Christmas Day has come and gone

Sorry about not posting earlier, it has been a busy , crazy weekend in the
Van Ry household. Christmas was great, we went over to Grandma Froncky's Christmas Eve and had a lot of fun, poor Kirk got called into work to check on an alarm that sounded so he didn't get much family time but we had fun munching and mingling with some of Will's, Reagan's and Kaylee's aunts and uncles and a bunch of grandparents, when we got home Santa had made a special delivery Pajamas and slippers for the kids, Will got Walle jammies and Lightning McQueen slippers and Reagan and Kaylee got warm elephant jammies and Reagan got princess slippers. They finally went to sleep and I think they actually slept in until 7:30 am, which is actually sleeping in for me, they had lots of fun opening presents from William was grateful that he got Buzz Lightyear and as happy as a clam, Reagan got tons of Princess dressup stuff and a Dora hairdryer and comb all of which she loves Kaylee got some baby toys. which she loves to try and hold onto. We ended the day at Grandpa and Grandma Van Ry's it all went so fast, presents were open so quickly that I didn't even see all the presents the kids got until I was packing them up. I swear (not really) that my kids must be the most spoiled kids on the planet. Between maze puzzles workbooks, a butterfly towel with Reagans name on it and Kaylee's Winnie the Pooh chewing toys along with many other things the kids went to sleep very happy and have not been bored since.


Here are some pictures of the fun we had:

Reagan has a slight obsession with Ariel

Reagan got some soft blocks (so she can't break another TV screen)

What a lucky Buzz

Princess Roo

Look at those Blue Eyes



Kaylee and her Daddy

Christmas Pictures

Well since it is the Sunday before Christmas we usually all dress in Christmas colors so we thought that we should take some family pictures after church, we did not have an extra person to help on hand so Kirk figured out the timer

I think Kirk was about to say something profound

I love this one of the kids


This one reminds me of Reagan's baby Christmas picture after this picture we were done

We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!!

What do you want for Christmas?

So this is how it went: Santa "What do you want for Christmas little girl?"
Reagan " A Chrimiss Tee" Santa "What?" Reagan "A Chrimiss Tee"
Me " A Christmas Tree"
Santa " What do you want for Christmas?"
Will " Buzz Light Year" Santa " Anything else?"
Will "No just Buzz Light Year."

It was a fun visit to Santa Claus this year hopefully next year Kaylee won't look like a deer in the headlights.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!

The Day the Christmas Tree went crazy

Well it actually didn't go crazy, but the title sounded good.

So this morning right after Kirk left for work and I was getting the kids breakfast William said "Mom the Christmas tree is leaning" I thought OK maybe it isn't leaning to bad because Kirk and I just talked about fixing the tree because it had been leaning a little bit. I walk into the living room and saw this

and this

and this

So what did I do, I called Kirk and told him to turn around and come home so he could fix it. But he told me that he couldn't, he told me to drag it over to the front entryway and he would fix it tonight when he gets home. I didn't want to wait that long so I called for reinforcements. Luckily My sweet sister in law Katie was able to jump in her car and run over really quick.
So I was able to cut off some limbs from the bottom of the tree to make it stand straight up again


So I'll let Kirk deal with getting the lights off of the branches I cut when he gets home(that can be his contribution) Luckily I didn't panic too much right?

Oh the joys of the holiday season.

Merry Christmas everyone!!

My Little Shepherd Boy

Can you imagine a cuter Shepherd boy?

Shepherds wore Skechers right?

Thank you Grandma Froncky for making that crook!

A Michigan Thanksgiving

Wow we got back yesterday from a great trip to see my folks and some family unfortunately not all of us siblings could get together but we made the most of it.

Let me just tell you all that the best way to travel with a young family is at night when they are usually sleeping, that way they are less likely to drive you crazy, fewer stops for bathroom breaks and it is a lot quieter.

OK on to the fun part Gretchen and Chris came with their kids Ethan and Carson who are the same age as Will and Reagan, Amy and her boyfriend came and Peter came as well, Tessa was already there so there were five of us siblings 10 adults and 5 kids, it was a full house but we had so much fun, the kids got along great I think it helped that Will and Ethan are in school and are learning to share and take turns with other kids and that their younger siblings want to copy everything they do.

