rainy weekend

The weather has finally turned, and winter is here.  And we're not complaining.  But that just means we've had to get creative with indoor activities.  So this weekend we did a lot of "tent camping" and football watching.  Over the last 2 weekends Ryan learned to run around the house yelling "Go Niners" and "touchdown!", and making fists at the tv screen because of the bad call made by the refs.  Unfortunately for us, the 49ers are not playing in the Superbowl this year.  Can't win 'em all I guess. 

Eddy set up our tent in the living room

Ryan loved zipping the door open and closed, and climbing in and out of course

intently watching the Niners

this is two

This was my date for breakfast this morning....

And since all he would wear for this date was his firetruck undies (no diaper, and no, he's still not even close to being potty trained), this was what breakfast looked like...
First course...oatmeal.  Bib was requested by the little man, because as you may have guessed, I can't get him to wear anything that he doesn't want to wear lately. 

lame face because he's actually saying "cheese", as he does for every photo these days

Second course....toast and jam.  No longer wearing the bib, because obviously one does not need to wear a bib when eating toast.  Obviously.  And Ryan pretty much demands to read the "funnies" every morning with his breakfast.  Some of his favorites...Garfield and Dilbert. 

And then breakfast promptly ended when Ryan said "I'm pooping mommy", which followed with a rapid hand washing and a quick transfer to the potty chair in the bathroom.  Thankfully he hadn't actually gone in his undies, and he then did not go on the potty as well, but about 2 minutes after I put a diaper on him he proceeded to go.  Crisis averted.  One point for mommy. 

Happy New Year

We rang in the new year quietly, up in Tahoe.  Still with no snow, but we made the most of it.  We took a few walks, enjoyed the sunshine, and Ryan learned great boy things like how to hit trees and rocks with sticks (courtesy of daddy showing him the ropes), and continued to perfect his skills on throwing rocks into the lake.  Our good friend Cristen joined us for the weekend, which gave us someone else to compete with in our annual game of Sequence (a board game) on New Years Eve...which she won, so I'm not certain she'll be invited back next year.  No offense Clarky. 

we spent one afternoon at Northstar Ski resort, exploring the village and having lunch, wishing it would snow

New Year's Day

our little ham

jumping off rocks

Christmas

This year was all about the Bayer family for Christmas.  We hosted Christmas Eve dinner at our house with Eddy's immediate family.  Eddy's parents and Dana spent the night, and they had Christmas morning with us before Eddy had to go to work.  Luckily his work day wasn't too long, so we were able to drive down to San Mateo to spend the evening with Eddy's extended family at Auntie Judy and Uncle Joe's house.  A great few days spent with family, which is the best way to do it this time of year!  Ryan LOVED all the gifts this year.  Every morning in the week before Christmas, Ryan would wake up and ask "Santa bring presents?".  And then on Christmas Eve he learned to declare "Santa brings presents.  Ryan a good boy", just to make sure Santa had Ryan on the correct list that night.  In fact, he's still telling us that he's a good boy.  Not sure if he thinks Santa is coming every week now or what, but he doesn't seem to be upset when I tell him we won't see Santa again until next year.    Funny, since Santa is about the only thing this boy is afraid of. 

one of Ry's favorite gifts from Uncle Chris and Auntie Drea

not sure that driver's seat is big enough for 2

Ryan was in heaven with Uncle Joe's train track.  Don't think he left that spot all night

Alexandra and Kensie

The next generation.  Impossible to get a shot of them all looking at the camera

cookie baking amongst friends

For the past 3 years, my girlfriends Megan and Lindsey and I have gotten together before Christmas and exchanged books for our kids.  A fun tradition.  Well, this year, I thought we should step it up a notch and attempt a little cookie decorating party to add to the fun.  It was chaotic, with 3 toddlers, 2 babies, and lots and lots of sprinkles and frosting.  But I think fun was had by all.  And we even managed to exchange the books as well.  Success. 

Christmas the weekend before Christmas

Since my parents were planning to spend actual Christmas in Seattle with my brother and his family, we headed up to Tahoe to celebrate an early Christmas the weekend before.  It was a great quiet weekend, with a few presents shared amongst us, and plenty of outdoor exploring (since there was no snow to play in).

Ryan almost had more fun popping the bubble wrap than opening presents.  Almost. 

Ry opening his gift from Nanny and Dzia Dzia.  His first bike!

Unfortunately, this was the last time we could get Ry on it.  He told him he had to wear a helmet to ride it (after this first ride in the house), and since then he has refused to put on his helmet.  Oh well, some day he'll give in to the rules. 

what's a trip to Tahoe without time spent throwing rocks into the lake? 

Told you.  Literally, NO SNOW

the chilly temps reminded us that it was still December

Christmas in the city

Earlier this week, we decided to head into downtown SF to get the feeling of Christmas.  It's something we've always loved to do this time of year, as it always seems a bit more festive downtown than out here in the 'burbs.  But we've never taken Ryan.  So we hopped on BART (which I think was Ryan's favorite part of the day!), and off we went. We didn't get much shopping done with the little man in tow, but it was fun to just look at the decorations, see the animals in the windows at Macy's, and check out just how tall the tree is in Union Square this year.  Ryan even got to climb up onto a cable car, as he looked longingly at one that was parked as we were walking by, and the nice conductor who was eating his lunch asked Ryan if he wanted to come aboard.  Ry was in heaven!  After that, we all treated ourselves to a little lunch before heading home for nap time. 

that is one large tree!

snack time

Ryan chasing pigeons

"I wanna see it"

not even close

I was doing some online Christmas shopping a few weeks back, and needed to spend $3 more in order to get free shipping.  I was determined, so what did I find?  Oh, a pair of firetruck undies for Ryan.  That's right.  Are we anywhere close to needing those yet?  Nope, no way, not even close.  Although he will go pee on the potty pretty consistently once a day.  But, he loves these firetruck undies, so I'm hoping they give him a little incentive or something.  Way better than paying for shipping, right?

a visit with Santa, year 2

Ryan was a bit leery of the man in the big red suit last year, barely wanted to sit on his lap.  Well, this year, after the Polar Express train ride, we tried yet again for Ryan to meet Mr Claus.  This year he wanted very little to do with it.  Eddy's whole family took a photo together first, while Ryan and I sat in the audience and watched so that he would see how harmless it could be. 

 And then it was our turn, to try and get Ry closer to the man in red.  Ryan wanted nothing to do with him, and it ended with me sitting on Santa's lap and Ryan squirming out of my arms.  Makes for a good family laugh for years to come.  And if you ask me, next year we might just skip it!

the Polar Express

Well, between illness (all three of us have been passing around the same cold) and not sleeping well, trying to keep up with Christmas decorations, sending out Christmas cards, and doing our holiday shopping, the blog has taken a bit of a backseat.  So my apologies.  But in between all of the above, we did manage to head up to old town Sacramento last Sunday to board the Polar Express train.  Where does the train go, you might ask?  Well, to the North Pole of course.  Ryan wasn't so much a fan of the waiting in line to board the train, but once on board, it was pure fun for all of us.  A fun way to kick start the feeling of Christmas.  The kids all wear their jammies, they pass out hot cocoa and cookies on the train, and even Santa makes a visit.  What more could a kid ask for? 

 

giggles with dad, shaking the gift bell from Santa

cousin kisses