1st Birthday Party

Playing with his cousins Saturday night:

Olivia, Maggie, Katie, Ryan, Jack, Jon

Our little monkey is officially one and had a great party celebrating with friends and family this weekend. He had a fun night playing with his cousins Saturday night while the adults enjoyed a rare dinner out. Then Sunday, we got together at Waldo Pizza for some tasty food, adorable gifts and a good time.

Unfortunately I had a bit of a faux paux and let the birthday boy get to his candle as I was blowing it out so the cake-eating began with a loud, long cry. Once he got a taste of the frosting, all was better and he dug in.

Kelli Koons got adorable monkey cupcakes for us which were wonderful - so good that her nephew had 4! Ryan received many nice gifts including a mini ride-on jet ski. After a good, long nap, we had a wonderful evening at home trying out all his fun new toys.

We can't believe how grown up Ryan is becoming and love the little guy more and more every day. He's such a wonderful addition to our family, and we feel very fortunate to have such a sweet, fun-loving little boy. We look forward to all the memories to come in the year ahead!

Energizer Bunny

We had a great weekend at the lake with our friends the Collinses whose little boy Charlie is 2 and the Riggins whose boys Jake and Cade are 3 1/2 and 2. Needless to say, the little boys did lots of playing and it was fun for us to watch Ryan try to keep up with them.

Ryan is on the go 110% of the time and is an active, adventurous little guy who is discoving his independence. I won't lie, he is exhausting, but it's so fun to see him come into his personality and explore the world around him hands-on.

Playing with his favorite toy; he'll spend 10 minutes putting the little ball into the helicopter. For the little boy that won't sit still, this is miraculous, making it our favorite toy as well.

Our fearless, little monkey who loves to climb.
His "dismount" needs some serious work though.

Why play with one of the hundred of toys in the room
when you could carry around a chair twice your size?

Playing with Cade at the lake. He was so good and patient
with Ryan teaching him how to share and never got
frustrated when Ryan would steal things from him.

San Antonio

loving getting zerberts from Kelli while
we watched the KU game with Koons

with Markus and Ali in San Antonio

Todd's sister Allison turned 30 this past weekend so we visited her in San Antonio to help celebrate. We had a wonderful time and really enjoyed getting to meet her boyfriend and friends. Friday night we went to hear her friend Reuben's band, then Saturday we enjoyed a nice day sight-seeing followed by an amazing beer tasting by her boyfriend Markus who is a very accomplished home-brewer.

While we had a great weekend in San Antonio, Ryan had a great weekend back in KC with Grandma and Grandpa A. He learned to play fetch with Callie and started standing up without holding onto anything. He's growing up so fast; it's hard to believe he turns one next week.

"No" means "go right ahead"

Ryan is growing up so fast, and now that he's walking it's amazing to see how interested he is in the world around him. He's always on the go, always exploring, always putting things in his mouth and always crashing into something. The more exploratory he becomes, the more we are working on "no," or "stop" or "ah, ah" like we did with the dog so he learns he can't play in the fireplace, get in the toilet or walk down the stairs forward-facing. "No" seems to have little effect on this boy. If my family members don't read this entry, I can say that I have no idea where he gets this obstinate behavior. He really is fun though, and we've enjoyed more quality time playing with him lately.

Please disregard the bruises on his forehead in the pictures. They're from the usual spills he takes, he's just been taking more lately. Needless to say, we'll be waiting to take his one-year-old pictures until they clear up:)

he loves playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house
and this soccer ball was a huge hit

playing with Tupperware at the Super Bowl party