Tuesday, April 28, 2009

L.A. TRIP #1

This last weekend we drove down to L.A. to attend Ryan's cousin's wedding. The wedding was actually in Silverado (by Irvine). Evan is going through state testing right now and last week. So, we waited for him to get done with his test on Thurs. and then we took both boys out of school early. We drove all day and got in late to the hotel. Ryan's parents and sister, her husband and baby all went too. They all drove in Ryan's parents' car earlier that morning. The boys did really well on the trip, especially Chase. He slept most of the way. Thank goodness.

The next morning, Friday the 24th, we got up and went to breakfast downstairs in the hotel. Then Laura suggested we go to Chuck E. Cheese to let the kids play while we wait to go to the wedding. The boys had a great time. A different Chuck E. was very exciting for them. New games for everyone!
Chase even had a great time! (He put his arms up all by himself!)

We then went back to the hotel and got ready for the wedding. It was fun to get dressed up since I don't get to do it very often. The wedding was at this hacienda place that had white tigers and other exotic animals. The sign in book and appetizers for after the ceremony were up on one level but you had to go down a bunch of steep tile steps to get to the ceremony and then back down again after the appetizers for the dinner and reception. It was a very beautiful and lush place. I guess Erin, Ryan's cousin, didn't do hardly any of the details for the wedding. Her groom Ernie did all the planning. He did a great job. The flowers were beautiful! Erin's dress was incredibly beautiful too. As the evening went on it got cooler and cooler but we survived. After dinner, Mexican food, they had dancing. Our boys tore up the dance floor. They were the hit of the party. They have mooooves! Everyone was cheering them on and Ryan and I were quite proud parents.












Saturday morning we got up and went to Ryan's Uncle Paul's house. His daughter Debbie and her husband Johnnie, his son "little" Paul and his son PJ were there. Ryan's grandma Virginia even came over for a little bit. It was nice to catch up with everyone. We just hung out there for a while and then at dinner time went to Diana's Mexican food. Bill and Cindy are in love with this place. It is good, sometimes a little too authentic for me but good. After that went back to the hotel and tried to get sleep. They didn't have any two queen bed rooms left so for us we had to get two rooms that were by each other and be split up. That was interesting. I didn't like the thought of being away from Ryan in the middle of the night with the boys but it worked out fine. Ryan took Ethan and Chandler and I had Chase and Evan.


Sunday morning got up and left for home. Again the boys were great. It was Ryan who needed a break and I drove for a while. We got home about 7pm. I called this L.A. trip # 1 cause we are all doing it again in 3 weeks to go to Disneyland. Fun, fun!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

OH, E-MAN!!!


Within the last two weeks Ethan, or E-man as some in our family like to call him, has done some acts of naughtiness that I thought I better record. Now these acts yes they are naughty, but when he has been caught his responses have been so matter of fact and innocent that it has really been hard to get angry with him. Oh don't get me wrong I have been the one to catch him on all accounts and yes my immediate response is horror and panic but then it quickly turns into smiles that I am trying very hard to hide from the other boys so they don't think that it is fun and games and do the same. Ethan is 4 and I actually thought this mischevious phase was over but I guess Ethan's imagination and curiousity would beg to differ with me.

So, first Ryan has been borrowing his dad's jeep that has a small trailor on the back to haul rock for our front sidewalk that is being redone. Well, the boys play outside everyday after school. One day I went down on one of my checks and the little neighborhood boy says, "There's something on the jeep door." I look and my heart literally stopped. I had no blood pumping for a while. At the time my arms were full of stuff, but after what I saw I dropped everything and ran down the stairs. Ethan, with a marker, (and mind you at the time I didn't know where he got the marker or if it was permanent or not) had decided to play tic-tac-toe on papa's jeep. Now Ryan and I have always stressed to our boys that we only write on paper. And, no that has not always what they have done however they have never written on anything so blatantly not paper. Oh wait, okay Ethan was the one who wrote circles down my sisters stairs with a marker. Each stair! Thank heavens it came out. But like I said I thought this phase was over! Nope he wanted to play tic-tac-toe and no one would play with him and the big blank yellow-orange canvas of the jeep doors (yes both doors) were to inviting for him. So he played by himself. I ran and got a paper towel and I don't think I ever scrubbed something so hard, except maybe my sister's stairs. It came off but you could still see the shadow of it in the right light. AAAAggggghhhhhh!!! Ryan says it will buff out. And luckily papa was in a good mood and loves his 4 yr. old grandson. Maybe this is how Picaso started? Silver linings right?

