What did the 5 fingers say to the face?

Aaron is in a hitting phase. If he doesn't get what he wants, he will slap you harder than Rick James slapped Charlie Murphy.


No one has escaped Aaron's wrath...Mommy and Daddy get clobbered by Aaron's open-handed fury, and Ryan has been brought to tears (not really an uncommon event though) w/ his baby brother waylaying on him.

Aaron is 15 months old!

Today Aaron had his 15 month check-up! He weighed in at 26 lbs 12 oz (80%) and 31 1/2 inches tall (70%). This is actually very comparable to what Ryan was at this age. Ryan weighed in at 26 lbs 1 oz and was 32 inches tall! I think Aaron may have caught up! Here is a recent picture of Aaron and one of Ryan around this age so you can see the comparison! I would have to say similar, but not exactly the same :) Aaron definitely still has more hair than Ryan did at this age!

Aaron hanging out in his new chair!

Ryan at 16 months...guess I like the boys to wear bib overalls in the winter :)

On a side note...my gigantic boys have very petite cousins! Kaitlyn had her 1 year check-up today as well and weighs in at 18 lbs 3 oz (10%) and is 27 1/2 inches tall (7%)....Remember Aaron weighed 24 lbs at his 1 year check-up :)

Wrestlemania in the Snow

We probably got 6 inches of snow in the latest snow storm, but the wind made about two-foot drifts in the back yard, and parts where you could still see grass. Ryan and I renewed our friendly rivalry by trading body slams and tackles in the snow. The drifts made a great ring! Aaron didn't like the snow too much, so he and Mommy went back inside. Later we played on the swing set, enjoying our sunny and snowy day!

Meatball Ryan

A couple Saturday mornings ago, we were watching Tyler's Ultimate on the Food Network. He was making meatballs, and for some reason, Ryan decided to take a break from Nick Jr. to watch it with me. He thought it was hilarious that he was using milk, he said he was being silly. So somehow, we got to calling each other "meatball" as a way of saying you are being silly.

Ryan forgot about it for about a week, but now he is back with a vengance. He likes to call me "Meatball Daddy" or tells me I am a meatball if we are goofing around. I obviously encourage his behavior by calling him "Meatball Ryan". Thank you Food Network for giving us new nickname ideas!

Watch how you act around Ryan....you may soon too be called a meatball!

Aaron dancing

Aaron seems to be unable to not dance when he hears music. It doesn't matter if it is Pop, Country, Xmas, Children music, etc. As long as it is uptempo, his body is moving. Finally got a chance to video him - not his best effort, but it is still fun!

Ryan Paul is FOUR today!

Today is Ryan's fourth birthday! He has been very excited today to celebrate his birthday. He started the day by going to preschool and taking a special treat of chocolate chip cookies....he even ate some! (Ryan doesn't typically like sweets or candy and usually will not eat snack at school). Then we went to McDonalds for lunch and ate inside! Then we went to the doctor to see how big he is getting! He weighs 47 1/2 lbs and is 42 1/2 inches tall! Needless to say the doctor is not worried about his growth! After an afternoon of flying a kite (yes...flying a kite in Ohio in December...not normal!), and putting up Christmas decorations, we went out to eat wherever he wanted. Of all the places suggested, he wanted to go to XRAY (Xcaret-a mexican restaurant) to eat chips! Grandma and Grandpa Clement joined us for the celebration and Ryan got to talk on the phone to Aunt Jill and Grandma Sadler who were excited to tell him Happy Birthday!

For his birthday party, we celebrated at Ryan's Grandma/Grandpa Sadlers last Sunday. We had Thanksgiving dinner and then swiched it over to a birthday party! He received a ton of awesome gifts and had a beautiful cake made by his Uncle Marv. The only problem with the evening is that Ry wouldn't eat any cake! I seriously do not know how I gave birth to him :) Anyway, thank you everyone for the presents, cards, and birthday wishes! We appreciate them all and are so blessed to have Ryan in our lives! He has grown into such a loving little boy that makes us very proud! We love you Ryan and are so glad you be your mommy and daddy!

Here are a few pictures from the birthday party!

Ryan with is Baloo Cake! Great job Uncle Marv!

Waiting to blow out the candles while we sing Happy Birthday! (the small cake to the right is his daddy's cake)

Blowing out his candles all by himself! Way to go Ryan!

A John Deere sweatshirt! Uncle Brian will be so proud! Thanks Grandma Sadler!

An Indians Ball and bat...hopefully he'll learn to hit better then the current Indians!

Happy Thanksgiving Dinner!

This Thanksgiving, Ryan really started getting into the spirit of the day! We had a total of 4 Thanksgiving dinners and for every one he would said, "Happy Thanksgiving Dinner" I tried to explain to him that it was Happy Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving Dinner, but I guess he decided to do his own version! Not a surprise if you know Ryan! He was also pretty upset that he was not allowed to go to preschool on Thanksgiving since it was Thursday and he thought he should still be able to go. After some coaxing and play time with Emma, then he came around and enjoyed the day!

Anyway, we had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving with Brian, Gina, Emma, and Kaitlyn (and mom and dad)! We absolutely LOVED spending time with them and hope they did as well. My favorite comment from the week was when Gina said, "Isn't funny that kids know when they belong together even when they do not see each other much" That is sooooo true Gina and I love that our kids "belong together"!

Here are some pictures from the week that we celebrated Thanksgiving (since we had 4 dinners...it took a week to celebrate!). We also had Aunt Gina's birthday, Daddy's birthday, and we celebrated Aaron's belated and Ryan's early birthdays on Tues at Chucky Cheese. Whew was it a whirlwind of fun! Thank you very much Uncle Brian, Aunt Gina, Emma and Kaitlyn for helping the boys celebrate their birthdays! We had a blast!

All the kids in their John Deere apparel....brainwashing them already!


Kaitlyn and Aaron hanging out at Chucky Cheese

Grandma and Kaitlyn...she is so cuddley!

Ryan looking like a mouse :)

Emma at Grandma and Grandpas!

Oh yeah...one more story....Emma is very imaginitive and has nicknames for everyone! Hers is Alicia (from Go Diego Go), her daddy is now a Wonder Pet (demoted from Diego), her mommy is Mama Jaguir, and her sister is baby Jaguir. Ryan is now Diego, Uncle Paul is Clifford the Big Red Dog, and Aunt Kim is Ruby....Ryan has started following her lead and now calls his mommy Ruby and insists that she call him Diego...luckily it's only once in awhile and not all the time... Especially since mommy has a hard time remembering his real name sometimes!