"Jack me up, Dada!"

That is what Ryan said right before I took this picture, LOL. Yes, not the safest activity - but since they seem to do this, I had to at least take a picture :-) There was also a lot of digging and raking done this weekend. When Katie and I got home from Little Gym on Saturday, Ryan said "Katie might want to dig with me" before she was even out of the car :-)

Happy Halloween!

It was raining for trick-or-treat on Saturday. We got the the end of the driveway and it started POURING so we ran for cover on the porch and waited it out until it let up a bit. The kids didn't seem to mind one bit. You can tell the kids are wet in the pictures and check out the rain all over Katie's face in some of them! On Sunday, November 1st, there was a Halloween party at Little Gym so Ryan and I went since Katie was napping. With the time change she was SO tired and we couldn't keep her up - it was from 12-3 and she slept from 12-4! For more pics click here!


"Why is my face so wet?"

"See, we didn't melt, and are even having fun!"

responses!

Ryan has started saying "o-tay" (ok) in response to many questions and comments that we make. It still shocks me every single time, LOL. I know it probably doesn't sound like much, but it always surprises us because it's such a change. I have been thinking about what the change really is - it is not that he wasn't answering us before. In some cases, he is responding verbally where he wasn't before. If I had asked for him to take his shoes off, he usually just did it, but now his action is preceded by "o-tay" - so cute! In other cases I think he is saying "ok" as a response instead of "yes." The other day (while working on the railroad) he had two handfuls of train track and I asked him to cover the piano keys. He spun around to look at the piano and said "o-tay, in a minute." I LOVE how our little boy talks and I continue to be unable to get enough!!

In other response news, Katie is answering questions too! If you ask her a yes/no question she will say "no" or "uh-huh" to respond. So so cute!!!! This also shocked us. Most times it actually comes out as "uh.....HUH" and usually includes some shoulder shrugging to emphasize her point :-) She is such a sweetie! Right now she loves giving hugs. There are times when we are eating and I have to get up from my chair 10 times in a row to respond to her calls of "hugggg hugggg hugggg" and outstretched arms. I know, it's a very tough life :-)

Happy Birthday to our precious little man!

*Here* are some interesting facts about October 7th in history. For us, October 7th is the day we met our son, the day we were lucky enough to become Ryan's Mommy and Daddy. I will never stop being amazed at how he has changed our lives for the better and has brought us a world and lifetime of happiness. Happy Birthday Ryan! We love you so much!

I can't believe he's already 3!!!!! It seems like only yesterday we took these pictures . . .

color of the day: RED

This was Ryan's 3rd week of preschool. He is going Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:30-3. The first week he was only there for 90 minutes total, so this is his second "full" week. The first week consisted of a 30 min "meet the teacher" session where I stayed with him on Tuesday, and an hour long class for him on Thursday where I was still in the building participating in an orientation for the parents. I don't know of him shedding a tear - it's a struggle for me to get him to say goodbye since he wants to start playing as soon as he walks in the room. I'm very happy he seems to be enjoying it! I still need to post pictures from his first day!

Today he had to wear red - the color of the week - so I snapped a few pics of him in his new red shirt. He's getting so big! I am also including a picture of Katie from yesterday. I was trying to get a picture of her in her new tights (which I was LOVING) but she didn't cooperate, so this is the best I could do! And yes, that sock is in the garbage :-)

groggy windows

When he got up this morning, there was condensation covering Ryan's windows. You really couldn't see out at all. He was talking about a "grog" (frog) and it hopping way up high, and it took me a little while to catch on :-) He explained "a grog hopped way up high and made Ryrun's windows all groggy!! Need a ladder to clean Ryrun's windows" LOL! I guess he was thinking the windows were "foggy" but got it confused with "froggy" - clearly a frog was to blame :-) So so cute! I also love that he realized we'd need a ladder to clean the windows from the outside.

"The dogs no like Ryan in the corner"

Apparently, Golden Retrievers don't agree with time-outs. Who knew? LOL! This is his latest excuse, and I heard it over and over during his last time-out. He also said that he couldn't walk over to the corner.

