Eh Hem! We have (a) request(s). is that even appropriate grammar to put an 'a' like that?

October 2006

...i was informed today, that Ryker does not want to be called 'Ry' or 'Ryk' anymore. And do not call him K-K, or K or Kalers. Ryker says, just call me 'Ryker'. ironically, a few days prior Brecken also had a similar request...'mom, don't call me Breck, just call me Brecken-i like that!'. i like it that they prefer their full first name...when i was a kid, i used to think that having the option of a shortened version of my first name would be the neatest. thing. ever.

Kid's Workshop at Home Depot

The boys went to their first Kid's Workshop at Home Depot last Saturday. Serena and Sawyer have gone to a few already, but I always seem to forget to write it on the calendar! I finally wrote it down for this month and I'm glad I did. They hold the free workshops for the kids on the first Saturday of the month. They get their own little Home Depot apron with their name on it, and each project they complete earns them a pin to put on their apron.




October's project was the 'Whistle Fire Truck'. The projects are fairly simple with small starter holes for the nails and of course directions to follow! Despite the basic step by step illustrated instructions, I still managed to get confused, put the wrong size nails in the wrong spots and even bent a few of them in the process when the kids would ask for help.

The kids got to check out 'Buddy' the talking safety bug and talk to the police officer that drives him around. They got magnets, tattoos, and the officer's little 'baseball' card. They also got to check out the inside of the American Red Cross Mobile while getting a quick refresher course on fire safety and 'stop drop and roll'.

The boys loved the fact the made their fire trucks by themselves and can't wait to go back next month for a new project and a new pin to add to their apron! Below are a few photos from the morning-Marnie's kids and of course my own. If you have young kids and a Home Depot in the area, you really need to check it out..your kids will love it!

and we shall call her 'Hazel'

Brecken has been wanting a dog for the past year..but has been really mentioning it a lot over the past few months. (I think seeing his cousin's new German Shepherd, Mika, solidified that thought in his mind.) He wanted a chocolate lab..and preferably a puppy. We told the boys that whenever we get a dog, we would like to get one through a shelter, a dog that needs a new home. They agreed that was a good idea (of course, anything to get a dog!) and we started looking online at the shelters here and checked out the dogs pics, read through all the funny little 'about me' ads and laughed at their names. None of the dogs really were all that appealing (to me anyway), but Brecken suddenly decided that any dog with the words 'Adopt me' still flashing behind its name was just the one he wanted! He just wanted a dog-and NOW! We did convince him that we should hold off and wait until we found a puppy that we could all agree on. Ryker preferred a little dog that would stay little, Brecken wanted a lab, and Ben and I both preferred a dog on the larger side as well.

The boys were off to a birthday party on Saturday..an afternoon at the Apple Orchard for Sawyer's 5th birthday! We told them we would go check out the animal shelters after the party if we had enough time. Ben and I met Craig & Anita at some westie festie (she won free tickets..so why not check it out)..and shortly after entering this crazy little outdoor western festival, we see the Second Chance Rescue people sitting at their booth with some puppies..one of them, a cute and mellow little chocolate lab! how could we pass her up! We instantly signed up to take her for a 24 hr trial visit (like we were really going to bring her back), and surprised the boys with a new puppy when we picked them up from their party. It was a quite unexpected surprise for them..but they were excited! At some point, Brecken said, 'I thought i wasn't gonna get a dog 'til i'm 8!'. haha see, he does listen to me!



We named her Hazel. Hazel Mae. She has her first vet check up on Saturday..and she's thought to be about 9-11 weeks old. She was a stray..poor little thing! She's a chocolate lab..but she looks like she is probably mixed with something else..who knows--she sure is cute. She's pretty mellow for a puppy and prefers sleeping instead of barking. She is really skinny right now and just doesn't want to each much. Hopefully in a few days she be a little more adjusted and start to eat.



