A Trip to the State Fair

Yesterday evening Me, Alan & Ryder headed to the State Fair…yes we left poor Maisy out, but we will definitely be bringing her next year when she can enjoy it a little more.  I’m sure she had just as much fun hanging out with her Yaya!

This is our second year bringing Ryder here and just like last year we really enjoyed it!  We got to see and pet all kinds of animals…

 

Ryder named that second goat Maisy, then kept yelling at her because she wouldn’t come back to the camera for a picture with him, typical!

  

Ryder played several games and won prizes…definitely his favorite part.  He doesn’t ride rides but he wants to play every game we pass by.

He remembered this balloon stand from last year and started talking about which balloon he would pick before we even got out of the car to walk into the fair.  Superman is who he picked to come home with us!

 

 

I thought it was sweet that this is what Alan wanted to do for his Birthday…such a good Daddy :)

We went into the big expo center where they had hundreds of tables set up with things to buy, a dangerous place to go, but I spent the best $7 I’ve ever spent on this…

I don’t even know what you call it, Ryder spotted the pirate and had to have it, and it turned out to be so useful!  You put the strap around his neck and slide any kind of drink bottle in there.  Ryder hast he hardest time holding any round cups/bottles like that (as you can see he doesn’t have a good grip) but this thing made it so much easier for him.  PLUS he could even keep his drink with him in the car and was able to twist the top off and on…sorry for the infomercial, but that thing just made his life (and ours) a little easier!

    

I can’t believe what a big boy he is now…He walked the entire time, no more stroller for my baby BIG boy!

See ya next year State Fair!

Another Family Update

Let me start by saying that today is Daddy’s Birthday!!!  We will be celebrating him all day because without him being born…we wouldn’t be a family right now!  We’re so thankful for the man that he is and the role that he plays in mine, Ryder’s, and Maisy’s lives.  Love this guy!

Last time I wrote, I talked about us trying to buy a house.  Well I think it’s safe to say that God didn’t like that plan and had other ideas on what we needed to spend the money we had saved up on.  We ended up having to replace the transmission in my car, and on October 19th I have to get my wisdom teeth taken out :( :(  I’m bummed that we went from something really exciting, to having to spend money on not-so-fun stuff, but it was definitely a wake up call that there were things we NEED to take care of before we can do the things we WANT.  I’ve never been put to sleep before so I’m panicking about this whole procedure…pray for me.

 

Maisy had her 15 month check up on Friday.  She weighs 20 pounds and is 30 inches long.  That’s the 25th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height.  The doctor said she’s perfectly healthy and right on track for development.  She’s still walking around the house screaming all the time, usually because her brother took something from her or yelled at her or she wants to be picked up or she thinks she wants a snack…pick a reason!  She has quite the personality already and can definitely make us laugh just with her reaction to something or her facial expressions.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: We have a Pre-Schooler!!!!!  I was so excited to hear at our Eligibility meeting last week that Ryder got into the Special Ed pre-k program!  They have been doing lots of testing on him to see if he would qualify, he had to show a certain percentage of a delay in atleast one area…which he did in both his motor skills and self-help skills.  The Psychologist talked to me about Ryder’s IQ and level of intelligence…we all know he’s a smart boy but hearing it come from a professional solidified my thoughts and makes me realize we’re doing a great thing by getting him into school so early.  They actually already have planned for him to only spend 1 year in the special ed classroom, streamline him into the regular Pre-K next year but still have his therapists pull him out of class, and then get him into the Gifted program when he starts Kindergarten!!

On October 15th we’ll be meeting to set up his IEP (umm Individual Education Plan…maybe) which will be the plan laying out what the teacher will work on with him, what the therapists will work on with him, and what goals they want him to meet.  Then he starts school on October 18th!  He’s going to be riding a bus and everything.  Shew…I can’t believe it, my baby.  It’s such a good thing for him though so I’m keeping it positive.  He is SOOOO excited!!

So that’s a little taste of our Marsh Madness – keep you posted!

