Ryder turns 6

FINALLY I know, I know. I just haven't had the time to sit and blog so I am a tad behind on this thing.
Our Ryder celebrated his 6th birthday September 19th! Crazy how the time just flies by us. He actually had two birthdays this year. One we did for the family w/ grandparents and then my sister Val was able to be here. We then did one for him and his friends.
For the family party we just had the grandparents and my sisters here. We had subs, cake and opened presents. Easy and quick. Ryder only wanted Ben 10 stuff, but I told them it was for his friends. So I then suprised him and got a few Transformer decorations and a Transformer cake. He thought that was really neat! He is all over the Transformer and Ben 10 stuff I tell ya what!
For his friend's birthday he chose to do a Ben 10 theme. His favorite! Ryder had a blast with his friends. I was nervous to actually have friends come, but after it was all over I was glad I did it. He had fun and I too had fun getting to meet some of his friends he talks about from school, but who I never really had met before. He had them come to the house and we played a couple games, opened presents and ate cupcakes. What a good group of kids too. They just all played and had a great time. No fighting at all and man those boys were so polite in saying please and thank you and taking turns! I was amazed and it was sure nice.
Ryder ended up with a lot of fun things for his birthday. If I remember them all here is what he got between his family gifts and friend's gifts. He got a nerf gun, Ben 10 board game, legos, walkie talkies, Ben 10 shoot thing, puzzles, pencils, clothes, Tag Reading books, and some candy.

For Ryder as well at school they did a little celebration in his class. All day he was able to wear a birthday hat, and they had his name on the board. I was invited to attend the little party they did so I went up. His class sang to him then he talked a little bit about himself. The class then took turns saying something fun about Ryder or something they liked about Ryder. He then passed out treats to them and they all lined up to give him big hugs. He then got to leave an hour early to come home with his mom. He thought having the day be all about him was pretty neat and I think it was really neat thing his teacher did!

So overall a great 6th birthday for Ryder. He is such a great kid and growing more and more every day. He is loving school and is a huge help to me around the house when he is home. I think I have myself a mommy's boy! :) I don't mind one bit either! Here is to another great year with Ryder watching him grow even more!

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Brooklyn Starts Preschool

Brooklyn had her first day of Preschool yesterday. She is going to Miss Mindy's Learning Adventure in Preston. It is the same one Ryder went to as well. We absolutley LOVE Miss Mindy as she has been a miracle worker with Ryder and she is ever so nice and cute with the kids.

Brooklyn was so stinkin excited as I got her up and told her she needed to get ready to go to school. She jumped right up and was ready in no time waiting for me to do her hair. She has been waiting awhile now after watching Ryder go to Preschool and now Kindergarten and she always would ask when it'd be her turn. Well, her turn was finally here and boy she thought she owned the world! It was really neat actually to see her so stinckin excited and smiling from ear to ear. It almost reminded me of the kids on Christmas morning. LOL Hopefully she'll keep up that big wave of excitement about school for a long time!! (fingers crossed)

I have talked to her teacher that Brooklyn struggles a little. Her speech is under par right now, but Miss Mindy has told me not to stress right now and she'd do some "testing" and some work with her and let me know her thoughts in a few months as to where she is and what not. Hopefully we can get her to move upward and improve. Even trying to do ABC's here she has no desire in the world. Hopefully someone else can get her to work and do it. Brooklyn also doesn't have a very good attention span, which is probably the age, so she will need some work in that department as well so that she can sit and listen to the teacher. I hope this all helps and I'm excited to see her progress through the year. Ryder grew SO much in his time in Preschool so I am anxious to see Brooklyn's outcome.

Suprise too; I didn't cry and didn't feel totally worried like I did when I had first taken Ryder. I did however have a part of me that was taken back that she was actually old enough now for Preschool. She looked so big and acted so big it was a tad bit weird. It was like an overnight change. As many of you know Brooklyn is and has been my hardest kid. She is a complete handful and VERY moody. She constantly seems to be finding anything to get into that she knows she shouldn't just to test my buttons. At the same time though Brooklyn can be so loving and funny. The things that she comes up leave you scratching your head and/or laughing your guts out! I wouldn't trade her for anything but yet those couple hours away for me was a breather and very much needed. It's amazing what just a few hours can do. :)

Here are some pictures of my little Brooklyn. As you can tell in a couple she didn't want pictures taken, she just wanted me to get her up to school. lol So now here is to wishing for good progress from her. Good luck to Brooklyn for growing and learning lots this year! Love her to pieces!

