Week 82

Happy Veteran's Day!

Ryan had to do a project for Veteran's Day called "Hands for Heroes". He had to trace his hand and we wrote the names of family members serving in the military. The red represents those currently on activity duty (cousins) and yellow for those deceased (my uncle, who I was named after but never met). -PC

Remember Ty, the little boy with cancer who needed a miracle?  Well this week his MRI came back clean, so he may just get the miracle he needs! Back during Week 44 we dedicated our blog post to Ty:  http://theryanexpress512.blogspot.com/2011/02/week-44.html  Check out this news story about Ty's dad running a marathon:  http://www.nbcnewyork.com/video/#%21/news/local/One-Fathers-Special-Reason-to-Run/132827623

Thanks to Uncle T for our visit to Radio City to see the Christmas Spectacular!

Upon the suggestion from a coworker I made the family King Arthur brand GF brownies.  They were excellent; very moist and chocolatey.  The kids loved them, as well as our dinner guests.  I added some GFCF chocolate chunks before baking them, and they were yummy!  I had never seen the mega chunks before but we use Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips all of the time.  You cannot tell the difference between Enjoy Life chocolate morsels and your typical Nestle morsels.  Well, there is one difference... the price.  Usually the 10oz bag is close to $5.  We saw them this weekend at Nature's Pantry for $3.15.  We grabbed several to stock up!  I also picked up a King Arthur chocolate chip cookie mix and when we try those we'll be sure to let you know how they were. 

Ryan (and Julia) loved these brownies, mixed with Enjoy Life chocolate.  Mom, you are always looking for stocking stuffer ideas for the kids.  Hint, hint!

Ryan scored his second goal in soccer this weekend.  Unfortunately I don't have any pictures or video to share because his game was the same time as Julia's rehearsal for the Nutcracker and I haven't figured out how to clone myself just yet.  But I do have a picture of Ryan just before he left for his game.

And I have a video of Ryan kicking the ball around with his dad/assistant coach!

Practicing soccer with daddy

And as if we didn't have enough going on this week, we dressed the kids up in their Sunday best and took pictures for this year's Christmas card.  I will share one of the photos, but that is it.  You'll have to wait for the card to see the entire ensemble.

Okay, I know I said I would only post one picture, but I have to put up this one too.  It was the first one I took, and Ryan was so annoyed that he had to get dressed up and go outside to take pictures.  Good thing we finally got him to laugh, or we would have had to pick a new day to reshoot!

I'll end with the "Awww" moment of the week:

After saying that he loves "mommy, daddy, Julia, and Helen (our cat)", I ask Ryan, "Who else do you have room in your heart to love?" And he replies, "I don't know who else. Maybe if we have another baby and they grow up then I can love them too."

DC