ringing it in

Since we spent so much time and effort on Christmas, we kind of forgot to make plans for New Year's Eve.  Which was fine, since I knew I had to work New Year's Day, we weren't planning on doing anything into the wee hours.  And sometimes the last minute, unplanned things are the best.  We spent a good part of the day at Kennedy Park near Auntie Dana's house.  Despite the chilly air, we rode the train (twice!), rode the carousel, and put our time in at the playground.  After nap time at Auntie Dana's, we went out to dinner with the family and some friends.  We were home by 9 pm, in bed shortly thereafter, and Eddy managed to wake up at about 12:03 and wish me a happy new year.  We're so exciting, we know!  

And no, we didn't really make any resolutions this year.  I guess maybe I hope that we realize on a daily basis how blessed we are, and it's always good to laugh (I'm talkin' big belly laugh) more often. 

So... cheers to 2011!

Eddy almost got stuck, but Ryan loved every minute

can we swing EVERY day mom!?!

Ryan LOVES trains.  In fact, we couldn't get him to look away from it for a second to take a picture

Ryan and Alexandra on their first carousel ride.

Hope it didn't make them as seasick as it made the adults

who's gonna go faster? 

Round 2 of the train ride.  With Ryan in your lap, it never gets old. 

Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful, family-filled holiday weekend.  It started with a Christmas Eve crab dinner at our house, and then Christmas morning presents and breakfast with the Kuzaks, Christmas dinner with the Bayers at Eddy's Aunt Judy and Uncle Joe's house, and then a much needed day of rest and relaxation all day Sunday.  We hope the holidays found you all as happy and blessed as we feel, and hopefully warm and dry as well!

Christmas Eve

it's not often that we can sit on the couch with Great Nanny, so we tried to take advantage as she's been visiting for 2 weeks

our Christmas Eve crab dinner.  Even Ryan was at the table (directly underneath the camera)

Eddy the Santa chef

Ryan showing Alexandra how to use his new basketball hoop

keeping the family tradition going...we read The Night Before Christmas every Christmas Eve.  Ryan sat through about the first 4 pages. 

baby Alexandra loved the story.  Or maybe she just loved Ryan's new dinosaur puppet

 Christmas Morning

thanks for the fire truck Nanny and Dzia Dzia!

yea!  making some noise!

this is what happens when Nanny changes your diaper and you really want to put on your new shoes

we were so glad to have Great Nanny visiting for Christmas!

 Christmas night

our little elf, on our way to Auntie Judy and Uncle Joe's house

hey, this Santa is as tall as me!

Ryan loved Uncle Joe's trains

he also loved Uncle Joe's pool table

christmas books

There's nothing like opening presents with some girlfriends. 

My girlfriends Megan and Lindsey and I have started a bit of a Christmas tradition, where we do a book exchange for our kiddos in lieu of gifts for eachother.  Really it's a win win for all involved.  And a great excuse to get together.  Thanks for the books Hadley and Macy!

hats and boots

We are getting ready...or at least getting used to wearing the hat before Christmas day.

 And with all this rain we've been having, these boots Ryan got from his Auntie Kim and Uncle Derek are perfect, if only they'd stay on his feet for more than 30 seconds!  We still have yet to make it outside in them. 

steam trains

Last weekend we took Ryan for his first train ride.  But first, we had brunch with some friends at a diner that just happened to have a train rigged up to run along the ceiling above our heads.  Instant entertainment!  And then we headed up to Tilden Park in Berkeley to the steam trains.  I'm not sure who had more fun....Eddy, Ryan, or myself! 

