Note to self......

5 year olds probably should not watch The Dukes of Hazzard.  While canning tomatoes this afternoon, I turned the TV on to keep Ryker busy.  He was watching a old episode of Scooby-Doo.  A while later, while my hands were deep in blanched tomatoes, he came into the kitchen and told me he wanted to ask me a secret question.  I bent over and he whispered "Can I drive your car?"  Whaaaaaatttt?  So I said "Yes Ryker, in 11 years you may drive my car." He thought about that for a second and then said  "Well I'm bored. Can I shoot my brothers BB Gun?" 

I washed my hands and took him out of the kitchen. Then I saw he had switched the channel and was watching The Dukes of Hazzard.  It was paused on a part of the show that looked kind of like this......

I am in so much trouble when these boys are old enough to drive.

YEEEEEEE-HAAAAWWWWW!!!!!

Lancer is 9!

This week we celebrated Lancer's 9th Birthday.  I cannot believe how fast time flies.  It seems like only yesterday he was born.

One day old. He looks thrilled to be wearing that hat.

A few things about Lancer that you may or may not know.
Lancer has three nicknames.  1.Toad, which my grandpa started calling him when he was born.  2. Lance, which he prefers his friends call him., and 3. Eggyball, which is what he used to call Easter eggs when he was little. (Shown in the video below.)

Lancers favorite thing to do is to hang out at the Ranch. He likes to ride horses and help my dad work, or take walks with my mom.

Riding his buddy Moose. Thanksgiving 2007

Like Ryker's birthday, Lancer's big day has lasted longer than 24 hours.

This year, his class held a celebration of life for him and Richie and I got to go.  It was so fun to tell stories of his childhood and to watch each kid to tell him something nice for his birthday.  One little girl told him "I like that you are so good at tether ball." I started laughing. All I could picture was Lancer outside playing tether ball, looking like Napoleon Dynamite.  In the 4th grade, however, I guess that is quite a compliment.

Since Lancer's horse died last month, I decided to make him a horse cake.  It was a surprise and he loved it even though it did not look that great. Horse cakes are REALLY HARD!

It kinda looks like a horse, right?

 For dinner he wanted "Chicken legs, just like they have at the Maverick." I was not sure what he meant, but  finally I figured spicy fried chicken would be close enough. It was for him  We also had corn on the cob, rolls, mashed potatoes and gravy.

Spice Cake+ Lime Ricky Ice Cream=Yummy!



Lancer got some clothes, a new wii game and an i-pod charger/alarm clock. Pretty nice birthday.

Happy Birthday Eggyball!  I am so proud to be your mom. You are a wonderful kid!

  

Boogie Boarding in Hawaii, March 2010



Ryker turns 5!

I cannot believe that my baby is 5!  Having Ryker has been an amazing experience.  When I first got pregnant with him I was so incredibly sick.  I lived on vegetarian pizza and pickles.  Then after 5 months it all the sickness stopped and it turned great.  On more than one occasion I had to go to my docs office because I could not feel him move, he was just so quiet.  He was also so much smaller than Lancer was, but I unfortunately, was still the same size.



The morning I had him.



The quiet stopped the minute he was born.  Since that day he had been on the go non-stop.



The day he came home from the hospital. 

We nicknamed him Goonga. I'm not sure what it means, but it is from the movie Caddy Shack, and it just seems to fit him.

 He reminds me of Fudge in the Judy Blume books. No baby proofing could stop this kid from getting into things that he should not.  You name it and this kid has probably done it.  He keeps us on our toes.  But he is also such a sweet child who fills our days with laughter. When he is at school, or visiting grandparents, our house seems so empty and I miss him instantly

If you are feeling down or sad about anything, he knows just what to do to make you feel better.  On more than one occasion, Ryker has made a grumpy waitress or random stranger smile or laugh with just a look.

 

Ryker did this at the baseball game and even the grumpy guy behind us laughed.

He has been excited for his birthday for a long time.  Like most of our birthdays, it lasted a lot longer than one day.

So right before Ryker's birthday, Lancer came home from school with a nasty tummy bug. Since it was a weekend, he was up at my parents house.  My mom told me not too worry( cuz I do!), he seemed to be OK and she thought it was fine for him to stay.  He seemed better the next day, and so we went on with the birthday plans.
So on the birthday, Ryker told me what he wanted me to make for his dinner. Homemade chicken noodle soup, his favorite rolls, and a SpongeBob birthday cake. Seemed easy enough.  First I made the cake and it was harder than I thought! I think it was too hot in my kitchen because the icing would not set up and my homemade noodles kept sticking together and I had to make a last minute trip to the store to buy frozen ones.  Finally we packed it all up and headed up to my parents.  I had put the cake in a cake box and held it on my lap in the car.  I guess I held it too tight, because by the time we got there, SpongeBob's face was pretty much unrecognizable. Good thing I took a picture of the cake before I ruined it!



SpongeBob before the accident.



Before dinner, Ryker played around and fed the animals.  I made him wait until after dinner to open presents.
While we were eating, my mom commented she did not feel well and thought she was getting Lancer's bug.  I tend to  freak out at the thought of anyone being sick,  and the possibility of anyone else getting sick that I panicked and forgot to take any pictures of my little one opening his presents!



Ryker getting really excited at the thought of cake

 Happy Birthday Goonga!!! I am so blessed to be your Momma!





First day of Preschool this year