Quesadilla

A few days ago we were at the park swinging and we heard a loud noise. Ryan asked what the noise was and I told him that it was a cicada. About 20 minutes later, Ryan was playing with something else at the park. He pointed to a tiny little bug flying around and said, "Mom...Is that a quesadilla?" I have to admit it took me about 30 seconds to figure out what he was talking about; he meant cicada.

Today we went to Sophia's house and as soon as we got out of the car Ryan heard the cicadas. He asked if the noise was a quesadilla bug. Then when we were playing in Sophia's yard her mom found a cicada on the ground still in it's shell. Sophia picked it up (YUCK!) and put it in her bug house. About an hour later it shed it's shell. Although it is a pretty nasty large bug...it was kind of neat :)

Congratulations John!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

John graduated with his MBA from University of Wisconsin - Madison on Saturday! John is excited to have his time back but a little sad that he won't see his friends from the program frequently. I'm extremely happy to have those nights back too.

At the beginning of the ceremony the speaker asked if everyone could hear her and people responded yes...then there was a moment when it was quiet...this was the moment that Ryan also decided to chime in with "YES!" Everyone chuckled and many turned to look. At the time I was wondering if John recognized Ryan's yes and it turns out he certainly did. The kids made it through a decent portion of the ceremony but their Nana took them outside towards the end.

We are all happy it is over and of course very proud of John!

First Dentist Visit

No Cavities!!!

Ryan had his first dentist appointment today (7/9)
* No cavities!

* Ryan let them count his teeth, brush them with the electric brush, squirt water & air, suck water out (with "Mr. Thirsty"), take pictures (not x-rays) that show up on the TV, & floss.

* The Hygienist, Brenda, was great with Ryan. She talked to him for a while before trying to see in his mouth. She showed him all of her "cool tools" (i.e. squirt gun that never runs out of water, Mr. Thirsty, special tooth counter, little mirror, gloves & special glasses). Ryan was so interested he was asking what other cool tools she had. He noticed a TV and asked about it, so she used another little tool that takes pictures that show up on the TV. Ryan got to see his teeth and an upside down picture of himself on the TV.

* He did really great. He had a few moments when he was thinking about not cooperating but they were very patient with him and he did it all. There was not a single tear shed.

* Ryan was well rewarded for his great behavior. He got to enter the 'No Cavity Club' drawing, picked a spiderman foam airplane from the treasure chest, Dr. Brad showed Ryan his motorcycle through the window & we went to McDonald's for lunch.

SWIMMING

Ryan and Alyssa had their 3rd swimming lesson last night. Alyssa enjoyed blowing bubbles in the water and even taught her big brother. By the end of the lesson they were bubble blowing machines. They are both learning to kick. Ryan seems to enjoy doing the hokey pokey at the end of the class.

Dress up

JOKES
Ryan is really trying to figure out the art of jokes. He thinks he is quite funny but to everyone else (who isn't a fellow three year old) his jokes don't make any sense. We were in the car and I thought I would try to teach him a real knock knock joke...

Mom: Knock Knock
Ryan: Who's there?
Mom: Boo
Ryan: Boo What?
....so close, but kinda ruins the joke!

SUPER TOOL RYAN

MILWAUKEE BREWER ALYSSA

SUPER FIRE FIGHTER DADDY

OTHER PICTURES

John & Alyssa

Alyssa lounging on the couch.

The kids being loaded up to go to Rhythm & Booms. Alyssa was not happy about the fire works and cried herself to sleep in a few minutes. Ryan was surprisingly unfazed by the noise and really just wanted to spin in circles with his friends.

Itsy Bitsy Spider

New Nephew!

Trevor Rhys was born this afternoon! Three weeks early but healthy and calm. Jill is doing well. We are hoping to get pictures soon!

John asked me to add another Ryan quote...John asked him if Daddy loves Ryan (I'll get to that story in a second) and Ryan said yes. Then John asked him how much Daddy loves him and Ryan quickly replied 5. .... So a little earlier I was in the car with Ryan and Alyssa. Ryan out of the blue said "I don't know how much Daddy loves me" I asked him to repeat it and he said the same thing. Again no idea where some of these things come from.

Now for a Daddy story :) I called ahead to have John make Ryan's "special dinner" so it would be ready when we got there. (Ryan sometimes gets to pick out a frozen dinner which he calls his special dinner and he had requested to eat it tonight) John said of course, how do I make it? I informed him he should follow the directions on the box. He laughed at me and said what kind of answer is that. It was ready on the table when we arrived so he can apparently handle following the directions.

Zoo Outing

We met our good friends Julie, Sophia & Bella at the zoo yesterday. The kids spent time looking at the lions, seals, giraffes, alligators, prairie dogs, and grizzly bears. We also had a picnic, played at the park, and took a ride on the carousel...lucky kids! Here are some pictures of our day.

Alyssa checking out the lions.

Alyssa & Bella

Bella & Alyssa looking at giraffes.

Oooh...prairie dogs!

The grizzly bear was cute too. He was scratching his back on the rock wall as he relaxing in the water.

Sophia & Ryan on the turtle. Ryan is trying to feed the turtle.

Ryan fell asleep on the way home.

Special Package

On the way home from Nana & Papa's house Ryan was holding his "special package" (i.e. backpack). It has a flap that opens that reveals a spinner thing which he calls a clock. It is supposed to be a game but...

