Random Cuteness

Playing Grandma's piano:




Our little "trainiac" modeling his railroad crossing T:




Interesting choice of attire:




We just returned from a week at the beach, and hopefully will get those pictures posted soon!

Summer '09 Portraits

Ryan's Daycare Carnival

Cotton candy, a balloon penguin, a bounce house, and a steam engine painted on his cheek.... What more could Ryan want?

"Emmy Wedding"

Last weekend, we attended my cousin Emily's wedding. Ryan had a blast, and is still talking about "Emmy wedding." A few days after the wedding, we were looking through a catalog of Halloween costumes, and as soon as I turned to a page which showed a little girl in a bride costume, Ryan jumped up and exclaimed, "Emmy!!!!!"

The bridal limo was an antique firetruck, which the boys enjoyed checking out.





Although the DJ didn't play the Thomas and Friends theme, Ryan spent a lot of time on the dance floor.











Ryan also got to spend lots of time playing with his cousins, including a game of checkers with Dylan.



He also tried out Dylan's scooter.



Our last big event of the summer will be a week at the beach with Ryan's grandparents, aunt, uncle, and 2 cousins. Ryan is so excited about it that Rob and I have to spell out the B-word when we talk about it, or he (Ryan, that is) has a big tantrum because he wants to go NOW. We'll be taking lots of pictures -- check back in a week or so!

Ryan's hockey attire is similar to his pizza-making attire. (He's not in pain -- that's just his new exaggerated smile when he poses for pictures!)




Ryan's newly painted train table. It used to be all unfinished wood, so when Ryan first saw it the morning after I painted it, he said "I can't see my table." :-)




My mom and I on our recent 3-day trip to California for a friend's wedding. I missed Ryan (who stayed home with Rob), but enjoyed having enough "me" time to read 1 1/2 books in a single weekend. I'm rarely able to read that much in an entire month.

The Naked Pizza Chef

Ryan's favorite food is pizza, and when I saw pictures on Beth's blog recently of her 2-year-old son Brady having a blast making pizza, I thought it would be a fun Sunday afternoon activity for Ryan and me. Ryan had been running around the house all day wearing nothing but his Thomas undies and saw no reason to get dressed for the event.

This morning, I woke up around 4 a.m. and discovered Ryan sleeping at the foot of our bed. He has always slept in his own room, but lately has started asking to sleep with us, which we have only allowed if there is a thunderstorm. Last night, he apparently climbed up in our bed while we were asleep. When the sun came up, we were amused to see that he had brought all of his bedtime essentials with him: teddy bear, stuffed Thomas, Penguins pillow, cup of water, spare pacifier (in his hand), the airplane book he's been sleeping with for the past week, and his new "soaker" ball that he can't wait to take to the pool. :-)

July pictures

Ryan chasing bubbles on a *cold* July day. (The weather this summer has been very un-summer-like).




Ryan with his new big wheel trike. His feet don't quite reach the pedals yet. He loves the flag.




On July 9, we celebrated 2 years as a family! We wanted to take Ryan out for a fun outdoor activity like the zoo or an amusement park but had to postpone due to unpleasant weather, so we went out for Italian ices and to "Bunna-Mona" (Barnes and Noble, where Ryan loves to play with the Thomas trains and look at train books), then spent the evening reading books at home.



We are so proud of our sweet little boy, and can't believe he's going to be 3 years old in 3 months!

July 4th weekend

We spent July 4th weekend with Grandma and Grandpa R, who Ryan has become very attached to lately. He asks where they are all the time, and couldn't wait to go visit them. On the way, we met up with Ryan's cousins (who were on their way home from Grandma and Grandpa's) for lunch at Arby's, where the 3 boys tailgated in Grandpa's car. We spent Saturday at a summer fair, where Ryan enjoyed riding the horse-drawn carousel. Naturally, the weekend also involved lots of corn on the cob and a trip to our favorite ice cream store.

In June, we went to Rob's college fraternity reunion picnic. Ryan had a great time playing beanbags and playing with the other kids (almost all girls). He also ate about half of the world's largest cupcake.

