Welcome 2014

The holiday season flew by very quickly in this household!  We ended 2013 in the best possible way - filled with adventures both outside and inside the home!

November began with a special trip to the zoo!  Ryan had a blast meeting all sorts of creatures!  We started with the penguins and watched as they had their breakfast.

We saw lions, giraffes, monkeys, birds, tigers, and more!  One of our favorites was this rhino - he was playing with a "ball" by pushing it around with his horns!  Ryan thought that was pretty fun.

Ryan and daddy

Eleanor tried cereal for her first time this November - she loves eating just like her big brother!  Their favorite is eating together!

Yum!

Ryan and Ellie are very lucky and have a wonderful nanny who takes care of them during the day.  She takes them out and when they spend afternoons at home, they are busy with all sorts of fun projects.   Here is their Thanksgiving art - complete with hand print "turkeys"!

It was Eleanor's first Thanksgiving and we enjoyed multiple celebrations as usual!  We spent a day at both sides of the family and created our own delicious spread at home too!  We are big on cooking in this house - and really enjoyed our quiet day at home cooking up a fantastic meal and spending the day together!

Thanksgiving buddies

As usual, we enjoyed a few extra adventures ...

Ryan's first "boo-boo" ... he tripped and his sippy cup cut his chin.  There is still a mark, so if it sticks we might have to come up with a better story!

Ryan has a very creative and silly side ...

Ryan helped mommy "decorate" Christmas cupcakes ...

Ellie loves Ryan's toys ... thankfully he is great at sharing ... most of the time!

We did more fun projects with our nanny!

Finger painting fun!

Christmas art!  The first foot is Ryan's and the second is Ellie's.  A very special piece of art!

After such busy and fun days, the kids really enjoy bath time together!  Ryan is working on teaching Ellie how to splash.  Not sure he will like the outcome of this!

We had a wonderful time at this year's LPA Holiday Party!  It's always a big event with lots of familiar faces and new ones too!  We enjoy great food and company - Ryan is starting to enjoy the other kids and as always, was quite the social guy!

Ryan and daddy

Eleanor and mommy

When Santa arrived on the fire truck, all the children chased after Santa ... except for Ryan ... all he cared about was the truck!  Lucky for him, the firemen were very kind and let him explore their truck!

Christmas isn't complete without a visit to Santa!  Both kids had no problem sitting in Santa's lap and we think they were able to tell him what they wanted for Christmas!

All ready to go!

We also did a visit to the amazing lights display in our area!  We opted to ride the park's train through the display - it was an hour long line, but worth the wait!  Ryan couldn't decide which he was more excited about - the lights or the ride on the train!

Before we knew it, Christmas had arrived!
We woke on Christmas morning to find that Santa came!

Eleanor helped mom and dad get their coffee going - she's our early bird!

Ryan was a little slower to wake ...

Good morning!

It didn't take Ryan long to warm up to the idea of Christmas morning!

Ellie loves her jumper!

Ryan is very excited about his Cars movie ... it's one of his new favorite activities!

He also enjoys his First Words flash cards!  ... sometimes he even looks at the pictures ...

Ryan's "big boy" bedding!  (Cars theme of course!)

We ended 2013 with a lot of great fun and wonderful family time.  The new year gives us a chance to reflect on a year well done!  It's been a fantastic year and we can't wait to see what 2014 brings.

... on to the next adventure!

Fall In Love

It’s been non-stop action in our household for the past two months!  Football season started, it was mommy’s last 6 weeks home, we went on a little trip, Ryan turned TWO and we moved (AGAIN!)! 

September started out just right with the start of the Football season.  Life revolves around the football schedule in this household, especially the University of Southern California (USC) and 49ers schedule!  Scott is a USC Alum so we’re all mandatory USC fans … lucky for him we were all easy to convince :)

Here are the kids all ready for football season!

Ryan making daddy a special picture:

 The fall season started out nicely with a fun filled trip to Scott’s family cabin.  It was a full house with Scott’s parents, his sister and her husband and their adorable 8 month old daughter!  Ryan and Ellie loved spending time with their cousin and grandparents.  The weekend was busy and filled with exploring what the mountains had to offer … which is an endless bounty of sights, sounds, smells and more! 

Ryan and Ellie had such a great time – after a few days we headed home – and left Grandma and Grandpa at the cabin for some peace and quiet!  We wore them out!

September was a fun filled month since it was the last month of mommy’s maternity leave at home!  We filled our days with all sorts of new activities and outings.  Ryan, Ellie and mommy couldn't have had more fun together! 

The weather was perfect for outings to the park!

... or just being silly at home!

 Big smiles from Ellie!

Ryan doesn't like his hands dirty ... so finger painting isn't our favorite ...

September ended with a very big event  Ryan turned TWO years old!  We celebrated the big day with lots of friends and family!  Ryan had a blast with all of his friends who came to celebrate with him.  We feel so lucky to have such a great group who love Ryan dearly and couldn't wait to celebrate his big day with him! 

Here are some pictures from Ryan’s TRUCK themed birthday party!

Ryan is thriving in his 2 year old shoes – he’s a happy, outgoing and confident guy.  Always saying hello to anyone who looks at him – literally!  And he is challenging himself physically by climbing onto things and balancing.   We are always trying new and fun things to eat of course.  All of this while he’s learning to assert himself and wants to make his own decisions … this new development has resulted in some unique activities!

Here’s my amazing TWO year old in action …

Exploring the outdoors on our own is a favorite activity ...

We are always trying to figure out how things work ...

Asserting ourselves is also a big thing these days ... even if that means having mayonaise for dinner!

 And he's the sweetest and most loving big brother ... 

And as we entered October, we decided to make things lively by moving – AGAIN!  Long story short the house was just not for us.  So we packed up and moved back into our old neighborhood.  Here we are getting packed up …

Ryan wanted to help pack ...

And he wanted to make sure we didn't misplace his sister ...

Helping daddy!

Daddy would take off wall decals and Ryan would put them back up for us :)

Even among the boxes and chaos we already felt like we were back home!  We are sad to miss out on some of the conveniences of living in a house versus apartment, but overall we know this was the right choice for us!  It didn't phase Ryan either – he is so resilient it’s simply amazing!

Here are the kids enjoying their new family room!

October wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the pumpkin patch!  Ryan helped mommy and daddy pick out pumpkins for the fall – one for mommy, one for daddy, one for Ryan and one for Ellie! 

Ryan enjoyed getting dressed up with his sister and had a BLAST with his first Trick or Treating experience!  Mommy and daddy couldn’t resist a monkey costume for Ryan … and Ryan was thrilled to share his ducky costume with his little sister!  Here we are all ready to go out for a little Halloween treat … 

In addition to having a party and celebrating Ryan’s big birthday, we had Ryan’s annual visit to his Genetic Doctor!  Ryan’s Genetic Doctor sees us annually to check in on ongoing visits he may have with other specialists, to check on his development and to check for complications of achondroplasia which may have developed over the course of the year.  Ryan charmed the doctors as usual and we all had smiles as we received more good news.  Ryan has a nice straight back, his head, height and weight are all nicely proportioned and he doesn’t have bowing of legs.  He’s thriving physically, emotionally and cognitively as we enter his 3^rd year!  For Ryan’s 3^rd year, there is lots on mommy’s “to do” list – like speech development, social skills and emotional confidence as we begin to see our special uniqueness and lastly potty training of course!  And just like he has with everything else, Ryan will take on each challenge with a smile, determination and great success.  

... on to the next adventure!