Saturday, July 23, 2011

Ryland's Favorites ...

Eating bananas ... or like he says ... "nana"
Eating salad ... he learned that at school.
Going to Publix to see the choo-choo train
His CC and Pops ... and he said "CC" for the first time recently
Books, books and more books
Eating his bagel or english muffin for breakfast (part #2) at school
Carrying (or dragging) his bag to the car when you pick him up from school
His lovey(s) and stuffed animals at bed time
Blowing kisses and waving
Crocs! Especially his new red ones.
His guitar
Eating dry cereal straight out of the box
Getting the cereal box out of the panty, opening it and eating it all by himself
Being outside
Riding in his car or wagon outside
Dancing!
Running!
Laughing!
Calling Codi to come inside from the back porch by stomping his foot ... he definitely copies everything that we do :)
Loving on Codi and Bailey
Playing hide and seek
Saying "No" when we ask him a question and then thinking that it was so funny because he knows that he should have answered "Yes".
Saying "Hot" and blowing on his food.
Kissing on his mommy and daddy!

Toilet Paper ... BUSTED!

One of the only times that we forget to close the bathroom door .... this is what we find Ryland doing! I am actually surprised that we were able to keep him from doing this for so long. He had so much fun!

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Best Buddies ...











Sunday, July 17, 2011

What's New with Ryland ...

I cannot even begin to remember or document all of the new things that Ryland has been up to and doing lately. I think he learns something every day and continues to grow into such a cute (if I do say so myself) little boy. He has such a cute little personality and is always happy and smiling. He continuously makes us laugh all the time.

His first official sentence is .... "Where did it go?". He has been saying this for a while but I kept forgetting to add it to the blog. And the cutest part about it is that he puts his hands in the air and twists them as he says it.

He has learned so many new words recently. And I truly think that he can understand everything that we say (well, ok ... maybe 80%) ... he is just still learning to say it all. It is amazing when you say something or ask him to do something he knows exactly what you are saying.

He is loving his new class at school. It is much more structured and they do a lot more activities with the kids. They say that he is always on his best behavior and happy as ever when he is there. He usually walks into to school every morning and knows just where to go and is so excited when you get to his room.

He is still a good eater. He definitely eats better at school ... veggies, meat, etc. But is not too picky at home with us.

And one of my favorite new things is that he loves to give hugs. And it feels so great when he runs up to you and hugs you tight. He also loves to hug on Codi and Bailey.

He is also still in love with reading books. I think we read a minimum of 10 books to him a day (not counting what they read at school). He will pick out the book and knows exactly which one it is before we even start it. He usually repeats some of the words or has hand motions for every book. It is the cutest thing ever. His all time favorite book so far is ... One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish .... and .... The Monster at the End of This Book.

He is also a great little helper. He loves to help us fold clothes. He picks them up one by one and will fold them against his chest and then carefully lay it down. He will also put the towels in the linen closet for us. And he also loves to help Tab put beer in the refrigerator ... he taught him young :)

He loves wearing his Crocs. And since his feet are small they are the cutest, littlest Crocs ever! We got a new red pair while we were at the beach and those are now his favorite. He wanted to wear them to bed last night but they would not fit over his pj's. And they were the first thing that he went for this morning when he woke up.

He is our little blond hair boy with a mouth full of teeth (I think he must have all of his teeth in because there is no room for more) that you can see all the time because he never stops smiling!

Boy do we love him!

Fun in the Sun!

Here are some pictures from our trip to New Smyrna Beach.



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Riding in style on the beach ...
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Helping daddy build a sand castle ...


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Riding his car into the water ..
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Jumping waves in his car ... hold on!!

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Ryland put his lego flowers on his finger tips and thought it was the funniest thing. It was so cute!

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Having a melt down at the sliding glass door. He really wanted to go outside but it was dinner time.

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Here are our attempts at a family picture. As you can see it takes a lot of pictures to actually get a decent one!

