Ryan

Some fun things about Ryan:

-He loves to make people laugh. He is especially good at initiating tickle fights with Matthew and Zachary.

-He loves doughnuts.

-He likes writing his name and is learning how to read small words.

-He has to be active all the time. Even when he is sitting still you can see the wheels in his head moving around (usually planning some sort of mischief).

-He played soccer for the first time this Spring and was a little hesitant at first but he got over that very quickly and jumped in with all of his might. He scored a lot of goals and stood up to some pretty big kids. He loved playing with some of his friends in the neighborhood.

-Ryan is a good big brother. He especially loves helping Andrew. One day Andrew was fussing and Ryan came running over. "Don't worry Andrew," he said. "You don't have to cry. You don't have any sisters so you won't ever have to play with Barbies."

-He has a great imagination and is very good at making spaceships and space stations out of legos. Ryan is interested in weapons right now and can turn anything he finds into some sort of gun, true to typical little boy fashion.

-He can draw some pretty awesome pictures of battles, usually between Star Wars characters.

-He is a great singer. He loves to sing the Bumblebee song, 1-2 Buckle My Shoe, and The Oxcart Song.

I can't believe he is going to be five years old soon. He's such a fun boy and we love having him in our family.

Matthew

While I have been trying to catch up on Andrew I haven't posted much about the other kids. Here's an update on Boy#1.

Matthew loves to play games . Did I mention loves? He is a pro at Monopoly, Ticket to Ride, Sleeping Queens, Trouble, UNO, Phase 10, and anything else he can get his hands on. Once after lunch he asked me to play Ticket to Ride and I told him he had to wipe his face first. He let me know that wasn't in the instructions.

Learned to ride his bike without training wheels in April


Reads and reads and reads. His favorite books are Secrets of Droon, Magic Treehouse, and A to Z Mysteries. I think he has finished just about all of them. We are regulars at the library to say the least.

Loves the recently acquired Wii. He can figure out most of the games pretty quickly. It's kind of scary.

Likes all kinds of sports, with soccer still being a fave. He went to an RSL game with Kevin back in May and can recall every single detail of the best plays. He is now requesting to play baseball and basketball.

Great helper, especially with the younger boys. Always willing to hold Andrew, read to Zachary, or play with Ryan. What a special boy.

A couple of Faves

Some of my favorite pictures of little Andrew

I love Mommy

My Dad can fix anything


And I saved the best for last...

The Price of Pizza

We went to the park near our house a while ago. It has one of those systems where you can talk to someone from one side of the park to the other. Matthew and Ryan were taking turns ordering and making pizzas with the wood chips on the ground. I was helping Zachary climb onto a slide when I heard the following conversation.


Ryan: I want to order a pizza please.

Matthew: Okay. That will be two thousand dollars.

Ryan: Okay. I have that much. Thanks. Bye!



I thought it was great that not only did Matthew request such a large sum but that Ryan had just the right amount. Cute boys.

Sweet Andrew Pictures

Here are a lot of pictures from Andrew's first few weeks at home. We just couldn't get enough of him.

Snuggling with Mom

Matthew liked to hold him right before school


Ryan was always next

And of course Zachary needed in on the loves

Hanging out with Daddy