Saturday Morning Antics

Aesop Jr.

One of my new favorite things to do with Ry is make up stories. It's sort of our own version of Mad-Libs...I tell a story and stop every now and then for him to fill in the blank. It's a fascinating way of watching his mind work!! Here was one of our stories tonight (it went on and on and on...these are just some parts I remember):

Once upon a time there was a little boy named LIGHTNING MCQUEEN. He was walking down the street and ran into his favorite friend, A ZEBRA. They decided to go for a walk together, so they went to THE SHOE STORE. When they were at the shoe store they saw 3 SOCKS.

After shopping at the shoe store they were starving, so they went out for lunch. Lightning McQueen ate CHEEZ-ITS and Zebra ate THE SOCKS.

When they ate all their lunch, they went TO THE CIRCLE STORE (that's what Ry calls Target). The first thing they saw was LOTS AND LOTS OF CLOTHES. They bought some clothes -- Lightning McQueen got a shirt with LIGHTNING MCQUEEN ON IT and Zebra got a shirt with A ZEBRA ON IT.

They were tired so they went home and CLIMBED A TREE AND WENT TO BED.

passed.out

I was in the middle of talking with Ry today...I turned my head for a second and when I looked back I saw this. I guess he needed a longer nap!

Phil's Old House

Bob Villa has nothing on Phil Kerper. He had the week off and has been feverishly working on updating the kitchen and upstairs bathroom.

To add to the suspense, here are the "befores". Stay tuned for the dramatic and breathtaking after shots.

Ode To Cole...A Haiku

The teething baby
Needs Orajel and kisses
Why not born with teeth?????????????????

Splish Splash They Were Takin' A Bath

I Caaaaan't Beeeeeelieve Yoooooou!

I'm Hit!!!!

(In Maniacal Tone): Muah ha ha!!!

Bath

Morning Thoughts With Ry

Mom: What do you want to wear today Ry?
Ry: Einsteins shirt! (A shirt with Leo on it, a charcater from the cartoon Little Einsteins)
Mom: Great, we've got a mission! (They say that on the show) What should our mission be?
Ry: To party!

Random

Applause, please

Ah, the little things. So Cole is now clapping, which is really cute. I know, this is big BIG excitement! Here's a quick video with some apologies in advance:
1. The shaking is me clapping so he'll imitate me
2. He get so pumped up about the event that he pukes at the end. Sorry about that.

More Pancakes Please

Ry thinks that the higher his voice goes the more likely we are to do something for him...

Mysterio Predicts...Your Baby Will Eat Manhattan

Our good friends Sue & Dave and Melissa & Jim also had babies last year. Melissa bought everyone these Mysterio shirts for everyone -- the concept is you buy the shirt and it comes sealed. You open it and Mysterio tells you what your baby is going to be when he/she grows up.

They all wore them around the same age (a few months I think)...which one of these things is not like the other?!

Morning

This is one of those mornings that I arrive at work and take a deep breath and say...thank goodness I'm here.

Phil works 3 12-hour shifts a week. This is wonderful because it means that he's home with the boys 4 days out of the week. The downside of this is on the days he works, he leaves the house at 5:30 am and doesn't get home until 8:30 pm (because he works in Philly).

This means that Mom is on duty 24/7...essentially 2 full time jobs (at least that's how it feels :-). I know it sounds like I'm complaining...really I'm not...I'm just venting. Mostly because of my morning:

• Wake up at 6:30 am and look at the clock. I usually wake up at 5:30. Must not have set the alarm correctly and now I'm guaranteed to have a bad hair day
• Lie in bed for a minute going through my closet in my head. Hear Cole stirring in my crib which means he's not making it to his usual 7 am wakeup call
• Throw on some clothes and brush my teeth. Hair in ponytail
• Get Cole up and go into Ry's room. He opens his eyes and starts crying
• In the car on the way to school, Ry's granola bar breaks in half and this launches him into a total panic and is crying & screaming "Mommy fix it!!!!" Have to pull over and explain to him I cannot put the granola bar back together
• Pull into school. Get Ry out of the car and put him on the sidewalk. Apparently the Granola Bar Incident of 2008 was still on his mind and he throws himself on the ground for tantrum (#1)
• It rained this morning so said tantrum occured inside a puddle
• When I went to put Ry on the sidewalk, I dropped the bag with their daycare stuff so there are bottles and baby food rolling around the ground. One went under a car and I'm on my hands & knees fishing it out (remember it rained...I'm wearing cute jeans...they're now soaked)
• Get Cole out of car. Ry refuses to stand up and walk so I'm forced to do a time-out in the parking lot. This begins a tantrum (#2)
• Finally get him inside and throw him in a chair in the lobby for another time-out. I bring Cole to his classroom and leave Ry there. Parents dropping off their kids are giving him the look of (a) I'm so glad that's not my kid and (b) What mother would just leave a hysterical child to cry alone in the daycare lobby?!
• Finally scoop him up and bring to classroom. His pants are soaked (please refer back to tantrum #1) so I have to replace them. Apparently I haven't updated his extra clothes in awhile and need to squeeze him into pants that are 2 sizes too small. This doesn't fly and he launches into tantrum (#3)
• Get him into a chair for breakfast. Teacher puts a muffin and peaches in front of him. The little bugger looks up at me and says "Ry Ry's happy now."

Need I say more?

Where Does The Time Go?!

I was looking for something on my computer today and found a bunch of old Ry pics...these are from right before we moved into the new house so they're just about a year old. It's so crazy how quickly things change!

New Baby

Liz & George had their baby...George III was born on New Years Eve!

Family Reunion

4 years ago we were very sad to say goodbye to our cousins Patty, Steve, Lissy & Nelly when they moved to Florida. Phil grew up with about 500 cousins within a 1-block radius, so it's been hard to have some people move away. Also, we used to spend Christmas Day at their house and haven't felt the same about the holidays since they left.

The girls came up to visit and everyone got together today for a post-Christmas / pre-New Years extravaganza. We learned...

• Adrienne is majoring in nursing. Following in her big cuz's footsteps?
• Lorraine can go to the bathroom without getting stuck inside (last time we were at Karen's house she had "an incident")
• Ry can be sick all day and not eat anything but still manage to get down a huge slice of cake
• You need to make sure your Will & Testament are up to date when crossing Grant & the Boulevard
• And most importantly...the Brogans are thinking about moving back in 2 years! It's a Christmas miracle!

Whoa, Check It Out!

That's pretty much what Ry said with every present he opened on Christmas morning. We've decided to light candles on Hannukah and save the present opening for Christmas...this was the first year Ry has really understood what was happening so it was fun to watch.

We had a great weekend visiting different friends and family. Going from place to place can sometimes seem chaotic, but looking back on the past few days we feel very lucky to have shared the season with everyone! We've started some new traditions (you feeding us next year on Christmas Eve Langans? :-) and kept up with some old ones.

It's sad to look at our beautiful tree and know the holiday season is over, but we're excited for new beginnings in 2008!

Cousins Party

We went to Grammy and Poppy's house on Sunday to hang with all of the Aunts, Uncles, and cousins. After a delicious holiday feast of pizza and cheesesteaks, we retired to the Living Room for present opening. It was a madhouse of wrapping paper and ribbon, and when the dust settled Ry had new puzzles, Cole had paper in his mouth, and Aunt Lori had a new bottle of vodka. A good time had by all.

It Started Out So Well

Our holiday card was a quick shoot. We lured Ry to the chair with promises of chocolate...Cole of course is always smiling so he was easy...and poor Sam just sat there and prayed for it to be over. The first shots were great...then it was all down hill from there.

Cole Is Crawling (Sort Of)

He's been trying for weeks and we think the time has finally come. Up until now the usual routine has been:
(1) Get into sitting position
(2) Get onto hands & knees
(3) Rock back and forth for a little bit
(4) Cry because he realizes he's not going anywhere
(5) Back to sitting position

This plan has sometimes backfired i.e. the other night when he was found in his crib sitting up with his thumb in his mouth (fast asleep).

We think he's crossed the threshold...time to hide the valuables!

Thursday

Bec threw a Holiday Party at our home for all the QVC TV Sales Managers. For some reason when I got home, all the beer was gone!!

GO QVC!!!

Nothing Left To Do But Smile, Smile, Smile

When the boys are home for the day with Dad anything can happen...

Christmas Parade 2007

Brr it was so cold.

So for the many parades in town we usually stand at 1 particular spot. This is usually the beginning of the route, so we're able to see it from the start and get home before any meltdowns. Well the town decided to pull a fast one on us and the entire parade was reversed. This means we were standing at the very end and had to wait for everyone to go all the way around the route to pass by us.

Ry was pretty excited in the beginning (mostly because he knows standing for a parade equals candy) but after 1/2 hour and no people on floats pelting chocolate at him, he got a little restless. Needless to say we eventually saw some of it, Ry got half a Crunch bar (he kindly split it with his cousin) and then we were off to The Scoop for hot chocolate and ice cream (the irony).

One additional note...Ry learned how to put his hands in his pockets which for some reason was really cute.

Ry vs Cole 7 Months

The mystery continues...
I threw pictures of Phil and myself into the mix this month to see how we all compare.

Cole Is Growing Up

After we realized that we were lugging around a 19 pound baby in an infant car seat, we graduated Cole to the bigger one. Not only has this changed our lives significantly (no more putting the car seat into the shopping cart...it's not so easy anymore!) but it also made us stop and think about how much he's grown lately. He's almost ready to crawl and is saying lots of baby words. Seems like just a few days ago that he was born!