Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! I just wanted to share this beautiful video of the Nativity set to the beautiful song "Breath of Heaven" by Amy Grant. I can't help but feel the spirit of Christmas when I watch this. I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays!!

Happy Birthday Kev!!

So I just wanted to tell my wonderful husband that I hope he had a wonderful day. Today he turned the big 3. 0. What a wonderful husband and father you are to this family. We absolutely LOVE you!

Kevin didn't really want to make a big fuss this year about his birthday, especially because it is a big one ;) . But unfortunately, because our family was sick the entire week we weren't able to plan anything anyway. I still hope you know how much we appreciate and love you and everything you do for us!! THANK YOU for being you! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

P.S. I was going to post this with a wonderful picture depicting my handsome husband............but all I could find were silly ones with wonderful crazy faces, and I didn't know if you would appreciate that. So in the interest of keeping your day happy I left the picture out. LOVE YOU!!

Oh how I want to win this GIVEAWAY!!

I am an admitted BLOG stalker. I love to look at blogs especially photography blogs (that is no surprise to anyone that knows me) and blogs that have anything adorable or cute in any way. Well, today I was looking at some AWESOME blogs and I happened to stumble across this one...........

www.bannerboutique.blogspot.com

You have to go look at this blog, they have an etsy shop too. They have the most adorable headbands and bows/clips I have seen!! And to top it off they are doing a big $100 giveaway. All you have to do is blog about it and then leave a comment on their blog with a link to your post or you can just leave a comment telling your favorite item. There are a few other ways to enter as well, but I REALLY want to win, so cross your fingers for me :)!! Have a fantabulously AWESOME Friday!!

The pumpkin patch :)

As most of you know Logan started Kindergarten this year, and boy does he LOVE it. It's crazy that my little man is in school! He is so happy to go and learn and I just have to say how smart he is! I am so proud of him :)!!

This year Logan got to take a field trip to the pumpkin patch out at Cobb Ranch with his class. Kevin really wanted to go so he signed up to help out and while he was there he got to take a few pictures.

Here he is searching for the perfect pumpkin.

The proud owner of said perfect pumpkin.........

Posing for the perfect picture with his perfect best bud Brooklyn

Just a few of Logan's classmates hanging out at the pumpkin patch

Logan chasing the ladies (this one happens to have a crush on Logan)

My handsome little man

Tis the season..........

Dear Fall, soon to be Winter, and eventually Spring,

Oh how I love you, all three of you really (because lets face it, I am not a Fresno Summer kind of gal), but could you not be so hard on my girls!? Seriously, Summer doesn't seem to bother them, but for some reason right when you bring your cool weather and lovely fog and rain my girls get sick. Not just the occasional cold, because that I could handle, but like sick (docotor, ER, and hospital visits) the entire duration of your stays!! So really, could you just go easy on them this year? That would be great, thanks :P !

P.S. This week was NOT a good example of how to go easy on them.

Sincerly,
Stephanie

I am a blog SLACKER!!

I know, I know, I am a major slacker when it comes to posting and updating my personal blog! On a positive note, I do update my photography blog on a fairly regular basis, but I don't ever talk about what is going on in my family. So alas, I promise I will try to be better. I need to catch up on what is going on with us, but that will be my next post :). Until then I just wanted to show everyone my ADORABLE daughter and her ADORABLE "grumpy face". She actually just got up from a nap in this picture so her hair is all over the place, but I still think she is so cute in this picture. Seriously, isn't she a doll?!

Yuck!!!

So the other day I was sitting on the couch reading a book trying to tune out the kids (no they weren't being bad, they were just being really loud). All three of them were waiting at the window for Daddy to come home from work and laughing hysterically at Logan who was trying to kill a fly by smashing it against the window. Apparently he got it, but that's not the gross part. As I am reading, I suddenly hear Logan say, "EEWWW Claire that's disgusting........mom Claire put a fly in her mouth!" I didn't really believe him because he was laughing when he said it, but I decided to take a look just in case. Sure enough I notice that Claire seemed to be munching on something, yup you guessed it, it was the dead fly in her mouth! I immediately run over and pull it out, and what does Claire do but stare at me with her big blue eyes and smile with her scrunched up nose. Apparently Claire needed some extra protein for the day.


Seriously I was getting a picture (which I admit is pretty gross) and Claire came back for seconds.

We love watching our little baby grow up. We are seeing more and more of her fun personality everyday. She has the ability to melt my heart when she giggles and scrunches her nose, and definitely has Daddy wrapped around her finger.

Tagged........

Okay, so the thing is I hate being tagged but will do it because it was from the wonderful sweet Lori. The good thing is that I haven't blogged in awhile (at least on the family blog) so this is a good excuse to write something down, and it is a relatively easy tag. So I have to write 6 unimportant things that make me happy and then tag 6 other people. And since Kevin is standing right behind me we will do two separate lists one for me and one for him. Here it goes....................

