Monday, March 26, 2012

Easter Egg Hunt

This past Sunday we went out to Douglasville for the Easter Egg Hunt at the First United Methodist Church. 

Ryland was excited and ready.  We got there a little early and ran into the Easter Bunny before the festivities started.  And Ryland was TERRIFIED and would not go near him!  We had to ask the Easter Bunny to step into the bathroom so that we could continue walking down the hallway.   He eventually warmed up to the Easter Bunny from a distance and called him "Rabbit".  As long as we were not close to "Rabbit" he was good.  And would say "HEY Rabbit" and "BYE Rabbit" whenever we walked in and out of the room.

The Easter egg hunt was a lot of fun and Ryland really enjoyed it.  He found one of the "silver" eggs and got to pick out a special prize ... a large chocolate bunny ... just what we needed!







Before the Easter egg hunt started he got to eat 2 cookies!  It was definitely a special day!


And then he got to carry all of his goodies back to the car ... his Easter bucket was full! 



Sunday, March 25, 2012

Our little tuxedo man!

Let me start by posting these 2 pictures.  What a handsome little mister!




And now on to the details of our weekend ....

This past weekend we went to Statesboro for Miranda and Daniel's wedding.  And what a fun weekend it was!

It started with Tab smoking 8 pork butts all day on Thursday for the rehearsal dinner.  We packed up all of the meat and left for South Georgia early on Friday morning.  We met up with everyone on Friday night at the rehearsal.  Ryland did SOOOO good practicing walking down the aisle.  And he was super excited with all of the attention.  The wedding was suppose to be outside and the walkway down to the location for the bridal party was so perfect.  But the weather was A-W-F-U-L and we were either in the middle of a storm or waiting for the next one to start on Friday.  So they practiced at the outside venue and then to be safe they practiced on the porch over looking for the pond and grounds "just in case" it was raining on Saturday.  Ryland and Waylon were the ring bearers and were so cute together walking down the aisle, holding their burlap pillows.











After a late night of fun at the rehearsal dinner we headed back to the hotel to crash for the night.  We set up Ryland's pack-n-play but told him that he could lay in bed with us for a few minutes to watch "The Lion King".  Well ... before we knew it, we were all sound asleep.  After 2 years, 3 months and 8 days, this was the first time that Ryland has fallen asleep in the bed with us!  Ryland is a tosser and a turner so needless to say, Tab and I did not get a good night's sleep.  And at 5:30am Tab decided that he would try to move Ryland to his pack-n-play.  And Ryland was not going to have it!  He kept saying ... "Lay down, Lay down".  So we put him back in the bed with us and at 8am Ryland was up for the day.  And happy as ever!

One of his gifts for the weekend was a new tractor.  And he was attached to that tractor at all times!  He other gift was new rain boots with tractors on them.  They are the cutest!  Thanks Miranda and Daniel!


He even got to ride on top of our luggage when we were checking out and packing up the car.



It was time to go back to Jerry and Sharon's house to get ready for the wedding.  We had some down time before we had to be dressed so Tab and Ryland made the most of it by playing with all of Waylon's toys!  And I had time to redo the hem in Ryland's tuxedo jacket.


And then it was time to head back to the Belle House to get dressed and take pictures.  I was worried that Ryland would not put on his tux with all of the parts ... pants, shirt, vest, tie, jacket.  But he did great!

Getting dressed with daddy and Jerry ...



Showing off his outfit on stage ...


Waylon helping Ryland off the stage ...




Time for pictures outside ...




Ryland going into timeout ...


Ryland coming out of timeout ...


One last picture before the ceremony starts ...


Ryland did an A-W-E-S-O-M-E job walking the down the aisle in front of a lot of people.  And he stood up there with the wedding party for almost the entire ceremony!  He was suppose to come and sit with Tab after the first prayer but he was loving it so much that he just let him be.  Since I was with Ryland until he walked down the aisle I had to sneak into the back to watch the ceremony so I didn't have a good view of him but every now and then I could see him through the crowd.   A few minutes before it was over he decided it was time and he started walking towards Tab.  And then while he was walking back down the aisle to Tab he saw my parents a few rows back and went straight for them.  After the ceremony was over it was time to PARTY! 

Ryland LOVED LOVED LOVED the band.  And only left the dance floor for the necessities ... food, water and diaper change.

At first he was memorized with it all.  He was the first one on the dance floor and he just stared at all of the "guitars"!


And then one of the flower girls came out and they had the first dance of the night!



And then it was time to cut a rug ... solo style!



Dancing is hard work and much easier without a jacket on ...


At first he did not want Tab to join him on the dance floor but it did not take him long to realize that daddy is a good dancer too ...


And will do fancy dance moves with him ...



One of his few breaks off the dance floor ...



A group of people at the wedding (including the bride and groom) had been practicing a flash mob and of course Ryland was in the middle of the dance floor when it started.  So he was stuck in the middle and did not mind one bit. 

This was right after it started and he did not know what to think at first.


And then he jumped right in on all of the dancing!



Ryland wanted to play the guitars so bad all night long.  That is all that he would talk about when he was not dancing.  So Tab talked to the band and they agreed to call him up on stage during one of their songs.  But when they did, Ryland immediately got shy and would not go up there.

After 3 hours of dancing, Ryland and I rode back to Atlanta with my parents.  And Tab stayed back to close down the reception and help Jerry and Sharon after it was all over.  Ryland was sound asleep within 5 minutes of being in the car.  And he slept the entire way home and barely woke up when we got home after midnight.

I am so proud of him for being such a big boy all weekend and for being such a handsome ring bearer!

Congratulations Miranda and Daniel!  What a beautiful and perfect couple!