Ryan's "Friend" Birthday Party

I think I have finally convinced Brett of the importance of having two birthday celebrations: one for the family and one for friends of the birthday honoree. If your schedule prohibits having either of those celebrations from occurring on the actual birthday, then yes, you will have three days of partying in honor of your birthday! This is how we did it growing up and this is normal to me.

I have gone easy on the birthday celebrations lately--a little too easy. I should really plan ahead a little better, especially when it comes to setting the date and time and sending out invitations. Instead, I called a few friends about two days beforehand and asked if they would be interested in coming over for a playdate in honor of Ryan's birthday (Ms. Manners I am not). That was my main objective: let Ryan have some fun playing with his buddies, seeing that he's so lonely these days without Todd around. I didn't want to make a big deal, but let's just call it what it is--a party! Maybe I'll learn from this and do better for Todd's birthday by sending out invitations and blowing up some balloons.

I did try to keep it small, only inviting four other families. That doesn't sound like much, but when you add it up we had nine little kids (most of them boys) running around.
Things were so casual that I didn't even stress about the fact that the cake toppled over. At least I had already taken my official photo.

I didn't have enough little chairs to go around. No worries-the kids can share...

or just stand up...

I could have been a better and more organized hostess, but at least everyone seemed to have a good time.

Funniest thing said at the party:

Logan, our next door neighbor, came in through the back porch where Wyatt was playing basketball alone. Logan excitedly asks, "Did Ryan get a baby for his birthday??"

If only it were that easy!

Happy Birthday, Ryan!

A Birthday Song in Honor of Ryan

I hesitate to share this, but I figure--why not? Isn't this what the Internet (or at least the blogging community) has come to--sharing your life through your amateur writing, photography, and film directing, acting, singing, or performing?

One of the books in my Dr. Seuss collection is "The Cat in the Hat Songbook." Though I have owned the book for quite some time, I had never attempted to play through the songs before. The boys and I came across it a few months ago, and at their request I tried learning some of the songs. They are silly songs, a little melodramatic, and very fun to sing. One of my favorites is "Happy Birthday to Little Sally Spingel Spungel Sporn." I sang it to Ryan in honor of his birthday, and though you can't tell in this video (because it was about the tenth time he heard it that day) Ryan really enjoyed sitting with me and sometimes joined in. I think my mom would appreciate this music if no one else would.

The camera was set up on a tripod. Todd's job was to press the big button to start and end the filming. However, he decided to get a little more involved in the directing, which created an interesting effect.

I felt like I sounded better when I was singing than I actually do. I sense that my voice is a little too sweet and not dramatic, silly, or funny enough. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope I don't embarrass myself too much in the sharing.

Ryan's Helicopter Cake

What are you willing to do for your child's birthday cake? I have really enjoyed making fun cakes for my boys. Some have been more impressive than others. I am sure as the boys get older the taste will be more important than the looks. For now, the boys and I have fun picking out their birthday cake's shape. They look forward to it and usually pick out their cake months in advance.


Ryan wanted a helicopter cake last year. I was a little scared about that undertaking. I found no pattern to go by, but I talked to my mom and she gave me some ideas. In the end, I thought the cake looked great.
A few months ago Ryan informed me that he wanted another helicopter cake this year. However, about a week ago when I asked him more about his cake he told me that he did not want the same kind of helicopter as last year. He wanted one with two propellers on top. Great--another cake with no pattern!


We went to the library yesterday and I asked Ryan to show me a picture of the helicopter he wanted. We looked at a number of helicopter books with no success. I thought maybe Ryan wanted a cake that looked like the V-22 Osprey, but that wasn't it. Ryan clearly had something specific in mind. So, we went online and searched for helicopters. When we came across the photo for the CH-47 Chinook helicopter, Ryan excitedly proclaimed, "Yes! that one!"


Although I did not spend too much time decorating the cake and doing fancy piping, I think it still passes.

I can't wait to see what Ryan has me doing next year!

First Two Weeks of School

Yikes! I am getting more and more behind in my blogging. Two weeks of school have passed and I haven't written about Todd's first day or week at kindergarten. (Nor have I finished writing about my travels to Maine, but that will have to wait for later.)

This was Todd's first day of school, getting on the bus in the morning.
Todd was not nervous about getting on the bus and going off to school at all. He had been well prepared by his mother and was very much looking forward to it. There were no tears for him or me.

There are two other families who catch the bus at our stop--three girls who are all older than Todd. Our family lives the farthest away from the bus stop, and I usually wear my rollerblades and put Ryan in the stroller so that we can make it to the end of the road quickly without leaving Ryan crying behind because he can't keep up. Todd's bus comes at 7:52am. I haven't had to be out the door every day before 8:00am since before I had children. Two weeks of school and we haven't missed the bus yet! I'm so proud of myself. Of course, I am not usually showered and finished with my "morning chores" (making all the beds, taking care of laundry, and cleaning up the kitchen) by then, but at least Todd has had his lunch ready and has eaten a good breakfast each morning before he has left.

Although we have had no problems making it to the bus in time in the morning, that doesn't mean there haven't been complications in the afternoon. I called the office for the school buses on the first day to find out when Todd would be dropped off. The answer: 3:25pm. I was running a little behind that first afternoon and didn't get to leave until about 3:22pm. I had my rollerblades on, and as I rounded the bend in the road I saw the bus drive away without my son getting off. I called out to the two girls who live at the end of the street, "Where's Todd--you know, that little boy who got on the bus with you this morning?" "Umm. The bus driver held someone back and wouldn't let them get off the bus." Uh oh. So, we called the school, they called the bus driver, and we found out that the bus driver wouldn't let Todd off because she didn't see anyone waiting for him. I'm actually very pleased that the bus driver was concerned and looking out for the safety of my new kindergartner. The bus stop is on a relatively busy road and it could be dangerous. No harm done. She just dropped him off when she was done with her other stops. Todd didn't seem to be too bothered by it.

The next afternoon the kids brought home a little form to complete for the bus driver, including basic address information as well as a survey: what to do if no one is there to meet your child getting off the bus. We talked about it as a family and decided that we felt comfortable with the bus driver letting Todd off the bus even if I wasn't at the end of the street yet. We figured that in most cases I would be on my way. If there was an emergency that took me away from home before I could get word to Todd, he could walk home by himself. If he found no one at home he could walk to Aunt Donna's. If no one was there, he could go to Oma's. The chance of that happening is very rare, but at least I know that there are back-up plans--a benefit of having family very close by. In fact, in these first two weeks of school his Aunt Donna and his Papa have both had a chance to pick Todd up from the school bus, much to his delight.

We have also had a chance to see how it works when no one is there to greet him. One day Todd's bus dropped him off almost 10 minutes early. I was keeping an eye on the clock, and was about a minute away from leaving when I heard the dogs barking. I looked outside and saw Todd almost to our mailbox already. I was so proud of him for coming right home. He asked why I wasn't there to meet him, and I explained that his bus was early (and showed him the clock to prove it). I was proud of the confidence he had and am grateful that I can trust him to come right home without playing in the middle of the busy street.

There is something about seeing people starting a new phase in their lives that is so exciting to watch. Seeing a newborn baby, or a toddler learning how to walk, a high school graduate, a couple getting married, and . . . a new kindergartner! I had forgotten about this last one. It has been nice seeing the smiles of our neighbors as they watch Todd on his way to the bus stop. A little boy with a big backpack walking with excitement down the street to the bus stop brought such smiles and friendly greetings from some of our favorite neighborhood grandparents (and others too). We were greeted by Peggy and Betsy, Karl, and Deede. Even a week and half later Karl got a big smile on his face as he watched us making our way to school in the morning. Ms. Peggy and Ms. Betsy greet us almost every morning wishing Todd a good day at school. I love living here.

There have also been some adjustments for both Todd and Ryan and myself. Although Todd looks happy and cheerful in these pictures, he sometimes needs a good snack and some cool-down time before he is able to keep those smiles going. He was a little grouchy the first day especially. All-day kindergarten is a tough transition. Todd behaves well in public, and I am sure that after hours of being on his best behavior he needed a chance to let out some steam.

Todd is also not used to having to eat lunch so early (around 10:30am/10:45am). For someone who has a good breakfast, that is pretty early for eating lunch. Although I have been packing foods that Todd enjoys in his lunchbox, I have found much of the food untouched. Now our after-school tradition is that when Todd comes home we sit down in the kitchen, empty Todd's backpack, open his lunchbox, and Todd gets to finish eating whatever is still left in there. Todd doesn't complain about this at all and is usually eager to eat.

We also had a tough transition the Friday after his first week of school. He had been fighting a little bit of a cold for two days, and though he was all smiles when I picked him up that afternoon...

his body continued to go downhill as the afternoon and evening progressed. I think he was feeling the stress of a long week of school. He continued to look more and more pale and eventually threw up around 7:00pm. Fortunately, he went straight to bed, had a good sleep, and woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in the morning. We made sure that he had lots of down time over the weekend, and he didn't have any more problems. But let's hope that we don't have to go through that again this weekend!