The boys absolutely love her and Brecken instantly was attached to her and is constantly by her side..she gets to walk to school with him in the mornings and she's there to pick him up after school as well-Breck loves it! Ry's been kinda taking her in from a distance, but has really grown quite fond of her throughout this week when Brecken is at school and he actually gets time to hold her, play with her, take her outside, etc without a big brother telling him what to do and how to do it. He loves telling her 'no!' and 'no biting!' Yesterday afternoon I saw him go over and sit with her on the Futon in the basement and he looks at her and says, 'you wanna know what my name is? I'm Ryker. and you... 'are Hazel mae'. and then just jabbered to her for a bit. it was pretty cute.




We have been working with her on learning basic commands and playing fetch. She is smart and they are quite entertained by it all! (so am I..watching your 5 & 4 year olds giving commands to a puppy who is still trying to learn what they mean, is actually pretty funny).

'...Not Fuzzy!'

brand new glasses...

and a cute little 4 yr old named Ryker.

...put 'em together and this is what you get.

Does he look cute or what?! Yesterday morning we picked up his new glassses...he loves them! One of the first things he did was just stand in the parking lot, amazed at everything he could see! He pointed to a house off in the distance and said, 'mom!! i can see that house way over there!' and then would push his glasses up off his eyes and say 'fuzzy...' and then put them back on and say, 'not fuzzy!'. He was fascinated by the fact that he could see so clearly. All day long he just looked around and announced to me all the far away things that he could see! I couldn't help but just smile at his excitement.

We went over the proper way to take care of his glasses and the three S's. The three S's are the only three times he should be taking them off...Swimming, Sleeping, and Showering. (We realized yesterday we had to add another one...wrestling with Brecken!). He has a spot on the table beside his bed for his monkey glasses case and takes pride in the fact that he's responsible for taking good care of them and putting them in there when he isn't wearing them.

Today is his group's day for show and tell at school and they are to bring something that has to do with their theme for the week. Their theme is 'Health'. They are learning about healthy bodies, health providers, etc. He is going to show the class his new glasses and explain how they make him see better and that by going to the eye dr. he's taking care of his eyes. I reminded him not to take them off and pass them around the classroom, but to just walk around his friends so they can see them close up if they want. (I can just picture him walking around to each friend, stopping to look at them so they can check out his specs!!)

checkin' out the frog...

Don't forget to look up and always look behind you...you never know what you're missing out on.

Union Grove is a beautiful old state park that often gets overlooked. These forgotten about spots are the ones that i love most..especially during this time of the year.

Friday evening Anita and I packed up our things and headed south on 29...just us. no men, no kids, no dogs. We had been waiting excitedly for this trip--our time to just get away, relax, and enjoy the outdoors together. We got the tent set up with no problem and started the fire. (note to all men: reading the instructions and putting up the tent in the order advised, really does help).

We pretty much had the park to ourselves..a couple in a camper on the other side of the campground and another pair of people in a tent a few spots down tucked back in the trees. Perfect!! We spent the evening just relaxing, laughing, and drinking by the fire. The park ranger was pretty cool (Power Ranger Matt), and he even killed 20 minutes or so with us by the fire before his shift was over and he left the park for the night. Somehow we ended up hanging out in the bathroom for a good portion of the night as well. not like anyone else was there...and plus, the shower stall was really comfy with that blue rubber floor mat, and late night bathroom conversation is always interesting...

We woke up around 6am to drizzling rain...that lingered for a few hours. We made the best of it and decided to just chill in the tent (what else could we really do). We successfully saved our journal that we wrote in over the course of the night before, and so stupidly left out by the fire when we went to bed. We sat there and laughed as we peeled wet pieces of paper apart from each other and read our scribbles and spread them all over our blankets to dry as we ate some awesome lemon poppy seed bread that Anita baked and brought with.

After laying around in the tent for awhile, Anita threw out the suggestion of putting on our tennis shoes and going for a walk despite the light drizzle. In about 5 minutes, we were out of the tent and on our way down the road with our pink bag as we started out on our journey through the day. We wandered slowly down the beautiful tree lined road throughout the park, stopping in every direction to look, take pictures, grab a new beer, and just enjoy everything around us...at our own pace. We walked on some of the trails even though they were wet early on in the morning... intrigued by all the dew drops. We stopped and sat in the middle of paths to take a break, take a pee, take a look around, take a picture together, or take a shot. The view was amazing no matter which way we looked, the weather was absolutely perfect, and the hours we spent together enjoying each others company was time well spent.

The early afternoon greeted us with two men, three boys, two beagles and another fantastic day and night with more exploring on the trails, fabulous food over the open fire, laying around in the middle of tall grasses, lots of laughs and lots of fun.

Click here to see some of the many photos we took over the weekend.

Ryker's First Day of Preschool

We are all finally getting into the groove of things with having Brecken in school all day...and its going great! Ryker just started his first day of school on Monday! He has been so excited to finally go to school! Day one was just an orientation for parents and the kids got to just check out their room, find their hooks, name tags, etc and play in the gym with their friends until we finished up the parents meeting. He didn't want to leave when we went to get him from the gym after our meeting..he was having lots of fun! On the way home he said, 'i think i talked to everybody, mom'. I had talked with him prior to school starting about manners at school, bathroom ettiquette in school, and how to respect his friends, teachers, and his classroom. He must have remembered something and was nice to alllll his friends! :)

Today was the second day of school and Ry was anxious all morning..walking around with his backpack and jacket on. ..so 12:18p.m. rolls around and we hop in the van after he packed up his show and tell. (Brown is the color of the week..so yesterday we looked for a brown toy to take with..he decides on his new green webkinz instead. I explained that he should try to find something that has brown on it..he told me that his webkinz had brown eyes and he will just tell everybody that! ..so that was what he was taking!) ..back to hopping in the van... Dead Battery. I had to cancel my dentist appointment and have Joe bring me keys to the absolute piece of SHIT car that sits in our driveway so i could get Ryker to school..even though he was quite late already. Not a good start to our day..but we found his name tag and his spot on the floor on the 'R' mat where the rest of his class was listening to a story-so he didn't miss much, thank goodness. I would have felt horrible! He had a great day despite the crazy lazy start. He made a gingerbread man craft in the 'art room'. He thinks that is pretty cool because Breck's preschool didn't have a separate room for crafts and art.

The one good thing out of this whole crazy mess today...i was forced to cancel my dentist appointment, and went for a much needed 3 mile run instead! ;)

Ryker's First Day of Preschool

September 8, 2008

On the way out the door!

Walking into his School with his cool new backpack.

Finding the 'R' hook for his coat and backpack.

today's breakfast

I made Caramelized French Toast for breakfast this morning. At around 10pm last night i thought about making homemade cinnamon rolls - but then realized i'd be up far later than i'd like to be, so we watched Fool's Gold instead and i opted for something easier that can be done in the morning. These were pretty good-despite the overload of sugar they contained! I took the other reviewers advice and boiled the water before adding it to the brown sugar-i still ended up with small clumps..but not many.

The boys loved 'em...i thought they were pretty good too. I only made a small mess--but guess what? i was easily able to locate my brown sugar and vanilla (oh yeah, i added vanilla since the recipe didn't call for it)!!

with a little help from www.last.fm and my fabulous music library...

'Are you pregnant?!' .....Ben's reply to my rambling on and on about my extensive cleaning/organizing/decluttering/making sense of all the unorganized organization scattered, hidden, and quite often even visibly seen throughout our house.

It started with my phone call to YMCA Advancement to donate a heaping pile (mess) of clothing, toys, and miscellaneous household items that were strewn across the makeshift shelving on the west side of the garage. After finding out everything needs to be contained in either a plastic bag or cardboard box, i began my cleaning frenzy...before i knew it, the entire garage was cleaned, organized and looking like, well -- a garage! one room down...

