5 Years

It's hard to believe this day was 5 years ago.

We are still best friends.

We understand each other better than anyone.

We've changed a lot from the people who are in this photo.  But we've grown together, not apart. 

And now we have the most beautiful baby boy.

 Brent planned an amazing anniversary date for us.

We started off the morning by leaving Ry-Ry with the neighbors (we do childcare swaps on weekends, love that arrangement!) and headed down to the waterfront of Lake Union, where our tandem kayak rental awaited us.

 for 2 hours, we explored the waters of Lake Union and Lake Washington (connected by a channel)

 I mostly let Brent paddle...  He got a good workout.

 after we returned the kayak, we had brunch at an Indian restaurant and ate until we nearly exploded.  YUM!

We went home and retrieved our child.  Brent told me another babysitter was coming over so that we could go out to dinner and a movie.  Then to my surprise...

My MOM and SISTER walked in the door!

My sneaky husband arranged for them to stay with Ryland all night, so we could have a night out downtown in a beautiful hotel (a gift to us from his sweet mom, thank you!)

 

We checked in to our hotel and headed down to a movie.  We saw "Super 8" - which I thought was really cute, for lack of a better term...  It reminded me of Goonies mixed with E.T..

Then we went to this place:

Anthony's Pier 66 Restaurant

and ate a lot of these:

  

and sipped yummy drinks while we took in this view:

and ate the most delicious salmon and crab cakes

Then we spent the rest of the night walking around downtown and listening to some really bad karaoke.  Just like old times.  It was fantastic!

It's been a wonderful 5 years.  Thank you to both of our families, for your generosity of childcare and donations to help us have a really special day.  We love you all! 

father's day

Ryland is pretty darn lucky to get one of the best daddys out there.  These boys love each other so much.  We made sure daddy had an extra-special day.

 Ry-Ry joined dad in bed bright and early to give him his father's day presents (in the picture they are watching youtube videos on Brent's phone, Ry's favorite activity)

 Oh, a Sounders jersey?  Someone must have an awesome wife.

Brent is the best dad, here's why:

I asked him what he wanted to do for Father's Day.

He chose taking Ry to the children's museum.

awwwwww.

 

 Ryland LOVED the museum. 

driving a Metro bus

Dad and Ry drive a fire truck

grocery shopping in the play store with his own miniature cart

When we got home, we ate Brent's requested Father's Day dinner:

 AWESOME banana cream pie. 

and bacon mushroom swiss meatloaf

Daddy joins us at the zoo

Brent missed out on our last zoo trip so he wanted to go again this weekend.  Ryland loves it so much, we see this place weekly lately.

 He did NOT like the dinosaurs.  They moved and roared and he thought the whole thing was pretty terrifying.

 yes, we're a little mean.  he is not happy about sitting on the dinosaur.

 We made up for it by visiting the bird house though.  He loves feeding the birdies.

 Don't mind the nasty window in this picture... the bears were really fun and active.

 And, of course, we had to visit the otters again.

 Mama needed ice cream - someone shared with me.

 The pre-school teacher within me is returning (as I model how to wash hands while singing "ABC's")

 About an hour into our visit he decided he was DONE with the stroller.  He walked around the remaining exhibits. 

 In the worm maze.

 He thought he could lead us around....

 but that darn daddy kept redirecting him.

This little boy keeps getting busier and more curious every day. 

Lunch with G-Pop

 On Sunday, we met up with my dad, Ryland's G-Pop and "Nana" Lisa for some lunch and antiquing in Isaaquah.  Of course, we stopped on our walk to the antique mall to take some photos.

Fun Day at the Zoo!

 I purchased a double jogging stroller last night, and we celebrated with an outing today.  Double stroller = no more carrying one baby in a front pack while pushing the other in the BOB.  I took the boys to zoo, where we met up with Katie and cute lil' Addie.

Ryland loved the bear and even said "BEAR!" The amount of new words this kid has put out in the past few days is outrageous.  And so cool.

 

 Zoo with 2 toddlers that would rather walk than ride = BUSY me!  

Oh, and in case you were shocked by that picture.  Yes, I'm blonde now. 

The otters were the biggest hit!  Last time we came to the zoo, Ry didn't care about the animals at all.  Oh how quickly they change!  Ryland called the otters "daaahgs."  Yes, dear - aquatic dogs.

 It's not an outing with mama, unless I forgot something.  Today it was the water bottles.  So, lucky boys got "Dino Juice" from the Zoo Cafe.

 Ryland running around like the crazy man he is.  Check out the peacock hanging out in the food court.

This peacock was so friendly.  It let us get very close for a good look!

14 Months

 This has been a "learning spurt" month!  Ryland is doing way more things than he was just a month ago and it is SO FUN!

 He is so social.  He loves to share everything he has (except his light saber and guitar.) Whenever we are at a restaurant, he makes sure to offer the people around us a taste of his food (I think this is adorable, others don't always agree!)

 He is a problem-solver.  He can figure out how to get into/onto/under ANYTHING.  The world truly is his playground.

 He walks like a pro.  And is starting to run.  From the second he wakes up to the second he goes to sleep - he is nonstop!

 He makes sound effects for everything.  Here, on his favorite ride-on toy from grandma and grandpa, he says "VROOM!"

 He is always laughing.  I love his happy personality.

 And he's SUCH a cheeser.  I just love his silly smile.

 This guitar broke days ago and I am ordering him a replacement today.  He was pretty upset to see it break into 2 separate pieces.  His absolute favorite thing to do is play guitar with daddy.

 He loves to be outside.  He likes dirt, sticks, flowers, mud...  Too bad the weather is not cooperating with us lately!

 He follows a lot of directions now - and as a result he's become a pretty good helper.  He can do tasks like "put this in here" "bring that to mommy" "give this to daddy" Something he does NOT follow "don't touch that!"  He thinks that is pretty funny.

 I've been later Ry and Tater do some cooking lately - Ryland is a good taste-tester.

 I cannot stress enough the love of the guitar...

 This is his "funny" trick that he likes to do to everyone when we're out.  It is cute. 

 I see this face A LOT now.  He definitely understand "uh-uh"

 Mommy's phone is the BEST toy.  He holds it up to his ear and jabbers.

 He found this carton of milk in the recycling bin.  He brought it to me and signed "milk" - poor guy was not happy when I told him it was "all gone"

 He's the messiest eater I've ever seen.  He tries to use the spoon but usually holds it backwards.

 so then he holds the spoon with his other hand and digs in with his fingers.

 He loves this picture book.  He can label "dog" "cat" and "duck" in it.  They all sound pretty similar at this point though ("daaahhg", "tat", "dut").  His newest cutest trick is to say "woof woof!"

  He wants to be just like Shelby :)

He loves to point and label things.  Whether is a "daaaahg", "mama", "mih" (milk), "nana" (banana), or "mum-mum" or "bah" (ball)

Other new tricks:

HE DANCES!  It's hilarious.

No more nursing - he made it very clear he is OVER it.

Him and Tater are best friends  - but also nemeses.

The amount of talking he is doing has quadrupled in the past week

He loves his mom and dad - he runs to us with hugs when we come home from work (that is the BEST!)

He has 4 teeth with some more pretty close to the surface

He LOVES sleeping - and will turn off the lights and point to his bed when he's sleepy.  It's awesome.

He still takes 2 naps per day - each one is at least 2 hours long.

I am so happy to be staying home with him so much lately (thank you to my wonderful job for giving me the opportunity to work from home!)  I've made the decision to continue staying home during the mornings and early afternoons until grad school (hopefully!) next fall.  I just want to soak up all this baby time that I'll never get back with him.