Happy Valentine's Day!

The Valentine Ryan made me in school:

In case you can't decipher it, he wrote "Ryan Loves You." Above that is a picture he drew of our family. Daddy is on the left, Mommy is on the right, and Ryan is the smaller figure drawn in between and below them. Should I be offended that in every picture Ryan draws of our family, I am always drawn the largest? :)

Hallmark Holiday

Ryan and I have been discussing Valentine's Day a lot lately - he picked out Toy Story Valentines for his friends at school and a special Princess card for his girlfriend, Ava. I explained to him that Valentine's Day is about love and is a time to tell people that you love them. This morning while I was making my coffee for work, he was watching TV and yelled to me - "Mommy, Valentine's Day ISN'T about saying I love you!" I said to him "Yes, it is. Why do you say that?" He yelled back "On TV they said it's not the time to say I love You!" I assumed he misheard or misunderstood something on TV and I corrected him "No, they are saying it IS the time to say I love you." "Oh" he said, but didn't sound too convinced. This afternoon, I was running on the treadmill listening to Pandora Radio, and a Hallmark commercial came on. It started out: "Valentine's Day is NOT about saying I love you...." I should have known better than to doubt Ryan!

Signs

** Disclaimer (This is for you Walidah!) This post may bring on some tears!

A few weeks ago, I was having a really bad week. I had managed to keep myself busy and stay strong through the wake and funeral services, Christmas and New Year's, but the loss of my Nana had really started to set in. I found myself in tears daily and the smallest thing would set me off - a memory in my head on my way to work or a song on the radio on my way home that reminded me of her. Friday afternoon of that week I had had enough and left work early after spending a good part of the day with tear filled eyes. The next morning I was cleaning the house, more specifically the bathrooms. I'm not a complete slob (anymore!) but I also don't clean as much as I should and cleaning the bathrooms is certainly not something I do often enough. On top of that, I finally decided to sort through the magazines that sit in a big bin next to our upstairs toilet, a pile I hadn't tackled in well over a year. Why I chose to do it on that particular Saturday, I'm still not sure. About halfway through the pile, I found a picture. One picture in the entire pile. In fact, there were no other pictures to be found in the bathroom at all. It was also a picture I had never seen before, a picture that had to be at least 30 years old, and one that I have no recollection of how it landed in my possession. The picture was of my Nana - laughing, smiling, and dancing with her father in law, my great grandfather, "Pop." Some people may not believe in signs, but finding this picture has made me a true believer. Nana knew I was down, and wanted to let me know that she is ok. Thank you Nana, I love you and miss you everyday but will remember you with smiles and laughter, not tears of sadness.

Family Wii NIght

Cousins Sleepover - Take 2

Last night was another cousins sleepover for Ryan - this time with 5 out of 6 of his cousins spending the night at Grandma and Papa's house. This time he shared a room with his oldest girl cousin, Rachel, who he loves! She told me the next day that he would not stop talking so that she could go to sleep :) Again, I think he was just excited to have someone in the room with him! Grandma read them stories before bed, and then Papa cooked pancakes for everyone. After breakfast, everyone played together and just enjoyed their time together. It was a great sleepover!

Happy Birthday Rachel!

After ice skating, we headed back to Grandma and Papa's to warm up, exchange Christmas presents, and celebrate Rachel's birthday. After cake and ice cream, we posed for some pictures - since it is not often that Grandma and Papa have all 7 of their grandchildren together in one place! Then we brought out the Wii. Tim and I got Just Dance 2 as a Christmas gift and we all needed to test it out. We had a blast dancing and laughing, and we even got the guys up there for one song. I know this game will be making an appearance on our family vacation this summer!

Ice Skating!

Today the entire Doody/Hansen family headed to the Y for ice skating. A few of us were observers/photographers, but everyone else headed to the ice to skate around. The older kids did great! Ryan and Lizzie were a little more timid - Ryan more so than Lizzie but he did let Tim drag him around the ice for a little less than a hour, so I consider that a successful first time! After awhile he was done with it and needed a break, so he sat with me and watched his cousins skate around. He did say he wanted to go again, so I see more trips ot the rink in our future.

Cousins Sleepover - Take 1

Tonight was Ryan's first sleepover with 2 of his cousins - where they all slept in the same bed! Alec and Lizzie spent the night at Grandma and Papa's with Ryan, and they all shared the futon. I think Lizzie and Alec were ready for sleep before Ryan, as he happily chatted away, clearly excited to have someone to talk to in bed! Eventually they all fell asleep, and lasted until around 4 am, when a bathroom break was followed by their separation so they could all get a more restful sleep!

A Ryan and Lizzie Day

This weekend we are in Albany visiting family and celebrating a late Christmas, as well as Rachel's 13th birthday. Today Ryan, Grandma and Papa surprised cousin Lizzie at school, then brought her back to Grandma and Papa's house so they could all spend the day together. These two are like two peas in a pod, and they had so much fun together - playing, eating lunch, "taking a nap" (no sleeping actually occurred, sledding, trying to build a snowman, walking in the snow with Grandma, visiting with Mum (their great-grandmother), warming up with hot cocoa, playing with baby dolls (or as they referred to them - the Baby Jesus!), and pretending to wait for Santa. They had a ball and, as the youngest cousins, it was so nice for them to have a special day together with Grandma and Papa.

Dinosaurs, Angels, and Martin Luther King

Yesterday on the way home from school, I was telling Ryan that he has no school on Monday, due to the holiday. Of course this sparked many questions and a very interesting discussion, as always seems to be the case these days with an inquisitive 3 year old!

Ryan: Why is Monday a holiday?
me: It is Martin Luther King Day, it is a day that we celebrate a man named Martin Luther King.
Ryan: Where is he?
me: Well, he isn't around anymore but he lived a long time ago.
Ryan: Oh. Was he a dinosaur?

The conversation went on to discuss where Martin Luther King is now, heaven, angels, and ended with Ryan asking why angels don't fall out of the sky. Now that he is asking more and more questions, I think I need to start coming up with better answers!