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Ryder starts Kindergarten!

Well, my boy started Kindgergarten. I knew this day would eventually come and it did! He has only had one day there, but will have his second day tomorrow. He is going on Tuesday and Thursdays all day. I really struggled with deciding to let him do all day for two days a week or to go everyday for half day. If I did the every day for half day I'd have to either take him to school everyday or go pick him up everyday. The bus would only bus one way. It then quickly became common sense to just let him do all day for two days a week so I wasn't using that much gas to go drive into town every day. Besides, I felt like he would barely get there and I'd have to go pick him up. I just felt like he needed more class time per day. I of course was very worried because it's such a long day for him, but I figured he'd have to get use to it because for 1st grade he wouldn't have an option and would be there all day every day.
I put him on that big yellow bus at 7:10 that morning. He was so excited and got up with no problems at all! He was dressed quickly and ready to roll with hardly any "hurry up" comments from me. I tried to stay cool and collect for him, but it was really actually tearing me up inside. I sent him on the bus and as that big yellow thing swallowed him up and drove off my heart sank. (Yep, I'm a whimp!)
Now just let me explain myself a little here so you don't think I'm off my rocker or something! I have had my kids home with me 7 days a week and we start every day from 7:30 usually to about 9PM together. There may be a time here and there I have been gone an hour or so for certain things without them, but they are usually right there with me. SO, to just have Ryder gone really was making me worry. A little churn in my stomach. I have never worked because I find it ever so important to raise my own kids and if that means we struggle and have tight budgets so be it. I know some families have to have both parents work, but I have found to "make do" and not work.
Okay, now back to the subject.... I sent him on the bus then loaded myself up and drove to the school to wait for him. I went over and waited where the buses unload and then walked with him to class. I put him in his classroom, gave him a kiss and left. I could feel some tears coming and hurried to bail before he saw. His teacher gave me a smile as if she knew and off I went. I had to stop at the office to pay lunch money and it was one of those moments that if you talk you are going to loose it and the tears are gonna come. So I asked just what I had to, paid, and off I went in like five minutes. Boy let me tell you how hard it was for me to drive away from that school! I cried. Yep, like a little kid I cried. :)
Nils decided his work was rather slow that day so we went up later and had lunch together to help get my mind off things. Which was neat; I love my husband! All day though I found myself looking at the clock to see what time it was; if it was time for him to be home yet. Man time seemed to move slow that day. Each time I looked at the clock I found myself asking "wonder what he's doing right now." Then the worries flooded my mind. I started wondering about all the little nonsense things like, will he find friends at recess, will he know where to go after, will he eat the lunch they have, will he get to missing me, and on and on....
Well, finally about 4:15 hit and Brook and I went to sit outside and wait for him. Then about 4:30 we saw the bus coming down the hill for us. I couldn't help but smile! Brooklyn was jumping up and down yelling "I see him, he's coming" while I just smiled. LOL
When Ryder came in the house he was tired. He was hot and sweaty and pooped right out. He got him a snack and watched some TV while I decided to get dinner started. He then came out and asked if he could go in and take a nap. Nope, no way man. He ate and was to bed early again.
So now that I wrote a book, I'm sorry to all who had to sit and read. I enjoy blogging though because really this is my scrabook/journal in a way. I have my life on this computer and blogging is a way of marking down the eventful days of my life.
Good luck to my Ryder and here is to hoping for the best for him. PLEASE don't let him become a victim of teasing; I just worry and pray every day he doesn't have to deal with that.
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Gavin's Birthday

Wowzers, my baby turned 1 on July 28th! Really, it doesn't seem quite fair that they grow up so stinkin fast. I have really enjoyed him though and am amazed he's already a year.
His birthday actually fell at quite a busy time this year. We had a ton going on. We had the rodeo activities we'd made plans for then I was running hectic trying to finish up things for girls camp. His birthday fell on the Thursday, the first night for the famous preston night rodeo things. So we went to the parade with the kids. After we stopped and got some icecream cones and came home and just hung out together watching a movie. (and of course I sat and held him!) :)
We then had his little birthday bash on Sunday. We just had the grandparents come over for a light dinner then cake and icecream. Gotta love the 1st birthdays when they dig into their very own cake!! That was the best part of the night to watch.
As he was eating his cake he'd start out by taking little tiny pinches of frosting between his fingers, lick it, then wipe the rest down his chest. He then decided that no one was getting after him and it was pretty good so he started going to town on it.
Short and sweet for his birthday and yet fun! That little stinker is growing up on me and makes me laugh everyday. He does the strangest things and/or gives the funniest looks all the time and I can't help but giggle. I love him to death!!! I have really enjoyed every day with him! I love you Gavin, happy birthday buddy!!

