JUST ANOTHER OCTOBER DAY

I should be working on my report cards but I have 15 minutes before I plan to crawl into bed and I have decided I just wanna do something more fun than come up with brilliant, professional sounding comments about how kids are doing in French class.
I don't have anythin specific to write about, I'm really just procrastinating, but here's a couple pics...

 Me and my drooly 19 month old.

The weather was cold today. Really windy and snowy. A perfect evening to bake chocolate chip cookies!!

 This was taken, Oct.30th, check out the snow in our yard!! Yep, it's winter here!!

 Baking Face

 "See, Daddy, eggs!!"

 Cracking the eggs, with Mommy's help.

Yummmmmy!!

Kiss your babies, count your blessings and eat some cookie dough!!

WEEK OF OCTOBER 25TH

The week that included, Thursday, Oct.25th, turned out to be a pretty fun week even though it included a huge snowfall that left our city looking more like mid December than October.

October 25th was Dad's birthday. Ofcorse we celebrated with some good friends at a Burger joint down town. We all enjoyed our burgers and fries, though I am pretty sure, Ryder ate only fries..only yummy, salty, sweet potatoe fries!!

 Ryder sucking on Dad's EMPTY beer bottle.  Some people don't think it's funny when parents let their kids suck on beer bottles, but I know my Dad would have found this moment as humorous as we did. :)

The lil ones enjoying the booth! Thanks, Straile family for joining us on our tradition.

 I used Nic's home made apple pie filling to make an apple pie (store bought crust, I confess) for us to enjoy once we returned home.

Friday, Marty had to go away for the night, for work, so Ryder and I were on our own.  We woke up, Saturday morning and though it was snowy, we decided we should take, Scout for a walk.  Well, I figured, I'd walk, Scout would walk and, Ryder would ride in the chariot...Ryder had other plans!!

 

I did manage to get Ryder into the chariot and we had a great walk, until we were the farthest away from home as possible, and Ryder began to declare that he wanted, "out! out! out! out!out!" This went on and on with him hollering, "out! out! out!" It was gonna be a long walk back home, if I didn't think of something fast.  To actually let him out this far from home would make the walk WAY to long and slow for both Scout and I.  Instead, I began to sing. I sang, "The Wheels on the Bus," "Old MacDonald had a Farm," "ABC" and "5 Little Monkeys." I learned then and there, that Ryder has the verbal ability to make requests. He will, say, "Bus, bus, bus" until I sing the Wheels on the Bus song, he'll ask for, "baby, baby" until I sing the verse about the babies on the bus. During Old MacDonald, he will call out, "horsey," "moo" and "baaa" until all of his favorites have been included.  I was sooo excited, Ryder was really, truly, interacting with me during a sing song and he was happy to be IN the chariot!  Later, after his nap, I took Ryder to the soccer field by our house for some tobagganing!! He loved it!!

 I could actually send him down the small hill all by himself in this sled.

The sled is a little small (more of a baby sled than a toddler one,) 

but sooo much fun!

All decked out for winter!

Saturday night, Marty and I went to a Halloween House Party. Some friends and I dressed up as the Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles...I left my camera at the party, but there will be more pics to come....you gotta see Marty's costume too....

Sunday morning, after another sing song, dog walk, Ryder and I hopped into Marty's van and headed for a family trip to Rona.  Until I had a toddler, I had no idea, there was such a thing as shopping carts that look like cars with steering wheels, but there are and Ryder is drawn to them, like a magnet.  Holy cow, this was the longest cart, I ever pushed!!

 Sooo fun though!!

Ryder fell asleep on the way home from Rona, for I swear, 60 seconds, but apparently that was enough for him to declare a sleep strike.  He refused to go down for his afternoon nap, and after some good solid effort, by both, Marty and I, we decided to skip afternoon nap. We loaded up in the van again, Scout joining us this time and headed for the farm, for some quality, Dirt Face time!!  Here's how the majority of our time there was spent, me brushing, Dirt, Ryder eating horse treats, Scout refusing to bring the ball we threw ONCE for her back and Marty building the season's first snowman!!

 Ryder may or may not have shared a treat or two with Dirt...

 Fun snowman, Marty!!

 Marty not only introduced Ryder to his first snowman, but also to his first yummy icicle!

I taught him to dip his icicle in the snow.  Yummmy!!

Saturday, as I faught to get Ryder's awkard, winter boots on, sweating in my own winter gear as I struggled to get his adorable, chubby little feet into the incredibly unflexible boots, I envied my cousins who live in warm states.  I bet they never spend more energy pulling boots on their kid's feet than they do, pulling them uphill in the toboggan.  However, today, as we sucked on icicles, rolled snowballs and caught snowflakes on our tongues,  I was sooo happy to be living in a place where we can enjoy the snow and all it brings with it, even heavy, cumbersome, winter boots!!!  Vive l'hiver!!!

VISIT TO BC

We were lucky enough to have spent this past weekend in BC, visiting, Marty’s folks.  Though, they live in a beautiful, huge condo, the weekend was strangely full, of farm animals!!

Our adventure began Friday afternoon, right after work as we headed to YYC for our 40minute flight.

We got a jugo juice as a snack before the plane ride, as we'd be flying over Ryder's dinner time. 

He looked like such a big boy, drinking his juice, watching planes...

 

Hi, Gramma!!

Grampa, loves to play trucks too!!

Friday night was fairly quiet. There is a time change from our house to Grampa's, so we tried to get Ryder to stay up until 7pm BC time which is 8pm (an hour Alberta time, a whole hour past his normal bed time.) He made it with only a minor melt down or two. My hope was that he'd sleep until 7am BC time, ofcorse, he did not. He was up at 7am Alberta time, 6am BC time! Toooo early!!!

After breakfast and a morning snooze, the five of us stuffed ourselves into Grampa's truck and headed to a pumpkin patch, corn maze and petting zoo.

 My lil plumpkin with lots of pumpkins!

Mysfit pumpkins are my fav!!!

 Who needs sand in your diaper, when you can have corn?! 

Cool corn pit!!

 Scare Crows!

 Hay Bale spider....creepy!

 This lil guy stole my heart! How cute is he????

A face only a mother could love. :)

Ryder and I got up EARLY every morning. It's impossible to keep a 1.5 year old quiet in a large, wide open condo. Every sound carries straight into the bedrooms, I am sure, especially the sounds of Ryder's little ambulance and his singing tractor!  To be honest, I didn't try that hard to keep him quiet. I live for his happy, joyful morning excitement!! It always reminds me that I too, should greet every day like getting out of bed is the best gift ever!!

Another morning nap tucked under his belt, Ryder was ready for the adventure to the Kangaroo Farm.  You did not read that wrong. There is a Kangaroo farm within 20 minutes of Gramma and Grampa's house.  It's actually a little hobby farm, that invites the public to come see their goats, pigs, wallabys and Kangaroos!! Soooo cool!! We were able to get sooo close to the animals, we could feed them, pet them and even hold them!!!  Well, we could have held one of the three baby, "joey" kangaroos, but the other people who got there first were not exactly passing them on very quickly, so instead of holding a Joey, I held my own little Ryder! :)

 Yep, that's a wallaby!

 Look how close he is to that wallaby. He actually ended up falling on top of this guy...it scared both of them....

 Thanks, for a fun outing!!

 On the way home, we stopped by a Halloween store. Had to try on some hats!

 In an attempt to keep the noise level down, one morning, Ryder, Marty and I went for a walk to the near by Winners where we found this super fun recycle truck!! 

 Gramma's dog, Angel, just loves, Marty!

