This week so far.....

So far, most of this week has been dedicated to relaxing and keeping off my feet, per doctors orders. The pregnant woman has been stressed by carrying Ryan too much. We had an ultrasound today and everything is good with the baby, but I need to keep off my feet until things get back to normal.

So Ryan and I have stayed at home a lot. We were at the library yesterday because I needed a new book to read and we visited with Rachel and Simon yesterday morning. Rachel is about to have her second baby any day now, so we were trying to help get her mind off it for a little bit and keep Simon busy. The boys had a great time destroying her living room and playing in the pool. For now, Ryan is sleeping and we will be spending the rest of the day playing here, probably in the basement since we haven't been down there in a few days and he forgets about all the toys there!

Three Springs Carnival

This past weekend was the area renowned Three Springs Carnival. We travelled to Kris's hometown to visit with family their and attend the carnival. We had a great time overall. The trip out there was pretty uneventful and Ryan did pretty good for the ride. We give big thanks to my friend Pam who lent me her DVD player so Ryan could watch Elmo in the car - it was wonderful. Saturday, we went to the fire company's chicken barbeque and watched Kris's cousins Doug and Jeff in the Oreo contest (neither won - but at least Doug beat the girl). After naps, we went to the carnival where Kris and Ryan got wrist bands to ride all the rides while I either took pictures or helped sell tickets. We enjoyed the wonderful music and got to visit with a lot of family. Unfortunately, Ryan was not happy about being up past bedtime and having to see all these people he didn't know which caused him to be very clingy to me (and only me) which has led to some hopefully short term pregnancy problems (see the baby website for more info if you want).

Sunday we attended the community church service, had turkey dinner lunch and visited with Kris's grandmother. For the first time, Ryan actually enjoyed playing with her and was pretty mindful of all the breakable stuff. After naps, we visited with Kris's mom. We had dinner with Kevin, Amy and Katelyn (Diane had to watch the motel, so she couldn't join us). But we got to visit with her both before and after. Thanks to her for all the new toys and books that kept Ryan busy on the way home on Monday. When we returned to the farm, we realized there was no power. While everyone else gathered at Kris's Aunt Sharon's house, we managed to get the old lanterns out. We put batteries in Ryan's sound machine and a lantern as a night light in his room and he was out. Kris and I played Crazy 8's until I was ready for bed. The power finally came back on around 6 so at least we were all up in time for the Memorial Day service. After that, we had packed up, had lunch at Aunt Lucy's and were on our way.

We had a great time and hope to see everyone again soon!

Kristin

A Goatee on a 2 Year Old??

Yesterday, Kris took Ryan for a bike ride. He decided to follow some of the 4-wheeler trails instead of staying on the street and the trail got the best of him. They had a spill that resulted in Ryan with a scratched lip and chin and Kris with a bruised, possibly broken rib. Unfortunately, I doubt that will learn them.

Kristin

And friends visiting.......

Today Simon and his family visited us. We had a great dinner of hotdogs (I cook to impress!) and fries. They played inside for a while before deciding they wanted to play with Ryan's 4-wheeler. Then Ryan decided to show Simon how to run through the sprinklers when they came on. Ryan tried to show Simon how to drink the water and Simon tried to show Ryan how to tell the water to stop! Those two had a blast and were soaked by the end. But they had a great time!

Visiting friends.....

Yesterday, Ryan and I visited our friends Simon and Rachel to play and have lunch. The boys did great together - as they always do if Ryan isn't tackling Simon. We had a great lunch and played outside. Evidently they got ready for naps after that and laid down on Simon's couch together. They were so cute.

Kristin

Maifest

We had a great day today visiting our neighboring town of Covington to see Maifest. Covington has a little part of town called Mainstrasse (main street) that is designed as a little German area (Cincinnati as a whole was settled by a lot of German settlers). It was our first time there. We had a great time. Kris got to enjoy the beer and music, I got to enjoy the shopping and Ryan got to enjoy the toy store and the park. Kris even dressed up Ryan in a cute outfit he got for his birthday last year that has a hat that Kris says 'looks German'. Check out the cute picture I took last time he wore the outfit.

Besides that Kris has been working very hard on our garage door opener. He is determined to finish it today, which I am happy about. I am tired of him working until midnight banging away in the garage (right below our bedroom)!

Kristin

Week Report

This has been a pretty good week. Even with Kris working late and not eating the wonderful meals I've been making, we made it through. We had our 60 day walkthrough for repairs on our house. Everything was taken care of and looks great. We had a lot of library time and playtime which Ryan has loved. We finally opened the Little People zoo that he got from Nana & Buppa for Christmas and he is loving it.

Today was a busy day. Besides the guy finishing up somethings in our house, we had our first doctors appointment - which went well. Ryan and I also got a visit from Marv and Gloria Warrow on their way to Texas (I used to work with Marv at Lamb). They brought Ryan a toy and some great clothes and took us out to lunch. Then we played until we had to pick up Daddy from Midas. After dinner Ryan went outside to play with Daddy and ended up playing in the sprinklers! He loves those things. I can't wait to actually have grass for him to run around on.

Kristin

Japan shirts

When Kris went to Japan last month he brought home Ryan two t-shirts. He said he had hoped that they would be in Japanese and that only people at work would understand what it said. But as we found out - all Japanese kids shirts are in English. Except...... they don't make any sense.

One shirt Ryan got says 'Kentucky Bluegrass' on one side and something about Apache Indians on the other as if they have anything to do with each other.

The second shirt he got says 'Monkey Loves Bananas' on the front and 'What is this figure. This numeral 6.' It makes absolutely no sense. But I love them. And I thought I'd shart the laugh with all of you.

Kristin

Announcement Day and Happy Mother's Day

Today is the day we officially announced our pregnancy. The baby is due on December 6th and we are very excited. Our immediate family was notified by cards with a letter from the baby - like with did with Ryan, and a picture of Ryan that can be seen here. There are links at the side that will get you to the baby's website that is focused just on the pregnancy and milestones once he or she makes their appearance.

Also, Happy Mother's Day to All. I've had a wonderful day here. Right now we are just waiting for Ryan to wake up from his nap to go to Best Buy and buy me a new cell phone. Ryan got me a great 'mom' book to read to him.

Kristin

Home At Last

Kris is home at last. He has been gone since last Thursday and we were going nuts without him. Although I have always told him that I liked the time when he was gone, I had to change that statement to state that it was only true for a 5 day timeframe. 9 days was way too long! But we are so glad to have him back. I'm sure he will sleep well tonight.

For our note, Ryan and I had lunch with friends at Chuck E Cheeses and then watched Daddy move sprinklers around all afternoon. The fire company was out testing hydrants and completely screwed up our water supply so we have been flushing it since 5pm and its finally getting better.

Oh and the Wings are tied at the moment - so here's a picture of Ryan playing with his hockey stick!

Good Day, Bad Day

Well yesterday was one of the worst days I've had with Ryan. He is really starting the terrible twos and is trying to show his independence by not listening. Unfortunately, he is finding out the consequences of his actions. I was so glad when the day was over. Today, we stayed home and relaxed and it was a much better day. We will be very happy when Kris gets home from California. It's been 7 days by myself and 1 1/2 more to go.
Kristin

New Website

I'm starting an overall website for our family. I have websites for both the kids (current and future), but since I mostly talk about what our family has been doing I thought this might be better. I will be closing Ryan's website since he is done with most milestones, etc. But I will keep the new baby's through the first year or so.