As if putting up Christmas decorations wasn't enough, we decided to move Ryan from his crib to a toddler bed this weekend. He's a little older than Megan was when she moved into the toddler bed, and a little younger than Declan was. So...we took the crib down once again and put it back up in the attic. I was expecting Ryan to take full advantage of being able to get in and out of bed on a whim, but he surprised us and didn't do any midnight exploring. He even stayed put during his nap the next day. Stay tuned because I don't expect this to last. Here's a pic of the "new" bed with and without it's new owner.
kend. Megan and Declan were really into helping decorate the Christmas tree this year and could actually hang ornaments above the bottom branches. Ryan was fascinated with the tree. We forsee a lot of "Don't Touch" over the next few weeks.
Ryan has taken a liking to the Swiffer Sweeper. And he is very pleased with himself as you can see from the photos. 
done. Here are a few of the poses.
Declan started kindergarten today, and Megan started first grade. They were both very excited to start school. This is Declan's first time to be in school all day for five days a week! Here are a few pictures from this morning. Ryan was very interested in exploring Declan's new classroom.
This weekend was Declan's birthday weekend. He turned five in grand fashion. We started with breakfast and "rainbow" pancakes. The "rainbow" is courtesy of M&Ms and as you can see from the picture, lots of powdered sugar and chocolate writing.
It was a busy day, and here's what Megan and Declan looked like on the way home from Six Flags. Ryan had gotten most of his sleep at the park, so he was much more alert.
On Saturday, we had Declan's birthday party at Peter Piper Pizza. His friends Jake, Christa, Chelsea, Drew, and Eowyn were there along with their parents. Mom, Dad, Megan, and Ryan also tagged along for the fun.
Happy Birthday Buddy-Bud!!!!!
We drove from Indianapolis to Memphis for the last part of our summer vacation. We saw Graceland and had some good Memphis barbecue at Marlowe's. Megan was really into the Graceland audio tour headphones, but Declan lost interest in the first 10 seconds. I think they'll have to come back to this blog to even remember they were there. I will say that Elvis had "interesting" taste in home decor.
We also went to our old favorite, the Children's Museum with them. The new exhibits since the last time we were there were the super hero comic books and Curious George. My favorite is still the cool dinosaur exhibit.
During our trip, we also got to hang out with the best neighbors in the entire world, the Camps. They cooked out for us (great grilling Curt), and Sheila made our favorite broccoli salad that we couldn't get enough of when we lived across the street from them. We even made an ice cream run just like in the old days. Allie and Rachael are both about a foot taller since we moved away and have both grown into beautiful young ladies with hearts of gold. We missed seeing Olivia while we were there, but she was working on a horse farm practicing for her future career! Here's Rachael hanging out with Declan and Ryan while we all relaxed in the backyard. Those Camp girls have quite the knack with kids!
Next stop: Memphis.
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