Ryan's Theatrical Debut!

As proud parents we have spent countless hours figuring out how to slice video so that we can place the important parts of my baby boy's first theater debut on here.

This video is of Ryan and his preschool classmates singing Jingle Bells.

This is Ryan's Christmas play where he is InnKeeper #2 but there was a mix up and the microphone holder had him go first. He did quite well handling the situation because no one knew there was a snafu but me and the other innkeeper as we had practiced the lines.

Hotlanta - continued..

We started out our Atlanta trip with our great friends and their children. They're like family to us and so getting to see them and spend time with them was really nice. Getting to spend a tiny bit of the holiday season with them and with family was a nice change we haven't been able to do in many years. It would be nice to get to do again!





All the pictures in this post are from Stone Mountain. I have always enjoyed going to Stone Mountain and was surprised to learn that for years they have had a Christmas Village. We spent the whole day with our friends at the Christmas Village. This picture is in front of the sky bucket or whatever they call it that takes you up to the top of the mountain.

These pictures are from the area where you first walk in. It was great to see Polar Express in 4D. We also rode on a train that took you through Christmas sights and sounds along the way. We enjoyed the laser light show too.

Ryan had a super time with his friends who he thinks of as cousins. He has asked that we go back next year. We would love to. We'll have to see. It was a very nice way to get into the Christmas season. There's never enough time to spend with family and friends.

Hotlanta!

So our trip last month to Altanta was cold and rainy and pretty much what we expected of Atlanta weather only not as cold. We went everywhere it seemed and had a whole lot of fun hanging out with our friends and family.

These are only a few of the pictures I have been able to scan in. I am still working on scanning in the rest......

This picture I do not care for because of me. It looks like to me that I am auditioning for a role as the joker. Ryan just looks so cute in this picture.

This was a neat experience at CNN studios in Atlanta. I visited there about 25 years ago and it was so nice to get to see it since then. This picture is so funny to me because Ryan didn't really want to take his picture but I didn't know when or if we'd ever be back and he might wish years later he had - or I just wanted a picture of him behind the desk. Either way, he looks like he is reporting 9/11 the way he seems so despondent. Maybe the economic crisis is beginning to get to him.

Ryan and his cousin Syndey were able to spend some quality time together. They both went to the Georgia Aquarium and really enjoyed that. This picture is at the mall. We were surprised that Santa was already there. It was a very nice surprise as both of them got to sit with Santa and have their picture made together.

To be continued.........

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! Now that I have had a tiny bit of time to get some pictures scanned in I will put them up here for all to enjoy.

This is Ryan's individual preschool picture. I personally am not a fan of the background but as long as Ryan didn't actually cause that mess I guess I can deal with it.

This is Ryan's preschool class. Miss Carol is his teacher and she is furthest left in the back. She has a very funny British humor which we like. Miss Stephanie is his assistant teacher on M,W & F and Miss Colleen is his AT on T & Th. He loves them all!

These are adorable photos taken with one of Ryan's close friends in a photo booth at the mall. This was taken just after they went to see the movie Wall-E which they both seemed to like very much. Ryan had actually seen it before and so he felt compelled to tell his friend every thing that would happen just moments before it did. Thankfully she is such a good friend she never hit him because of it.

I am currently working on scans of our Atlanta trip. Keep a watch!

HotLanta

Well, we just got back from our trip to Atlanta. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the Real Housewives of Atlanta (for all those Bravo fans). No such luck.

Not even at the CNN tour did we catch a peek of Anderson Cooper (meow).

We did have fun with family and friends and walked our tootsies off.

I will be updating this soon with pictures but wanted to update this space before it was pronounced legally "deed" (for all those Austin Powers fans).

Here are some pics to until then....

Recently Heard

SCENE: Ryan and I walking back to the van from school





"Momma? Can we go to Toys R Us?"


"No baby, we can't"


silence for about 15 seconds


"Well, you know....at Subway there is no no's. I saw it last night on TV. Let's go to Subway"


"We're not at Subway and you're in a land where No's reign supreme"


"It's raining?"

(sigh)

SCENE: at home watching Monsters Inc where Mike takes his snakey haired girlfriend out to dinner





"I want to go on a date."


chuckle "You do? With who?"


