Ryann!

A Hallmark Moment

If you are not already aware, we have a Crayola artist living at our house. Erin owns the colossal pack of crayons, an enormous array of markers (some color 2 different colors, some blend colors, some color in patterns, some have glitter, some smell like you should be eating them, and some glow in the dark), and has colored or drawn just about every imaginable scene, animal, family member, and story her 6-year-old mind can conceive.

Our refrigerator is littered with our own collection of masterpieces. Erin’s mind is much like many minds of certified geniuses- her thoughts and ideas are crystal clear in her head but her room suffers from a lack of organization. Oh, and I forgot she is still only 6 years old.  We often clean it with a shovel and rake.

I had to set the stage with all of that information so you fully understand our Hallmark moment. When you have a raging Crayola addiction that you constantly have to feed then coloring at home will not quench the fire. Erin colors at home, church, school, daycare, and in the car requiring she tote coloring utensils with her at all times. You never know when you will want to use a neon orange crayon.

Well, we reaped the obvious eventuality on Thursday when Amy started extracting freshly dried clothes from the drier. I never knew you could get such comprehensive coverage from a single neon colored crayon. Everybody lost favorite clothes in that fight, except Erin, her favorite pants were found only to have orange on the inside.

Well, Crayola contends all is not lost. Apparently WD-40 will remove crayons from clothes. We were reluctant to try until I realized we have nothing to lose. If it doesn’t work we haven’t lost any more clothes than the crayon already claimed. We’ll step cautiously either way.

Although the kids will object, Amy and I agree we just experienced the best Halloween ever. Thank goodness for baseball tournaments! On Friday and Saturday, our family packed up to leave the snow and cold in Enoch for a baseball tournament in St George’s warmth and glorious absence of wind! Due to games into late evening followed by demanding and hungry kids, we didn’t make it back in time to answer our door for Trick-o-treater’s. What could be better? All was not lost, Tyrel and Erin still collected holiday loot. The car dealers in town hosted trunk-o-treat on Friday. We were able to take Tyrel and Erin around to these places where they were given treats and even allowed to fish for other prizes.
Erin is the winner for her age group in a coloring contest here in Cedar City. After thinking about it, I don’t know that this is much of a surprise to me. Erin probably spends ¾ of her waking hours coloring and I probably spend ¾ of my waking hours reminding her clean her coloring stuff up. I will admit she has gotten better at this coloring thing as we no longer find coloring evidence on our floors left by a mystery bandit coloring clear off the page. I hope we are not the only family with a mystery coloring bandit whom the parents are never able to catch. I can’t say for certain, but I would bet I have looked that bandit in the eyes before. All joking aside, nobody was more excited about this winning venture than Erin. Amy and I couldn’t be more proud.
It seems Ryann is spending more and more time awake and eating. Most people measure time using a clock to calculate where in a 24-hour cycle they find themselves, we instead measure time from the last time Ryann ate against the next time she will need to eat. This doesn’t give us much wiggle room as far as a schedule goes and has made the planning of family activities trickier. Tyrel loves to be helpful with Ryann related details while Erin loves to be too helpful. I don’t suspect Erin’s helpfulness will expire any time soon.

Psychological Warfare

Ryann plans her next strategy while Erin has no idea what comes next!

It has been too long since our last entry so I will attempt to get caught up in one motion. To start, Amy is enjoying her time at home with Ryann. I think her quiet respite after Erin and Tyrel leave for school each morning is therapeutic. When school let out for UEA it was obvious Amy’s chi was disrupted after spending an entire day with Erin at home. Amy informed me it was better for her to have Erin in school with lots of work and art projects to complete. Weird, I didn’t see that coming.

I have been trying for years to teach and later impose general good behavior on Erin with little to no success. However, Sun Tzu has an apt pupil residing in our home in Ryann. She shrewdly imposes her will on Erin in rare style. You see Ryann possess the coveted anti-Erin. I have never seen someone back peddle quicker than Erin after Ryann spits up or messes her diaper. Who would have thought.

On a more serious note, Ryann completely dominates the house as well she should. We are glad to have her. I am glad she likes to sleep at night.

Finally, Tyrel is gearing up for his latest baseball tournament and basketball is gaining on him fast. he loves practices as much as the games and conintues to develop baseball skills. No doubt Tyrel and his team have come a long way in learning and playing America’s game. Now, Tyrel has played long enough that he is starting to think the game and seems to have a question per minute about different scenarios and strategies in baseball. It is good this game is so utterly engaging. Long live baseball!

6 and Counting

With the addition of Ryann it offered the perfect distraction for the rest of the family. Usually the weeks, or months, leading up to Erin’s birthday include no less than 1000 questions about how many more days until her birthday. The respite from these inquiries was welcome but, thank goodness, didn’t cancel the event entirely. After watching Erin on her birthday and then later at her birthday party, I know nobody has more fun at these things than her.

For good or bad, Erin’s brief six years have been well documented with a camera. We have ample black mail material for the time in her life when she will be trying to convince a naive boy that she has been only perfect her entire life. I will continue gathering evidence until that day. Enjoy.

Ryann part 2

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