Dear Ryan,

My little man – you make you smile every day & I can’t believe you’re TWO!  You have quite the personality these days that keeps me laughing, smiling, shaking my head or pulling my hair out and I love it.  You have a little bit of the split personality syndrome going on . . . you are either soft and kind and want to smother everyone with hugs, kisses and pats on the back or you are scratching, hitting and pulling hair with this determined look in your eye.  Luckily I know your facial expressions and can usually tell which way you’re going to act.  I smile every time you give big hugs and kisses. 

It’s obvious that you love your brother, Nate.  But you’re not always very nice to him.  Nate almost always has a cut or scratch with a scab that’s trying to heal from you going at him unexpectedly.  But when you wake up - you ask for Nate. When Nate’s at school or at a friend’s house – you ask for Nate.  You always want to know where he is and what he’s doing.  And sometimes you guys do play well together.  Lately your favorite thing to do with Nate is to make beds all over the house and pretend like you’re sleeping.  You want to do everything Nate gets to do.  You say over and over. “school – me”  or “class-me” or “golf-me” when Nate gets to go somewhere.  You can’t wait to be big enough to do everything Nate can do.

You are talking like crazy.  Some days it seems like you’re coming up with a new word every hour.  It’s so fun.  I love watching you be able to express yourself with WORDS.  It makes me smile and laugh . . . the things you come up with are funny.  A chunk of your words aren’t completely clear to everyone else but either your dad, Nate or I always know what you’re saying.  And your voice inflections & facial expressions when you’re excited or mad are the best.

You have a love for babies that I’ve never quite seen in a 2 year old little boy.  You LOVE them.  Every time you see a baby [especially one that we know] you say “hold. hold. hold” over and over until you get to hold them.  You even want to hold 1 year olds – you think you’re so much bigger than them.  And you are never the one who wants to stop holding them – you’d sit there for an hour if the baby would let you.

You love treats, cookies, candy, root beer, gum . . . anything that’s loaded with sugar.  Often times first thing in the morning as we’re walking down the stairs you’re saying . . . “candy?”  You throw many tantrums in the day when I say no!  You don’t always like to eat a meal. In fact, there are lots of days when you eat hardly anything at all but somehow you still keep on growing so I don’t worry about it.  When you do eat – your favorites are cucumbers, pizza, Café Rio, edam me, pears, apples, raspberries, blueberries, mac & cheese, noodles, & smoothies.

You love to cook at a play kitchen.  You’re quite nightmare to shop / run errands with.  You love your lion and binky’s.  At church you love nursery but sacrament meeting is no fun.  You love books and will often plop yourself down on the floor to look through book after book on the shelf.  You love to play with all things boy.

You’re a pretty good sleeper – thankfully!  You are ready for bed around 6:30pm or 7pm and sleep a good 12 hours before we hear from you again.  [Although lately, you’ve gone through some crying spurts at night but you eventually get over it on your own and go back to sleep.]  Up until the last few days, you welcome a nap in the afternoon.  You’re ready for a little shut eye.  But the last two days as we’re finishing up lunch you say “no night night.”  Yikes.

You are a lover of the park.  Lucky for me we pass 2-3 every where we go and you yell for it every time.  You love digging and building in dirt and would love to play and play outside all day long.  You can walk quite a ways for a guy your size.  You are over the stroller, you’d rather walk a mile than have to sit in there.

You recently discovered the television.  And you’re slightly obsessed.  I quickly realized that letting you watch it no longer meant for only 5 minutes.  You love Cars, Lion King & Three Little Pigs.

You are constantly asking for Nate, Ali, Tripp, Abbie, Daisy, Grandma, Papa, Sam, & your friend Blake.  You just want to know what they’re doing.  You’re okay with an answer like “Abbie is with her mom.”  You’re a curious one.

For the sake of recording, here are your 2 year stats:

Height: 36” tall

Weight: 30.6 pounds

Ryan - you are one big ball of fun and we love having you in our family!  There are absolutely challenges that come with a 2 year old but we are loving this stage with you right now.  You are learning and doing something new every day.  You make me smile!

Love, Mom

a frequent conversation with Ryan

Right when Ryan wakes up or throughout the day, this is my conversation with Ryan:

Ryan: “Daddy?”

Me: “He’s at work.”

--PAUSE--

Ryan: “No. Daddy Golf.”

It seems as if he’s got it just about right.

Wes’ visit with Grandma and Grandpa Rogers

After the passing of my grandma early this year – I knew it was time for Wes to see his grandparents.  He’d been wanting to go for a while and we finally made it happen!  We knew it’d be easier if we just sent Wes rather than take the whole family.  That way he could focus on them instead of the rest of us!

Wes went to Albuquerque, New Mexico this weekend and was able to meet his brother, Spencer and his mom there, too.  It was an extra special treat since Wes doesn’t get to see them very often!

Wes said his grandparents were in heaven to have them there.  They told endless stories . . . brought out hundreds of pictures . . . and talked and laughed for 3 days.  Wes’ grandpa took everyone to the Atomic Museum where he was elated to get to show everyone everything there.  They ate lots of green chile [they put it on everything in New Mexico] while they were there and had a nice time.  Wes & Spencer were even able to get some yard work done for them.

