1/2 Birthday

With Ryan being a Christmas time baby, I feel like he misses out on Birthday fun. A) He doesn't have a reason to get new stuff any other time of the year B) How many friends can come to a friend party 2 days after Christmas? So, last year I initiated the 1/2 birthday. Today is Ryan's half birthday. We had some friends over for a super play date. That is, a regular play date with balloons and cupcakes.

Where is Ryan?

I sat down and I could hear Alex and George playing nicely in the front room. It was otherwise quiet. Ryan must be in my bathroom or watching TV in the toy room. I had great hopes for the second option, but as it usually is with Ryan, he was in my bathroom. In my make-up. Wearing mascara. Luckily it washed off easily. I didn't really punish him. I have told him hundreds of times not to play in my bathroom, so I know he knows. And if I got on to him too much he would realize it is a great way to get attention when I'm ignoring him. Which may have been exactly why he was in the bathroom. Or he went in there to do #2 (which would be an ideal place if he went on the toilet instead of his diaper) and thought, 'Hey, while I'm here why don't I have some fun?' So, I had to messes to clean up when he got done. Wonderful.

Swimming Lessons

Weekend

Dan came home for good Friday. The boys both got toys they were excited to get this time. After we picked up Dan we headed to Scottsdale to spend time with one of Dan's college buddies. He and his wife have 3 kids and the oldest is 5. The 5 year old is spending a few days with us this week while his parents go on a cruise. Dan and I had been planning to go on this cruise, but Dan can't get away from work this summer. Now that they owe us big for babysitting!! we'll see what kind of adventure we'll have next summer.
Alex has another week of swim lessons. It is brutally hot this week. I am glad for the 8:30am class schedule. Maybe we'll get out and about to some fun places while we have an extra kid in the house. However, he is also a Lego Star Wars fan, so we may not need to leave the TV room.

Allowance

I have finally committed to giving Alex an allowance. He gets $1.50 a week. He puts the change towards tithing and savings. He was saving his money for a star wars Lego ship. I instigated the allowance so he could value his toys and so Dan and I wouldn't be tempted to spoil him too much. Of course Ryan wants money too. This week he has come down with the gimmes. Every store he grabs something and says, 'Buy me this'.
I am looking for ideas on how to divide the boys personal playing time (like Alex wants to play with his Legos without Ryan) and how to store toys that they don't want to share. I believe they should be allowed a small cashe of toys that is just theirs.

Painting

While Dan was away, the boys and I painted the master bedroom. Someone asked how I could do it with the boys. Well, they do it with me. They only stuck around for 30 minutes at a time. Ryan had the most fun. He liked being on the ladder.
I picked the color from the painting shown. It is a fountain in Rome; it was around the corner from my apartment. I wish I could have a recording of the water gushing night and day and the ebb and flow of the tourists throughout the day. It was prettiest just after dawn, when no one was there and you could get as close as you wanted.

Disappointed

Dan came home last night from his buisness trip. Alex was asleep, so he missed out on the doleing out of the suprises. Ryan was doing a jig in anticipation. Dan pulled out two Star Wars action figures (Darth and Yoda). Dan handed one to Ryan and Ryan said, 'Alex Happy Birthday'. Translation: Alex would want that. So, then Ryan wanted his gift. Dan pulled out the other figure and you could see the disappointment on his face. He repeated, 'Alex Happy birthday' and proceeded to toss them lightly on the floor and looked down at them in sorrow. I opened Darth Vader and he was interested in the commerative coin in the package more than the toy. However, all was well this morning when Alex got up at the crack of dawn. Alex found the toys. He came and tapped me on my sleeping shoulder to say, 'Ryan's present isn't for babies. He has to be 4 before he can have it.' He left and 5 minutes later came back to wake up Dad, and then wanted to open his Yoda. He and Ryan played Star Wars a long time this morning. (With Alex singing S.W. theme music)
I was suprised with a bag of Wisconsin cheese curd. It is squeaky when you chew it. It tastes like string cheese. It is a yummy treat! Thanks hubby.

Primary

Here was our Primary Presidency: Me, Kelly, Julie, and Aimee.

This was the group that came to our Primary Activity. We had a Book of Mormon Adventure. We assigned 6 teachers a different BoM story for them to teach. We wanted the kids to learn where in the scriptures their favorite stories were from. Then the teacher had a fun activity for them to participate. They rotated through all the rooms and at the end we had otter pops. Yum! and Fun!
Of course these are pics of Alex, but you get the idea.

Everything changes

Life in Goodyear just got a little smaller. With all the move outs our ward and friends were already being depleted. Another strike was blown today when the stake created a new ward and took 20% of our folks away. I have been released from my calling twice in 1 month's time. Will I be put back in? again? So, of course our ward friends are still our friends and they live just as close as they did before. But, our kids won't go to school together and we won't meet in the halls at church (or VT each other), so things will change.
Also, the man of our lives is off in Milwaukee the next two weeks for training. Alex was very, very sad at the airport. When we got home he asked, "Do you know who one of my best friends is? Dad," with a sigh and a sob. Ryan begged to go with him. Now, when I go to Utah next month will there be sorrow? No, they are going to Grandma's!

Stolen, swimming, and Samsung

The last week has been a doozey! A thief snagged Dan's credit card Wednesday. They charged $15,000 in one day. Our credit card company was all over it. Dan didn't file a police report since he has no idea when the card was taken. All he knows could be said in two sentences and the file would have been 13 pages long!
Last night Dan noticed some activity on our Debit card. He asked me if I spent $30 bucks at In-n-Out. Not likely for me and 2 boys! Turns out the restaurant was in LA. There was a gas station charge too. So, some how the crooks got Dan's Debit card info without taking his card. Sneaky. Needless to say, Dan is angry that he has to reset all of our auto payments; also, he is going on a business trip next week and both his credit card and his debit card are useless. How will he rent a car?
Alex started swim lessons yesterday. He did a great job. His usual 1st day anxiety was on strong in the morning, but he relaxed when he realized that Sis Inman was his teacher, 'She teaches me primary songs.' He grinned and his anxiety was gone.
And lastly, Mark helped my hubby spend $1,000 bucks yesterday. Dan says Kristina is a bad influence on me for shopping. I have never spent that much with my girlfriend! Dan got a 42" Samsung LCD TV. Once we get the proper cables, the picture is going to be awesome! On the way home Dan called his buddies and behaved like I do when I get a great deal on new shoes!
Now in our front living room we have 2 pianos (if you want to do a duet, come on over!) and a 27" TV that I believe we'll just have to give away. I wonder what else will gather in there this week.