Lucas' Birthday

So...I got "the call" this morning. We're scheduled for a c-section at 9:30am on July 22nd. We're all very excited (especially Ryan) though I think I'm about 200 times more nervous this time around--too much time to think about it, I guess.
And the countdown to baby Luke is on....

Soccer and a day at the lake

Ryan started soccertots this weekend. I thought it might be a bit of a disaster, but it turns out that he absolutely loves it! He's already looking forward to next Saturday.

He started off needing a little coaxing from daddy...


But once he gave it a try it was all fun & games






And of course he had to take a little time out to be silly. Ryan was so excited when they got bubbles & stamps as their reward for a job well done.

Hard to believe, but Dave actually has an entire 3 days off this weekend! Ryan and I haven't seen this much of him in years! So we are taking full advantage of some quality family time. This morning we packed up our lunches and hit the lake. It was pretty chilly so we didn't do any swimming, but daddy & Ryan played in the sand while I enjoyed some quiet time.

A Day Out With Thomas...and friends

Before the Thomas post, I wanted to let y'all know about baby Lucas. I'm sure everyone knows that about 6 wks ago I was told that I may have placenta previa. We were quite nervous for a while, but I went today for my bi-weekly sonogram and got some great news! The placenta moved up and I'm no longer at risk. Baby Lucas is weighing in at 2 lbs 15 oz in the 60th percentile and all is going well. Now we're just waiting to meet him!

And onto Thomas...On Saturday we headed to Chattanooga, TN to spend a day with Thomas the Tank Engine. Ryan was lucky enough to have his friends Landon & Sophie along. I somehow managed to not get a single picture of Sophie...sorry Sophie, Ryan had fun with you too-I promise!

Our first stop was Imagination Station. Ryan was so excited to get a temporary tattoo of "James" the red engine. And Ryan and Landon had so much fun with the Lego Trains that neither of them wanted to leave the tent for our train ride.

We eventually pried them away and headed over to see Thomas! Ryan was very excited, though you can't really tell from his photos!

Once we were on the train, we couldn't get Ryan to stay seated. He was so excited he was jumping from seat to seat....until the conductor came by to talk to the kids. Both Landon & Ryan took listening to him VERY seriously.

A little while later, the conductor returned to give the boys Jr. Engineer Certificates for helping to drive Thomas. Ryan was beside himself with pride. He showed everyone that would look and then kept it with him for the rest of the ride.

Then about halfway through the train ride, the boys started to get silly

A picture with Thomas after our train ride. I SWEAR he was having fun!

And then off to meet Sir Toppham Hatt

Next stop, the petting zoo

And before we left, Ryan wanted to take a tour of the old trains around the museum. I was excited to see a little piece of home in an MBTA commuter rail but Ryan was tired and wanted to head home without a picture on a Boston train.

Overall, we all had a great family day with some great friends. And Ryan is still talking about his "James" tattoo. When it came off in the bath he was sad so I tried to explain the temporary part of the tattoo. So, now he wants a real one. I keep trying to tell him that he's going to regret a tattoo of a train in 20 years, but he's stubborn so we'll have to see :)

Fun Fun Fun!

On Saturday we went to a fundraising event at the baseballs fields to support Gavin's baseball team. The boys had an amazing day. They had sno-cones, went on pony rides, played lots of games, got their faces painted & jumped until they couldn't jump anymore!

And this is the newest member of the family. When Ryan asked to play the "pick a duck" game, I thought nothing of it, until he pulled out a duck with an "F" on it, and they gave him this...Ryan has named him "Orange".

And today Ryan went to play at Pirates Cove with his good friends Landon & Avery. They had fun digging, climbing, jumping & running. I think this is one of Ryan's new favorite places, and I know we'll be going back once daddy finds out about the cannons!

Tiny Tots

Two posts in one day...don't get used to it :)

This morning Ryan and I headed over to a nearby roller skating rink where they were having Tiny Tots morning for toddlers to bring their bikes & ride around the rink. We'd been before with Gavin so Ryan was a bit bummed that he didn't have anybody to ride around with, but eventually he found a little boy his age who just happened to have the same Diego bike. They chased each other around and had a great time.

Before we left, Ryan wanted to play a game of skee-ball. He tried and tried to get the ball up the ramp & into the hole but got a little more frustrated each time it rolled right back to him. Finally, he decided to take matters into his own hands...and cheat. I thought about getting him down, but decided to snap a quick photo first :) He eventually got 10 tickets and picked out a shiny new dinosaur.

Daddy's Little Helper

For nearly 3 years now I've been telling Dave that our yard is too big & needs to be mowed too often for a push mower, but he refuses to buy a rider-he says he needs the exercise & riders are a waste of money. Well, now it has turned out to be a good bonding experience as well. A couple of nights ago we were playing outside when daddy decided to mow the lawn. The second Ryan saw him go get the lawn mower he darted into the garage. About 30 seconds later he appeared again with his lawn mower in hand and a "let's get down to business" look on his face! He helped daddy do the entire front lawn!

And then rewarded himself with a ride around the freshly cut yard :)