Mommy & Son Dance

This is the first year that Stonewall hosted a Mom & Son dance and it was so sweet! 

Ryan was super excited for our date night :) 

The first grade moms met at Mi Cocina before heading to the dance. Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend this part (I had my last weekend of training for my lagree certification) but one of our friends took Ryan with them and I met them at the dance afterwards. I felt so bad about mission out on the dinner but when I arrived at the dance and found Ryan he was like "hi" and then ran back off. Clearly he wasn't concerned. 

They were huge fans of the Congo line....

These boys were running around, dancing and obviously getting a little sweaty!

Sweet little photo booth! Had a great night with this sweet boy! Next year I will have TWO with me!

Ryan Turns SEVEN!

The birthday boy requested cheerios for his birthday breakfast...I even offered donuts but he declined.  He does not take his birthday celebrations serious enough yet. 

I think he wanted to power through eating so he could open gifts :)

Hayden and Grayson had summer camp so Ryan and I hung out at home for a little bit and for lunch we picked up his friend Cooper and headed to Chuck e Cheese!

We had our cousins over for Ryan's birthday dinner! We ate, sang happy birthday, opened presents and ate cake! 

And a cookie cake with BB8!

Ryan's Year 7 Questionnaire

1. What is your favorite color? Red

2. What is your favorite toy? Dot & Dash 

3. What is your favorite fruit? Pineapple

4. What is your favorite tv show? Star Wars Lego

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? PB&J

6. What is your favorite outfit? anything

7. What is your favorite game? Battleship

8. What is your favorite snack? (Trader Joes) Chocolate granola bar

9.  What is your favorite animal? Moose

10. What is your favorite song? Happy Birthday song

11. What is your favorite book? Anything with Star Wars

12. Who is your best friend? Thomas

13. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Donuts & cheerios

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play on the blow up water slide

15. What is your favorite drink? Rootbeer

16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas and New Years (He loves the big ball drop)

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Just a pillow

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for dinner? Salmon

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Salmon, sautéed spinach and Star Wars mac and cheese. 

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A robotic engineer

And that's SEVEN.

SJE Open House

Last Tuesday Ryan's school had an Open House. Kevin was out of town so it was just me and Ryan.

We started out in his classroom and I was able to see some of the things they have been working on for the past six weeks. Everything is so new to them, especially all of their new friends. In order to get to know each other better, Mrs. Littlefield gives each student a turn with the "me" bag. Basically each kid gets a turn to fill a brown paper sack with three things that they love and then share it with the class. In class they use their journals to draw pictures of each kids favorites. They draw a picture of the student, their favorite color, their favorite number and favorite animal.

Here is a page in Ryan's journal - when I picked him up from school one day he mentioned that he had drawn a "boy" horse (with the necessary equipment). I was so confused on why he did this, but he simply stated that he wanted everyone to know it was a "boy". Well. Ok then. 

Ryan actually had the "Me" bag that night and he decided to fill it with a mini Robot, a Lego Star Wars creation that he had made, and a picture of his family. Such a sweetie! His favorites:

Color: Red

Number: Six

Animal: Moose

Career day was last week and each student dressed up as what they wanted to be when they grow up. I kinda dropped the ball on this, but what does a Robotics engineer wear anyways? I did manage to make him a super cool name tag...lol. 

Moving on...

They had talked about maps in school that day and used a map of the school to color in their favorite places to go - and then he took me to each of them. 

I loved going to the Stonewall Gardens!

The garden is such a great resource for the students. In 1996 it was created to give students a real life example of the plants life cycle. Today they not only use it for science but it also serves as a springboard for other lessons. At the Open house I was able to look through Ryan's Garden journal and see some of the fun things they have already done! More info here.

And he was so excited to show me the chicken coop! 

I realize we are only six weeks in, but we have been so happy with our experience thus far. There are so many friendly families, loving teachers and supportive parents that really make a difference at this school. I am excited to be a part of this! The Open House was great - I loved seeing how Ryan spends his day!

Ryan's First Day - Kindergarten

This sweet little boy started Kindergarten!

If you know me, you know I am all about traditions - and since starting school is new for our little family, it was the perfect opportunity to start one! After a little brainstorming I decided to go with making a school bus cake for the night before the first day of school.  I can't decide if that was the best option since my kids will probably never ride a school bus, but hey, it works. I was going to add a little more decor/design but it was too much work. Lol. Plus, I gotta leave room for improvement, right? Anyhow, each year I plan to put a picture of the kids riding in the bus along with the grade they are entering...

My "school bus" this year. As you can see, I set the bar really LOW. The good news is that the kids loved it. They thought it was amazing...but it was most likely just the Ding Dongs. Those were a big hit. #dingdongsforthewin

I was pretty excited for Ryan's first day. So much so that I may have taken a sleeping aid. Yeah. Anyhow, I slept great. And luckily, so did little R. Ryan came down around 7:15am and had yogurt and cheerios for breakfast. Surprisingly we were joined by Grayson - he typically loves to sleep so I was a little surprised that he got up - but he was pretty excited for Ryan. That was pretty cute! 

Of course we had to get pictures - and apparently Grayson didn't want to be left out of this either.

A few more and then we headed out...

And although we were running a few minutes late...we still stopped for a picture out front!

Ryan by his locker...with his massive backpack. 

His sweet teacher - Mrs. Littlefield!

Not only are these dudes in the same class but they are sitting at the same table! 