I decided to just suck it up and tackle the kitchen cupboards. My white cupboards that constantly need to be wiped down (not to mention having the insides wiped out regularly would do wonders as well--but i don't do it). -- Do not even think about purchasing white cupboards--unless you are OCD and love to repeatedly wipe down the fronts of your cupboards. I didn't choose these, by the way...they were a bad choice made by the owner of the house in 1991 when it was built. (Their choice of lighting fixtures throughout the house and the horrendous black and white checked kitchen flooring was just as bad of a decision..but that's a whole other blog that i'll never write--but for the record, we replaced the kitchen flooring ASAP after moving in and all the light fixtures in the kitchen have been replaced as well).

Back to the cupboards. I started with the baking cupboard shortly after 9am..which had somehow become the baking/small tools/spilled sugars/one big huge mess cupboard. No rhyme or reason whatsoever..just ask Anita, she'll tell ya.

Marnie stopped over in the midst of my project and got the luxury of helping me sort through random pills strewn about the cupboard that contains our glasses/cups/coffee mugs and medicine?!

By 2:35pm, after many sneezes and a few 'what the eff is this doing in here?' and 'oh, that's where that was!' comments to myself, i had a heaping bag of nonsense for the trash and and entire kitchen of clean cupboards with actual rhyme and reason to their order.

My next project will be the 3 storage closets..the linen closet, hall closet, and front entryway coat closet. These three doors are the ones that, if you are smart, you close your eyes and cover your head when you open them to protect yourself from falling objects -- just ask Anita, she'll tell ya.

But first, we're going to paint Brecken's room today. Well, i'm usually not allowed to paint because i suck and let my impatient personality get the best of me..so i tend to get the luxury of taping and entertaining the kids. Hey..maybe i'll just organize the closets as Ben paints -multitasking is my speciality. After that, i could move on to the storage space under the stairs....

...for the record, NO - i'm not pregnant - just simply preparing the house for another period of hibernation during the upcoming and highly unwanted South Dakota winter that is creeping up upon us all much too soon.

Our Patchwork.

Today Ryker and I decided to go check out the pumpkin/watermelon patch that we have on the west side of our house on a little hill.

This is what we saw...

Lots of bright yellow flowers and some are still not quite there...

Around the corner my zinnias are starting to finally bloom!

check out these three flowers...all so different, standing side by side.

And last but not least, I just have to share this captured moment of the many faces of Ry! (the hairstylist did some crazy chopping on his bangs, but its alright-he's still just so darn cute!!)

First Day of Kindergarten

The day after Ryker turned four, we sent Brecken off for his first day of Kindergarten! He has been so excited to get to school - big kid school, and not preschool. We started a little countdown at least a month prior and started making bedtime earlier and earlier until we got to about two weeks before the big day and an 8:00 bedtime was working out wonderfully. A few weeks before school started i asked him if he was excited to go to school..and of course he was-what kid isnt excited for such a big milestone in their life?! I asked if he was nervous at all and he said yeah. He said he was nervous for music class. I dont blame him! I hated music class as well! How do i try to convince my five year old that music class is fun when i was the one getting sent to the hallway for not singing or pulled in front of the group to sing my scales in jr. high and i was so embarrased that i just acted out and wouldn't do it right because i knew i couldn't carry a tune- nor did i care to let the rest of my classmates hear my horrendous singing voice either... so i get stuck singing Alto with the guys for an entire year, and i'm pretty sure my parents got a phone call about my disrespect for music class as well.

