Wednesday Funny

Ryan is quite a humorous boy.

The other day, I came out of the shower, slathered some floral scented lotion, and proceeded to do my household business. As I passed by him, he says, "Oh mommy, you smell nice, just like roses! I thought, "Aw, how nice." Then he says, "Not like when you go to Grandma's house or go to the doctor, or go see fireworks (meaning most other times), then you smell like peanuts! But he made sure I didn't feel too bad. He said, "But that's still nice!"

I had to double check with Steve and the girls and find out if I really smell like peanuts normally. They said I don't smell any kind of way, just normal. That's good. Maybe I'll wear scented lotions more often. They do smell pretty.

I think I mentioned before that Ryan loves to play around with my camera, taking shots of just about anything. I'll leave you with a self-portrait that he did. I'll spare you the pictures he took of his tongue and tonsils or him picking his nose.

Monday

Ryan was sick this weekend with a stomach bug. The school called me Thursday to say that he had thrown up so off I went to go pick him up. Once home, he was queasy for the rest of the day, got a fever, but didn't throw up any more, even though he was close to doing it a couple of times. The rest of the weekend, he slowly started to feel a little more normal, but still had a little stomach crampiness. I kept him home today as I didn't want him to have a relapse and miss his class Thanksgiving party tomorrow.

Our Thanksgiving will be a little nontraditional this year. Every year we go to my brother's house and this year will be the same. However, this year we well forgo the turkey and eat BBQ burgers! My kids were like, "Huh? No turkey?" I actually don't mind that we won't be having the turkey. My brother and sister-in-law are both having a particularly stressful/busy year at school (they both teach) and this will be one less thing to stress over. We don't need the picture perfect Thanksgiving. Just sharing the meal will be what counts.

I probably will still buy a turkey. We love the leftovers!

After Thanksgiving I will begin to think about Christmas. I need to make out my lists of things to do and buy. But first, I need to dig out my Advent wreath. That will probably be tricky as it's not where I thought it was. I have the candles, but not the wreath.

Weather wise, it's finally getting cold around here. We've been having lots of warm weather and I was beginning to wonder if we would ever see the Fall. I guess we'll have a short Fall and head right into Winter. We are expecting rain tonight or tomorrow. I hope it comes and is not a false report. I love being home when it's raining cats and dogs.

That's it for now!

Yea! The Tooth Came Out!

Ryan finally lost his other front tooth! He looks so cute! This one was a stubborn one, but he was persistent, and finally pulled it out.

And he also got a haircut! Due to our busy schedule, he was way overdue for one. Today was early dismissal, so I was able to take him today.

Tomorrow, more soccer and a baseball game. Emily will play her last game for the season and then have the team pizza party. She's looking forward to that. Kathryn has two games that will end her regular season. However, she has a tournament to get ready for, then playoffs. This feels like the season that will never end! Ryan will also have a game tomorrow. Then one more next weekend, then he's done too...yippee!

Have a nice weekend, everyone!

My Son Wants to Be A Zookeeper??

Ryan has such a strong interest in all kinds of animals. He reads all kinds of books about them, loves watching Animal Planet, and plays with all kinds of animal toys. He wants to be a zookeeper when he grows up.

So, we recently got him the Zoo Tycoon computer game. I'm not too sure how it goes, but the gist of it is that you get to build your own zoo, complete with animals, attractions, concession stands, etc.etc. You get money to construct buildings and buy the animals and make sure you provide the right kind of environment for your animals. You make sure they are fed, have room to roam, play and whatever else you need to do to make them happy. You also need to make the zoo enjoyable for people to visit so you can make some money. The more the merrier, I guess.

I really haven't had the time to sit with him and go through all the directions so he pretty much is experimenting and I'm around if he needs some help.

So, I went off to do something and after a long while, he comes looking for me to show me what he did. He decided to buy 54 elephants! He wanted to see what they would do. The area that he put them in was too small for that amount of elephants and apparently the fence was too low. The elephants started to break out of the enclosure and attack the guests! Oh my goodness! They started swinging at them with their trunks. Apparently the guests took off because there were then something like 19 guests in the whole zoo. After a while the computer froze - too much action going on perhaps.

Obviously, Ryan is a little young for this game. He's still too young to figure out all the complexities of running a zoo, but he has lots of fun just bringing in the different animals and providing a proper environment for them. He likes to see them walk around, eat, or just roll around in the dirt. He doesn't care when a message comes up saying the guests are upset that there are not enough restrooms, the soda cart has broken down, or that the giraffes are getting sick and dying. He just loves playing around with anything that has to do with animals. His curiosity is amazing to watch.

I'll leave with this picture of Ryan (along with Emily, who insisted on being in the picture). He's also a heart stealer!

Birthday Boy

Ryan turned 6 this past week. He was excited to have his cake and presents. He was able to have Grandma here to help him celebrate. After going out to dinner at his favorite place, we came home for some of his cupcake cake. After all the busyness of vacation and the start of school, I completely forgot that I had bought a tablecloth, cups, plates, and napkins (Spon*gebob Square*pants, of course). I guess I can save them for next year?

Happy Birthday, Ryan! You've touched our lives with your adventure, silliness, and most of all, your tender heart! You're a wonderful gift from God and you will be a great man someday!

Ouch!

Ryan had to go to the lab today and get a routine blood test. He tried to be brave but the anxiety was a little too much for him. It didn't help that last week he had to endure three immunizations plus a TB test. All this for his entrance into Kindergarten in August. Anyway, he freaked a little when he saw a test tube coming. I tried to get him to close his eyes or turn his head away, but by this time he was coming unglued and was not even aware of what I was saying. After an what seemed like eternity, it was finally over! It took him awhile to recover from the ordeal but it helped that he got to buy a book at the bookstore. He picked out an I Spy book. He loves those.

Most Tuesday nights, we try to head out to the ice cream shop for Dollar Scoop Tuesday. Today was no exception. Kathryn & Ryan tried out a new flavor, Penguin something or other that was black and white. It had some kind of mixed berry flavor. I had my usual, Rocky Road.

This is what the kids looked like after having the delicious ice cream! Luckily the black stuff came off pretty well.