He is his father's son...

No question about it.

5.4

We experienced our first "major" Earthquake today. The kids handled it well. Aislynn got a little scared and Tyler thought it was an "adventure". Aislynn told us that "there was a monster at school and he was banging the windows!".

I personally am freaked out but I'm sure that feeling will pass. Ryan just felt some shaking in his chair. I felt shaking, then a jolt, then a rolling. It lasted about 15 seconds. Our building had to evacuate and we had to wait about 15 minutes outside to make sure that everything was okay to go back in. Our mall down the street had minor damage at Macy's, but that was the most damage in our area that I have seen reported.

So we are safe and sound! It definitaly made me realize that we need to have our evacuation bag packed (first aid, water, food, etc) just in case.

FINALLY! A Celeb Sighting!

We were shopping at Ralph's and saw...

Dr. Archie Morris, or actor/singer/songwriter Scott Grimes. I have no idea what he was buying, but we saw him at the Ralph's in West Hills. Ryan knew right away where he was from... I just thought that he looked familiar.

Tyler Funny...

Tyler likes to talk back. And sometimes we just lose it and sass him right back. I know, it's not the most adult thing to do, but some times you just can't help it.

Ryan: If you continue with that attitude, you aren't going to get any presents for your birthday!
Tyler (with out a pause): Oh YEAH!?!? Well, next year for Father's Day, I'm going to get you CLOTHES!!!!

LMAO. Gotta love him.

Just a Picture of a House

Owned by Bruce Willis. Not sure if it's a vacation home or what, but who doesn't like seeing homes of celebrities...

We headed out to Malibu (our favorite place!) for the 4th and I was prepared with a list of some addresses of homes owned by celebrities. The only problem was that we were in the car cruising down PCH, so once we came close I just started snapping pictures like the paparazzi. Ha ha ha! So I actually got ONE photo. I'm such a dork...

Busy Weekend with Fish, Sand and Sun!

We had a fun filled weekend! Grandma Debbie and the gang are out here for a visit. We spent Saturday at the Aquarium. We saw some amazing things! I loved the sand dollars and the shark eggs. The eggs were displayed so that you could see the baby shark inside! It was by far the coolest thing that I have seen! We also went to the beach for a good part of Sunday and I'm paying for it today. It was much cooler at the beach and a little windy, but the waves were pretty awesome. Jodi, Phil and Ryan had fun in the Ocean and I watched from the comfort of the warm sand. So now on to the pictures!


The Sting Ray pool. Look at that BIG fish!


Huge indoor aquarium.

Jelly Fish. They were BEAUTIFUL!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all of you who are lucky and blessed enough to be Fathers!

Ryan has had a wonderful Daddy's day so far. He received cards from the kids, a pair of work out shorts and some little gadget that has a bunch of tools on it for his bike. NICE! We'll probably spend a majority of the day at the pool...

Another note: We are going to be moving, AGAIN! Tyler will start Kindergarten in the Fall and the school that he would be going to if we stayed here is not all that great. So we found a school that IS all that great and we have located an apartment that is in the district. We'll have to sacrifice a few things, but it will be worth it. As of right now, the move in date is August 1st. After we move to this new place, NO MORE MOVING FOR AT LEAST 2 YEARS!!! Seriously. When we do hit the 2 year mark, we may have enough saved for a down payment on a house. Ahhhhh, I cannot wait for that day! =)

Not a lot of words, just a lot of pictures.

Tyler and Aislynn at the park on a beautiful California May day!

Tyler at his first skateboarding lesson!

Skateboarding!

Aislynn singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" at the school's Spring Open House.

Tyler waiting to go "on stage" at the Open House.

"You put your left hand in, you put your left hand out!"

Stay tuned! More pictures to come!

XOXO - Melissa

Caveman

Ryan is the one that gets the kids up out of bed in the morning. So he came into the bedroom and informed me that it looked like we had a caveman that stayed at the house last night. I was a little confused. Since Tyler is nocturnal, instead of going to sleep at night he has been known for taking out every toy, piece of clothing or what ever is in a box out and displaying it all over the floor. The kiddo will be up until 11pm before he finally falls asleep somewhere. I was expecting that what I was about to see was going to be similar to the normal room destruction that happens on a regular basis.