Well, just as i thought, he told me that he was nervous because he cant sing very well and that makes him not like it. I tried to emphasize the cool xylophones, drums, tamborines and other fun aspects of music that he will be learning about. I told him it doesn't matter what he sounds like when he sings...i asked him if i was a good singer and he chuckled and said 'no'. and i said, 'well, i sing all the time and dont even care that i suck, right? as long as you enjoy the music and have fun trying, it doesn't matter what you sound like'. He just sat there..still not convinced that music class would be enjoyable. So I said..'you know what? now that i think about it..you rarely even sing in music class in kindergarten..just play instruments. (shhhhhhhhh! ). That worked..he was now ready for kindergarten! :)

Our countdown grew closer to the end and before we knew it, August 18th was here! We got up at 7:00 a.m.. (that is not a time of day that i enjoy being awake! working overnights puts 7am about right in the middle of my REM state of sleep. thank goodness i am not the one bringing him to school on a daily basis-but of course i had to be there for the first day). He sat up in bed and hopped in the shower before he could even open his eyes..anxiously got ready, ate breakfast, grabbed his lunch bag and backpack and stopped for a few pictures outside the front door as we headed up the street toward school. (It just wouldn't be like Brecken to smile normally for a picture either). Ryker was excited for Brecken to go to school too and grabbed his hand as we walked up the street. We live so close to the school..its going to be so nice not having to drive there and fight the traffic, mini vans, SUV's and lack of parking just to get my child the 2 blocks to and from school.

We found his teacher and his class 'line' with the rest of the nervous little kindergartners and their parents outside their door of the building, lined up to go inside and found his classroom. He's in one of the two brand new kindergarten classrooms which is really neat..it just got finished a few days ago actually! So we found his locker/cubby (not sure what they refer to it as) and his chair and i went over the other kids names with him that he'll be sharing a table with. We gave our hugs and kisses and i didn't even cry! I knew he was so excited for school and that made me ok with it. I've been so lucky to be able to stay home with both the boys ever since they were born..we've never had to use daycare except for the 8 weeks i was in training for work, so I was ready for school too-just unsure how i'd handle having him gone all day long!

Ben left for work and Ryker and I kept busy all day. We had his 4 year checkup, went to lunch and then stopped by Anita's house and sat on her deck overlooking the pond for a good hour, just enjoying the beautiful day. The first day of school was great! I was definitely enjoying it!! :) Ryker continuously asked if Brecken was coming home yet, but absolutely loved the 'mommy and me' time! We threw some bags out front, played with some his new birthday presents, read some books, and went on a big wheel ride...before we knew it, it was 2:40. time to get Brecken! School is over already?! no!!!!!!! the day flew by, but i was soooo excited to hear all about his first day! We walked up to get him and he greeted me and Ryker outside the school with a big running hug and a 'moooommmmmmmm!'. he gave me a huge hug and i told him how much i missed him and asked how the first day was. he said, 'THAT...was SO fun. it was AWESOME! ...how long WAS that mom? WOW!!!' i laughed and hugged him again and said, 'you were gone from 8 until 2:45!!' he said another 'WOW' and was pumped that he had 3 recesses in that long day! he was so happy and proud of himself..he said he wasn't nervous the whole day. i did it..i choked up and cried for just a second, out of pure happiness as i grabbed his hand and walked home. He talked about his day and showed me his burn blister on his hand from sliding down the pole on the playground too fast..told me how he got lost in that' big ole school' with another kid from his class and had to ask a teacher for directions how to get outside, and explained to me how the lunchroom is filled with way too many loud kids! hahaha! They had library and music class on the first day of school..and guess what? music class was FUN! ;)

Brecken's First day of Kindergarten

5 1/2 yrs old --- August 18, 2008

Happy Birthday Ryker!

On Sunday, the little ry-guy turned four! I was woken up around 7:55 a.m. by a kid standing next to my bed saying, 'mommy, it's morning time now. i am four.' Four must be a really cool age because he all of a sudden has 'four year old muscles', he 'eats everything now', he's 'super tall' and 'will never be three. ever again'.

We had some of our family over to help celebrate his big day. He really wanted a frog cake (after i talked him out of a Ben 10 cake..how do you make a Ben 10 cake anyway?!) ..but i ended up procrastinating on the whole homemade cake thing altogether, and on Saturday night after coming home from a beautiful relaxing day at the Palisades, i decided (while in the store to get eggs and green food coloring so i could make the cake), that i was too tired to bake anything and ryker could just pick out a very overpriced cake from the bakery. Hence, the $21 non-personalized spiderman cake that he absolutely loved and had to carry home on his lap.


