Coming this halloween...

 

Ryland as Icebat

 

Brandi as Uglydog

 

Brent as Wedgehead 

We've been collecting "ugly dolls" (we call them oogie-boogies) for Ry's nursery so it's seems fitting that he be a monster for halloween.  We wanted to continue our tradition of having complimenting costumes so Brent and I chose which monsters we would be as well.  I'm excited about this project.  I just bought a TON of fleece. Thank goodness it was 60% off at Jo-Ann Fabrics today.

Pumpkin Patchin'

 Saturday was a gorgeous but cold fall day - we got all bundled up to go to "the farm"in Snohomish - 40 minutes north of our house.  Ry was excited to wear his new boots we picked out earlier that day and his cozy fall coat from Uncle James, Aunt Summer, Sara, and Garrett. 

 Ry stayed wrapped up on daddy to stay warm on the farm

 We watched the duck races - they race down this trough (which is stocked with fish for little people to catch)

 The corn maze at the farm is shaped like the state of Washington.  This boat was sitting in the mouth of the Columbia river

 Waiting for the tractor to take us to the start of the maze.  My hair is finally getting long!

 Ry loved the tractor ride!

 Daddy strapped Ry-Ry to his back for our hike through the maze

 Ryland thought the maze was so much fun - his head was back like this checking out the sky and the top of the stalks for most of the walk

 Our map of the maze - it includes every highway in the state

 It was also full of "replicas" (ha!) of state attractions.  This *quality* structure is trying to be the grand coulee dam.

 Our detour down hwy 17 took our past our hometown.

 on to the petting zoo!

 these pigs put on a pretty funny show - the baby loved to watch them run around

 and he wanted to pet this horse.  I have a sever horse allergy, however, and will not allow my baby to touch one!  I would be covered in hives from just being in the same room with him!  Sorry, kiddo.

 I love these boys!  They had a great time playing in the pumpkin patch

 walking through a sunflower field to find the pumpkins

 Ry's favorite part of the day was taking a ride in our wheelbarrow

 

wish you could hear his cute little laughs here

 he discovered scratching his finger nails down the side of the wheelbarrow made a "cool" noise - I was literally gagging. 

we made some great memories and can't wait to go back next year.  I forgot to mention the apple cider donuts - yum!

a little exploitation....

http://www.gapcastingcall.com/GapCastingCall/EntryDetail.html?id=708864

vote for ry-ry - you can vote once per day!

Delicious peas and makeshift instruments

Ryland thinks dinner time is awesome.  I have yet to find a food that he doesn't LOVE.

For those of you who think my baby never gets upset...

He's not always mellow!  He gets especially frustrated with this particular toy that makes him work for the fun.  He's obviously not a fun of having to push a button when the music stops.  Futhermore - this is why I want to throw out every electronic toy in our house. 

Wooden blocks and montessori-approved toys are what you get, Ry-Ry. 

Workin' Mama

Hats off to all the mamas who manage to work full-time - I don't know how you do it emotionally.  I wish we could afford for me to continue staying home with little man as much as I do - but with Brent working full-time for no pay, we just can't swing it! 
I just accepted a position consulting with a school district (a whole new area for me = exciting!) - so I'm going to be a workin' mama 3 days a week now.  Good thing we have some awesome ladies who love to look after Ry-Ry, there's no way I could handle this change without them.  It's good for him to have a little space from me, right?
I think I can manage part-time - I will be putting down my foot on working more than this though!  I love hanging out with my little guy too much. 
Have to keep thinking of the short-term goals... paid-off debt and a bigger place to live! (I guess the long-term is retirement and college for the babe... and becoming homeowners sometime before then would be nice?)

Update on Us

This has become Ryland's blog.  I get busy updating about him and forget to add things that don't necessarily concern him - but he is adorable, and I get distracted.

I realized the other day that our long-distance family that reads this blog probably has no idea what we are doing with our lives.  So what's going on in the lives of Brent and myself? 

