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.

Last day of swimming lessons!

Yesterday was Ryan and Shelby's last day of swimming lessons for the summer at Pam's house. The last day is more of a 'play day' so they would do different things they learned and then get to pick a piece of candy. Unfortunately yesterday was COLD and breezy (raining sideways earlier in the day!) so it wasn't the best circumstances, but they still had fun. At least the pool was warm! Here they are doing the 'ride the pony' game, but Ryan insisted his was a bull.

Jacob was content during the lesson looking at a John Deere toy magazine and enjoying some fruit snacks!
Little swimmer, Ryan, with his goggles and 'bull'. :)

Ryan and Shelbly asked if she could come over after swimming so when we got home I made them some yummy hot chocolate to warm them up!

They both had alot of fun at their last lesson and their teacher, Pam Kutsher, was so nice to make the each goody bags. :) I was so impressed on how much Shelby & Ryan both learned. Looking forward to next summers lessons!!!!

"Plow Day" August 28, 2010

This annual local 'Plow Day' was alot bigger this year with lots of tractors! This year they even did a parade of all the tractors. Here they are all lined up. My dad was the leader of the pack. :)

My dad asked Ryan if he wanted to ride with him during the parade, but before they got too far they realized it wasn't a very comfortable riding tractor so Ryan willingly hopped off.

He was planning to bring his shiny JD 80 tractor, but when he went to get it that morning, it had a flat tire so he took his old Allis-Chalmers instead that he used to use all the time so he was right in his element!

Jacob BEGGED to get on so he got to sit with his Papa for a few minutes before they got going.

It was really sweet, all of the sudden I looked down at Jacob and he had the saddest look on hs face so Ryan went over to comfort him and they stood there and hugged for a minute. So sweet. Love these boys.

Ryan asked to borrow my camera to take some pictures and this was one I found on it when I went through them later that night. Pretty impressive I thought! He's got an eye for photography already!

My friend, Mindy and her son Asher, came and joined the festivities with us. They had a great time sitting on this Gator!

Once my dad got back, Ryan was off and running to meet him when he got off the tractor!

My dad had a cling-on that afternoon! Jacob would not let him put him down or come to me! Here's him and his Papa visiting with the Tvelde's from up north.

Darren Morrison let Ryan drive his Gator while he pushed on the petals... Ryan was in heaven!

After the parade and checking out all the tractors, we all headed across the road to the Olsen's yard for some lunch! Bbq'd hotdogs, oysters, chips, salads and of course, fresh corn on the cob! Ryan loved helping "Mr. Morrison"husk the corn to put in the pot. He was quite the helper!