It's a rough life.....

....being a kid, that is.
While I did some clean-up work in the basement, Ryan rode his bike alllll arrrrouuuunnnd. When we were done, he asked to watch one of his train movies. He took his usual spot on the couch with his chin propped on the arm, and got comfy. At first I didn't notice that he had fallen asleep!.....

I felt bad leaving him like this, so I laid him down and he took his nap on the couch that day.

Brandon is 9 (and 1/2) months old!

Things at the Murr house just got a little more interesting because Brandon is on the move!!! He figured out how to move those arms & legs and is crawling all over the place. That means none of the trains are safe :)

At his 9 month checkup, he weighed 21 lbs and was almost 30 inches long. We know that his hand-eye coordination is pretty good, because he eats Cheerios like candy.

And, his bottom 2 teeth will soon be joined by 2 on the top - we can see them coming. Poor guy, those teeth have been giving him a hard time.

He's such a happy baby! Grandma wishes that we could keep him this size forever.

Mother's Day Tea at Preschool

Ryan's Preschool class hosted Mother's Day Tea and I was invited! They served cookies & punch and sang several songs for us, including "I'm a Little Tea Pot." And, all the Mom's received a special gift - a necklace made of noodes/beads accented by a charm with Ryan's picture.
Each child also had a "handbook" for their Mom...it was a collection of pictures from throughout the year where the highlight of each picture was the kid's handprint. There was an apple tree, a ghost, snowman, etc. Cute!!!!



It was hard to get a picture of Ryan while the kids were sitting in their circle singing - he's sitting to the right of Claire, in the pink.


And here's the flower on the front of the card he gave me.

Ryan's Green Thumb Fieldtrip

Ryan's Preschool class took a fieldtrip to a small farm in Naperville and I got to be a Mom helper on the trip! They had a lesson on seeds/roots & got to plant a green bean seed and had a lesson in compost and got to search through some to find worms (eek!).

Unfortunately the weather was nice nice (brrrrr!) and the kids had to do most activities inside, but on the way home Ryan announced, "that was soooo fun!!" so all-in-all it was a great adventure. Ryan's seed grew quite well and now has a permanent home in Grandpa's garden.

Here's the kids in our group checking out the compost bin outside.


Ryan and his buddy Vincent using magnifying glasses to look at the compost and the worms that were in there.

Such fun! Thank goodness for Ms Janet and Mrs Cecola - they're great with the kids!

Opening Day at Blackberry Farm!

It was a bit chillly, but we couldn't miss opening day at Blackberry Farm. Afterall, we've been waiting all winter. We invested in season passes again this year, so we can go as often as we want, even if it's just for a hour. Which is just what we did! Long enough to enjoy 3 rides on the train!

Easter at Gram & Poppy's

The boys & I went south to the farm for Easter weekend (Jason had to work). We had lots of fun while we were there! The Springfield Mall has a small train that they operate during Christmas & Easter, so we headed there Saturday. Ryan rode soo many times that the "Conductor" started giving him free rides.

We also colored eggs.......

Ryan liked "stirring" the color buckets.

The color kit came with a magic crayon, so I tried writing on the eggs. Here's a "B" egg.


And here's an "R" egg!

And, we had an egg hunt! Mom hid the eggs and then Ryan & Brandon searched for them. There were lots of good places at Gram & Poppy's house to hide eggs. Here's Ryan helping Brandon put an egg in his basket.


Here's Ryan on the run to find some more eggs!!

It was a nice day in the country!

Easter Bunny!