Stephanie:

6. This actually is important to me so maybe it doesn't count; when Logan and Madie play nice.

5. When my husband so kindly takes the kids in the morning and lets me sleep in. A REAL life saver!!

4. The fact that various aspiring authors let me read their works in progress. (and you know who the main contributor is :)!)

3. The amazingly soft baby blankets that you get when you have babies. I still use them even after my kids don't.

2. American Idol. Love you Simon, lets vote Paula off.

1. Cold Dr. Pepper, just the thought of you makes me smile!

Kevin:

6. SpongeBob Squarepants

5. Air Conditioning

4. Texas Holdem

3. Mulligans

2. The Sci-Fi, Military, and or the Nasa Channel

1. Two-ply toilet paper

Since we put two lists of 6 unimportant things, we think that they cancel each other out. Therefore we do not need to tag anyone else ;). Wait, on second thought, we want to tag Jared & Kasie West (yes they must be separate lists). We think their lists would be mighty entertaining.

Introducing.......

I did it, I put up my very own photography blog!! Kevin will have his own as well. Please stop by and look at it, keep in mind it is a work in progress. The link in in the top right corner of my blog. Enjoy :)

Blog Slacker!!

Yup that's me, the blog slacker. Not only have I been told several times by several people that I need to update our blog, but I also realized that all three of my children had there birthdays and I did not post one thing about any of them on there special day. To make matters worse, my last post was on January 29th which is Claire's B-Day and who did I make a post about......LOGAN!! Worst mother award goes to ME!! Well now that I have thoroughly degraded myself I shall now redeem my self esteem and catch everyone up.............

My sweet little angel Claire, turned 1!!

Claire Terese Ryan born January 29, 2008 7lbs. 15oz.

what a joy she is in our lives! Everyday her personality blossoms more and more and we just can't get enough of her. She's not much of a talker, but boy is she smart! She is very curious and loves to watch the world go by. Her giggle brings a smile to my face, and I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world!!

I got sick of my hair and chopped it off!!

It is sooo much easier and takes a lot less time to do everyday. I love it!

My lovable Logan turned 5!

Logan Joseph Ryan born March 11, 2004

I can't believe my little boy turned 5!! This kid is seriously too much fun and always makes us smile. He loves to make people laugh and always surprises us with what he will says! From his expressive face to his never ending hyper feet, we love every inch of him!!

My beautiful Madie turned 3!

Madeleine Kay Ryan Born March 24, 2006

My cuddle bug! This beautiful and extremely smart little girl melts my heart. I can't believe how fast she is growing up! She always knows when I need a hug, and her endless supply of "I love yous" make every day worth while!

I am extremely blessed to have such a wonderful family and I love every single one of them!!

After all the birthdays were celebrated we did have a little set back.......Madie ended up in the hospital AGAIN! My poor girls have horrible lungs and when they get sick tend to need a lot of help. The worst part about it was that it happened on her Birthday. She went to bed that night not feeling very well and had already had a couple of breathing treatments to help her feel better but unfortunately they didn't help much. A few hours after falling to sleep she woke up having difficulty breathing and when the nebulizer treatment gave almost no relief I took her straight to Valley Children's Hospital. That is where she ended up staying for 4 days with a pneumonia and asthma. We are lucky to have such a wonderful hospital so close, but unfortunate in the fact that we have had to use it several times in the last couple years! She is now home and doing wonderfully. Hopefully we can keep her from going back!

This is Madeleine telling us she is thoroughly annoyed with the whole hospital thing.

So there you have it, you are now pretty much caught up. I tried to keep it as short and sweet as possible, and promise from now on that I will try to keep my posts current :)!!

Keep looking back for our photography blog.....we need to get it up and running.

The Logster

Sometimes I just can't stand how stinkin cute Logan is!! He can say the funniest things...he loves to make people laugh! Well today I went to pick him up from Pre-school and when I walked in his teacher said....." I just have to tell you what Logan said today..." I immediately thought oh no, WHAT DID he say??!! She then proceeded to tell me that Logan told her and the entire class that his mommy was going to have 10 kids. Well when she replied, "Really?" He said, "No, cause then my Grandma would kill herself." (apparently in a very matter of factualy tone)

I started laughing because just the day before Logan had found a picture of me when I was pregnant with him and we started talking about how many brothers and sisters he wanted. His final decision was 10. Of course Kevin and I laughed because we both know that this will never happen, but my mother (who we live with right now) said, "Not while your in my house....I would die!!" Logan apparently took this as a serious threat. Just goes to show that you need to be careful what you say around kids!! And on a side note his teacher thought it was pretty funny as well. Who knows what this kid will say next!!

I just had to post this pic.......just because my kids are cute!! Logan is going to be one protective big brother when he is older!! He loves his sisters.....when they are not pestering him.

