Santa visits the Old Cannery!!!

So for all of you that think that Santa is from the North Pole, today we found out that he comes form The Old Cannery. Audrey called this morning and we (Mike, Nita, Big Ryan, Kelly, Audrey, Baby Erik and us) all packed up and went to visit Santa at the Old Cannery. I believe that we waited in line for about an hour in a half. It was totally worth it. The boys looked so cute. While waiting in line we all were laughing there were seven adults and two little boys. Like Nita said, it takes a tribe to raise these little boys. So we all took turns entertaining the boys. When it was our turn, I could not help but get emotional. I looked around at all of us trying to make the boys smile and we looked like a bunch of crazy people. The things you are willing to do to get a child to smile. I am so thankful that Ryan has Erik. They will be life long friends. It has been such a joy watching them grow and change together. The boys will not remember meeting Santa, but it will always hold a special place in my heart. Rex and I feel very Blessed to have the Rutkosky and Roggenkamp clans in our lives, thank you for being a part of our tribe!

Rexer finally got home from work, it seems like life starts when he gets home. This afternoon we went over to the Roggenkamp household. Ry and Kelly were there and we all had a great lunch together. After that we ventured out with the boys. Aunty Kel bought Erik a snow outfit, she bought two so we bought the one that Erik did not fit into. It was totally cute. The boys had matching snow outfits. Someday they are not going to be so happy with us for these pictures, but look how cute they are. We made the long walk through the woods to visit Grandma Nita's house:). It seemed like every couple of feet we would stop to take pictures. The plan was to go sledding, but the little boys had other plans. We did not end up going sledding, but we got some great pictures and had some laughs, mostly at the little boys expense. Did I mention how cute they looked in their snow outfits. It was a blast, it is so great to have days when nothing else matters, but good company, laughter and fun. I am so thankful for all of the memories that we are all making together.

Play time- I mean nap time

It is official, Ryan can now sit up in his crib. He thinks he is really funny. Rex snapped this shot of him about 30 minutes ago. Instead of taking a nap he sits himself up and plays in his crib. Totally cute. Like his pajamas? they are size 18 months. I did not want to do laundry so I just put him in new pajamas, they are a little big! Yes I am sure all you moms understand that one.

Winter Wonderland

Nothing really exciting to write about expect that, this morning we woke up to about 5 inches of snow. It has been snowing for a few days and the temperature as not been above freezing. That is not suppose to change any time soon. It is so beautiful. Bunker (our dog) loves the snow. The only down fall to the snow is that Ryan and I were stuck at the house all day yesterday. Last night we got a great surprise. Uncle Ryan and Aunty Kelly stopped by about 7. It was so nice to have some adult interaction. I think I spoke with Julie and my mom about 10 times each. I know that I am a stay at home mom, but we rarely actually stay at home all day. I am sure that I could have ventured out, but I was not in the mood to deal with the roads and all the people. Rexer is not home, I am sure that he got a late call. I hope that he is home soon. I am looking forward to a beautiful cold day playing in the snow with family.

Christmas cards

Most of you should be receiving your Christmas cards from us any day. I finished them up with the help of my sister-who loves to send out cards. When we bought our home our mortgage broker sent us a cute stamp with our name and address on it. So naturally I used it to address the return address of our Christmas cards. We had about a pile of 60 cards sealed, finished and stamped and Rexer comes over to inspect the cards. I hear "Cin you know that Bonney is spelled wrong, right?" What kind of question is that I thought, than I thought he was kidding just to get a rise out of me. I grabbed a card and quickly looked at the return address. Bonney Lake is spelled Boney Lake. So I just wanted to set the record straight. The address stamp was a gift and yes I know how to spell Bonney Lake.

Wonderful birthday surprise

Thank you to all of my amazing family and friends. I was showered with gifts, cards and phone calls on my birthday. I know it sounds silly, but I cannot believe that I am 26. It is a very weird age. Yesterday my birthday started out really stressful. By mid morning I was at Audrey's beautiful home for a girls Christmas baking day. It was a fun mid morning full of laughter champagne and of course lots of yummy treats. After I left the Roggenkamp household I drove the 3.5 miles home. It was snowy and beautiful out. I cannot remember the last time it snowed on my birthday!!! Once home Rexer was getting ready for our next round of visitors. Julie, Leroy, the girls and my parents all came over for my favorite dinner. Yes it is still chicken strips, green beans and mashed potatoes. After dinner I had a beautiful cake that Rexer made, and of course he had to put and light 26 candles. He turned off all the lights, man all those candles really lit up the living room. We ended the day with two sick kiddos. Ellie slept in our bed and was sick again this morning. The funniest thing about my birthday was that Rex and I were planning on going to Seattle and Ry was going to Juls for the night. Due to weather we decided not to . I am thankful that we stayed home. I had more fun watching the kids play together, having other people open my presents (the kids) and waking up to a house full of family. There is nothing better than the sound of little feet and laughter running through a home.

