"Snips and snails and puppy dog tails, that's what little boys are made of!"
Surrounded by my sweet boys (hubby Eric, sons Connor and Ramsey, and our dog, Jango), I thought this a rather befitting name for my crew's blog. To our cherished friends and family, happy viewing! We love you!
With the mail and shipping services being completely overwhelmed this year with online purchases and COVID vaccine shipments soon to be in the mix, we knew we needed to get a letter off to Santa early this year!
Over a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup for supper, Ramsey started to brainstorm and write his letter to Santa.
Ramsey writes:
"Dear Santa. Hi! How was your year? How are your elves? I am a good boy! Will you bring me some toys? I want some of: a Minecraft Lego set, Pick-Up Pete, and a white Oculus Quest 2." and then signed his name.
I had to laugh because of his own use of a colon. I didn't even know he knew what a colon was, much less how to use one! ha! (He kind of got it right! *wink*)
After he wrote his letter, I transposed some of it onto a new document in Photoshop. I printed it out and then took some pictures with Ramsey and his list.
I did omit the "white Oculus" virtual reality set from the document since the boys already have an Oculus (it's just black vs white).
Night 1 of Gift-Wrapping..... cuz it has to be broken down into multiple evenings! This ol' girl gets aches and pains (not to mention stuff legs and back) from being on the floor or sitting on a child-size stool for hours on end. The joys of aging are endless. :-)
I had a [little bit of] help this year wrapping presents (Eric wrapped some on his own too). We were watching Star Wars Clone Wars this particular evening, so Ramsey was a little distracted in the process, veering off during his paper-cutting!!! Watch your fingers, kid!
Thanksgiving looked a lot different this year. In the morning, we watched part of the Macy's Day Parade (which originally debuted in 1924) on TV. The parade only lasted a few blocks in order for it to be televised.
Everyone was wearing masks.... unless they were singing or playing a musical instrument that required use of their mouths!
At 11 AM, we had a Zoom call with Eric's side of the family. Later, we made phone calls to my Mom and Dad. Connor was at his Mom's place for the holiday, so at the house, it was just the three of us.
At about 2 PM, we said Grace, gave thanks, and indulged on turkey and all of the fixins!
Later in the afternoon, Ramsey and decided to break out the baking supplies and make sugar cookies.
Lots of "testing" was done throughout the mixing and decorating process.
Just another post of "Ramsey Says", where I've captured some funny or interesting things this little guy dreams up!
1/14/20
Me: "Ramsey, what'd you eat for lunch at school today?"
Ramsey: "A cheese stick."
Me: "They had breakfast pizza on the menu. What about that?"
Ramsey: "It had bacon and eggs on it. I didn't try it."
Me: "We pay $3 for your lunches every day. We don't pay that much money for you to just eat a cheese stick!"
Ramsey: "Well I at the WHOLE cheese stick and DANG, it was good!"
1/24/20 at bedtime
Ramsey: "Mom, does the devil make black holes? Does he put them there and then suck people up if they're in outer space? I'm scared of black holes!"
Me: "I don't know, honey."
Ramsey: "HEY DEVIL, you down there... do you make black holes to suck up stars?!?" Then, he continues on a diatribe, rambling about how black holes are expanding and nothing can escape from them.
1/27/20
Eric: "Ramsey, what show is after 'Fast Money'?"
Ramsey: "Jim Cramer! I love watching CNBC!"
Eric: "What does Cramer help us do?"
Ramsey: "GET THAT MONEY!"
"Photosynthesis" was the word of the day. And, apparently it's a bit difficult to roll off the tongue. *wink*
2/11/20
Me: "Ramsey, why did you paint all over your hands at school today?"
Ramsey: "Because I wanted to be an 'art lover'."
2/26/20 - Ramsey and I were talking about his day at school.
Ramsey: "Mom, sometimes I play with the girls at school. Then, when they get too romantic, I play with the boys again! Tage told me I was her true love!"
3/15/20 - Ramsey, looking at the inside of his wrists.
Ramsey: "Mom, I can see my veins. I think I have X-Ray vision!"
3/19/20 - Stuck at home due to COVID-19.
Ramsey: "Mom, when it's summertime, can I pick you some flowers? Would you like that?"
Me: "I would LOVE that, thank you sweetie!"
Ramsey: "Good, because I want to do that because I love you so much and I will never stop loving you!"
3/21/20 - Eric had returned home from polygraph training in Florida. We were watching scientists' discussions regarding Coronavirus.
Eric: "Ramsey, did you know that I'm a scientist?"
Ramsey: "I don't know about that."
Eric: "Our instructor said polygraph is a science and examiners are technically scientists."
Ramsey: "Well... you look suspicious!"
3/23/20 - Saying prayers at bedtime.
Me: "Ramsey, what do you want to tell God 'thank you' for tonight?"
Ramsey: "Um.... Thank you God for my wonderful friends. And, thank you for my sweet and precious Mommy. And, thank you for my cool... and rich Daddy!"
