Christmas!

We had a very nice Christmas. Last Friday we opened presents at our house. Ryland was very excited about the remote-controlled car and the Hot Wheels race track. Raylee loves the play cell phone Ryland got her. Saturday morning Santa had been to our house. Ryland must have been extrememly tired because we had to wake him up to see what Santa brought. Santa splurged this year and got the Nintendo Wii (kind of a family gift). Ryland was very excited. That boy is so good at bowling. His average is much higher than any of ours. Santa brought Raylee a grocery cart and a doll. She loves pushing that thing around all over the house. Santa did well.

After some playing with the new toys we loaded up and headed to my parents. It was a nice drive with good weather. We arrived just in time for supper (Kelly's great chicken and dumplings). The others had been snow skiing so everyone crashed early. My parents have church services in their home every Sunday for everyone living on their mountain and in the area. Just a few were there since it was a holiday but it was a nice small service. Afterwards we attempted to take family pictures. A challenge with 8 adults, a 4 year old, a 13 month old, and a 4 month old, but hopefully we got a few good ones. Leland and I then cooked our famous chicken strip meal. It was quite tasty if I might say so myself. :) We all just hung out the rest of the day and played the Wii. With my parents we have always gotten a Christmas Eve gift that is pajamas of some sort. I got these awesome maternity/nursing pj's I've been wanting. Leland and my brothers all got matching yellow shirts and flannel bottoms - quite cute. Monday morning my mom made her famous cinnamon rolls and we opened gifts. Everyone seemed very pleased with their loot. Raylee was all into ripping the wrapping paper and offered to help everyone. Keynan was very excited about eating the wrapping paper. :) After cleaning up the huge mess the playing commenced. We had lunch at 2:30 and we hit the road at 3:30. We made it to Clovis that night. Sonic was actually open and was very busy since it was one of the few places in town open on Christmas day so that was our supper. We had a nice hotel stay and got rested. Tuesday we hit the Clovis mall (decided it would be much less busy compared to the Lubbock mall) and did well with the day after Christmas doorbuster sales. We visited my grandparents in Lubbock and got home at 6 that evening. It was a whirlwind trip but we all had a good time. Seeing family is always such a fun adventure. :)

Leland is getting to stay home with the kids until he returns to work January 5. He's enjoying the dad time. I think lots of Nintendo playing and movie watching will be done. Hopefully we will also get some of the random house projects completed also.

I hope everyone had a nice holiday with family and friends. Have a Happy New Year!

Holiday Fun

December is always such a crazy month but so much fun at the same time. Saturday was baking day at our house. Ryland and I made 18 loaves of banana nut bread, a batch of chocolate chip cookies, a batch of chocolate crinkle cookies, and dunked pretzels and peanut butter crackers in almond bark. We had so much fun. Ryland loves to help cook so we had a blast. The only bad thing was that the weather outside was nearly 80 degrees so the warmth outside on top of the oven running from 1:30 to 6:00 made for an extremely hot house, but we all managed and enjoyed it.

Saturday evening Leland and I went to the local symphony performace of the Nutcracker. The Midland ballet performed also. We had a very nice date. One of the adopted grandmothers from church came over and watched the kids for us so everyone had a nice evening. (thanks Max Ann!)

Yesterday my in-laws drove into town and met us at Furrs after church. We then opened presents with them at the house. Of course the kids loved everything. Ryland has really been into pirates for awhile now (hence the Halloween costume) so Sandy's mother made him a pirate vest and booty bags that were filled with coins and jewelry. Raylee was REALLY into the jewlery. I think I've got a bling girl on my hands. They also got lots of pirate gear - noise making sword and gun, looking glass and patch. Lots of fun had by all yesterday afternoon. Thanks again for everything Lee and Sandy.

We then got another present, the kids went home with my in-laws. :) They love to be spoiled by grandparents so they were excited. Sandy will return on Tuesday with my urchins. I'm excited for the break but will be glad to see them tomorrow.

