A day late...

but just the same, Merry Christmas!

In an effort to go green, I didn't mail out any cards this year! No really, I just ran out of time and we never had pictures done so why go to all the trouble when you don't have something fun to share. A blog card will have to do...along with an update on our little family:

JP continues to manage the Claridge Inn and really enjoys his job. He plays city league softball and basketball and although it doesn't always seem like it since they tend to lose, he enjoys watching his favorite teams play on TV (Arizona Cardinals and Phoenix Suns). He loves wrestling with the boys and having fun together as a family.

Shelly continues trying to keep up with the three boys in the house while working very part-time from home. She enjoys her new hobby of sewing and likes to find time to try new recipes or organize every corner of our house.

Jack is about to turn five and loves learning! He enjoys preschool and play dates with his little friends in the neighborhood. He loves sharing the new things he knows by quizzing me what 2 + 2 equals and whether words like Buzz and Lightyear rhyme. He says funny things all the time but gets sensitive when you try to repeat something that will get a laugh because he gets so embarrassed! He loves building Legos, playing video games and occassionally playing with his little brother.

Ryan has grown so much in the few months since he turned two. He talks up a storm now which makes it so much easier to communicate. Now instead of morning meltdowns over what he wants for breakfast, he just requests things like "ceree with blackberries!" He thinks he can do pretty much everything Jack can and doesn't like to be told otherwise. He has a fiery temper and we're working on him not hitting and pinching so much when someone wrongs him. One of his nicknames is "Rampage" but he's still a sweet little boy who will ask 100 times where his mom is if she happens to be gone.

That's what we've been up to and here's to hoping the next year is as much fun. And I'll try and do better about posting more than once a month for all our family that lives far away!

Giving Thanks

This year we spent Thanksgiving with my parents and JP's side of the family. We ate at Katie's house and had our choice of two delicious turkeys JP prepared--a regular roasted bird and one cooked in the smoker. It was all good food and Ryan especially enjoyed dessert where he sampled a slice from each of the four pies offered and then wanted seconds.

(I failed to get a shot of the "kid's table")

Now we're all decked for Christmas and counting down the days with a total of four advent calendars we've got going. And Jack is so proud to have his own little Christmas tree in his room with his choice of makeshift ornaments--super heroes!

a whole lot of random...

An unorganized post with lots of pictures is better than no post at all, right Hayley?

Earlier this fall we headed to Staheli Farm to check out the animals and take a tractor ride to the pumpkin patch. Ryan was terrified of the turkeys as you can see and refused to look at most the animals. Moments after that picture, he took off running and crying. They are pretty loud and intimidating. We failed in the pumpkin carving category this year, but at least we still have Jack's pick below decorating our front porch.

*Side note--I love the look of longer hair on little boys, whether it's curly or straight, but the one thing it can't be is super fine. I tried growing Ryan's hair for months and it was a mop on top with not much on the sides or back. I gave up my dreams and had it chopped the day after this picture. It looks much better and he looks like such a big boy!

A couple weeks ago we headed to Page for the annual hot air balloon regatta. When we woke up Saturday morning we piled in our car and drove by the golf course to snap some pictures.

It was a fun visit even though we didn't strike it rich by participing in the ball drop on Main St. Maybe next time although I'm pretty sure the contest is rigged!



Lately both Jack and Ryan are obsessed with Legos. They will spend a good hour (that's a lot for a certain two-year-old) building things and showing off their creations. Ryan likes to pick all the smallest pieces and make a tower--usually consisting of several Lego heads. We have a pretty small collection so maybe Santa will have to bring some more soon.




Both boys have taken to waking up in the middle of the night lately and calling for Mom. It's been super fun to be reminded of what it's like to have a newborn and not get a full night's sleep, but hopefully they're back on track now that Jack is using a night light and I found what works for getting Ryan back to sleep. He's so stubborn and refuses to lay in his crib sometimes so I made him a bed on his floor and he thinks it's the greatest. I've done it a few times so far and he stays put so we'll see how long before he throws me another curve ball.

