**Blueberries & Stars**

I especially love this because it doesn't look like he likes them at all but he keeps eating and saying they are nummy!

It takes him about 30 seconds to get going from the beginning again...My favorite part is "like a diamond in the sky". Sometimes he substitutes diamond (a shape to him, not a gem) with circle, rectangle, etc. It was great to see him first have this thought - "why is a star like a diamond? they are different shapes!". I had never even considered this seeming contradiction before!

Blaahhhgg

Photo courtesy of kaushik.net

I consistently hear the 'debates' as to why one blogs so I'm putting it out there, taking out the mystery, you will wonder no longer! About me anyway...

Simply put, I blog for me. That's it. I enjoy it, it makes me happy, it's rewarding. On many levels it makes me think. It forces me to always see the best in life, to find joy and excitement in the little things and most importantly to have them documented. I'm even making a book http://www.blurb.com/ - thanks Lisa! Without my blog I would not have a journal. I would lose the vast majority of little moments that make up life, I am so glad there is a medium that keeps me interested and consistent.

A common criticism is that many bloggers are unrealistic, they paint a pretty picture of life that is not reality. Well who wants the nitty gritty in peoples lives? I know, dumb question there is a reason people love reality television where the characters are miserable, being objectified or are simply in a bigger mess than the viewer. There is also a reason why that type of entertainment is not for me. Instead I prefer a more positive outlook on life, not that I'm always very good at it... Not only that but when I blog about the happy events and moments in my life it actually makes me happier! I am forced to reflect on different aspects of my life from a positive perspective, that's really all it is anyway, perspective.

My overall thought about the whole situation is who cares? If you enjoy reading my blog by all means read it, if you don't so be it, I am in no way offended. For those of you who are concerned by the judginess {fake word} of readers don't let it be discouraging. Really. It's your blog, it's your life and YOU get to look at it however you want! Put yourself out there emotionally, or don't. Talk about the events of your life in a positive light, or don't. Blog weekly, monthly or annually. But be true to yourself, you're in no way accountable to anyone else just because you are willing to share. But keep sharing (if you want) because I love it!

Clever Monkey

I don't know how this boy gets more clever each day but he does!

His latest occupations...

.: home building :.

Out of anything! This day it was books. He was so committed that he fell asleep with a roof on his head. Of course we took it off while he was sleeping not at all expecting him to wake up asking "where the roof go?". I refrained from telling him it was on fire (you're singing it now too aren't you?).

.: robot repair :.
He finds a screwdriver (real or toy) to repair all the robots in the house which include Mama Robot, Daddy Robot, Dylan Robot, Capri Robot and a variety of inanimate robots. He takes this job very seriously and if he needs help he will find another tool for others to participate. He is picking up on the "bleep blop blorp" language very well and I am confident his skills will be critical to our inevitable droid dependent future.

.: general silliness :.

In the soccer ball bin at Ikea.

.: car creations :.

He is all about riding in luxury and comfort.

.: train tracks :.

He used to make trains out of EVERYTHING but now it's the tracks. He lines up pillows, studiously gathering them from all over the house to create a track. Straws, blocks and snacks are among his other favorite resources.

.: blocks :.

First thing each day all of the blocks get dumped out, then we build. He has very specific requests but fortunately that is coupled with an even better imagination. My ability to build a house, airplane, doggie or car out of mega blocks is nothing to brag about but that's one of the greatest things about being mom - he thinks they are "wow cool"!

.: art :.

He is finally getting into drawing, cutting, coloring and painting. I have been looking forward to this his entire 29 month life! Now we get out the crayons, colored pencils, paint and/or play dough almost every day and he makes works of art.

Legen...hope your not lactose intolerant...dary

Dylan really got into Ryan's birthday last week. He is still telling him happy birthday every day. The day of his birthday Dylan was INSISTENT that it was also my birthday and when I corrected him he would argue vehemently. I loved it! Even today I was on a work call and Dylan came over and said "Hi daddy" and started singing Happy Birthday into the phone. Luckily the guy I was talking to also has a toddler and thought it was pretty funny!


On the big day we decorated with "alloons", the banner Dylan chose and the card he made. Then we made numma french toast.

I had planned a surprise dinner with Ryan's family but of course it didn't work out as a surprise! Ryan was starving and I ran out of excuses as to why he should wait until 7 to eat...Thanks everyone for coming and keeping it on the down low.
Thank goodness Grandpa took pictures because I wasn't very good about that this week! Of course they are all of Dylan, we all saw enough of Ryan in this post - or did we???


