Ryland's Halloween Parade at Goddard

Today all of the little ones at Ryland's school took their Halloween costumes with them to school and they are having a Halloween parade later this morning. I cannot wait to go up there to see all of the kids dressed up and to see Ryland in his little Monkey costume!

2 hours later we are back from seeing Ryland all dressed up at school. I do have to say he was the cutest little monkey ever. And his eyes lit up when he saw us and he had the biggest smile on his face. Man do we LOVE that boy!

There was so much for him to take in and observe. He was in deep concentration the entire time that we were all outside on the playground with all of the other kids and parents.

And then we went back inside to his room and before we left he showed us how he walks around with the push toy.

HaPpY BiRThDaY TaB!!!

Happy Birthday Tab!

We love you!

Ryland gave Tab a navy blue Polo pull over and the surprise at the bottom of the bag was that there was one in Ryland's size.






We all went to lunch in downtown Roswell and then walked around the shops after lunch. It was a great day!

10 Months & 1 Week Old .... I Cannot Believe It!!

Ryland turned 10 months old last weekend (Saturday, October 16th) and since we had a super busy weekend I missed adding a post to the blog on the actual day that he turned 10 months old. So now he is 10 months and 1 week old and I cannot believe how fast he is growing up!!

Below is a quick glimpse into Ryland's world of being 10 months old.

10 Months Old and Loving ....
* Eating and feeding himself. His favorites foods are bananas, yellow squash, pears and sweet potatoes
* Playing chase around the house (especially upstairs before bath time)
* Mimicking sounds that he hears
* Smiling and laughing all the time * Practicing various sounds (a lot of B's and M's). He is definitely saying "MaMaMa" and I would like to say that is his first word but not sure if Tab agrees :)
* Walking behind his push toys
* Going for walks and being outside
* Petting Codi and Bailey
* Sleeping in daddy's arms
* Getting upset when we tell him "no". It is hard not to laugh at his reaction because it is funny how he buries his face in the ground and screams. But then he is over it in a few seconds and he moves on to the next thing.
* Playing in the kitchen cabinets (and opening the kitchen cabinets and drawers!!)

Tab and I cannot imagine our life without Ryland. He brings so much joy and happiness into our world and we love every second with him!

Happy 10 month and 1 week old birthday Ryland!

Burt's Pumpkin Patch

Tab, Ryland and I drove up to Burt's Pumpkin Patch on Sunday and met up with Chuck/Lindy/Maddie and Patrick/Carolyn/Stella for a day of fun! The place with packed with people but we still had a blast and Ryland loved seeing all of the pumpkins.

After we left the pumpkin patch we drove down the road to Hillcrest Apple Orchard. It was even more packed but we were able to eat lunch (and eat some good apple pies and apple fritters!). We did not stay long since Ryland was exhausted but we were able to pick out a bag of apples to take home before we left.

Ryland's First Georgia Football Game - GO DAWGS!

I think we have a Georgia football fan on our hands! We took Ryland to his first football game in Athens, GA yesterday and he had a blast. Nathan and Katie went with us and we tailgated for an hour or so before the game and then kick off was at 12pm. Ryland was amazed at all of the people in the stadium and even cheered for the dawgs when they made a touchdown! He was so good the entire time that we were at game. We had no idea how long that we would be able to stay but when we left at the end of the 3rd quarter it was not because of Ryland. It was because Georgia was beating Vanderbilt 43-0!

GO DAWGS!

He Bounced Himself to Sleep!

Ryland was having so much fun in his jumper and then before we knew it he could hardly hold his head up because he was getting so sleepy. This was one of the funniest things that we have seen and luckily we were able to record most of it on our camera so that we can watch it over and over again.

This picture was taken just after he laid his head down to go to sleep. We said his name and he opened his eyes and gave us a smile. But he never lifted his head up :)


Sound asleep!

And yes we did move him to his bed to finish out his nap!

Stella's Birthday Party

Sunday we all went over to Carolyn and Patrick's house to celebrate Stella's 1st birthday. Ryland had so much fun. And since the weather was beautiful all of the kids got to play outside.

Hanging out with daddy ...


Ryland even got to eat lunch outside!


And then all of the kids played with each other and the favorite toy of the day were the little yellow golf balls ...

And then this is what happens when you try to get 4 little ones to all look at the camera at the same time!

Ryland took a good, long nap after we got home. He was exhausted from all of the fun!

Rough Nights and Cooler Temps

Ryland has had some rough nights of sleeping this week. It really started over the weekend which was the exact same time that the temperatures dropped and it started feeling like Fall outside. We are still not sure what is causing him to wake up. Sometimes he will wake up, cry for a couple of minutes and then fall right back asleep. Other nights he will wake up and cry until we go in there to get him.

Monday night he kept waking up time and time again within 5 minutes of us putting him down in his crib. After going through the rocking, laying him down in his crib and going back to bed routine 5 times within 1 hour I decided to bring him back to bed with us. After a few minutes of tossing back and forth in our bed he went right to sleep and slept until after 7am.

Thinking that he might be waking up because he was getting cold, I tore the tags off his "winter" pajamas, washed them and he has been wearing them to bed for the last couple of nights. I do have to say that he looks really cozy and cute when we put him to bed in his fleece pjs!! I think the warmer pjs have helped a little but he is still not back to consistently sleeping through the night without waking up.

Last night was another rough night and when he woke up at 5am I ended up bringing him back to our bed for the last couple of hours. He went right to sleep and then Tab and Ryland had some quality cuddling after I got up to get ready for the day.

Tab and I have been really good about not letting Ryland sleep in the bed with us. But with the cooler temperatures and knowing that he is not sleeping good in his crib it is hard to say no to that idea in the middle of the night. But I can promise that this will not become a habit ... just something that we can all enjoy every once in a while :)

Beautiful Weather and Walking on the Chattahoochee

The weather was BEAUTIFUL this past weekend ... sunny with highs around 70 degrees! We could not have asked for anything better.

Tab spent a lot of time working in the yard on both Saturday and Sunday. And all of the work he has been doing in the front of our house looks great. Now if we can just get our grass to grow where we have irrigation problems we will be all set!

And then Tab, Ryland, Codi and I all went to the Chattahoochee River for a long walk yesterday afternoon. Codi loved it and Ryland was smiling, talking and laughing the entire time. It was a great family outing. We definitely need to take more advantage of having the Chattahoochee River trails so close to our house.

Yes .... that is Codi way out there!

Good boy Codi!! He always brings the stick back!!

Watching Tab and Codi play in the water ...