Every Day Moments

 I thought it would be worthwhile to document some of the every day things going on at the Ray house.  There are countless times during my days as a mom that I think, "I want to remember that about _____."  My kiddos are growing up too fast.  I wish I could freeze time right now.  They are all at such fun ages.  

This is what I see at the breakfast bar each morning.  By this point, Benny has usually been up for an hour or so.  Graham follows and Lucy is up last.  Lucy always has cereal.  Graham and Ben-O mix it up a bit more.  They prefer waffles or pancakes, but I don't make 'em, Dad does.  So if we're out, Ben settles for a bowl of oatmeal with a bowl of cereal on the side.  He has started wanting milk in his cereal, too, which makes for a fun breakfast mess to clean up.  Graham whines for a bit that we're out of waffles or pancakes and then decides he'll have toast with peanut butter and syrup (same way he eats his waffles).  

 This is our back yard here in Oxnard.  Every once in a while we pull out the jump rope and get the kids going.  I love watching Graham do his thing.  I think his record is 26 jumps in a row.  Lucy can run in and out and do all the fun little songs that go with the jump rope scene.  

 Here's something I see many nights on the way to bed.  Foot rides!  Benny is getting older and wants to join in, so Jason put Lucy Goose on his shoulders.  

 Lovin' it!

 Graham is back to riding without training wheels.  The trainers came back on while Jason was deployed.  We had too big of a break in between rides, so he was too nervous.  Now he's a pro.  I love Benny's pose in the background.  

 Benny loves his "motorcycle".  He never ever calls it a scooter or bike.  It's Graham's old ride and he's sure to remind Ben of that every time we get it out.  

 He's actually really, really good at it.  Pretty quick and controlled.  We went for a walk at Seabridge the other day and I was impressed at how well he handled the big hills.  Except for one at the end.......against my better judgement, I let him go down a big ramp.  It ended with him running into a cement wall.  Awesome. Way to go, Mom.  No blood or scratches on the boy, though.  He was mostly ticked off that the wall hit his elbow.  

My crazy boys.  

Here's the picture Graham drew for my Dad on his 60th birthday.  I love everything about it.  It makes me smile every time I look at it.  

I've mentioned this on many occasions, but one of my favorite things is looking out my window and watching my kids play happily together on the tramp.  This is one Saturday afternoon after one of Graham's baseball games.  Lucy got each of them a cup of goldfish for a snack.  

I sure love my job!