Agent of Entropy

Agent of Entropy
Little Ryzen is a micro tornado, tearing apart the house as he scoots around.  He's so darn cute, but man, he get's into everything. I know that's just what you do at this age, but he sure does it well.

Camping at Park Forest Elementary School
Aria's school had a special event where families could come bring their tents and camp out on the big field behind the school.  We didn't know how well Ryzen would handle it, so we choose just to show up and hang out with our neighbors for the evening.  Zade and Aaron had a great time having a pillow fight in the Brushwood's tent.

Aaron would pounce on Zade.

 And then Zade would tackle Aaron.

And their epic battle continued until it was time for us to head home and put the kids to bed.  It was a lot of fun to watch.

BBQ at the Brushwoods

Our neighbors invited us over for a BBQ last night.  It's great that the weather is nice again so we can start doing these kind of activities again.  The kids had a great time roasting marshmallows over the fire and making s'mores.

The many faces of Zade
The following pictures give provide just a taste of the the great sense of humor in our dear little Zade.  You never know what pose he'll strike for a picture.

Mamma's little helpers
Tara bought some kid-friendly knives and had the kids help her make dinner.  They enjoyed their new freedom and went to town on a cucumber with their new tools.

 They even stepped up and husked the corn.  Small things, for sure, but at least it's progress.

Critter Crunch

Critter Crunch

Now that it's spring, and the animals are coming out, Tara decided to put out some bird seed and critter crunch on our deck to see if we could entice some of the wild life to come up and give us a better view.  The critters who stepped up to the task were the squirrels, who absolutely devoured all the bird seed and the other food we left out.  (It was practically straight out of a Darn Squirrels book.) The kids had a great time watching them.

Garden
Here's our first attempt at a garden with the kids.  This little box has pumpkins, squash, and red peppers.  Clearly way too much for one little box, but we'll see which plants survive.

We also replanted the little flowerbed in front of the house, since the plants that had been in there last year were struggling to recover from the especially cold winter we just had.

Zade's Backpack of Wonder
I let Zade have my old backpack, which he has fallen in love with.  He's filled it full of little odds and ends and carries it around with him all over the place.  The pack is practically as big as he is.

Mother's Day

At pre-school Zade was asked questions about his lovely mother since mother's day is coming up. Here are his responses to his teacher's questions (per the sheet that he came home from school with):

- My mommy's name is: __TARA__
- She is __10__ years old.
- My mommy's favorite color is __BLUE__
- Her favorite food is __SALAD__
- My mommy looks prettiest when she __WENT ON 2 DATES WITH MY DAD__
- My mommy is silliest when she __RYZEN KEEPS BITING HER ON THE SHOULDER AND SHE SAYS "STOP IT!"__
- Her favorite thing to do with me is __PLAY AND I LIKE THAT SHE MADE MY BEDROOM COOL
- My mommy always says __"I LOVE YOU"__
- I love my mommy because __SHE BE'S NICE TO ME!__

Marsh Field Trip
Aria's school took a field trip to the marsh in State College.  I was able to meet her there with Ryzen and accompany her class around the marsh.

Rub dub dub
Ryzen is now old enough to take a bath with his older siblings (w/o polluting the water). The kids had a great time splashing around together.

Ryzen enjoyed his first bike ride.

Ryzen update
I'm still trying to get that perfect picture of Ryzen.  Here are a bunch of my most recent attempts. Ryzen knows a number of words now.  He can say "Mamma," (definitely his most favorite word). He can also say, "Dadda, Uh-oh and ball."  He does hand signs for "all done."  He loves to bite me on my shoulder while I'm holding him and it really hurts.  My shoulder is currently bruised with green and purple marks.  Ryzen thinks it's pretty funny.  I don't think it's very funny though.  Ryzen is still getting around by scooting on his bum.  He entertains himself very well, and will happily scoot around for long periods of time investigating different areas of the house.  I finally stopped nursing him at night, and he has actually slept 7-8 hours in a row without waking up.  Sleeping through the night is an amazing feeling!  I can finally get up at 6:00 AM and actually feel rested!  I still need to end that 11:00 PM feeding though, which I hope to do within the next few weeks.  I think that Ryzen will be the hardest baby to wean from nursing because he has never taken much from bottles, doesn't take pacifiers, and really loves to nurse.  Ryzen loves to swing and be outside!  Whenever we go outside near the swings, he gets really excited.  When I try to take him out of the swing, he gets mad.