So Busy

Finally getting around to sharing Halloween pictures. Its not that I'm never on the computer during the day, but once I'm done working I never feel like getting on my laptop where all my photos are. Better late than never though...

This year we headed over to Katie's fancy-pants neighborhood to trick-or-treat with family and we may never spend this holiday in our 'hood again! I love our neighborhood, but this area goes all out. On one street they were serving up homemade corn dogs and warm kettle corn. There were drinks on ice in front yards, donuts, fire pits to keep you warm in some driveways and even a train pulled by a golf cart for the kids to ride around in. Katie served up hot chocolate in her driveway and Jon set up a projector to play the Thriller video on the garage door. It was a pretty fun night complete with more terrorizing by JP.

Here are all the cousins in their costumes, anxiously waiting for it to get a little darker.

And now with the adults who dressed up...I was a party pooper again this year.

The Dynamic Duo - Batman and Robin

My little lion man

Happy Halloween!

So creepy...

I like decorating for Halloween almost as much as Christmas and here are just a few of the fun things we have around the house...

The spider hanging from the light is something Jack made at preschool and that's all fine and good with me, but...

this is beyond disgusting and creeps me out to no end. I can't stand spiders and we were finding a couple of these in our house a day until we finally got sprayed. If JP isn't home to deal with them, I have to get the vacuum out to slurp them up. This particular time I was able to work up the courage to throw my shoe outside and luckily we haven't seen any since.

Halloween costume pics coming soon...too tired tonight!

Say Uncle

JP feels it his duty to tease all his nieces and nephews and Halloween is the perfect opportunity to get them worked up. Last night the Gibb's had a Halloween party and JP snuck outside and changed into his gorilla costume and scared Cricket and Dewy pretty good. I admit I'd be terrified to see someone dressed all in black charging toward me out of the dark! They were both good sports though...although I'm not sure he's through with the scaring yet!
(Excuse my amateur filming--I tried)

Ry-boy

I don't know how JP comes up with his nicknames for people, but they usually stick so Ryan is known as "Ry-boy" around here. The other day Jack asked me how to spell Ryan's name so I listed each letter which he wrote and then repeated, "R-Y-A-N, Ry-boy!" I'm not certain if he knows that's not his real name! Whatever he goes by, my baby is now a 2-year-old as of last Wednesday.

At this age, Ryan is super sweet when he wants to be sweet and super stubborn when he wants to be difficult. He's starting to become more of a talker and repeats a lot of words we help him with which is nice because he can get frustrated easily when trying to communicate. He's still a good eater (unlike his brother) and (like his brother) LOVES fruit. One of his favorite things is sharing a peach or apple with Dad when he gets home from work. For his birthday, his aunt Jenny got him a backpack full of snacks because she knows how much he loves treats. He'll do a little dance at the pantry door whenever he knows he's about to get something to eat because he's so excited.

He's a marathon sleeper and only rarely has a rough night when he doesn't feel well. I have to open his bedroom door when I'm ready for him to wake up from his nap or he'll sleep over 3 hours and end up staying up too late. Ryan's a dare-devil and not afraid to climb things, thinking he can do anything Jack can and then some. He comes unglued if JP and Jack go somewhere and don't include him--he knows he's one of the boys and won't let them forget it!


Like most kids their age, Jack and Ryan can play really well together one minute and fight over every toy the next. Jack is pretty patient with Ryan and I love when we pick him up from preschool and he shares whatever he made with Ryan.

We had a fun family party combined with Zaya and JP (Happy Birthday today J!!) and our living room looked like Christmas morning with all the wrapping paper--spoiled kids! Ryan loved all the attention and thanks to aunt Katie--he got a baby doll to love on and feed a bottle. I don't know what JP had against it since it's nothing like I remember playing with babies. The boys both hold the doll by the leg and randomly drop it on the floor. Ryan pokes her eyes that close by themselves and is very curious about what's on under her clothes. Boys.