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Playing peek-a-boo with a towel ...
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Andrea posing for the camera ...
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Ryland pushing Lucas around in his car ...
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One of my favorites ...
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Ryland playing with Caroline ...
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Out front at the bbq smoker. They cooked for everyone all day long and the food was awesome!

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Busted in the closet playing his guitar ...

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New Smyrna Beach, Florida - 2011

My parents came over to Hilton Head and we all drove to New Smyrna Beach on Saturday July 9th. Ryland did pretty good in all of the long car trips .... Atlanta to Hilton Head, Hilton Head to New Smyrna Beach, and New Smyrna Beach back to Atlanta. We had both cars packed full with stuff and as always ... we took too much. But now we know what to take and not take next time :)

This year was A LOT different than last year with Ryland. Last year Ryland was only sitting up and crawling. This year Ryland was running, running and more running! Which made it really interesting when he was at the pool or beach. It was actually easier to take him to the beach and let him run free than chase him around the pool. And there were plenty of kids around for him to play with. Jill, Dan, Andrea and Lucas came with us this year and we all had so much fun. Lucas is only 2 months older than Ryland so it was really cute to see them together. And we never get to see them since they live in Miami so it was nice to spend an entire week together.

Ryland adjusted to the condo pretty well. Our bedroom had a walk in closet so we put his pack-n-play in there and he slept great. It took him a little bit to go down the first night but once he was use to the room and area it was no problem at all. Our condo was also on the first level so our porch walked right out into the pool area which made it really easy coming and going. There were a few times where that worked to our disadvantage though. Like when he would want to go outside to play but could not. And then he would have a melt down at the sliding glass door.

Ryland really loved being in the pool and became really comfortable with the water ... which is a good thing and a bad thing. It was a good thing because he still hates anything that blows up. So that means that he would never sit in a float or wear swimmies. So we had to hold him in the pool the entire time. But he played really well on the steps. And would jump to us from the side of the pool and splash around. He would also go under water and it would not bother him at all. I think he learned how not to swallow the water which is good.

Ryland also loved being at the beach and playing in the sand. The ocean was really cold and I think it kind of scared him a little bit so he never really went into the water besides just getting his feet wet. The beach was really wide and Ryland would get tired walking in the sand and wanted us to pick him up which was always fun since I do not like to get sand all over me.

And most of all Ryland L-O-V-E-D his CC and Pops being there. I joked the entire week saying that I was going to have to win back over Ryland's affection after we got home because I think my parents stole it all ... which I guess grandparents are suppose to do. He would wake up every morning and get so excited that they were still there and loved hanging out with them all day. They had plenty of quality time together ... playing on the beach, reading books, walking around, sitting on the porch and blowing bubbles with the automatic bubble blower, playing in the condo, watching TV in their bedroom and playing hide and seek.

What a great trip. We cannot wait to go back next year!

Hilton Head Island - July 2011

We left for Hilton Head Island on Wednesday July 6th. We were going to meet Timmy and Mandy and spend a few days with them before heading to New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Our stay was short ... only 3 nights. But we had so much fun. I grew up going to Hilton Head for 2 weeks every year so it was fun to take Ryland to all of the places from my childhood. We really wanted to ride bikes in Sea Pines one afternoon but we got rained out :( Maybe next time.

This was the first time that Ryland has been to the beach since he could walk. He liked it but it took a few minutes for him to warm up to it.



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Waiting for dinner ...
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Shopping at the outlets. As you can tell, Ryland found some stuff and was on a mission ...
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In the hotel on the way to the pool ...
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We went to Shelter Cove to see Shannon Tanner sing to the kids. Ryland L-O-V-E-D it and was right in the middle of it all. If you look closely you can see Ryland dancing behind the little girl in the black tank top ...
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Ryland even sat on the stage with all of the other kids ...

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In front of the statue at Shelter Cove ...

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Hanging from a tree on the pool deck at the hotel ...
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Walking back to our room after dinner ...

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Ryland, Timmy and Mandy.
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At dinner ...
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In the hotel lobby ...
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