tuesday stuff

Last night I was at Target with the 2 big girls {they needed some Christmas gifts still. It's so sweet to see them buy things for their siblings}. On the way out to the van one of them mentioned something I wasn't aware of::"The Ryan's play 'Stoll Haul'." That made me curious, so I asked what "Stoll Haul" was {other than one of the nicknames for our van, that my friend, Ing, came up with -- genius that she is!} Turns out it's much like "Slug Bug", but rather than straining to spot little VW bugs, you get the slightly easier task of spotting huge {12 and 15-passenger} vans and then punching your sibling -- or whoever is nearby -- and calling out "Stoll Haul". Feel free to play in your vehicle too. It could be fun. All credit for this fabulous game goes to the 3 Ryan kiddos, who are much more inventive than most . . . not to mention sweet, kind, smart and adorable!

How cute is this? She's working hard on that head control. Here is our bobble head baby::


His superpowers haven't been much help in fighting the bloody noses that the dry, winter weather has caused our favorite family superhero to have most nights lately. And since the teeniest drop of blood on his sheets freaks him out, I've washed his sheets twice in the past 3 days. And it's a bunk bed {well, more accurately, a loft}. Have you changed sheets on those buggers? I almost always end up broken out in a sweat {even when the temps are below zero, as they are today}. Changing Superman's sheets was not on the list of things I wanted to do with my day, but oh well!
That same superhero is having a really, REALLY hard time waiting for Christmas {I know this is not abnormal for a 5-year-old, but we've never experience it to this extreme at our house before}. Today he literally screamed at me::"I. WANT. TO. OPEN. A. PRESENT!! If I can open a present, I will be nice. If I can't, I will be mean. Do you want me to be nice or mean?" Alas, I still haven't let him open one. {Note: we refrain from putting gifts under our tree until the time has come to actually open them. But one extra-generous kiddo in our family has purchased -- or made -- presents for everyone, wrapped them and placed them nicely under the tree. I know she didn't do it to torture her brother, but that is what the result has been. It is no fun at all, as we hear about it, literally, without ceasing!}

My husband was on the air today on the radio program "Connecting Faith" with Stephanie Kay. Although the topic was not one I was super interested in {Kirb is the "money man" around here after all, which is why they didn't ask ME to be on the radio talking about investments, planned giving, taxes and year-end-giving}, I did listen to the whole show. The kids weren't very understanding of the fact that I was trying to listen to the radio and not miss the times when Kirb was actually talking {there was him, the show's host -- hostess, actually -- and another guest, so he only talked probably a quarter of the time}. It was so funny to watch the kids yell into the stereo speakers "Hi Dad!" "Dad, can you hear me?" "Did you get my message, Dad? I left you a message." I guess they have a ways to go before they have a completely understanding of the concept of a radio vs a phone {which, I guess, is perfectly logical, since the only other time they've heard his voice and not been able to see him was over the phone. And, in that case, it works great: when you talk, you get a response. Not so this time around, however!} Another fun thing about the show was that Kirb's aunt {who is married to his dad's brother} was listening to the show in northern Minnesota -- I guess she's a dedicated listener of "Connecting Faith" as Stephanie seemed to know her by name -- without knowing that Kirby was going to be on. So, she called in when she heard his voice {it was a call-in show} and chatted with him a while. Not about the topic of the show, mind you, just to say "Hi". She also asked if he brought his horn to play on the air, then went on to tell the whole listening audience about what a great job he does playing the horn and what a beautiful singing voice he has. I found it to be the most entertaining 2 minutes of the hour-long show, myself! Auntie Arlene brings fun to any situation in which she finds herself though, that's for sure! In case you are interested, I think you can listen to the show here.