HaPpy BirThdAy RyAn!

I thought as a nice gift to the mustached marauder known as my husband, if those of you who know him could share as a comment on this post, a memory or funny story about Ryan! Not too embarrassing, but something fun for him to read later!

Funny Annie-ism

Annie: Mom, I did something bad.
Me: (thinking, uh - oh, now what!) What did you do?
Annie: I choosed the left!
Me: What does that mean?
Annie: I should have choosed the right, but I choosed the left!

Turns out she got magic marker on the table. But, that's okay. I told her mom makes mistakes all the time. Funny kid.

Charlotte and her web

Here she is--Charlotte (so named by Annie), our garden spider. And just in time for Halloween. Well, actually, she's been with us all summer (or since our tomato plants got too big to pass the tiller between them, anyway). The pictures don't do her justice. She is HUGE. Her body is easily the size of my thumb. Seriously. The size. . . of. . . my thumb. Can you hear me emphasizing this? I cannot emphasize it enough. The first few times I saw her (and she was much smaller then, by the way), I was very very very frightened and not so sure I was going to follow my spider policy, which states the following: "If spider is found outside, that's his or her home and leave it be. If spider is found in MY home, it's 'adios' for the spider." But, in the end, adhering to the policy was to be the decision. It helped that I didn't want bugs to infest and destroy my tomato crop, spiders are good for that apparently. Her web is really big and beautiful. I tried and tried, but I can't get it to show up more in the picture.




Oh, and it gets even better--I LOVE tomatoes, but I couldn't bring myself to pick the ones on either plant that her monstrous web was attached to. After a while, I realized she wouldn't chase me and try to kill me, so we made peace. I kept my distance still, but we shared the occasional conversation, and Ryan tossed her grasshoppers every now and again. He said he watched her wrap them up and even eat one. . . . pass. . . No thanks, I'd rather not see that.




Anyway. Sometimes I'd come out to the garden and she wouldn't be in her web. I couldn't bring myself to pick tomatoes on those days. Who knew where she'd be? Gives me chills.




Ryan told me one day that she let him pet her belly. Now THAT is strange. Why? I ask? Why would you WANT to pet the belly of a spider? But alas, he does love animals, so. . .

Anyway, I don't know how long she'll be around. She has survived the few frosts we've had and moved her web twice. I think I might even be sad when we part ways.

An Early Morning Carsonism

7:15 AM, in our bed

Dad: Are you my friend?
Carson: No, I just you boy.


classic.

My FIVE year old!

My "baby" is five. When did this happen? It's like I blinked and she was five. FIVE! She's headed for kindergarten TOMORROW! She's starting to read. She (much to my horror yet amazement) unbuckled her brother from his swing and transferred him to his bouncy chair all by herself today. She said "mom, come sit by me and I'll give you a love" last week when I was sad that my family had left. She is SUCH a grown up little girl I can hardly believe it.


I thought I'd share a few pictures of her through the years and what I love about her:


This is one of the first digital pictures I have of her. Her earliest pictures are film and I haven't scanned yet. This was on Easter morning in 2005 and she was 8 months old. Annie is such a sweetheart. You can tell by looking at that sweet little face. She is always full of love for her parents and her brothers, friends and her new little cousin, Kate. She loves to snuggle and express her love through hugs and kisses. Makes my day every time she gives me a good squeeze.



She's just so dang cute! This is probably from the summer she turned two. She had this Elmo obsession. Aunt Kelli and Uncle Mike bought her this Elmo for her 2nd Christmas (I think it was about her size, too) and she took it everywhere. Here she is in our backyard enjoying the day. That's another thing I love about her. She loves to explore and try new things. She is really independent and can find a good activity or project just about anywhere.

This can sometimes be a problem:
Here she is at about 18 months. Every parent's dream (I'm sure) is to find their child standing on a desk they didn't know she could climb onto, in front of a cabinet they didn't know she could open, holding a PERMANENT marker they didn't know she could uncap, drawing pictures of Sid the Sloth on their wooden cabinet doors. awesome.



This is my little daredevil doing her "big jumps" when she was three--in fact, it very well might have been on her third bday. I love that she is adventurous and just a little fearless!