There were no tears - from this dude or myself (I know, shocker).  After drop off there was a little "Boo Hoo" breakfast for the new parents, so I popped over there and met a lot of new mommies. Although I have already forgotten most everyone's names I am excited for these new friendships and for starting this next chapter of our lives with so many sweet families. 

Love that Sheridan (our favorite sitter) decorated for this little guys return! 

Of course all day I was thinking about what Ryan might be doing...And I was so excited to pick him up and hear about how it all went down. Deep down I knew that I wouldn't get a ton of information from him...but I still held on to the small chance that I might get an amazing detailed version of the days events. 

I got the following:

- (at pickup) A BIG SMILE AND HUG and a "It took a long time for 3 o'clock to come. I mean, we had to do so many things"

- Yes, I had fun

- I love my teacher

- He was pretty thrilled with gym class

- He also started singing the phonics song

All in all, I'd say day #1 was pretty successful. He was excited to go back...so I'd say that's a win!

On Day TWO Aunt Sarah picked Ryan up at the end of the day.  Look at these sweet cousins! Love that they are at the same school! Apparently Audrey saw Ryan TWICE at school but he wasn't paying attention when she said hi. 

Hello January

Soooo...there was a little incident with my computer over the holidays and it has taken me a while to get back in the swing of things. My old computer was about five years old so it was time for a new one, however, it would have been a little better if I would have had a little warning. Anyhow, I need to take it somewhere to see if they can recover my hard drive...and I hope they can because I have SO SO SO many pictures on there. Sad face. 

Moving on...Here is a little bit of what we have been up to lately

The boys did their belt testing Friday January 8th. 

Woot woot - White with yellow stripe! So proud!

And I hit my 100th pilates class - a proud new member of the century club! Next milestone is 500...that will be a while :)

We spent a Monday dealing with this little incident

Hayden fell off a kiddie chair during drop off at Ryan & Grayson's school (about 9:15am). The cut on her lip wasn't deep but it was thick and in such a weird spot so I wasn't quite sure what to do. I ended up driving to her pediatricians office. 

After seeing a nurse and then her pediatrician it was recommended that we seek a pediatic plastic surgeon. They recommended this new concierge app called KidsKutzMD. You just snap a picture of the cut and they call you right back with next steps. Apparently they can meet you anywhere (like hospital, your house, ect) and it helps you avoid all the waiting you might endure in an ER. This would have been amazing, but the surgeons were in an all day conference so they recommended that we go to Children's Medical City ER and request a pediatric plastic surgeon. Oye. We arrived there at about 11:30am. 

Mary came up and joined me around 12:30...we waited in the exam room. Hayden was so worn out by this time and as she was playing a game with Mary on her cell phone she fell asleep mid game. Sweet little girl!  Of course then the children's ER doctor came in - luckily he was able to assess her without waking her. He thought it would be best to call a plastic surgeon...yeah...

And we waited. and waited. Mary left around 1:40pm so she could pick up the boys from school (and bring Ryan to his dentist appointment at 2:40).  I am so grateful to have them so close - I don't know how I would have gotten though this day without Mary! About 10 minutes later a nurse came in to swab some numbing gel on her cut. Apparently the plastic surgeon would be there in 30 minutes. Forty-five minutes later he showed up and took one look and said it just needed to be glued. So that took about 2 minutes and then he was gone. We FINALLY left at 3:30.

We headed to the dentist to meet Mary and the boys. At Ryan's last visit they mentioned that Ryan's back right molar was never fully formed - some sort of deformity that he was just born with. I really didn't worry too much about it because they said there wasn't really anything we could do but just keep an eye on it. Welp. Fast forward to now...we gots to do something with it. A big chunk split off and it needed to be capped and possibly needed a root canal.  Eek! Poor guy! So we set an appointment for the next Wednesday and then we headed upstairs to spend some more time with our pediatrician. I conveniently made an appointment for Ryan while I was there earlier because he had been complaining that his ear/jaw was hurting at night. After some more waiting, and Ryan telling me it didn't hurt anymore and he just wanted to go home...our pediatrician came in and Ryan was diagnosed with his first ever ear infection. A double ear infection! Poor boy. 

So that was last Monday. Cue the wine.

I realize that this is just life with three and I am so thankful that my kids are healthy and we are only dealing with minor issues. I would like to note that Hayden was completely unaffected by the entire face plant. The next day at drop off she immediately climbed back up on the chair and tried to do her maneuver again. Oye

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve morning delivering cinnamon rolls to family and friends. We headed to the 4pm church service at Munger Place with Kevin's parents and the Hales. 

The boys did pretty good sitting though the service - luckily they offered childcare for Hayden. 

After church we came back to our house to make pizza!

These little guys were HUNGRY so we let them eat first. 

Left: Jimmy's Italian sausage & caramelized onions  Right: mozzarella, mushrooms, tomato & arugula

The Hale kids all made their own mini pizzas!

Ryan loved tossing the pizza dough

Love this little lady!

A little hot cocoa in our new santa mugs from yiayia!

Silly kiddos! They loved playing around with all the funny props!

Of course we had to run outside and sprinkle reindeer food in the yard...

And then these three did some last minute drawings for Santa! So sweet :)

After the kiddos were nestled and snug in their beds - we got to wrapping :) 

Christmas Eve is exhausting...but it's all worth it!

Can't wait for those sweet kiddos to wake up in the morning!