Ryan's 7th BirthdayParty

| View Show | Create Your Own

What a day we had!! Six little boys running around having fun and playing games. We were happy when those parents came back! Ryan had a lot of fun at his sports themed party this year. We were suppose to have 8 boys but 2 were no shows. They boys made a pennant of their own as a craft. We then went outside and played a few sports related games and of course we had a pinata! I wonder if we will ever have a birthday again without one. After playing outside we came inside to make our own ice cream. It's called shake and make. It was messy but good. Everyone sang to Ryan and we had cake. Then we moved on to opening presents. Ryan liked everything he got and couldn't wait to open the packages. The party was from 1:30-4pm and Kaitlin slept through all of it! She woke up at 3:30 just in time to have a cupcake!

The Dismal Swamp

Saturday morning the Tiger Cubs had a "Go See It" to the Dismal Swamp. We needed to fill 2 requirments - to go on a nature hike and to visit a historical place. We met his den at 8am and when on a hike through the swamp (on a boardwalk). We saw a lot of interesting things and signs of where bears had been. We are glad we didn't actually see any! We learned that George Washington used the swamp for logging. We walked along the Washington Ditch (there are about 12 ditches) where the slaves dug the canal to bring the logs out of the swamp. It was very interesting.

Principal's List

Friday Chris and I got to have a Parent/Teacher conference at Ryan's school. They were handing out report cards and SOL testing results. Ryan got straight A's and that puts him on the Principal's List (Straight A Honor Roll). We are so proud of him. But it didn't stop there. We next got to see his SOL test results. He got perfect scores! On the math test he is ranked in the 99th perctile for the Nation and for Reading in the 97th percentile. (Meaning he is smarter than 99 and 97 % of 1st graders)! He is reading as well as a 2nd grader in their 5th month of school and his math skills are of the same level as a 3rd grader in the 7th month of school! He's learned all he can for 1st grade as far as math goes so he's pulled aside with a few other students and they have their own advanced class. After the good review we went to the school library where they were having a book fair and got a few books for a reward. (I think he's already read 2 of them)

Raking Leaves

| View Show | Create Your Own


Ryan didn't have school on Friday so he wanted to rake the leaves. Fine with us of course! We had a bad storm the day before with a lot of wind and it seemed to have blown all the leaves to the fence line. All he really had to do was rake right down the side. He was doing a great job until Kaitlin wanted to help and started spreading the leaves everywhere. Ryan decided he wanted to jump in his pile so I told him to go inside and get some play clothes on. I was going to be going in to so I could put Kaitlin down for her nap. We were in her room reading books while Ryan went back outside. The next thing I know he was running back into the house and his face had NO color! He had seen a snake! He was so terrified. We had never seen snakes in our yard before. From that point on he wouldn't go outside. He was also very concerned for our dog Jessie who was outside at that time. He did calm down but it took a while.

Stacey's Birthday Celebration

While up in NoVA we had dinner and a surprise party for Stacey. Her real b-day is on November 16th. We went out to Red Lobster and had a good dinner (only thing bad is that it could have been a little faster). Kaitlin and Meagan enjoyed looking at the lobsters. They took many trips up to see them. We rushed back to Stacey's after dinner to beat her to the house. Her neighbors were suppose to be waiting inside to say surprise but only one family was there. The rest were at her neighbors house! It took a little stalling and coaxing but it all ended up ok. She was surprised. We had cake, ice cream and presents.

Visiting with Nonnie

This past weekend we went to stay with my mom because we were going to celebrate Stacey's b-day. We went up on Thursday after school got out (no school Friday b/c of Veteran's Day) and came home on Sunday. We visited Aunt Stacey and Meagan on Friday afternoon and had dinner with them on Saturday. Kaitlin did very well in the car this trip. Usually about an hour into the drive she's had enough and wants to get down. She has learned a new trick - how to get one arm out of the harness on her car seat! Good thing I even noticed it and when I did we were only about 5 mins from my mom's house. Ryan loves going to Nonnie's because she has so much fun stuff for him to play with. And he likes his "routine" at her house. Playing with all the same toys he did when he was a baby and he's getting a kick out of seeing Kaitlin play with the same things. Some of the things though he thinks are still "his" because he's the only one that ever played w/ them and now he technically is too old for them... oh well. Jack came over and Kaitlin loved that! The next day anytime she thought she heard someone outside the door she's say "Jack?"

Happy Halloween 2006

Create Your Own!


We hope everyone had a great Halloween. Ryan went this year as the Human Torch from Fantastic 4 and Kaitlin was a Witch Fairy. She wouldn't wear her hat but if she did it would have been a lot cuter. We went out trick-or-treating about 6:15 and were done just after 7pm. Ryan and Kaitlin both had a really good time. Kaity was in the wagon most of the night but at the last few houses she got out and went up to the doors with Ryan. She loved the pumpkins she and Ryan carved and wanted to look at them very closely all night. All day today (the day after) she has wanted her pumpkin and the candy in it!! A lot of people had a hard time guessing what Ryan was. Most of them thought he was Dash from the Incredibles.