KANGAROO ZOO

My mom and sister had Martin Luther King day off so we decided it would be a good day to take the kids to Kangaroo Zoo! They have about 8-9 different blow up houses/slides and the kids can run freely and have fun. Rylan is so lucky to have a cousin like Savanna, she's so good about taking care of him and is very patient with her time. It was so cute, at one point Savanna came to us grown-ups and said "I just handled a fight! These kids were pushing Rylan and I told them that they could say "Excuse me!" He's ONLY TWO!" We thought that was pretty funny. Having extra help meant Rylan could go down the big kid slides, and I think he really liked it! Anytime mom got near all he'd say is "NO!!" Of course we can't forget Logan, Rylan's very favorite person to follow and do WHATEVER he does! Logan has said before to his mom, "Why does Rylan follow me everywhere??!!" I think it's funny because Logan's getting to know what it's like have a younger sibling....or cousin in this matter. Rylan loves his cousins!

Happy 2nd Birthday Rylan!

Well another year has come and gone, and I'm now the mother of a TWO YEAR OLD!! I can't believe how fast time has gone by. I'm always forgetting that I didn't have Rylan last year, that I actually had him two years ago!! He's getting be such a big boy! All day on his birthday I was singing Happy Birthday to him over and over again, and by the time we had his party that night he was singing along whenever he heard the song.

Wieght: 27 lbs 37%
Hieght: 35.5" 78%
Head: 19" 38%

Rylan's favorite Words: the ones we hear most
Awesome
YES! (while putting his fist in the air)
No
JOHN! (yelling it like mom does)
chips
sucker (sounds like cracker)
drink
Choo-Choo
Truck

I just kept this year low key and had a family party at my sister's house with pizza, presents, cake & ice cream. Rylan had a great time with all his cousins and really was so cute! Here are some pictures of the fun night.

Rylan was so excited to blow out the candle that he'd blow it out every time we'd light it. So there's mean mom covering his mouth every time he tried to blow it out, waiting for everyone to finish singing. He got smart and held my hands down and he finally got to blow it out just at the right moment. Here's Rylan somewhat enjoying his birthday cake...Logan's digging right in!Here's a video of him trying to sing...it might only be cute to me...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas this year was really all about Rylan. John and I didn't bother getting each other anything, since all our money went to Rylan's gifts. Rylan is getting so big, but still didn't understand the whole "santa" thing yet. But he was excited to get to rip off the wrapping paper and see all the new fun toys!
We woke up Christmas morning and made breakfast, ate, and then got on the computer to Skype with John's parents and started opening presents. I'm loving the fact that we can eat first, but I'm sure in a few years the presents will be more important than breakfast. Grandpa & Grandma Arbuckle got Rylan some Zoo Legos, clothes, an awesome coat, snow pants and boots so we can all go play in the snow now!! We're just waiting for the temperature to go up a bit before we go sledding. And there's no better gift for John and I then money! Thanks G&G Arbuckle!!
After we were done opening all the gifts under our tree, G&G Stoughton came to visit bringing more gifts! Rylan got a book, a cool dinosaur flash light, and PJ's from them. And I got a sweater and a Digital Photo Keychain and John got a Favre Viking's jersey. Thanks for the presents!!
I was so bad this year with my camera I didn't really take many photos, we just had the video recorder going, so atleast I have that. But here are some photos I did get of Rylan playing with his toys.

When John goes to my mom/John's house he always ends up upstairs in the playroom coloring in the giant coloring books my mom has for the kids. So this Christmas mom got John his VERY OWN Star Wars giant coloring book with some crayons! He loves it. He's a child at heart.
Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Christmas Delivery

John's parents are so good about sending gifts to us every year throughout the year, and it was fun to get this years christmas box from them because Rylan acted so excited to open it and see what was inside. We got a video of his excitement, I just think it's so cute! You can't really understand him in the video but at one point he yells, "Oh my gosh!" It was cute.

Don't mind the fact that he has no pants on.

After unloading the box of course Rylan had to play in it. What a goof ball.

Well it's finally happened. After posting about how sad I was about how long it was taking, I'm finally pregnant!! And why is it that you can't ever get pregnant until you are told that you will be receiving less money in the coming new year, and *BAM* pregnant!!

I remember with Rylan, we were trying for nearly over a year, but only three months on fertility drugs. I was working at IRS as a temp, and John had switched jobs and started working with IRS as a temp also, and I had just gotten furloughed (which means I was out of work). And then *BAM* pregnant!

I guess if I ever want to have more children I need to realize that in order to do so we're going to have to take a cut financially somehow.

It's just funny how life works out. Even though I'm a little worried about how we're going to make this work financially I'm very excited to add another little one to the family. I'm hoping that Rylan will be able to have a friend to play with and help keep each other entertained.

Mmmm...Cookie Dough!

I made chocolate chip cookies from scratch the other night for the first time in Rylan's life! Ha ha, and I had to get a picture of him licking the dough off the beater. He doesn't like to eat the cookies, but he loves the dough!And of course John is doing what he does best in the background...playing.

Awhile ago I watched my friend Megan's kids in the morning, and it was fun to watch all the kids play together. I couldn't help but get a picture of them all squished in Rylan's blow up car. They have fun with each other. Peyton and Rylan are only 3 months apart, Rylan's older and Kyson is 3 1/2. I'm excited to see them all grow up together and hopefully become good friends.

THANKSGIVING

I know I'm a little late. I didn't get any pictures this year of Thanksgiving day :( But it was just a low key holiday this year. Mom and John flew out to Denver on Wed. and went to the football game on Thanksgiving, so they weren't here for Thanksgiving this year, it's actually the first year that mom has left for a holiday. It felt a little weird not having her here. But it was still a good day, we headed over to my dad's for dinner, which was a small party compared to most years. Claudia's youngest daughter had her family there with us. It's nice to spend the day with family, and it was also nice not having to run to two differents meals in one day for a change! :) Rylan still won't eat meat, or anything with a weird texture so he basically just had olives, and chips for dinner.

This year was my first adventure out for Black Friday! And I have to say that I think I'm a little addicted. I went over to Lowe's and got a 6.5' christmas tree pre-lit for $38 dollars, which is now in my family room, I also got John a ShopVac for his garage for only $29! And then I headed over to Kohl's and got myself a new KitchenAid stand mixer for a whooping $178! SCORE! That was my christmas from my parents, and it's now on my counter-top and I've already put it use and made some banana bread! I love all my finds, and loved that it really wasn't that crazy out.