A bouquet of sticks for daddy!

Most days when we are home we wait outside for daddy to come home from work. Yesterday Ryan decided to gather sticks, which soon became a very nice collection, and it would be just a perfect gift for daddy. After all his hard work, he decided to put them all in the back of his bike.

Uh-oh, he soon realized that he needed to put them back in the cup. Since it was a gift for daddy, he needed to present them to him in something nice.... you know like a plastic take out cup from Casa. He frantically put them back in the cup, in only 2 handfuls from the bike.Then he waited so patiently on the bottom step watching for his daddy to come home :)Just moments later, daddy pulled up, Ryan jumped up and screamed...dada. He was so excited, he rushed to the driveway to hand deliver his precious gift he made just for his daddy. And daddy was just as excited to receive them. What a way to come home from a yucky day at work! After dinner we went for a short walk to St. Mary's to play at their playground before the storm moved in. He had to take his fireman's hat, and if wasn't wearing it so proudly he had to be caring it, he was very cautious with it since the wind kept blowing it off. He's getting so big, he actually walked all the way home with out being in his stroller. Besides this picture, he was holding my hand all the way home.This picture means nothing, we were still just waiting for daddy, and I think its a very funny picture, so I decided to share it.

the park chatter

On the way home from my doctors appointment today, Ryan kept telling me he wanted to go to the park. So I said we can stop by there for a few minutes.

We went to the big airplane park. And they have this wooden chained bridge. Well it takes a little 2 year old a little bit longer than say a 5 year old.

Little Ryan went trotting across ever so cautiously, as I waited below. At the beginning of the bridge I hear another kid ( I would say 5 or so)say, "I'm waiting"

Then when little Ryan is all done, the other kid says, "FIN-A-LLY".

When little Ryan reached the end of the bridge he looks over the railing at me with a really big smile of completion. He was so proud of himself, and he was letting me know it, all while completely oblivious to other boy.

My heart just melted. I don't want his innocence to go away, I want him to stay this sweet FOREVER!

It's amazing how much our kids can open our eyes to things.

swimming in 70 degree weather...

Despite the very chilly weather we have been having, we still went swimming today. It has been scheduled since like April. Who ever would have guessed we would be having record breaking lows in July...here!

This was another activity put on by his play group that he went to last school year. They always have one summer activity for the kids to stay connected. Well to say the least my little water baby LOVED it, and did not care about the goosebumps he had up and down his body. He wanted to stay, and we were the second to last to leave.

Mr. Independent

Even though he is so much more needy these days, he is still a very content child. He will still play all by himself for quit some time. He is sooo sweet:)

zoo pics again!!!

I know Zoo pics again. But Ryan just loves the zoo, and we always have so much fun, and its free. Usually we go in we go straight to River's Edge and see the elephants (spend a lot of time there), then the carousel then the penguins. By that time it has been at least 3 hours, so its time to go.

Well today I wanted to go early so we could stay awhile. Well we actually saw a whole new (to us) part of the zoo. Giraffes, zebras and camels. And, Gloria, Marty, Melman, but not Alex for all you fellow Madacascar fans!!Ryan and Loni matched for the day!Poor Ry was looking at a sweet little monkey and he runs up and sticks his butt in his face! He insisted on pushing the stroller...for like a total of 10 seconds before he realized how heavy it was!

I tried getting his pic with a zebra but he kept running off, which he thought was hilarious!

Can't forget the fits he had, throwing his self on the ground because he didn't want to hold our hands or sit in his stroller

an artist in the making

Since Easter, Ryan has this obsession (one of VERY many) with chalk. We do have a chalk board downstairs, he usually wants to go outside and draw, but not all days does mommy want to, or is mommy presentable enough to sit in our very high trafficked front yard.

So the other day we went downstairs to draw with the chalk. My usual commands are Bar Bar (Barney) or an elephant. This time he chose Barney. And after I draw the basic Barney (which to me looks like a TMNT with out the mask) he demands other objects to be put on him, its usually teeth lately, and for the first time he wanted a hat. So this explains my funny looking monster I have drawn.

Well just like anything else, I loose my patience with drawing him over and over again, because he does know how to erase it and want more to be drawn for him. So lately I have told him to draw me Barney. He has successfully drawn o's, h's, one elephant (kinda), a sun (w/all the rays coming out of it), and a few other things I can't think of. Well on Friday I asked him to draw me Barney and this was his face that he drew for me. Not bad for a 2 year old!

Good Night Bar Bar and SCHEK