His talking continues to amaze us. The other day we were at my mom's house and his drink was on a table near my mom's cat. Ryan started screaming "Cat! Cat!" which of course caused the cat to flee to safety. Then he said "Ryan had to scare Nana's cat away so the cat would not drink Ryan's drink." I remember when we used to talk about whether he was saying 3 or 4 word sentences :-)

Another cute thing that I had wanted to write down, though it was said months ago now . . . Ryan bit into a grape and exclaimed "there's juice in there!" Now that I am typing it I feel like maybe I already blogged about it, LOL. So maybe I'm repeating myself. Oh well!

Let's see, what else . . .

Ryan has discovered plugging the drain in the sink, though he can't quite reach the handle to do so himself. When we go in the powder room he immediately gets on his stool and starts saying "Mama, please pull that up please mama . . ." The other day he had the sink half full of water and made his fist "swim" around in it and said "like Nemo swims through the ocean."

About a month ago now, Ryan stood on the base of a cane (the kind that has four little feet) that had been in the garage. The handle is bent and makes it look like a microphone, just the right size for a toddler. He was saying (screaming) something over and over and over and my mom and I could not figure out what he was saying. I finally figured out that he was saying "WE ARE HERE!" and realized he was copying the last scene from "Horton Hears a Who" - I was surprised he remembered and thought of that!

A while ago he saw Marc feeding the dogs and said "Ryrun eat cocoa puffs TOO!!!!"

nuke nuke & trains

Ryan and I were just sitting at the table eating and I hummed a song and he said "mama, put some nuke nuke (music) on!" I asked what I should put on and he said "I workin' on the railroad" - awwww! His face lit up when I opened iTunes and started playing "I've been working on the railroad" - we have a playlist of some of his favorites.

A week or two ago we were eating dinner and has some music on and he said "mama, turn the nuke nuke off" and after I asked why he said "so Ryrun can hear the rain!" It was a pretty nice rainstorm :-)

Today we went to Barnes & Noble and the kids enjoyed playing with the train table. Katie was bringing all the helicopters (one at a time) to the grandmother of a little girl that was also playing. She was also blowing kisses to the little girl and the grandmother. When the grandmother's cell phone went off, Katie was dancing to the music. Out little social butterfly had a great time! Ryan loved it too and he played very nicely!

Here are some pics from today that I took with my camera phone . . .

Ryan calls this the "turnpike" :-)



Katie with a "helpacoppa"


Ok, I have to go play with blocks :-)

"this new toy not working, Mama"

Katie woke up from her nap, and I wanted to get her a snack. Ryan wasn't hungry, so I went in the office to get him a "new" toy that is really just something he hasn't played with in a while. I got his little street rug and his matchbox cars and thought he'd love playing with it for a few minutes instead of distracting Katie in the kitchen. After about 2 minutes, he comes over and says "this new toy not working, Mama." I laughed and went over, curious to find out how a carpet on the floor can be "not working" so I ask. He says "all the cars fall over" and of course there are about 10 inverted cars scattered around. I ask to see and he drives a car on the roads, complete with sound effects and then discreetly flips it over, LOL. Apparently, this is a pretty dangerous stretch of road, and 10 minutes to feed your daughter some yogurt is too much to ask :-)

Katie has been saying and signing more and more. She loves the Paddington bears that Marc brought home from London a few months ago, and "bear" is one of her favorite words. It's also very cute how she signs it. This morning she picked out a Raggedy Ann book to read before her nap, and she found a teddy bear among a large group of toys in the story. She was so excited to sign and say "bear" every time she saw him, and SCREAMED and cried if he wasn't on one of the pages, LOL!

cookies

There is a Nestle Cafe at one of the shopping areas near us. The kids really enjoyed it, as you can see below. I enjoyed the half of a cookie that I shared with Katie while Ryan ate a whole one and lost it because I even suggested that he should share a tiny piece with Katie. He broke a VERY small piece off, but then thought better of it and ate it himself.


This looks like a girl that is enjoying her cookie. Maybe, as the bag suggests, Nestle really does make the very best.


"What do you mean that is the last cookie??"

a fun weekend

I will update this and post more soon, but for now, here is a link to pictures! The pictures are even still uploading, but I need to go to bed at the moment!

