Snow Day

This morning we woke up to this (again):

Needless to say, school was cancelled (Ryan was mad, but luckily didn't freak out). I decided to try to do something fun and different with the kids, so I made a tent in the living room using blankets. My sister, brother, and I used to love doing this when we were kids and we made some massive ones. I was hoping Ryan and Brooke would like it as much. They did enjoy it, but more when I was in there with them. It occupied them for a good hour before Tornado Brooke took part of it down and by then it was almost time for lunch, so that was the end of it for today. We'll have to try it again sometime! Now for some pictures....

I used the recliner, a kitchen chair, the pack'n'play, and couch to prop the blankets up.

(Those are Cheerios for Brooke on the table in case you're wondering ;-).)

View from the "front door".

Brooke was not impressed with the height of the "ceiling" and kept pushing it up. LOL.

Such a smiley girl!

Proof they do get along *sometimes!

Ryan coming in the "back door".

Peeking in from the "porch"

:-)

Full Moon

Last month right before the full moon, Ryan was being quite trying while his TSS, Miss Arlene, was here. That is unusual behavior for him when she is around. He normally doesn't push his limits too much. But he was being very argumentative and defiant and even ended up in timeout twice while she was here (and once more right after she left). She told me there was a full moon coming up soon, but she wasn't quite sure when (turns out it was the following night), and that it could have something to do with it. He'd been difficult (more so than usual) the few days leading up then, too. We figured we would make sure to pay attention to when another full moon would happen and see if we noticed any correlation.


The next one is Sunday and sure enough, Ryan has been quite a little terror the last couple of days and I don't suspect it will subside until after Sunday. Hopefully I can keep my sanity that long :-P. Things I've noticed that are worse with him are his wanting to argue over EVERYTHING, being extremely defiant and mouthy, and being more aggressive. Yesterday evening when I had to put him in time out in his room, he was trying to hit me and kick me, which is NOT usual behavior for him. He is more apt to hit himself or the wall or something of that nature. It is reassuring to know that there is something causing Ryan to behave this way (and I really do believe that whether it's scientifically proven or not), but it can still be hard to deal with these behaviors, especially without getting frustrated even though I know that definitely does not help the situation. I am hoping for a better evening tonight than the last two, but I'm not counting on it. I am wishing that full moons happened a lot less!

Wordless Wednesday - The Basket

August 30, 2009

One of my favorite baby pictures of Brooke.

February 17, 2010

This time she got in herself ;-).

Splash Lagoon

As usual, I am behind in posting :-P. Joe and I took all 3 kids to Splash Lagoon, an indoor waterpark, at the beginning of the month. We left Thursday around lunchtime and got checked in to the hotel, which was connected to the waterpark (SO nice), a little after 3. We got changed in to our suits and headed over to the park. Ryan is not a big fan of water, other than the bathtub, so I was expecting some resistance from him even getting in to the kiddie pool. But it didn't happen! :-) He got right in. Brooke was more cautious and didn't want me to let go of her at first. They had a few slides and surprisingly Ryan went right up the steps and down the slide without much of a second thought, as long as I was there to "catch" him at the bottom (in 18in. of water). Cole is a little fish and he didn't need any time to adjust at all. After a little while at the park, we headed back to the hotel to get ready to order dinner (pizza). Our room had a jacuzzi tub and the kids had a blast playing in it while waiting for the pizza to get there.

Friday morning we had some breakfast and then headed over to the park around 10. I indulged Ryan a couple times by "catching" him at the bottom of the slide and then I had him do it himself. He had no problem (usually) standing up at the bottom. Once in awhile he would lose his balance, but he did really well with not freaking out about it :-). He doesn't like his face getting wet, so we'll have to work on that. Brooke was pretty much velcroed to me unless we hung out at the entry to the kiddie pool where they had some tiny fountains that she loved playing in. Cole was busy checking out the whole park (with Joe, of course) and he loved the family whirlpool and hot tub. Ryan, Brooke, and I got in them for a bit too and Ryan did well in the 3ft water, which surprised me a little, but he preferred the slides in the kiddie pool.

Ryan thinks he is smiling...um, no.

An attempt to get a shot of the 2 of them together :-P.

Attempt 2...it wasn't happening.

Yep, she's too big for these. Nope, she didn't care (SHE wanted in lol). But she sure did get mad when she tried to walk over to the baby in the one next to her and couldn't. LOL.



We had lunch at the snackbar in the waterpark and then headed back to the water for awhile before heading upstairs to check out the arcade. This was definitely Ryan's favorite part. LOL. It did result in a few minor meltdowns from him, but after talking to him I did manage to get him to NOT throw a tantrum when it came time to leave the arcade. We headed back to the room around 4:30 and by that time Brooke was pretty crabby having not had a nap that day OR the day before. She was definitely done with the park. We hung out for awhile and then ordered dinner, this time Applebee's who delivered to the hotel which made it really nice. The kids once again played in the tub while waiting for dinner. It was a nice way to keep them occupied.

I had to throw this one in just so you could see how curly Brooke's hair got ;-).

She is SUCH. A. HAM.!

Ryan pushed the button to turn the jets on, even though none of them liked the jets and this is what happened. Ryan started crying and Cole then wanted to get out. Brooke was kind of just doing her own thing, like she usually is.

Being a stinker while eating dinner.

Can you tell she was tired?? LOL.


We left the hotel around 10 Saturday morning after eating breakfast and headed to Joe's. Cole turned 4 on Saturday and he had a small party that evening. The kids all had a lot of fun. We slept there that night and headed home Sunday evening. It was a great 4 days :-).