Our wonderful son, or maybe it was a CAVEMAN, decided in the middle of the night that he needed to find an artistic outlet and practice his crayon work.
Note evidence photo #1. He got really into detail with the character on the top! Hair AND ears! I sure hope that he wasn't drawing mommy and daddy. And if he was, I'm sure that I would at least have hair, right?

Photo evidence #2... Wait, maybe it wasn't Tyler. Could we really have had a CAVEMAN here in the house? So cryptic and abstract! Note the character on the left. A mistake was made and the "artist" realized that crayon does NOT erase. An "X" mark tells us, "Don't look here!".

Mommy lesson: If you do not want Cavemen staying in your home, do not leave out a big white folding table. It screams, "COLOR HERE!".

And finally, photo evidence #4. We have finally realized that this was in fact NOT a cave man, but our lovely, artistic son. Read carefully: you can make out "Ace" and then "Tyler". AH HA! "Ace" is Tyler's friend at school and my little boy can now write words! Awwwww. How can mommy and daddy be mad? It's the first official "word" other than his name that he wrote all by himself!

Anyone got some cleaning solution? Bleach? I have some "canvas" cleaning to take care of...

5/30/2008 (I can't think of a title!)

The Ross Family has been busy, busy, busy. There's been then good, the bad and the down right UGLY but nothing that has kept us down or anything that has had us backed up in a corner.

Summer has been slowly trying to sneak it's way into the Valley and it had one successful weekend. It reached about 106! Then the next week it was in the upper 60's/lower 70's. How's that for a temp change?!?! With the tease of beach weather, we went out over Memorial Day Weekend and grabbed a beach umbrella and a cooler. This way we can spend more than an hour at our favorite beach.

Gas prices are officially out of control. Well, I guess that they have been for a while, but I think that it's really caught up with me. We are now at about $4.15 for regular. Ryan's car is suppose to take mid-grade, but he's even been hesitant to put that in since it's close to $4.30 a gallon. $40 bucks gets me just to 1/4 a tank, so I have been trying to ride my bike to work. I've only been able to get on it once or twice a week. I'm still trying to get out of the house early enough to ride to work.

More fun headed our way... We will be moving AGAIN. We have to move to another apartment/house that is in the zone of a decent school. It's so weird out here in Los Angeles... in one city there could be 12 schools! We found a great little house that we are going to see on Saturday. 4 bedrooms! Woo hoo! I know that where ever we go the place has to have 3 bedrooms. Tyler and Aislynn don't do too well together at night in one room and I need my sanity back.

So, I'll be posting lots of pictures (or a link to where you can view the pictures) this weekend. The kids are just growing, growing, growing! Aislynn is already TALL! =)

Bad mom...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080516/ap_on_hi_te/internet_suicide

My heart goes out to the family that lost their little girl. What the hell was this woman thinking doing such a thing to a 13 year old girl? I'm sure that everyone remembers their early teen years as being awkward; I know that I sure do. I hated everything about myself and when it came to boys, it was even worse. For this MOTHER to feel that she needed to play a part in this is just sick.

I hope that I can raise my children to be confident enough to stand their ground when people get nasty. Who would have thought that a parent would have to worry about another ADULT harassing their children.

What The Oil Executives Left Out While Talking To Congress...

We all are struggling with the rise of basically the cost of living. Some people are really feeling the pinch more than others. With gas inching closer towards $4.00 a gallon, it's become a realization that my family is going to have to find other ways to get around or some how cut back on how much we drive. Congress recently gathered our beloved oil executives to see what the hell is going on. They said that this 40 BILLION profit that they are taking is going to be used for future advancements such as technology for cleaner burning fuel, and investments dow the road when they aren't making the money that they are now. Congress basically said that this profit building has been going on too long. That's not too hard to see, is it? Anyways, I belong to a message board with a group of wonderful moms that I have known since I became pregnant with Tyler. We were talking about the struggles that our families are having with the higher gas prices, and one lady replied, "Actually, the higher oil prices are GREAT for us right now since dh works in the oil industry. His bonuses have been nice and big lately. "

Seriously? Is this what the oil companies are also doing with their profits? I'm sorry, but I'm getting beaten up at the gas pump, we have to really stretch our earnings to just put gas in the car to GO TO WORK, and your husband is benefiting from all of this? I'm happy that her family is living comfortably during this oil crisis, but wouldn't that be something that you would kind of keep under wraps?

