Lil' Dean Fam

Easter this year was okay. I was sick most of the day and did not feel like doing anything but sleep, but little sleep was to be had in the end. Anyhow, I think the boys enjoyed themselves and had a fun time, so that's all that matters, right? Here are the boys on Easter Morning, discovering that the Easter Bunny had come to visit them. He came in the night; sort of like Santa Clause I guess... Ryan got right to taking things out of both baskets and taking inventory of the goods. I don't think it even occurred to him that there were TWO baskets for any reason at all. See... one for Evan. And one for Ryan. Ryan has really been into reading things lately. He loves to spell out the letters of signs, boxes, and anywhere else he can find letters. You see, the Easter Bunny was well aware of all of these wonderful traits of a certain three-and-a-half-year-old, and printed large (all capital) letters and carefully placed them in each basket to identify which was for whom. An...

Ryan had a sleep-over with his buddy Charlie from our old ward. He was super excited to have Charlie over finally. I was really sick with some sort of flu bug so I went to bed quite early and let Colin take charge of the sleep over. They had a lot of fun running around the house, playing video games, eating pizza, and watching movies. We dyed Easter Eggs on Saturday morning. Evan was really quite bummed that I didn't let him participate more, poor thing. Anyway, here are our eggs! This year your standard Easter Egg dyeing kit came with funny face stickers to put on the eggs. Ryan loved that! They also came with some nice disposable cups for the color tablets. Boys working on their eggs. Waiting on the color to take effect. Evan trying to get in on the fun. Ryan's eggs. Charlie's eggs. Ta-da. Ry took my picture after I peeled an egg for him to eat.

Emry is one week old today. I've really only seen her twice. Once when she was very-first born, and once for a couple of seconds while Jess was holding her AT HOME yesterday. Emry was delivered four weeks early and Jess did an amazing job! I was unexpectedly asked to help Jess in the last hour of labor so I got to see her being born. It was truly the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Given that Jess had been in labor for about 21 hours already, she was so strong. Emry weighed only 5 pounds 3 ounces and was 18 inches long. They named her Emry Mae Rikli, and I just LOVE the name. I think it fits her perfectly. The pediatrician commented that she was a good sized 36 week old. Emry had to stay in the hospital for the week until she was able to eat, breathe, and maintain her temperature all on her own. I know it has been hard on Jess and Cole to not have their baby with them, but she's home now and I know she'll grow fast and be strong. Anyway, here is a picture of the beau...

The kids have this CD that their Grandpa gave them. It has a bunch of songs from kid-movies on it. They turn it on during the day and just dance. It is so cute. This video isn't great, but Evan sure does love to dance to this fun music! Oh, in other news, Evan signed his first sign to me this morning! I was so excited! I've been signing to him for a while now and I know he's been paying attention but he has not signed back yet. This morning I was doing something with Ryan and Evan was grunting at me. I hate it when kids grunt for what they want, but what more can you expect out of a baby that can't talk right? Well, I signed and asked him, "What do you want Evan?" "Do you want a drink?" I then signed (drink) . He signed (milk) back at me. Just like that, without me signing it first! I was so excited. I ran and got his bottle and sure enough, he drank it! Yea, Evan! Evan knows these words: - ball - hi - uh-oh - ba ba (bottle) He is really good at ...

I've found a way that really motivates Ryan. I don't know how it was that it occurred to me, but he really wanted a specific toy not too long after Christmas and I thought to myself, no he is not getting a toy without having first earned it. So, I made him a sticker chart and the first one was a bust. He didn't follow through with anything and so I let it go. No toy. The second time around though, I was really good about praising him and giving him his stickers when he did what was asked of him. On the first one, he earned stickers for 1. Being cooperative with Mommy in the morning. (He has to get up at 6:40 am at the latest so we can make it out of the door on time) 2. Picking up his own toys. 3. Being cooperative at bedtime, staying in his bed when told to go to bed. He really wanted a Care bear for this sticker chart, but when we went to the Wal Mart, because this is the only store we shop at, they did not have it. He got a cool interchangeable Wolverine car. Then he rea...

I haven't posted in what feels like forever to me. We've been our usual crazy busy, and this weekend we welcomed my first niece into the world, four weeks early. I'll post more about baby when I can get some pictures, but Emry and Jess are doing pretty well. Jess may get to come home tomorrow and I think Emry won't be too much farther behind her. I have a million things on my mind to post about, but I'll just post a few funny things that Ryan has said lately . He's always been very talkative and sometimes the things he says are just absolutely hilarious , at least to me. Anyway, here are the most recent exchanges. Ryan: Mommy, how old are you? Me: 28 Ryan: No, Mommy, like how many are you? Me: 28 Ryan: no, like are you 3 or 4 or how old are you? Me: 28 Ryan: Mommy, not your phone number, how old are you? Me: laughing hysterically ... Ryan (climbing into bed with me before bed time): I like it in here, its nice, its cozy, its worm (he says warm that way...

Ryan had his first "late-night", as they call them here in Utah, with his friend Curen. He was hoping to have his good friend Charlie come over too, but he was sick. We ate pizza and Ice cream, made sugar cookies and let the boys run around being crazy. It was a lot of fun! Thanks for coming over, Curen! cheese-balls Ryan & Curen making sugar cookies Ry with a whistle in his mouth Curen showing off his noise-maker