"Mom, can't we have one of these in the kitchen at home?  It would make meal time so much more fun!"

here comes the train

on board

an impromptu visit

Up until today we had not quite decided if we would take Ryan to visit Santa this year or not.  I mean, he's a big strange man, dressed in red velvet, with a long white beard, saying "ho ho ho".  What toddler wouldn't be scared to death of that?  But today we went to the tail end of the Christmas parade and street fair in Benicia, the next town over, and as we were walking around we just happened to pass by Santa's Workshop, where Santa just happened to be visiting with the kids, and there just happened to not be any line to wait in.  Fate.  My idea of dressing Ryan up in his Christmas best to go visit Santa went out the window, as he was dressed in sweats.  But we took advantage of the good timing, and in we went...

Ryan's first introduction to Santa

trying to slowly warm up to him

 The Official Photo

No screaming, which is what I had imagined.  But Ryan was clearly not loving sitting there by himself, as it lasted all of about 4 seconds before he was squirming out of Santa's lap. 

 Our walk through downtown Benicia with Nanny and Dzia Dzia

At the street fair, we walked past this man playing the saxaphone, and Ryan couldn't get enough.  He stood here dancing to the music and watching him play.  A future musician?  Perhaps. 

Looking at the ducks with Nanny

 And this picture that I took this evening is for my mom, who told me today that she doesn't think Ryan's eyes look as big as they used to.  I still think they're pretty darn big and beautiful. 

temptation

We are on day 2 of the Christmas tree being up, and so far Ryan has been really good at listening to us, looking at the tree, touching the ornaments, but not grabbing too much.  We're just hoping that lasts for the rest of December. 

Lately...

Lately...

these are the toys Ryan is playing with 

(okay, I admit that I built that, but it took Ry half a second to tear it down)

 

 he still loves to walk around carrying as many little things as possible at one time, including putting said things in his mouth -- it's a reusable wine cork in his mouth this time

 Lately...

this is what meal time looks like.  

Ryan has begun to try feeding himself with a spoon and fork.  It's definitely not a clean process, but he is having a blast with it, so how can we say no?  He's also getting better and better at drinking from a real cup.

 Ryan hasn't eaten pureed baby food for awhile now, but I found an extra jar that had been forgotten and he had a good ol' time playing with the spoon and the jar, oh and occasionally eating what was inside as well.

 Lately...

this is what Ryan looks like while he accompanies me on my runs.  

The weather has definitely gotten colder, so we both bundle up a bit more. 

 Lately...

Ryan is obsessed with shoes.

Specifically, dad's shoes. 

(and check out that belly in this picture!)

 Lately...

this is what Ryan has been up to.

We went to go visit baby Arjen Anderson a few weekends ago, and yes, Ryan loved looking at the baby.  But even more, he loved the piano in their house.  And sadly, this is about the only picture I took.  Hopefully the Andersons will post more pictures on their blog. 

 we had our friends the Rotems over for dinner tonight, and it was a riot watching Ryan and Lucas play.  I couldn't get the two of them to sit still for a second, so this is about the best picture I got.  Amazing to think of how much they've changed in a year!

Lately...

• Ryan holds the washcloth up to his chin and cleans himself (even when I'm just folding laundry and he sees the clean washcloth pile) -- yet he still whines when I try to really clean his face after he's eaten 
• he has mastered saying "hi", and some of the time he holds a phone (or anything else) up to his ear as he says it
• he has just started saying "ball"...but he points to just about everything as he says it
• he repeats a ton of words we say, but just doesn't say them on his own yet
• every day seems like a new adventure.  We are loving it!

the big game, Bayer style

In this area, the Big Game typically means the Cal vs Standford game.  However, last weekend was the real "big game", Bayer style.  The Cal vs Washington game.  Despite the weather, we managed to get ourselves dressed in waterproof everything and leave the comforts of our own home to cheer on our favorite teams.  Ryan (dressed in both Cal and UW gear - we had to be fair) got to spend time with his cousin Alexandra, Auntie Dana, Nonni and Nonno, while Eddy and I cheered our hearts out at Memorial Stadium.  However, only one team could be victorious.  And this year, again, the Huskies pulled out an amazing win.  'Atta kids!  It felt good to be in purple.  

(Sorry to all the Cal fans in my life)