4/1/20 - During homeschooling.
Ramsey: "Mom, my butt is sooo itchy!!!"
Me: "Where? Do you need to use the bathroom?"
Ramsey: "No, on the outside... cuz I am growing hairs everywhere!"
5/9/20 - Connor, Ramsey, and Connor's friend Adam were out fishing. They came inside when they were done.
Eric: "Ramsey, did you guys catch any fish?"
Ramsey: "Yes, Adam caught two fish. He has the 'enchanted luck of the sea'!"
6/10/20 - Ramsey was going potty, sitting down.
Ramsey: "OW! Why does this toilet always torture me?!?!?!"
6/10/20 - Eric sitting on a deck step, Ramsey sitting on the step below. Ramsey scooted down and put his head on the lower step and looked up pointing to Eric's groin.
Ramsey: "Hey, is there anything handy in there?!?!"
6/28/20 - Ramsey and I were swimming in the lake.
Me: "Ramsey, it's strange to think that this lake has a foot or two of ice on it in the wintertime. Do you remember the states of matter?"
Ramsey: "Gas.... that's like a fart."
Me - laughing.
Ramsey: "And solid... that's like poop. And liquid... that's pee!"
Ok.... well, I guess he's got that down!! ha!
7/2/20 - Riggsy was very very sick - didn't have much time left with us. At bedtime, I explained the "Rainbow Bridge" and "Animal Heaven" and what it all meant.
Ramsey: "Mom... that is the deepest thing you've ever said to me."
Pic above: Ramsey giving his Hug Me Elmo a big squeeze. Aw!
7/9/20 - Ramsey and I were swimming. He put his hand over a very very small amount of cleavage that was exposed.
Ramsey: "Mom, I don't need to see your breasts. It's a little inappropriate!"
8/27/20 - Eric and Ramsey are sitting together playing a Star Wars game.
Eric: "Ramsey, you know, in Star Wars, Luke tried to kill his father. Then, Kylo Ren did kill his father. And, in Rise of Skywalker, Rey killed her grandfather."
Ramsey: "I know Dad... that's Star Wars... it's all about family!" (...followed by a huge cheesy grin. Nice one, bud!! HA!!)
Nevermind this child here below... just chatting away on his sweet potato "telephone".. which he was obsessed with for about three days, until I finally ate it! He was so mad at me!
9/22/20 - Ramsey was VERY SICK with a stuffed-up nose. He was on the couch playing his Bloons TD6 game on his Kindle (a game about monkeys that pop balloons).
Because he was talking weird from being sick, this is what we HEARD:
Ramsey: "Here's what it looks like when monkeys have sex!"
Our eyes got big. Eric asked Ramsey to repeat what he had said.
Ramsey, speaking slower and more concisely reiterated, "This is what it looks like when monkeys have SUCCESS!"
10/25/20 - Ramsey, jumping on my bed.
Ramsey: "I have to do this to get the energy out! Why am I such an overcharged kid?!?!?"
Time flies so quickly and I didn't realize it had been THREE YEARS since our last family photo shoot. As per usual, we asked our photographer to bring her fun red couch. It always looks so pretty with the fall foliage.
The location this year was our lake's trails and recreational area, just across from our house. The shoot was on October 10th, but we just got the pictures back to share (and to make Christmas cards).
It was a morning shoot (10 AM) and we only had a few mishaps in the morning. The first: I had quite an eyelash mishap (*groan*). The second: Connor showed up in a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. He apparently forgot the reason he had to drive to our house on a Saturday morning. Since he had taken ALL of this jeans and pants with him to college, I had to think quick. And... well... the kid had to end up wearing a pair of my jeans (no bling on the butt and they were quite gender neutral). Chaotic mishaps were averted!
Eric and Connor are never overly thrilled to get their pictures snapped, so Heather (our photographer) started off with Ramsey, who seemed the most willing to comply.
Then, off with the rest of the group photos, walking down the trails to different areas with gorgeous Fall foliage.
I enhanced a number of them to add vignettes, more intense colors, and even variances in tones.
We took along my yellow wagon that I've had since I was younger than Ramsey. The colors jived and I thought the pics turned out quite precious. Ramsey had fun getting pulled around by Big Brubby Connor.
Heather got a number of cute happy pictures of Ramsey, laughing his rear off. Back story: for much of the time, Eric was poking my hair with branches, which Ramsey found absolutely hilarious. My "do" wasn't perfectly coifed that day anyway, so I took a few for the team. ;-)
Along the way, Connor got a wild hair to climb a tree, midway along one of the paths. That kid can climb!!!! I was impressed. We got a few shots of that as well.
When Connor got down, his arms were scraped up a little from his monkey-ness, but I think it was worth it!
Ramsey found a special "fort" that he was obsessed with too, so he had to make sure Heather got pictures of him there.
The boys got creative and had a little fun with the leaves too!
