Celebrating Rylan

4 years ago tonight, there were 8 inches of snow on the ground, and I was in the hospital terrified of what the next few hours would bring, and begging for a Wendy's cheeseburger. Little did I know that the next few hours would bring very little, but the next 26 hours would produce a miracle. We named that miracle Rylan.

I cannot believe I am about the be the mother of a 4 year-old. What an amazing journey we have had so far. Smiles and giggles, jokes and kisses, adventures and stories...every birthday of his, reminds me of all my gifts he's given me as a mom.

Tomorrow morning, I get to wake up my little man singing, "Happy Birthday!" How lucky am I?

The adventures of a boy and his lamb....

Oh Lamby, what a troublemaker you are!

On vacation to the bootheel of Missouri, my oldest suffered quite a trauma...and his lamb (Lamby) had quite the adventure!

Our Thanksgiving trip to the bootheel provided Rylan with every boy's dream. A transporation lover's jackpot!

Not only did Rylan get to visit two different firestations,

check out the flashing lights on nearly every fire truck

(both in service and retired) in town, but he got to see an ambulance,

two tanks, a helicopter, airplanes, countless tracters, a combine, cotton picking machinery,and a train!

Lamby was with him every step of the way.

But the real story hasn't even begun. Oh no. This story involved the police - and lots of them! Rylan got to take an hour drive south into Jonesboro, Arkansas to see "his Jo" (my cousin) at her house and see her police car. Lamby, as always, came along for the adventure. But when it came time to see inside the car, Lamby stayed behind inside the house to get a little rest. (Yes, a young boy's Lamby has a big job and big responsibilities, and surely deserves a rest from time to time - at least in this humble mom's opinion!)

Can you guess what happened next? It's every mom's worst nightmare - and yes, I suppose it was stressful for my son too. Lamby stayed in Jonesboro, Arkansas as we headed back north to Kennett. And her absence was not discovered until dinnertime! Upon this discovery, there was one very sad little boy, "...but Mama, I miss her SOOOO much. I need her!" If your heart doesn't break just a little when you hear this out of your child's mouth, you're either a hardened vet to the parenting thing...or you're just plain mean!

So, sprung forth any and all willing parties: Operation Rescue Lamby!!

Calls were made to neighbors and friends. Calls were made from the police department in Jonesboro. Calls were made from the police department in Kennett. Calls were made all around, spreading like wildfire across the stateline the news of the little boy who was without his Lamby. An ambulance driver heading home from Memphis heard of our sad little story. Crime and public safety...or helping a boy and his Lamb?

All hands worked together. The rendezvous point was set. A seargent covered the desk for his officer to make the drop. The handoff was made, and Lamby was on his way. Two hours and a pizza dinner later, Lamby was safe back in the arms of his sleeping boy who had cried himself to sleep without her.

All I can say is the the reunion of Rylan and his Lamby...was made possible by an entire community. To protect and to serve. And to a little boy (and his mom), they are heros.

Operation Lamby was a success!

Biggest Loser

4 weeks into the competition - I am loving it!! I am borderline obsessed, but that's okay, right?! When it's a healthy thing?? I'm working out everyday (or close to every day) and had my first cheeseburger this past weekend since we've started! It felt SOOO good to have something SOOOO bad!!

So, onto 5K's. I want to get started! I really need to find a partner. Someone who wants to go running, go climbing, wants to get into kickboxing, go riding...someone else who is making the time and making the effort!

SO, who's with me!? I've got a list of 8 races between now and the end of the year. I'm doing at least three...wanna race!?

Birthday Cake and a Playground Too

Doesn't have quite the same ring to it as "Peanut Butter Jelly & A Baseball Bat!," now does it?!

HA! Well, this upcoming weekend is one for the books.

My little Coop is turning a year old, and the festivities will be wild. We are opening up the playground for it's first full day of play!! I will take lots of pictures - if I'm not running around crazy - which is likely.

