Obsessed With Spelling

Ryan is totally obsessed with spelling. It is not unusual for him to spend 1-2 hours at a time making words with his magnetic letter train. He starts with a word and then goes through the alphabet and sees what new words he can make. The excitement just runs through him when he finds new words and builds on old ones. He has a list of probably 50 + words that he can spell. Some are the easy first words stuff and some more complicated just because he is always asking questions how to spell things and he seems to remember it all.

The other day it was adding ground to camp to make campground. He had a little help as he insisted on spelling ground with an "ow" instead of an "ou". He said, "Mom, OW makes the ow sound like cow, how, and now. It has to be "ow" not "ou", see listen.... gr ow nd." So after I convinced him it was "ou", then he moved onto playground, wet ground, damp ground and on and on putting ground with words he already knew how to spell. It is amazing the way his mind works with letters.

Well, sometimes that mind gets us into a little trouble by finding words that let's say are a little inappropriate. We've already hit some of the biggies, but today was a new find. I was walking down the hall and Ryan says "Hey Mom, I can't find porn." Of course shocked that my 5 year old said the word porn, my little ears perked up and I asked him to repeat the question as I was certain I had heard him incorrectly. He repeated, and nope, I hadn't heard him wrong, he did indeed say porn. How did we get to porn out of an innocent little spelling game? Well, he started with corn and then started running through the alphabet and found born, torn, worn, etc. So when he got to the letter "P", naturally he wondered about if that was a word. So what he meant by he couldn't find porn is that he couldn't find that "P" letter train in his bin that made the word porn. I carefully explained to him that is not a word that we use to which he replied, "But why, isn't it a word?" I told him it was an adult word and that even most adults don't talk about that word, so it was best he not use it again. He seemed satisfied with that answer and thank goodness he didn't ask me what the word meant, which frankly is a miracle as he always wants to know what everything means and wants to use it in a sentence.

So, Judy, in case you are reading this, if the class is spelling the word corn and Ryan asks about, well, you know, he DID NOT hear that word used in a sentence at this house!

Summer Dance Recital

Today was the Summer Showcase for Courtney's dance studio. This is more of an informal recital without the fancy costumes to showcase what the kids have been working on these last several weeks. This is our 2nd summer with them and it amazes me how much the kids can pull off learning in just 9 weeks or less. A couple of the routines that Courtney did, she learned during a week long "summer intensive workshop" and she learned them in a total of 6-8 hours! That just blows me away! Courtney was in 5 routines today and did a great job in each one of them. She is a dedicated dancer who practiced and practiced to perfect the routines as best as she could. Since we were gone for a little over two weeks of the summer and then she was at church camp for another week, she learned most of her classes in 5 - 6 weeks time. She loves every minute of it though and although the next month is a welcome break for her (and me as the chauffeur), she will be chomping at the bit to get back at it again in no time.

Here are a few pictures from the rehearsal:

Ring Bling

The rings that Tom & I picked out and special ordered in Kauai arrived this past week, so we drove to Washington Square Na Hoku today and picked them up. Wow, they are beautiful! This is the only picture I could get to sort of turn out. They are much prettier in real life, but at least you get the idea. (The one on my middle finger is the new ring.)



















To read the full story on the ring purchase, click here

TAG, You're it!!

I was recently tagged by my friend Sarri. In the blogging world, that means we answer the same questions she answered in hers and tag others in return to do the same. Since anyone I would tag has already been tagged by my other friends, whoever wants to can feel inspired to "tag themselves". Oh, and I don't want anyone tagging me back! Looking back through the cobwebs of 20 years once is enough for me! :)

Here goes:

20 years ago:

I was getting ready to start my senior year of high school. This would also be the year that I would breakup and get back together with Tom a few times as I "experiment" with other fish in the sea. We all know at this point how that turned out! I was helping out at a travel agency filing brochures getting some experience in as well as working at Farmer's Co-op/West Valley Farmers as a receptionist for some extra money.

10 years ago:

We had just sold our manufactured home on Burnett Road and were looking for a place to rent. Fate intervened and has us take a wrong turn on 8th Street where we found a VA repo house that was for sale by silent auction. The day we walked in, we had 4 hours to put a bid in and the highest bidder would get the deal. We won that bid by $175. (We didn't know it until a few months later, but we beat out some friends of ours that were going to buy it and use it as a rental. We hadn't seen them since high school and now are good friends and their daughter and Courtney are good friends too.) Courtney was not quite 2 and talking up a storm!

5 years ago:

Ryan was just born a few months ago and a group of us would get together who all had recently had babies. Ryan was the kid that would fall asleep no matter what the noise level or the other kids around. (Ryan can still fall asleep like that, but his energy level when he is up is quite different now!) Life was definitely busier now juggling two kids. Courtney was 6 (almost 7 as she would say) and had just finished her kindergarten year with one of her very favorite teachers to date. She had been dancing for just about a year and a half. Little did we know at the time what a BIG part of lives that would become.

3 years ago:

This would be one of the most stressful years we had endured. Tom had lost his job that February due to a company that closed its doors with no warning. This would be the first time we experienced what it was like to be without the major breadwinner for about 6 weeks. In April, he finally found a job in Salem only to be told in September that they would have to let him go as one of the owners had decided to change the course of the business and his wife was going to help him and she needed a paycheck (Tom's to be exact). He would be out of work again for another couple of months. In the midst of that, Courtney was just getting ready to enter 3rd grade and we found out a couple weeks into the school year that her teacher had been diagnosed as having a brain tumor. She would not teach the rest of the school year, as after surgery, the prognosis was not good. There was an area they weren't able to remove because of where it was in the brain. She would die that following February and this was the first time Courtney had experienced anyone she knew dying. It was emotional for the whole school as she had taught there for so long. This was a very tough school year for Courtney as the class continually was playing catch up due to such a rough start. The highlight this year was Ryan turning 2 and a trip to Hawaii in July. How did we pay for that amongst Tom losing his job twice? It was already paid for before the first job loss, so we decided to go forward with the trip despite the work circumstances. It was a great trip in the middle of a horrible year, so we're glad we did. Looking back, it was a tough year, but we learned so much about ourselves and it solidified our faith in God even more.

So far this year:

Courtney finished her elementary school experience, Ryan graduated from preschool, and we all just returned from a 2 + week to Hawaii to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary and renew their vows, our vows (14 1/2 years) and my brother and his wife's vows (1 year). Courtney and I also got to help backstage at one of our favorite shows "High School Musical". I also started the blogging world this year thanks to a couple of friends who inspired me with their blogs.

Yesterday I:

Drove Courtney to Newberg for the 3rd day in a row to go to a dance workshop, did laundry and watched part 1 of So You Think You Can Dance finale. (Pretty exciting, eh?)

Tomorrow I will:

Do more of the same!! Maybe I'll treat myself to a pedicure too. :)

Next year I will:

Reflect on this year as a great time with family, friends and lots of fun memories. This time next year, Courtney will have completed her first year in middle school (yikes!) and Ryan will have finished kindergarten. We hope to do something Disney near Christmas next year too.

Now it's your turn!

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...