Ryan and Dean are a source of amusement throughout the day.  Smart and witty with a bit of plain hilarity mixed in.  Sometimes tears, but mostly a lot of laughs.  Growing funnier by the day.

*Click on the pictures to see a larger image*

On the 28th of October My True Love Gave to Meeee....	10/28/08
Note the date is OCTOBER 28th and not November.  Um......What's up with that? Did I mention that Bobby is away on business this week?  In FLORIDA!

The Best Idea to Battle Pollution

10/27/08

The kids and I were driving home on the NJ Turnpike after dropping Bobby off at the airport.  We were just passing all those factories with the tall smoke stacks. Ryan: “What is that coming out of those tubes?" Me: “It’s pollution” Ryan: “What’s pollution?” Me: "Coming out of those smoke stacks is a dirty smoke that makes the air stinky and everything dirty." Ryan: "Mommy I have a good idea!  Maybe tomorrow we can fly to another planet with a big mop and clean up the Earth so it isn't so dirty from pollution anymore....do you think that's a good idea Mommy?" I do.

A Duck Walks Into A Bar...

10/26/08

My father and I were sitting and talking one afternoon when Ryan came in and shot out a rapid fire round of … for lack of a better term…farts.  She was immediately embarrassed and she shot me this look of horror. Me: “ WHAT was THAT?!?!?! Ryan: “Uh… I dunno…. Maybe someone had some ducks in their pocket or somethin” Once we picked ourselves up off the floor we found out that Daddy taught her that little cover-up.  Although the comment was borrowed, the timing and execution was all hers.  This kid really doesn’t skip a beat. It’s a week later and we are still laughing about it.  The joke has turned into an on-going thing, but now when used it has been shortened to “Oops I have ducks!”

A Year in Review

10/22/08

I cannot believe it has been almost an entire year since I posted here last.  Good thing no one actually reads this stuff. Let’s see…. Last I wrote Ryan was 2-1/2 and Dean wasn’t even 6mo old yet.  I guess that’s why I had time to write.  Now I am lucky if I remember how to spell my name! So here is a year in review…. We had Dean’s 1st Halloween, 1st Christmas, New Years, Valentine’s Day, St. Patty’s Day, Easter, etc… you name it.  The 1st tooth was just as hard as the molars currently coming in.  He has more hair then he did this time last year.  He talks more, laughs more, cries a little more too, but overall the sweetest boy I know.   He has a cherub face, but is just as much a punk as his big sister. Ryan turned 3 and I believe the mermaid obsession has been taken to a new level.  She is non-stop and really puts me to the test every day.  However, she is what keeps my day going and a constant source of comedy.  She was and still is my inspiration for attempting this Blog.  I’m constantly told to write down what she says, because I will never remember it.  I guess I’m getting senile, plus it’s usually just too funny to keep to myself.  The biggest change was the start of preschool.  Change is good, but my baby is growing too fast.  Bobby has had a very busy year, but I think it’s what keeps him going.  Works hard and plays hard.  The kitchen is in the works and so far what is done looks great!  His home brew “hobby” is becoming a way of life and we had hops growing up the house this past summer.  We are hopeful next years plants will produce even more. I am more obsessed with taking photos and now trying to scrapbook them!  I’m up to my knees in tubs and attempts to organize all my crafts, the kid’s toys, my closet, whatever.  So far nothing is complete, but it’s the thought that counts right? It’s taken me some time, but I’m almost up to date on pics for this site.  I’ve created a new youtube account for videos that I do hope to link to this site, but that may have to wait for my spare time.  HA HA HA!

