Great Day

I just wanted to post and say that we had a great day today. We played, went to church, had lunch, played, took a nap/watched football, played, went grocery shopping, ate dinner, played and went to bed. Overall, not very eventful, but there were no arguements today and we both seemed very at peace. The best part of the day, was just a few minutes ago when I left Ryan's room after putting him down. On my way out, I always say 'I love you, night-night'. But this time I got 'I love you' back. Too sweet!

5 Days of Solitude - oh except a toddler!!

Kris left on Wednesday for California for two weeks. Before he left, he gave me a real treat - putting Ryan in the big boy bed. He ended up falling out and went back in the crib. So now Ryan has been wanting to sleep in the bed, even though I'm not ready, nor do I have a bed rail. Thanks a lot Kris!!!

Besides that, this week has been pretty peaceful with a couple of tantrums filled in (both of us).

Wednesday was mall, shopping and library day - overall a pretty happy day.

Thursday was sit at home all day long day. I made a fort in the basement, we played outside and went for a walk after it stopped raining (yes it finally rained here). Ryan also decided to 'cook' goldfish and popcorn. Then he dumped it all over the floor to have an excuse to vacuum. This is not where my fit happened!!!

Friday, we went to Daniel's Petting Farm to pet the goats and sheep, a hay ride and pick pumpkins. We had a great time even though Ryan was scared of letting the animals eat out of his hand. He preferred to throw the food at them or on the ground. Before we left was mom's fit of the week - literally. We were running late, Ryan pooped and I was trying to change him and he was trying to prevent it that it was driving me crazy. He did get an apology from me afterward - which I felt was necessary since I threatened to lock him in his room for the next 12 days until we see Daddy again! The rest of the day was ok.

Saturday, we went to soccer with a fit from Ryan who wanted to play outside, yet didn't want to get dressed to do it, and then wanted to play in the car. He cried for the first 10 minutes of soccer and then calmed down and had some fun. We played outside for an hour after we got home. After nap, we cut his hair, played in the sandbox and he took a shower. Overall, not a bad day.

So now we come to today. So far, we've played outside and went to church. Now I'm trying to coax him out of my closet with pizza for lunch, but so far it hasn't worked. He keeps closing the door on me. I guess I'll go eat!

And the Game Goes to.........

MICHIGAN!!!

Yes, in case you missed it, Michigan beat Penn State this weekend. Kris and I were at the game in the awesome seats my parents got me for my birthday. They were on the 45 yard line about 40 rows up, which was the most perfect place to sit. Any closer and we wouldn't have been able to see as well.

I'll give you the positives and negatives of the game for both of us.

Positives - The seats were great. It was a beautiful day. Just being there was so fun. For me - my team won!! People were impressed that we could be together at a game!

Negatives - Kris will say there were some bad calls - one being a touchdown that didn't really happen - but he does admit that they probably would have scored on the next down. The fans are more negative than I would prefer. I couldn't believe that Michigan fans booed everyone - the other team, the other band, even their own coach!!! I thought it was very bad sportsmanship. And although 'You Suck' at the end of the one snippet the band played was bad - you kind of got into it by the end!

So here are some pictures from the day.

Super Bowl Here We Come!

No, we don't have tickets. But we are just so excited that the Lions are 2-0. Kris supposes that the Detroit area needs someone to root for this year since Michigan has been a disappointment. Now, I could not see the Super Bowl - but I'm hoping for a Monday night game sometime next year!!!

Let's Go Blue!!!

Well to great relief at my house, Michigan beat Notre Dame yesterday. I swear the first 5 minutes I thought I was watching a high school game. Ryan Mallett dropped his first snap, but got amazingly better as the game went on. However, Jimmy Clausen the quarterback from Notre Dame - well he sucks! At the end of the first half, ND had 11 total yards. He was been sacked 6 times and had 3 interceptions. They are still without a offensive touchdown. I'm just glad UM got some momentum back - because it needs to be up for the game against Penn State next week. Kris and I will be at the game thanks to my parents. I went out and bought a gold UM sweatshirt (I love Steve & Barry's) and found a tshirt that I didn't buy but I thought was great. It was in UM colors and said "I'm with Stupid-->" Kris even thought I should have bought it since he will be sitting next to me!

As for us here, Kris has been sealing the concrete this weekend. I've been keeping Ryan busy. He had his second day of soccer yesterday and was less than thrilled to have to leave Momma behind the glass, but eventually enjoyed himself. I'm ready to move things around our office to make room for the new filing cabinet and put up some pictures.

Ryan went potty twice last night on the potty - before and after bathtime. I think he really got the idea that I don't want him peeing on the floor or in the tub. He was pretty proud of himself as were we. Hope this will keep up.

Kris leaves for Toronto tomorrow until Wednesday and then Thursday is going to Cleveland for the day. Then next week he leaves on Wednesday for 3 weeks in CA. We are meeting him out in Seattle on the 10th of October. Should be an interesting next month.

Spending the Night & Toby Keith

Not together!!

Kris got me tickets for the Toby Keith concert this past Thursday. I have wanted to go for years, so I was very glad to get the chance. I attempted to find a babysitter using a service available out here - but because of school changes, etc - they weren't able to find anyone who could babysit past 10:30. Well I said no way - I am not leaving a concert and not get to see the person we paid the money for. So our friends Matt and Rachel agreed to have Ryan stay the night!! That's right his first sleepover! He was fine until they went to bed then both Ryan and Simon had a fit at getting separated. Ryan actually jumped out of the crib! He's never done that here. I'm not sure if their crib is higher of he used the blinds for help, but she found him in the middle of the room. Since then, I've been listening for him to do it here but he hasn't. So he slept in their pack-n-play after 11 when he finally fell asleep. He was happy to see me in the morning.

