Little gym

This summer in Kentucky, Rylan visited his cousin's Little Gym class on "Bring a friend day". Yes, it totally worked, because he had a great time and it got us thinking about signing him up for a class in Colorado. I had also been thinking a lot about preschool for Rylan this fall. I wanted him to learn how to follow another adult's instructions, lengthen his attention span for an activity, and build more confidence with his peers in social situations. I am not in a hurry to push academics, so a gym class seemed a good fit. This was his second week, and my first week to take him. The theme was "Robot Riot", which couldn't have been more perfect for my robot-loving boy. He pretends to me a robot most of the time we are in public. (It works great in the grocery, because my "helper robot" will grab things off the shelves for me.)

I don't think Rylan stopped smiling the entire hour-long class, and I loved seeing his joy in running, climbing, jumping, swinging, and flipping. He got distracted by all the cool equipment and had to be re-directed back to the group several times, but overall seemed to be following directions well. I think this class is going to be a really great thing for him.

Sorry the pictures aren't great, I had to shoot them through the glass.

There are 4 other girls in Rylan's gymnastics class. Maybe we'll have some boys sign up later. There would probably be more boys in the sports class, but unfortunately it is held right in the middle of naptime.

Rylan trying to walk like a robot on the balance beam. He told me his teacher, Miss Evelyn is really nice, which is also encouraging, because he hasn't ever told me he likes his teachers.

When's my turn? Caroline is fascinated with watching the other kids. We have two extra classes that I am planning to use for her and I think she will love it, too.

Somebody wants a big girl bed

Caroline loves Rylan's bed. When he lies down for his afternoon nap, she hurries to crawl in next to him. "I wanna go Bubba's bed," she begged last night while Rylan was still in the bath.

I am busy searching craigslist because as my girl says, "I wanna 'biggurl' bed, Mama."

Mail's here!

Look what I found in our mailbox! Actually, he climbs in there almost every day we go to get our mail, but I finally took my camera with me yesterday. It would be so much fun to surprise our mailman, but I don't know how we could pull off that trick!

Dentist, take 2

Rylan had his appointment to repair his cavities today. He couldn't eat after midnight, so the lack of breakfast was pretty upsetting to him. I purposely scheduled our appointment as early as possible to make that less of an issue, and thankfully Charlton was able to watch Caroline so I could focus just on making things smoother for Rylan. I was nervous about the whole ordeal and guilty that I couldn't have prevented him from getting a cavity in the first place.

The oral sedation made Rylan pretty loopy and I enjoyed being able to cuddle him while we were waiting for it to take full effect. He was giggly and kept saying "hi" and "thank you for working on me" over and over again to the hygienists. They came out to give me an update and said he was so sweet they were going to keep him. The next update was longer in coming and they told me he had gotten mad and was "done" before it was time. Haha! That sounded more like the real Rylan. Evidently kiddos can have pretty wide mood swings on the medication. Overall, he did very well and I was so proud of him. Charlton had surprise toys from Wal-Mart and I fixed his breakfast request, pancakes.

I did well too, and didn't even get teary until we were home and he was down for his nap. I almost lost it when the secretary asked if I was okay while waiting. It was hard to see my little guy have to go through such a procedure, but everyone at the dentist's office was really great with him. Wheww, I am so glad that is over.

Happy news

I can't believe I keep forgetting to post some great news. My sister Bethany is moving to Colorado! She fell in love with our state on her first visit last August, but wasn't able to get a job as a new nurse graduate. After 8 months of experience, the story was totally different. She made an appointment to chat with the ICU nurse manager at my hospital and was immediately offered a position.

I am a bit jealous that she scored a day nurse position, but beyond excited to have my sister and friend so close. We are expecting her to arrive in early October. She will be living with us until she is a able to find a good, dog-friendly place for her and her Great Dane, Gatsby, to live.

See you again soon, Bethany! We can't wait for you to become a Colorado girl.

Fox Run park

I got a few cute pictures of the kids at one of our favorite parks last Friday. We played on the playground, fed cheerios to the goldfish in the ponds, and the kids cooled off splashing in the creek to their heart's content.

Caroline pats Rylan on the head, I think telling him to "hurry up and let me have a turn."

Sliding can be serious sometimes.

Smiling eyes.

Apple pie time!

Our tree exploded with beautiful blossoms in May.

The first of the apples. We had a bumper crop this year, enough for the birds, squirrels, and us! The last two years there weren't any leftovers for us.

It was a lot of work slicing and peeling all those apples. Some still looked a little green. I was worried about how the pie would turn out.

30 minutes later. Mmmm! The pie turned out delicious, if I do say so myself. Not a bit tart.

Charlton loved it so much, he was on a ladder shaking the tree a few days later. There will be a pie #2 for Labor Day.