There was so much to do, there were lots of teddy bears to throw under the couch, pictures to paint, lincoln log cabins to build, movies to watch, walks to go on, trains to play with, I think Will's new favorite game is don't break the ice. I don't think Will has been busier and had more fun in a long time.Fun times

Reagan and Carson were having a snack

Reagan of course had her moments of insanity, she found Tessa's nail polish and decided to open it,( I think she was trying to paint her nails but it ended up all over Peter's old quilt and her face and teeth, I wish I had thought to take a picture, but I think we were all in panic mode at that time),she picked up dog poop outside and constantly was going into the bathroom while trying to brush her teeth with everyone else s toothbrush these were just a few of the things we had to watch for.

Reagan was actually helping Grandpa peel the potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner


Reagan was cuddling with Amy

We did get some grownup time after Grandpa told stories in his bed with the boys and they all fell asleep, it was pretty fun


We also went to a museum with live bats, I never knew that they could get so big, there was also a huge T -Rex and a stegosaurus outside ( I think Ethan liked those the best)

Will, Ethan and Carson were hanging like bats

Will decided to see what it would be like to live in a turtle shell (he liked it)

The kids got to go outside and play football with Uncle Chris and go for a walk with Aunt Gretchen

We were all sad when Amy had to leave early Saturday morning and we knew the trip was almost at an end.

I wished that we could all live closer so that we could do this more often. I am thankful for being able to spend some quality time with my family since it is not often that we get to do it. I wish all of the family could have been there. Thanks Mom and Dad for putting up with all of us and William, Reagan and Kaylee can't wait to go back and play some more.

Look at all those rolls

Kaylee wasn't sure why we were taking the picture she looks confused

She sure loves her uncle Pete

and reading with Mommy

Gretchen trying to get the kids settled down for bedtime

Will and Ethan just having fun being silly

I sure love to see kids laugh and having a good time

The compromise and the new fighting technique

William has decided that when he sees any commercial on TV for a toy he has to say "I want that for my birthday"or"Reagan wants that for her birthday" it depends on if it is a girl or boy toy, Well I got sick of hearing him say that after the trillionths time and told him that he can no longer say that because if he does he will go to his room, but he got upset because he REALLY NEEDS the toys, crazy I know right? So I compromised with him and said OK you can say "That's a cool toy" for any toy he sees so that I know that he wants it for his birthday. Now all I here is "That's a cool toy!" which might seem strange but I'm OK with hearing that.

Now on to Reagan, she has decided to start fighting back with Will, just this morning they were fighting over where they were going to sit on the couch, then Reagan went across the room, I thought nothing of it until I heard William whimpering "Reagan you can not bite me that hurts" I looked at his arm and indeed there was a huge bite mark, so Reagan went to time out, when she got out of time out I asked her why she was in time out she said that it was "cause I ate Will's arm" It was so funny, luckily I contained myself and finished lecturing her on why we don't bite. Hopefully she has learned her lesson, because Will doesn't have that many limbs left

A Christmas Story Reagan Style

So we inherited a bunny costume from Will and Reagan's friend Ava, she put it on this morning and unlike Ralphy She hasn't wanted to take it off at all

I tried to take a picture like Ralphy but we don't have a landing on the stairs and Reagan wasn't cooperating

Here is her crazy smile

and our bunny eating a carrot

Pre K Picture

I can't believe I have one big enough to be in school

Firsts for Kaylee

Kaylee had some firsts this week, she is about 5 1/2 months old now so I decided to try feeding her some "mush" (baby rice cereal) which to my amazement she figured out how to swallow it right away

I just have to get her to laugh so that she will open her mouth, she is still working on how to get it in her mouth, she has tried to have her mouth closed and just suck it in, it is pretty funny.

Yesterday morning she also has a first, she had a blue tongue, thanks to her big sister sharing her sweet tart from Halloween with her. Aren't big sisters nice? Luckily I figured out why Kaylee was gagging and got it out before any harm could be done.

and last night she finally rolled over for the first time. Don't get me wrong I am really happy for her, but I think I liked it when she couldn't move and I knew were she was

She was pretty surprised with herself

Raking Leaves

So today Will, Reagan and I went outside while Kaylee napped and we decided to surprise Dad by raking the leaves, there were not many leaves left because we don't have a tree in our yard anymore, but our neighbor has a tree the leaves of which tend to fall and/or blow in our yard, so they had some leaves to rake.

They were having fun throwing the leaves in the air

I don't think Will knows how to not make a crazy face for the picture

Reagan is my Pink Marshmallow

This one is my favorite picture out of the bunch

Dad came home just as Will left for school so Reagan got all the credit for the raking