As for Kris and I, we went out to dinner and to the concert. We missed the opening band, who we had never heard of and walked in at Miranda Lambert started. Both her and Toby Keith put on a good show. We sat on the grass on the side and had a great spot. We could have brought Ryan and might consider if we ever go in the future (who knows - the last concert we went to was in 2000!).

It was very weird to not have Ryan here in the morning. I have never been in the house overnight and not have him here. We went to the zoo after I picked him up - but he was too tired and too clingy to care. Then he put up a hour and half fit about a nap and ended up sleeping for 2 and a half hours (total of 4 hours in his room). Glad things are back to normal.

So we give big thanks to the Juelg's for hosting Ryan!!

Potty Time!!

Ryan went potty today by himself! Last night I asked him to sit on the potty before his bath, while I ran the water. He always pees as soon as he gets in and tells me he's doing it - so I wanted to see if he could do it before hand. But he didn't. Tonight, I took his diaper off and told him to go into the bathroom. He wasn't there more than 5 seconds when he started peeing on the floor! Of course, I yelled at him to stop - that we pee in the potty and in diapers - not on the floor. So when the bath was over, he sat on the potty while I dried the rest of him off. And low and behold, he peed! I was so proud. I had told him yesterday that when he pees in the potty he gets to do all the things that he likes about the bathroom - use toilet paper, flush the toilet and wash his hands - so he was happy to get to do all of it. We're not really potty training yet, due to upcoming trips and his lack of talking. But after the holidays, I'm thinking of starting full force. I'm just excited he did it now!

No Better for Michigan??

Michigan didn't get any better this week. Kris is loving it - he won't admit it, but is having a hard time controlling his smile! We have tickets for the game in two weeks. I sure hope they kick Notre Dame's butt this week.

As for us here, we're having a fun week as well as last week. Last Friday, we had Max over to make cookies with us. The boys did a great job pouring things in, but they likes mashing the brown sugar around and had trouble keeping their fingers out of it. Ryan didn't want to wait for the cookies to be baked, he sat in the kitchen until I finally gave him one 20 minutes later! Then his face was covered in chocolate, as you can see.

Saturday, Ryan had his first soccer day. Him and Daddy played in the class we signed him up for. They both had a ball - literally. They played a lot of games like follow the leader and red light-green light. They kicked the ball into pylons and the net. Ryan is great at dribbling the ball, but he's working on his kicking. Daddy went out and bought him a real soccer ball to play with at home. Here are some pictures from this fun day!

Saturday night, we had a library group dinner at Rachel and Matt's house. The kids had a great time as well as the parents. Everyone commented how Ryan never stops eating - which was so true! He ate pizza, watermelon, chips (off everyone else's plates), pretzels, 2 cupcakes, 2 cookies, and some of my cake. Definately going through a growth spurt!

Kris worked outside all weekend cutting down the vine and brush in the backyard. It now looks great. Our yard is so much bigger. I finished getting pictures ready to put up and now am just waiting for the hercules hooks I ordered and Kris to put them up! Kris is now in CA again and will be back Thursday for our Toby Keith concert - my birthday present from him. I hired a babysitter for Ryan - our first of someone we don't know. I'm hoping everything works out well. Maybe we'll be able to go out more often.

Yesterday, we had a playdate here with 3 of Ryan's friends. The boys all played well together - although Ryan is still learning to share his toys - which has been difficult for him. He doesn't have a problem sharing other people's toys, just his. So inviting people over has been good for him. Ok. Better go put him down for a nap.

And the Game is lost????

Don't those days where your team loses suck?? Especially to a team you have never heard of before and expected a blow out. Unfortunately, I am not able to forget Michigan losing yesterday since they keep replaying it and talking about the 'biggest upset in Big Ten history'. On the upside, we did find out that we have the Big Ten network - 1 channel upstairs and 2 downstairs. Amazing since it's in the 500's and we don't have any other channels around there!

Art Days

This week we stayed home a lot since we both had colds that we were trying to get over. So I finally got the nerve up to try some artsy things with Ryan. The nerve just because I didn't want to clean up the mess!

Thursday, we played with Playdough. Ryan was a little skeptical at first and was ready to put it away after about 10 minutes, but then I started showing him how to make things and roll the dough and he got into it. We ended up playing for over an hour (I got some cleaning in while he played). Here are some pictures from that.

Friday, we had Simon, Monica and Rachel over to play. I laid out the paper blinds from our bedroom on the ground and let them finger paint. It was a first for both of them, so they didn't really understand what it was for. Ryan preferred to paint himself and Simon didn't like the wet paint feel. Overall, it was a quick art day. We hosed them off in the yard which Ryan liked and Simon hated.

Besides that we did our normal errands, went to library class, played at the mall and shopped at the Gap Clearance Center. Ryan is very much a normal 2 year old. He is very possesive of his toys and if anyone else is playing with something that is his - he wants it now! He took every toy Simon picked up away from him and ended up with a time out because he pulled Simon off a chair and made him hit his head on the floor. Just something new to deal with!

Oh - Kris was in California. Again.