Ryleigh's Christmas party

This past Friday Ryleigh had her Christmas party at school. It was a lot of fun and she had a great time. The thing that stunk was that she could only bring one person. So Ryan and I had to fight over who got to go!

Her she is playing pin the nose on Rudolph! You can kind of see her teacher in this picture. She has the cutest teacher!

Here she is in her chair by Angel and Brooks.

See those white treat bags behind them?
Well Mrs. Parden always send notes home telling us things. For example during Halloween she let us know we could bring treat bags if we wanted to. Well she didn't send anything for Christmas other than telling us about the party and what type of gift we should buy. Well I guess all the other parents got the memo but me. They all had treats to put in the bags. Ryleigh had a meltdown that she didn't have anything to put in the bags. So I called Ryan and told him he had to go by the store to get some candy. When he walked in Ryleigh's class she yelled "Yay!! Daddy saved the day!" Then Mrs. Parden invited Ryan to stay for the rest of the party so I guess it worked out well!

Report Card

Ryleigh got her first ever report card! I really didn't know she would get one so I was kinda surprised when I checked her book bag Monday. She did really good for her first semester (are they called that in K3?) of school. Especially considering the fact she had no other "formal school training" before this (like daycare).
(I really need to invest in a scanner so I can stop taking pictures of things and then posting them!)

You can click on the image to enlarge it and see what she got in each category. An S+ is equivalent to a B+ (I think) and an O is equivalent to a A. In social development She got all S+. I was kind of surprised she didn't get O's but oh well. In Language Development she got an S in all three. I would have thought she would have gotten better in Oral Expression and Feeling at ease while talking in a group. I completely understand the listening while others talk grade because everyone knows she likes to be the center of attention!
She got O's in Math and Shapes which I guess is the most important things on there since they are actually academic related and not just social. I mean she may have only gotten an S in cutting but I think Math and Shapes is more important than being able to cut out a shape!

We are so proud of her and how well she has adapted to the change of going to school. I have a feeling though that she is going to be a lot like me and have great grades but bad conduct grades! Oh well I won't mind if she's a very smart talker!!

Christmas Cards

One of my most favorite things about Christmas is Christmas cards. I love sending and receiving them. I love picking them out and designing them. I love addressing them and sending them off. The only part I don't like is buying stamps. I can't stand waiting in line at the post office. I wish the one by my work had a credit card automatic stamp machine!
Here are our Christmas cards since the first year Ryleigh was born. I don't have a scanner so I had to take a picture of a picture so they didn't turn out to good but you get the idea!
Ryleigh looks so happy to be sitting there with Santa doesn't she! If you think she looks unhappy here then you should have saw her about 30 minutes after this. We left Santa and took her to get her ears pierced. She was not happy about it!
This card makes me laugh, seriously laugh out loud! I mean look at poor Tanner's head! I forgot how alienish he looked until I found this!
This one is so blurry but probably one of my favorites. I love this picture of them except for the fact that we wouldn't accept the fact that Tanner has curly hair and always kept it brushed down.
This is our card for this year, I'm kind of ashamed at the pictures I used. I was to lazy to get them dressed in Christmas clothes and take their picture so I just used ones we already had. I know I'm awful. I do like the way it turned out though. I really like how bright it is and how in the pictures our clothes match the card.

Well we have a busy week coming up including my work Christmas Party, visitor week in Ry's dance class, Christmas with Ryan's granddaddy and Nana's Happy Birthday Jesus party! (and that's not including our weekend plans!)
I'm already tired and it's only Tuesday!

Gingerbread House

After Christmas last year I was in Michael's and saw a gingerbread house marked down to 75% off. I picked it up and thought that we would do it this year. I had completely forgotten about it until Ryan was getting everything out of the attic for Christmas. When Ryleigh and Tanner saw it they went crazy and every day since then they have begged me to let them make it. Well I hate messes and knew that it would be a huge mess but I guess I temporarily lost my mind on Monday night and agreed to it. I would first like to say that this is my first experience at making a gingerbread house so I really didn't know what to expect. Here we are getting ready and getting all the pieces together.
I made the icing and started to "glue" it together. I had them help me hold it until the icing dried but they were terrible at keeping it straight or still. I also didn't know that it takes the icing 15 minutes to dry enough to start on the next piece. It also takes 2 hours for the whole thing to set before you can start decorating it! I was so frustrated! I guess I would have known that if I would have read the instructions before hand but now I had two kids who were so excited and icing that would not dry!

I talked them into going to take a bath why I finished putting it together and then I stuck it in the freezer. 30 minutes later is was dry enough.

Notice the clothes change from the previous pictures. This was after their bath and they are getting ready to decorate it.

And here is the finished product! I included two pictures of them with the house because Ry is cheesing it up in the first one and Tanner is in the second one.

So after a complete mess, icing everywhere, two spilled bowls of candy and 2 hours later I present to you the prettiest gingerbread house ever! Take notice of the two gingerbread men cookies they made also. Ry's is the one completely covered in candy and Tanner's is the one with like 2 pieces on it. They seriously decorated the whole thing by themselves. The only 2 things I suggested where the green in the front for grass and the candy going along the middle of the top.

Now they bug me everyday to eat it!

