a hat, a camera and a cutie

We were bored tonight and put Dawson's hat on Carter's head, he immediately started to giggle and we instantly had a candid photoshoot with two teeth, rosy cheeks and his gorgeous eyelashes!

3-year-old's Sleepover

Our little buddy spent the night last night because his little brother was being born! (Congrats Michelley!) He was so good and my kids just adore him. These were just a few pictures that I captured right before bed. He kept talking all about his new baby "brudder" and could hardly sleep because he was too excited! We made a banner that says congratulations, we colored his new baby pictures and just enjoyed being together. He has such good manners and we just adore him! So glad that our little buddy could come over to play! Ryanna read the boys books and wrestled and we all had a very fun time.

BEEEEG YAWN! Carter was so tired, but he wasn't too worn out to play!

Poor me!

Warning: I'm whining....

I haven't blogged for a couple days, because I've officially had the biggest migraine headache in years! It came on Monday and I'm still on the tail end of it. My right arm tingles and two of my fingers go numb and I can't have any lights on, all the blinds are closed all day and I'm so cranky. My poor kids! I'm over the worst of it, so that's the exciting part. It's been fun, downing bottles of Excedrin and painkillers. My wonderful doctor gave me permission to lie in bed and drink Diet Coke, ahhhh!

I've been tagged, (thank you Jaimee!) so before this weekend I'll post that. That gives me something to look forward to!

Two ducklings

I found this giant duck and added it to our collection, it's HUGE! Carter loves it!

The Adventures of Friday Bear and Ryanna

Friday Bear all buckled up all safe and sound!
Ryanna and Friday Bear going down the slide.

Can you believe Carter's eyelashes?!

In Ryanna's class, they have a little friend appropriately named, "Friday Bear" that goes home with a child each weekend. Ryanna's name was drawn last Friday and she was ELATED! There's a little journal that we record the adventures that Friday Bear has while in our care and so we had a little outing at McDonald's Playplace to ensure that fun was achieved over the weekend. Ryanna will read from his journal to her class and tell about all the fun that she and Friday Bear had together. She loved it!

Congratulations Zorastar!

Congratulations to my dear friend! I am so excited to be Aunt Angie to her precious little boy, that I nicknamed Tiger. When we were both 14 years old, we were always thinking about the future, and to us, the future was the next day or the next week. We were always doing funny stuff together, running in the rain, eating an entire pan of brownies, cosmic bowling, having secret code-names for boys we were crushing on, (remember Calvin and Hobbes?!), marching band, Radio-active Beanstocks, Tastes Like Chicken, etc. (we were sure busy weren't we?)

Years and years later, we're both mothers. With her natural serene and peaceful demeanor, she's going to be such a fabulous mom! Tiger is one lucky little dude. Congrats and I'm so excited to watch little Tiger grow up healthy and strong. Love you Rachel!

Huh?

This is on the billboard outside of our Co-op. How does THAT work? We got a kick out of it!

Silly faces

The pictures are blurry because I was in giggles during this mini photoshoot! This is Dawson being silly!

To Kristianne!

Hi, sorry this is a way personal posting! My Outlook isn't working to email you, so if you don't mind emailing me that would be great. My email is happyholdaway2001@yahoo.com and then I would love to still be a blogging buddy. Thanks for the invite!

My hour of "Ahhhhh"

I got one hour to myself this afternoon and spent it down the street at the hair salon. For the first time since I was like 12 I have bangs! Oh, this gal that did my hair was magical. She did such a wonderful job and I love love love my new dew! I have 'wispy' bangs and 3 layers of, uh, layers. It's so easy to do and I feel like a million bucks! Ryan even noticed it when he walked in the door, so it must look darling. I love it! The gal shampooed, massaged, conditioned, styled, and doted on me for an entire hour. She even showed me how to style it at home. My scalp is so happy. (is that weird to be excited about?!)

Disappearing baby

Carter just blends into the furniture! We couldn't find him until we spotted these two little feet underneath the table! He was behind the diaperbag and we caught him munching on some gold star stickers. He was quite content with himself. He slithered off onto the next adventure.

Aunt Ash and the kids

This is such a sweet picture of my sister, Ashley, during her reception last December. How my kids just adore her and their new "Uncle Donny" and how lucky they are to be so loved.

Dr. Suess Day and awful joke

Today was Dr. Suess Day in Ryanna's classroom. They rhymed lots of words and she really likes to make up her own poems. She matched up the pictures on the chalkboard, "box" and "fox," "hat" and "cat" etc. Then it was time for her to think of her own words. She picked "tongue" and "lung." She then drew pictures of them on her paper. She loves rhyming and makes up silly poems all day long. Sometimes driving me to make up words of MY own...

I also wanted to share Ryanna's favorite joke to tell, for shock value, of course:

Ryanna-"Knock, knock"

"Who's there?"

Ryanna- "Ma'dam"

"Ma'dam who?"

Ryanna-"Ma'dam foot's caught in the door."

Ahhhhhh! We do NOT talk like this in our house! Poop is a naughty word! Where in the world did she learn this? Who? Anyone going to fess up? I was rolling with laughter and she loves to tell anyone that will listen. Luckilly, she hasn't told many people now a days, but over the Holidays this was a crowd-pleaser! She was encored a lot, roses thrown at her feet. She has such a sharp imagination, I hope that she FORGETS this one!

Watch this!