After everyone had left, the boys were playing upstairs checking out ryker's new toys, and we were out front throwing some bags and enjoying the late afternoon. I went in to check on the kids and couldn't find ryker...brecken had no clue where he was and said 'i haven't seen him in awhile' and continued to play. i called out to the backyard...no ryker. then checked both of their bedrooms...no ryker. basement tv area? ..no ryker. the tv down in my room was on so i thought maybe he just crawled up on my bed and fell asleep watching cartoons. on my way down to check, i found him asleep..but not in my bedroom.

I couldn't stop laughing,well after the first 2-3 seconds anyway, when i thought, what the eff..is he dead?! ...and i ran up the stairs to grab my camera..and brecken and ben. we stood there laughing at him and took pictures and a video before we woke him up. (yeah, mean..i know).


(by the way..he's still four. that's what he told someone when he was asked about having a birthday two days ago and turning four on the 17th.)

Happy Birthday Ryker - I love you!

oh eight, oh seven, oh eight.

We have had really nice weather the past few days...right in the mid 80's - perfect for exploring around the great outdoors! The boys and I packed our picnic lunch yesterday and drove over to a park by the river.

If you've seen the boys as of late, i'm sure you've noticed all their bug bites! Ryker wont wear a shirt very often, and obviously mom forgets to bring and apply bug spray quite often. Well, yesterday, we remembered..and we coated ourselves before walking along the river and the bike path - i dont even remember getting bit once, or watching the kids swat at themselves either! Nice work with the bugspray, Mandy!

The boys have always loved going to the river and the falls to throw rocks! So of course we spent a good portion of the afternoon throwing rocks of all sizes into the water and checking out the size of our splashes. We unsuccessfully skipped all the flat rocks, but had fun trying!

We slowly wandered down the river, checking the banks for frogs or turtles..we saw dragonflies, a slug, and jumping fish. No frogs or turtles this time..which is kinda odd. But that's ok because it's usally, 'mom, catch it!'. and mom doesn't like to just reach out and grab those things..no way!

They are really good with wanting to pick up trash and litter - sometimes to the point where i'm thinking 'stop looking for trash!' or i can't believe you just picked that up, it's disgusting!'. They just want to keep the earth clean, and i'm happy for that.

We walked for a little while until we found a spot off the bike path that the boys wanted to check out, so we headed down the little hill towards some rocks and an overflow, drainer thing..which the boys informed me was a waterfall that is our own special place because they discovered it and nobody else knows about it. I decided not to bring any unnecessary disappointment and simply said, 'oh wow, you guys found a cool little spot, I bet nobody knows we're down here!'

In case you didn't realize - It's very important that we look for 'treasures' while exploring the outdoors. The boys brought a plastic container to house any special treasures that they found along the way. I think we only ended up taking home two little fishing line weights...are they called sinkers? weights? one of them was even still tied to a broken line..i guess that made it extra cool. It's sometimes a difficult concept to understand that things in nature, stay in nature...but things that dont' belong can go. Right by the little weights was the remains of a little lobster, entangled in another portion of fishing line, and two other former lobsters in the water between some rocks. They all stayed, in fact they didn't even ask to take them home... thank goodness they are figuring it out. yuk..i wouldn't have been to keen on those 'treasures' hanging out in my house.

I sat on some rocks with my feet in the water as the kids entertained themselves by throwing rocks - a few times ryker's wild swing resulted in rocks almost nailing my camera, so... after completely soaking his shoes a few times and having to give three warnings to 'aim straight ahead and away from my camera!', we called it good and grabbed the container with the treasures and walked back toward the park to play for awhile before going home.

It was a nice relaxing day -- according to Brecken, it was 'a super fun long day'. As for today..I think we'll go explore the paths and play at Union Grove State Park when Ben gets home from work this evening. ..and I can't wait to see what kind of things we'll find!