Thanksgiving

Since we are lucky enough to have the majority of both sides of our family close by, we got to see most of them on Thanksgiving this year.  We stopped by Andrea's to see the Bayer side of the family for appetizers, and then we went to my parents' house for the rest of the dinner.  Despite the rain that we had all day, it was fun to see and spend time with such wonderful family.  Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well!

Thanksgiving morning -- Eddy and Ryan perusing the newspaper Christmas ads

impossible to get a picture of these 2 smiling at the camera!

Like I said...a great picture of Nonni, but Ryan and Alexandra are another story

 And then we moved on to my parents' house...

playing "Timber!" on the edge of the couch with Dzia Dzia

checking on the turkey

what's the holidays without a little music? Ryan and Cristen rocking out

And the grand finale to the evening....Ryan decided to take my dad's bike sculpture for a ride

two year photo shoot

This was a much quicker experience than those photo shoots when Ryan wasn't even a one year old.  This time he could barely sit still, didn't want to cooperate with the photographer, kept running out of the room to see what other toys they had there.  And instead of about 20 great photos that I had to narrow down to a few, this time I got one.  Only one that I felt like paying for.  But hey, I think it's a good one.  What do you think? 

birthday boy

How did Ryan spend his 2nd birthday?

Well, it started with Ryan waking up to his first birthday present of the day (Mommy and Daddy stayed up until midnight the night before putting it together so it could be a surprise).

bed head and huge eyes!

a train table!

And once we finally got him downstairs for breakfast, he also had to oversee the final touches on (and taste test) the birthday cake

 Next we took him to ride the steam trains at Tilden Park.  A balmy 49 degrees, but fun nonetheless!

 After the train ride, we stopped at a nearby playground in Berkeley to burn off some more energy, and Eddy felt it necessary to take Ryan down the huge cement slide.  They were sitting on some cardboard, don't worry.

 After that, we headed home for nap time and to get ready for the party.  We had a small get together, with family and a few friends, all to help us celebrate Ryan turning two.

the birthday banner, year 2

Auntie Dana made an adorable train banner that said "Choo Choo Ryan's 2", but it was impossible to get a good picture of the entire thing

the cake!  Credit goes to Martha Stewart and my good friend Kate for the idea

Ryan LOVED having everyone sing "Happy Birthday " to him

who needs a fork?

cousins, a bit overloaded on sugar perhaps? 

Did you know this makes noise? 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RY RY!

We love you for your curiosity and sense of adventure, your great sense of humor, your love of giving and receiving hugs and kisses, and your gentle nature.  So cheers to your 2nd birthday buddy.  May this next year be as wonderful as the last. 

it's a bird....it's a plane....

...it's Superman!  Ryan wouldn't put on his bear costume, but he has loved wearing his Superman outfit.  Thank goodness Auntie Dana just happened to give this to him earlier last month, because it came in handy for a backup Halloween costume.  And yes, they are pjs, but they worked perfectly for our warm Halloween trick or treating.  Eddy and I were wearing t-shirts it was so warm! 
We stuck close to home this year to explore the trick or treating in our neighborhood, and it was great.  A really good turn out on the streets, we ran into a few neighborhood friends, and Ryan had a blast.  He quickly got over being shy, and loved running up to every door and holding out his "pumpkin bag" to get candy.  He never quite got the "trick or treat" down, but he did say "peese" at every house instead.  At the end of the evening, and after a few pieces of candy, it took both Eddy and myself and all of our strength to get Ryan into his clean pjs and get his teeth brushed before bed.  Talk about a sugar high.  Good thing Halloween is only once a year. 

Superman and his pumpkin bag

our first house, Ry did great

there he goes!

 Eddy just came back from a work conference in LA, at the Disneyland Hotel.  So he brought us some Micky and Minny ears that we wore out that night as our costumes.  He also picked up this "necklace" that we used as our flashlight, and it actually turned out to be a favorite among everyone we passed that night.  Amazing what a scarey looking skull with a jaw that opens and closes will do to bring neighbors together.