Enjoying the mountain life ... playing a little basketball

We are in Highlands, NC with my parents this weekend and enjoying the cool, relaxed mountain life! 

Yesterday we went to the park/playground and Ryland had a blast playing basketball.

*FOUND* Lightning McQueen and Mater!

We can all breathe a sigh of relief ... we have found Lightning McQueen and Mater!

They have been hiding out in the Rice Krispie cereal box!

We are glad that Ryland insisted on eating cereal this morning so that we could find and rescue them safely!

Phew ....

Catching Up ...

I have been so busy lately that I feel like I have neglected our blog.  So here is update on what has been going on with the Bullard family!

Things have been great and ever changing with Ryland.  I know that I have said it a million time but I am amazed at how much he learns and how his personality develops each day.

There have been a lot of changes at Ryland's school.  Almost all of his favorite (and current) teachers have left over the past few months and new ones have come in.  Seeing some of the teachers leave has been hard for us ... especially Ms Chantel and Ms Mari.   His class has 10 boys and 2 girls and I think that has led to a lot of "testing the boundaries".  We have had a lot of talks about "no hitting, no pushing" lately and luckily he has been receptive to them and has been better about being a good boy at school.  He is also in in the process of transitioning from being a "Crab" to a "Clownfish".  At first I was not in favor of the transition but feel better about the move to the next class now.  He seems to really like the Clownfish room and has been on his best behavior while visiting their room.  The teachers in that room have been there for a while and seem a little more organized and in control which is key to a classroom full of 2 and 3 year olds.

He started sleeping on a big boy bed at my parent's house in Douglasville last month.  He is too big for his pack-n-play so my parents got out his new bed and set it up in his room at their house.  They have the mattress on the floor for now and he LOVES it.  He slept the entire first night on it and did not roll off.  And gets so excited to tell you about his bed and show it to you.  He loves to keep all of his books, stuffed animals and toys on it.  We still have not made the transition from his crib to his big boy bed at home yet but I have a feeling that it will be coming in the next few months.  He has stopped crawling out of his crib and seems as happy as ever sleeping in it so we are not in any rush to change to his big boy bed.  We are starting to think about where and how he is going to sleep when we go on vacation this summer.  We have ordered a traveling toddler bed so we are going to try it out when we go to the mountains this weekend.   Fingers crossed.

We have started a sticker chart at home and so far it is working perfectly.  He gets to pick out a sticker and add it to an empty square whenever he is a good boy.  He has been so excited about it.  And he finally filled up his first chart last week so we went to Target this weekend so that he could pick out a special prize.  We left Target with one new Lightning McQueen and one new Mater.  He was attached to them all weekend ... took a nap with them, took them to the grocery store.  And then all of a sudden they disappeared on Sunday afternoon :(  And they disappeared within a 15 minute window (we have done a lot of detective work around finding them).  We have searched high and low for them ... even going through the trash ... and cannot find them anywhere.  I have not been able to stop thinking about them and feeling awful for them disappearing into thin air.  I guess since they were his special prize for filling up his sticker chart and seeing him so attached to them I grew really fond of them in the 24 hours that we had them!! I am hoping that Target has another set for a replacement :)

His nighttime routine still includes watching a few minutes of either Elmo, Thomas the Train or Cars.  He gets to pick and loves laying in our bed before going to sleep in his room.  After watching tv for a few minutes we all go into his room for his night-night prayer and then it is time for "rock the baby".  Some nights we sing and some nights we talk about his day or things coming up during the week.  It is always the perfect end to every day.

This past Saturday we took him to get a hair cut and he was such a BIG BOY!  This was the first time that he let them put the cape on him.  We typically have to change his clothes after his hair cut because he will not wear the cape and ends up with hair all over his clothes.  And he also let them use the electric clippers around his ears and neck!  Another sign that he is growing up ... and it is happening so fast!!

He still LOVES his new play set.  We play on it every night after dinner. 

That boy will do anything for a blueberry scone!

We still do not give him juice.  And he does not care anything about it.  He loves his water and milk.  I think at school they have given it to him a few times on accident but he never has really taken to it.

He has been attached to his mommy lately.  And I love every minute of it :)  We have had to change our morning routine so that even when I have to leave early for work I can still get him up before I leave so that he can see me in the morning.  He would rather have me wake him up from a deep sleep then wake up on his own and me not be there to get him out of his bed.

I started teaching him the name of our street so now every time we pull down our street he says .. "Honeysuckle Lane"! 

And loves saying his full name.

He makes us laugh every day with the stuff that he says to us.  We love having full conversations with him.  It is amazing to see life through a 2 year olds eyes.

He is still 110% all boy ... into big trucks, firetrucks, dump trucks, cement trucks, cars, police cars, motorcycles, bicycles, soccer balls, baseballs, bats, basketballs, bouncy balls, etc.

We are heading to the mountains this weekend for a long weekend!  We cannot wait to spend time away from our busy lives and enjoy family in the cool mountain breeze with my parents!  Pictures to come soon!

Easter 2012 Pictures

Here are our official Easter 2012 pictures from church! 

How cute is our little mister :)

He actually looked at the camera - which is few and far between these days.