I hope it brings my boys lots of smiles over the years, as it has been a labor of love from their daddy and all of their neighbors. Not to mention the grandparents who funded the project!

so many changes, so little time....

ahhhhhhhhh, oh how i have neglected my blog!

well, on the playground front, there is very little progress since my last post. life has gotten crazy busy, and the weather has gotten crazy HOT! it WILL get done.

however, about everything else around here HAS changed!

i have gone back to work full time. back to the world of graphics and printing. and in all honesty, i'm loving it! it's hard to be apart from my boys and my mom friends, but nice to be back in the adult world. so it's a bittersweet transition.

in my transition, both of the boys have gone through changes as well. rylan is going to preschool...and what a change this has been. every morning is still a bit rough...but i think we're past the "mama, don't leave me! i love you! are you going to come back?" stage. he comes home every day full of energy and with stories of how much he loves his big boy school. as his mom, i can already see huge changes in how much he's grown up in the past 2 1/2 weeks. i don't feel like quite the deserter every day, as i did the first day i left him at school (he and i were BOTH in tears that day) the change is bittersweet.

coop is currently hanging out at home with a wonderful neighbor and friend until he turns a year old and can walk. (a requirement to go to preschool.) needless to say, we've been practicing walking A Lot since his first birthday is just a couple of weeks away!! i think we'll make it! and he has a new best friend in the neighbor's dog, benny. so, so very cute.

so there's a new car (so that both are kid-carting equiped), a new job, a new schedule, new schools, and....and....almost a birthday. coop, my baby....almost a year old. we will celebrate - my little surfer baby - but i'm so sad to see you grow sometimes!

it's amazing to see all the changes that have come in the last couple of years...and it still awes me to recognize this as my life. it's a crazy life - but i'm so blessed that it is mine.

and the build goes on..and on...and on!!

The build is progressing - and we officially have a slide! It took 2 men, 5 hours, a couple nice sunburns, multiple pitchers of koolaid, and several attempts both with and without the assembly directions!

However, look at the results! It's coming along great, and I have to say, I have tested the slide out myself...the kids are going to LOVE it! Of course, in that process we also realized that the slide is not exactly up to the heavy duty adult load. But maybe if you haven't had a quarter pounder with cheese that day, you'd do alright!

Rails are going up, the clubhouse is complete (minus the sitting porch of course), and it's getting pretty close! Rylan is pretty excited and seems to think that his clubhouse windows work best for a fast-food drive up or a bank. What a lifestyle!

Here's a view from inside the clubhouse, as well as a view that shows off from one of the tall tours, showing the bridge! Yes, there is a bridge to connect the two towers!

Next up is the swing arm, finishing railings, the rock wall....and more to come. You'll have to stay posted...and then come to play and celebrate the completion!!

you're KILLIN' me ...Day 3

why did i think it would be FUN to bring two such small kids on vacation?! oh right...it is. well, mostly. but let me tell you, home is sounding pretty darn good at the moment! (it's naptime and Coop is crying loud enough to wake neighboring countries!)

today...it looked like huge thunder clouds were going to ruin any possibility of a good time. and to be honest, the pool alternative didn't go over too well for rylan yesterday...so i was a little concerned about what today had in store.

no fear, thus far, the day has turned out to be GORGEOUS! take a look.






cranky boys, but gorgeous weather. after driving around in the mountains again, we headed off for some miniature golf. this was a BLAST. rylan and jason went head to head for 18 holes of of putt-putt. jason pulled of a victory in the last couple holes, as rylan's attention span gave out. i say it was lucky for jason, i think rylan could have taken him! give him a year or two, and daddy's toast!

then there was the ski ball, the video games, the race car driving,

more video games, and to top it off....McD's for lunch. who says a day can't be all about rylan!? coop enjoyed watching daddy and rylan...and hangin' with his mama by the waterfall...

and watching the fly fishermen in the stream just on the other side of the fence at the golf course.

whew. not a bad day at all, huh? one more day to go.

"peanut butter jelly and a baseball bat" - day 2

yes, thanks to my husband, my three year old is now singing that in the car. and loudly! it's actually pretty cute. if you're like me, and have never heard the actual song - if you could call it that - it's quite funny!

so after 18 hours of straight no naps, no sleep yesterday, the boys slept in a whole hour and were up by 7 am KC time.

YAY.

jason and i are just thankful that we crashed not too long after them so that we could handle it. oh, well, as i guess jason is back to sleep AGAIN, maybe i should rephrase - I am happy that i can handle it...LOL

today there are gorgeous low clouds over the mountains, and YES, i have had my camera with me today!

we drove up trail ridge road, fed some chipmonks, (see above)

and saw some gorgeous scenery.

we then took the opportunity for our 1st photo as a family of 4! better late than never!

and THEN after packing SO well for the boys...jason and i both forgot jackets...so we're did that too!

and now - they are all three snoring. i bribed with mini-golf or swimming if they would all just take a nap. i win!

projectile vomit - day 1

SO, we're on our roadtrip to estes park. a 12 hour car ride when we throw in a few stops to ward off insanity and starvation. halfway through kansas, rylan projectile vomits bright pink lovliness all over the backseat. twice. and cooper pooped. twice. so, it's smelling pretty nice in the car.

luckily, the rest of the drive was fairly uneventful. all day we told rylan we were driving to the mountains. so once we see them, "look mama, the mountains! we found them!"

we sure did.
we also found elk, mule deer, and a coyote.
did i have my camera with me? no.
of course not!

after a 3 am wake up. 12 hours of driving. 18 hours of kids with no naps. i'd say day one is officially over.

day 2 - bring it!