Thanks to everyone for the fun birthday celebration. We love our Ry-boy!!

knock on wood

Ryan is a pretty accident-prone kid and constantly has a bump or bruise from walking into walls or tripping on concrete. It's always pretty minor though and just the other day I was thinking we're lucky that we've avoided any broken bones or stitches with that kid. Call it Murphy's Law or whatever you want, but I would come to eat those words one evening last week. Ryan was jumping on Jack's bed--something he knows not to do and Jack usually tattles before he can do it long, but this time he lost his footing (or who knows--maybe he jumped), but he ended up landing on the floor wrong and hurting his foot. He didn't seem too upset and there was no bruising or swelling, but I knew something was wrong the next morning when he refused to put any weight on it. I took him to the doctor hoping it would be nothing, but he thought we should x-ray the ankle and foot just to be sure since it was so tender and Ryan wouldn't walk. X-rays weren't fun, but we got through it and went home to await a call back. During this time I imagined what it would be like to lug Ryan around for weeks with a cast on his foot since after only one day my arm was sore and he was grumpy (even more than the usual amount) that he was immobile and couldn't do much.

Luckily, the call back was good news and nothing showed up on the x-rays so it appeared to be just a tissue injury. By the next day, Ryan started hobbling on his heel and even running with a limp and by now you hardly notice it. Thank heavens that was it and now Ryan isn't allowed in Jack's room alone! JP was ready to sell that bed since Jack's only "major" injury was staples in his head from jumping on that same bed, but I told him if we get rid of it we should get bunkbeds so the boys can share a room and then we're really asking for potential injuries! After I left the doctor last week he said something about having two boys and to get used to this--he's sure I'll be back again for more than just routine stuff. I really hope not.

New Additions

We have two new nieces/cousins we just got to meet this past week. Daniel and Fiti had a baby girl on Wednesday and named her Indie. We only got to visit in the hospital for a little bit, but it was nice to hold her and hear her tiny newborn cry.

And last weekend we headed up north to meet my little sister Betsy's baby, Lindsay Lu who was born a few weeks ago.

It was sweet to see Ryan loving on both babies and whispering "Hi" to them or patting them softly. He loves playing with the baby dolls when he goes to nursery so I think that's what I'll get him for his birthday later this month--against his Dad's wishes! I think he'll make a good big brother someday.

Back to School

Jack was back in the swing of things on Wednesday and so excited to start another year of preschool with his friends. This year he goes three days a week instead of two and has a different teacher and much bigger class, but he wasn't the least bit nervous and was a little perplexed why I had to drive him on the first day when he was hoping to get picked up by his carpool!


The other day Jack had this conversation with me while I made the boys lunch...
"Mom, did you know I'm a big kid and I know everything...except how to read? And Ryan is getting pretty big--he just doesn't know things yet."

Yes, Jack is smart but luckily he doesn't mind going to school even though he thinks he knows almost everything there is to know! And yes, Ryan is getting big, but luckily he's still my buddy at home and we have some fun together during our time alone.

Keeping cool...

It's that time of year where it seems like a ghost town in our neighborhood because it's too hot for anyone to be outdoors and kids can only play outside in the late evening. We pretty much stay indoors all day unless we're able to go to the pool, and if we run errands we go from the air-conditioned car to the air-conditioned store as quick as possible and even then your clothes will be sticking to you within seconds. So we've been getting creative inside and Jack has been obsessed with making forts in his room almost daily. (Funny side note--Jack uses the word "obsessed" when he really means upset. The other day he told his friends that his mom would be really obsessed if they made a huge mess in his room. I guess it kind of makes sense that way, but I knew what he really meant!)





Jack has also been really into drawing and coloring lately. I'm sure every mom feels this way, but I love how creative he is and how no matter what he draws--animals, people, monsters...everything has two eyes and a big smile.

Ryan loves to do whatever Jack is doing so that results in more than a few fights during the day, but every now and then they play really well together--usually when Ryan is willing to let Jack boss him around. When Jack doesn't want Ryan bothering him, I'll hear him say, "Ryan, go ask mom for a snack...don't you want a snack?!"

A couple weeks ago when we were at Sand Hollow, Jack caught his very first fish! He was pretty proud even though he didn't want to hold it for a picture before they let it go.

