13 Months

At thirteen months, this little guy is one busy boy.  He's still way low in weight percentiles, but sprouted up in height (yay!)  It's no wonder he can't put any fat on those bones...he's going, going, going all waking hours of the day.  I love taking him for walks out on the side walk.  It's like setting down one of those wind-up toys and watching his little legs go as fast as they can.  So cute, it melts my heart. 

He loves balls....carrying them, kicking them, intercepting them from Nathan....whatever.  Another absolute favorite is anything he's doing outside.  Sometimes I take him out there to eat breakfast because he even eats better if he's in the backyard!  He loves dogs (little ones, anyway), and he may just be the child to convince his daddy that we need one.  (The other kids are counting on it...)  His new favorite toys are toothbrushes.  I gave him a few unused ones to play with, but then he discovered that he can climb up on the stool in the bathroom to access Nathan's toothbrushes in the drawer.  How convenient (and apparently much more fun!  We're now keeping the stool in the closet unless Nathan needs to brush!)

Ryan loves stories.  He'll bring over a book and sit down in my lap so we can read it.  Totally cute!  Another heart-melter.  His current favorites are: Violet's House, Baby Animals on the Farm, and Fuzzy, Fuzzy, Fuzzy (he loves feeling all of the different textures.)

Hmmmm....what else.  He's turning into quite the flirt (just like his big brother.)  Loves the YW at church, all of the girls' friends, other moms at the park, ladies helping us at the cash register...you get the idea.  He certainly knows how to turn on the charm.  Boy are we in trouble!

One of my favorites is when he wakes up in the morning, sits up on the bed and just starts chattering away (even if there's no one there to chatter to.)  He tells some great stories in that baby language of his.  I can't get enough of it.  I sure wish I could understand what he's saying!

Life has been (and still is) busy, but I'm so grateful that I've taken the time to enjoy this little guy.  I get comments all of the time from people that can't believe he's one.  "Where did the year go?" they wonder.  It did go fast (time always does), but it's nice to know that we all spent so much time loving Ryan, smothering him with attention, and getting our "baby" fix.  Ryan is one lucky boy to have a family that loves him so much!

School

Sixth Grader:

Fourth Grader:

Kindergartener!

Looking good...

...and ready for school!

And the Baby, ready for lots of going to and from school...

We've officially made it through the first week, and things have been great (absolutely crazy, but great!)  Anna loves middle school, Aimee announced after the first day that she has the most awesome teacher ever, Nathan is getting used to Kindergarten, and Ryan is wondering what happened to everyone.  We're finally settling into our routines and trying very hard to get to bed on time (these early mornings are harder for some than others...)

Hooray for September....we love school! 

In just a couple of days this sweet little girl of mine will start middle school. What?!

Yep. We went to register a couple of weeks ago.

   

Her locker was a little tricky at first, but she got the hang of it pretty quickly. Can I tell you how weird it was teaching my own kid how to do a locker combination? Jr. High couldn't have been that long ago!

Ryan was there to help out...

Below, with her I.D. card (and looking a little tired from the big day):

I guess it's official....When do I panic? :)

Walking!

Ryan took his first steps a couple of months ago, but I think he officially got comfortable walking right around his birthday.  Here he is in action!  (With the puppy he's suddenly become totally attached to...)

The Birthday Bash

A few pictures from the big day:

Ryan waking up bright and early and hanging out in the Girlies' room...

Then a little rummaging through the cupboards before breakfast (we thought it would be a good b-day present to let him get into any cupboards he wanted, then keep cleaning up after him and letting him do it all over again....wait that's what we do every day! :)

On to a morning nap...aww, he is sooo sweet...

Ahhh, lunchtime....he's been waiting for this!

Cherries, veggie chips, and the "forbidden until he's 1" peanut butter and HONEY sandwich....in teensy tinsey pieces.  He loved it!

He finally got dressed...nothing like hanging around in your jammies until the afternoon!  Ryan found the ear buds to my phone and thought they were the greatest things for a while.

And here he is helping me with his b-day cake.  He got to lick the buttercream frosting beaters...lucky!

Voila! 

Gotta play with the balloons for a while too...

This birthday stuff is exhausting!  Two big naps in one day!?  That's just not like him! :)

Now we're ready to party...check out the camo jeep pinata.  Way cool.

Pizza for dinner...yum!

Ryan was not too keen on the pinata.  He especially disliked the "whack!" sound of the bat hitting it.  Maybe next year...luckily Nathan had a blast with it!

Presents...now things are looking up!

Loving it...

Still loving it...

And now, what we've all been waiting for....drumroll, please...

the cake!

I think he wasn't sure why we were letting him just dig his fingers into it.

Okay, we've got the bib on...go for it!  (Notice Aimee's hand on his neck.  I think she's ready to shove his face into it, if we'd have let her...)

Hmmm....a spoon works much better...

Now that's the way Ryan likes to party!

Happy Birthday, cutie boy....what a fun day!

Our Little King

We are never very good at deciding on baby names ahead of time.  In fact, Annalyn was a whole week old before she had a name.  Aimee was named in one day because they told us we couldn't leave the hospital until we had the paperwork filled out for her birth certificate.  Nathan was actually decided a couple days before...well, not definitely, but at least we had a name that we both agreed on!  And with Ryan, well Scott and I both had names we'd been thinking of, but we'd never even discussed it.  A few hours after he was born Scott decided it was time to talk names.  He told me the names he liked, and I wasn't too excited about any of them.  Then I presented my names, and they were instantly given the "thumbs down."  Hmmm...what to do?  We started from square one, and one of the names that popped into my head was 'Ryan.'  I am big on name meanings, so we pulled out our trusty laptop to look it up.  When I read that it meant "little king" I knew we had found our name.  Don't you think this picture says it all? 

He is definitely the little king of this family!

He certainly doesn't want for attention.  Here he is with the girls and their friends, wow-ing everyone with his clapping...this kid is loved, and he knows it!

Ryan has started pulling funny faces whenever he sees the camera.  It's pretty hilarious!

He loves PIZZA

and CHOCOLATE (shhh...)

He found a bag of chocolate chips somewhere and we found him making a glutton of himself as fast as he could before we discovered him and took them away...

Of course, we had to take a few pictures first...good thing I keep my floors sparkling clean...ha!

Ry-ry loves climbing into things...

...playing in closets...

...taking baths...

...and he especially loves hanging out with his big brother...

they are quite the pair!

Ryan is a great help to Nathan when he plays the Wii

He is there to provide support, lend advice, and give lots of hugs...

..this was an especially tense moment for Mario...

He is our sweet, happy boy...

What a fantastically fun year this has been for us!

We are so lucky and so grateful that we get to have him in our family.

Love you Ry's!  Happy Birthday!

(p.s. Now would be a good time to stop growing up...)