Happy Birthday Grandpa Craig!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Craig - glad we got to share it with you!

Happy Holidays!!

Hope you and your families had a Merry Christmas! We sure did!!

 Ryder was a little overwhelmed with the large group gatherings, but it's still a cute photo with Grandma Drea and Grandpa Bob.

This Christmas, he was able to unwrap presents all by himself!

And even helped Daddy put them together.

Hard at work at his new table

Singing silly songs with Grandma Billing (Nana)

15 Months

We are having so much fun with our 15 month old! He runs, he giggles, he does silly things to make us laugh and he understands so much of what we say.  He had his 15 month appointment on Thursday and his latest stats are: 30.75" long (25-50%), 22.5 lbs (25%) and his head is 48 cm (75%).

Here's a video clip of some fun at our house:

Let the Festivities Begin!

Last weekend, after the crazy snowstorm, we ventured out to pick out the perfect Christmas tree together. I was so excited to have Ryder walk around with us and help us pick it out....but he was fast asleep by the time we made it to the lot.  I was tempted to wake him, but he was out cold.  On the bright side, I just ran out, pointed to a beautiful tree and enjoyed waiting in the warm car with Ryder while daddy and the nice men blew all the snow off the tree, wrapped it in netting and tied it to our car :)

Thank you!!!

Probably a little confused, Ryder stood here the entire time watching Shawn put up the tree.

The finished tree!  A little bit smaller this year so there's still plenty of room for Ryder to play.

The best shot I could get in his festive jammies.  He's so active these days, he would not sit for a second!

Our first Christmas celebration this year - with the Billing Family. Even though he was up till almost 11pm, he was the happiest little kid!

Snowed In

With the crazy snowstorm, we decided to spend our entire Saturday at home.  I went outside only to drop Christmas cards in the mail - though it seems our mailman decided to stay in for the day as well.  We missed my work Christmas party and a good-bye celebration with some close friends, but we didn't risk an accident or getting stuck with the little one.  With an entire day to entertain ourselves indoors, we did some online Christmas shopping, watched a couple movies, did some cooking and played Wii...all in our jammies :)

My assistant chef helping me make poppyseed pancakes

Ryder showing us how well he can play Wii :)

Our deck near the end of the snowstorm! 

Maple Grove Pool

With daddy out of town last night, Ryder and I decided to get out and do something fun.  He hadn't been swimming in a while, so we went for a dip at the Maple Grove Community Center. Ry loved it!! He seemed to remember some songs and moves from his Foss swim class and was able to walk in the shallow water :) This was only a problem when he'd walk in a ways and then try to crawl.  Luckily, mom was there to keep his head out of the water :) He also loved watching the kids go down the slide and play with the splash toys.

3 Days of Thanksgiving

This year, we started out our Thanksgiving celebrations a little differently.  On Wednesday, Shawn and I drove up to Duluth for a little overnight get-away.  We walked along the boardwalk to the Fitgers Brewhouse for live music and quality brews and enjoyed the stay in our upgraded room: a jacuzzi suite overlooking Lake Superior and the aerial lift bridge :) 

Thursday night, we started our family celebrations.  We got together with the Healys and Ryder had a blast playing with cousin Autumn and second cousin Haley.  He was also excited that he got to see Great Aunt Maureen who came up from Arizona for the long weekend!  On Friday, we spent the day with Gma & Gpa Anderson.  I'm so bummed I left my camera in the car because Autumn kept giving Ryder kisses - sooo cute! She's such a sweetie.  Our third Thanksgiving was with Gma & Gpa Billing on Saturday.  Ryder had his first Thanksgiving meal and....did not like it at all!  Too much flavor maybe? Everything went in and then came right back out with a funny expression on his face like "woah - what was that?!"

Haley (6), Autumn (14 mos), Ryder (15 mos)

The feast

Trying hats on our little moving target!

1 Year Photos

Here are a few photos from Ryder's 1 year photo session with awesome photographer Amy Wagner.  I posted them for a day or two right after they were taken, but now that they've been purchased, it's legit to keep them up :)

Snow Day!

Ryder modeling his awesome snowsuit from Auntie Martina

Checking out our 12" of snow!!

Every Day is Beautiful

All in one week...both photos are from our fireplace room.  The top image is from the morning of our 69 degree day and the bottom from today's snowstorm :)

14 Months

Now that Ryder is 14 months old, he weighs 22 pounds and can:

...walk while holding mommy's hand...

...brush his teeth before school...

...take baths in the big-kid tub...

...go down the slide all by himself...

...swing high at the park...

...and do backflips with daddy! He puts his head back and whips his legs...I'll get a full video & post it - my memory card filled in the middle of this clip!

Other big news at our house - Shawn was given the "o.k." to start weaning off his crutches as of last Friday. And of course, he was walking alone that same day, went for his first bikeride that Sunday and biked to work on Monday....so much for "weaning".  But at least the fracture has healed, so he is ready to start working on gaining muscle and mobility back.  Ryder and I love that he can participate in more family activities again.  Now we just have to think of some things we can do to release Ryder's energy despite the early sunset and chilly weather!

Cheers!

A big week for mom...it was my first architectural license exam since I was about 6 months pregnant.  That's how long it took me to get this "mom" thing down and feel like I could contribute a little time to studying.  If I pass the (5 hour!) exam I took this morning (won't find out for weeks yet) then I'll have 4 done and 4 to go.  Tonight, Shawn and I opened a bottle of wine to celebrate the event...and it didn't seem fair to leave Ryder out.  He was happy to share in the toast :)

Happy Halloween!

Tigger (Ryder) & Piglet (Autumn)

"Hey, what did you do with my cousin??"

"Trick-or-Treat!"

Ryder and Autumn giggled and clapped with excitement as we walked to the neighbors' houses.  It was so funny because they had no idea what to be excited for! I think they knew they don't usually get to be outside after dark.

Super happy Ryder

Mom and Dad got to dress up, too!

On Saturday night, we were Lindsay Lohan and Brett Favre

35mm of Ryder

I broke out my 35mm manual camera a few times in the last couple weeks and finally finished the roll this weekend.  It's so tough to wait until you take 24 photos to see any of them!  But I had fun playing with the depth of field setings that my digital camera doesn't have.  Here are a couple of my fav shots from the roll: