Meg & Ryan

Women

2012-05-21T15:04:00.001-07:00

"You know girls that are grown ups are called womens". Addie

Talent show!

2012-05-18T22:38:00.001-07:00

http://youtu.be/FvWmWWUwK1Q

I love Addie, she is such a fun kid! After watching these video Im sure there will never be any doubt she is MY child. Zoe and Addie did such a great job and were so super cute!

Happy Birthday Ryan

2012-05-18T21:14:00.001-07:00

http://instagr.am/p/Ky0mZ8hEU5/

posted from Bloggeroid

Mothers day party at Addisons school

2012-05-11T16:54:00.001-07:00

Each child was able to sing a song and Addie sand Twinkle Twinkle and all the Moms were so impressed how well she did. Little do they know we start our children out early with a whole arsenal of songs, another reason I love primary! I was very proud of her showing such restraint and just mouthing the words to everyone elses songs. Addie is such a firecracker, I love her! It was a special day for me to be there and get my special time with Addison. I will miss working in the classroom regularly when the year ends, I really do enjoy it.

posted from Bloggeroid

Answerduce = introduce

2012-05-10T20:04:00.001-07:00

"Mom I can't even wait to answerduce my cousins to my friends at my birthday party". Addison (4)

Answerduce, love it!

posted from Bloggeroid

Weston 5 months old

2012-05-08T17:38:00.001-07:00

Weston is now 5 months old!

He loves to roll all over the place. His favorite thing to do is chew and tangle up in cords, much to my dismay. He wants desperately to be keeping up with his big sister and lights up when ever she is around. He will always smile and laugh when we sing "manamana". He loves his elephant and likes to chew on her tail or her ears till he falls asleep. He is currently 20.5 pounds and is 97th percentile for height and weight and 92nd percentile for his head. He is quickly growing out of his 12 month clothes!

posted from Bloggeroid

2012-05-03T14:44:00.001-07:00

I wake up in the morning feeling like Pizza.

Addison singing

posted from Bloggeroid

Reusable Shopping Bag

2012-05-02T23:00:00.001-07:00

I just made this cute little shopping bag for Addisons teacher! I think it will be a very cute gift! I love Shutterfly!

  Reusable Shopping Bag

Unique party invitations and announcements by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Poor Addie had to get 4 shots and a TB test for Kindergarten

2012-05-02T11:09:00.001-07:00

Mom I got a TV shot, but don't worry I watch a lot of shows.

Mom did you know the TV shot reminds me not to watch too much shows

-Addison (4)

posted from Bloggeroid

Full circle farm

2012-04-08T23:33:00.002-07:00

You know you're a vegetarian when dinner looks like this...

We loved all of the veggies we got from full circle farm. Everything was delicious. The kale was especially good. I think I am going to really love picking up my vegetables everyday for the next 12 weeks!

This 4 month old is loves going on walks!

2012-04-03T09:51:00.003-07:00

Weston

2012-04-01T00:37:00.002-07:00

What have we been doing for the last 4 months??

Weston is now 4 months old. We love him so much. He is such a happy baby and always wakes up with a smile on his face. He is 20 pounds and really tall. I am anxious to go to his doctors appointment and get all his new stats. He is rolling over and is always trying to get up on his knees, I think he is ready to get going! I adore his easy going personality and can't get enough of his chubby cheeks and his dimple. Addison is a great big sister. However she isn't a fan of feeding him bottles, she would rather be making him laugh. He watches everything she does and he is always trying get her attention and laughing.

I went to my first parent teacher conference with Addison's pre-k teacher Mrs. Kumar. I was a little nervous because I knew this would be the most honest evaluation of Addie and her teacher wouldn't (doesn't) hold anything back. But it was great and she has nothing but wonderful things to say about her. Her only criticism is that any is TOO polite. I got such a laugh out of that. Apparently she is always asking the children in her class if she can sit next to them, play with them etc. and sometimes the other children aren't so polite and they will tell her no and it hurts her feelings. She always said Addie is really smart and tested perfectly on all her Kindergarten readiness (blew the test out of the water).

