MVCS 2010 Walk-a-thon!

Today was Ryan's schools annual walk-a-thon! Ryan raised $82 for it! It basically is a fundraiser and the money each class raises goes toward their class and different activities for them to do throughout the school year. We've been walking at this since Ryan was a baby, but this is Ryan's first time as an actual student participant! He LOVED it! So thankful it was today and not yesterday as today was beautiful and perfect and yesterday was much cooler and rainy. Thank you Lord!

I was parking across the street from the school when Ryan's class filed outside to head over to the walk-a-thon!

Mrs. Veldkamp leading the class where to go to get ready!
The principle said something to get the different grades excited about the walk-a-thon. Here he was getting the kindergartners excited and fired up about starting!!!

This year the AM kindergarteners walked with the middle schoolers so Ryan and Jordan were excited to walk with Jessica Ketchum- a 8th grader and one of their cousin, Kylie's, good friends. She showed at the Silvana Fair with Kylie this summer and she also helps in the toddler room and AWANAS at our church so the boys know her, too... as you can tell! :)

Jessica and the boys. She's such a sweet girl. Told her in about another year we'd love to have her babysit!

Towards the end Ryan and Jessica decided to start running!

Ryan, Jordan and their classmates cooling down with a popsicle afterwards- Ryan was just waiting for his teacher to get his.

Jessican & Kylie

Mrs. Veldkamp helping Ryan with his popsicle.

Ryan's class hanging out, enjoying their popsicles. Much deserved popsicles might I add!

Ryan walked 7 laps! Jacob and I walked along, but I lost track of how many laps. My friend Lindy and her daughter, Kira, came and walked with us for a little bit, too. Great day out for a walk!

Good job kiddos!

Auntie Kim & Daddy's birthdays!

This past Sunday (19th) was Auntie Kim's 40th birthday and Monday (20th) was Daddy's 32nd birthday! Sunday evening the whole family went over to Kim & Greg's for a bbq dinner to celebrate their birthdays! I made some sugar cookies more so for Kim as she's not a fan of cake/cupcakes. These were 2 custom ones for her- kind of joke she has about the fact that she's turning 40, but still acting like she's 12. :) She thoroughly enjoyed them!

Ryan, Auntie Kim & Shelby showing off Auntie Kim's new necklace that Shelby got her. :)
The boys and I got Daddy an iPod Touch for his birthday!!! I was SO proud that Ryan was able to keep it a secret for over a month! Very impressive! Jeff loves his new toy and already used some of his iTunes giftcards to load his iPod with lots of music!

Here's to many more birthdays!!!!!

Anna & Jacob

Last Tuesday we had Anna over for a few hours while her mom went to her hair appt. Her and Jacob had fun playing together, but also kicking back and watching a cartoon.

Happy kiddos!

Ryan's 1st soccer game!

Yesterday morning Ryan had his first ever soccer game! Oh boy was it entertaining. Here they all are hustling to get the ball!

Jacob telling us all how it is. :)
Coach/Auntie Melinda giving the kids some tips before the next quarter started!

And the games over! What an entertaining 32 minutes! They all did great and know now what they need to work on at practice next week to get ready for their next game on Saturday.

It was funny that it took both teams a minute to figure out how to do this 'line up, give high-fives' thing. Loved it!

Teammates, Ryan & Jordan... they did great!

Ryan is one lucky boy to have so much family come to cheer him and his team on at the game.

Grandma Lee, Aunt Nila & Papa after the game.

Some more of the group, Ryan, Uncle Joe, Grandma, Aunt Nila, & Papa. Shelby was there, too, but was ahead of us pushing Jacob in his stroller. :) The sun was out, too. Perfect day for soccer!

Holy CUPCAKES!

I made about 76 cupcakes yesterday for Kim's 40th birthday party this weekend! Here's my parents spare fridge full of the yummy treats!

Triple fudge cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting. Shelby said light pink is her mom's favorite color so made them pink!
To make sure there was enough, I also made a batch of french vanilla and used some chocolate buttercream frosting my mom had made. Oh sooo yummy!

And some sugar crystals to top them off! :) Happy 40th Kimberly Kaye!

A HOT Jacob!

The night before last poor Jacob had a terribly high fever of 104.5! He woked up from his nap really hot and had a fever of 103 so we went to Target to get some Motrin. I gave him a dose right there in the store and he took it great and the fever came down quite a bit pretty quick. We came home and when I put him down for bed around 9pm his fever was still really low if had any at all. I went to check on him on my way to bed at 11:45pm and the poor little guy was just laying there in his crib with the light on (he turns it on himself most nights) with the brightest red cheeks and on FIRE! Brought him downstairs and checked his temperature and it was 104.5! I went into slight panic mode. Jeff was gone to E. WA so I beeped my mom real quick to see what she thought (I knew she'd still be up) and she said just to give him some more Motrin along with some Tylenol as that's what the doctor told my sister to do for my niece after she had a febrial seizure a few months ago. After I did that I called the triage nurse line at Skagit Peds and a nurse from Children's called me back in just a few minutes. She eased my mind and answered my questions. She did say that if a fever reaches 105 you have to take the child to the ER. I was just praying the medicine would kick in fast and it was go down quickly. She told me to strip him down for a bit and then what kind clothes to put on him for when I did lay him back down in his bed. By 1:40am his fever was down to 101.1 so I laid him down and we both went right to sleep. I was SO tired by this point that I slept like a rock. Although found it ironic that I automatically woke up at 6:30am when he'd be due for his next does of Motrin if he needed it. I went and quietly checked on him and he didn't feel hot and was sleeping soundly so I let him be. Thankfully Melinda beeped and asked if I wanted her to take Ryan to school so that was great especially since Jacob slept till just before 9am. He wokes up looking good and not feverish. His temp was 99.0 so I was happy with that since he hadn't had medicine since midnight. Still for my own piece of mind I took him to the doctor later in the morning. Dr. said he checked out fine... throat, mouth, ears, tummy all were fine so that was good to hear. He thought it could just be a virus or maybe Roseola which is when a child gets a high fever and then in a couple days gets a rash and then that's it. So no rash yet, but still could come if that, indeed, is what it was. Just glad he's better!

Yesterday I made about 76 cupcakes for my sister-in-law, Kim's, 40th birthday party and so I let Jacob sample a tiny bit of the buttercream frosting whenI was done making it. He was a happy boy!!

Going to town licking that spatula!

Mmmmm so yummy! :)

'Pressure washing'

The other day after Ryan spent some time outside in the afternoon, 'working' pushing up feed he decided his loader tractor really needed to be washed. It was cute to see how thorough of a job he did, getting every nook and cranny with the hose.

My cute little farmboy!

Baking boys

Sunday evening Jeff was craving chocolate chip cookies and asked Ryan if he wanted to help him make some- of course Ryan thought that was a great idea!

Happy to be helping- Jeff was even teaching him about measuring as they went along, too!
Ryan got the 'dropping the cookie dough' on the baking sheet down fast. They turned out yummy and tasted even better b/c I didn't have to make them! AND they did their own dishes & clean up afterwards!!!

Domestic Godess (haha!)

I titled this 'domestic goddess' as there is something about baking bread from scratch (for the first time!) that made me feel so domesetic! :) I got the recipe from a blog I've really enjoyed called 'The Pioneer Woman' (www.thepioneerwoman.com) She's just so relatable and has some amazing recipes- love that she has pictures to go along with the cooking/baking instructions so you really can't mess it up. After about a total of 4hrs. of rising (definitely required some time & patience!) it was out of the over and so delicous!

Our babysitter is married off!

On Friday, September 3rd we got to go watch our dear babysitter (friend) Brittany Sybrandy get married. She's exceptionally special as she was the first non-family member to babysit Ryan which says alot for us new parents at the time! Once we met her, we knew we could trust her with our sweet boy. We just love her and are so happy her!

Beautiful bride, beautiful dress, too!
Congrats to Brittany & Brandon!

Ryan's 1st soccer practice!

Today Ryan had his first soccer practice! He was so excited that he got to bring his soccer ball with, too!

Ryan and Jordan- teammates. :)

Megan was on a roll with the camera during practice! Jacob and I went over and sat with her and she was going to town on her mom's cell phone taking pictures and then when she saw my camera she thought we shoud take more! :)

Jacob & Megan.

She wanted one with her Aunty Ally so here we are!
She took this one of Jacob and I! Btw, we did find time to watch the practice in between all these photos! :)
Megan trying to get Jacob to say "cheese!". Sorta worked!

Ryan and Jordan during their scrimage.

Ryan & Catie Couch

Ryan realized his soccer ball also made a good seat to take a quick break!

Auntie Melinda/Coach Melinda giving Ryan some tips before he started the drill.

Ryan had a great time and LOVES playing soccer! Afterwards we went out to my parents and went for a bike ride with my mom and Shelby so he should sleep REALLY well tonight! Had to get to bed on time to get up for school on time tomorrow! Another fun day ahead!

Ryan's 1st day of KINDERGARTEN!

Yesterday morning was Ryan's first day of kindergarten! When he woke up and was cozy on the couch, I called him my little kindergartner and this is the smile he gave me. :)

On our way to head out the door for school! He was so excited he could hardly stand still for the picture!
Ryan sitting at his place at his table, the 'yellow table'. :)

Jordan & Ryan! Best buds, cousins AND kindergartners!

One of the projects the kids were doing while the teacher talked to us parents was to trace their hand. Here's Ryan's... he even made a face out of his thumb- I think he's a happy guy!

Mommy & Ryan. Not a great picture, but it is what it is! :)

Ryan and his teacher, Mrs. Veldkamp, who was also Jeff's kindergarten teacher 25yrs. ago! Pretty special!

8/31/2010.