Aunties Birthday Card

We're a day late in posting this, but yesterday was Auntie Jaclyn's 26th Birthday. And lately, Auntie is Ryan's favorite person ever (yes, even Gavin comes 2nd to Auntie!) So, Ryan wanted to make a very special birthday card for her.





HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNTIE! LOVE, RYAN

Boston!

Ryan and I decided to take an impromtu trip to Boston. We stayed about 2 weeks. It was a very very long drive (20 hours!), but well worth it. I was absolutely horrible with the picture taking and missed alot of great opportunities! But we had a blast. We were lucky enough to spend time with our family & friends. Ryan got to see his aunts, uncles, great-grandma, his cousins and even his grandpa! And I got to visit with my very good friends that I miss to pieces! Thanks to everyone who showed us a great time and we hope to see you all very very soon!



Gas from Atlanta to Boston- $180
A Hotel in Richmond, VA- $155
Waking up to a foot of snow- Priceless!


The last time Ryan saw snow was when he was 1 and we took him on a Boston/Montreal trip. So needless to say, he was not prepared for what happened when we got to Boston. I showed him out the window at first and he said "wow". So, I bundled him up and took him out to shovel with me. Well, he absolutely hated it! He didn't want to touch the snow and he certainly didn't want it touching him! Everytime he got snow on his shoes or gloves he immediately wiped it off with disgust. We spent about an hour shoveling, and I think he would've come around if he had more time to get used to it, but it was just too cold for us! I did my best to get some pictures while trying to shovel!

While we were there, I wanted to take Ryan to do something "Boston-ish". And since it was way to cold to tackle Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market I decided to take him to the New England Aquarium. Which ended up being a very good call. He loved it! We went early on a Monday morning and pretty much had the place to ourselves. He loved that the shark "tried to get him" and he was beside himself when I told him he could pick up the starfish! It was a very good mommy/son day.

Ryan got to spend one day with his new friend Tyler. My friend Gail and I took the boys to lunch and then to the mall to ride some rides. They had a great time and I think Ryan has a new life-long friend :) Thanks Gail & Tyler, we had a great day!

In all the years that I rode the T to work I hated every second of it. But Ryan kept asking and asking for the choo choo. So, when Dave flew up from Atlanta to spend a day with us in Boston, we took Ryan on the T. He absolutely loved it! When we got back he kept asking for more. It almost made me miss the T...almost!

Even though it was freezing, I took the opportunity to take Ryan to the park around the corner from my grandmothers house...which is the park my gram & gramps used to take my sister & I to. It felt so good to be able to show Ryan, even though we couldn't stay very long or we would've frozen solid!

A New Addition

Dave, Ryan & I are very excited to announce that Ryan will soon be a big brother!

We're not very good at keeping secrets, so it isn't exactly a surprise to everyone...but we wanted to make it official! Ryan has been very excited for a long time (since we found out at 3 weeks!) He's going to be an amazing big brother and we're very excited that he's going to have the baby he's been asking for! We've had 2 sonograms so far and all is well. In the meantime, we're just waiting patiently and hoping for a happy and healthy little one (due July 28th!).

Catching Up

A few days before Christmas, Ryan got to celebrate his friend Landon's 2nd birthday with him. Landon had a barn themed party and pony rides! Ryan wanted absolutely nothing to do with them though...until the ponies were leaving-then he wanted to get on. So, he got to sit on a pony but didn't ride it. Which is funny considering he rode ponies at Gavins birthday last year and liked it alot. Either way, he had a great time at Landon's party!
Happy Birthday Landon!

All the kids were given hats at the party that Ryan refused to wear...until we got in the car, then he thought it was the greatest thing ever :)

On Christmas Eve, Gavin came over to help Ryan make his cookies for Santa. They had fun stirring and sampling. Mommy accidentally overcooked them a bit, but Daddy said Santa didn't mind at all :)




On Christmas morning Ryan woke up a bit grumpy (mostly because he stayed up late with Gavin!) but once he saw the bike he'd been asking Santa for he seemed to cheer up a bit. I think that when we were telling him to ask Santa for the toy he wanted that he thought he'd just be getting 1 toy, so everytime he got another and another he kept getting more excited. Oh, and he had to stop in between presents to play with his new tool bench and take a spin on his new Diego bike.





After plenty of playing with his new toys (and sharing with daddy!) we all got dressed and headed over to Gavins house for more presents and dinner. The boys got about 5000 presents each...and took forever to open them :) I don't know why I didn't take very many pictures, I think I was excited about opening my own gifts! But, here's the boys opening a couple gifts.

And finally....we drove all the way to Stone Mountain on Saturday night (which is about a 90 minute drive for us) when we got there Ryan was tired & grumpy and I was feeling sick...so we walked around and checked out some lights and then watched the parade just to drive 90 minutes back. Perhaps next year will be more successful. The lights were beautiful though and Ryan got a kick out of the parade.