I thought that this was so cool to watch! A baby falls into a swimming pool and actually has the ability to save himself. Check it out!

http://www.childdrowningprevention.com/index.html

Donna Reed would be proud

Yesterday afternoon, I was in the midst of preparing dinner when I realized what was simultaneously happening. I took a step back and evaluated:

1) I had HOMEMADE rolls baking in the oven
2) I had dinner simmering on the stove
3) I was finishing up Ryanna's blanket on my sewing machine (I couldn't put dinner on the table until my machine was put away, so I had to hurry and finish this project)
4) The kids were playing NICELY with eachother

The only thing missing were my high heels and my polka-dot dress! I was Miss Domestic Diva last night! I baked a batch of rolls (with a new recipe that I haven't messed up yet!) and took a plate over to a new gal I visit teach in my ward. (I even whipped up some honey-butter! Mmmm!)

I'm quite proud of myself, especially since I was never a baker, a cook, nor a seamstress. That is my Mother! She is good at absolutely EVERYTHING she does. I want to be better at these skills, so I have been practicing. As long as I have my Gilmore girls playing on the DVD player in the kitchen, I'll be more than happy to stay in there for a 12-course meal!

Updates

RYANNA: The time is fastly approaching and I'm reminded every single day about a certain girl's birthday! Ryanna is turning six on April Fool's Day and she is so excited. I just thought that this was cute, since this is her birthday wishlist:

1) The movie Matilda

2) Anything that says High School Musical on it

3) Nintendo DDS

4) Dress-up makeup

5) Her OWN sewing machine (we have sewing lessons when I have mine out now!)

She's getting into Hannah Montana and loves Sharpay from HSM. We watched it twice last week and since Ryanna walks around singing the songs, Dawson has started picking up on them too. It's funny because they know every song to the "That Thing You Do!" Soundtrack, Dawson's favorite song is 'Drive Faster' song. Ryanna says, "That's illegal! You can't tell someone to drive faster and break the law, cuz then you'll get arrested." Her other favorites right now are: Hairspray, Matilda, HSM, Even Stevens Movie and Gilmore girls. She's already acting like such a teenager!

She gave the talk last week in Primary and insists on helping with the lessons. Her teacher is gracious enough to allow that too. Ryanna reads nearly all the scriptures and anything else that she can. She does the dishes here at home when I'm helping Carter eat or something, so she's quite the little helper. My next project is to make her and Dawson another couple aprons so they can wear them in the kitchen. (Their current ones are just about worn out!)

DAWSON: He's potty training (STILL!) and doing better. The incentives we've gone through are:

-coins in the bank every time he goes

-little candies for every time he goes

-stars and stickers on a chart for every time he goes

BUT NOTHING is working! We've tried one more thing, it's our final attempt out of desperation...nintendo time. This seems to be working. Once again I ask, "What is it about boys and their video games?!" I'm just glad that this is working. He can maneuver Mario unlike any other 3 year old I've ever seen! It's a hoot!

He has his very own scripture bag that fits one little BOM, which he just loves carrying to class. Ryanna also has one, so he feels more like a big kid. He's still hesitant going into Primary by himself, so Ryan or I have to sit with him for the first few minutes.

We've reached a milestone with him: NO EAR INFECTIONS FOR 9 straight weeks!!!!! He hasn't gotten one since he got his tubes in December while we were in Boise. That's a RECORD! He's gotten one every month for the last year and a half. I'm so pleased that it was successful. Dawson no longer covers his ears when eating cold cereal, I can run the vaccuum now and he doesn't cry because it no longer hurts his ears, I can sneeze without him jumping out of his skin. His ears aren't quite as sensitive anymore and I'm so thankful that his hearing is better too. Thank goodness for our wonderful ENT in Boise!!

CARTER: He's everywhere! He army crawls down the hall, in the kitchen, empties out his toy basket, and leaves a mess in his wake! He's doing great, he's getting his belly off the floor and is actually going forward a couple crawls. Won't be long now! He's still teething, those poor little gums are so sore. I hope they come in soon. I can't believe that he's EIGHT MONTHS OLD! I have so much fun with him and cart him around the house like a doll.

RYAN: He's interviewed with a few law firms around Northern Idaho for an internship for the summer. A couple of them are looking like very possible prospects, and he might even be able to work from home. We're praying and keeping our fingers crossed! Updates will come later on this subject. He's doing wonderfully in school and I'm so proud of him.

ANGELA: Well, I'm keeping super busy with house and home duties. We're still the Nursery Leaders, and I love that calling. I have figured out the secret to making good bread, (it's the YEAST! I swear by Saf now!) and I have recently discovered a love for my sewing machine! I find myself sewing and tailoring anything I can. It's so FUN! I'm still teaching piano one afternoon a week, it's difficult with three kids; naptimes, snacktimes and entertaining have to be worked around. Makes life fun.

We've officially past the 18-month mark for living in Moscow! I can't believe that it's ONLY been 18 months! On one hand, it feels like it should be more than that, but on the other, it feels like it hasn't been that long. I love love love our little house and will miss it terribly. I do look forward to a few things, though: a dishwasher, an airconditioner, a disposal, etc. Silly I know, but these are things I was used to before we moved! I don't wish these days away for anything though. Another plus is that the snow is melting! Hooray!

Okay that's about it for now, be sure to tune in next time for yet more exciting updates from Moscow!

Ryanna's meter

This is wild! I always thought that she and I look so similar; but guess she equally goes inbetween Ryan and I! (However that temper and her being stubborn I'm sure comes from HIS side!) I tried this meter with three different pictures of all of us and it always came out to say that she looks EQUALLY like Ryan and I. I'm glad that she is named Ryanna after all, a combination of 'Ryan' and 'Angela'. Whew, that was a good call.

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Pedigree - Genology

Dawson's meter

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Carter's meter

I thought that he would look more like ME! Guess not.

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph