Snow

Ryan and I enjoyed playing in the snow (15") on Saturday. I don't have snow pants though and was a little cold. Then we came in and made snow ice cream. Todd just sat inside and watched out the window. He opened the door and I shot a snowball right between his legs into the dining room!

November

Living history Farms

Pure Joy at the State Fair

This year was the first year that Ryan rode the rides at the Fair. He was sooo happy. This is what life is about.

State Fair and Other Summer Pics

Ryan is in the red helicopter. I teared up when I saw him so high in the air.

I thought this cloud was strange looking. It was a cool, beautiful evening with no rain.

The Cyclist

Swimming on My Own 2

Swimming on My Own 1

Look at Ryan swimming with just his noodle. The teacher isn't holding on!

cupcake chef

San Diego

A mere 24 hours before this I was getting sunburned in Balboa Park in San Diego CA.

These pictures don't do these delphiniums justice. I have never seen such truly blue flowers.

This Week

Rain, rain go away. I'm sick of this! Thursday and Friday were so nice. We played outside Thursday night until after dark, and Friday we spent 2.5 hours at Riley Park. We also went to Baskin Robbins and had a playdate with Anthony and Chase. I got to visit with Rachel, which was awesome. Saturday we went to them to Jumpin Jacks, which I thought was a good value for $6.36. Ryan really liked their bounce houses and the fun house mirrors. There weren't too many people there either, which was nice. I think they were all at KidsFest.



Last weekend I went and cropped with the girls. It was fun and I had my usual spurt of laughing until I cried. The weekend before that I had Hansens and Diane&Brian over for Mardi Gras. I made a King Cake and some kickass gumbo. I took some to my boss at work, who is from Louisiana, and he ruled it authentic.



The other excitement was our trip to McDonalds last Sunday. We ran into a bully. He was either 3 or 4. He was trash talking to Ryan. I told Ryan that the bully was a bad boy and he should stay away from him. Then Ryan comes back and said he had hit him. I said, was it an accident or on purpose? So Ryan marches over and said "Hey kid, did you hit me on accident or on purpose?". The kid turns and flips me the bird. Then Ryan says "Kid, you are a bad boy so I won't play with you. Next time if you can be good I will play with you." The kid glares at me. I look over at the mom. She glares at me. I was so proud. Then we skee-daddled. Normally I would say something to the mom, but she looked like a wirey piece of white trash that could really kick my ass. And use the f-bomb a lot. By the way, she also left to go to the restroom and left him all by himself in there.

The insurance company came and got the trailer and we got our check. Now we just have to find something else to haul dj equipment in.

Thanks for the Spiderman Bathrobe Aunt Kathy!

Update

Ryan and his new belt.

Batman on his mighty steed at HyVee.

New belt and new dragon boots.

Things at the Stein house are good yet bad, horrible yet wonderful. The bad is that things are tight since Todd hasn't had luck finding a job yet. Even the shit jobs have more applicants than positions. I know he is frustrated too and needs some social contact! We have tried various daycare schedules to keep Ryan hanging out with his friends, but Ryan is now home full time with us. Todd is home with him Mon - Thursday, and I am working 4 - 10 hour days so I can be home on Fridays. Todd is dee-jaying on Friday nights. Ryan is loving being home, but he doesn't nap and doesn't eat, so that can make for some long days. We have been crafting and Todd and Ryan have a schedule of playtime, reading time, craft time, etc so it is going well.

The great thing about all this is that we are spending a lot of time together. The bad thing is that we are spending a lot of time together. We all have cabin fever and are bickering. I took Ryan on a few errands the other day and he kept begging me not to take him home yet. We managed to hit the last 5 minutes of Clifford the Big Red Dog's visit to the library, so that was very exciting. I also have fixed him up on two play dates, but the friend he had over today didn't really want to play, so he watched tv and Ryan played outside. It was too nice to stay in. Yesterday I took him to the zoo. It was awesome. There were only 10 people there that I saw and it was nice enough to walk around outside.

Another lovely thing is that Culver cut all the money to pay my salary out of the budget, but it is only February and I have 11 years of seniority so I'm not to worried. Plus the work the inventory I have to do is mandated by state law so they need me.

Our basement is all cleaned up since we had those work parties in January, so I am hoping to do some entertaining for the poker girls soon. I am also looking forward to cropping with the girls on February 28! Sadly, I have not done any cropping since the last time we were together on November 1.

The thing I am most proud of Ryan is that he has an awesome imagination and uses it all the time. He saw the Imagination Movers on Disney the other day, and now he runs around in a pair of blue pajamas (they're supposed to be coveralls) so he can be the Imagination Guy. He also has an imaginary baby brother who is either named Alec or Jaison, depending on the day. He also spends a lot of time as Nick the cleaner guy.

He has also started dressing himself, doing dishes, dusting, and helping with the laundry. He is such a big boy now!

snow

Hello Faithful Readers

Hi everyone. I'm still here. I guess I got busy with Ryan and the holidays and got behind on my blog. Not much is new here except Ryan pees in the potty now. I also rearranged his room and removed some toys so he can actually move around in there.

Ryan is staying home now with Todd 3 days a week, so we are all adjusting. It is sooo nice to get up those 3 days and only have to get me ready to go! We are having a party on the 16th for my section at work and on the 17th for Todd's former employees, so we have been frantically reorganizing the basement. I am looking forward to it, but I will be glad when it's over!

I am also insanely jealous. My parents are an a cruise right now and should be entering the Panama Canal tomorrow morning. Sounds a lot better than Des Moines.