Phase 3 - It's Getting SOOO Close!

So, the boys and I left for another adventuresome weekend at the lake while the build went on. Our short trip saved my sanity from slowly stripped by Rylan's constant, "Is my playground here yet?!" Or from his cute little bottom being stuck to the back porch all weekend watching every single moment of the build.

And here's the progress: it's lookin' SO good. (and we've even played on what's been built - SO FUN!!)

Isn't my husband amazing?! (And all the neighbor guys too.)

The 3 towers are all decked. They then framed in the tunnel and the clubhouse.

One side of the club house and tunnel are boarded.

Rylan came home and loved it! Here he is sticking his head out one of the two windows of his clubhouse.

What's left?!

Well...next up is to finish boarding the other side of the tunnel & clubhouse. Then we will need the rock wall and the swing arm. Then we will need Mama to come out and choose where I want all the guard rails to be, those will be put in. Then the bridge between the two towers. Then there is still the addition of the toys & the slide! But it's already SO GREAT! YAY!

the buttcrack of dawn

what a lovely phrase. right?

at different times in my life i've learned to avoid it as a teenager, i've learned to respect it with kids who like to torture me with getting up early, tolerate it as the standard of the working class...but now - i've learned to embrace it and welcome it.

seriously.

i've been getting up early to go running. (okay, still a lot of walking involved in my "running" but i'm getting it back! slowly, but i'm getting it!) and when i get back - i get a whole 20 minutes to myself before the house wakes up at 645.

no kids, no noise, no work, no husband, no one whining, crying, demanding my time but me. therefore, i am LOVING early, early morning me time.

(until i crash at about 6pm on the couch!)

to the other moms and busy people - where do you find your "YOU" time??

I'm CRAZY?!

...or so I've been told. Nothing new, really. A little quirky, a little off the beaten path, a little (as my brother would say) out in left field...

Usually, I'd agree. I'd embrace it. But this time, I don't think so. I think I'm maybe just overeager. Again, probably nothing new.

Alright, enough preamble. So, I moved the boys into the same room. Am I crazy?? Rylan wanted Cooper to live with him. I figure - what could it hurt? I see my nieces sharing a room - and they get along so well! They seem to love it. Granted, I only visit and see best behavior I'm sure.

I never had to share a room. Or should I say, I never GOT to share a room? I don't know. But I figure at this age - why not? Worse case, I take the crib back apart and move it back. (please, please, please not again!!)

But for night #1, things went well. As Cooper snored, Rylan talked him and talked to him about all the fun things he wanted them to do together in the morning.

How cute is that?? I invision nights of telling secrets and giggles. Me having to go in and tell them time and time again that it's time to sleep. Why is it that the idea of that has me grinning from ear to ear?! AM I crazy?! Probably.

What do you think? It is the time for comments - growing up - did YOU share a room with a sibling? Did you love it? hate it? Leave a note and let me know!

Phase 2

Who knew that building Rylan a new playground would have my husband walking like a Grandma and whining like a school girl? I suppose that's what happens when you're inner child realizes he's living inside an old man body!

But look at the project they've taken on...

Saturday was a busy day - a beer before 10am kind of day. No, not for me, but for the guys out back dealing with all the chaos. Maybe it would have been a good idea for me too. I'll keep that in mind during the course of this next week.

So, after a week of tilling, weed-eating, spraying, laying (and nailing HUGE spikes - and YES, I DO hold the hammer right - thank-you-very-much! and note there are absolutely NO pictures of me manning a hammer or the tiller - but I have scars to prove I did both!) into the landscape timbers to surround the dirt area, putting plastic down to discourage any weed growth...we had a semi-truck deliver half a driveway full of wood.

Holes were dug, posts were set, the structure was skirted, and joyst have been hung on the lower level. Take a look at the progress, and our wonderful friends who have helped us get this far.

Casey David Kip

And one very excited and thankful little boy.

Mama, where is Heaven?

Driving in the car, I got a call from a friend who had to take a sudden roadtrip home to deal with a death in the family.

My sweet Rylan asked, as he does at every opportunity,
"Mama, who are you talking to? What was she telling you about?"