I usually don't get so upset with comments that are make on issues, as they are almost always someone's opinion and everyone is entitled to them. But I had no idea that these oil companies were passing out bonuses to their employees. Hmmmm, do you think the oil companies told congress that they were sharing the wealth with employees? I'm sure they deserve it, I'm not that mean...

So I just need to sugar coat everything...

On Monday we had our visit to the psychologist. I'm not going to go into every detail of the session, but it basically came down to Tyler's anger and what we need to do about it. Basically Ryan and I are to talk like this:

• "Hey Dad (Ryan)!!! That was SO NICE of you to make dinner tonight for our family! Tyler, wasn't that nice of daddy?"
• "I had such an EXCITING day today! I sat outside for lunch and it was WONDERFUL!"
• "Aislynn, wasn't that so kind of Mommy to make you pancakes for breakfast today?!?!"

It's just silly. The dr. said that Tyler may be picking up on some of our stresses at home. Honestly, I think that she is crazy because I'm not feeling really all that much stress - unless the stress coming from his behavior counts. She also wanted us to try some sort of reward system with him, but everything that she suggested, we have tried already. So I think that is why she just wanted us to try this out first. My initial thoughts are, "This is so against what I believe in. Acting FAKE around people, even worse YOUR children! How is that going to teach them to not scream at you and tell you that they HATE you? But I'm willing to try anything at this point. We aren't sure if it is an attention or ADHD thing. Ryan was out of town Tuesday - Thursday, so I dumped all of this sweetness by myself. It actually did work. Tyler would get upset and start to act up, but I just doled out the sweetness and he changed his attitude. It just doesn't feel right. I mean, if he's banging the vacuum attachment against the wall and doesn't stop after I ask him 4 or 5 times, why is it effective when I say, "Oh Tyler! You have to stop banging up the walls and taking chunks out of them, but my oh MY are you great at keeping a rhythm!!! You would be such a COOL DRUMMER! Now give mommy a hug, you rock star!"

On Friday we go to the dr. again and this time Dr. Wedge will meet Tyler. I'm not sure how he is going to take to her, but maybe once she meets him she will get more to work with.

Before I Go To Sleep...

As I was looking through my photos on the computer, my girlfriend Toni called. It was kinda funny because I was actually looking through photos from her wedding which feels like it was years ago. I was getting ready to do a little editing with my new software and the phone rang.

So this one is for you, Toni! It's BY FAR my favorite picture that I took that night. There are only a few times in all the years that we have been friends that I have seen that expression of PURE JOY and LOVE on your face! I'm glad that I captured it.

Easter Weekend 2008!

We had a WONDERFUL weekend and a very happy Easter. The weather was something to be talked about as we were in the 80's on Saturday and I'm guessing that it was close to 90 today. Phew! Nothing like what Chicago experiences for their Easters. You really don't know how good it could be until you experience. This is seriously one of the first Easters that I can remember where I wasn't stuck inside due to some weather element that was going on. Easter did come early this year as well, so that threw us off. Ryan didn't realize that it was Easter weekend until Friday. Shame on us, huh?

On Saturday we headed out to one of our favorite places, The Los Angeles Zoo. Getting the membership was probably the smartest thing that we have done. This was our 4th trip to the park since May, so we got our money's worth.

Aislynn and Tyler were able to pet bunnies and Aislynn got her face painted like a rabbit! It was really cute. After the volunteer finished, Aislynn jumped down and was bouncing around "like a BUNNY, Mommy!"

We didn't stay long since the sun was getting warm and we were eager to do something else...

.

.

GO SWIMMING!!!!

Tyler had no problem getting into the water. By the end of the Summer last year, he had really turned into a fish! He's getting better about not ahem, drinking the pool water. Next we have to work on putting his face in the water. No rush, though. He's just enjoying kicking around the pool with that pink noodle thing.

Aislynn REALLY surprised me! She absolutely hated going into the water last year. She would just sit and play on the side of the pool with different cups and stuff that we brought with. But that's all changed now! Our little girl wanted to put on her swim vest and jump right in!

