Journaling my Journey

Keller had a clean dental check up today. His favorite part? The awesome Batman sunglasses to shield his eyes from the bright light. 

Keller's final Christmas gift this year came a few days late. He has wanted a pet for so long and decided at 7 he would be responsible enough to help take care of it. So, we went to the Norman Animal Shelter and adopted a 2 year old( so they say, we think he is closer to a year) yellow lab. Keller named him Flash because he runs as fast as The Flash (the superhero for all you non-geeks😜).  I'm sure there will be more adventures of Keller and Flash to come. Stay tuned!

We hosted Christmas Eve at our house this year. Joli, Gene, Alayna, Stuart, Rita, Robin, and Todd were all here. (Adam, Ingrid, and Kari's were in Florida. Tanner and Jessica were in West Virginia.) Look at all those presents! Most of them were for Keller and Alayna! Before bed Keller had to go out and sprinkle reindeer food in the yard for all of Santa's reindeer.  Santa came and brought Keller a new bike and lots of Star Wars stuff in his stocking ( The Force Awakens just opened).  Then we went to Nonnie and Papa Todd's in Edmond to open even more presents! Finally, at the end of the day I was able to get a photo of our little family!  It was an exhausting 2 days with lots of Christmas celebrations and we are already looking forward to next year. 

I keep telling Keller jack is going to get fat if he doesn't stop with the sweets. This morning Jack was at it again, decorating and eating Christmas cookies. 

I can't believe Keller is 7 this year! Where has the time gone????? For his birthday this year we enjoyed a nice quiet night at home with just the grandparents and is. I'm  I cooked Keller's favorite dinner, chicken and rice, and made him a Darth Vader cake. After school we went to Target and he picked out these Darth Vader Pajamas that he then insisted on wearing the rest of the night and we had a nice after-school treat at Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt. 

Jack's at it again. Eating Rolos this time. He better watch it or he's going to get fat!

I say it all the time, but I will say it again--we are SO HAPPY that we have found Terra Verde Discovery School for Keller to attend. This year has been amazing. We have gone from having a child who HATED going to school everyday the last two years to having a little boy who can't wait to get there in the morning.  His teacher, Ms. Lindsay Berryhill, is an amazing woman who has gotten Keller to tune in and love learning.  Among the wonderful things he has done in first grade this year, including learning Mandarin, having a lemonade stand to earn money to build an animal hospital for dramatic play, visiting The Orr Family Farm, having a manners lunch at Charlestons, and many more things, he also had the opportunity to sing Christmas carols with his 89 other school mates at Rivermont Retirement Home.  The seniors at the home were so entered by these children and we were truly impressed with how well they all behaved. The singing was excellent, but what was truly inspiring w...

We went to the Festival of Light in Chichasha for the first time this year. The lights were pretty and it was fun to walk around but did any of that impress Mr. Keller? Heck no! He loved the camel rides!

I guess Jack decided to get in a marshmallow whirlpool to help take off the winter chill!

Jack the Elf returned again this year. He arrived the evening of Dec. 1 and as usual made an entrance by making quite the mess for me to clean up! After spelling out "Hi Keller" in skittles on the kitchen table then proceeding to scatter skittles wrappers and extra skittles all over my floor in a trail to the Christmas tree Jack planted himself firmly in the tree so Keller would see him bright and early in the morning.  What a naughty elf he is! 

Someone is stoked to see Charlie Brown!

Keller played soccer for the first time this season. He seemed to really enjoy it and definitely showed more interest in it then he did t-ball! Maybe we have a new sport?! The Godzillas (terrible name I know. That's what happens when you let six years pick it), had a hard season, but they played valiantly every game and never gave up, even when they were down 4 players to 7! Keller made a new friend named Kamari and they became good buddies. We had a soccer lunch at Cici's Pizza after the last game. Here you see Keller and Kamari showing off their medals!

Happy Halloween 2015! Halloween was bittersweet this year. The week of Halloween my Mimi passed away after a 4 year battle with Alzheimer's. We will deeply miss her but we are also much relieved that her spirit has left anybody that was failing her and has gone to a much better place.  Because of her funeral taking place on Sunday, Nov. 1, the entire Ryals family was in town for the Halloween holiday. Selah and Greyson (my cousins from Ethiopa-read more about them in Christmas 2013) had never been trick-or-treating before, so it was such a treat to Keller to get to show them how to do it. Alayna (batgirl) also came over for her first Halloween as a Normanite! All 4 had such fun...for about 30 minutes or so, then they were ready to come in and hand out the candy themselves! We can't wait for next year!

Tonight Noble's Dental Lodge had a trunk-or-treat for the kiddos. The first trick-or-treating night of the week! There were costumes, decorations, hot dogs, chips, and candy! We took Alayna with us as the cutest Batgirl I've ever seen and Keller was Optimus Prime. We are so excited Joli and Gene moved to Norman and we hope this is just the first of many outings we get to have together!

Nonni and Papa Todd took Keller to Fright Fest at OKC on Sunday. He got to see Halloween decorations and ride the rides as the park was all dressed up Halloween. Keller still hasn't recovered from me traumatizing him on Expedition Everest last year, but he did ride some rides so the day wasn't a complete waste!

Keller wanted spaghetti for dinner tonight and his friend and neighbor Jack stayed over to enjoy dinner with us.  During dinner the boys learned about spaghetti sandwiches and the silliness ensued. 

Keller and Alayna Oct. 2015 6 years old and 3 years old