"You and daddy. But no eating."

Busy Week

This picture has nothing to do with what I am about to blog, but it is a really cute picture.

This week Ryan started school - AGAIN. He was a good sport. He said he was going to try to make the best of it. I think it helped it was in a different school district so he could begin again with everyone else and not have to go to a different school after they had already begun.

I began a new job with a web design company as Account Executive and Project Manager. I really like my job and they are keeping me busy. So, we're all keeping very busy these days.

We have more video of the second "first day" - just haven't the time or energy to try to download it yet.

One more picture for the road.....

Reliving the Past

I'm still learning how to do this blogging thing - I keep getting the pictures on here in the wrong order - at least for what I'd like to do. At any rate, here are pictures of Ryan when he was first born......

This is the first time Neal got a chance to feed Ryan as I was finally able to pump enough milk for him to be able to feed him. This is one of my favorite pictures.

I remember swaddling Ryan so tight I couldn't see how he could breathe. Yet, he slept so well. I think I spent the first three months just staring at him - at least when I wasn't pumping.

We were honored to have a visit from Neal's Grammy. She could only stay for a few hours but we were so happy to open home and have Grammy meet Ryan.

This was in the hospital. Neal did A LOT of sleeping. I wished I could.

The sleepy grin.

I am holding Ryan's feet while in the hospital. Everyone has always made such a big deal about Ryan's feet - even before he was born. I like to think of it as he has been blessed with a great foundation.

One of the first pictures in the hospital.

THE first picture of us as a family! I was still recuperating from a Csection and apparently was having problems with my blood pressure so I couldn't hold him and nurse Ryan as soon as I wanted.

---------------------------------------------------------------

So Ryan just turned 4 last month and I have been going through old pictures and thought I would post a few going back to Ryan's birth.

And one more thing.....

On a different note.....



We went to a fundraiser for a little boy Ryan's age who has a heart condition that will require him to have surgery. The surgery requires him to go to Maryland(?) and it is surgery to repair his heart. This is major surgery with major costs.



I explained to Ryan that we would be going to this fundraiser and he began to ask a lot of questions. I tried to answer honestly and age appropriately with sayings things like,



" There is a little boy your age that needs surgery and we are going to go help give money towards his surgery."



"What kind of surgery(in his cute pronunciation of it) is it momma?"



"Well, it is to help his heart." [looks perplexed and begins to think]



"Daddy, I want you to explain to me exactly what they have to do to his heart."

(I was both impressed at his question and offended that apparently his daddy needed to be the one to answer him - oh well, better him than me I suppose)



[long explanation by daddy]



"Well, I want to help."



"Well we are going to help by going to the fundraiser and giving money."



"No, I want to give the little boy something. Maybe something he can play with while he is in the hospital. Can we visit him in the hospital?"



"Well he isn't in the hospital but we will see him tonight so if you'd like to pick something to give him we could do that."



"Ok but I want to help him play with it in the hospital. Let me go get my set and we can play together."



- You get the idea - we spent a lot of the ride explaining we weren't going to the hospital and he would not be allowed to play with him at the hospital but he did choose a Lego set to give the little boy and he gave it him himself. The little boy was so excited to receive it! His mom told us that while the hospital has a lot of toys they don't have Legos and he would love it.

What a week

Ryan began preschool this week. He was nervous and a bit anxious about a new pre school but overall he seemed ready. He had a friend, Melanie, in his class and he seemed to making friends just fine.

The reason we sent Ryan to this pre school was because of a few people we knew who sent their children to this school. They liked it and what we heard most was that they "challenged" children in their educational pursuits. Neal and I liked that since Ryan gets bored so easily and usually enjoys a challenge.

The school itself has never been impressive to either me or Neal. The teacher was expecting the children to already know things that are only age appropriate for kindergartners and was really keen on letting us know that the children she taught last year at that school were much better at everything. In her eyes, because Ryan couldn't conform immediately to what she wanted, he wasn't fitting in.

Well, that and a host of other problems including her rudeness to me on several occasions led us to get out of there in only 3 days.