A Kiss To Build A Dream On	10/28/07
I taught Ryan how to blow a kiss pretty much around the time when she learned how to wave bye-bye.  Although it‘s more of a smacking herself in the face and then kissing the palm of her hand type of thing.  She eventually figured out once her nose had had enough whacking that she was supposed to actually send the kiss to another person.  It slowly progressed to her “catching” kisses as well.  I taught her to catch a kiss mommy blows to her and put it in her pocket to save for later.  That way whenever she needs a kiss from mommy it's there waiting for her.  One night she was being a grumpy bug and didn't want to give me an actual kiss and hug goodnight after story-time.  So as I walked out of the room I turned and blew her a kiss.  She didn't quite see me so I told her to watch me because I was going to send some more her way.  I fell into a rapid spit-fire round of kiss, blow, kiss, blow.  This is a lot of fun when we are in the car or, you know, when she is in a much better mood.  Instead of trying to catch them she began to cry hysterically.  Through the tears she told me that it was too fast and she couldn't catch them if I blew them that fast.  After calming her down I explained that it's ok if she can't catch them all.  The ones she doesn't catch just flutter around in the air and then land on her cheek when she least expects it.  She was pretty happy about it then. I think pretty well on my feet.

The Truth Hurts

10/23/07

The toy room is an ongoing project that I think about constantly.  A lot has been done, but once my creative juices start flowing I get all sorts of ideas.  Many times I get requests.  “What do you want us to paint on your toy room walls, Veruca darling, uh I mean Ryan?”  Purple cow CHECK!.... Rainbow CHECK!... Airplanes and letters and starry sky?  CHECK!!!!!!CHECK!!!!!!CHECK!!!!! Then my sweetheart angel baby wanted a castle.  No problem.  I’ll just research and draw and re-draw and obsess over it for a week or so and then dive right in.  Things were moving along pretty well considering I just had Dean, but I was feeling guilty since I was asked for a castle only 3 billion times. I would paint the wall while Ryan would work on this or that in the room.  The entire project really didn’t take me too long, but I was coming down to the final stretch.  I felt I worked pretty hard on making the castle look, well castle-ish when I felt the stare coming from behind me. “Oh hi Ryan.  Do you like the castle Mommy is painting you?  I’m almost done” “I don’t like it.  Erase it!”  My heart nearly sank.  I must not have heard her correctly.  I mean she IS 2.  She probably just got mixed up.  “Mommy made this for you.  You don’t like it?”  “NO! Erase It!” THEN…… I call Ryan into the bedroom to look at skeins of yarn I bought with the intentions of making her a new afghan (aka. Baby-yah).  She comes over and is very excited to see the colored yarns.  She picks one, then of course changes her mind.  I ask her if she is sure (knowing that eventually both will be made into a blanket for her, but hey let the kid pick).  So she makes her final decision and I say “Good, Mommy will make you a new baby-yah from this” “But I don’t need another baby-yah.  I already have 2”  “Yes I know, but Mommy will make you a NEW baby-yah with this yarn.  I can make it a little bigger and you can put it on your bed” “NO!  I already have 2 Baby-yahs, I don’t need another one”  She then runs to her room and got the 2 she speaks of and basically shoved it in my face.  “SEE? I told you I already have 2!” Are you seeing a trend here?  At this point I had to tattle on her for being mean. THEN….. I make Jelly sandwiches for Ryan for lunch.  I usually cut the crusts off and then just cut the bread to make 4 equal squares.  After having a really hard day with Ryan, I thought I should do something nice for her to clear the air and start the 2nd half of the day off right.  So I got the heart shaped cookie cutter out and made her a bunch of little heart shaped jelly sandwiches.  “OK here’s lunch!” “Where’s my jelly sandwiches?” “Well mommy loves you SO much that I made heart shaped jelly sandwiches for you”  “But I like square ones”  “Just eat em” THE LAST DRAW (literally) On a nice afternoon, we were chalk drawing in the driveway.  I drew a mermaid, since she has been obsessed with them lately.        “What’s that, Mommy?”             “A Mermaid”                “It doesn’t look like a mermaid”                    “Yes it does”                       “Where’s her tail?” “Right there…and here is her belly and her head and here is her hair” (Laughing) ”That doesn’t look like a mermaid.  It was a nice try.  Maybe you can try to do another one later”  THEN swipes her foot across it to smear it up and walked away. I seriously cannot make this stuff up. It’s official.  She is full blown picking on me.  Bully!

