2010--Merry Christmas!

2010 has been another year of joy and happiness. It's hard to remember everything we have been up to, luckily we take a lot of pictures.

At the beginning of the year we couldn't wait to get out of the house so I took the kids up in the mountains to take some pictures, run around, and throw some snowballs too. But as it goes in Utah we still had to entertain ourselves indoors mostly. Chloë really likes to play dress up- as a ballerina, a princess, or as mommy! In an effort to make Ethan look more like a little boy again we cut off 10 inces of hair and donated it to Locks of Love and just in time for spring! As soon as it was warm enough we hit the lake in Stansbury Park to fish and boat.

We finally made it up to the Dinosaur Park in Ogden this year and the kids had a ball. We enjoyed our summer outdoors, in the pool, and even on the jet skis at Deer Creek Reservoir. Ethan turned 4 this year and is in his 2nd year of preschool. He is still loving it and learning a lot! He talks non-stop...no really! We also reached another milestone this year with getting both Ethan & Chloë potty trained, we are so proud of them!

As the summer wound down the weather stayed nice so we stayed outdoors. On our trip to Bridal Veil Falls we saw the Heber Creeper train and enjoyed the hiking. Chloë turned 3 in November, she is quite the character, always bossing everyone around and is not afraid to tell you her opinion on everything. She is the sweetest little girl but she can hold her own against her big brother! We squeezed in one last trip in November to Nebo Loop (tallest mountain in the Wasatch range- 9,345 feet) and saw Devil's Kitchen... looks like Moab!

We have been enjoying the Christmas season and feel so blessed! We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy 2011!

Love, The Rhynsburgers

Alexie, Travis, Ethan, & Chloë

Oh Christmas Tree!

Ethan & Chloë got to help decorate the tree at Papa Mark's and Nana Julie's house. They had so much fun putting the decorations on (then off and back on again). We are so excited for Christmas and the kids are at such a fun age this year, they both know what is going on and what to expect! Ethan made a countdown at school so they can't wait to tear off the last piece of paper and open their presents!

Ethan

We had a parent/ teacher conference yesterday and went over Ethan's IEP (individualized education plan) They first do testing to see what Ethan can do then we make a plan based on that.
Ethan can:
Say his first name
Knows his age
can name the colors: red, yellow, blue, green, orange, brown, purple, black, white (all the colors in the test!)
Touch count to 3 (goal is 10)
Count to 3 (goal is 10)
identify the number 3 (goal is 1-10)
He can identify the letters A E O and m o

Our goal is to have him naming 4 basic shapes, speaking in 4-5 word sentences, naming his numbers and letters by the end of the year. The LEA representative said she doesn't think that Ethan will qualify for these services by next fall because he is making such good progress! Ethan will have this year and one more year of preschool to get caught up before kindergarten in fall 2012!

3 & 4

Tuesday I took the kids to the doctor for their yearly "well baby check up"- okay so they aren't babies anymore- The doctor said that they are perfect, but we already knew that! Ethan is as always tall and skinny and Chloë is tall and just a little chunky!

Things change a little at 4 years old, they take blood pressure and check their BMI
Ethan- 34.39 lbs (31%)
41.24 in (64%)
BMI- 14.2 (8%)- this number is supposed to be under 90
BP- 105/60- normal

Chloë- 31.97 lbs (65%)
38.19 in (73%)
head circumference- 20 in (92%)

I can't believe how big they have gotten! (Chloë turns 3 in just five days) They truly aren't my little babies anymore. They are so independent now and talking so much, Ethan is getting so good at communicating and is understandable for the most part now- especially when he really wants to get his point across... or flirt with girls (yes that has already started)!
Ethan is doing his yearly IEP (testing) at school on Thursday and we will also do a parent teacher conference at that time as well. I will post the results next week!

*On a side note the picture was taken today- so we are a little late carving the pumpkins but hey the kids don't know the difference!

Happy Halloween!

Worth It In The End...

I always think it will be so fun to do projects with the kids. And it is for the most part. Getting to the end result though is often very challening with Ethan and Chloë. I decided it would be a good activity to make a spooky ginger bread house and for some reason tackled it all by myself. Well I forgot that I would need to mix the frosting and put it into the bags before we could do any decorating. Ethan and Chloë didn't think the waiting was fun at all. We finally got the icing ready and the candy in a bowl ready to go and the kids quickly learned that the candy doesn't stick without icing- once again the waiting wasn't too much fun. But after all the prep work we finally got to decorate! They loved putting the bats and candies all over the house. It doesn't look anything like they show you that you can do on the box but at least the kids love it and are pretty proud of their accomplishment (as I am of mine). Happy Halloween!

Legos!

