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!!

All She Wants For Christmas...

Just after Thanksgiving this year I was sitting at home with the fam and it so happened that Stephanie and Claire were both taking a nap, leaving me with Logan and Madie. I usually use this quality time to wrestle with the kids or work on their tv based education by switching "Dora" to "How it's Made" or "Future Weapons". I know what your thinking, strong candidate for father of the year, right? Thought so. Anyway, we broke the mold by writing a letter to Santa. I had to explain to the kids that because santa had to pay extra taxes to fund the various governmental bail-outs this year they could only ask Santa for one special present. Madie immediately (and repeatedly) screamed, "A Baby". My first thought, she has 2000+ babies as already, Lame! Logan thought long and hard and at last firmly requested "A Toy Trash Can". A bit crazy, but at least he hasn't got one already.

Since that letter I have taken notice of just how much Madie loves her Dolls and how very motherly she is with them. It amazes me how one so young could show such mature and nurturing characteristics found in all mother's.

Like most real mothers she spends an exceptional amount of time entertaining and caring for her babies. She is often seen cuddling them or swinging them in the baby-swing.

She also feels that her babies deserve quality time in Claire's bouncer, and to my delight tries to get them to help with chores around the house, like cleaning dishes.

She is also fond of taking her baby on walks in her baby stroller to get them some fresh air.

Madeleine is particularily patient with her babies when they get fussy and need a mother's love and gentleness to calm them. But like her larger counterparts, she has a breaking point. How then does she cope with the stresses of motherhood? Perhaps some of you mothers out there will be able to relate to our little 2 year old mother of 2000+...

I submit the question to you 2 people out there who occasional check this blog, should Santa fulfill Madie's one Christmas wish this year?

All up to speed!

Sorry for the sudden need for a million posts, I have not been very diligent keeping up lately. I think it was all that turkey....it must have stayed in my system a little too long and made me sleepy!

Thanksgiving

I can't believe how fast this year has flown by! This year for Thanksgiving the whole family was in town, except for my sister-in-law Zita ( Who we missed dearly). It was so much fun to have all 11 cousins running around and all the adults playing Guitar Hero. We ate yummy food and just enjoyed each others company. Being with all of my family reminds me just how much I have to be grateful for, I am truly blessed. We were able to get a quick shot of all the kids since it's not often that we are all together. Now for the countdown to Christmas.....

I also got to go out and take some pictures of my brother Jared and his family. It was just a quick 20 minute session before we ate our turkey, but I think they turned out really cute so here is a preview for Rachel who hasn't seen them yet.