Another big day in his "big boy" world...

Ryan has been so excited for today to get here all week. On Sunday, after we dropped Courtney off at church to go to Camp Tadmor for the week, we headed into town to pick out a big boy bed. Since 1 1/2, Ryan had been sleeping in his toddler bed since he had prematurely learned how to crawl out of his crib. We have been noticing he's getting taller and taller and well, that meant he was pretty much outgrowing his toddler bed. Since this is the year he finished preschool and will start a new chapter of the "big boy world" in the fall by starting kindergarten, we felt this was the time to move the little boy furniture out. Everyday this week, "I can't wait until Thursday when the people bring my new bed!" We asked Ryan what kind of theme he wanted in his room, and he wanted to go with trains. Since his room has a similar theme now, we lucked out by not having to change the wall border and several accent pieces. It didn't take him long to find just the stuff he wanted.

Here is what his room looked like before:



















Here is Ryan trying out new mattresses to find one just right:






















And his last night on his old mattress:

















And here is how the day he looked forward to unfolded:

























Then while Ryan napped on his old mattress in Courtney's room, Grandma and I worked on cleaning out the closet, organizing toys, and getting the bedding all ready to put on. And then Grandpa came and moved some shelves and helped us hang a few things on the wall.




Here is the finished product:

















I'd say he is pretty happy with his new room and his new big boy bed!



















One final test....how does teddy like sleeping with Ryan in his new bed???


















Looks like teddy is happy too!






Ryan also took a moment to show Grandma & Grandpa "around" his new room.




















We're so glad you like your new bed Ryan!



And here is the real test.....BEDTIME! Looks pretty comfty to me!

If only...

If only I could go back in time and freeze Courtney to be a little girl again who played with dolls and baked delectable treats in her Easy Bake oven. It seems she has really grown up over the last couple of years and she hasn't played with her Easy Bake oven for while, but when we were getting some clothes out for next week's church camp, Ryan spotted the Easy Bake oven on the top shelf and wanted to bake some cookies. She thought it would be something fun they could do together today.

They got everything out with the promise that they would clean it all up when they were done and make something wonderful and above all....GET ALONG! Courtney went through every packet of mix with Ryan so they could come up with just the right thing to make. They couldn't even wait until they got out of their pjs to get started. They just wanted to have a little cooking fun. They decided on chocolate brownies.

So they mixed:
















and sampled:


















and mixed some more (well, okay nothing mixing here, but he's having a great time thinking about mixing!):


















and pushed in the oven to bake:



















and viola! Chocolate brownies! (Such teensy, tiny brownies for ALL that work!)

















The clean up went smoothly too.

















Ryan had a little trouble focusing on making the frosting because he kept insisting that the brownies were done, but other than that I am happy to report that they partook in brownies, worked together well, and handled it all themselves! Job well done!

We are headed 2 Hawaii

So long for a bit. We are headed to Hawaii for a wonderful family vacation. You can see all the fun we are having here

Aloha and more blogging soon...