PLaying Legos with Papa Mark, Dad, and Chloë
Ethan is pointing at himself because I asked what his name is and he always points to his cheek as says "E"


Its very serious building with Legos


Silly Chloë was making faces at Nana Julie

Ethan loves the things that Travis can make with Legos... even though sometimes they get broken right away!

Ethan's 4th Birthday

http://www.picnik.com/show/id/9749278017_9DJHn/t/picnik-show

Hard to believe that E-man is 4 already! He had so much fun at his birthday party, thanks to everyone for making it so special!

Crafts

Hair Bows for Chloë!

I have been having fun making these cute bows for Chloë... it's much cheaper than buying them!

I also made this blue one she is wearing a little while back!

BIG the fish

Ethan is -mostly- potty trained! We have been telling him for a about a year now that if he pooped in the potty then he would get a fish, well today that fially happened! He is day time potty trained! We still need to work on making it through the night but now he is finally willing. He actually refuses to wear diapers now! Wonder what we will do with an extra $40 a month!


Ethan is so proud and loves his new fish he named him "BIG"!

Boating!

I'm a little late posting these pictures... that's what happens when I have WAY to many to choose from. I didn't take my camera up to the lake so all these pictures are courtesy of my mom.

On July 27 we drove up to Deer Creek Reservoir with my parents and Wendell was able to meet us up there too! The kids had so much fun on the jet skis and boat but most of all they enjoyed sitting in the water on the beach. Ethan practiced his swimming and got really good at it! Hope we can do it again before summer is over!

My 3 Loves!

The kids wait all day for their dad to get home, everytime they hear a car door slam they say "daddy's home?" and sometimes Ethan will get his shoes on and say "E goes to work!" and head to the door. He wants to be just like daddy!

What summer is all about!

I take a lot of pictures, but I'm sure everyone already knows that. Its hard to narrow it down to just a few to share with everyone here on the blog. So here is my solution to save you from scrolling and scrolling through tons of pictures... 31 to be exact!

Everyday Ethan and Chloë ask if we can go swimming at Papa's house. We will probably have to get a pool of our own next summer!




Ethan has been SO excited for boating this summer, he got to see it in storage a few weeks ago and talks about it a lot. Papa told him he could drive the boat so he can't wait to get out on the lake!



Chloë is becoming quite the little model. She used to hate sitting still so I could take her pictures and I would have to chase her around. Now she stands and poses and smiles and when I was done snapping shots she said "it was fun!". What a little princess!

Swimming

Loving summer!

Ethan was pretending to be a kitty so Chloë was bringing him little bowls of water... so cute!




Ethan is quite the little fishy... however lion is his favorite game to play in the pool

Chloë thinks she is bigger than she is and doesn't like to stay in her floaty for to long

Spoiled

Yes that is Ethan & Chloë with their very own iphones. Hard to believe that at 2 and 3 they can navigate their way through it, they know how to unlock it by sliding the bar, go to the home screen, scroll through the different screens until they find the game they want to play. It makes me wonder whats next, they will probly want their own laptops or something! But this is a life saver in the car when they get so bored all they want to do is scream at the top of thier lungs- also good when we have those times at home where they are fighting over EVERY toy and need to just take a break to calm down. And hey they even learn while playing!




Chloë looks 2 going on 16- She's going to be trouble!

4th of July weekend

Normally we would have spent our 4th of July up at the cabin in Idaho but this year it was just going to be too much work. The kids are at a hard age where they want to be independant but can't quite handle that responsibility. Last year when Chloë was only 1 she didnt want to run off and do her own thing- Ethan did but its much easier to chase after one than two. Now we have two wild little kids- as much as I don't want to admit it- they really aren't babies anymore! So we opted to stay in town and relax, we walked to the playground on saturday. Swam and BBQ'd and played in the yard on Sunday, then took a quiet drive on Monday. (Another post to come on how we managed to keep the kids quiet) We hope everyone had a great 4th!

Saturday July 3 at the playground.

Ethan and Chloë's first sparklers- they loved all the fireworks!

Monday July 5 we came across a field of cows, there were a bunch of them just standing-and laying- by the road. (Southwest of Tooele)

Fathers' Day & Mom's Birthday!

We had such a fun day celebrating my Mom's birthday and Fathers day. Ethan and Chloë kept getting confused about saying either "Happy Fathers' Day" or saying "Happy Birthday" so it just got shortened to "HAPPY DAY!" And it definatly was a Happy day, Happy Fathers' Day Wendell, Mark, and Travis and Happy Birthday Mom, we love you all!

May

Our little monkeys!


BUBBLES BUBBLES BUBBLES!

Ethan's last day of school was May 26- this is his school picture!

We got the new basement bedroom pretty much done, it needs flooring and trim which will be done when the rest of the basement is done too. We painted it a light blue and it turned out really pretty!

Ethan got to go down and help Travis some... he played a little more than helped!

At the zoo with Papa Wendell!

Memorial Day Weekend