It is obvious it is the final week before Christmas at our house. Last night we enjoyed dinner and light looking with several of our friends; tonight is a wedding in Abilene; tomorrow is the journalism Christmas party; Wednesday is Ryland's program and party at "school";Thursday is a meal with some other friends; Friday is Christmas at our house; and Saturday we are headed to my parents to spend a couple of days with my family. Such a crazy time of year, but it is all fun and good to see everyone.

Have a great holiday everyone!

Holiday Pictures

Leland took the kids pictures the Wednesday before Thanksgiving at his "studio" at the school. It is such a challenge doing pictures with a 1 year old and a 4 1/2 year old but we came out with some cute ones. Here's a sampling.

This is the one we used for holiday cards. It is actually sweet of both of them.

Doctor's Visit and 4 year old mind

I've intended to get this info here sooner but just haven't the past 2 evenings. Oh well.

Raylee had her 1 year check up and shots Monday morning. She is a whopping 23 lbs and I think 26 in long. She's on a good growth curve so all is well. She had to have 4 different shots also. She was a trooper like always though and only cried during the actual pricks. The nurse did warn me though that Raylee will have a fever in 3-10 days because of the measles, mumps, rubella shot. It should run 100 to 103. I wanted to ask if they would take her on that day. :)

Ryland also got a shot on Monday. When we were at the doctor for Raylee's 9 month check up they informed me that our county just started requiring the hepatitis a vacinne before they start kindergarten. So we did that shot Monday. He did awesome (because he's a superhero). They also measured him. He is 43 in tall (I think) and still hasn't crossed the 40 lb mark - very tall and skinny. He had grown 2 inches since he was there in July for his 4 year check up but only put on 2 lbs. I guess he'll fill out one day so that I won't have such a hard time fitting him into pants.

The baby is well also. I am 14 weeks now - time is flying again. He/she is definintly growing (or maybe that is just my mom gut growing). I had a doctor's appointment Nov 29 and everything looked good on the sonogram. I don't go back until Dec 27. Ryland is so excited and tells everyone that comes to my office that his mom has another baby in her tummy - so cute.

I'll end with a Ryland story. Ryland says such hilarious things. His mind is always working and wondering. There was the time he informed me that 3 things melt - witches, chocolate, and mom (I always say I'm melting when I'm hot). There was the time he asked if chickens fly which Leland replied "not really." So then he wondered if a chicken would fly if you hit it with a bat. Well, good thought - not sure why we were pondering it but oh well. This past weekend Ryland joined Leland on a UIL trip to Aubrey. While eating at Taco Bell Ryland got that "I'm about to ask a major question" look. He finally told his dad "I'm glad you have hair." Well, so is Leland. He then wanted to inspect the top of Leland's head. Ryland then proceeded to say that Leland having hair meant he wasn't old yet because only old people loose their hair. Leland reminded him that Pappy still has his hair which Ryland replied "Pappy's not old!" Then Sunday morning in class the teacher was talking about Mary and how she was special because she was the mother of Jesus. She proceeded to tell him that he is special also. He said "I know and my whole family is special also. You want to know why?" Of course she wanted to know where his mind was headed with this one. He said "We are all special because we are all superheros." (We each have our own names and powers and are called the Mallett Team). I love the mind of a 4 year old.

SNOW!!

Growing up in Oklahoma brought many snow days and several blizzards. Even Lubbock got it's share of snow. But since living in Big Spring my snow experiences have diminished greatly. It has snowed a few times in the past 6 1/2 years but not enough for my taste (I would live in the mountains but my husband hates snow so much). So like the rest of the western part of the United States we got a major cold front that brought sleet and snow. Of course our school still started on time today (although they closed the interstate due to ice). So Leland headed to work and I decided to take the morning off. If it has cleared considerably by lunch he'll come retrieve us and deliver us at my office. But I decided Ryland needed the chance to play in the snow this morning (after the sun comes up a little of course) since he hasn't seen much snow in his 4 1/2 years. He's so afraid the snow will melt before I let him play in it but the high is supposed to only reach 34 today so I think we are safe. So here's to a snow day!

