no longer a baby

What to do when you get your first official haircut:

1) Get up on the high stool thingy with your Hummer and Lolly in hand.

2) Concentrate on eating that Lolly really hard if you get nervous.

3) Whimper a little bit.

4) Show off how long it is.

5) Admire all those curls.

6) Again, devour that Lolly.

7) Whimper just a little more, for dramatic emphasis.

8) Have a little drink of milk if you like.

9) Tell Jessica 'Thank You!' because she's our favorite. (She cuts all of my family's hair)

10) All done! Whew. Did it.


Just for fun after dinner, take more after shots because you can. I'm so handsome!


I'm so proud of Carter! He never once threw a fit and didn't make any noise other than a couple whimpers. He sat still for 40 minutes! He never smiled, and was nervous but after a while, he got comfortable and was just fine! What a sweet boy. I can't stop giggling when I see him. He's no longer a baby. He's a good lookin' kid.

will the real ryanna please stand up

It was Shakesphere that said:

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.

I don't know about that.

Ryanna has been bringing her papers home from school with just one incorrect thing on it. Her NAME! She has decided that she no longer wants to go by 'Ryanna' and has requested all to call her 'Ryenna' and has labeled her papers so.

This is stemming from years and years of others not pronouncing her name correctly. I understand it is an interesting name and she would kindly correct them, and we're used to doing that. The most common mispronunciation is "Ray-enna" and she wants to be called that now. There's also "Ree-ahna" among other ones. Kudos to those who get it right on the first try. And even if someone gets it wrong, after corrected, they usually get it correct from then on.

I'm not expecting everyone to get her name right all of the time. I do, however, expect her to get it right...since it belongs to her. She has plenty of nicknames, so I'm not sure what to do.

We've had several conversations about her name, that we named her after Daddy, and how important names are because they're ours. We don't have to share with anyone! Not convinced, but is compromising, she wants to simply be named Anna. That's a beautiful name, but it's not HERS!

Now she's signing her letter to Santa and other Christmas cards to her friends, "Ryanna/Anna."

Yeah, that's not confusing at all.

stress dreams and antibiotics

What I thought was pink eye turned out to be bronchitis and ear infections for the kids. This are the meds that they're on right now!
They've been home this week and I've had to cancel all my music lessons, which has thrown my routine off! As Ryan has been studying long hours for his finals, I've been trying to get ready for this big trip.
I've been getting to bed way too late and then getting up way too early. As little sleep as I've been getting, I have dreams. WEIRD dreams.
For the last few nights straight, I've woken up very frustrated. The dreams that I conjure up in my head always start the same: I'm packing and trying to board the plane that will take me over to my parent's apartment in China. Either I miss the flight (due to Ryan's lack of packing) or I get on the plane and then an announcement is made saying that the airplane is suddenly glued to the ground. (one dream it was actually broken in two pieces) WEIRD.
This morning, I woke up absolutely FURIOUS at Ryan. For what he did in my dream! Of course I wouldn't ever hold him accountable for what he does in real life for his behavior in my dreams the night before, but as I'm waking up, I'm still working through those emotions that were involved as I was asleep. However IRRATIONAL as they can be! I told him this morning that he didn't pack and actually wanted to take a nap before we boarded our plane. And we ended up missing our flight and we didn't end up going to China for Christmas!
So, I'm having stress dreams trying to get ready. Not sure why. I guess I'm nervous about being away from the kids for 10 straight days, worried about Ryan and how he'll do in his finals and concerned about flying in the air for 16 hours straight. I'll go stir crazy! I've never just sat and done nothing for that long, I need to bring a load of laundry to fold while I just sit!
I am very relieved that they'll be in good hands, people that love them will care for them and I'm not concerned about that. Thank you to my wonderful in laws, my dear friends and my sister and her husband for watching out for them while we're absent. I can't imagine leaving them in better hands!
Tonight I'd rather dream about vampires or something. I'll give it a shot.

delicious, thy name is candy!

American Candy!!

For Mom:
-30 oz (1.9 lb) Sour Patch kids
-32 oz (2 lb) Strawberry Twizzlers
-16 oz (1 lb) Hot Tamales
-28 oz (1.8 lb) Swedish Fish

For Dad:
-16 oz (1 lb) Cherry Twizzler Bites

For Aaron:
-box of Bottle Caps
-box of Rainbow Nerds
-box of Red Hots

Now that's a lot of high-fructose-corn-syrupy goodness! Can't wait to give it to you in a couple weeks!

r.i.p. santa

*WARNING*--a spoiler picture below. May cause some spontaneous tears.

We got a kick out of this poor guy crying over Santa's grave. As if being a kid is hard enough, having to face this kind of reality is tough!

today I miss...

My kid brother!

He's taller than me, can speak Mandarin as well as any other chinese student in his class, got me listening to Linkin Park and Plain White T's, and he brings flowers home to my mom as a surprise, "Just Because!"

He goes to an international school, gets good grades and just finishing applying to colleges. I can't wait to see him and spend Christmas with him!

Love you, Aaron-Boy!

Team Twilight

Just got home from our Girl's Night! I'm so glad that so many could make it. We went to go see Twilight and no one else had seen it except for me. It was so fun to have my friends from my ward and my friends who also happen to be Dawson's preschool teachers! I love that they all came.

I tried not to giggle in the cheesy parts that I knew were coming up, but it didn't work! I sighed loudly a couple times, resulting in some laughs. I just get caught up in the romantic aspect of a human/vampire relationship! I absolutely am addicted and love the music. Actually, I like to think of it as being passionate. It's only my third time in the last week! I didn't realize that I would love it as much as I do. It's cheesy-wonderful and cheesy-terrible! It's fantastic.