She just started her 2nd season of soccer, she is on the Pink Ice Creams. Although she is the kindest soccer player and doesn't have an aggressive bone in her whole body she is having a lot of fun and loves being on a team with a few of her girl friends from church. Addie also loves to read and can often be found upstairs reading under her covers with her flashlight. She loves "homework" and asks me to write math problems out for her "just for fun". I love that she is like a little carbon copy of her Dad. She is my best friend and I love spending time with my little comedian.

Ryan has been working long hours at work, so we feel like we don't get to see him much however he loves it (even on the days he doesn't get home till 2 am, he still loves it!). I am so happy to see him doing something he loves and that he is staying busy. I miss seeing him like I did while we were in school but I am so grateful to have a husband who puts so much time and effort and dedication into our future.

I am loving Northern California. It has felt like a great fit for me. I just finished helping with Stake Play and I can't wait to do it again in 3 years! I feel like I have been staying busy and have loved all the friends we have been making. My favorite part of living here is that I get to see my Dad almost weekly when he is in town for work. My parents also sold their house in Southern California and moved to Montreaux, near Tahoe. Its gorgeous there and better yet only 4 hours away! I am up there as often as possible. I am also trying to get myself ready to run a half marathon in September and a 10 k in a month and half. I am anxious to get back to my old self and I am counting down the weeks till Weston is old enough to go to the gym daycare so I don't have to go to the gym at 6 am anymore.

Life is crazy and we are adapting to our new phase of life and trying to get use to the idea of being in one place and not picking up and relocating. Sometimes it makes me feel nervous but I know it will be a nice change of pace.

All in all, we are happy and exhausted!

Weston Michael

2011-12-08T17:08:00.001-08:00

Weston Michael Spiers

9 pounds 3 ounces and 21 inches long

He is the perfect baby and we feel blessed to have him as the newest member of our family.

When Megan was pregnant, the doctor didn't think he would make it past the first trimester and the first time

we heard that heart beat it meant the world to us. We know he is an extra special little guy. Shortly after

being born the doctor referred us to a pediatric cardiologist because she heard a heart murmur during his

first checkup. We got right in with the most amazing cardiologist who told us he has an "innocent pulmonary

ejection murmur" that shouldn't effect him in the long term. We will be taking Weston back in to see the

Cardiologist in 2 months. We truly feel the Lord has blessed us with this sweet tough baby boy!

Addison loves her little brother and has been so tender with him. I am seriously

lucky to have two really good kids. Addison got to share a picture of her

brother with her preschool class and bonded with all the other little girls who

have baby brothers and they love to talk about the things their brothers do. She

also got a pair of black sparkle Toms shoes from her baby brother and her

favorite movie 'Despicable me', so that wasn't too shabby either.

Weston was over due 3 days and luckily Megan

was induced and was only in labor for 7 hours and

was up and moving around by that afternoon. The

recovery this time around has been much easier.

Grandma Linda came and stayed with Addison

while Megan and Ryan were in the hospital with

Weston and Addison was in heaven.

We are now just trying to settle and get through the busy holiday schedule!

Addie part 2

2011-07-16T21:48:00.001-07:00

After over hearing me talking about all the things I am currently stressed out about Addie says to me.....

A: "Mom, I am going to glue all the pieces of your heart back together and here's some water for the fire in your soul. Now you'll never be sad again!"

I honestly don't know where she comes up with these things.

Favorite Addie quotes

2011-07-15T22:14:00.000-07:00

singing on her microphone while the cleaners were at the house "this one is for the cleaners" proceeding to makeup a song and sing it over the mic to the cleaners who don't speak a word of English

Doing cannonballs in the pool "Mom, watch my bowling ball"

cleaners are back and A is outside swimming "Hey, The Cleaners, watch my trick"

me: Addie, I can't understand you
Addie: sigh "I can't understand myself"

Talking to a girl her same age at Target
" I love your cute little voice"

Grandma driving Addie to dance and misses the turn
"Grandma, you are not a very good getter"

Uncle McKay threatens to shoot all the bunnies he sees in the backyard to tease Addie. We come home one day and see a bunny hop across the front yard

Me: Tell KK you saw a rabbit in the front yard

A: No, it was a deer not a rabbit

Me: what are you talking about? It was a rabbit

A: No, no, no, no it was a deer (trying to throw Mckay off, so he wouldn't hurt the bunny)

Mckay threatens again to shoot the bunnies in the yard

A: That bunny has sharp teeth and will bite you

I can't believe my little girl will be 4 next week! She is a crack up and is so quick witted, she always has us rolling. I would like to be better at recording all the cute and funny things she says, so I can always enjoy this time in our life.

It's a boy!

2011-06-26T11:14:00.000-07:00

We are so exciting that we will be expecting a new little BOY to join our family the end of November! Addison guessed she would be having a brother, so she was really excited and said she can't wait to teach him how to "dance like a robot". I am sure it will be awesome.

I am excited for something completely different but currently everything we own is purple and sparkly, so we will have to work on that!

So excited!

Mother's Day

2011-05-07T21:15:00.000-07:00

i am so incredibly fortunate to have megan in my life. when it comes right down to it, in addies day to day life, i play a supporting role at most. i come home at the end of the day and everyone is excited to see me and i gget to hear the highlights of the day. we play for a little while and i read bedtime stories. i come out relatively unscathed from the daily battles in the trenches of toddler warfare. over the past few days, however, i have been fortunate to have some extra time at home, and to get a better glimpse of what life at home is like. here is what i have learned. 1. all the little things that lead me to believe we have a gifted little girl, are due in substantial part to the dutiful cultivation of an amazing mother. 2. toddlers are exhausting in every possible way and it takes a saintly disposition to survive day to day. meg will dispute this one, but she has just such a disposition. 3. the traits i most admire and love about megan, addie is taking on, and i somehow admire and love them more in the process. 4. mothers deserve to be treated better, by children and spuses alike. 5. i love megan more now than i ever have in the past, and i never thought that was possible.

happy mothers day sweetheart.

2011-05-06T06:41:00.000-07:00

Happy 5 Year Anniversary to Ry.

We have lived in 3 states 3 countries and driven across the country 4 times, drove from California to Alaska and back and seen Visited 11 (maybe more) different countries. And added our little Addie to our life. We really have enjoyed the last 5 years to the fullest and can't believe that we are about to start the next big phase of our life with so many crazy changes on the way, I am sure it will be just as exciting. I love you and couldn't imagine even one day without you in it.

Our Roman Holiday: Day two

2011-03-23T07:46:00.000-07:00

Vatican City

The second day we decided to dedicate the whole day to the Vatican and St. Peters Basilica, totally worth it! I had found this incredible guide to the Vatican City that even had insiders tips of how to get there via the train and what to say or what to do to make sure you see everything and skip pointless lines and re-entries so may I suggest Ron in Rome if you are ever coming to Rome. http://www.roninrome.com/

As we were walking down one of the numerous halls lined with statues of mostly naked men Addie said "Mom, ask me about these statues" I said Okay tell me about these statues to which she responded "I think they forgot to put pants on". We got such a great laugh out of that. Her commentary was honestly the best part. She also said while looking around at all the crosses "Mommy, Jesus has the bleeds" it was very tender.

Highlights:

Sistine Chapel, its a much smaller room and much different than expected but really amazing wants you sit down and just look at the ceiling in order, really incredible.

The spiral staircase just so cool!

The hall of Constantine, it was really incredible. The whole vibe of the room was just so interesting especially after all the research we did on Roman history.

However the Gallery of Maps was by far one of my favorite rooms, it was almost too overwhelming to take it all in.

But being surrounded by amazing works of art Michelangelo, DaVinci and Raphael, it was just amazing.

St. Peters Basilica was so big and gold and on display is the famous statue of Mary holding Jesus, Pieta by Michelangelo really was beautiful.

We really enjoyed the whole experience and I was so excited to acutally be there surrounded by so much history.