All I want for Christmas

A few weeks ago we took the kids to Toys R Us to look around and get a feel for what they wanted for Christmas. We explained going in that we weren't buying anything just looking. We came up with the idea to take pictures and "email them to Santa!" I know its corny but they were really excited about taking pictures of the things they liked.

Ryleigh really wants a camera. I think we may wait on this until her birthday though.
She is obsessed with My Little Pony! Ryan's granddad got her this.
She LOVED this My Little Pony amusement park. And of course she wanted this Tinkerbell doll!
She is really into doing her hair and things like that so she really wants this. I haven't gotten it yet but I think I might.
Tanner loves Batman! He said he wanted this but I think it was just because he saw the Batman sign, not because he really would play with it.
This is one of the things I'm most excited about! I love Lego's!! I couldn't wait until he was old enough to play with the small ones.
He also wanted these 2 big trucks. Like we don't already have enough trucks!

He really likes dinosaurs. We haven't gotten this yet but I think we might.

I think it'll be fun to look back in a few years at the things they wanted when they were 2 and 3. We are pretty much done with their Christmas shopping. I need one more present for Ry so I may go get that hair set. I think they'll like everything we got them. I finally wrapped most of it Sunday night and put it under the tree and they were so excited when they got up Monday morning! I always let them pick out their own TACKY character wrapping paper. That way it makes it easy to tell which present goes to who and they can tell also. This year Ryleigh picked Tinkerbell and Tanner picked Transformers.

I'm kinda excited about being done with Christmas shopping this early in December!

5 years

Ryan and I have always been a good team. Seriously, we have. He has more common sense than I would know what to do with while I have more book smarts than he could handle. I don’t mind doing housework but hate cutting grass. He doesn’t mind cutting grass but hates housework. He’s an enforcer of major things with the kids and lets the little things slide. I enforce the minor things and try not to make a disciplinary scene in public.

He’s a wonderful father, husband, provider for our family and child of God. I am so thankful for him and I’m trying my best not to take him or all that he does for granted.

He works a main job and a side job, he gives the kids baths most nights and tucks them into bed. He makes them huge breakfasts on Sundays before church. He always takes the garbage out. He has perfected the art of little girl’s hair. He can get them dressed and out the door in less than 10 minutes. He is fabulous with kids and loves babies more than I wish he did. He gets up at 3 AM everyday to work out and have devotion before he has to be at work at 6. He requires little sleep and is stronger than I’ll ever be.

No, he’s not perfect. He gets on my nerves a lot. He leaves clothes on the floor in the bathroom; sometimes he loses his temper when Ryleigh and Tanner get out of bed for the 5th time in a row. He goes through a gallon of milk in 2 days, which drives me crazy. He drives entirely to fast and gets way to many speeding tickets. But I love him anyway.

That’s the thing about marriage…I chose to love him anyway. I by far do not have a perfect marriage or am I in any place to give out marriage advice but if I had to pick one key to our relationship it would be we love each other anyway. In spite of all our differences and the things that drive us insane, we love each other anyway. All the times I feel like I’m going to scream if I have to buy one more gallon of milk or tell him one more time where his shoes are, I love him anyway. All the times he gets in my car and it’s on empty or when I call him for directions and have no idea how to even tell him where I am so he can give me directions, He loves me anyway.

Ryan, I’m glad through all of my faults and failures you chose to love me anyway. I promise as long as we live I will do the same for you. I promise to always try to see the good in every situation and even if the good is hard to find I will love you anyway.

Happy Anniversary!

Weekend in the Woods

We had a great Thanksgiving! We went to aunt Tena's house for Thanksgiving with our family and then to Ryan's aunts for Thanksgiving with his family. That afternoon Ryan, Ryleigh and Tanner all left to go to some friends of ours hunting camp. Tanner was so excited to be going hunting! I stayed home so I could go shopping on Friday and rode up Friday afternoon with some friends of ours. We stayed until late Saturday night and had the best time! It was fun just to be away from everything and our cell phones didn't even work! The guys went hunting in the morning and at night. The rest of the day was spent playing outside, riding four wheelers, hiking and eating! Here are some pictures...

I love this picture. I thought about using it for our Christmas cards but mine and Ryleigh's hair looks terrible.
This is Alex, Ethan's girlfriend. She killed the only deer of the weekend!
Wesley killed a hog. It was so gross! Ry and Tan wouldn't go near it.
Saturday afternoon Ryan got brave and took all of us hunting. So me, Ry, Tanner and Ryan all piled into this shooting house. It was not fun. Tanner is an excellent hunter, Ryleigh is a terrible hunter!
Walking to the shooting house in their hunters orange.

This is the group before we left Saturday afternoon for the woods.
Playing Tarzan

This is an actual small mountain that we hiked up. They were so tired by the time we made it up to the top.

I love this picture. This is Mr. Jeff, Lindsay's dad. They are the ones who invited us up to stay with them in their cabin. (which is nicer than my house!)
I love this picture because Ryleigh and Tanner completely posed themselves with this sign. Allen is Lindsay's cousin and a good friend of ours, Leslie's brother. Some of you may remember when Justin (Leslie's husband) and Allen (her brother) where killed in a car accident. Their grandpa had this made in memory of Allen. It's down far into the woods in the most beautiful spot.
My absolute favorite picture of the weekend. I love this little boy and can't believe how fast he is growing. I think out of all of us he had the most fun this weekend. He literally cried himself to sleep on the way home!