FINALLY!

All 7 of us (would baby in utero make it 7-1/2 or 8?) were healthy and free of plans for the day and happy to finally get together!

Andrew loved playing with the Wii controllers and Tyler loved playing with the same toys he has at home but won't touch in our house!  And despite Dean's excellent photography lesson (ISO, F-stop, aperture and many other confusing terms), we left without many good pictures!  I'm really looking forward to our girl's day out at the Metropolitan Cooking Show in DC!!  I'll be sure to practice using the zoom so we can get some good shots of Giada=)

Next Stop - The White House

Ryan decided he wanted to run for class president. He thought it would be great to represent his class in the student council.  Today he gave his speech and presented his poster to the class. (Try and guess who created the poster!)  HE WON!!!  We are so proud of him.  There were 7 candidates and he and another little girl were chosen.  We're not sure exactly how the speech went because we weren't there to see it but here is his draft...

"Good afternoon!  My name is Ryan.  It would be my honor to represent this third grade class.  To help you make your decision, let me tell you a little bit about myself.  I am caring and can make lots of things happen.  Also I will make sure your opinions are heard.  I will help you if you need help.  Vote for me, Ryan Rekdal."

We let him choose his favorite restaurant to celebrate his victory!  

I guess you could say he's a cheap date!

P.S. A BRIEF conversation with Tyler (in his new Steelers PJs), 

recorded after his birthday party.  

Fall Festivities

We had a great day at Cox Farms in Fairfax with nanny and grandpa Saturday.  It was opening weekend and the weather was perfect!  We loved the rope swings, slides, hay ride, farm animals and the FRESH apple cider and kettle corn...YUM!  I'm just posting a few clips of the rope swing for you to enjoy.  Maybe it's genetic but Ryan and I are a bit clumsy and seem to forget when to let go.  My shirt decided to stick to the rope so I treated the crowd to a scary sight!  Luckily the video clip is from the back!!  Since I had so many pics to post from the weekend, I decided to upload most of the Cox Farms pictures to my Snapfish account.  You can follow the link to check them out:  http://rytymom.snapfish.com

We celebrated Tyler's 4th Birthday today at Chuck E Cheese with 16 of his friends and their families.  The kids left with full bellies and tired bodies and smiles on their faces (for the most part)!

 

I think the parents had fun as well.  I know I did!

Michael Phelps has nothing on our boys

We had a great day today at Ian's 4th birthday party.  The kids had a blast in the water!  Ryan and Tyler have made so much progress in the pool this summer.  They went from being scared of the water at the beginning of the summer to the loose cannons you see below at the end of the summer...

Erinrose was quite popular among the pool full of little men.

The boys enjoyed the bubbles from the pinata (for about 20 seconds until they poured them out on the grass).

Scott wanted to look cool too.

Ryan is a Third Grader!

Despite the fact that Ryan burnt his tongue on a banana muffin at breakfast (and spit it all over the kitchen floor), was almost late for the first day because of a broken traffic light and even came home with a broken (brand new) backpack, the first day was a success!  He couldn't tell me a thing about his day because he didn't remember anything but I know he was happy when he got home and happy to return to school this morning.  His teacher even emailed me today and said:  "Ryan is a great kid. I am enjoying getting to know him. He has many ideas to share, that's for sure! I look forward to working with him this year."  It's going to be a great year!

He was in no mood for the paparazzi on the way to school!  Notice his favorite shirt Josh and Carrie. =)

Shrimp Boil

If you're wondering whether a shrimp boil is some dreadful medical condition or something edible, it would be the latter.  We had a great back to school celebration with the Moss family. I think it's going to become an annual tradition...right Karen?

We didn't really have dessert first (not that there's anything wrong with that).  It's just a pain in the neck to move pictures around on blogger....at least for me it is!

I think the pictures below are pretty funny.  The first one shows why it is so hard to believe that I'm NOT thin and svelte. This is pretty much how most of my meals go.  I know I should appreciate it (and I do try to) but it can get a bit frustrating.

I thought this one was pretty funny because it looks like I'm this boisterous, outgoing person.  It's also funny because Samantha is covering her face and she loves to be in pictures!  I'm not sure which one of us looks more out of character!!

Hush?

We tend to find all kinds of wildlife wherever we go.