Rock and Ryker: Unkut, Unedited

Rock loves this not-annoying-at-all show on the Disney Channel called "Choo-Choo Soul". He has been trying to learn the dance moves from the program, kind of like Napoleon Dynamite tried to learn from D'Qwon.

Ryker likes to eat. Rock likes to put stuff in Ryker's mouth. No problems here, right?

The Kids

We've given up on potty training Rock, instead we've relegated him to the puppy treatment. DeA doesn't like shovel duty, but it is a mother's dooty.
Mama Rae, Whit and Rissa returned from their trip to Disneyworld and brought the boys lots of goodies.
The boys loved their goodies, and the attention from their visitors.
Ryker is still chubby.
One of the cool pieces of loot was this Toy Story hat.
Rock didn't like it when I tried it on, so he stole it for himself.
Ryker wanted his turn with the hat, so Mommy stole it from Rock. That made Ryker happy.
This week we were invited to a BBQ down by Lake Washington. We thought it would be a good opportunity to cure Rock of his recent hydrophobia.
He didn't want to put his foot in the water, so we took him on the Hilton's boat. That didn't go over very well either. He screamed like Mr. Sissy Pants the whole time, and he wasn't even in the water.
Eventually he screamed all his screams out and just sat and said "bye bye car home" over and over. If only we knew what that cryptic message meant.
Lil' Ryker really enjoyed the boat ride and thanked Brother Hilton by letting him hold him without crying. That's the best gift that Ryker can give.
DeA was a good wifey and took a portrait of the VMAC where the Seahawks practice. They weren't practicing at the moment, but you can imagine what it would be like if they were.
We let Ryker sit and enjoy the lake and the sunset. Sometimes he seems bigger than life.
He's a patriotic guy, and wanted a shot with the flag. Artistic.

With the time to just sit and enjoy nature, Ryker was able to discover some things about himself. One of the biggest things was his tummy. He's not sure how he never noticed it before, since it's kind of big, but he's glad he's found it now.
Suddenly he got this feeling inside that told him that his quiet time was about to end.

Picnics!!

Rock loves to eat in the living room, but he knows that he isn't allowed to unless there is a blanket on the floor...so after we give him his food he starts for the living room and says "danket" and waits for us to lay one down. Usually we don't let him have living room picnics, but the other night was quesadilla night, and so it just seemed right, you know, that kind of night, what? You want to fight? I think I might. Go check your sight...okay, I'm done now.

Ryker is so used to eating under a blanket that he isn't sure how this is going to work.
"Mommy, isn't a quesadilla just a Mexican grilled cheese sandwich? Why don't they call it a Mexi grill or something?"
"I don't know Rock, but who do you think would win in a fight between a grilled cheese and a taco?"
Over the weekend we went and had a more legit picnic experience at Tukwilla's Movie in the Park. We drove all the way to Tukwilla because it was playing Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs while the one closer to our house was playing something less appropriate. Rock found out that he loves Teddy Grahams. Loves them.
Loves them. Loves them.
Well, on our way home from the park we could see the close park from the free-way. Guess what movie they ended up playing--- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. We had fun in Tukwilla looking for a reputable grocery store without a Guido guarding the door. Well, the next morning Rock woke up and discovered that the 'danket' was still on the floor, so he had a breakfast picnic. He also grabbed my phone and started changing the ringtones to Handy Manny sounds.
He even tried to feed the picture of himself and Ryker a bite of Cheerios. My phone wasn't thrilled.
This technically wasn't a picnic, but it was on a blanket and so it counts. In the attempt to liberate DeA from the constant nursing that Ryker wants, we introduced him to a bottle. He was a fan.
Rock was jealous that he didn't get the bottle, but the idea of shoving something in Ryker's mouth and not getting in trouble intrigued him.
Ryker was hesitant, not wanting to set a precedent that could open the door to some bad things...
Well, things seemed to work and nobody cried.
Rock was good and didn't shove the nipple too deep into Ryker's mouth.
To reward himself for being a good brother he hunted down a treat of his own.
Well, we think everything was fine, but the boys aren't so sure.

Unca Nick, Joel, Centerfield and Hitchin' a Ride

Nick and Joel came to visit this week, and so Rock kind of suspected that if he played his cards right that he'd be able to hitch a ride to Mawma and Papa Englands. He started by packing the suitcase that Papa Dale left him.

Packing was a nice distraction after Nick and Joel went to a Mariners game without him. But uncle Nick made Rock totally forget that with a sweet action sweet M's helmet!!

Rock was pretty thrilled, and started singing this song.



He was all sorts of excited.

DeA told Rock that the sooner he went to sleep, the sooner he got to tag along with Nick to Manson. The good news is that Rock went to sleep right away...the bad news is that he woke up at 2 am ready to go.

Baby Ryker likes it when Rock falls asleep, because then he doesn't have to worry about Rock giving him pink bellies. Pink bellies hurt.

I told you that Rock was rarin' to go. He even packed out his own suitcase.

Mommy packed him a brown bag lunch for the trip. He was thrilled that they wouldn't have to stop at a restaurant and get chocolate milk. Thrilled.



Speaking of restaurants and good eats, Nick ate a burrito this big. Hey Rock: Good luck sitting right behind Nick on that four hour drive. You'll need it.

I've always wondered what I'd look like with a beard. I guess now I know.

"Hey, are we just going to sit here sucking our thumbs or are we going to get on the road? I've got some spoiling to get to!"

Yup, Ryker likes being all alone in the house. Then he gets all the attention to himself.

"Hey, what the duece? I'm all alone on the floor? SOMEONE COME LOVE ME!!"

A Mouthful of Blog!!

We've been enjoying some nice, sunny weather so Rock quickly turned into a free-range little boy. He likes escaping the chicken coupe that is our house and roaming the open range of our backyard.
Rock and Ryker get along better all the time. Ryker loves attention from Rock.
Rock just has to sit in front of Ryker and he's happy.
But he's not opposed to kicking back and just chilling when Rock is outside. That's cool too.
A group of women in the ward walked over to a local park and let the kids just go nuts. Rock liked running around free of all fetters.
They had these cool racing cars and Rock did some laps at a record pace.
He even let other guys from the ward in on the racing awesomeness.
So, Super Nanny has this little technique for getting kids to sleep in their big boy beds. All you do is put them in bed and tell them you love them, then when they get out you put them back and say I love you, then the next time you just say good night and then every subsequent time you don't acknowledge them and just put them back in bed. People have told us that it works and they kid will usually get up about 20-25 times. Well, I guess little Rock is just more persistent than other kids because it took him about 3,264 times before he finally fell asleep close to his bed.
We rewarded him the next morning with some blueberry-strawberry-banana-orange juice breakfast. He didn't like it, but his alter-ego Mario sure did.