On Friday we went with Nana to Jim Thorpe to ride the train. Since Ryan LOVES trains, he was pretty excited! On Saturday we went to visit Grammie and PopPop and went for a swim. It was freezing, but the kids still enjoyed the water. On the way home, we stopped to see some fireworks which Ryan loved!

I think Katie is a toddler now!

Here she is walking across our family room - it's 17 feet gate to gate. She and Ryan came up with this game on their own - I got the camera after the 1st two laps :-) Ryan can open the gates now, but he was having too much fun running back and forth through the dining room! He also noticed her walking on his own - he was playing with his trains and saw her and said "Katie Walk!!" He was so excited about it, as you'll see!

Happy Birthday Dada!

Here is Ryan singing Happy Birthday to Dada! He also adds in "I love you dada" all on his own. At the end he says "Ryan look?" and makes a dash behind the camera to see how cute he is :-) Happy Birthday Marc!!!

window

When we were in the car tonight Ryan said "open Ryrun's window" instead of "winwin." I am always trying to help him learn new words and pronounce things correctly, but certain words are so cute that it makes me sad to lose them. Ryan talks constantly now, and I still can't get enough :-)

Ahhh, I just realized that I had saved a post about going to Hershey this week but never posted it. I had just jotted down a few things we did that I wanted to remember! I have to upload some pics and get going on that! More to come soon!

loving books

This is Katie kissing the characters in her Sesame Street book :-)

do they look like siblings?

This picture of Ryan when he was 10 months old reminds me of the one we just got of Katie when she was a year old. I guess it's the expressions that are similar (the tucked in lips that show off their cheeks), though Katie is smiling a bit more and looking at the camera. Awww, my sweet babies :-)

stopping to smell the roses

Today we went to the Rose Garden in Allentown. It's one of Nana's favorite places, and the roses are in bloom, so we went there with her today. It was a gorgeous day, though quite warm if you are chasing a toddler around :-) There is a birdhouse on top of each trellis, so besides smelling the roses in the air, you hear the birds chirping and can watch them busily tending to their babies. It's so beautiful there! Enjoy! Click here to see more pics.

short sleeves

About half of the time, when we go to wash his hands or do something messy, Ryan will go through the motions of pushing up BOTH sleeves, even when he is not wearing long sleeves.

More about "this" and "that" . . .

Me: Do you want some peanut butter crackers?
Ryan: Put the crackers tuh deh duh (together) Momma
Me: This way?
Ryan: That way! Uh huh!

I guess he's getting it :-)

We also talked about the sun this morning at the breakfast table. He said "the sun come up!" and then he said "Ryan awake now!" and then "Katie awake now too!" Such a conversationalist!

cuteness

We continue to be amazed and amused by all the things Ryan says :-)

A while ago he was watching Marc give the dogs their food, and he said "Ryan eats cocoa puffs too!" Since then he has again referred to the dog food as cocoa puffs, LOL. They do look pretty similar, I have to admit.

Today he was eating grapes and he bit one in half and looked down at the piece in his hand and said "there's juice in there" and started sucking on the grape. I guess grapes are pretty amazing, come to think of it. This is what they say about seeing the world through your child's eyes - next time you eat a grape, take some time to be thankful for their built-in juice :-)

I have to get more video of him saying everything because I enjoy it all so much, and it changes all the time. He just started saying "here you go" but it comes out more like "here the go" and it's even cuter when he says "here the go, mama" or "here the go, Katie" and hands us something. He is really big on saying "over here," "over there," "this one," "that one" and similar things. You can tell he's really trying to figure them all out.

I am too tired to upload new pics from the camera at the moment, but I will share this one that was never shared here before. We came across it when we were making Kate's 1 year montage.

A white chocolate bunny (a great teether, btw) . . . and a peep in the other hand :-)


oh, one more . . .


or two :-)

a walk to the playground

This is from a few days ago - I love when she falls asleep and has her hands turned like this - the other one was the same way. So sweet :-)


Ryan and Kate have been enjoying their wagon rides together - I'll have to work on getting smiles on camera. It's really adorable when Ryan starts tickling her and I'm pulling a wagon full of giggles :-)


Always the climber . . .


Kate got to play a lot today (more than just the swings) and she really enjoyed it!


They both LOVE the swings!


Does she look nervous?


Dada, copying his little girl :-)