 The boys! (Marty, his Dad and Ryder)

Grampa, saying, "Good bye" to a wiggly, snuggly, Ryder. :)

Thanks for a fantastic weekend!!!  Yep, we came home to snow!!!

Kiss your babies, count your blessings and pet a kangaroo if you get the chance!!!

MORE LAUGHING!

Tonight I laughed and laughed!
Ryder and I went to a birthday party. The party was for a friend of mine, but it was a Family event and her nephew, just a few months younger than Ryder was there to play with Ryder.  Ryder, however, was not all that interested in little, Ted. He was much more taken with the cat, Louie.  At one point all adults at the party were standing in the kitchen watching, Ryder interact with Louie, the cat.  Ryder got bit a couple of times, but a kiss on each finger made him feel happy enough to go back for more kitty play time! He wanted desperately to cuddle with Louie, to hug him and to squeeze him. As you can imagine, Louie wanted very little to do with Ryder, however he didn't run away. He just bit and scratched and held his ground. Watching Ryder and Louie manipulate eachother, was sooo entertaining. There was a lot of learning happening for my little boy while playing with his new, furry, four legged companion. 
I am writing this and I can't think of any particular incident to describe, all I know is that the entire party was watching and laughing at Ryder and he, himself was laughing outloud with us!!
There were no melt downs, no hitting, and no fits of frustration.  Infact, everyone kept commenting on how laid back and "easy" Ryder is.  I was tempted to ask him to stop chewing on the host's dog's toy, just to let everyone get a glimpse of Ryder's red headed temper, but I decided, what the hell? What's a little dog spit between buddies? And why not just let people think Ryder is a perfect angel...most of the time he is. :) Ha ha ha!!!

Kiss your babies, count your blessings and if you get the chance, teach your kids to love animals!!

YEP, THAT WAS ME....

Yep, that was me carrying my boy out of the library "football" style while he cried his head off.  Apparently he did not want to leave the library. It's been over a month since we've been there and now that, Ryder is big enough to sit up at the kiddie table on a chair, he couldn't get enough of it. I was just content that he wasn't rifling books off shelves like he used to do. I quickly chose several board books and a few picture books to take home with us. Just as quickly as I was working, Ryder was choosing ONE book at a time, (usually a huge one) hauling it over to the little table, pulling himself up on a chair, flipping a couple of pages, pushing the book aside and repeating the entire process over and over until the stack of books on the table was as high as him!  I should have just let him keep entertaining himself, but ofcorse, I had my own agenda.  Safeway was right around the corner and I really wanted to squeeze in a quick trip to the grocery store before dinner.  I explained in vain, to Ryder that he could read 2 more books (this I knew would take seconds) and then we'd have to go. After the two books, I urged him to come with me to sign out the very heavy bag of books I had hanging on my arm. He refused to budge. I told him I'd count to three and then I'd have to "help" him.  1...(come on, Ryder, just do it, 2...please, I don't want this to get ugly in the QUIET library, 3 (oh, crap, here we go...) "ok, Ryder, Mommy is gonna help you." I awkwardly scooped my 30 pound limp noodle of a boy up while managing not to drop a single book out of the bag, carried both to the front successfully, despite all the wiggling and shrieking.  Once the books were "signed out," I made my way to the door, Ryder did not follow me....again, I counted, again, I prayed for compliance, again, I scooped up a shrieking toddler and awkwardly hauled him to the parking lot where he walloped me one across my head.  This is his new thing. He hits.  I know it's his frustration, of not knowing how to express himself, but it's not acceptable.  I usually say, "Ryder, you don't hit. Do you want to hug Mommy instead?" 9 times out of 10 he will lean in for a hug, greatful, I think for a suggestion of what to do with his built up energy, but sometimes, it doesn't work, sometimes, he just hits me again, that's when I say, "You hit, you sit!" and I sit him down wherever we are, parking lots, horse pastures, sidewalks, kitchen floors, wherever. This usually leads to wailing and very vocal "self expression." This time, in the library parking lot, was no different. Wailing, and bucket loads of tears. I never let this go on long, seconds really, but it feels like eternity!! I usually lean in, ask for a hug, he squeezes me and we get on with our lives, but sometimes, even after the hug, he is still so worked up that he can't quit crying. Today was that day. He cried in my arms, all the way to the truck, all the way to the grocery store, and it didn't even stop once we were in the cool shopping cart with the steering wheels in it. 
So I did what I normally try to avoid doing.....I opened a package of fruit snacks from off the shelf, before I even paid for them, and started feeding them to him. Ah, silence! Finally! After the fruit snacks, he took down half of a plastic container of unwashed (gasp) strawberries. When we got to the check out line, I turned my head for a minute to find my bank card and during those 60 seconds, he bit through the wrapper of a chocolate bar that he grabbed off the shelf...don't worry, I paid for it.  But neither one of us got to actually eat it because the kid at the till assumed it was garbage and before I could stop him, he chucked it in the trash!!

