....yup! That sounds about right! 

To give the teachers a break after conferences, they had two days off of school and Sawyer's little friend from Kindergarten came to hang out with us! Liam and Sawyer just had a blast playing LEGOS, nerf guns, super heros, making forts out of the cushions and eating spicy Cheetos! 

We did a fun St. Patricks day activity and this was Sawyer's leprechaun.

This is Raylan's little buddy, Zach from day care. They are very close in age and just have the best time together! Right after I took this picture, they both started doing these weird dance moves, lost their balance, fell over backwards and managed to pull this huge wooden toy down on top of themselves. Tears. Lots of tears. 

One of the most exciting things as a parent is watching your child learn to read. They start out with little tiny words, make their way up to bigger words and then before you know it, you walk by to hear them reading a whole book all by themselves! It is just so cool!

 Found him in Raylan's room sounding his way through Barnyard Dance :)

Meanwhile, this one loves to eat shoes.....

Raylan's little girlfriend, Bella turned ONE yesterday!!! 

It was a very pink and purple afternoon! We enjoyed lunch, gift opening and of course-Cake and ice cream!!

Sawyer and his little buddies played outside for most of the afternoon-even though it was pretty chilly! But cold weather was not about to stop these three from pulling a huge ride-on car around the house a hundred times! (Because that's what you do when the car's battery runs out. You just take turns lugging it around the yard...Duh!)

 Hope everyone is having a fantastic start to the week! Spring is around the corner and boy are we ready for it!

Mischief Anyone?

Because he is so stinkin' cute and growing by the minute, I thought I would fill you in on what this one's been up to these days.....

Raylan still is not a fan of regular baby food but constantly wants anything that you are eating. If it comes off of your plate or fork he will chow down till the cows come home, but if it is out of his bowl, forget about it! 

One of his favorite things to eat right now is apples! Our roommate Liz was eating one the other day and let him have a little taste, and now he's hooked! I guess there could be worse things to be hooked on!

Ripping up magazines is just so fulfilling....it does a soul good. 

We especially love ripping up Mommy's Pottery Barn catalogs that she hasn't read yet. 

Now that he is mobile, nothing in the house is safe anymore. He has his favorite places to hit when no one is watching.....this one is his go to spot every time. He high tales it over to the Xbox and PS3, knocks them over, pulls out the basket that holds all the gaming controlers, turns around and smiles a cheeky grin of satisfaction, then it's over to the floor vent to have air blow in his face......he does that little routine in the same order every time. Without fail. 

"Ohhhh Raaaaaaylan!" We hear that a lot these days! Sawyer is so good with him though. 

He is always extracting him out of places that he shouldn't be....much to Raylan's chagrin. 

Our other feat of accomplishment is making our way across the living room and climbing on top of Daddy's chess board. When we are in position, we pound on the top and smile gleefully for all to see how wonderful we are.We know we aren't supposed to do it...but we love it. (Why don't Mommy & Daddy just move the darn chess board? I don't know.)  

It is all fun and games till....in our gloating we fall off the back of the chessboard, get wedged in by the wall and can't get out. That's when we get very annoyed and expect everyone to immediately drop whatever they are doing and come to our rescue. 

When we get tired of the living room, we move on to the bathroom. 

Emptying out the package of wipes into a huge pile is also great fun.

When all the the doors to fun places are closed tightly and opportunities for mischief are scarce, we throw our head back dramatically and squawk like a little pterodactyl. Drama Drama Drama. Life is so rough and miserable. 

But nothing will lift your spirits like tugging on the phone cord! 

And don't even think about leaving a container of Grandma Joann's special dill oyster crackers on the table, walking away and expecting them to be there when you get back! (I came back and he had eating SO many of them!!!) 

 Last but not least, what makes us feel like hot stuff? 

Standing up in the chairs under the kitchen table, that's what! 

Nothing beats that. Nothing. 

Musician or Magician?

 Sawyer's social calendar has been chalked full these days! This past weekend his little friend Payton, from Kindergarten had a birthday! Now this was very exciting because there was a magician coming!!! Sawyer had never seen a magic show before but loves to watch it on TV. He's also pretty awed when Bill 'magically' produces mints out of napkins whenever we eat out....pretty sure our slight-of-hand-pass-daddy-the-mint-under-the-table won't last much longer....but for now, Daddy can do magic.

Sawyer, Davin and Liam just being....themselves!

We arrived at Payton's house and immediately were swept into party mode! The kids went wild with the balloons-just bonking each other and collapsing in heaps of laughter! 

I was a nervous wreak the whole time that Sawyer was going to break something! But I guess if you invite 17 little kindergartners over for the afternoon and give them cake and balloons, you're asking for it!

No matter how much fun you are having, or who is at the party...there is always time to pick your nose. GROSS!!!

Thank God the magician FINALLY arrived. And I must say, he was terrific. He had their attention from the get-go! He was dynamic and entertaining. The kids just loved him!

You could tell this was not his first rodeo (err, I mean magic show) Because he handled all those questions, giggly bodies and ear piercing laughter like nothing! 

Of course his tie would fly up and whack him in the face while he was talking , which was always a HUGE hit.

 He pulled coins out of ears, rabbits out of his hat...all of which was met with oooohs and ahhhhs!

Sawyer was memorized. He had been telling people for a week that a musician was going to be at the party rather than a magician :) I'm sure he has no idea how lucky he is that this guy showed up rather than a harpist. 

And here is the Birthday girl. How ADORABLE is she???? And of course since she was the birthday girl, a pigeon magically appeared inside her hat while it was on her head! It did a lap around the living room and came right back! Payton 's mom knows how to throw a great kids party but she didn't overlook all these parents that come with either....she had wonderful snacks and appetizers for the adults along with wine and mixed drinks! It sure beat sitting in a booth a Chucky Cheese! 

As if the kids weren't hyper enough, they chowed down on pizza, juice boxes, cake and ice cream! 

I have to say.....for as awkward and icky Sawyer says the girls are......they sure do LOVE him! The moment we walked into the party, he had at least two little ladies trailing around after him! And he can't get away from them fast enough! LOL I'm sure the tides will shift in about ten years and he'll be sorry! 

And here's what the other one has been up to! This is a repeat off of facebook....sorry! Raylan's new thing that he does at least three times a day is to crawl over to the entryway, pull the rug up over his head, realize he hates it and then throws a fit because he can't get out.......sigh..........

His other favorite thing to do is find the few things in the house that he isn't supposed to touch.....and go touch them. His favorites are cell phone chargers, the trash baskets in the office, little chunks of  salt that fall off people's shoes from the driveway, pulling my dish towels off the handles of the oven, eating every minuscule piece of anything that's on the floor and going through mommy's purse....and finding gum in it.

He found the stairs the other day. I heard him crying a bit and found him halfway down.....goodness.....so now the baby gate is up all the time, but with the way our stairs are, there is one step that can't be sectioned off.....and he goes for every chance he gets. He army crawls right over to it, puts his hand down, teeters on his tummy, face plants down it, cries and then looks at you like "Why didn't you tell me that was there?!?!?" We pick him up, cuddle him and put him down IN ANOTHER ROOM and he goes right back for more pain..... sigh. Oh well! He's cute and that's all that matters!