This is basically what he told me for each 'time':

4 o'clock - go back to Nana and Papa's house RIGHT AWAY

3 o'clock - go home and tell Mom NOT to go to sleep

2 o'clock - go to Nana's and play in the sandbox with no squitos (mosquitos) around

1 o'clock - sneak around and hide things from each other...and when Alyssa finds us say Boo

Michigan

We got home today from another trip to Michigan. Thankfully the drive home was as quick and uneventful as it could be (7 hours with a half an hour stop).

CAR QUOTES (6/19 - on the way to Michigan)
* "DADDY! Do I have to be mad at you all day!"

* "Oooh, I have an idea Mom. If you take your seat belt off you can reach my cool book, etch-a-sketch, and everything!" -- after I told Ryan I couldn't reach something he had dropped

* As we drove through construction the lanes were shifted over and we had to drive over some rumble strips (which used to be on the shoulder), every time Alyssa would say "ooooo" in an attempt to copy the sound it made.

* "I want eee" - every time Alyssa wants something she says that. I'm still trying to figure out what "eee" means...maybe eat or please...maybe something totally different, who knows. But every time she wants something she says it over and over again.



RYAN & DANIELLE'S WEDDING
The wedding was a lot of fun. Ryan & Danielle looked fabulous and most important extremely happy! We really enjoyed seeing our friends from John's days at Chrysler. They had a fun photo booth so we could all have a picture and they get a CD with the images. John was having a bit of difficulty figuring out how to stand so his head wasn't cut off :)



While we were off enjoying ourselves at the wedding my Grandma watched the kids with a little help from Aunt Jane and Uncle Doug. We hear Aunt Jane was able to put the kids to bed no problem, which is often easier said than done! I was honestly afraid I would get a call and have to drive back to get them to bed (specifically Ryan). It was really nice to have the kids spend so much time with their Great-Grandma. I'm kicking myself now as I realize I didn't take many pictures...as always. Here is on of Alyssa, very proud of herself for climbing onto the chair by herself.

Ryan Quotes

**exasperated sigh** "How many times do I have to say this" -- We had just finished eating lunch (he ate almost an entire full sized sub sandwich) and he was telling me that he was hungry. I told him there was no way he was hungry. He told me several more times that he was
hungry, followed by the quote above.

"I am SO mad at you. You are not going to take me to Chuck E. Cheese OR McDonalds OR everything...OR playgroup!" -- This was in the car on the way home from playing at a park and eating lunch.

"Momma, the boys and girls are not going to like you" -- I dared to scold him for something yesterday and was quickly informed that I was not going to be liked.

Everytime Ryan goes to bed he needs to tell me three things. If he does not tell me as I'm leaving, I now ask if he has something to say to me. At which time he will respond with...
"Pick up my toys, not my cars"
"Tell Alyssa to go to sleep"
"Is it going to be short or long?"
If he does not say those three things I can count on Ryan sneaking down the stairs a few minutes after I leave. It's not fool proof but it seems to help.

If Alyssa is sitting on the couch looking at a book or something and not playing with Ryan, he will come over and say (over & over again)...
"I'm leaving you, Alyssa. Alyssa, I'm leaving you now. Alyssa, I said I'm leaving you."
I'm sure he is trying to 'scare' her into playing with him, kind of like how we scare him into leaving the park sometimes.

Sometimes when we have to change Alyssa's diaper or put her to bed Ryan will say...
"Give me my sister back"

He says sweet & clever things too but he just had his snotty ride home...I'll try to post some of those things as I remember them or as he comes up with new ones.

One more that he just said... "My tummy says I want to go to the playgroup" "My tummy says I want to go the park and I really want to see Evan...yeah that's what my tummy says." -- Not exactly sure where the tummy thing is coming from.

Outside

Alyssa was having a great time going up and down the slide.

As I'm sure you heard in the background John was busy mowing the very long grass in the backyard. I swear we mowed it last week...it just is the perfect growing environment back there I guess. We filled one barrel in the front yard with grass clippings, one barrel of sticks from the backyard (because of the storms this weekend), & 14 bags of grass clippings from the back...granted it was the 13 gallon kitchen sized bags but STILL!

Meanwhile...Ryan was busy causing trouble. He was taking the sticks (out of the barrel of course) and either throwing them at the lawn mower (which John was pushing) or jousting with his sister. I did take one picture as I had the camera in hand but put an end to it quickly. Not the safest thing ever!

Alyssa is just a very busy girl right now. She is spending a lot of time figuring out what she can climb on top of....up & down, up & down, up & down.

Here is a picture of Ryan busy throwing sticks...

Daddy

Peek-a-boo! Hanging out with daddy before he leaves for work.

Group Hug!

Waiting for Daddy to pull out of the garage and wave goodbye.

Grandma & Grandpa visit!

Grandma & Grandpa came to visit today. We went to brunch and had a great time! Ryan showed off his bike he got a few days ago.

Ryan

Ryan is about 3.5 years old now. In the picture he is finger painting after Dad helped the kids make a mother's day hand print/footprint poster for me. He spends much of his time testing the boundaries and harassing his sister. He still loves matchbox cars. He really also likes to play with the playdough press, paint with water books, and is extra happy if I let him play a pre-school game on the computer. (We had to put a password on our PC so he would stop getting on it and clicking all the buttons!)