Ryan thinks he is a fish and you really have to watch him at the pool because he's pretty fearless. The other weekend when my sisters were visiting, we were all at the hotel pool and Ryan decided to just step off the edge and sunk like a rock before I hurried and grabbed him. When I pulled him up he wasn't too worried and ready to go again. In the picture below he's getting ready to jump into one foot of water and waiting for everyone to watch him. I can't tell you how many times a day I hear, "MOM, WATCH!" He'll say/yell it over and over until I tell him I am watching and then he'll do his trick--usually jump off some furniture--then say, "Did you see?" Over and over again!

Oregon, Part 2

What we were all excited to see...The Ocean!!


Like I said before, the water was freezing, but still fun to get your feet wet and jump some waves. Zach and Jack took turns being buried in the sand. It was all fine for Jack until he got out and realized he'd have to wash all that sand off in the cold water.

And Zach (the oldest of the cousins and most picked on by uncles--especially JP) was a good sport about being thrown in the ocean. He earned $6 for not crying once during all the teasing!

One of Jack's most favorite parts of this trip was all the time he got to spend with his cousins! They make for a busy, bunch of boys and look out to the first baby girl soon to join the mix (not by me--that's not an announcement).

The entire group:

One day during the week, we drove north to Astoria to check things out. We climbed the Astoria column which has over 160 stairs and is quite the workout on your legs, at least when you're carrying a 4-year-old boy who got too scared ten steps in. We were behind everyone else because Jack had to use the bathroom before we headed in, but I was determined we both see the top and we made it!

The view from the top...
We drove across that bridge into Washington so JP could say he'd been to a new state, bringing his total now to 11, which is probably the same number of states I haven't yet visited.

And look at these sweet brothers holding hands and walking together. Don't be deceived though. On the way home I wanted to stop for a picture, but Jack was ready to go inside and had no patience for Ryan who wasn't sitting down quick enough to get the picture over with.

(just now Jack told me he didn't really hit him. sure)

We had a great time in Oregon and Jack has already asked when we're going back! Too bad it's not easier to fly to fun places to visit more often.

And one month later...

We are back from vacation and busy as usual so the pictures are slow in coming. We had a great time spending a week on the Oregon coast with my family. Growing up we visited Cannon Beach a couple times and decided to make a trip back. It had been over 10 years since we'd gone, but it was very familiar and such a pretty place to visit. The weather forecast was rain all week, but we were lucky enough to have a couple days of sun to enjoy on the beach. This is the condo we stayed in--our little family was sandwiched in the middle unit between two of my sisters' families and my parents. One more unit just down the street housed my other sister's family and my brother. All we had to do was cross the street and walk by a few houses and we were on the beach.

And here is Haystack rock. Recognize from Goonies, anyone? Actually it was the 25-year anniversary of the movie Goonies in Astoria (a town north of where we stayed) the weekend we arrived. Too bad we didn't realize or we could have driven over and seen Corey Feldman's band perform...oh well.

The water was freezing cold, but it was still fun to wade out and get a little wet. Ryan wanted no part of the water, but loved played in the sand. He was such a good traveler for this vacation which is so out of character for him. He loved flying on a plane and even said "Weeeee" while bouncing on my lap during some turbulence. He slept great the entire time minus our first night and didn't seem to mind when he missed naps or stayed up too late. I'm so relieved he was so good...but he made up for it on a trip to Page a week after we got back, but we don't need to talk about that!

Jack was in heaven looking for shells on the beach and playing with all his cousins he doesn't get to see very often. He was also a good traveler and had a lot of fun even though it doesn't show in the pictures lower down. Here are some of his "treasures" he found on the beach--he told me there were even crab eyeballs in his bucket. One of the sites he saw on the beach that he talked about nonstop was a dead seagull. He was very imaginative thinking of all the ways the bird met its demise.

We did a lot of walking while we were there and this was a favorite mode of transportation for the boys which usually involved a fight for who got to be on Dad's shoulders. Between our treks around the airport and all the walking we did, I don't know why it never occurred to me to bring a stroller. We managed though.

And a shot of our family on the beach...the boys look thrilled, right? This was taken after a few minutes of trying to get a good shot of the entire group while staring toward the bright sun. Lots of pics to share later with more from the rest of the week...