I love being out with the girls! They're all so incredibly fun and I'm glad that we could go.

Now, let's all do The Jasper!

i spy with my yiddle eye

Our tree is very eclectic this year with all sorts of ornaments. We put lights on it and redecorated it. See if you can spy the following:

-SpongeBob Santapants
-Marge Simpson ice skating
-Buzz Lightyear ornament (Dawson's this year)
-Chicken Dance ornament (Ryanna's this year)
-Starbucks mug ornament (mine when I worked there)

-real olive wood handcrafted Nativity ornaments (that Mom and Dad brought back for us when they visited Jerusalem earlier this year) What a treasure!


I got a kick out of one of my piano students this week. He asked me where my Christmas Tree was and I pointed to the mantle. This is how our conversation went:

Him- "That's your tree?!" (with a raised eyebrow)
Me- "Yup. We can't have a big one because Carter will get to it."
Him- "But, where are you going to put the presents then?"
Me- "Well, I think in the other room is okay, don't you?"
Him- "No! But I guess that will just have to work." (he was shaking his head with disgust)
Him- "Are those your real stockings?"
Me- "Yeah, they're real."
Him- "Santa can't put much in those! It looks like you guys haven't been very good this year."

It was a hoot! I never know what's going to come out of my students' mouths. Ever!

Oh! Look I found another treasure. It was $3.99 at Goodwill. It's by Sweet Shoppe and looks fabulous on my new table!

somewhere a lawyer is laughing

I'm thinking this is our Christmas card this year!

my christmas/graduation/retirement gift

Guess what Ryan surprised me with today?!

Out went the old, broken and beat up set...


This set holds some sentimental value, it once belonged to my great grandmother, Nana. It was old even when she owned it! We loved it while we had it.

In with the NEW! I can't believe I OWN a matching set of dining room furniture! I have six chairs that match, are totally complete and in one piece, they don't have stains and mysterious gooey remnants on them and are gorgeous. The best part is about the table! It's so tall it comes up to my belly button! And I'm not that tall! It's nearly 3 feet tall. I love it!! Ryanna could hardly even lift the heavy new chairs. I'm just concerned; now we have a nice table to eat on, but it's too nice to eat on. I think the kids can just eat on the porch!

The old chair is on the left; see how much smaller it is?!
A beautiful NEW chair. Ahhhhhhh, you know you're a mom when chairs excite you.
Ryanna loves it, she insisted on doing everything up in HER chair.
It's only a 1/2 foot taller than Dawson!

These pictures honestly don't do it justice, I'm sure I'll take more. It's absolutely GORGEOUS! Thank you, Ryan, for my beautiful gift. Thank you for shopping around for it and picking it out. I wouldn't have chosen a better one, I love it.

Now, who wants to come over for dinner?

just goofing around

Gee, I wonder where Carter is!





"Wherrrrrrre's Carter?!" (I love how he covers up his ears instead of his eyes!)

There he is!

black friday? why not!

My alarm goes off this morning at 4:38am and I sit up. I have to remind myself why I'm getting up. I've never really done the Black Friday rushes before, and somehow Nicky and I decided that it would be....what's the word? Oh, yeah. Fun!
We arrived at Walmart and parked in the furthest spot possible. We dash for the entrance and see the line. By the time that we got into line, we were backed up to the stop sign on the main road. (for those of you that are familiar with the Moscow Walmart, you know of which I speak!) It's insane. People are dashing about, running into each other, being rude, cutting people off, swearing at others, it was GREAT! I was in charge of getting a cart while Nicky ran off to electronics to pick up a couple MP3 players. (rocking deal on electronics!) I found some absolutely AMAZING deals for cheap! Pajamas for the kids were $4. I got 17 pairs. It's not overboard when you're planning ahead, right?



Just before 6am, we run to Joann's. There was also a line, but not nearly as intense as the ones that we had just been through at Walmart! We stocked up on the flannel, which was $1.50/yard! Normally it is $5.99! Mom, I knew that you'd be proud of me for standing in the cold waiting for them to open and running for flannel! I'm going to make a couple pairs of pajama pants for the boys and a couple nightgowns for Ryanna. So, this was amazing. I got 17 1/2 yards of flannel, 5 Butterick patterns for $.79/each and two wooden puzzles for the kids to color on for $.90. The gal rang it up and then I had two coupons that she let me use on top of that! I spent $32.89! I SAVED $134.55!! I'm so excited! Absolutely smoking' deals. This was my most favorite part.

After we bought our awesome fabric, we went to the mall. Checked out Old Navy and if you know me, I absolutely ADORE their socks. I haven't ever been so thrilled with any other brand than theirs. (ask me if you want my rave) I was digging through the clearance section and dug deep on the lowest shelf and WAH-LAH! There they were! Normally they can range between $1-$1.75/pair. Naw, today I found them for $.49/each. I bought 14 pairs.

Browsed the rest of the mall and ended up at Macy's. I found their clearance rack and bought work out pants and a jacket for under $20. Man, I'm good. I've even watched for this particular set to go on sale, and I got it for the lowest price it can get.

I got home and gave Ryan his Christmas present...his RCA MP3 player that I got for $49. Absolutely awesome! He can have his own for our long flights that are coming up.
I think I actually heard my credit card sigh out of sheer exhaustion. It was a very fun morning, and I'm glad that it was spent in Moscow. I can't imagine doing this in a larger city with even more people. Bring on the anxiety!

Naptime.