The library/grocery store adventure was "challenging" to say the least. But I am not afraid to try again. I might be a sucker for punishment, but I kind of like the challenge!!

Kiss your babies, count your blessings and remember, if you hit, you sit!!

LAUGH!!

In an effort to distract, Ryder from his meltdown over not being allowed to have another succer, after supper, I started to play tug with Scout with my sock, To my relief, Ryder thought this was hilarious. It only took him a couple of seconds to leave his tears behind in order to join in the fun! Scout was whipping him around the living room like he was a rag doll.  Ryder loved it! He laughed and laughed and laughed. Not just little giggles, but big, belly laughs, the kind that are so contagious Marty and I couldn't help but laugh too.  Well, I laughed while chasing behind them, trying to prevent Ryder's head from bouncing off the coffee table, floor and walls. I tried to get a video, but it was hard to run the camera while keeping a vigilant eye out for sharp corners.....

By the time the game changed to chase, Scout was getting tired of playing, but Ryder could have kept going for hours!!!

This evening of laughter came at the perfect time. I had been feeling rattled all day by the headline in the paper about a Mother, (36 years old, my age) of 2 children under 4 years old, who was killed on her way to a Thanksgiving Family vacation when a boulder on the truck infront of them, came loose, flew through the windshield of her car and killed her...right infront of her family. I stood in the gas station, reading this article bawling for that poor Mom. She will never get to see her boys grow up!! I wept for the children and for her husband. Life is too short!! I know this, but sometimes I forget just how short and precious every moment is!!  Tonight, I laughed with my little boy, with man's best friend and with my husband. Tonight we laughed and I will hold on to that memory and I will make another one tomorrow morning, when I see that chubby, happy little face and get to laugh with him again!!

Kiss your babies, count your blessings and laugh out loud as often as you can!

THANKSGIVING!

We spent the weekend celebrating Thanksgiving. With so much to be thankful for, it was easy to be in a celebratory mood.  We are truly blessed and we took the time this weekend to reflect on just how blessed we are! Life is good!!

Soooo, thankful for this little bundle of joy..and for my mom and sister, who helped me capture this photo!

Thankful for playful Mommies and Grandma's...all of them, close ones and far ones!

Thankful for the simple things, like crisp, fall days and leaves..lots and lots of leaves!

Thankful for fun Aunties, Uncles and cousins...all of them, far ones and close ones!

Thankful, for our health that enables us to work hard and play hard everyday!

Thankful for our jobs, even if they are not all as cool as being a Fire Fighter.

Thankful for Family, wish you ALL lived closer!!

Thankful for Daddies, Grampas, horsies, puppies, airplanes, trucks, choo choos, chocolate, opportunity, hugs, kisses, cell phones (to stay in touch) and sooo many other things!! 

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!

Merci, merci, merci!!!

Kiss your babies, count your blessings and thank the Good Lord for everything you've been blessed with!