Week at Papa & Grandma's

This post is a little late but I've had so much to post about lately I decided to spread it all out. The kids spent the week with my parents while we were in Nashville. They had so much fun. My parents live in the mountains so Ryland went on lots of hikes, rode the 4-wheeler and the Ranger, and helped my dad get some odd jobs done around the place. They also went to see the alpacas (they are like little lamas). Ryland enjoyed seeing and petting them. Both kids had a great time and are ready to go back. Although my mom was probably ready for the break since Raylee decided she made a good serrogate mother and wouldn't leave her hip. :) We are looking forward to Christmas when we all get to go to Papa and Grandma's house.

Raylee is 1

Raylee turned 1 on Thursday. I can't believe it has already been a year. Time is flying. She has turned into such a precious little girl. She started out being a tough child (she screamed for 4 months) but since is very sweet and funny. She is a very onery girl. She loves to pick on her dad and the cat. She laughs a lot and knows how to be sweet when she needs to be. We had a nice party last night at our house. We had a few close friends and my parents were able to come. We had cake, opened presents and just hung out. The kids had fun playing with all of the new toys. It was a very nice evening. We were so glad everyone was able to join us in celebrating our little girl's birthday.

Raylee's cake including her own.

What wonderful cake!

She received several new toys this one being a singing flower set.

It's my walking girl. She is pro at it now. She loves her new found mobility.

We also announced last night that Raylee will be a big sister in about 6 months. That's right - I'm pregnant. They will be 18 months apart. I'm sure life will be a little crazy for awhile but we are really looking forward to another addition to our family. Ryland is really excited to get another brother or sister. He loves being the older brother and wants more playmates. It is going to be a fun ride. Please pray that all goes well and the baby and I have a healthy pregnancy.

Nashville, Tennesee

We had a wonderful time in Nashville for 5 days. There were no major gliches and everyone had a great time. We had 14 students and 7 sponsors (my mother-in-law included) that went to the National Journalism Association Convention. The sponsors did more sightseeing than the kids got to. We saw the Ryman Auditormium where the Grand Old Opry is playing right now, the capital building, and President Andrew Jackson's home. The trees were still changing colors so we have tons of pictures of trees. I guess it was obvious we don't have any at home. We stayed at the Opryland Hotel. It was amazing. It is so big and so beautiful - there is really no way to descibe it. One picture is of my mother-in-law and I in a limo. There were 4 of us sponsors waiting downtown for the hotel shuttle as a limo pulled up. The driver asked if we were headed to the Opryland and said he would take us for $5 each. We decided it was a good deal so off we went. It was a fun end to that day. Next year's convention is in Philadelphia so we are already making plans to go. This was a great trip with great kids and sponsors. We couldn't have asked for anything better.

Adorable Halloween Kids

We had a great Halloween this year. Ryland is really into pirates these days so of course that was his costume. He made a great pirate. He had the ARRRGH down to a tee. He was also great at sword fighting. What fun. Raylee was a ladybug and a mighty cute one at that. She didn't really mind the costume either. She did prefer holding the antenna's instead of wearing them but we did get several good pictures. We went trick-or-treating with the Prathers and the Rodgers and had lots of fun. Will is 17 months and Malachi is 2 so we all got plenty of candy from several church members that night. Luckily all kids seemed to enjoy the evening and didn't get too cranky since the night ran long. Raylee finally just sat down in the middle of the floor at the last house with her blanket and her thumb watching the boys run wild. It was cute.

Ryland swording Raylee

Ryland the Pirate

Raylee the Ladybug

Fun Times

Raylee has officially started walking. She isn't very proficient yet but she practices all the time. I'm just always glad babies have so much padding for all of the falling. :)We carved our pumpkin tonight. Ryland brought it home after his visit to his Pappy and Grammy's. It was very green at the time but has turned a nice orange (mostly). The boys had a good time carving a nice happy face (per Ryland's request). My husband the photographer got this great pic of Ry.

The kids and I joined Leland and his students on a UIL trip this weekend. They were competing in Richardson for this practice meet. We traveled there on Friday arriving much later than intended but eventually ended up at the mall. The kids and I had a great time. We did all the kid friendly things - smashed a penny at the Rainforest Cafe, went put-put golfing in the glow-in-the-dark place, made a bear at Build-A-Bear, and rode the rocket. We had a great time. Saturday while the students were competing my aunt Donna picked the kids and me up and let us hang out at her house. It had been a couple of years since we had seen her so it was a much needed visit. We had a good time playing and catching up. It was a very good trip. We got in late last night so we were all appreciative of the extra hour last night. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures this weekend, so the story will have to do.