My Favorite Number

10/15/07

Fall weather is finally here and since this is my favorite season I want to enjoy as much of it as I can.  You know until it goes back up to 85 degrees in October.  Hey when did New Jersey become the "New" Florida?  Before we know it people will be retiring and moving here!!!!   Anyways, Saturday morning we all were up bright and early.  The air was cool and pumpkins were calling our names.  We bundled up the kids and headed to a local pumpkin farm.  Ryan was very excited to help daddy pull the cart and pick out her own pumpkin.  We weren't there too long, but I think it was well worth the trip.   ....Let me back track for a minute.  I have been doing a daily craft with Ryan to keep her and I from going stir crazy in the house.  Too much TV lately and I think being crafty is fun so there you have it.....   SOOOOOO When I told Ryan we could paint our pumpkins she was completely out of her mind with excitement.  I set her up in the kitchen and off she went creating a Halloween masterpiece!  Apparently an artist of such high caliber cannot be bound to one pumpkin.  So I caved and told her she could help paint Dean's pumpkin, since he is too little to do it himself.  THIS is where fun pumpkin day turned into tears and extreme sadness for one little girl.    Mommy: "Everyone got one pumpkin.  You got to paint Dean's pumpkin too, so that                   makes two pumpkins Ryan got to paint." Ryan: "BUT, MY FAVORITE NUMBER IS 5!!!!" Mommy: "Yes, 5 is a very nice number, but we each get ONE pumpkin to paint" Ryan: "BUT I NEEEEEED TO PAINT 5!  5 is my favorite number!!!!" Fast forward to Monday.  I take the kids to the craft store to buy (yes!) even more crafts for Mommy and Ryan to do together.  I told her that we would buy a bunch, but we only get to do ONE craft a day.  (I know she is only 2, but PLEASE... she totally knows what I'm talking about) So we get home and she pretty much is dancing around me until I finally tell her it's "Craft Time".  So once again I'm a major sucker for a cute face and allow her to do TWO crafts when the limit had been clearly stated as ONE craft per day!  Tears?  You betcha!  2 year old tactics?  "But I NEEEEEED to do FIVE crafts, my favorite number is FIVE"  Uh here we go again.  More tears and favorite numbers thrown, but I didn't cave..... Ok I did a little, BUT I changed what we did.  "Let's make cookies to take to grandma's?!?!?!?"   Since I'm trying to also play with Dean at points during the day, I went the quickie way and got Pillsbury pre-mixed orange pumpkin cookie sheets.  No major mess to clean up.  Ryan loved placing them on the pan.  Mommy gets 2 points for making little girl happy.... UNTIL!!!!!  They were cool enough to eat.  DOH!   I made the mistake of letting her try 2.  TWO.  ONE. TWO. cookies.  Apparently TWO cookies is not so much a favorite number.  I should have known, since I cannot stop at just two cookies, but my belly also isn't the size of a small lemon.  SO two cookies should have filled her for a week, right?  Anyways.... "Mommy I need three more cookies"  which if you have been paying attention to the story equals her "favorite number".  (Told you my kid is a genius)  BUT THEN!!!!!!  What is this?  She changes her mind.  She doesn't want 3 more cookies.  Her NEW favorite number has just changed to TEN.  AH the power of a cookie.

A Flash of What's to Come	10/5/2007
Tonight at dinner Ryan called me "Mom".  Not Mommy or Ma Ma.  Just "Mom". I swear 14 years flashed before my eyes and she was 16yrs old sitting there across the table. I don't think I'll handle her going to preschool very well.  How the hell will I ever let her go to college?

I Can't Talk Louder, I Don't Have Any Eyebrows	10/2/2007
For some reason unknown, Ryan has been obsessed with eyebrows.  In the middle of a normal conversation she will tell me she doesn't have any or that I DO indeed have eyebrows. At first it was an informative thing that she felt she had to tell people, but now it's just crazy talk. "Look Ryan!  There is the moon!  Do you see it?" "YES!  I see it Mommy!  I have eyebrows now!"