Can you believe

I FINALLY updated this blog? and I use that term very loosely since I'm only including 5 pics.
This Fall has been busy with me returning to teaching. Maybe I should have Keith take over the blog. Caleb is in Young 5s at my school and loves it. His teacher is my good friend, so it's been fun chatting with her about him. Alanna and Ryland are enjoying some serious daddy time on MW and F mornings while Caleb is at school. I always wondered how those two would do with Caleb gone and they seem to be having fun with each other. Alanna will often "read" to Ryland.
Ryland is starting to say more and more words. His newer (and again...newer in the last month or two) words include, "mama, dada, nahnah (alanna)" and his newest, which is really cute, is "me!" I heard him say it for the first time yesterday morning when I asked the kids, "Who wants breakfast?" I expected to hear from Caleb and Alanna, so it was quite a surprise to hear Ryland shout out, "Me!" You can pretty much ask him anything that starts with, "Who wants_____?" and he'll answer with "Me!"
The other day Caleb decided to teach Ryland the letter sounds, so Caleb starts at the beginning of the alphabet and says to Ryland, "Ryland, say ah." Ryland responds. "Ryland, say buh." He responded. Caleb followed him around the house until he had made it through to Z. What a good teacher he is!

Here are some Fall pics. Keith's annual Michigan attire picture, our family at the apple orchard and the kids at Halloween (and in case you're wondering...the kids are wolves and a pig. I couldn't bring myself to do the 3 pigs and dress Caleb up in pink).
I really should figure out how to upload more pics....

No Training Wheels!

Caleb has mastered the 2 wheeler....well, riding it, that is! Now we need to work on "starting from stop" and how to stop 'gracefully' rather than just falling over to the side.

Zoo Trip

Here are some pics from our trip to the zoo!

Tee Ball

Caleb spent the month of May playing Tball. Here are a few pics of him hitting the ball. Our favorite quote from him came on the first day: "Nobody even got me. I was sooooo like a rocket ship!"

Caleb's Last Day of Preschool

Caleb finished up Preschool this past week. A friend of mine suggested that I get a picture of him on his last day to see how much he's grown. The top picture is him on his first day and the bottom picture is him on his last day. Hah! Notice anything?

Oh....and it gets better, though I didn't take a picture.....I was wearing the EXACT same shirt on Caleb's first and last day.

Hmmm....do I really like the shirts or what?

Children's Gardens

Here are a few pics of the kids at the Children's Gardens. Ryland is REALLY into balls right now. Whenever he sees anything remotely round in shape he immediately gets excited and says, "Bah! Bah! Bah!" I'm sure you can imagine how exciting it was for him to see the "bird's eggs!"

Dress Up

One of Alanna's favorite things to do is dress up. The funny thing is that she puts EVERY dress up item on.

Water Play

Caleb LOOOOVES playing in the water with the hose. I really have no problem with him doing it. It's fun for him, keeps him entertained and I'm sure he's learning something during it like water pressure or erosion. The problem I have is when the weather doesn't necessarily allow playing with the hose.
Please note Alanna's fleece for that chilly day....and yes, she is SOAKED!

Into Everything Rydie...part 2

This kid doesn't stop! His newest thing is using items to climb up onto HIGHER objects!

Awwww

Found these two yahoos sleeping in the same bed. Too cute!

Alanna's New Do

Here are a few pics of Alanna and her new haircut. She looks so much older!!! I don't know how I feel about that!

"Into Everything" Ryland

Seriously....this kid is into EVERYTHING!! My other two kids were never "climbers," but Ryland? Nothing stops him! I'm a little concerned that he's going to be my kid that tries to climb out of his crib. Am I going to have to get one of those crib tent thingies that I've always thought to myself when seeing them, "Seriously? Parents actually use these?!?" Am I going to be one of THOSE parents??

Butterflies

Every year Meijer Gardens has their butterfly exhibit for the months of March and April. This year Caleb's preschool class went there for a field trip. It is amazing how many butterflies are flying around and if you stand still long enough, one might actually land on you.

Happy Birthday, Ryland!

We made it!! Ryland is one year old!! It was a tough first 6-8 months, but we got through it! Now it is fun to see Ryland move into the toddler stage and "run" around after his siblings. We are so thankful for the health of 3 beautiful children!

Fun at the Children's Museum

Here are a few pics of the boys at the children's museum. Alanna was there, too, but for some reason I didn't take any pictures of her. She was off somewhere having fun with her Aunt Cami.

One thing that I did notice about my kids was that Alanna would stay at one area and play there FOREVER!! I had to tell her that we needed to go to other areas. At that age (and currently) Caleb was always going from one area to the next. Is it a girl-boy thing?

Walking Ryland

Here are a few pics of walking Ryland. I love when my kids start walking (and I'm lucky that my kids are 'early' walkers). If they're going to be mobile, I prefer that they walk rather than crawl around on the gross ground.

"That was Awesomer!!"

Here is a clip of Caleb and his cousin, Jake, sledding. Caleb absolutely LOVED it!! I don't know if it was the actual sledding or the fact that he had his daredevil cousin with him!
I loved Caleb's response at the end: "That was Awesomer!"


This clip is titled: "Ow"

Merry Christmas

Sadly, this is one of the only Christmas pictures that was taken this year. I guess we were too busy with the video camera. I know there's a feature that will capture video and "change" it to photo....I guess I'll have to figure that one out.