I love this picture. She is the BEST big sister in the world. They fight and steal toys from each other, don't get me wrong. But from the very moment we walked through the door with Baby Carson (and also Rhett), she has been so tender and never jealous. I overhear her saying sweet and kind things to him all the time. She teaches him how to do things, gives him hugs and kisses. Last night, in fact, she had a sleepover at grandma's and phoned to tell us goodnight. Well, to tell CARSON goodnight. "May I speak to Carson, please?" was the greeting her dad got when he picked up the phone. I could hear what she was saying, and she said, "Carson, do you miss me? Say 'yes'" To which he replied "yes." Then she said, "I miss you too. I love you Carson!" I wanted to cry until I heard his little voice say "dih-doo" (thanks) and then I decided to laugh instead. What a funny pair they are!



I won't gab on and on about the hair. . . heaven knows we've covered THAT one, but I love(d) her beautiful curly hair. This is Annie at my parents' house in CT. I love that she loves my family. And they love her. She loves to talk about her aunts and uncles and Papa and Grandma Foof all the time. When we visited last summer, she warmed up to everyone and had so much fun.

I love this little girl!

. . .and here she goes off to Kindergarten. . .

Love ya, Goose!

Baby Rhett's Blessing

What a cRaZy month this has been! And I am so behind--so be sure to scroll down because I'm going to be posting some belated stuff: Annie's bday, Visits from Family, and a much-overdue reminiscing post from last years' trip to CT.

I digress. . .

We decided (with so much of my family in town for a visit) to combine Rhett's baby blessing party with Annie's birthday party. I knew this would be a little nutso, but it worked out okay. I learned to ask for help (Oma offered to arrange the bday cake and after initially saying, "no, it's okay. I can handle it" I let her help. She did a great job!) But I'll post pictures of her birthday later, lest she not get the attention she deserves for HER special day. . .

It was so nice to have so many of my family members here and we were THRILLED to have Ryan's Uncle Ken's family (Carla, Holly, Annie / Ryan and kids, and John / Amber and kids) travel so far to see us. I don't think we'd seen Annie or John's family in about five years!

All in all it was a great day. I'm so grateful for a wonderful family that supports us and that Ryan was able to give Rhett a beautiful blessing. I'm very proud of him for all he does for our family!

Here are some random pictures from Blessing Day:

My mom getting Rhett in his blessing outfit before church. I have done / assisted doing this three times now with fear in my heart that a diaper blowout or upchuck would ruin a blessing outfit. So far we've been lucky and he looked so cute!

My mother in law and my Mom: thanks so much for all your hard work, you two!

Mommy and Rhett



Daddy, Mommy, and Rhett

Our little family!



Our friends the Martins (minus Kaden--he was busy elsewhere!)



Ryan's cousin Brian and his kids Meg and Adin. Where's Heather?



Annie with her beloved Aunt Kelli, beloved Aunt Gretchen, and beloved baby Kate. This was the "cool kids" table as far as she was concerned!

Grandpas, Dad, and the Droubay of honor (Rhett!)

The boys: My dad, Ryan's Grandpa, Ryan's dad holding Rhett, Ryan holding Carson

And of course, Papa Foof (Abraham), for whom Rhett Abraham was named

My Friend Michelle ROCKS!

My college friend Michelle Willis took some pictures of the kids a few weeks ago and I think they are awesome. Check her out at www.edreamphotography.com. I think she's got a great eye and some serious talent (and I'm not biased at all with the subjects being my kidlets!) . Here are some of her pics:

I have to say, Carson was not very cooperative during this photo shoot. He actually makes some super cute faces right now, but was a little somber this day. But his outfit was cute, right?

Here is another one with the three of them. I LOVE this picture because this is how they are with Rhett--always checking out how tiny and cute he is. Plus they look so dang calm and quiet! Love it.

This is my favorite picture of Annie. I was impressed because Michelle was able to get Annie to do her normal smiles and not some silly ole' fake picture smile. Where do kids get their "picture smiles" from anyway? I love this picture!

I thought this was cute, too.

I know I know I know. I'm totally biased 'cause she's my little girl, but how cute is this picture? What an adorable face! There's mischief in those eyes, however. Look closely and you'll see it. Makes you wonder what she's thinking, no?

This might be the only picture where he was doing a natural smile or any smile at all for that matter. And holding still too. Two year olds. What else can I say?



So tiny!

I love this picture because it captures Rhett's "sleeping face" so well. They grow so quickly and change their habits so frequently. I'm glad I have this picture to remember that cute face!

And last but not least is one of the pictures I got to take! Woo hoo!