Mmmmm....Mmmmm....Good

So this year I had been thinking about starting some New Year's resolutions (thinking is the key word to remember)........some of them were to be more organized, more patient with my kids, actually listen when my kids are trying to tell me something, etc. What they are really isn't that important....especially because if history repeats itself I'm not likely to follow through. This most recent example is why maybe I should rethink my decision to ignore such resolutions........

Here's how it went down:

My mom and I were watching one of our favorite Friday daytime shows.....TLC's What Not To Wear. You all should become fans as one day I will turn Kevin in and he will be one of the few men to grace the show as his need is quite obvious. Anyways it was towards the end of the show, which is really the best and most important part when..........

Logan: "Mom, Claire's dirty!!"

Madie: "Yeah Mom, Claire's DIRTY!!!"

Mom: "It's okay guys she's been crawling around, I clean her up later." (no I did not get up or turn to look in the kitchen where they were playing to see what was going on)

silence from the children who obviously thought I knew what they were talking about and decided to let it slide.

A few minutes later........

Logan and Madie: "Mom Claire is REALLY dirty!!"

Mom: "It's okay!!"

Logan: "No Mom she is messy all over!"

Mom: "What do you mean, like on her knees and hands?"

Logan: "No....Like she is BLACK all over her face!!"

Mom: Finally catches the point and turns around to see what is going on. Through the cracks of the kitchen chairs I see Claire......"Oh my GOODNESS!!"

This is what I saw..........


So it turns out that my children are not over exaggerators like I always assume they are. Claire had found a black marker (luckily a crayola non-toxic marker) and proceeded to chew the tip off like it was some tasty treat. She needs to get her taste buds more refined because I don't see how that tasted good. Case in point.....New Year's Resolutions are a good thing.

Christmas bells WERE ringing!!

Oh it was so much fun this HOLIDAY Season. Spending lots of time with family and watching your kids go CRAZY with excitement.....what more could you ask for?! Christmas Eve we went over to my Grandma Schulkins ate some yummy food, read the story of Christ's birth, and did our musical chimes ( which I have very fond memories of doing growing up). The only ones that made it this year were us, my mom, and my brother Jared with his wife Rachel and daughter Morgan. All the other LOSERS....I mean family members were out of town (hehe).

It was fun to see our kids enjoy one of my favorite traditions. We have sheet music for all the Christmas songs that tells you when to hit the chimes. It doesn't always sound too pretty when there are little ones/Kevin playing out of turn, but it is soo much fun!!

After Grandmas house we went back home and did our traditional opening of the pajamas. Every year we get to open one present Christmas Eve....and that present is always pajamas. We also watched as my mom and Jared and Rach exchange their gifts because they were going to be with Rach's family for Christmas day.

No I am NOT too old to still get pajamas on Christmas Eve....my mom still spoils my inner child!!

The kids were so excited for Christmas Day that when I told them the sooner they went to bed the sooner Santa would come they ran straight to bed.......not one argument! I don't think I have seen them so willingly fall asleep so fast!

CHRISTMAS DAY!

Madeleine was the first to wake up......and could not contain her excitement! She of course woke us up immediately and then wanted to get Logan out of bed (which we let her do). Once Logan was up we headed straight for the presents......


I Love Claire's confused expression in this pic.....but I have to be honest it is an expression she uses frequently. She is an observer and always seems a little nervous about what is going on around her.

These were the before shots of each of the kids with their pile of gifts. Once again Claire really isn't sure what to think of the situation.

As you can see in the pure joy of this smile she quickly warmed up to the idea of Christmas!

Logan did not get his trash can, but was pleased with his plethora of much more exciting gifts.

And YES Madeleine got her doll!

As well as lipstick......this girls loves makeup. Such A girly girl!!

I love Madeleine's barely off the ground jump.....and yes it was over the fact that she and Logan got some more mega blocks.

After cleaning up the wrapping paper mess and playing with toys we moved the party over to the Ryan's house. We had yummy french toast and opened some more presents........Madie got lots of princess things from Uncle Chris and Sonya....she was in heaven.

Logan got so excited to see that he got the tool set he REALLY wanted!! This is what he decided he wanted instead of a trash can.

Claire had the hang of opening and getting excited over her presents by the time we got to the Ryan's....she was a pro!!

Me modeling my lovely festive socks....and my white legs. Aren't they awesome, the socks not the white legs!!

The AWSOMENESS that is our new camera....only spec that matters....weighs less than 12 pounds!!!!!!!!!!

The Cuteness that is Madie in her Tinker Bell costume from Grandma and Grandpa Ryan.......she lovingly showing her new baby doll the proper way to be a fairy.

Tons of presents ripped open, lots of yummy food and candy eaten, loads of laughs with family= Very happy, but very tired family!!

Hope you all had a WONDERFUL Christmas and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!