We did have a little, uh,

"situation" in the pool. Aislynn

is potty trained, except for the

fact that she will not go poop in the potty. She's scared. So she holds it and goes. I know, gross. Well, nature called and she seems to be the most relaxed

when she is in water (we had a different "situation" in the bath tub a couple nights back). Luckily it wasn't bad and I promptly pulled her out of the water, threw a towel around her, and marched back to the apartment. I don't know who was more embarrassed, her or me. And I can tell you this, those swim diapers are lame. They don't hold anything in! So if you think that you are same from any arising "situations", don't be fooled! It was a mess. Nothing in the pool, but a lot everywhere else! Okay, I'll leave it at that.

So Happy Easter to all! =)

XOXO

Ryan, Melissa, Tyler and Aislynn

Happy Spring!

So Spring has arrived.

Today, upper 80's and sunny.
Tomorrow, close to 90 and sunny.

Thank goodness the Easter Bunny won't have to shovel his way to our house this year. He'll just have to lube up with sunblock...

Tired.

I'm tired, so this is going to be quick... but I always wind up blabbing on long longer than I expected.

Tyler's Dr. Appt - It went okay. We just have a doctor that isn't on the same wave length as us. Any dr. that tells me that I'm suppose to lock my son in his room for a time out and let him destroy everything in it is not thinking the same way that I am. Tyler is still doing all that he has been doing. Time outs are going "okay". He's becoming resistant and that just makes it more difficult. We went out to a store Tuesday night and it was a nightmare. His behavior out in public is growing intolerable and just embarrassing. I have constant knots in my stomach and doing anything fun just turns into a disaster. Anyways, the doctor basically just brushed us off saying that Ty is too young for meds (which we kinda figured) and he referred us to a psychologist (after Ryan asked for a referral). But I have a feeling that this psychologist does not specialize with ADHD, so now I'm back to square one to find someone on my own. Danielle said that she would get me some referrals as well, and honestly I can't wait to get my hands on them.

Work has been BUSY - not stressful, but just really busy. I really should go into detail of some of the phone calls and emails that I get every day. They get pretty entertaining. The beauty industry its self is just interesting.

Ryan received a very nice review and a raise. He's a hard worker and I know that he will go far in this company.

Aislynn is into 4 things at the moment - Dresses, make up, doing her hair, and SHOPPING! My little diva told daddy that she didn't want to go to school. She wanted to go shopping. =)

Adios. I'm going to bed.

Happy, happy, happy birthday!

On this day, my wonderful friend gave birth to one of the most beautiful baby boys that I know. This kid rocks socks! He's not only super cute, but smart and a little charmer too! I'm thinking that I'm putting in my notice to Corinne that he will be wedding my daughter in about, oh, 25 years.

Happy 1st Birthday, Noah! I so wish that I could be there to celebrate your (and your mama's!) BIG day with you! XOXO

Love you and miss you!

Discipline = Love

Ryan found a few helpful sites when he was looking into disciplining a child with ADHD. In the past, we have tried everything and nothing was working. We read an article about how one father disciplined his 2 boys and we thought that we would try it. It consisted of getting a chair and placing it in the bathroom. Why the bathroom? Because it is seriously the most boring room in the house. The concept is simple: if he does something that we don't approve of, he goes into the time out for 10 minutes. Period. No warnings or "Do that again and you go in timeout!". Ryan and I made a clear list of what the rules were, trying to keep them as simple as possible: No hitting, no spitting, no talking back, do as you are told, no running or climbing in the house, ask permission, etc... We are planning on putting these rules on a poster board with pictures for Tyler to see.


Forget that "minutes per age rule". It was 10 minutes for what ever rule he broke and if he got up or asked if he could come out, the timer got more time on it. He could have a few books, but no toys. And by God it is working! Last night he was pretty much in time out for the majority of the time that he was home until bed, but now it's Wednesday and he did better last night. Since Sunday, he is starting to get a little resistant to going to his time out, but we'll keep on doing this until the dr's appointment and see what happens from there. If he doesn't "do as he is told" when he is asked to go to time out, he looses his tv time. He lost it this morning, so hopefully when he sees that his sister is enjoying watching her Dora while he has to sit in his room, he'll remember and go more willingly into time out.

Ahhhh, Remember When?

My Pictures0019, originally uploaded by mrs.ross.

Gretchen, where are you? =)