And to end just cute pics of the kids. I hope you have a great week.

What to write about

I feel like there is so much but nothing at the same time. My boys had a good trip to San Antonio. Ryland had a great time with his Grammy. They rode the river taxi at the riverwalk, visited the Buckhorn Museum, and went to Sea World. Great fun for a 4 year old. Leland said his 3 students had a great time also. Just a good trip overall. The big ending was that they beat me to the house by about 5 minutes. Leland hadn't taken his house keys and Ryland was desperate! Fortunately one of our windows had been left open to let in some fresh air so in went Ryland to unlock the doors and run to the bathroom. That was the first story he had to tell me when I got home. Oh he is such a boy. :)

We have a very exciting trip coming up in about 3 weeks. We are headed to Nashville, Tennessee! The national convention of one of the journalism organizations is at the Opryland hotel in November. We are taking 14 students and 5 other sponsors. We are getting so excited about this trip. The plans are coming together, sightseeing tours have been booked, and the schedule is nearly set. We are going to have so much fun. The good thing is that I have family there also. I have 2 cousins that do/did go to Lipscomb University and my sister-in-law's parents are there also. Her mother will be shuttling the women sponsors around some of the time. It's going to be a great trip. I'm sure I'll have plenty of pictures to share afterwards.

I'm very excited about Friday. Not because it is my birthday but because I don't have to go to work. My boss told me when I started working there that I either get my birthday off or a party. Obviously I choose the day off. My kids will be at CDO so I plan to do a little shopping all by myself - what a concept. Then we just plan a relaxing family weekend at home. Maybe we will get out and do something fun together at some point on Saturday but just hanging out will be great.

I do need to wish my sister-in-law Kelly a happy birthday tomorrow. (Lucky for her I actually remember hers since it is right before mine.) I hope she has a great day on the 19th.

Doo-Wap Babies

We had a great time at the Fabulous Fifties Party today. As usual they went all out for the decorations. Here are some pictures of the festivities.

Lauren and I with our finished products. Aren't we cute?

These are blurry but here we are singing. We sang My Boyfriend's Back, Lollipop, Mr. Sandman, and The Yellow Rose of Texas. I thought we sounded pretty good myself. :)

Here we are with our friend Abby.

Stuff

Life is and will be crazy this week, but we did have a nice weekend though. Leland had Monday off from school so the kids got to spend the day with him. Also, Leland's sister Lesa came in Sunday evening to visit. We had a good relaxing time.

Raylee has finally taken a few steps! Sunday during lunch she was standing at the chair at the table and suddenly walked to the door. She's done that several times since but hasn't totally commited to walking, but I'm sure it won't be long.

Lesa took the kids with her back to Artesia this afternoon. We have a major deadline at my office on Monday so it is very busy and stressfull there, so I needed less to worry about. Their Grammy is bringing them back later in the week since she is joining Leland, Ryland, and 3 of Leland's students on a trip to San Antonio.

Lauren and I will be finishing our poodle skirts this evening. I'll post the finished product after Saturday's Fabulous Fifties Party.

Sorry for the randomness. Lots going on this week. I never understand how so many things can pile up on one week. But I guess we don't know any other way to do it. Have a great week.

Raylee's new found toy - the piano.

Sorry it's been so long

Oh I am not liking this predicament that I can't update my blog at work. I think best early in the morning and have time when I first get to my office. Oh well. I guess I'll have to just try harder to update at home.

Ryland - He has developed a big interest in writing his letters and numbers lately. He enjoys getting a piece of paper to write all the names of all the people we know. He's really taking off in understanding letters and how they form words. Even as I type, one of Leland's students is helping him type words on the computer. He's also just so much fun. He is constantly making us laugh and brightening our days.


Raylee - She is really taking off lately. She is SOOO close to walking. She will stand all by herself and has even taken a few steps chasing my hands. It won't be long before she realizes how much quicker walking is. She has also said a few words. Cat is the most noticable. She looked at Pumpkin the other morning and said "cat." Then yesterday I was walking with her in my office and she proclaimed "cat" while we passed the stuffed bobcat. (Yes, my office is full of dead animals. My boss is an avid hunter.) She is getting more opinionated lately, but we are attempted to keep that in check.

Lauren and I began working on our poodle skirts for the Fabulous Fifties luncheon at our church on the 14th. We are going to be so cute. Our singing group is sounding pretty good also. It's going to be lots of fun.

Pumpkin helping Lauren cut the poodle skirt.

Leland got on a "our house is full of junk and we are going to clean it out" kick last weekend. We did successfully go through our kitchen last night. We found things we had forgetten we had. I don't know if she is glad about this or not, but Leland's sister gets first dibs on our stuff. There is lots of good stuff in the pile, we just don't use it enough to justify it taking up space.

You need to look at Lauren's blog to see pics of our kids at the homecoming parade and football game. We had a great time last Friday.

Well, we are just busing doing the usual Mallett things. I hope everyone is well and enjoying life.

I have more sewing pics but blogger won't let me post them. Maybe another day.

Happy Kids

We've had a nice relaxing Saturday. Ryland was puking sick on Thursday but seemed over it by that evening. Friday night after our walk he was at it again. Poor kid has had it rough. I despise watching my kids throw up. Thankfully he has been much better today and has even eaten and drank Pedisure so maybe he really is over it this time.

Raylee eating a blueberry muffin this morning - she loved it. Notice the prissy girl with her ankles crossed and a bracelet. (The bracelet is one that Ryland got for her before she was born. We just today decided to try it on her- she just grinned like a very happy bling girl.)

Their Grammy sent them matching Halloween t-shirts. Ryland loved that they matched. Ryland is into strange smiles these days. Hopefully he out grows this phase soon.

Mallett mayhem for sure

The lack of blogging is truly the lack of time. But it is all fun and it is our life and we enjoy it.

Last weekend we went to Canyon to visit my brother and his wife. Leland had a conference to speak at so we jumped on the opportunity to see Mitch and Katie's house and new life. We had a blast. Ryland always loves Mitch (I guess because Mitch can get on his level) and wouldn't leave his side. We enjoyed going to worship services with them and seeing Mitch's office. Leland's conference also went well, so it was good. The bad thing about the weekend was that we didn't get back to town until 5:50 - I had 4 other women coming to my house at 6 to practice singing (we are singing for a ladies luncheon in a few weeks). On top of that, Raylee had thrown up 20 miles out of town so she needed a bath and the car needed a cleaning. Somehow we got it all finished before they arrived. The singing practice went well also.

Today Leland hosted a journalism workshop for West Texas. We had about 150 participants. The keynote speaker was my high school yearbook adviser. We picked her up at the airport last night and returned her this evening. It was very good to see her again and spend some time catching up.

Now, tomorrow the high school newspaper goes to press. So we have had many late nights getting this year's first issue ready. Also, tomorrow is school picture day. How many things can we possibly pile on top of each other?

This weekend I am running the sound for a wedding at our church - so there goes Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. Leland is also helping with the speech tournament at the high school. Hopefully we will all survive this week and next week won't be quite so busy and stressful.

On a business note, my blog will not be updated as often as it used to be. The filter at my office has decided to not allow me to access blogger. So now I will have to only update at home which I don't make it onto this computer very often. I will try to still keep everyone up to speed on our crazy and wild lives as often as I can.

I hope everyone's week is going well and isn't as busy as our is. :)

Now a picture of Sumo night at the Mallett's. All have a pillow stuffed in their shirts and bouncing and wrestling commence.

Very Special Dishes

We had another good weekend. I enjoy good weekends when we are all together. Leland spends lots of time traveling in the spring so it is nice here in the fall when he gets to hang out with us.

Saturday we went to Lubbock to see my parents. We hadn't seen them since June so it was a much needed visit. We had a good time eating and shopping and of course playing and laughing with the kids. My Granddad and Maxine were able to join us also so it was a good visit.

My parents with Ry & Ray (not too interested in posing).

Also, my dad brought me the dishes I inherited from my grandmother. I was really looking forward to getting these. They are white pottery. Nothing fancy, lots of chips, but they are the dishes we usually ate on when the entire family was at her house. I packed up my dishes which Leland was sad that I was so eager to do. Mine were the one's I had registered for when we got married, but they were very dated. I had not thought too much into the future when I chose them so they are the burgandy and forest green that was very popular in the 90's. I'm excited that my grandmother's are just plain white so they should go with whatever color trends happen. The only problem was that her set is much larger than mine, so I had to do some rearranging. But we finally found a home for every piece.

Top: My Grandmother's piece of china, Bottom Left: My Grandmother's set of pottery, Bottom Right: My Great-grandmother's set

Dad also brought me another special set of dishes. There are only a few pieces of it left but they belonged to my great-grandmother Harmony. Yes, she is where my name comes from. I have always felt a special bond to items that had belonged to her since I was named after her. She died when my grandmother was about 12 so my grandmother always felt a special connection to me also since I carried her name. I had already been given a small glass that my great-grandmother got at the World's Fair in 1900. It has inscripted on it "Harmie 1900." We assume the vendor did not understand the spelling of her name when he wrote it on the glass. So I am very glad to have the few pieces of her dishes that she had purchased before getting married.

The last piece I received was one dessert dish of the good china of my grandmother's. Each granddaughter inherited a set of dishes. Of course we all really wanted the best set of china mainly because that is the set we remember using the most at her home. It was finally decided that we would draw out of a hat to find out who received that special set of china. After figuring out who would get the whole set, we agreed that each of us would get one small dessert dish so that we can display it and remember our grandmother everytime we saw it. I'm still deciding where I want to display that dessert dish and one of the pieces from my great-grandmother's set - obviously together. I'm sure there are more items coming from my grandparent's house. They had a very large house built in 1920 so it is full of many antiques. I wish my house was bigger so I could take more furniture and stuff, but I'm happy with just the few items I've already received.

Of course another busy week is ahead of us. Open House is tonight at the high school so I will be selling 06-07 yearbooks while Leland talks to students and their parents. The kids are off to one of their adopted grandparents here in town. Since we don't have any family here, several have adopted us and our kids. Also, the high school newspaper goes to press next week so this week will be very busy getting everything together. So here goes the life of a journalism teacher and his family.

Labor Day

Well, we did decide to go to Artesia this weekend. It finally came down to the fact that we needed a break. Since Raylee had been sick for over 2 weeks we were exhausted and needed relief help. It was a good visit. It rained the entire time so no fishing happened but Leland and I got some much needed rest, Ryland got to play pirates the whole time with Grammy, and someone else got to tend to Raylee. It was good. Also we experienced our first trip with the new car. It was very nice. We enjoyed the space alot. AJ even got to go this time. Ryland loved his headphones and Raylee learned that when she drops her toys, no one is getting them for her since no one can reach them. :)

Playing at Granny's house in Hobbs

I guess we have to get back into the groove today. Not a too busy week scheduled, just the usuals: Leland newspaper worknight tonight, church tomorrow, Leland yearbook worknight Thursday, and home football game Friday - just the usual chaos. We hope to see my parents this weekend. They will be in the area so we are trying to work schedules so that they can see the kids again. It has been since June so both of the kids have grown and changed a lot since then.

Raylee doing her latest trick - tongue clicking

Ryland giving me a "OK here it is" smile

August 31 - A Big Day with New Things

Well we've made the plunge. We now own a minivan! Yes we bought a 2007 Saturn Relay last night We have been looking into them lately deciding which make and model we like. We liked the Relay for the space. It doesn't have all the nifty storage spots some others have, but we were into lots of room. Ryland loves the DVD player with cordless headset. He wanted to watch a movie this morning on our way to work (a 10 minute drive). I already am enjoying the space. So I guess now we are the all American family - Dad, Mom, son, daughter, dog, cat, fish, "soccer mom-mobile". :)

The other new item is our roof. We had a hail storm earlier in the year and insurance totaled almost all of the roofs on our block. The roofers showed up before 7 am yesterday! Luckily I had been up for some time already. So when we finally got home last night we admired our new roof in the dark, in the rain. It looks really good though. It is a better quality roof than the one we had before so our house looks really nice from the street now.