Strawberry Picking

More random pictures

Ryan still enjoys playing at the water table we got him last summer. He was particularly excited to wear his new Thomas trunks -- the minute I told him we would be going outside to play in the water, he stripped his shorts right off in the kitchen and headed upstairs to get his trunks. We need to get him a new Taiwan flag T-shirt -- I cut the onesie "flaps" off this one after he became potty-trained, so now it's too short :-)










This is a picture him playing at the water table last June.



A few other recent pictures. Ryan likes to dump his blocks out of this tote and sit in it. The first picture below shows the exaggerated "say cheese" smile he's been making lately when he poses for pictures.

More Mother's Day Pics

Here are the rest of our pictures from our Mother's Day excursion to the animal park. (See also May 10 post.)

There were lots of birds. Ryan particularly liked the macaws.






Attempting to summon one of the funny-looking fuzzy chickens:




Ryan feeding the reindeer a carrot (which consisted of hurling it to the ground inside their pen).




Ryan and the hairy cattle checking each other out:




Another friend:



Ryan also liked watching the coatamundi (a badger-like animal), who he got to feed through a chute:




Feeding the bunnies with Daddy:




Watching the tigers sunbathe:




Naturally, there was also ice cream, this time in the form of a cookies-n-cream popsicle. Ryan is a such a meticulously neat eater that even this made only a minor mess, consisting of a cookie crumb mustache and a few drips on his jacket.






Ryan's fixation with organizing objects compelled him to hang up all the keychains in the gift shop.



Our little monkey:



The other day, Ryan drew his first picture of me (preceded by the announcement "I draw Mommy!") and proudly posed with his creation.



Could I possibly be any luckier that this sweet little boy is my son?

The Ryan Mobile, and Visit with Grandma and Grandpa

Ryan getting ready for his first ride in our new minivan, a/k/a "the Ryan-mobile."



He also had a great time running around at the car dealer:



Playing ball with Grandpa:










Posing with Grandma and Grandpa:



This is one of my favorite pictures of Ryan and my mom.



Ryan loves the "Five Little Monkeys" book Grandma got him.



Kid in a candy store.... A visit to Grandma and Grandpa's isn't complete without a stop at this local chocolate maker for their awesome homemade ice cream.



Ryan is always sad when it's time to say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa (hence the pouty expression).



Grandma and Grandpa's pretty pink dogwood:



And my new (and first) orchid, which I am hoping not to kill:

April Visit with Family

Finally getting around to posting our pictures from the past few weeks....

The last weekend of April, we visited my sister's family, including Ryan's 3- and 5-year-old cousins, then Grandma and Grandpa joined us for a day. It was an unseasonable 80 degrees that weekend, so we took the boys to a few playgrounds and, of course, out for ice cream.

Ryan and Elliot hanging out:



Ryan and Dylan at the playground:



I like how Ryan appears to have a halo in this one. (On his good days, I might believe it :-)




Ryan was hesitant to go down any more slides for the rest of the day after the very stressful experience of finding a firefly, which he thought was a bumblebee ("bummy bee"), on this one:



He finally went down this one, at the next playground we went to, after a thorough inspection revealed no bummy bees.





Dylan seemed very pleased with himself when he managed to gain control of Ryan's Thomas snack container.





Ryan pretending to suck his thumb, which he does as a joke to get a rise out of us. He cracks up when we pretend to object to it.





Sweaty and exhausted after playing outside all afternoon:







Ryan insisted that Dylan acknowledge his current boo-boo, a minor scrape on his elbow that he claims happened on the "peegom" (playground) at daycare.



Watching "Cars," a favorite of Elliot and Dylan's, which they introduced Ryan to during our family vacation last summer.



When Grandma and Grandpa arrived the next day, Ryan rushed right over to show off his boo-boo as soon as they walked in the door:



Ryan and Dylan playing with the Tupperware:



The three cousins (Ryan loves to pose when other people are in the picture with him):



Ryan checking out the flavors at Coldstone. I had to assure him that they would make cookies-and-cream for him.



The boys at the Coldstone playground:



Watch out, Ryan's at the wheel!



Ryan with Grandma and Grandpa (and a belly full of ice cream):



Elliot, who started playing T-ball this year, showing me his team hat.



He also enjoys performing on the piano.




Ryan had fun playing with Elliot and Dylan's trains (of course) and parking garage.




Grandpa reading to Ryan and Dylan:




The "kids' table":



Ryan is very into "hiding" lately: