Alex's letter to Santa Claus

Dear Santa Claus,

I hope you enjoyed giving out presents last year. How do you get around the world so fast? It must be exhausting. This year, I want:

• A Reyblade (or a few),
• To be with my family,
• More 39 clues books,
• Toys,
• A Kinect,
• Books,
• Video games,
• World Peace,
• Joy,
• Words to Christmas Carols,
• A way to fix my DSi,
• and a Merry Christmas.

I hope you have a Merry Christmas and get the rest you deserve. Have a good eleven months of rest and preparation. Hope you like our treats! Do you like California? Do you like candy canes? What are your hobbies? One more thing, I'd like is a chance to be like you. What does it feel like to spread all this cheer? What games do you play at the North Pole? I don't mean to annoy you, but could you send a reply? I'd love to read your answers. I know less people believe in you now then in the past. But, I believe in you. I'll always believe in you. I hope Coco doesn't bother you either. I also hope you like our Christmas tree. There are so many things I want to tell and ask you.

Merry Christmas! Have lots of fun!

Love, Alex Devlin

Smaller mom

I've lost a lot of weight on WeightWatchers. I highly recommend their program for anyone SERIOUS about getting in shape. It works.

Mom: "Andrew, what do you like best about my losing weight?"

Andrew: "Well, you take up less space."

Baby girl

At church, we were given a baby bottle to collect change in for a couple of weeks. When the bottle is full, we'll return the bottle to church to help with prenatal care for poor women.

Seany loves this program! "Mom, we can fill this bottle with money. Then all your food in your belly will turn into a baby!" Squeaking, "And we'll have a cute wittle baby sister."

Alex is published at Zoobooks!

AB Pattern

I wore a purple and white striped sweater.

Ryan: "Mom, I love your sweater."

Ryan: "Mom, Can I color?"

Ryan: "Mom, Wook! Wook! It's an AB pattern. See purple, wipe, purple, wipe."

Seany sings the blues

7 am Sunday morning...

Seany singing at the tip top of his lungs, "Daddy told us to be quiet. Daddy told us to be quiet. You will be in trrrroooooubbbbblle!"

Captain America

"Mom, Captain America wants my autograph. He's my biggest fan!" -- Seany

The Hooker

Seany dragged the once broken kid's coat rack in from the garage.

"Seany, Papa has to fix that. Leave it alone."

"Yea, I know. He awready did FIX IT."

"Seany, before you take it to your room, please ask Papa."

"OK."

A few minutes later Papa came downstairs. "So, I told Sean he could take the hooker to his room. (pause) What is he talking about?"

The Daily News

Everyday at school, Ryan's class 'writes' the daily news on the board:

Today is Tuesday, July 12, 2011.

Today is sunny and cloudy.

The season is summer.

"I want to play with Coco, " said Ryan.

Switch

"Sean, can you share that with me?" Ryan asked about Seany's dirt cup from class.

"Sure, Wyan."

"Sean, maybe I can go to your class for a wittle bit?" Ryan asked as he didn't receive a dirt cup in his class.

"Yea, sure Wyan. I know! Let's ask Mom if we can switch classes sometimes!"

And so it begins...

4th of July!

Happy Independence Day!

Papa Pat leads the parade.

Ryan, Andrew, Sean, and Alex at the Fremont Parade.

The log ride

The twix and the mom.

Santa Cruz Beach

Ryan surfing.

Andrew, Sean, and Mark building sand castles.

Sean, Andrew, Ryan, and Alex in the ocean!

RYAN :)

Ryan traces his name everyday at school.

R-Y-A-N
R-Y-A-N
R-Y-A-N

The first day of school his teacher drew a smiley face after he completed the task. Tuesday, day Ryan drew his own smiley face. Wednesday, Ryan drew his whole self in stick figure.

Golden Gate Park & the Academy of Science

Poor Alex has to kneel in snaps with his bros because he's just too tall. Alex, Seany, Andrew, and Ryan.

Ryan and Sean learning about sea creatures.

Me, Ryan, Sean, and Andrew on the Academy's roof deck. Very windy.

The beasts -- Andrew, Sean, and the Rylander.

Creepy skull shot of Alex.

Napa fun for mother's day

We found this great park in Napa. It's tucked away by a school. The boys loved it!

Fun in the sun

Ryan above and Seany below.


Andrew and his lost tooth.

Union City Children's Art Show

The participants, Alex & Andrew, with their award certificates.

Alex made a save the world poster.

Andrew drew a bird.

More Easter Fun

Sean, Alex, Ryan, and Andrew

Easter Buckets

Seany!

Andrewski!

The Rylander (sporting skeeter syndrome)!

Alexter!

Fun stuff inside!

Baseball

At the A's game, Alex and Andrew.

The missing glasses

Can one mark blog post as a high priority? Perhaps an exclamation mark is in order? But these days of fb status where everything is marked with an "!", how is one to notate a critical problem?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I know hold the key down.)

Alex's glasses have disappeared. Oh, ya didn't know. The headaches he gets are caused by eye strain. Two months ago, we invested in a pair of spectacles for the wee lad. Upon, first sporting them, he spent half an hour admiring the world (sights he had seen, signs he couldn't read, the world was new again)!

Those blasted specks must be here somewhere. But where is somewhere?

We've checked:
-under beds, cushions, couches
-in drawers, backpacks, pockets
-on shelves, desks, mantles, counters
-shaken out shorts and pants, backpacks and luggage

Please submit your ideas for search locations PRONTO!

Much thanks, the mom going crazy.

Supermom

Andrew explained "Mom, you'd be a supermom if you'd let us do a whole bunch of fun stuff whenever we want."

Mom replied, "I guess that's a title I can't aspire to then."

Best friends

Seany wanted to put his crackers in a baggie to save for later. Upon filling his bag, he discovered it would not close. I said, "Seany that's a snack bag, you need a sandwich bag. Go get one out of the cupboard."

Seany replied, "OK mom!" A few minutes went by while Ryan put his own crackers in an appropriately sized baggie and put them away to save for later. Seany was having a harder time, "Ryan can you help me?"

Ryan grabbed the correct baggie from the cupboard and set it down next to Sean and then went on his way to head of toward toy land. As he walked away, Seany focused on transferring the crackers to the new baggie called out, "Thanks Ryan. I knew I could count on you."

Big boys & little boys

The twix are full of insightful comments of life.

Seany: "Mommy! Mommy! I want to be a big boy."

RyGuy: "And Mom, I want to be a little boy."

Moustache

Seany is very excited to grow up.

"Mom, someday I will have a moustache right here (rubs upper lip with forefinger). And I can have a beard too! But I my moustache will look really good right here (more rubbing of upper lip). I just have to wait for it."

Support crew

Andrew: Mommy, why are you excerising so much?

Mommy: I have to lose this big belly.

Andrew: Mom, your belly isn't big. (Mommy starts smiling) You're big everywhere.

Twix's preschool assessment

The twix had a preschool assessment. A little Seany story to remember:

Sean was sorting bears of sizes small, medium, and large into like sized bowls. As he lifted one fellow and gently placed him in the small bowl, he told him, "Careful little guy, it's slippery in there."

Twix chat

Sean: “Ryan, whatcha pooping for?”

Ryan: “Ah Sean, can you get me some toilet paper please?”

Sean: “Sure," speeding away.

Ryan: “MOMMMMMMMM! Can you come wipe my butt?”

Mom: “Can you take care of that yourself?”

Sean: “Ryan, I didn’t want to wipe my own butt either.”

Worst Mom Ever

At dessert time one night, the twix decided they wanted Cheesecake. They loved every scrumptious bite.

Alex and Andrew asked for ice cream sandwiches. As I dished out the sandwiches, the twix started whining.

Ryan, "OHHH! I want one tooooo." Followed by a "Wah" and a "Wah."

Sean figured he might as well see if he could get a second dessert, "What about me?!!!!"

"You guys had cheesecake, Alex and Andrew wanted these instead of cheesecake," I explained.

"Ahhhhh!!!!" they started to really complain.

Alex interrupted before they could really get going with, "We know, we know, Mom's the worst mom ever."

Andrew was extremely disturbed, "HEY!!! ALEX! Don't say that about Mom...."