When in Rome: day one

2011-03-23T07:14:00.000-07:00

u
We found some killer deals on flights to Rome leaving out of Frankfirt Han, which one would believe would be in Frankfurt but much to our dismay its outside of Frankfurt, WAY outside. So we started our journey with a 3 1/2 hour bus ride to the Frankfurt Han Airport which is an old US military base that we gave to Germany. We were flying Ryanair so we had to wear most of of our clothes on our person and everything else went into our backpack. and then RUN to the plane to make sure we got seats together. It was quite the adventure. Once we got to Rome, we had to wait for an hour in line for our bus to drop us in the city center. Then we walked around trying to find our B&B, after being yelled at in Italian by a crazy old security gaurd we finally found it tucked away behind a locked gate on the 3rd floor of an apartment bldg. On the website it had said that we would have our own room and a b athroom and wireless internet and every website i checked had glowing reviews on the Matisse (B&B) but when we got there we realized that you did in fact get your own bathroom but it was down the hall and the internet was borrowed from the guy downstairs but he "really doesn't seem to mind". Fortunately the smallest room did have a teeny bathroom in it, so we took it and decided to move on and start sight seeing. So we headed out for the rest of the day with an intense travel plan that I had put together unfortunately about 3 miles in we realized we were lost and decided to wing it. Luckily we happened upon this giant monument and once we climbed to the top we could see all of Rome and decided to head to the Forum and Colloseum and I was able to get some really great pictures. We wrapped up our day with Pizza and italian sodas. We headed back to our room to rest up and get ready for our next big day.

Norwegian Christmas Workshop

2011-03-22T20:28:00.000-07:00

We had a blast going to the Norwegian Christmas workshop with our new Norwegian friends. We drank hot toddies and ate cookies and made crafts. It was such a fun way to get into the spirit of Christmas. I hope to make it a new tradition for our family.

One of our new friends from Norway the Georgsans had a sweet little boy named Oskar and even though Addie and Oskar didn't really speak the same language that didn't stop them from having a grea time together.

We can't wait to plan a Norway trip to catch up with all of our new friends!

2011

2010-12-29T12:19:00.000-08:00

This year has been one of my best yet!

-Ran my first half marathon (the furthest I had ever run in my life and started crying mile 6 and then kept running because I hadn't even reached the half point yet)

-Ran my second half marathon, Disney Coast to Coast!

-Lived abroad

-learned to speak enough German to have a conversation

-Traveled to Rome

-Traveled Prague

-Traveled some more (Berlin, Dresden ...)

-Ran the Mud Run with my siblings at Camp Pendleton

-Starting singing again

-Got healthy

-worked out regularly for a solid year (goal: 4-5 times a week)

-shaved ten minutes off of my second Half marathon

-Ryan got a job!

-Went to Florida with my Sister and my Mom

-Swam with dolphins and string rays

-Drove across the country again.

Its been a crazy year! I have done a lot. It felt so good to sit down and realize how much I had accomplished in just 12 months. I feel really blessed and always want to acknowledge the Lords hand in all of this. My life has been such a blast these last four 1/2 years!

Heres to 2011, Bring it!!!

2010-12-29T03:44:00.000-08:00

Lately Addie has been showing a huge interest in reading more than just a short word. So we started with a simple children's books online and she was reading full sentences!! Huge success!

Christmas Markets Heidelberg

2010-12-05T15:13:00.000-08:00

As we have mentioned before, the Christmas Market in Heidelberg begins literally less than 100 yards from our little apartment. On one of our many walks through town we decided to stop and pick up a Bratwurst for Addie (who still refers to them as "hot dogs" much to Ryan's chagrin). She loved it! What you can't tell from the photo is that the Wurst itself is almost twice as long as the baguette it is on. She would have eaten it all if not for a tragic moment in the grocery store when it hit the floor and Mom and Dad declared it inedible.

Mom and Dad needed some dinner as well, so we went for potato soup in a bread bowl! (note Addie in the background in her Hello Kitty gloves still working on the 1/2 meter bratwurst.

We also ran into Santa along the way, and he and Addie had a very serious chat about something. He spoke perfect German and English (as one would expect from Mr. Claus)

Note: above - Dad holding the "hot dog" so that she could better focus on her conversation. below - the last picture before the tragic fall (which occurred a solid 3 inches or so later).

We are loving Heidelberg, particularly during Christmas time.

(Stay tuned for updates on this last weekend's Christmas Market tour: Frankfurt - Wuerzburg - Nuremberg)

Heidelberg Christmas Market

2010-11-30T03:15:00.000-08:00