Bent is currently getting his special education endorsement - which means more student teaching.  He is no longer a "student" - but is continuing to get his endorsement through Western Washington University.  He is teaching in a resource room at an Elementary School in Ballard where he *crossing fingers* may be hired on at in December.  He's working full-time there right now - for no pay.  He'd really really love to start getting a paycheck for teaching soon.

He was working nights and weekends at a pizza restaurant - joining the ranks of the overeducated and underemployed.  Luckily for him, I just had an opening for a male therapist to join the staff of the company I work for.  Brent is a perfect applicant and needless to say, I hired him right away.  He now is a therapy assistant to a teenager on the autism spectrum and will be working with him in the evenings.  He is happy to have a new job that requires him to use his special education degree and make a little more money than he was before.

I am working out of the house one afternoon a week still.  I would like to work a little more but intake is a little slow these days.  I definitely won't complain - as I really love being with my baby boy all day nearly every day.  If I could stay home full-time, I would.  A lot of my work is from home these days - which is perfect. 

So that's what we're up to. Brent is always gone - we will be happy when he can collect a paycheck for all the work he does!  We are really learning to be frugral - we've never had to watch our money so carefully before and it was definitely an adjustment.  I haven't been shopping for myself since before I got pregnant (it's been HARD!) - and I'll continue to sacrifice that until our income is up.  At least Ry is cheap right now - that won't be the case for much longer I'm sure!

A picture of us right after we were engaged - over 5 years ago.  We had NO IDEA what was in store for us.

Half birthdays are a cause for celebration

I know a fun family that always celebrates their sons' half birthdays.  The boys get a kick out of it and usually get a funny half-present, half of a card, and do a fun family activity on that day.   I want to celebrate half-birthdays with my kiddo too.  We had a little party today - I think in the future half birthdays will be a fun outing day - but since Ry doesn't really care either way, we had our friends over to more or less celebrate us in our 6 months of parenthood and Ry in his 6 months of awesomeness.

I made cream-filled cupcakes

 we decorated 

invited our friends

and just hung out for a couple of hours.  Here's Addie in her party dress and Ryland in his super-cool dino shirt that is still a little big.  These guys are buddies.  Ryland loved to lift up Addie's tutu - gave us all a good laugh.

Thanks to all our amazing friends who love our baby!  We're so glad to have so much "family" here.

He's 6 MONTHS OLD!

 This little guy sure has changed our lives the past 6 months.  He is a SUCH a sweet baby and is always smiling.  He's developing a lot of personality and I'm loving watching him grow up.

 He's also pretty good-looking if I can say so myself.

This past month we had a couple firsts:

 First runny nose!  I feel like teeth are really on their way.

 First purees.  He loves everything - this man is an eating machine!

Here is what he's doing at 6 months:

 Playing - every waking minute.  He loves toys, especially books, and is so happy to sit in a mountain of activities and touch, shake, chew, etc....

 He's always moving.  If he's not scooting around on his belly, then he's rolling or bouncing.  We're going to have our hands full!

 He's starting to really show a lot of frustration when he can't do something.  When he can't make a toy light up or play a song, he lets out this high-pitched scream (sounds like a fake-cry) until he finally gets it.  He also lets us know when he's mad.  Brent a paper napkin away from him at a restaurant the other day and Ryland made sure EVERYONE heard how upset he was.  He used to be sooo chill.  We're also starting to see some separation anxiety emerging.  I literally cannot go to the bathroom without him in tow.  The second I walk out of sight -  he cries.  If someone else is with us, he doesn't get upset but does give a pretty concerned look when I come back.

He's such a ham.  He knows what a camera is and knows what he's supposed to do when one is pointed at him.  Probably because I've taken thousands of photos of this guy. He loves to be tickled, bounced, and squeezed.  He just learned how to blow raspberries and we are constantly changing his shirts now because he gets soaking wet from all the spit bubbles he makes.  Basically, he is so fun right now.  I love this age and he kind of makes me want a whole house full of babies!  That's not happening though :)

Family Photos