Holiday Catch-Up

Well, if you follow me on INSTA or FACEBOOK you know I have a little Train Conductor on my hands......
It started when Ryder turned TWO in July 2012, I'm sure I didn't even post a blog about that special day BECAUSE I SUCK! ANYWAY, no sense in beating myself up..... I DO WORK #onlyexcuse #makesmefeelbetter #worstblogger #shouldntevencallmyselfablogger

My dad bought Ryder a Thomas the Train track and it has been RULING Ryder's life (and ours) for the past few months. We watch, talk about, listen to, play, eat, breathe and sleep T-R-A-I-N-S.

Here is a recap in pictures of the months following his BIG DAY of TURNING TWO.......

This was about a week after my dad gave Ryder the most EPIC Birthday gift EVER!

They go EVERYWHERE with us! (Summer 2012)

You know, this is how I get the grocery shopping done! Let him drag his TRAINS from the cart while I push through the aisles.

This was our Chattanooga ChooChoo VACA in Summer of 2012. No Beach, just some good ole TRAIN fun in the TRAIN sanctuary of the world.

I think he was talking to this shirt.....

AND this would be the reason Ryder is OBSESSED with my father, I mean he is AMAZING but when we talk about Grandpa, Ryder ususally follows it with this statement, "Let's go see Grandpa and ride on a REAL, REAL TRAIN!" This was a Day Out with Thomas in Nashville, Summer 2012. Pretty much the most excited we have ever seen him.

SOOOOO you get it! Now that I have caught you up on the months leading up to the Holiday's, we can talk about all the TRAIN FUN we had DURING the Holiday's!

Ryder and my dad in Bowling Green, KY at the train museum. Ryder was mesmerized by the train replica! I LOVE THIS PIC!

 

A day isn't complete without TIME-OUT! This is my rambunctious, little angel acting CRAZY

during the train tour.

 

Next stop was the Opry Mills Mall before seeing SHREK ON ICE! I took one-for-the-team and hopped in a train that literally went around the mall. Everyone waved at Ryder and laughed at me.....

WHO KNEW WE WOULD RIDE A MILLION TRAINS IN NASHVILLE!?!?!? Opryland Hotel had a cute area for kids with, you guessed it, A TRAIN!

 

Another pic I adore. Watching a model train at Opryland! Ryder was in HEAVEN! Surprised he doesn't want to move there!

 

This was Ryder at SHREK ON ICE! We have gone two years in a row. We were so excited about taking him this year since he was a little older BUT this trip was complete with a BUSTED, BLOODY nose after tripping on that HUGE COAT! It was AWFUL! It ended our $500 (TOTALLY KIDDING) trip through the frigid temps quickly. OH, the memories we made that day!

 

ZooLights! He hated everything there but KNEW there was the train in the FARM AREA SOOOO we rode this a couple times then had to leave due to overly-obsessively requesting to ride again and again! 

AGAIN, a day isn't complete without a lecture/time-out. Pretty sure Travis was trying to explain that there are OTHER things to do but ride the train, he didn't understand NOR care what daddy had to say! We left quickly after this.

Enchanted Forest! No picture with Santa this year BUT we got a few pics of the back of his head STARING at the trains!

This was one of my fav things we got this Christmas, a Christmas Tree Train that really worked and chugged around our tree. Thank you Cracker Barrell!

 

When we had ANYTHING to do, we would park a chair in front of the tree and this kid would just sit in amazement! AH, the little things!



Just had to throw in this sweet pic of two best friends at The Stirring's Christmas Service. These two make my heart smile.

 Headed to Christmas Service at Hope!

Had to go to the Peabody and check out the ducks. This was the best pic I got there. Me and my mom tried relentlessly to get a group photo in front of the beautiful Christmas trees but this WILD BOY wasn't having it. This day was on my list of Most Embarassing Moments with Ryder!

 

Christmas Eve night at Nana's. He loved his sweet trains from her!



 

Playing Trains with Papa and Uncle Alan!

 

CHRISTMAS MORNING! Riding his Thomas from Uncle Ricky!