Next, couple of days later found his name written on the back of our van. It happened the same day as the jeep it was just in a light yellow marker, not the black used on the jeep, so it was harder to find. Funny thing is Ethan is very proud of himself that he can write his name and loves to make pictures for people and sign his name. Well, you know these little acts are meant to be devious because why would you leave your name as evidence of who the culprit is. Ah young stupid innocence.

Next, walked into the bathroom the other day and there was hair in the sink about an inch long and scissors laying there too. They are Ethan's art scissors. Me- Ethan what did you do? Ethan- I gave myself a haircut. It was sticking up. Now I know this happens with little girls all the time so I didn't think I would ever have to deal with self cuts! Wow was I wrong. Thank heavens that it is not too noticeable. His hair just looks a little thin in the bang area and up top in one section.

And finally, at least for now, about two weeks ago he got out his cars lunch pail and was putting various snack foods in it. I asked him what he was doing and he said that he was just making himself a snack.. I didn't pay much attention to him after that because he seemed to have it under control. Fast forward to this last Sunday. It is his turn to bring snack for his Sunbeam class at church. He gets out his lunch pail to put the class snack in it. He starts to unzip it and it starts leaking blue liquid. Totally bewildered and disappointed Ethan asks," Where'd my popsicle go?" HE HAD PUT A POPSICLE IN THE LUNCHPAIL OVER TWO WEEKS AGO AND THEN PUT IT BACK IN THE PANTRY WHERE IT GOES! `HAH!!! Trying to get out the door for church and now had popsicle goo all over floor. Oh, E-man!! We love ya!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADAM AND GEE!

Yesterday was ,as us family says, the twins 25th birthday. Adam is in Provo, Ut. so we weren't able to spend time with him. We called and sang to him though. However, Angie is in town so we got to celebrate with her. We got some of her friends from school, old friends, families she babysits for and the Claycamp clan together and met at Country Bowl. Yes, once again we went bowling. Good times! Then everyone went over to Round Table Pizza at the mall for dinner. I made her a cake. It is only my second cake for a girl that I've got to do. You know with all my boys I don't get to make pink very often. I can't believe that the twins are 25! wow! We love you guys and wish you a year of fun and happiness!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

EASTER!!!

Easter started for us Saturday night doing our annual egg dying. No major spills this year of the dye! Woo-hoo!
Like every holiday that has a fun character that comes and leaves treats the night before I knew that the boys would be up early. And luckily we are not morning people so early for us is like 7am, so I knew that if I got up at 6:30am and got ready before they woke up we might actually make it to church at 9 am. We went to our parents' ward (it's nice that both sets of grandparents are in the same ward) this morning since our ward isn't until 1pm and right in the middle of when the Reasbecks wanted to have dinner. Sure enough the two older boys were up right at 7am and wanting to see what the Easter bunny had left. They had to wait a little while because we had to wake up daddy and Ethan. Poor Ethan always has to be woken up- on Christmas too! He truly is Ryan and my child. Got everybody up, we let Chase sleep, and headed out to the front room. The boys were elated. Easter bunny kept it simple this year and the boys were excited for their loot. They each found six eggs (plastic with a few coins inside) and then it was a rush to get ready and in the car by 8:40am.

We made it to church with time to spare. The speakers were great and so was the choir. It is still tender that mom isn't there to greet us and in actuality I think it will always be that way.

After church we went home to change clothes and grab our stuff. We went out to the cemetery and took some flowers for mom's headstone. The cemetery is truly a beautiful place. The scenery and view are amazing and I am sure she would have approved of the spot.
After placing the flowers we went over to Ryan's parents house. They had a full house. Aunt Kathy (Cindy's sister), Granny Colleen (Cindy's mom), Ryan's sister Laura her husband Dave and their son Taylor, Mary (Bill's sister) and her husband Ray, us and my dad and sister Angie were invited too. We had an egg hunt for the boys out in their backyard. The kids had a great time. Out of 36 hard boiled eggs we were only missing 1. Pretty good. Then a little later we had a ham dinner. And for dessert Kathy made pineapple upside down cake and carrot cake. MMMMM!! Overall it was a great day with lots of great things and people to remember and spend time with.

Chandler and Aunt Mary finding eggs

Ethan and papa Reasbeck

Grandma Reasbeck, Uncle Ray, Granny, Aunt Kathy, and Gee.

It was fun having part of my family there too. The boys love their Gee! It is also fun to see Chase and Taylor interact. They are only four months apart but what a difference four months make!
