Everyone was so thoughtful with gifts! We got him a new belt buckle and watch, his mom and dad got him a beautiful copy of Farewell to Arms, Kristi got him the running stuff mentioned before and Mike got him some of his favorite shows and a very funny card.

Saturday the celebrations continued with my family at SDRC and dinner at Texas Roadhouse. It was so much fun and really yummy! Again spoiled he got one of his favorite films Orange County, an Apple gift card and the book "Roanoke" which is right up his alley.

(where was my camera??)

My mom took Dylan home while we went to Guster that night.

I know you are thinking "I'm exhausted already!" but that's not all, not even close!

Here comes the tasty icing...

Sunday we had dinner at Madsens. It was so much fun, I have serious withdrawals without you guys, it's not pretty! We did our Christmas and Ashlii and Ryan's birthdays, watched the Golden Globes and played this awesome new game they got us called Dixit - check it out! It's hard (for some of us!) but really unique and fun.

Sophie and Rubie have a special place in my heart, Ryan and I both love these girls! And every time I see them I love them even more. Especially with Dylan. Sophie is so good at playing with these little ones and Rubie and Dylan are absolutely in love, as god intended. They were hugging and holding hands all night without us directing them at all. Granted we betrothed them in utero but since then they have made this choice all on their own.


Thanks to all for the fantastically legendary week! I love that I get all the benefits of Ryan's big day too.

Run Ryan Run

If Ryan had any thought of slacking off with his running his "support" group is making sure that doesn't happen!

It started at Christmas when my mom gave him a large supply of gels to keep him fueled, then Kristi gave him high tech running socks and sport beans for this birthday all to be topped off with this incredible basket from the Madsens. Really? You're all so generous.
You better not let them down Ry, Boston 2012??

Kudos to Cole for the clever contents of the running basket and HUGE thanks to you both for the shoes. He was out in the cold breaking them in last night and raved about them and his happy feet the rest of the evening.


Contents: Men's Health and Fitness magazines, "Where Men Win Glory" by John Krakauer, Clif Bars, 5 Hour Energy, Forrest Gump and ...wait for it... the perfect fanny pack, Ryan wears it even when he isn't running ;-)

Thanks everyone for keeping him equipped and motivated!

Perspective

Like it...or don't. But I found it interesting!

Why I can't stop reading Mormon housewife blogs?
I'm a young, feminist atheist who can't bake a cupcake.

Why am I addicted to the shiny, happy lives of these women?

For the less tech-savvy click on the above headline to read the full article. I'll feed you baby birds.

UPDATE:

I don't know if people read the comments on my blog but don't want you to miss this link that Krissy left.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-12192050

"It's the imperfections that make us human" I couldn't agree more Ms. Freegard!

And I say AMEN to Frank Furedi! "Parents are always being judged in one way or another - including by this report. The real solution is to lay off parents and publish less reports."

And the one I truly take to heart:

"You're in competition with no-one but yourself -

all you can do is the best for you and your kid."

-- Dr Linda Papadopoulos

The perfect evening...

I had the perfect evening planned Tuesday; Sams Club, spin class and a swim. Perfection, right?? Well Ryan threw that plan right out the window! He got home about 5pm and decided we should go see Dashboard Confessional in concert. What? Spontaneous and random and SO not typical Ryan so I was all over this rare opportunity!

Of course this isn't as easy as it used to be since we have Dylan logistics but thank goodness my mom is always willing to drop what she is doing to watch him - seriously we are so lucky!! And so is Dyl he already had a fun day in the snow with Grandma T. and now he was going to play with Anna and Grandma H. --> this plan was working out great for all!!

So we sped to Murray to drop off Dyl and sped back downtown for the concert. We got there at about 6:45 to see some lame guy with even lamer hair play solo. After him was Lady Danville who were pretty good, quite clever and very entertaining.

DEDICATED: ASHLII

Next was Chris Conley from Saves the Day. A little band Cole & Ashlii introduced us to at the Crazy Donkey in NYC a few years back and one of Ashlii's favorites so this is for her...

Remember when Andy rocked it with Ben? These guys attempted to rock it with Chris when the audience requested Shoulder To the Wheel and he couldn't play it with out "the band".

Not bad but not Andy...and truthfully pretty bad! :D

Gotta love the annoying guy next to us who kept raising his bottle in front of me and spilling on everyone!

And last Chris Carrabba from Dashboard Confessional. I gotta say we were a bit disappointed in his attire but then again, he's old (older than us even)! My favorite thing he said when he was explaining a song "I was sitting in my bedroom, oh no wait, I was a grown up so I had a living room at this point."