I thought to myself - CRAP! What do I say?! How do you describe such sadness and life lessons to such an innocent little guy? I crossed my fingers, took a deep breath, and went for it - I was honest.

I told him that my friend was sad. That someone she loved was going to have to go away to Heaven, where she wouldn't be able to see them again for a really long time.

"Is she going to cry? Does she need to hug herself on the couch to feel better? Is Heaven near the lake house? Is she so sad that she's going to drive her car and go bonk in a tree?"

Wow. Um. Just as I think, I've got the most mature 3-year-old on the planet, BAM! Drive her car into a tree?! I mentally scroll through every thing I've ever let him watch on television. What have I been letting him watch?!

I asked a couple follow up questions to see what he meant - but his attention span was lost - onto more exciting things like babbling in baby talk to his little brother, blowing bubbles in the bathtub, and rocket ships that are going to fly and land in his milk at dinner.

Did he understand? I don't know. But I discovered that the big topic wasn't as scary and as hard to explain - at this level - as I had thought.

Honesty just may become my new policy.

Pick Up Lines

Pick up lines haven't changed since I have been in the dating world. At least, not as far as I can tell. Today, I used those same lines on a woman at the park. Yep, I picked up another Mom. I used the good old standards too...
"Hey, come here often?"
"You live around here?"
"Maybe we could meet up sometime."
And like putty in my hands, I got myself a Mom date for Wednesday.
I guess the rule about waiting two days to call doesn't apply.

The Build is ON!

Is it news to anyone that I go overboard?! I doubt it. My imagination is wild, and I like to see things come to life. Probably one of my better traits of being a Mom.


Before my husband, this wasn't a dangerous thing. But NOW....watch out!


Case and point: our current adventure of building a new swing set.


Now, take a look at the old set.
Nothing wrong with it.
It worked, sure.
It was just so....Blah.
Right!?
Right.

So, the more we talked about what we wanted, the more we told our friends and family about our plans...the more excited we became to build THE best, THE coolest, THE most fun play area in our back yard....EVER!

(And I'm sure the boys will like it too.)

Here are the plans:

Complete with 7 seven-foot towers, a 5 foot tower, a rock climbing wall on the back side of the 5 foot tower, a tunnel underneath it (leading to the clubhouse no doubt) a big tunnel slide to come off the 7-foot tower on the right, a swing arm with swings coming off the left tower. (Notice the clubhouse even has a 2-foot front porch!) There is a bridge to connect the 2 7-foot towers, a periscope to spy on Mama from the tunnel, binnoculars and a telescope to spy on the neighbors from the left tower, and a steering wheel to drive anywhere little imaginations want to go!

With the plans drawn, Rylan is getting in on the excitement. He knew Sunday things were going to get started. He woke up like Christmas morning, racing to the backdoor, and tossing aside the curtains,

"Is my new playground there yet?!?!" Clever mom I am, I distracted him by offering chocolate donut with sprinkles!

Day 1: Cutting Sod - the guys came over and made a beautiful 18x21 foot mud pit in my back yard. (Anyone wanna wrestle?!) They got paid with beautiful strips of my backyard grass. I feel so much closer to them all somehow.

Next Week: Setting posts & skirting the structure.

We've been told to have beer on ice.

Moment of Clarity

I find it amazing how often I am taught by my kids. They teach me every day (okay - ALMOST every day) what is important - and there's nothing like having a 3-year-old put your entire world into perspective.

It's the little things too. Like trying to fit into my clothes again. My oldest son walked in while I was doing an exercise program,
"What are you doing, Mama."
"Just working out, Baby. I want to be pretty for you and Daddy."
"But Mama, you can be pretty all you want to...already. You want to paint with me?"

I melted on the spot. So full of love, my boys don't care what I look like. (Of course this is bound to change as they grow up and learn to be embarassed by me on pure principle alone.) AND of course I wanted to paint. And so we did - and then my big boy wanted to try to do my Jillian Michaels workout with me - weights and all. So we did that too!

Misadventures of Fishing

So, the boys and I headed off this past weekend for an adventure at the lake. Surrounded by family and new attention, my boys flourished.

My oldest son, who is 3, decided the timing was right to put his new race car fishing pole to work and try his hand at fishing. Rigged with a beautiful lure (in his favorite color of pink no less), he practiced casting and reeling with my father.

Each and every time he reeled in, he was full of excitement due to the catch on his line - his lure. Yes, he was so thrilled that each time he had brought something back. The calls home to my husband were both hilarious and endearing. "Daddy, Daddy! I caught LOTS and LOTS of fish for you!"

If only we could all have such innocent enthusiasm.