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Preston Rodeo Time

So we just had our Famous Preston Night Rodeo weekend. It's a crazy time to go to Preston, but still a fun time. On Thursday night we went to the parade with Kory, Jen and their kids, and being me I forgot my camera. Friday night we went with the Blake's to the rodeo. It was just the adults and the kids stayed home. It was a great night of laughter and fun! Again though, I didn't take any pictures of the rodeo. On Saturday night we went with Brooks and Robin to the parade then to eat, then to the carnival. It was wonderful seeing them finally and letting the kids all goof around together. I did remember my camera for the parade, but left it behind when we went over the carnival. I got a few pictures of their son Jaxson goofing around with Ryder waiting for the parade to start. Brooklyn was in the parade Saturday night and looked pretty. Thanks for all of you who hung out and made it such a fun weekend for us. Gotta love that Famous Preston Night Rodeo!

Here are a couple pictures of Jaxson and Ryder while they waited for the parade to start. The first one Jaxson is being silly w/ Ryder's toy and making himself look a bit mischevious when I asked for a picture. The other one Jaxson looked over at his mom for a picture and did some crazy look that I just had to get a picture of! LOL It ended up blury though because I was in a hurry to snap a good picture of him. Jaxson is hillarious and was just a ball of fun that night and the kids all got along so well!!


Here is the picture I got of Brooklyn riding in the parade again. She was just so cute! She said she had a lot of fun riding in the parade. It took her a bit to find us, but when she spotted us she quickly threw us some candy. :)

Lewiston Parade

Brooklyn got to ride in the Lewiston 4th of July parade this year. She rode with the pagent girls from that little Miss Idaho Days she did. When I dropped her off and put her on the float she was a tad bit nervous and sort of gave me a sad lip. The lady there helping talked her though and Brook was fine in no time. She was so stickin cute when she passed us. She caught site of us and started waving (her princess wave she says) and then was blowing kisses. So cute!
She will now ride this weekend in the Famous Preston Night Rodeo and she is so excited.
I just was able to snap one picture. I had one of her before when I dropped her off, but who only knows how it was deleted from the camera. ;)

Brooklyn turns 4!

Brooklyn turned 4 on June 27th!! (Yes, I'm slow on doing the post!)
We had a short birthday party for Brooklyn this year because she started out that day not feeling well. She sort of just sat around. Finally later that week I decided I better take her to get looked at. I figured she just had the stupid cough and cold that was going around so I didn't bother wasting the dr. bill on it. However, later that week she got worse and worse. I finally took her in and she had asmatic bronchitis. She was on meds and they made her throw up a TON, so then they lowered her dose and gave her nausea meds. Poor little girl. Let's just say the 4th of July weekend for us (mainly her) was not real fun! She did ride in the parade though in Lewiston on the 4th cuz she said she felt better. However, when she was done and we walked to the car she asked me to pack her and she just laid on me. I could tell she was still trying to get better and not up to herself yet.
She had wanted to do a Princess party and I had cute things in mind, but when she was sick I decided we were cutting it down. We just had the grandparents all come over and did a dinner then cake and icecream. We then had her open presents. She was fine with it. She loved it all and that night when I tucked her in for bed, she looked at me as she gave me a hug and said "thanks for the birthday mom. I loved the princess cake and my present!" Awww..melt my heart. I thought it was boring but to her she totally loved it!! (sick and all)
Here are just a few pics from her birthday.....












I of course had to snap and share a cute picture of little Gavin making a little cheeser smile. What a cutie!! :)












It was fun, but so sad that the kids grow up so fast! She may be the hardest kid for me and give me the most work, but she is still a sweetheart to beat and I love her to death!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROOKLYN!!!