Random day

I sit here typing trying to ignore my child as he cries and says mama mama. Audrey made a great observation the other day about Erik, she noticed that he says mama mama when he is sad and Dada Dada when he is happy. Well Ry does the same thing. We know that most children do, but it is totally heartbreaking. Especially today. It has been one of those crazy days for the record books. The weather around here has been horrible, on top of snow we are in some sort of cold snap. I am trying to get all of the 550 presents ready for all the families. Doing this and having an 9 month old is not easy. Rexer made me breakfast this morning (because it is my birthday week) but I had to rush out the door. So from about 10-5 I was working on getting the presents together for the families. The hard part is normally I would have all week, but we do not know if the kids will have school because of the weather so I have to try to get them done by tomorrow. It will get done, I know it. Thank you mom and Kelly for helping me today. We got a lot done and it will make it easier tomorrow. I am thankful that Rexer has until Thursday off so he can help. Yes Ry is still crying, so I am going to continue to type. I missed both Ryan and Rexer so much today. It is weird, because if I am not will both that I am with at least one of them. Today I was by myself the majority of the day. It was weird not changing diapers and taking care of someone-I am talking about Ryan:). Most think that it would be a nice break, but I love being a Mama and trust me I would have rather been changing diapers today. Ok I am not as tough as I look Ry is still crying I am going to snuggle with my little guy.

Let it snow!!!

This morning we woke up to about 2 inches of snow. So we called Grandma and Papa and invited them over for breakfast. An hour latter they finally showed up. Remember they only live 7 miles away. We ate breakfast, little Ry had eggs for the first time. Then we all got bundled up to go out in the snow. It took us about 15 minutes to get Ryan dressed and I think that we were only outside for 10 minutes. It was totally worth it, Ryan looked like Ralphy from the Christmas Story in his little snow outfit. We were so excited for him to play in snow. We had both the camera and the video camera. So for all the build up it was pretty uneventful. We sat Ry in the snow and he just looked up at us. We all stood around him waiting for him to do something cute and he just sat there. He was looking up at us like "what are you all looking at". He was not interested in the snow what so ever. Dad was worried that it was too cold and I wanted to get the perfect cute little picture. It was quite funny, picture this there were 4 adults and three cameras. We spent most of the 10 minutes taking pictures and not even enjoying the snow. We came back inside, and Ryan was standing by himself and he in slow motion fell down. We rushed over to him, but he had so many layers of clothing that I do not even think he realize that he fell. Once he was down, he could not get up.

Snow

So what do two 26 year old new homeowners do on a Saturday night at 11:30 when their son is in bed. They bundle up and go out in the snow of course!!!! This is our first snow in our new home. We were tempted to wake Ry up and take him out there to see it. Then we thought it through. So far we have just over an inch and we are expecting more for the next couple of days. I am hoping that it will stay around for my birthday on Tuesday.

Proud Sister

Just wanted all of you to know that Brian, has started his own business. Yes our little Bri has his own construction business. The company is called Buchanan and Sons Construction. We are so proud of Brian for taking this jump. He has received his licence and is already lining up work. Bri, we are so proud of you. Hard work does pay off.

Spending time with my son

So being a Dad is an amazing thing. I don't think you realize how special it is until you really are one. I look at Ryan and every time I am amazed that he is part of me. I have someone that will look up to me and who I will have to teach everything to. That is a lot of responsibility and I love it. Having a son means the world to me and I can not express what I am feeling but WOW!!!
I got off work today and went to go pick up Ry from Cin. They were shopping for the presents for the pancake feed and Ry needed to get home to take a nap. When he first saw me he almost jumped out of the cart into my arms. He is growing so much. Everyday I have to remind myself that I need to cherish every moment with him. He is so much fun at this age right now. It is amazing to watch him figure things out. So we came home and I put him to bed because he was definitely tired. But when he woke up he was ready to play. So we went down stairs and we got some toys out and Cin had just got home and he wanted to go into the kitchen. So what does do now; he is starting to go up the stairs. It is so much fun spending time with Ryan. I cherish the time we have and look forward to the adventures ahead.

Pedicure

Today I received the best birthday gift. I know that it is not officially not my birthday, but I felt so special. Rex has been bothering me to go get a pedicure for a while. This is something I really enjoy to do and I use to do at least once a month. It just seems like the last month I have made appointments and than something else will come up and I cancel them. It was something I wanted done before my birthday, Rex and I are planning to go to Seattle for the night. Well today I had a lot of running around to do after my moms group and Rex is on shift. So I called my mom and she offered to take Ry for a couple of hours so I could get a break. While getting a pedicure my phone rang, I usually would ignore it but I looked down and it was my Jamie. As silly as it sounds, it was the best pedicure I have had in a long time. Although Jamie was not with me I felt like she was. I got to talk to my best friend for an uninterrupted 22 minutes and 47 seconds. Naturally this is not the longest conservation we have ever had and we did not solve the worlds problems, but we just got to chat. It was nice to not have anyone need me but her. I was able to listen and focus on what she was saying. So to you Jamie, thank you for always knowing when to call and always loving and supporting me. You are an amazing woman, and friend. I always love to hear your voice.

