Happy Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in California. Usually, we are in Tucson but this year we decided to stay here and have a small dinner with Grandma T-Dawg and Auntie Mel. I actually cooked a few side dishes and the pumpkin pie. My pie was pretty darn good but doesn't measure up to Grandma or Aunt Chris's pie but with a little more practice...... Ryden got to try his first taste of homemade mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes although most of it ended up on his face! He was such a good boy during dinner. Just sat in his highchair and "talked" while smearing the food all over.

T-Dawg reading to Ryden while dinner was cooking...so cute!

After dinner at Teresa's house we moved the party to our house so Ryden could sleep and we could play board games! All three girls ganged up on Jason because he cheats...hehehe. It was so fun! After a long day we crashed! But of course Teresa and Mel were up a few hours later for "dark" Friday (as Teresa calls it). Those girls shopped from 4am-7pm...HARDCORE! I chickened out and decided to sleep in instead of waking up at 3:30am. The funny thing was....at about 4:15am the baby monitor went off. Ryden was in his crib fake coughing and saying mamamamama...I guess he was ready for black Friday shopping also!

We had a few visitors over the weekend. My old co-worker/friend Alex came to visit and we got to meet her boyfriend. We also got to watch the Wildcats beat ASU in football. First game I have watched since Superbowl.

Adam and Cynthia were in town from AZ so they stopped by also with their 1 1/2 year old Ramsey. Ryden and Ramsey didn't really hang out much but next year they will be able to interact a lot more! Ramsey is so cute and remided us of all the things we need to baby proof in our house!

Finally, Dustin was also visiting from AZ and stopped by. Jason got to have a boys night out which really just included dinner and a few beers....then home to watch a movie :)

How embarassing! Wearing the same outfit!

It was a great four days and I sorta got used to having Jason at home....but back to work! Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Happiest place on earth!

Having Ryden gives me a GREAT excuse to bug Jason to take us to Disneyland. I have been dying to go since the day Ryden was born. Finally Jason caved in and we are now the proud owners of annual passes. Our first trip was this past weekend with Grandma T-Dawg (her b-day) and Auntie Mel. I think Mel and I were the most excited out of the group and we just couldn't wait to get there. The best part about the entire day was seeing Ryden's eyes light up when we first walked in.

They have the whole park decorated for Christmas and he was in heaven looking at everything. Talk about over stimulation!

We got there bright and early and only had to wait about 15-20 minutes per ride. Ryden's first ride was the Haunted Mansion which was spruced up for Christmas so it was more colorful and fun instead of dark and scary. He loved it!


We also took him on Pirates which he wasn't as impressed with. He started playing with his hands instead of looking for Jack Sparrow. By noon Disneyland looked like this:

People EVERYWHERE. It was so hard to walk and the lines started getting longer. We rode on the carousel which Ryden enjoyed (well he enjoyed the gold pole the most...tried to put it in his mouth)

One of the best parts was when we bought Ryden his 1st pair of Mickey ears. I come out of the store and I hear Ryden laughing so hard! Jason was making him laugh and it was the funniest thing! Then we put his ears on and he was still laughing!

Ryden did so well the whole day! Even lasted long enough to see "It's a small world" and "Sleeping Beauty's Castle" light up...soooo pretty. Around 6 o'clock he was ready to go (and I have to say so was I!)

Here are a few more pictures of the day. We had such a great time!

UNTIL NEXT TIME DISNEYLAND...........................

I'M 6 MONTHS OLD!!

WEIGHT: 17.2 lbs

HEIGHT: 26 inches

FAVORITE TOY: Sophie his teething giraffe. It makes his gums feel better!

FAVORITE ACTIVITY: Watching the Jack Black episode of "Yo Gabba Gabba" (ok that's my favorite thing to do too!)...eating big boy food, he graduated to peas and carrots!...being in his Baby Bjorn

MILESTONES: Holds his own bottle...sits up all by himself....takes naps in his big boy crib....says mama/mom

MOM'S FAVORITE: Seeing his eyes light up when we first walked into Disneyland! He was in such awe of everything!

DAD'S FAVORITE: The way Ryden smiles and gets excited to see him. He definitely knows his daddy!

Ryden is getting so big and changes every day. We are seeing more and more of a personalitly grow. He just melts our hearts and we are so blessed to have him in our lives!

RYDEN SAYS MAMA!

Tucson

This past weekend we went to Tucson to meet the newest member of the family. Miss Emma Faith...our first niece. This was the first time all four cousins were together and also Ryden's first plane ride! He did awesome on the flight. Slept the entire flight out but woke up when we landed and was up for a few hours past his bedtime. That was ok because he got to see Grandma and Grandpa welcome us at the airport. He was awake the entire time on the flight back but didn't cry once! Just did a few scream laughs and was sqiurmy wormy but such a good boy. While we were in Tucson we got to spend a lot of time with the family. I had to fight Katie and GG for the Emma baby hog position and the rest of the family had to fight Jason for the Ryden baby hog position. Emma is just the sweetest little girl I have ever seen. Loves to snuggle and study faces. I miss her already! She turned a month old while we were there. Ben couldn't be a better older cousin. So gentle with Ryden and played with him a lot. It was so cute to see the three boys together although Jacob was more interested in singing "Wheels on the Bus" and pointing out stop signs. Ryden absolutley adored everyone and kept Grandma and Grandpa laughing. Such a good....but short trip. We will be back in a month!!!

Poor Toby! Always getting yelled at for messing with the babies. "Toby No niffin'"

Grandpa making the boy laugh

Love love this little one and her totally cute outfits!

Boy cousins swingin' it up

Daddy and Ryden

Sisters (baby hog Amy!)

I adore this picture of Ben reading to Ryden

Aunt Sara

Aunt Sara has cool toys

Did Ryden used to be this small?

We went to the dog park and all Jacob did was "walk the fence"

Baby hog number two...GG

More laughing

The Foss's

Aunt Katie and Aunt Elyse (this was right after Ryden tried to eat Elyse's hair)

Sisters switching babies

The boys showing Ryden how the toy works

Ryden sure does love being read to

Being silly

All the cousins

We had a campfire at Sara & Steve's house and we all sat around and roasted marshmellows. Ryden's first campfire!

Aunt Weese

We took all of the kids to the park. Ben liked pushing Ryden on the swings while Jacob took me all over the park to show me the tunnels. Jacob and I bonded because we are both the middle kids

Jacob having a meltdown