Point for Dad

Rock star Daddy scored big points tonight! I came home from work to find the kids up late playing. He bought them an air hockey table and the season finale of Clone Wars was on and he bought them chocolate milk.

Heaven they say.

I don't know why nights with me aren't so fun. We have a fun night of making them clean up and do homework.

I can't compete. I admit complete defeat.

"Druck! Druck!!"

As soon as Sam's little ears hear that garbage truck coming, his face lights up as he jumps up and down yelling "'Druck! Druck!!!". Mama knows that it doesn't matter where we are or what we are doing, we must quickly run to the window (or door if we are dressed tee, hee) to watch the truck grab the garbage can, flinging it's contents into the truck to be mashed. It's fascinating and wonderful and garbage day is the best day of the week as far as he is concerned.

Reminds me of a story of a little boy that wanted to grow up and be a garbage man. He loved watching that truck just as much, if not more, than little Sammy. The way the men grabbed the cans and flung them in and pulled the lever to compact it in. His Mama said it didn't matter if he was swimming in the bath, if he heard that truck coming, he had to be there for it.

This morning, I watched my Ryan lift my Sammy J up to see out the upstairs window watching that neat garbage truck do its job. Ryan enthusiastically pointing at the truck and watching Sam's amazement. My grown up man and his son sharing the same passions in life.

Happy, Happy Birthday Ryan Dear!

Today is Ryan's 33rd birthday! I think that he had a good day enjoying all his birthday events. You know, in our household, everything, even the mundane daily tasks of life, are birthday events on your birthday. So today, Ryan enjoyed going to birthday church, a birthday nap, and birthday Red Sox's game. We went over to the in-laws tonight for his favorite birthday dinner of steak, corn, salad and raspberry lemonade. Sharon made him his favorite dessert of all time, Raspberry Delight. They spoiled him with manly gifts and favorite treats.

His birthday (or any holiday with gifts) wouldn't be right without being able to open at least one gift or card with his pocket knife.

After our celebrations there, we headed home for a little celebration of our own. Jake made up a game of "The Price is Right" for Ryan to guess for his presents. If he got the right number, we brought in the present. We can't help but get silly cards for him either. Several weeks ago, the kids and I fell upon this dumb Simpson's card that sang a song that Ryan had taught Jake when he was little. Of course we had to get it and looks like he enjoyed it too.

The kids were beyond excited at this point and started scribbling on papers for birthday notes and doing birthday tricks. Mia started doing flips and Sam joined in on the fun for his own version - sliding across the floor with his head. Interesting to say the least.

We love Ryan very, very much! He is a wonderful Dad to our three crazy kids. He works hard for us and plays with the kids. He's so good about coming home and rounding the kids up for a little something like going to the park, getting a Slurpie, going fishing or to the baseball game. In fact, I think he's done all those things just this week!

Happy Birthday my friend! We all love you very much, but not as much as I love you! Mwah!

Belated Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the one that I love. Thanks for being such a good Dad to our kids. They love you and know that you love them. When you are home, you are often found with at least one child but often all three kids snuggled into you. You make me laugh when you say you are a minor celebrity in our home. It's so true! Thank you for playing games and ball with Jacob, for being wrapped around Mia's pinkie finger and for teaching Sammy tricks. We love you so much and are so grateful to have you in our lives.

To Papa: My Dad has such a sweet, calming presences about him. He can calm me down easily. Thank you for always being so good to me and our family. Thank you for your good example, your willingness to tirelessly help. I love to watch you spoil our children with your love and attention. I love that you dance and play with them the way that you did with me. I am grateful to live close to you and that my children have you in their lives. We love you!!

To Dave: Thank you for raising such a good man. I am so thankful that he is willing to tirelessly provide for our family. I know that he learned that from you. Thank you for spoiling Ryan by taking him on trips and talking about your favorite hobbies. I love that you can get Ryan to really laugh. I love it when I hear you two talking and laughing. And finally, I love that you love your grandchildren. When we come to visit, I enjoy watching each child climb up to you to snuggle and read a book or play a game or two. Thanks for spoiling them! We love you too!

For Father's Day this year, we went to Teryn's house for good food, good company and lots of room to play. Her house is the best to entertain at. The boys were downstairs enjoying the game, the women outside talking on the deck and the children running amuck. Thanks for opening your home to us.

A few tidbits of cute.....

Ryan "a-tackling" Sam. "Atackle" is one of our favorite Jakey's made-up words. and baby giggles are addictive.

This birthday purse that I could not leave because it was only $1. It's fabric is like a carpet. Thus the name of carpet bag possibly? I honestly don't know what I would do with it, but I like it just as much as Ryan doesn't like it. But he let me get it anyway. Because it was my birthday. And it was a dollar.

Apparently, it's time for the lemonade/garage sale. Jake is the major sales man of the family and has been selling pencils all Winter long. When there is the slightest bit of sunshine, Jake is out there working the crowd of neighborhood kids. All three of them. Must remember to buy more cups. It's going to be a loooooong summer of sales.

Nine Years

Nine years ago today, Ryan and I were married. It was a beautiful spring day. The flowers were blooming and it wasn't too chilly. Crazy since the day before was a blizzard! We were young and in love and had no idea what to expect. Our lives have changed dramatically since that day starting with welcoming Jacob into our lives just ten months later!

I am so happy to be have Ryan. He's a good father, provider and husband. He still makes me laugh and he still gets good laughs at my expense. I can't believe that he can still pull one over me after all these years. You would think that I would have wised up by now.

Happy Anniversary Ry!!

Say hello to our little friend

Hello little car! Welcome to the family. We are very grateful to have you. We promise to be nice to you if you promise to be good to us. You need a name, don't you. I think that you are a girl.....hmmm....how about Stella? Do you like Stella? Never mind that Ryan might not agree.
It's always nerve racking to buy a car. You never know what problems you are buying. This little car does have a little bit of work that needs to be done, but other than that, it runs like a champ. It's nice and clean inside and Ry actually fits in it without squeezing him too much. Although, he literally could drive the car with his knees if he wanted to. He's tricky like that. It's hard finding cars that Ryan can fit in comfortably being that he is tall and big.
I have been thinking a lot about needs vs wants. Having one car is a need and having two cars is a luxury. We have always had two cars except this past month or so. It's been interesting to see how we worked it out. It was fine. Compromise from both of us. Still, I know Ryan is grateful to have his own car again.
Thanks to Teryn for finding the car!! She is good to us like that. We went down to her house after school yesterday. It's always fun to go down there. We had dinner together, talked and the kids played. Fun times! We never do it enough.
So, be good little car! We are crossing our fingers and holding our breath and praying that we don't have a major disaster on our hands.

Him vs Her

Ryan's choice :

4 wheel drive, duck hunting manliness

vs

my choice

good gas mileage, reliable commuter car
Looks like we need a compromise.

My man's love

His strong hands lifted them from their bath where he gently dried them, gave them a little pat and a rub and sent them off to rest last night. He woke early to get them started for the day, dressing them, making sure they were warm and dry shielding them from the rain as he headed out to church. Patiently working with them while they took their time to finish their task, gently prodding them in the right direction. So proud of them as they finished the long task he had set out for them the night before he took their picture to immortalize their achievements. My man's love?

Baby back ribs smoked and grilled to perfection.

Happy Birthday Ryan!!

To my favorite Ryan! We are so lucky to have you!! You are really good to us. We had a good, mellow birthday day with you today. It was nice to have you home all day and in a good mood. You said that you just wanted the weekend off from work and that's what you are getting. A laid back, go with the flow, nice kind of day with nothing much to do tomorrow.

I know that you aren't the biggest birthday fan. You don't require much hoopla but I still think that you had fun today. I think you look good in your spankin' new shirt and hope you enjoy homemade card and new cologne. It's not much and you think it's too much, but you my dear, are worth it.

I love watching you and the kids interact. You are so good to them. Calm and forgiving. Silly and playful with lots of tricks thrown in the mix. I was watching you walk out of the store tonight with the kids hand in hand with you. You were getting Mia to say some sort of trick and Jake was laughing along with you. I am glad that they make you happy! You can almost always get Sammy to smile at you. It makes me smile when you call him Fat Sam and laugh at him rolling around the floor. He's your funny fat baby.

As always, thanks for being a good daddy and husband. Thanks for taking care of us, playing with us and loving us!

We love you!

Linc and the kiddos

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Last night, we celebrated Ryan's birthday with his parents. We get to go out to dinner with Ry's folks for our birthdays and more often than not, we head out to Lee's Mongolian Barbecue. It's all you can eat good food, good conversation and good laughs. They definitely spoiled him this year. He got a nice shooting bag, gift certificate for dinner at Red Lobster, gift card for the movies with a free babysitter (yeah!) and best of all a Henry lever action 22 rifle from his brother. He was very excited to get the rifle. A while back on the annual father-sons outing to Ephraim, Ryan got to use Matt's new rifle. Ryan had never shot that one before and he really enjoyed it! He out shot his brother and his dad with it! Lucky him that Matt is so extremely generous! Ryan is really excited about it. He gave us all a demonstration and let Jake hold it for a minute. Very exciting!

Of course Sharon made Ry's favorite dessert - Raspberry Razzle Dazzle. It's a brown sugar, coconut, rice crispies and vanilla ice cream concoction with fresh raspberries and raspberry junket. His long standing favorite dessert. He thinks he's had it every year for at least 20 years! Afterwards, more fireworks. We do a lot of fireworks in July since birthdays fall close to the holidays. It's nice sitting at the end of the driveway enjoying the kids enjoying the fireworks. Sam actually fell asleep in the middle of the noise! That kid can sleep through anything!

Thanks Ryan for some fun times! We love you and really like you too!

"If you don't eat, you will die!"

One morning, I was awaken early by Jacob, who was about 3 years old at the time. He was nose to nose with me.
"Mama! Mama!" he said.
"What do you need Jake?" said I, slightly annoyed at the time of the morning.
"If you don't eat, you will DIE!" he exclaimed dramatically.
'Nuf said. Can't argue with that.
That story is one of our favorites around here. It's often said when somebody is hungry. I can't help but think about how hungry he must of been and how bad I am at actually feeding my family. I wish that I could say that I am a fabulous cook like my sister Sharmyn. That my family just can't get enough of my good ol' home cookin' as they sit around the table anticipating their favorite dinner. I make. Sadly, they are only excited about cheeseburgers or pizza. So sorry that they are junkies. I think, as a consequence of my lack of culinary skills, Ryan has taken up grilling. He loves to grill for us and really, it's the main source of dinner here most of the time. He's a good griller and he really seems to enjoy himself. Tonight, he made the most delicious dinner that is now Number 1 on my list! It's Grilled Meat and Vegetables over Saffron Orzo from the Food Networks "Everyday Italian". (You can click on highlighted words for the recipe link.) It's delicious! It's by far the best thing that he has ever made! We didn't make the orzo, so we can't account for that, but the rest is wonderful! If you are looking for some easy good grilling recipes, check it out. You won't be sorry. It's a good thing that Ryan is keeping us fed because if you don't eat, you will DIE!

{random picture monday}

That Sammy is so snuggly. Now back to this...........

blech....