Happy First Birthday Ryan!

Exactly one month ago this sweet boy turned one!  The first week we brought you home from the hospital I remember thinking how far away this day seemed, and now we're here.   You bring such joy to our family.  You make us all laugh with your determination to communicate about the things you love and want, and melt our hearts with your sweet kisses and snuggles.   

We celebrated by spoiling you with your very own cake!  You were quite delicate with it at first, but after you decided it tasted good, you dug right in.  You loved it so much you decided that if it was good enough for your tummy it was good enough for your hair!  Again, one of the many ways you make us all laugh.  Grandma and Grandpa T. gave you a Jeep, Grandma and Grandpa M. gave you some Eagles Gear and we gave you a Ballapalooza!  Happy First Birthday Ryan!

Now for some fun facts:

You sleep through the night.

You eat from the table, meaning anything we eat, you want it too!

You love your bottle, 3x per day at that.

You take one nap a day.

You get excited when Zach, Kate and Dad come home from school and work.

You love to empty every cupboard and drawer you can reach.

You have mastered the stairs.

You have a little small case of "stranger danger".

You brush your teeth, making daddy proud.

You love Zach's basketball and his hoop, if I had the energy to lift you up over and over again, you would shoot hoops all day!

And you started to dance, bouncing your knees up and down.  It is the cutest thing ever!  You have rhythm already!

Turkey Bowl...

Out of order, but not to be forgotten, was our Family Turkey Bowl!  Thanksgiving day was gorgeous!  It was the most perfect weather for a great game of football.  What a fun day to remember.  And what a great picture of the boys and Halle! 

Christmas Eve...

We had another low key Christmas Eve this year.  Uncle Andy and Aunt Mari hosted those of us who were in town.  With the holiday season always being one of Justin's busiest times of the year, its just easier to stay home. I actually have grown to prefer to not travel during the holidays.  It's interesting how things change as we get older.  I use to look forward to getting away for the holidays and now staying home just feels good.  

Mari made a delicious pasta meal and the kids continued the tradition of re-enacting the Nativity.  Ryan surprised us all by walking!  Okay so he has been taking 2-3 steps for awhile, but he finally decided to walk exclusively on Christmas Eve.  Merry Christmas to me!  I love this stage.  The germ freak in me loves when they finally decide to walk instead of crawl and chew on everything in sight.  We ended the night with the kids opening their Christmas jammies and off to bed we went.  Oh and I can't forget to mentions how Kate was so close to asking for her two front teeth for Christmas!  Her smile is going to look interesting for the next year or two...hee hee!

2013 Family Pictures...

Now that the holidays are over and the family photo gifts and Christmas cards have been received, I can finally post our recent family pics.  Thanks goes out to my sweet and talented SIL Mari. Family photos can be quite a stress but she manages to pull it off every time.  We met up at Mill Pond Park in late August to try and get a few good pics and ended up with several.  These are some of my favorites.

Oh Dad You're So Funny!

We can't get enough of Ryan's deep belly chuckles...

9 Years Old...

Zach turned 9!  9!  That happened so fast!  Hard to believe in another 9 years he will be begging to get out of the house.   This year we celebrated with the family.  He really loves a good party on his big day, but its always nice to keep things simple and low key.    He woke up very excited and couldn't get his day started until his gifts from us were opened.  Legos, Nike clothes and new kicks were the hot items this year.  Nike must be killing it with their Nike Elite Socks alone.  It's all he wears and I think he would have been thrilled if all he got was a box full of elite socks.  

Some fun facts about Zach:

• He LOVES soccer, so much that he plays almost everyday, trains with Justin almost every night, wakes up early in the morning to watch the European leagues on TV before school starts and plays on 3 different teams!
• Zach loves school and is very self motivated.  When asked he considers himself the 3rd smartest kid in his class.  I am not sure this is really true, but confidence is a great quality so I am not going to squash that.
• He LOVES tacos!  He could eat tacos day after day and never tire of them.  
• His favorite movie is Despicable Me 2.
• His favortie song at the moment is Safe and Sound by Capital Cities.
• His hobby when he is not with a soccer ball is Parkour.  He and his buddies from school go to an open gym in Beaverton, to test their American Ninja Warrior skills.  
• The latest rage are Rainbow Loom bracelets and he spends hours making all sorts of bracelets.  What started out as a very tearful and frustrating experience has now become very fullfilling and quite the accomplishment when he make a "cool looking" bracelet.  

We love you Zach and are very proud of you.  You are a good big brother to Kate and Ryan and do a lot favors for me and your dad.  Happy Birthday!