Choices

Most of the time, I make mostly good choices.  But sometimes when two months go by and I haven't written anything other than a gigantic to do list, I do question some of my choices.  How am I spending my time such that I don't have time to write a 55 minute blog post?  How do I not have time to find a good masseuse and get an appointment?  How have I not downloaded pictures to my Snapfish account in nine months?  I've decided that I DO have the time, it's just that I chose to not do these things.  Most of the things I choose are kid-related and a few are Kristen-centered so that I keep my sanity. 

Today, the boys and I were in an unusually dense traffic situation.  We sat through four rotations of a light and did not move an inch.  The police car next to us, who seemed as irritated as everyone else, suddenly threw on his lights and siren and attempted to blast through.  I said to Thomas and Ryan that either there was an emergency or that police officer just did a bad thing putting on his lights because he didn't like traffic.  Thomas, who is wrestling these days with what exactly cheating means, declared that if there was no emergency, that guy would be cheating. 

Sadly, he was not cheating.  When we eventually moved in traffic, we saw a horrific accident where one car was upside down and smushed and another car was scratched, dented, and basically totaled.  It was awful.  It was also reaffirming.  I AM making good choices by choosing to do stuff with my kids and roll around with them and play football instead of writing a blog post.

So here is a jam-packed version of the last two months.  This is what we've been doing when I'm not regaling you with our antics.

Our Little Buddy, Thomas, turned five in September.  In keeping with our "Treasure the experience and the person" theme established for Ryan's birthday, we decided to load up all four of us and accompany Mike on an extended work trip.  He travels during much of the fall to football games, so we tagged along to San Diego!  It was fabulous.  Thomas' faves, in no specific order, were the San Diego Zoo, meeting Mike's colleagues at San Diego State University, going to a SDSU football game, seeing really awesome fireworks, staying in the same hotel room as the rest of us for six days, "attacking waves" at the beach, and riding mass transit.

Feeding a giraffe!

We enjoyed a visit from Nana Honey and Papa Bear.  As always, tons of doing whatever it is that the kids want to do, which includes popcorn, numerous games outside and numerous visits to their hotel.

The first day of preschool has come and gone.  There are several preschools (like 38) that are closer to our house, but we found a wonderful home at Faithbridge Presbyterian Preschool.  The boys both have awesome teachers and the curriculum is great.

When the boys aren't at school, we're up to our usual shenanigans.

Like making banana bread

jumping from anything at all

hanging

We spend a couple of days a week showing off all the soccer skills Thomas has honed during hours and hours of "steal soccer."  Thomas is a member of the Super Sonics soccer team, where he is the leading scorer.

Ryan is not about to be left in Thomas' dust

We frequent an amazing place called Urban Air Trampoline.  The three of us jump for a minimal fee on certain tot time days.  Not sure if Thomas or I like it better there!

The Dallas area has no dearth of things to do.  We try to hit as many as we can, like the Dallas Aboretum.

I hope that it isn't 80+ days before I find myself writing another post, but in the event that it is, know I'm making mostly good choices most of the time and I'll be in touch as soon as I can.  Love, Kristen

Birthdays

After my last birthday, I really thought about how we celebrate birthdays, why we celebrate birthdays and who exactly this celebration is for.  My first conclusion was that birthdays should be for the mom, the person who birthed you.  Deciding this was a little selfish and a touch on the macabre side, I shifted my thinking.  I concluded that I would like for our family to take birthdays as an opportunity to celebrate and appreciate an individual.  Newsflash: this doesn't mean flashy parties (unless the birthday person enjoys flashy parties), this doesn't mean presents galore just for the sake of presents, and it doesn't even mean that there must be cake (but who doesn't like cake?!).  It means creating a unique opportunity to celebrate what makes someone an individual.   This is why we did the stuff we did for Ryan's birthday.

The morning of Ryan's birthday, Nana and I took two little blueberry monsters to a mom and pop blueberry farm in the middle of nowhere NY.  Despite their cry that their fields were decimated by hail, we had a blast picking our own berries!

We could have gotten them cheaper at the grocery store.  They probably would have been bigger and sweeter than our self-picked booty, but you cannot buy the kind of fun we had in the produce section of Hannaford.  Celebrating our Ryan Man's love of "boo beeries" was a fabulous way to spend the morning of his second birthday.

We hit the park, which was one of Ryan's favorite things we did while we were in Lake George.  We did it pretty much 3/4 of the days we were there, but since Ryan (and Thomas) love it, we did it again as a family!

We chose the menu based on what Ryan likes when we go out to eat.  Very non-traditional for a two year old.  Whenever we go somewhere that has a choice like a mall foodcourt or a foodcourt at an airport, given the choice, Ryan picks Chinese food.

Our special cake from Lori is always a highlight of mine on trips back home.  This time, we chose a favorite Sesame Street character.  We loved the cake...and what the blue frosting did to our tongues.

We ballooned Nan and Papa's house right up.  Mylar balloons are not the quietest of balloons, but again, it was Ryan and his loves we celebrated that day, not our own.

We even had a dance party in the rain!  After dinner, we all convened on the front porch.  I had the bright idea to dance with the boys in the rain.  We normally dance in my bedroom at home, but this just seemed like the right thing to do with Ryan on his special day.  Much to everyone's excitement, Aunt Erica joined us! 

Ryan is a special little guy.  We had a great day tailored to him.  If there were more than 12 wakeful hours in the day, we might also:

Bring him to Chili's for lunch and feed him nothing but "chips and sauce."

Play baseball, tennis, hockey, golf, boxing, football, swimming and every other sport known to man.  Of course, we'd be amazed at how good he is at each and every one of these things.

Let him "jump high" from every piece of furniture in the house without warning him about the danger of him getting hurt or scolding him about it.

And for bedtime, read him the Lowe's Outdoor Power catalogue over and over and over and over,  then have Mama rock him, sing "Farmer in Dell" and put him in his crib for a sound sleep from 8pm until 7am.

Happy 2nd Birthday to our little one, Ryan.  Your fearlessness will take you far...and probably get you into trouble, but Thomas will always be there to catch and support you (and lecture you about it aterward).  Your strong will is another great asset...and will probably get you into trouble at school, but your dad will bail you out (and you guys will laugh about it together despite the evil eye your mother gives you).  Your subtle thoughtfulness should never go unnoticed...but it probably will, except for by your mother (who is already proud of your actions).