Merry Christmas

We've had a wonderful week celebrating the holiday with family. We traveled to Clifton last weekend to celebrate with Dad and Marcia and had a nice time with everyone. There were 10 grandkids, 3 of whom are between 9 months and 12 months old. The kids had a wonderful time playing together and the older kids were especially good and helpful with the little ones. We celebrated Tessa's first birthday while we there and Ryan got to enjoy his first cupcake - no shock, it was a hit. There were some riding toys there that were perfect for Ryan, Parker and Tessa so they spent a lot of time getting pushed around by the older cousins.

(back) Dad, Ryan, Marcia, Finley, Katie, Tessa
(front) Parker, Maggie, Jack, Jon, Olivia, Isaac


Ryan, Katie and Tessa

getting a ride from Jack

using the toy as a stool to climb on
to get a little closer to the TV

Upon returning to KC, we had a couple days to unpack and gear up for the next celebration with Todd's family. His sister Ali flew in from San Antonio Wednesday afternoon and we've had a great time together with another couple days to enjoy before she heads back. In addition to lots of love and attention from his Aunt Ali (who we don't get to see as often as we'd like) Ryan got a rocking horse which he loves to ride, however his dismount still needs some work. We're going on a tour of the Boulevard Brewery today and meeting up with my brother Grant and his family and our friends Melissa and Nichole Mudd for dinner. It's been a wonderful holiday, and we're thankful to have such great, generous families to share it with.

Every baby needs an embroidered butt-flap don't they?


riding my new pony!

enjoying our first Christmas with Ryan

Mom's Birthday Weekend

I finally got the pictures from our new camera downloaded! The difference is amazing and we love that we're able to capture all of Ryan's expressions... especially the ornery ones. We're enjoying a great weekend at home in KC to celebrate my birthday and having fun spending quality time with Ryan. Todd completely surprised me by getting all our close friends to celebrate with me at our favorite spot on the Plaza. It was a wonderful evening and I'm very thankful our friends took time out of their busy holiday schedules to make it such a special celebration. We followed it up with a trip to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art today which was Ryan's first visit and apparently so exciting that he fell asleep:)

Thank you to Kelli for passing down the Santa suit.
And thank you Callie for letting me dress you up and being so cooperative.

One ornery little boy after bathtime.

Just doin' some walking with Grandma and Grandpa A.

Our first child:)

Dad's Birthday Weekend

The good news is we got a new camera as an early Christmas present! It arrived Friday afternoon so we took it to the lake to test out and it takes amazing photos and is quick enough to capture Ryan's expressions before he moves. The bad news is, I haven't downloaded the software yet to be able to actually get the pictures we took. So I don't have any new pictures this week but promise to soon.

We had a nice weekend at the lake celebrating Todd's birthday. We saw our friends the Riggins who are living there for the winter and have two little boys. Ryan is one mobile kid who wants to play with everything he's not supposed to. He will bypass a dozen of the coolest toys to get to an outlet that he's sure was meant for his little fingers. At one point this weekend he let go of the ottoman and stood by himself for a couple seconds until he decided it was time to go check something else out. We'll see if that was a fluke or a sign of what's to come. He's also repeating sounds and associating them with us, the dog and the bottle. He was evening saying dog this weekend which we thought was awesome. Then we woke up this morning and he was saying dog to everything in sight so perhaps it wasn't that great of an achievement after all:) He's a sweet little guy who is always on the move so we treasure the rare moments when he sits still long enough for us to snuggle him. He loves the edge of rugs, outlets, Callie, and bath or shower time. He hates lying still so diaper changes and clothing changes are a struggle everytime. He changes every minute so we can't wait to see what he's up to next week.

Thanksgiving & Christmas in Clay Center

We just returned from a long weekend in Clay Center to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with my mom, siblings and their families. Ryan had a wonderful time playing with his older cousins, and we enjoyed getting to catch up with the adults. For Christmas, Ryan got lots of toys and books and a fun fire engine that will provide hours of entertainment.

getting assistance on his first fire engine ride


playing with his new front-loader

trying to be one of the big kids

Ryan with his two favorite babysitters - cousins Katie and Maggie


enjoying naked baby time with Aunt Kristen and Aunt Michelle


Christmas picture with Nana
(Jon, Nana, Ryan, Jack, Olivia, Katie, Maggie)

not so found of Santa

Little Monster

Ryan in his monster bath towel

helping mom with his laundry

Ryan gets more fun everyday. He loves his new-found trick of pulling up so now his forehead is covered in bruises from his many crashes. We had a nice weekend at home and are getting ready to head to Clay Center to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with my mom. Ryan has no idea what's he in for getting to play with his older cousins for four days. I'm sure life will seem boring to him when we return.

On the Move

Ryan is really developing his own personality and becomes more fun everyday. He started pulling up a couple weeks ago for his favorite things (bath time, remotes, Grandma A) and by now is pulling up on everything - regardless if it's stationary or sturdy. He's a very active little guy, and is a huge fan of his exersaucer (which allows him to walk around the entertainment table), likes crawling under things and won't lay still long enough to have his diaper changed. His other fascination at the moment is mouths; he loves to put his fingers in your mouth while you talk and laughs every time he sees us brush our teeth. We've also found that Mexican restaurants are an easy outing for us these days since they're quick and Ryan can eat the rice, guac and cheese so we've exploring some good places down on Southwest Boulevard.

We headed to the lake last weekend and got to see our friends the Riggins and the Collins who both just moved back from Tampa, have places at the lake, and have little boys - odd conincidence. Anyhow, we went to Ha Ha Tonka State Park again with the Riggins - Ryan, Missi and their 3-year-old Jake and almost 2-year-old Cade. The boys did a great job on the hike and it was special to look back and see Todd and Ryan carrying their little guys. It wasn't that many years ago that I remember looking back and seeing them hold another buddy outside of a bar on Mass Street:)

(Jake & Ryan Riggin and Todd & Ryan)

(Zach, Todd and Ryan at the Sandbar, circa 2000)

(little Ry-guy and his Daddy)