Ryan and I have also had our own transitions to make. I kept thinking that I would be able to get so much accomplished after Todd went to school, that I would be forced into a new schedule, and that my house would get cleaned and organized. I am still waiting for that to happen.... I didn't have any obligations the first day of school. Ryan and I stayed home all day, and all day we were . . . listless. That is the best word I have been able to come up with to describe how we were feeling. We had no direction, and just kind of wandered around the house. I got a few little things done, but I couldn't even tell you what we did all day. We just missed Todd.

While I have been able to banish that listlessness in the last two weeks, Ryan is still struggling. He has to learn how to play by himself now. It's not that he always has problems occupying himself, but he doesn't play like I would like him to. We have a roomful of toys for his entertainment, but too often he just wants to be by my side, even if all I am doing is folding laundry or working on the computer. In fact, as I type now he is at the desk beside me drawing on our dry-erase board. Not that I have a problem with that at all. It's much better than climbing all over my chair or going through my desk drawers. I just want to make sure that he has time to play and use his imagination. I took him to our church playgroup this Wednesday, and he was kind of lost there, too. His boy buddies are all in preschool now and aren't able to come to playgroup anymore.

I ended up calling Anne saying, "Ryan needs a friend! Can Maddie and Wyatt play?" So, Anne came to my rescue and brought her kids over to the house for some lunch and playtime. It was so good for Ryan. Even though he, Maddie and Wyatt have different interests, Ryan is so comfortable with them that he was just happy to have them around. He laughed at something that Wyatt was doing at the lunch table, and it was so good to hear that big laugh in the middle of the day again. When we do things together he still smiles and laughs, but it is a little laugh. Hopefully, we'll both get through this phase quickly and find our middle-of-the-day big laughs again soon.

New England Ice Cream

I debated on whether to include this post in my food blog (since it is about food), but decided to include it in the family blog since it is heavy on photos and talks about our Maine vacation.

I miss real, good ice cream. I grew up in a home that valued good ice cream. When our family lived in Massachusetts my parents regularly took the whole family for a drive on a summer night to a local ice cream stand, or if we were on the road they'd take us to the best looking ice cream shop in town. To be honest, it didn't have to be at night - ice cream is good anytime. Just ask my dad! He knows where the nearest ice cream places are no matter where he goes. Or, ask my mom! She always made sure to have a variety of ice creams in the freezer.

When we moved down South we noticed the ice cream difference. For starters, the grocery stores only had about five basic flavors to choose from. Fortunately, times have changed, and you can get a wide variety of flavors in even the store-brand ice creams. Secondly, there were no ice cream stands around--certainly none which offered offered really good ice cream for a reasonable price. Unfortunately, times have not changed so much that real, old-fashioned ice cream stands are anywhere close to us. Sure, we have the big-named (expensive) ice cream places where you request add-ins and create your own flavor combos. But, they're just not the same.

Going out to eat ice cream while I was in New England was a priority for me. Unfortunately, the days kept slipping by and I kept missing my post-dinner ice cream opportunities. A solution occurred to me: on my last night in Maine I proposed ice cream instead of dinner. It was a plan that was agreed upon unanimously by the family! Remember, ice cream is good anytime. So, we had a big, late lunch and went out for our dinner ice cream at Lago's: big servings, good prices, and best of all: great ice cream!

Ryan with his "baby" ice cream cone

(chocolate chip maybe? I can't remember). Todd with Rocky Road ice cream.
Ryan (who already finished his ice cream) goes in for a bite of Emily's sherbet. Uncle Dave looks like he's having a hard time figuring out how to best manage the ice cream drips.Afton enjoys ice cream, too!

Two happy siblings, one sticky face

(Adam's--appears to be chocolate...).
Most of the gang made it. We were even able to have Uncle Larry, and Uncle Tim and Aunt Kathy join us. (L-R: Mom, Dad, Laura, Larry, Adam, Dave, Emily, D.C., Kerry, Tim, Kathy)
(L-R: Kerry, Amy, Afton, Todd, Ben)

Cousins! (L-R: Adam, D.C., Kate, Emily, Ryan, Ben, Todd)

Did I mention that I miss real, good ice cream--and summer nights like this? Next time I go back I may even upgrade from the "Kiddie" size cup to a "Small"!
(And, in case you were wondering--which you probably weren't--I got one of the special flavors: Black Raspberry Cookies and Cream . . . yum!)