Fun April

My apologies for not posting in a while; wish I had a good excuse but I don't. We've been enjoying catching up with friends and taking advantage of the warmer weather this month.

We finally got to catch up with our friends Zach and Claire White who are expecting their first baby in a couple weeks. Ryan absolutely loved Zach and played with him in the yard nonstop until dinner time. It was sweet to watch the soon-to-be parents with Ryan and it's incredibly obvious they're going to be fun, wonderful parents to Baby White. We also visited our friends the Seymour's in Lawrence and were thrilled to see their little guy Harrison who is almost one and has grown up so much since we last saw them. There were very cute moments from both outings but I failed to capture them on camera. Sorry. Here are some good pics from the rest of our activities though.

Ryan has refused to swing this spring after "unlearning" how to swing over the winter and falling out of the swing back in February. So, we made major progress this month when he voluntarily swung himself at the Varone's house while we were over for dinner. (He got away from us while getting changed into his pj's and naked babies are so cute, so we let it go. Can you blame us?) We had a fun night dining with the Varones, Garretts and Prossers and the big kids did a great job looking after our little Ry Guy. The next week, he even let Zach push him in the swing when Whites came over for dinner so fortunately he's starting to overcome his fear.

While at Melissa and Russ' new house, Ryan found a tree in the back yard that was just his size for climbing.

He wore himself out running around Melissa's back yard playing with the dogs and climbing trees so he racked out on Daddy's lap.

We visited cousins Jack and Olivia, Uncle Grant and Aunt Kristen in Lawrence and Ryan had so much fun with them as always. We got to see Jack's soccer game and when we returned to their house, Jack had an amazing surprise for Ryan... his John Deere tractor! Needless to say, it's a huge hit with Ryan. Jack is such a sweet and generous little guy; he reminds me of his dad when he used to take his savings to buy things for everyone else. I don't have pictures, but earlier in the month, I got to see Olivia do her solo at her dance competition in KC and could not have been more proud. She is talented beyond her years and had so much fun performing.

We took a trip to Deanna Rose Farmstead and were joined by Zach and Charlie Collins. The little boys are so cute together and had fun petting the baby goats and watching Todd catch a fish.

This was the first goat Ryan saw and enjoyed petting.

This was the second goat he saw, and he let the goat eat right out of his hand with no hesitation at all. I think he would have fed him all day if we'd more quarters, time and arm strength.

After several rainy days, we decided to visit The Nelson for an indoor activity. Ryan was still stroller-bound the last time we visited so this time it was primarily an experiment with some art involved. He did surprisingly well and broke nothing so I think we'll venture back again for a little longer visit.

This is Ryan's preschool class during their Easter party. I heard one kid say, "Happy Birthday Easter." Hey, there were cookies and cupcakes and they're only two-years-old; seemed like a reasonable assumption to me. His class also participated in the school's program a couple weeks ago. They sequestered the two-year-olds in a separate room until it was show time, led them directly up on stage, the teachers sang a few songs and the kids spent all five minutes looking for their parents in the audience, trying to go to their parents, and in our case, being bribed with a sucker to go back up on stage and finish "The Itsy Bitsy Spider."

First Big Boat Ride of the Season

We've really enjoyed the last week and took full advantage of the gorgeous weather this weekend. While we've taken Steve's little fishing boat out several times since it doesn't have to be de-winterized, this was our first weekend to get the Crownline out and it was worth the wait. Ryan was a champ on the boat and was much more cooperative than last season. He did great at getting his sea legs on but was a little apprehensive about the wind. He hardly sat still and moved from one spot to another but seemed to really enjoy it. We were butting up nap time and he literally fell asleep while sitting on Todd's lap driving the boat. It was precious. He also wore his sunglasses which he wouldn't do last year so that was a good sign.

We wrapped up the evening having a fire on the shore of the lake. The water level is really down so it was fun to have it someplace that's usually under water. Ryan joined us for an hour or so and had a ball throwing rocks in the lake which is a favorite past time of ours. The best was when he sat on our lap and just stared at the stars. Needless to say, we've been loving this stage. He can finally talk, is incredibly interested in the world around him and is willing to snuggle us.

The other highlights from the weekend included when he woke up at 7 this morning so we told him it wasn't morning yet and we needed to back to sleep to see if by chance he would, and he did. We let him come in our bed and he happily snuggled up with us, didn't question our trick and fell asleep with us until 9. It was wonderful to get the extra rest but it was also a treat to snuggle with him since that's something that he hasn't done before. Lastly, our little Einstein was eating pizza and dipping it into blue cheese because he's into dipping everything these days. He poked his finger in it then looked at it and said "lotion" so he quickly rubbed it on the other hand then rubbed the hand full of blue cheese on his tummy like we do with lotion at bath time. Just we think he's incredibly bright he does something like rub blue cheese on his belly. He gives us good laughs.

Ryan didn't get to join us at Opening Day but he still cheered on the Royals.

Ryan has several riding toys but all are a little too big or too small for him

so when he discovered this trike at Charlie Collins's house and it

fit him perfectly, he was thrilled to actually ride a trike around.