I guess that is all the new things in our world. Raylee is still sick. She is so sore from coughing that she just cries after each cough. It does seem to be letting up some so maybe she is finally on the mend. It has been a long two weeks with her not feeling up to par. But luckily her daddy's arm does wonders - she loves to cuddle with him.

Everyone have a great Labor Day weekend.

Bunko Baby!

I've decided to try something different with our young women's group at church - Bunko. In the past we have just scheduled a meal and chatting time. This works for a few months but then everyone starts having excuses to not join in the fun. So I thought that maybe a different approach was needed. We are going to be playing the famous Bunko tonight at my house. After asking 11 other girls to join, I think I am the only one that has ever played Bunko before so we will be taking it slow tonight. Bunko is such a fun game. I understand why (as the box says) "it is the game that is sweeping the nation." Several years ago I substituted for the Bunko group at the high school. Now that is a fun group of women. That was my first introduction to the game. I haven't subbed for them in a long time so that's what gave me the idea for tonight. I'm cooking (well Lauren is going to come help me) chicken strips, mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits and oatmeal cake. Now I do realize that I am failing my home economics teacher from high school and am having a very white meal, but it is one of my favorite meals to cook and to eat (although quite fattening I'm sure). So hopefully tonight goes well and we can have a new fun get-together that will keep everyone coming.

What a long week and it looks like another long one ahead

We all ended up sick except Ryland last week. I've already mentioned Raylee's ear infection and tummy problems. I got some sort of stomach bug Wednesday after lunch. I was very miserable all afternoon and evening. I even worked from home on Thursday because my stomach was not back to normal yet. Friday afternoon Leland called and said to come pick him up now - he had it. His continued until Sunday though. Now this morning Raylee sounds awful. She has a terrible cough and is running a little fever again. She's still on her antibiotics because of the ear infection so I'm not sure what to do with her. The Motrin finally kicked in so she is napping very nicely. Ryland has a little congestion today but nothing major. I'm hoping he has missed the stomach thing this time around. We are typically a sick free family. None of us have ever been sick very often, but this has been a rough week. Hopefully we are nearing the end of this.

We haven't decided what we are doing for Labor Day weekend yet. We would kind of like to go out of town but with everyone sick that may not happen. We might just do a little fishing around here and sleep. So I guess we'll see what the week holds for us.

It's Official

Raylee has her first ear infection. She ran a fever all morning yesterday so I took her to the doctor in the afternoon. Sure enough her right ear is infected. They decided to give her a shot to jump start the antibiotics since she wasn't keeping anything down yesterday. She was starving this morning since she ate next to nothing yesterday. So far she has kept breakfast down. We'll see how a bottle of formula does later. Yesterday evening you wouldn't have even known she was sick by looking at her. She was very active and thought everything was hilarious. She has been able to keep pedialite down which helped relieve my concern of dehydration. So maybe she is now on the mend and we can get this first ear infection behind us.

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to my wonderful husband! He is now the big 30. Finally an "adult." :) I made him a carrot cake yesterday - his favorite. He really enjoyed it. Although we have to find someone to help him eat it because I don't like carrot cake, so he's the only one eating it right now. No big plans, just family time. He already got his gift, new clothes back on our anniversary get-a-way. So we plan to spend the evening together tonight. Although we will probably crash early. Raylee isn't feeling very well and we were up a lot last night with her. So a short night equals very tired parents.

Speaking of Raylee, I haven't decided what her thing is yet. She has been messing with her ears a lot lately, but she is teething and she likes to play with them when she sucks her thumb, so I haven't thought much of it. But Saturday she seemed to have allergies because she sneezed a lot and had a very runny nose. Then last night I checked on her before I went to bed and she had thrown up at some point. I woke her up to change her and the bedding. She stayed up for awhile obviously not feeling well. She attempted to throw up some more, but didn't have enough in her stomach. She was up again at 3:30. She seemed to be hungry, but didn't want to eat. She finally crashed draped over Leland's leg in our bed. She seemed better this morning eating some cereal and bananas, but still not great. I'm hoping this is just a random small bug and not something more serious like an ear infection. I plan to see how she does this morning and decide at lunch if I'm calling the doctor. Hopefully she will do like usual and just sleep it off and feel better after a long nap.