15 Months

Another month has come and gone!  Here is what Maisy is up to at 15 Months:

• She still only has 4 teeth…I can see the next 2 on top trying to poke through, hopefully they will soon!
• Her size hasn’t changed at all, still in 12-18 month clothes, size 3 shoe, and size 4 diapers.
• She eats very well, we have yet to feed her something she doesn’t like.  She has started to “ask” for things when she catches a glimpse of them in the fridge or in a cabinet like watermelon or cereal.  She points and “eh eh eh eh” until you figure out what she’s asking for, then she gets all excited and does a little dance.
• She has started shaking her head yes, cutest thing ever!
• She has a new word this month, the next cutest thing ever.  When you tickle her now she says “tickle, tickle, tickle”!
• She is very animated and makes the funniest faces, you can always tell what’s going through her little mind.
• She loves animals of all kinds, she gets equally as excited about seeing a huge elephant on tv or a little ant on our porch!
• Ryder has been teaching her things this month, he loves that he can show her something and she’s starting to repeat it.  So far he has taught her how to jump and how to give a high 5!  I know she will learn lots from him growing up :)
• She loves to dance! She has quite the moves too, I’ve got to get a video of her to post soon. 
• She’s definitely still a Daddy’s girl, I can’t imagine that ever changing, those 2 can’t get enough of each other!

That’s it for this month!  Happy 15 Months baby girl :)

Attack Daddy!

Too cute not to share!

Ryder Funnies & An Interview

My little country boy has been SO into the radio lately, when we’re driving in the car he always tells us to turn it up and will sing every song that comes on, whether he knows it or not, by the end of the song he’s singing it.  Who knew he was actually retaining the lyrics, some funny convo’s we’ve had lately:

Ryder: Mud Diggers are 40 inches from the ground, aren’t they mom?

Me: Ummm, I guess if that’s what Daddy told you then it must be true.

Ryder: Daddy didn’t tell me that!

Me: Well who told you that then?

Ryder: Colt Ford!

I just googled it to see if any of the Colt Ford songs said this…sure enough there is a song called Mud Diggers that says “Big truck tall suspension 40 inches from the ground, Mud Diggers!”

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We were sitting outside letting the kids play and I put the tailgate down to sit on it…

Ryder: If you put your tailgate down, that means you’re on a turn road.

Me: What does that mean?

Ryder: I don’t know, that’s just what Jason Aldean says. 

I just googled “Jason Aldean tailgate down” and sure enough, part of the song “Take a Little Ride” lyrics are “drop the tailgate down on a turn road”.

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I decided to do a little interview with him today, he wanted it to be very professional and asked me to say “excuse me sir, it’s time for your interview”…so here goes:

Okay, slight intermission ******** Take 2

A little glimpse of life around here these days!

Company Picnic

If you would have asked me 5 years ago if I ever saw Alan attending a company picnic, I might have laughed!  Awkward social events are not really his “thing”.  But his company has been so good to him and he has met some really good people, so this year when we got the invitation to their annual company picnic I was so excited that he agreed to go.  Social Events = Totally my thing!  And…definitely Ryder’s thing.  He woke up Saturday morning, ran into our room and said “Is it the BFPE Company Picnic day??”  I’m telling you, he doesn’t forget a thing.  It was a pretty far drive considering the headquarters is in Baltimore, so we dropped Maisy off to spend the day with Paw-Paw (she’s never been a fan of long car rides!) and headed on our road trip.  Minus Alan trying to convince me of all the cool places we could go on the way, instead of the picnic, we made it…and I think my jaw dropped as soon as we reached the parking lot.  I’ve never seen a company put so much into their picnic before.  There were bouncy houses, huge slides, carousel rides, train rides, pony rides, fire trucks with real fire men demonstrations, snow cones, DJ, caterer, SO MUCH FOOD, I mean they had set this park up basically like a little carnival.  It was really neat and Ryder definitely enjoyed his time there!

Ryder even found a mo-hawked friend to enjoy the festivities with.

Probably the coolest part was when they called all the kids out into the field where they had rows and rows of toys laid out and told them to walk through and find one!  His company is woman owned and she puts a big emphasis on putting family first, that’s really refreshing these days! 

You can tell this woman loves her company and takes great care of her employees.  Alan comes home every day with something new that says BFPE on it.  Pens, folders, chapstick, flashlights, first aid kits, magnetic clips, screwdrivers…nothing is off limit.  Here I am rocking my BFPE sunglasses:

What can I say…I heart BFPE.  And their company picnics :)  I’m going back next year, whether Alan comes or not! 

Going on a Treasure Hunt

When Ryder had his cast on we went over to my Aunt Annie’s house and she told Ryder that she’d have a party for him to celebrate getting his cast off.  Well we were invited back over there for Labor Day and Ryder informed me on our way that it was HIS celebration!  I’m telling you, this child doesn’t forget a thing! 

Although the party wasn’t for Ryder, Aunt Annie had set up a really cool treasure hunt just for him!

He got his own treasure map!

Which led him around the house to various different clues…

And finally to a box full of treasure! 

That was such a fun little treat for him, I wanted to make sure to blog about it!!