Baby Gates

I never thought that we would be one on those families that has their entire house baby proofed. I read about a company that comes in and will baby proof your entire house, I just laughed thinking that I would never need anything like that. Boy was I wrong. Ryan is into everything. It is insane. All of the rooms that I thought were safe somehow have hidden dangers around every corner. I vacuum all the time, but somehow Ry will find dirt or a piece of something to eat. It is amazing that he has so many toys, but he rather play with the little tinny plastic thing he finds on the floor from a tag of a shirt. We have two baby gates at the top of each set of stairs. I fear I am going to have to get more. Today I was making lunch and Ry was playing with his toys in the fireplace room. I was talking to him and he was making tons of noise talking back and banging on is toys. All of the sudden it was quite. As a Mom you always know that when it is quite something is going on. Sure enough I look down and I see this little head bobbin up and down by the stairs. He has gotten himself up the first stair. He was so proud of himself. Needless to say he sits in his chair in the kitchen when I am making any kind of meal.

Little gym closed for repairs

So I was giving Ryan a bath, when he was done I had him standing on the counter in front of the mirror. He was talking to himself and than he noticed his pull up bar (the towel rack). He grabbed the bar and started to do pull ups like he does with his Daddy. Well I tried to pull him away from the bar and he would not let go. So I tried a little harder and all of the sudden pop. Ryan was holding on so tight that he broke the towel rack. He thought it was funny, and to tell you the truth so did I. He stood there laughing and holding what use to be my towel rack in his hand. I stood there with my jaw on the ground. I had no idea what to do. We will have to wait for Daddy to come home and fix it.

The toilets are clean!!!

I am getting ready to go to bed. I am happy to report that I cleaned my toilets. Well I pretty much got everything that I wanted to get done today in an hour after Ry went to bed. I forget how quickly I can get things done with out chasing after Ry. I have found that I get really distracted by him as well. The laundry and house work can wait, if it means that I get to spend time with Ryan. It is so cute, he crawls over to me I love it. However I am my Mother's daughter and I love it when my home is sparkly clean!!!!

Do you ever have those days that never seem to go right??? Well today is mine. Rexer is on a 36 hour shift and I was totally excited this morning laying in bed making a mental to-do-list. I was going to finish the laundry, that is never ending, go grocery shopping and clean the house from top to bottom. Needless to say the only thing that got done was the shopping. I have not even fed the dog yet. It seemed like every time I tried to do anything something else came up. I am not even sure where today went. I spent the evening at the Fire station just finishing up Pancake Feed breakfast stuff. Rex although on shift was planning on being there to help me with Ryan. He got a call, so I spent two hours going through stockings and chasing Ryan around. Thank God other firefighters where there to help me entertain Ryan. I ended up doing about 1/3 of what I wanted to do. Ryan and I finally made it home and when I pulled in the driveway I was hoping that the cleaning fairy had stopped by and folded all of my clothes and cleaned my toilets. I walked a pile of laundry that seemed to triple in size while I was gone. To top it all off Ryan had a major blowout all over his car seat and clothes. Well I guess I better get to it. Maybe if I feed the dog he will leave me alone so I can get at least something done!!!

Grandpa's Concert

Yesterday Ryan experienced a family tradition that I ave been doing for as long as I can remember. We took him to Grandpa Ralph's Christmas concert. I am so thankful that Ryan, although he will not remember gets to attend and do things that I grew up doing. We all went out to dinner afterwards which was a blast. It was nice to spend time with the Kenyon side of the family.

Update

I just wanted to give you all an update on the Pancake Feed. We raised over $7,000 which is amazing given the state of the economy. I just wanted to thank my beautiful sister for staying the night and taking care of Ry. Thank you Mom and Dad for all of your praise, love and encouragement and all of the random tasks you helped out with at the Pancake Feed. Thank you Grandpa Ralph for coming down before your big show. Also I would like to thank GG and Papa it was great to see you both. Dewey and Judy for driving all that way. And to Cindy and Lee Gonzales, it means a lot to us that you were there. So to all of you thank you. I was selling tickets and I looked over to see my family taking up several benches. It was a very proud moment for me. Rex has put in countless hours and has done an amazing job organizing it. Most of all I am proud of him. He is an amazing man, husband and Father. I am Blessed!!!!!

Pancake Feed

Rexer is back at work, I am so thankful that he got off a little early yesterday. We have our big Pancake fundraiser that Rex and I put together (with lots of help) for the Fire Department this Saturday. Rex has done such an amazing job this year. It is really exciting to be so involved with our community. So far the money we raise will help about 440 children. We are expecting to have about 500 this year. We have a new partnership with Sumner Police and they will be providing about half the gifts this year. This will free up some money so we can help with other things for families like gas, motels rooms, blankets and prescription drugs. This project is a huge undertaking, but totally worth it. We have done a lot of advertising in the local papers and we have a huge banner across main street in Sumner. It is always amazing to me how generous people are. Times are hard for everyone, but people are still giving and wanting to help in any ways they can. There is this great corner store in Sumner that every year gives $200. They are so faithful. Last year we made about $8,000. I just wanted to thank everyone for all of your support and encouragement. Rex and I get to shop for the kids and see the families response when they receive the gifts. It is an amazing thing to see the look on the parents faces when they realize that they will have gifts to give their children this year.