Birthdays,The Lego Movie, Pizza and Cupcakes!

Last night we watched The Lego Movie again (Lee got it from us for his birthday). Ever since we all watched it together we keep having the main song stuck in our head, "Everything is Awesome, Everything is cool when you're part of a team". Lee was singing it and Michael asked him if he knew who his team was and surprisingly Lee pointed to Me then Michael then Rylan. I think we both felt pretty good that we are making out family feel like a team.

Lee was kind of having a rough day earlier (he has been having a hard time because he thought he was going to see his mom a lot last time she had him but he ended up only seeing her for 2 days) when he is sad about not seeing his mom and worrying about when he will see her again he doesn't listen as well, gets upset easily and not compromising as well with Rylan as he usually does so it was cool to hear  him answer that way.

Rylan also had a bit of a rough day which made us think that both boys were also a bit tired. We have been getting them to bed a little later and they still wake up early. So it is amazing that we still had so many highlights with their behavior.

I took Rylan to his friend from school, Gracie's birthday party. I could have taken Lee as well but he was having such an emotional day that we decided to have him stay home with Michael and bond. Rylan had a great time. His friend Dylan was there as well and he was excited to get a balloon party hat and treat bag. He brought it home and said "look at the treat bag we got?!" And then he shared it with Lee.

We had (another )weak moment last night and instead of figuring out what to cook that is healthy and everyone likes for dinner we ordered pizza. THEN Lee reminded me that yesterday I told him they could have the last 2 cupcakes (from his birthday) after they ate their dinner. We were trying to figure out if we should say yes or not to the cupcakes right away and Lee got a little upset that he wasn't going to get a cupcake when we had promised. Then Rylan wasn't finished eating his dinner and he asked if Lee could have his cupcake now I was still on the fence about whether or not I should get them to eat something else healthy before getting one the issue was that we didn't have anything all that healthy to have them each eat so when Rylan said that both Michael and I decided we would just be sure to cook very healthy for the next week and let Lee have his after Rylan asked and Lee thanked him. Usually both boys have trouble with the other getting something cool before the other so we also gave Rylan a bead for sticking up for his brother and asking for him.

This morning the boys counted the beads they have in their kindness jars. We have a container for each boy and whenever they are exceptionally kind to each other or helpful in some way we give them a bead. When they get 15 we give them some sort of prize. Rylan has 17 beads which means he can cash them in for a prize and Lee has 12. Even before Lee finished counting how many he has Rylan announced that he will wait for Lee to get 15 before he get's his prize so that they can both get it together. We have told them from the beginning that if they do this they will get another bead because that is such a nice thing to do but a few times they have decided not to wait for each other. Lee didn't hear Rylan announce he would wait and he started to complain a little bit but then Rylan said, "I said I would wait for you! Remember I let you eat your muffin, (He keeps accidentally calling the cupcakes muffins) before me? " He said it in a really nice voice. It's moments of kindness and sharing like that, that make my day!

Lee's Birthday Present - A Ninja Turtle Camera

Today is the first time Lee has gotten to use his bday camera. It's so cute to see the things he is going around and taking pictures of. He took some pictures of Rylan and said, "Ok say Mario! Good. Ok say Hap! Good. Okay say Happy smile! Good." Then he walked over to me and said, "Ok say Nice! Good." And then he took some pictures of his toys like Yoshi below and their kindness jars ect...

Chase McCain - Extra Handsome Button Up Shirt

This morning Rylan picked out a button down shirt to wear and announced to me that he chose to wear an extra handsome shirt today! (that is what I always call button down shirts) And then since he left 1 button undone up top he asked me ifthere is another button up top. He said that he was trying to leave one button undone but wasn't sure if he did or not. Because apparently, Chase McCain wears his shirt like that. Right now he is in the bathroom talking to the mirror saying in a silly low voice, "Hi I am Chase McCain. I...am Chase McCain! THAT is me....Chaaase McCain!" Now if only Mario would learn how to dress!  I didn't realize this about Chase McCain's clothing so I looked up a picture and sure enough! I shouldn't have doubted that Rylan knew what he was talking about because these are the things he pays attention to and makes sure to remember! 

