What the girls are doing

For Christmas Matt and I decided to get the girls something that would enlighten their minds. So we decided to get them catapillars and ladybugs. The girls were able to learn the stages of what the insects were going through. Once the catapillars turned into butterflies Ryan had to feed them and take care of them. It was very exciting to see them one night in a cacoon and then to butterflies. Same with the ladybugs. The girls checked on them everyday. It was very fun. I even learned alot. Well, it has been awhile since they have become butterflies and ladybugs and we started with seven and are at three. I actually don't think the last three will be with us much longer. when the first few butterflies died it really made Ryan very upset. Matt told her to flush it down the toliet to "butterfly heaven." Ryan asked Matt if our "peepee" and "pooh pooh" are in butterfly heaven. She didn't like the idea but eventually she flushed it down the toliet and that really upset her. She started to cry really hard. She went up to her bedroom and told me that she just wants to be alone. It was sad to see her like that but cute at the same time. She came down happy and told me she said a pray to heavenly father and that the butterfly is flying around with prophet hinckley. Kacie really could careless. She was in the backround dancing through the whole episode. Just happy to be there. The girls have done good with their insects but we are still not ready for a dog. I don't think we will be ready for a long time.

Nice Hair!!!

Ryan is at the age were she likes to do everything herself. Its not the age where they want to do everything by themself but they can't do it at all. It's more of the age where they want to zip up their own coat, buckle their own seat belt and you let them until they say "Ok mommy, can you help." Especially when you are already running late and five minutes later they realize they need your help. Or when they think they can brush their teeth all by themselves but they just brush the front two for about two seconds and then they are done. I try to avoid shoes with shoe laces because they want to tie their own shoes and think they can do it. That is a frustrating phase for the both, the child and the parent. We are long past that stage with Ryan. We are at a totally new stage. She is at the stage where she can actually do things but its just not quite the way I would do it. For example, she does her own hair now and..........Well..............as you can see she does a fantastic job. I love this stage and yes I let her go out in public with it. The best is when she gets lots of comments about her hair from other people. She looks so proud of herself. It is very cute. She is a very determined little girl.

Still here

Where have I Been!! Yes we are still alive. I know I have been slacking in the blog area. I just have been putting it off. We are just taking a day at a time. We are just doing the day to day routine during this cold winter. Ryan gets up and I take her to school Monday thru Wednesday. I put Luke down for nap when we get back from dropping her off and then Kacie and I have "Mommy School." Once I am done with that I try to clean the house spotless, which never seems to happen. I feel like I turn around and the mess is back. Matt is great at pointing that out. So life is going. I have started soccer out here. It is one on my great excitements every friday night. I LOVE IT!!! I will keep everyone up dated on my soccer.

It is so cold here and I can't wait till spring/summer. I am ready to get out of the house. The kids are to. I feel like I am a hermit. Matt started out great with the new year. He had a goal to get more physically involved with exercise and playing sports. I was really excited for him, Well, his first day at playing Basketball he spraned his ankle. It was really bad. It was a three degree spran. He was in a lot of pain for along time. I had to laugh when I found out. Its always to new guy.

Anyway, we have done afew things fun this winter. Besides sitting on Santa's lap about ten times we have gone sledding, Ice Skating, and making lots of snowmans. Ryan was so fun to watch ice skate. She felt she was so good that she picked out a little boy and was determined to teach him how to skate. Lets just say they were on the ground a lot. Kacie I think was done early into the activity. She did good, but she loves being warm more.

Chicago Trip

I thought I would report on our trip to Chicago. Those of you who know, Chicago and Me do not get a long very well. Lets just say, taking a trip to Chicago equals naughty children and anxiety driving in the city. This trip was a way to put all that behind me and try over. We decided to go and check out Chicago for the weekend. We stayed two nights in a hotel. On Saturday we went to the Navy Pier which held the Winter Wonderland Feast and then to the (free) Zoo and saw all the lights plus animals. It was very fun. The kids were great and I took lead in navigating and Matt had the "balls" to drive in the big city. So it all worked out great. Luke was sick over the trip but he was a great trooper and we still had fun. We were blessed to have gotten home safetly. There was a huge storm the night before. It snowed nine inches that night. The trouble wasn't in Chicago it was coming home in Indiana. We hit a bad windy, snowing, foggy, storm. We literaly almost slid off the road three times. I was very glad we decided to take Matt's SUV because his four wheel drive helped. Anyway we made it home safetly.

I don't know what Kacie is doing.

This picture is deceiving. It looks cold but it really is an ice skating rink in doors. When thought this Winter Wonderland Feast would be out doors. Instead of freezing we were sweating.

There was lots to do at the Wonderland Feast. There was great rides, Ice Skating, trains, big big rides, all kinds of rides. We did cookie decorating because that was the only fun thing to do. Thats what we kept telling the girls. It might have been more torture for the kids to "Look but not Touch" the rides. Oh well.

Ryan wanted her picture with the beautiful princess.

He was great for not feeling very well. He is still smiling.

The rest are pictures at the Zoo. It was very very cold. Luke was very tired so I wrapped him in his mobywrap and he slept. We kept each other warm. It worked out great.

WHERE'S LUKE?

Birthday Girl

It was Kacie's birthday today!! She turned Three. She is such a big girl. She got to pick her cake and she wanted it all pick. She picked princess plates and pink decorations for around the house. We sure do love and enjoy her. Here are afew pictures. HAPPY BIRTHDAY

BoSox Win in 4!

Since college I've been a die hard fan of the best Irish punk rock band in the world. I've been trying to make the music come on when the website is opened but unfortunately my doctorate is in medicine, not blogging. In honor of Boston's recent World Series championship I figured I would leave a taste of Ireland via Boston. Blogging nation meet the Dropkick Murphys, Dropkick Murphys meet the blogging nation. Enjoy. Heeeeeeeeeeeere's Tessie!

A Star Is Born

Well, as promised here is Ryan's highlight film from her first soccer season. She played on a team called the "firecrackers". They were really cute little girls and fun to watch learn to play. At the beginning of the season Tracy couldn't have been prouder. She has been prepping Ryan since she was born to run, dribble and shoot the ball. Needless to say, we were all shocked at her first game when she wouldn't go within 20 yards of the soccer ball or other girls. Sure, we thought she was cute as heck running around the action but we were kind of impatient to see her first bicycle kick.

As parents we've learned the power of positive feedback, so we figured there was no better time than now to try it. We told Ryan if she would kick the ball 5 times we'd treat her to an ice cream. Positive feedback works! At her next game she kicked it 7 times. We decided to sweeten the pot. We then told her if she scored a goal she could have a pack of gum. One game later she scored 5 goals. Whoa! What kids will do for Hubba Bubba. After she realized it wasn't as intimidating as she thought she was a goal scoring machine. We kept waiting for her to rip her shirt off in celebration revealing her mini-sports bra ala Brandy Chastain, but luckily she opted for the double fist pump.

The firecrackers won some and lost some but all-in-all it was an awesome season. Ryan had a blast playing and we had just as much fun watching. More than anything we were just happy that she overcame her intimidation of the "scrum". Now she absolutely loves the game. Who knows what the future will bring. Maybe a pack of gum for an Olympic gold medal. Time will tell.