Tuesday, November 29, 2011

It's That Time of Year

We had a great Thanksgiving this year.  I didn't get any pictures though.  We had dinner here at the Briggs' house and then went down to Orem for Pie and games.  It was a lot of fun.  After Thanksgiving, it's officially Christmas time (never mind that I had already been listening to Christmas music since the beginning of November...)  One of the very first things we like to do each year to sort of kick off the season is go up to Temple Square and look at the Christmas lights.  Ryder was too young to care much about it last year, but he REALLY loves our Christmas tree and the lights, so I knew he would love the Temple Square lights.  On Saturday, we all bundled up nice and warm and got there not long after the sun set.  It was beautiful, as always!  When we first got there, Ryder yelled, "WOW" and was kicking his legs like crazy!  He loved it!  He also really liked the sheep at the nativity display.  He kept saying "daaa" over and over, which is how he makes a sheep noise.







 Ryder really liked the statue of Jesus.  We didn't have to tell him who it was, when he saw it, he said, "wow!  Esus!"  He loves Jesus so much!




 BEAUTIFUL!




 I love this nativity.  It's so peaceful!



On Sunday, my mom had tickets to something new this year called "A Night in Bethlehem"  My parent's next door neighbors own a reception/community center and they set up the building to look like Bethlehem.  There were little shops with basket weaving, animals, bread making, etc.  They have you go into another room and they do a really cool program.  They tell the story of the birth of Christ and have you join in singing some songs.  At the end, all the little kids get to walk up to the front and see the baby Jesus.  That was so sweet.  For the night in Bethlehem, you are supposed to dress up.  We all had fun trying different things on to look the part.  Ryder was so cute in this little robe :)  I love this time of year because of all the time spent with family and so many fun traditions!
 

Trying to get a toddler to sit still when they don't want to... never works out!

Chuck E Cheese

    I guess at some point I must have signed Ryder up for the Chuck E Cheese birthday club because I got an email for his half-birthday with a coupon for 20 free tokens.  Since Kevin was on a break from school and work for Thanksgiving, we decided to take Ryder there.  This was the same Chuck E Cheese that Kevin and I went to on our first date :)
   Ryder definitely liked riding all the little kiddie rides.  We "helped" him play some games and win some tickets.  He got some cool little prizes when we left.  He is still too young to really be able to enjoy going there, but it was still fun!




 Poor Ryder!  He REALLY wanted to ride on this big monster truck that tips from side to side.  Well, I guess it was scarier than he was expecting, because he started crying and wanted to get off!

 

 There is a little game that takes your picture and then prints out a "sketch" of it for you.  Ryder's face cracks me up!  He was too busy watching the screen to smile.

Boxes and Shoes

Sometimes the best toys are not even toys at all.  The other day I made a little "lounger" for Ryder in a cardboard box.  He thought it was so cool!  He was climbing all over it, and kept making engine noises (to him it was a car).  Eventually he got tired and just curled up inside it.  How sweet!

 
 
 


 


 Ryder loves wearing "big" shoes.  He always is trying on mine or Kevin's.  He's actually getting pretty good walking in them too!  Here he is walking around in Kevin's shoes.  We definitely get a kick out of him!






Finger Painting

Since it's been getting colder, I have been trying to think of things Ryder can do indoors.  One day, we made some homemade finger paints.  I put him in the bath tub with some paper and we painted for a little bit.  He was really intrigued with the paint on his fingers.  He loved squishing it!

Not too sure of what's going on...


Checking out the paper











We tried to do a hand print to make a Thanksgiving turkey, 
but it was pretty much impossible to get a clear one!

Playing in the Leaves

 Ryder loves playing outside and we had a lot of fun playing with the leaves once they started falling. These are some pictures from last month.  It was starting to get chilly but he didn't seem to mind.  He's such a curious and smart boy!  I love all the little things we get to do together day to day.  It's a simple life, but I wouldn't want it any other way.  It's all these quiet, little times we have that I will miss so much someday.


I LOVE this picture!  Such a sweet face.


 Running to give me a hug!



Beautiful Autumn leaves!


Sunday, November 6, 2011

Our Little Oompa Loompa Snow Baby

On Friday night and Saturday morning this past week, it snowed a bunch! We got about 10 inches and it was beautiful!  On Saturday morning, Ryder really wanted to go outside and check out the white stuff.  So we got out all his new snow clothes and bundled him up.  I guess I didn't do a very good job of tucking his pants into his boots, so they just poofed out on top of his boots.  Kevin and I were laughing so hard because he looked just like a little Oompa Loompa from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  It was even funnier when he waddled around like that.


We went outside and put him down in the snow which was really deep for him.  He was really freaked out because he couldn't move and he almost started crying.  He definitely doesn't like the snow yet, but seeing as it's only November, he has all winter long to get used to it!