Familiversary

It has been a little over a year since Michael, Lee, Rylan and I became a family. It has been the most challenging and equally rewarding and blissful time of my life. I think the boys fell in love at first sight just like Michael and I fell in love almost too quickly for me to comprehend. They instantly became soul mates with their equally strong love for trains. The first day they met we decided to be very casual about it and met at a place called Country Village in Bothell which I suggested because it had a train ride and afterwards we took them to Applebees because it was and they were so obnoxiously loud active and excited the whole time, but we just let them be that way because we were so relieved that they liked each other. Not long after their first meeting we went to Michael and Lee's place in Everett. Lee showed Rylan all his trains and they played trains for hours. When we decided we should all move in together Rylan and Lee stayed up many nights during the Summer until 2 am because they just couldn't get enough of playing together. And since it was summer we had a hard time stopping them.
Fast forward through a long period of huge adjustments for the boys in sharing rooms toys and clothes as well as going to the same school both in kindergarten. It all has challenged our parenting skills and love for each other to the core. I am so blissfully happy that we have made it through and really become a family, I will even dare to say that we have become more of a family than some families that were always families. We have special things we do together. We have, "Family Movie Night" we play video games together with our special remotes, Michael and the boys either pick me flowers or buy flowers from the store for me often, we have story time pretty much every night where I read a book from each and Michael reads a book from each, we have inside jokes (what are the birds doin'? and What's gunna work? Teamwork and Everything is awesome when you are part of a team, sometimes Lee calls princess paige aka princess peach) We all enjoy it when it is nice out and we can eat dinner together outside on the deck. Sometimes when we eat inside the boys have two little tables with chairs and they push them together and we pretend we have a magic table  that can come apart and come together when we want. The boys often request for us to sniff tickle and snort chasing them upstairs, when we go to grandpops the boys chase us with anything they find, a ball, foam block ect. and so many many other things that I don't want to forget so I will be writing about here!

Leeuigi & Rario - Scared at Bedtime

Last night we got home from picking up Lee in Kingston and eating dinner on the way home very late. It was about 10pm when the boys started getting ready for bed.

They have a night light which Rylan used to only sleep with but since they have been sharing a room and a bit before lee moved in I got one of those turtles that have a shell that lights up and projects stars on the ceiling. t stays on for about 30 mins and auto shuts off and it has become part of the routine to take turns each night on who get's to pick which color these stars are. There are 3 colors Blue, Green and Amber. Usually Rylan likes to pick Blue and Lee likes to pick Green. Sometimes when it is Rylan's turn he will pick green for Lee because he knows that he likes it and vice versa depending on their mood. The batteries went out and we have been forgetting to put new ones in so they have been sleeping without this turtle for awhile just fine. But just recently (because it is summer vacation) Lee was away with his mom then his Gma Tracey then Kay and Kenny then Gma Sandy and Gpa Shad for a week and Rylan started acting like he is too scared to sleep without the turtle and without Lee. Then last night the boys were supposed to be sleeping but we still heard them talking for a bit and Michael went to regulate. Lee said the cutest thing. He said that he can't sleep without seeing a part of Rylan's body sticking out of the bed because it made him scared.

When the boys say things like this it completely melts our hearts. Everything that we were hoping the boys could be for each other has been slowly falling together piece by piece and we can look into their future and feel so good that not only did we find each other but also our children have a brother and possibly best friend for life.

The Game - A kind parenting compliment from a stranger

The day before yesterday Lee was over in Port Angeles with Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Shad and we walked across the street to eat at The Game.  We sat at a table that had one side with a booth and the other side 2 chairs. We all decided to smoosh together into the one booth seat. I love that Michael likes to sit on the same side of me instead of across from me and of course love it when Rylan is extra snuggly and wants to sit by me as well. Both Michael and I noticed an older asian couple sitting in the next table over. They were taking pictures and enjoying themselves. Michael commented that it is funny they are taking pictures of eating such unimpressive food. I commented that they seemed like a really happy cute couple and he agreed. The whole time we were sitting waiting for our food (which was extra long this time) I didn't think the couple noticed us. There was no eye contact. Rylan was exceptionally sweet and well behaved. He didn't complain too much that the waiter brought him a coloring page and then forgot to get him crayons. We were getting cranky about the long wait but he was being very patient and was sure to say please and thank you to the waiter which is something he usually forgets. When Michael and Rylan went to the bathroom the man from the couple across from us made a point to ask me if rylan was my son and proceeded to tell me that he was so very impressed with what a happy child he was. He even said that he had never seen a child that seemed so happy sitting next to his parents at a restaurant and he concluded saying that we must be very very good parents.
I was so touched by the comment. I was shocked that he would take a moment to tell me that when he seemed to be so very involved with what he was talking about with his wife. The way he said it gave me the impression that he had children that are grown now. There is something about someone in Kirkland stopping what they are doing in their world to have a positive impact on a stranger. I have decided I need to work on doing this more. I always try to compliment people but I don't compliment them on things that could make more of an impact. It's funny because our friends and family tell us we are really good parents but for some reason this stranger telling me made almost a bigger impact on me because there was no reason for him to do that. He will probably never see me again.