Ryan made a lot of friends and was upset that we just pulled him out but at $500 a month we had to make a decision real soon before another payment was made to people who really didn't care. No one at all asked or cared why we were pulling him from the school.

Now he feels like there is no reason to be invested in a school any more and he doesn't like the idea of going to another school. I know what we did was right but it is hard to see Ryan, who is so sensitive and gets attached to people so easily, get upset. I can only pray that the new school we checked out will help him to get through it.

The new school is a polar opposite to the last school. They are a private Christian school and practice a lot of love and creativity and allow the children to be as creative as they can be. The idea that a child would have to draw something to look just like the model is not their philosphy at all. It is in the creating and in the developing of skills that the teaching occurs and not in the end result. They also teach the principles of the Bible to the students and help them to see that other people are less fortunate and find ways for the children to help. I don't get that he will master any big subjects like math or science or even the alphabet even though they will "teach" it to them. Neal and I do a lot of that home and and he can always get that from other places but what I like is the social skills (not like he doesn't already have a lot of those) and the Bible principles as well as the fostering of creativity in every subject will be terrific for him. I just hope he feels the same way.

I have pictures from his "first day" at the previous school and I kind of feel sad posting them. I have video too. I don't think I will post it tonight - but soon I will post it and then will be posting his "First Day - Do Over" pictures soon after that.

Here's to another week of Summer with Ryan!

Bless His Heart

Background: Ryan had just used the "facilities" at our home when his daddy said he would have stop briefly helping Ryan to go use the same "facilities"

"Momma? Is daddy gonna go potty?"
"yes baby it sounded like that was what he needed to do."
"I just tooted in there. Bless his heart."

Random Funny Pictures

This was taken at the zoo sometime last year. It appears he is being birthed from a tree....

This isn't funny but it is cute. This was taken while at Bounce U and I am pretty sure one of my friends took this picture for me. He is sitting beside one of his girl playmates and that explains the big smile.

This was two days after Christmas - at least that was the date stamp on the camera but not sure if the camera is exactly correct. I'm sure that just minutes before this picture he said,"No Momma, I am NOT tired and I do NOT need a nap."

I guess he couldn't fake the smile anymore - so he just pulled his smile on

A very happy Puss n' Boots impersonation

Beware of underwear monster....

Ryan is just funny sometimes -

Christmas Past

Getting Caught Up with Ryan - Continued.....

These are pictures of Christmas 2007:

Ryan sitting and figuring out his new tool workbench from Santa

It is obviously still very early for Ryan

Ryan received lots of presents and one was a globe which he has always been fascinated with

Ryan loved this Dinosaur puppet and has enjoyed it for many hours since Christmas. Ryan already has a great appreciation for gift cards as witnessed in this picture
There are lots of pictures of how happy Ryan was on Christmas morning but I was tickled at this picture especially since this was a present from me and his dad. He looks like he is mentally saying, "What the heck am I supposed to do with this MOM?"

I could fill many pages with pictures from that day but this gives you an idea of what he looked like and what our morning was like.

Getting you caught up on Ryan

So I just began this blog and there's a lot to get caught up on.

The easiest thing for me to do is as I get pictures place them here. There is most likely not going to be any real time line. So to begin the catch up pictures:

This is dated 11/22/07 and as I recall he had been suffering with a cold. That is why he has what might look like icing on his nose but is actually lotion to help with the red dry skin around his nose. Also, the half drugged look on his face is most likely because he was being given a steady dose of Dimetapp. All of this did not deter me or him in making ginger bread men cookies.

Here are those cookies.

Our little man's 4th birthday!

Ryan in love with his gifts

He's very excited about his gifts!

Getting to ready to blow that big 4 candle out......

and he succesfully blows it out.

Hangin' with his friend Chuck E

He specifically asked for and designed

this Wall-E cake

a bit tired from all the festivities

During the dance portion of the party,

Ryan strikes his rapper pose

That is just the highlights. I'm still trying to get used to this blogging thing. I have lots of video so as soon as I make sure Ryan's friends don't mind their mugs on the wide web I will attempt to add video for viewing pleasure.

We had lots of fun and we enjoyed all of Ryan's friends who came and missed all those who could not.