Grandma Reasbeck got the boys some fun things for Easter too. One item were kites. Ethan wanted to do his sooooo bad but there was no wind so everyone kept telling him that it wouldn't work. Well he was bound and determined so to prove my point of it not going to work my dad got it ready for him to try. Well, he proved all of us wrong. He ran back and forth on the grass for quite a while and got it up! Way to go Ethan! What do a room full of adults know!? Chandler even got it up after he saw how much fun Ethan was having with it.

Ethan

Chandler

Thursday, April 9, 2009

CHANDLER'S EASTER PARTY!

Today was the last day of school for Evan and Chandler before spring break. Yesterday we made bunny sugar cookies so the boys could take them to their classes. Evan took his just for fun to share with his class, but Chandler took his because he signed up to bring them for his class party. Kindergarten is so much fun and his teacher Ms. Tilzey does a lot of fun stuff for the kids. The Easter Bunny came, they found eggs with their names on them. which were filled with candy, they had a feast of every treat you could possible think of and they wore bunny ears that they made. The funny thing with the ears is Chandler tried as much as he could to dump the ears. He just did not appreciate them at all. Ms. Tilzey kept telling him to put them back on and every time Chandler rolled his eyes. You see if anything is remotely "babyish" and Chandler has to participate it is very difficult for him. I think since he is an older kindergartner and ALL BOY just anything like bunny ears is very embarrassing for him (even though the whole class had them on too.) All in all he was a good sport and had a great day. It is a lot of fun for me to get to go into Chan's class every Thursday. Cindy, Ryan's mom, is fabulous enough to have given me Thursdays to work in both boys' classrooms and do whatever else I need to do and she'll watch Ethan and Chase. I am very blessed and spoiled that she does that for me and I am truly grateful to her.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

OPENING DAY!

Well it is officiall. We are in full gear now with baseball. This morning was opening ceremonies for our little league. Along with the parade of teams each of the boys had their hit-a-thon and team/individual pictures. (Actually Ethan didn't have his hit-a-thon and Chandler didn't have pictures. They are both scheduled for other times.) The hit-a-thon is how the league makes their money. The players go out and get pledges and then everyone hits off a tee and whoever hits the ball the farthest, in each team, gets a new bat. And, depending on how much money you raise there are various prize levels. We had to be at Big League Dreams, Redding's baseball park, this morning at 8:10 am. Chandler had his hit-a-thon at this time and he did well. The ceremonies which consist of the flag salute, parade of teams, and prize handouts for top money collectors, started at 9am. The parade of teams is fun and neat. Each team in each division (t-ball, coach pitch, machine pitch, minors and majors) comes out as a team all in their uniforms, with their banners and are announced. Usually they have this at a school's baseball field where the games are played. This year they had it at the city's baseball park and it was very cool. The park is beautiful. The grounds are very well kept up, there are 4 baseball diamonds all with nice seats and it really makes you feel like you are at a pro field. So, they had the hit-a-thon at two of the diamonds going on all day. Pictures were being taken in a field and they were having minor and major teams playing on the two fields right by the snack lounge. So, after the parade we went into the snack area to get warm and get something to eat. It was nice to hang out there and just relax while we waited for the next picture or hit-a-thon. With three boys doing all these activities we were there all day. Got there at 8am and left at 3:30pm. While we were waiting for our times we sat and watched one of the games going on. At Evan's hit-a-thon he got 3rd! Way to whack that ball! Great job buddy! Finally, after the last activity that we needed to be at the boys went to the batting cages there and each did a couple of rounds. Ethan even got in there and was hitting like a pro. It was a great day! We all got a little too much sun and are all very tired but overall it was a great memory maker day!
We were all having fun watching the big boys play.
We can't forget mom and Chase. Yes we were there too and having a great time! I love this picture! Chase was an angel boy the whole day. What a happy baby!
My three players and coach!
This picture was taken at the end of the afternoon. Ethan had absolutely had it. He was done. Had no more smiles or fun left in him. This picture just makes me smile.
What great looking boys. Ethan's uniform is so big on him it reminds me of the 1930's players. Too cute!

Evan taking his individual pictures. Looks great!



Evan's team is the Washington Nationals (machine pitch). Evan is in the back row, far left, right in front of the coach in black.


Ethan is on the Red Sox (t-ball).


Ethan is so excited to finally be on his own real team! He's in the front row, bottom far right.


Chandler's team the Cubs (coach pitch) walking onto the field for the parade of teams. Ryan is one of the assistant coaches for the team. He loves it! (Ryan is the coach in the middle. Not sure what one Chandler is.)