Wes cute grandma has been on dialysis 3 days a week for SEVEN years.  That is just amazing.  And his darling grandpa has been fighting a lung cancer battle and he seems to be winning it which is a great blessing.  Grandma & Grandpa Rogers are two amazing people & examples – I’m glad Wes got to re.connect with them.

Wes’ mom sent him home with Albuquerque shirts for the boys.  They were thrilled!

………………………….

While Wes was gone – two of his uncles – Uncle Thayer & Uncle Ronan - were in Vegas and they stayed with me and the boys.  It was great to see them, as always.  Nate and Ryan loved having them around – Nate shed some tears when he had to say goodbye.  Wes’ uncles have quite a sense of humor that Nate was trying to figure out the entire time they were here!  They were also spoiled because both Thayer & Ronan let them play on their phones [Wes and I usually don’t!] so they were in heaven.  Ryan is still begging for more games!

golf with Papa Marz

Nate loves golf.  And lucky for him – his dad & Papa Marz love it, too. 

But Wes was out of town today so Nate had a date on the golf course with his Papa.

My dad recently joined a Country Club in town and Nate asked if he could go golfing and play tennis with him so my dad took him today.  For the last few days we’ve been talking a lot about golf and tennis etiquette and Nate has been looking forward to a fun outing.  For Christmas, my parents gave Nate a set of real little-kid golf clubs so he can actually learn with something other than a piece of plastic.  Nate was stoked to take them to the real golf course today!  My dad called me on the way home and was ranting and raving about what a great golfer Nate is.  I may have to tag along on the next golf adventure to see it myself.  I guess he hit the ball about 75 yards with his driver and continuously hit the ball really well.   A few of my dad’s friends were there and they came over and were shocked at his swing.  Who knew?

They were supposed to play a little tennis, too but apparently they were on the driving range for quite a while and by the time they got off all of the courts were taken so they went inside and had lunch instead. 

And somehow Nate conned Papa in to an ice cream cone on the way home.

Nate hasn’t lost site of his score card and little pencil all day.

it was about time . . .

that I own an i.phone.

 

 

I haven’t had much time to play on it today – but I’m kind of loving it. 

Ryan’s 2nd birthday

Ryan turned TWO on Saturday.

We’ve been talking to him about his birthday for a few weeks now and while I know he doesn’t completely understand what that means – he now understands that it means extra treats, presents, lots of attention & perhaps even a party.

We had a little party for Ryan on Friday night with some family and friends.  He loves Mickey so we decided it was time to throw a Mickey party.  We kept it simple with pizza, salad & some finger foods . . . a few Mickey games for the kids . . . lots of chatting by the adults . . . Mickey cupcakes . . . present opening & some freeze dance at the end.

Ryan’s absolute favorite thing in this world are candy and treats.  He asks for it constantly.  So as a party favor at Ryan’s party we did a treat bar.

Ryan’s been taking decent naps lately but the day of his party was just too exciting and he only slept for 1 hour.  Needless to say Aunt Sam was able to keep him on the couch with some cuddles and the Lion King right before the party to prevent him from melting down yet again or from tearing the place apart!  Despite his exhaustion, he was great at his party.

It was a fun night to celebrate Ryan!

……………….

Saturday was his actual birthday.  He slept in till 8:30 [unheard of around here!] and I went in to his room and said, “Happy Birthday, Ryan!”  He got a big smile and said . . . “party?  me?”  He was excited.

Saturday morning was like Christmas morning at our house.  Ryan opened up our gift to him as well as some fabulous books from Grandma & Grandpa G. and then the boys played and played with Ryan’s new toys that he LOVES.

Ryan LOVES to cook at every little kitchen he can find.  I didn’t want to buy the whole kitchen so when I found this little grill . . . I knew it’d be perfect for him.  The boys are LOVING it and all of the accessories!

On Saturday morning we took the boys to Chuckee Cheese for some birthday fun.  They each got a cup of 20 tokens and as soon as they were gone, we were on our way to In.n.Out for a little birthday lunch.  Ryan always asks for their french fries but he was so exhausted that he didn’t eat one thing and only wanted to rest his head on my hand!

I think Ryan had a great birthday.  More on what he’s up to coming soon!

A lovely Marz weekend.

We had a really fun weekend with the Marz family!  My Aunt Tina, Uncle Gary, Aunt Leslie, cousin Ashlie and little Will came down from Salt Lake and we had a great time.  We have a few aunts/uncles that live here in Vegas that we don’t see nearly enough so it got us all together for the weekend.

On Friday night, they joined us at our house for Ryan’s 2nd birthday party.  We were glad they could come!  After the party I went over to my Aunt Kara’s house and we had 10 people around the table playing 5 Crowns.  I have to say this night was hilarious.  A handful of the older people around the table had some hilarious statements which made Sam, Ashlie, Leslie & I chuckle.  A lot.

On Saturday I was able to sneak away for a little bit to meet the girls at Town Square for a little shopping.  Saturday night we got a sitter and all of the adults went to dinner and a movie.

On Sunday night we had dinner at my parent’s house.  I forced everyone in to a picture!  [Sam was with us up until Sunday where she had to work which is why she isn’t pictured here]. 

I love it when our family comes to visit! 

We got to spend some time with Kyle on Sunday night.  We’ve missed him.  Nate’s still talking about cousin Kyle and how great it was to play with him.

be my valentine.

Valentines Day was pretty fun in our house.  We didn’t do anything monumental but a few crafts . . . lots of treats and candy . . . a Valentines lunch at Kileys . . . Valentines in the mail from cousins & grandparents far away . . . and our daily love mail made it pretty fun.

Aunt Sam came over on the 13th to give the boys their Valentines.  She’s always so thoughtful.  So on V.Day while she was at work, the boys and I had fun sneaking in to her house and leaving her a Valentine.  Nate really enjoyed handing out Valentines this year.  It was fun he got to go to school on Valentines Day . . . I think his favorite Valentines to give out that day were to Ms. Joy [preschool teacher] and Ms. Natalie [hip hop teacher].

Nate made this Valentines shirt at Claire’s house in Phoenix.  He was so excited about it that he wore it on the 13th.  Good thing I found Snoopy love shirts for the boys for V.Day.

Wes and I don’t usually exchange real Valentines gifts.  And we didn’t this year but Wes gave me the best gift of all when he got up early, fed the kids a healthy breakfast before he gave them their heart donut, cleaned up the entire kitchen and mopped the floor before he went to work!

This year I had a mailbox for all three of my boys and every morning for about a week there was a little something fun in the mailbox for them.  I had big plans with thought out notes cute things to put in there and then all of a sudden it was February 7th and I just had to run with it.  I didn’t even get their names put on . . . maybe next year!  They still liked waking up to some love mail!

We like holidays around here.

Nate and I went to Phoenix.

Nate & I got to go to Phoenix for a “big kid” trip last weekend.  My dear friend Mimi lives there with her cute little family [she has 2 little girls pretty much the same age as my boys] and it was time for another visit.  I thought it’d be fun for some one-on-one time with Nate & I thought Mimi would enjoy some time with just Claire so Nate and I jumped on a plane to Phoenix and it was fabulous.  Traveling with ONE four year old is a breeze!  [Before I jump in to the trip – I have to give a big thanks to Mimi for being our photographer!  My camera battery was dead and I couldn’t find the charger so she snapped away.]

Right when they picked us up from the airport, Mimi took us to a darling Ice cream Parlor and Candy Shop called Churn.  I’m pretty sure I had some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had there and I had to purchase some of their delicious candy, too!  It was a great way to start our trip.  We then headed to the “choo choo park” that I’ve heard so much about over the years.  What a fabulous park complete with a train, a carousel and some pretty neat playgrounds.  The kids played and played in the FABulous weather and it was wonderful.  Of course on the train car they picked to ride on was the cattle car in the back and their over 6’ mamas had to squeeze in that little cage which I’m sure was hilarious to watch.

We got to participate in their weekly “Pizza and a movie night” on Friday night where we watched Despicable Me.  Speaking of night time – let me just say that Nate’s sleeping was atrocious this trip!  He ended up sleeping in my bed and he is the craziest sleeper ever!

Mimi & Claire let Nate and I pick Saturday’s activity and we picked the Phoenix Zoo.  It was just the big kids today [Sammy & Ryan got some quality time with their dads!] and we had a blast.  I think we were at the zoo for almost 5 hours before Mimi and I were tired out!  A few favorites from the Zoo: RIDING the CAMEL!, Nate walking everywhere with the Zoo map, snow cones, monkey village, watching the bear eat his “snack” out of a paper bag, playing in the old stationary jeep and enjoying being out on a beautiful day with our big kids.  And I have to say that the Phoenix Zoo is a fabulous zoo!  One of my favorites.

Nate thought it was pretty funny to ride around in the wagon like this.

Nate brought all kinds of boy craziness in to the Skeehan household and Claire handled it superbly.  These two kiddos really had a good time together which was nice.  She was even genuinely excited to play the games they made up like “Fight Men” or “Pinch the Girl” – none of which I’ve ever heard of before! 

After church on Sunday we made Valentines T.shirts and the kids played a little more before we had to leave.  Nate loved all of the Skeehans but I think the dog, Tahoe may have won his heart.  He wants nothing more than a dog of his own.  As we were getting ready to leave for the airport Nate broke down in genuine tears so upset that he had to leave Tahoe – he already missed him.  I thought it was cute . . . when Mimi and Claire pulled away from the airport Claire got a tear in her eye and said “mom, do you already miss him?”  These two are buddies.

I loved spending a weekend with one of my favorite people – Mimi and her cute family.  And it was so fun to go on an adventure with just Nate.  I’m a big believer in some one-on-one time and my boys sure got it last weekend!  As we were flying home I asked Nate where our next “big kid” adventure should be and he said Disneyland.  Little does he know . . . it really is.

Mr. Ryan had a blast with his dad while we were gone.