Well, once again happy birthday to Leland. I hope he enjoys his day.

First Day of School

Children's Day Out that is. Ryland loves it there. He has been going for 3 years now and Raylee started last spring. I took them out for the summer since Leland was home so Ryland was soooo excited this morning. All day yesterday was excitement for today. We got what I thought was all of the supplies together last night - mat, blanket, pillow, lunchbox, cup, extra Raylee supplies. This morning we headed to school with much anticipation. Ryland bounded into his new classroom - the Busy Bee's - and saw his friends and began playing with Playdo. I did discover though that this year he needs school supplies! I had not realized. I can't believe I already have to buy my little boy school supplies. I'm not ready for him to grow up quite yet. I'm sure he will be so excited to go to the store tonight and pick out his purchases. Raylee didn't really care much about going into her classroom. She was in desparate need of a nap, so it probably didn't really phase her that most of the other babies were screamming. She sleeps through about anything, so a bed and her bottle would be all she needed.

I am missing them already though. Since my boss is gone this week, without the kids it is very quiet at my office. I'm actually looking forward to 3:00 when I get to go pick them up and hear all about school.

Ryland told me the other day that he can't wait to grow up and be 5. I told him that when he is 5, he gets to go to big kid school. He then proceeded to tell me that he can't wait that long to go to big kid school. Ryland loves to learn. He is going to enjoy kindergarten so much. I can't believe this is his last year with me. I'm excited for him to get to go to kindergarten next year, but I'm not quite ready for my little boy to grow up yet.

**Update**
When I picked the kids up from school I asked Ryland the typical questions, what did you learn about and did you have fun. He learned about rainbows today and made a fruit loop necklace. I asked about his friends. His best friend Nathaniel was not there today, but he still had lots of fun. But the sweetest thing he said was, "I had fun, but I really missed Raylee." What a great big brother.

Good Weekend

We had a nice weekend. Leland had a journalism lock-in Friday night. He had about 25 come and they had a great time. They also got a lot accomplished to start the year off right. I joined them at 4:15 am and made pancakes, bacon and eggs. Of course Raylee thought it was great being the morning girl she is. Ryland slept on the floor and never knew we went. We all got back home at 6:30 am and went to bed. Thankfully, Raylee slept until 10:30 so I at least got 3 1/2 more hours of sleep. We then just hung out and rested the rest of the day. Yesterday was another nice day. Although after eating out again with Scott and Lauren, we've decided that since we have a 4 yr old, a 15 mo old, and a 9 mo old between the 2 families, we now need to start designating a house and going to the store after church to pick up food for all of us. It's just hard to enjoy a Sunday lunch with anxious kids.

Today is the first day of school for Big Spring. Leland was really excited to see his kids again and get back into the routine. I'm glad to get back into our routine also. My boss is gone on vacation this week so my work should be quiet. The kids also return to their school this week. Ryland has been asking for a month now when he goes back to school to see his friends. They both go to a Mother's Day Out program 2 days a week and love it. I enjoy the break also at my office since the other three days they are with me at work.

Keynan update: Tyler, Kelly and Keynan all went home last Friday. Everyone is doing well. They are trying to figure out the system and trying to find a routine. I received more pictures and he is just as cute as Kelly keeps telling me he is. I just can't wait to see him in person.

Everyone have a great Monday and start to a great week.

Vacation Pictures

The boys enjoyed fishing. They didn't catch anything, but just fishing is fun.

We had the "Bear" cabin. It was so cute.

Raylee LOVED the water. She splashed the entire time.

The ducks were very comfortable with people. They swarmmed Ryland when he fed them.

Tyler has lots of instruments at his house (obvisously, he's a band director). Ryland (and Raylee) were fascinated by the accordian.

We really enjoyed the Lion King. I'm so glad we were able to take Ryland.