Still he should have looked like this and not be shopping at Eddie Bauer for gigs!

We didn't take many pics - this is the best one we got!

We had tons-o-fun even though the concert itself was "underwhelming" (Ryan's word) and it defnitely beat the evenings original plans!

A Happy Birthday for ALL!

I think Krissy put it best the other day when she was talking about how old we are --> "we are in our thirties not just 30 anymore!" But old is all about perspective and if we don't keep each other young then Dyl will do it for us.

I KNOW Ryan is going to absolutely KILL me for posting this but here we go...Enjoy it while it lasts I forsee a post removal request coming but for now you're welcome!

Dylan loves to do anything and everything daddy does! His favorites are shaving, fixing things ("fik dat"), push ups and lifting weights (we have a 2 lb weight, and it's "heaby"). He usually starts out alongside Ryan doing pushups but as you can see ends up on top, adding a solid 27 pounds to the workout for Ry. The proof shows that Dyl's 'help' is worthwhile and for that we thank you! (*wink-wink*)

Ryan: Is this what you meant when you said you can do whatever you want because this video is going in the vault?? (1:15)

LOVE YOU AND

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

YOU SEXY BEAST!!!

**Mom disclaimer: Dylan was wearing a normal outfit and specifically asked to put his "didi" jammie top over his t-shirt, his fashion sense has not yet developed.

Dylan had his first swim lessons today!

We go to the pool a few times a week so he's pretty comfortable in the water, unfortunately because we do go here so often he wanted to do what we always do PLAY! The class was actually exhausting for me (it's a mom & tot class) because he was fighting me on everything. He is great at kicking and moving his arms on his tummy but try to lay him on his back and it's like I am torturing him, it's the end of the world for this kid! So after the constant struggle for 45 minutes I was relieved when class was over and he could just play.

Hopefully next week it goes a bit better!

Christmas Numero Duo ~ And it's a pictoral doozy!

On the 21st we had a Christmas party with Ryan's extended family.

We had a fabulous time and covered all of the holiday essentials...

~ Food ~ ~ Presents ~

~ Games but we were too busy for pictures! ~

~ Laughter ~

~ And a festive Mama-Dilly shot! ~

********************************
CHRISTMAS DAY
********************************

We were supposed to go to Lovell for Christmas this year to visit Ryan's grandparents but it didn't work out! So instead we had a pretty chill holiday at home.

Christmas Eve we went to Ryan's parents for Toy Story 3.
Dylan loves it and held Woody the whole time.

~ Cute and Cuddly in his Christmas Jammies ~

Dylan still doesn't quite understand how the whole Santa visit works, which we are enjoying for now... He slept until 10AM!

We always do Santa at our house with just the three of us before going to Ryan's parents for presents and breakfast.

Ryan's dad is so good at keeping Christmas Day exciting with a bunch of adults! In the past he has created riddles, used music for clues, etc. and if you don't guess (supposedly!) you don't get your gift. This year we each had ten clues to reach our present...

**Cool shot Mike!

The clues led to places and things in the house. It was hard!!

~ Ryan was first! ~

Some clues required research on Jim's iPad {foreshadowing}

~ Then Michael ~


Then we had to break for a delicious breakfast
because it was already 1PM!

~ On to Kristi ~



This round required some old school research materials...
it's called an en-cy-clow-pee-dee-ah kids.

~ And last the best of all the game...ME! ~


Jim & Dylan anxiously awaited our return with each new clue!
Can't you just feel their radiating excitement??

And after four hours of brain racking suspense and non-stop thrills...iPads for all!
Yes, we know we're spoiled!
We also got a beautiful copy of Hans Christian Andersons Fairy Tales.

During the hunt there was no shortage of entertainment for Dylan!
~ An art easel from Aunt Kristi ~

~ GeoTrax from Grandma & Grandpa & lots of puppy love from Bella! ~

~ And never ending Toy Story on Grandpa's iPad ~

Kelly and Lisa joined for a bit via Skype.
Thanks for the adorable Latvian purses!

Florence got a bunch of new swim stuff.
Dylan loves goggles and I couldn't resist posting this adorable pic!

Given the difficult clues (or our slow brains) we weren't done with Christmas "morning" until about 3PM and it was nap time!
At least for Dyl and I.
Everyone else stuck to Thomas family tradition and went to a movie, True Grit.

Thanks to all for yet another fantastic holiday season and generous Christmas.