This was the HUGE FINALE of our morning. We layed out all of Ryder's gifts from Santa and let him open all the smaller things. We knew if we brought this Bad Boy out first, he wouldn't have cared about anything but else. I went and changed his diaper while mom and Travis wheeled this out. He was in such shock when he saw this. It was PRICELESS!

Santa did good!

 

This was one of the BEST holiday's since Ryder really got into it this year. We just adore this silly, sweet and independent lil boy. Very special Christmas for us with TONS of TRAIN fun.......



I have to BRAG a little!

This was a "draft" I found from May 5th so I guess I'll finish it NOW in October. Lord, I told you I was behind!
I am REALLY proud of my smarty-pants this month (don't forget this is from MAY)! I mentioned a couple posts back that Ryder was picking out a few letters and saying them out loud to me after watching his little ELMO LETTERS video! We now know ALL our letters and he can call them out to me by random. Every momma needs this cute little "Learning About Letters" DVD from Seasame Street!
He is even counting very well from the Counting DVD he also watches. 1-15 is down and when we get to the twenties it's hilarious. He just says twenty, twenty, twenty, twenty over and over again!

It's now October and Ryder is FINALLY saying his ABC's without leaving out H-P. HAHA. It's the sweetest thing and is music to this momma's ears. We are now working on COLORS! He sure does have a hard time but we're pulling out the flashcards. I'm determined to have a bright young man!

TWO= Big Changes

Well, here we are AGAIN, BEHIND and playing catching up! I'm one busy working momma so my next few posts will be the last 4 months in a nutshell!

We broke two major habits and they went surprisingly VERY WELL. We converted Ryder's bed from a crib to a toddler bed in June. After catching my little monkey climbing the rails, which were a tad encouraged, we had to make the BIG change.

It was sad but he was a trooper. We didn't have many surprise visits in the middle of the night and he went down very well. The situation we are in NOW in October is completely different. We have a third little friend climbing in bed with us EARLY every morning. It's so sweet when he runs in with his blanket and softly whispers "momma" SOOOO I'm doing what I said I would never do- but I don't care. I LOVE IT (when I get good sleep)!

I love this pic, this was the 1st night in his new big boy bed. I curled towels under the sheet to create a hump so he wouldn't fall out and bump his head.

This next big change comes with a funny little story. I thought I just had this angel baby who was such a great boy at dealing with transitioning but I was proven VERY wrong. I still rock Ryder sometimes and especiallywhen we were going through the "bed change" so he would get sleepy and comfortable with the new bed. I got a wild hair and decided to NOT let him have the P-A-C-I. He did AMAZING, no fussing, no asking, went right to sleep and slept through the night. I was IN SHOCK! I HAVE THE BEST BABY IN THE WORLD! HA, well when I dropped him off at DayCare the next day I told them NO PACI. I had broke him of it and didn't want them to ever give it to him again! Here was their reply, "Mrs. Russell, Ryder hasn't had a paci in 2 months. You took it one weekend and never gave it back to us. He has been fine so we never asked for it back." Well, thanks DayCare, appreciate it!

Pic from what I THOUGHT was his first time sleeping with no paci. HAHA!

I had to add this pic because 1. it was an awesome family night out at the Levitt Shell to see Todd Snider which we ended up staying later than anticipated and 2. this was one of the last pics and nights with a PACI! He looks like a baby here.

Busy, Busy Easter

Well, the title pretty much sums up our Easter- BUSY! I'm becoming one of those working moms who CRAMS as much into our days off to make up for the time I am at work. UGH, I can get into my ruts (like now) so I'll change the subject before this becomes a WHOLE topic.  Easter was SO much fun this year. I'm sure that will happen more and more every year as he gets older. Our whole month was full of Easter FUN! I think the eggs were his FAV- real and plastic! I'm STILL finding them everywhere around the house and we can't walk through the Egg aisle at the grocery store without him screaming EEGGGGGG!!

Ryder has his 1st little Easter Egg Hunt at Baby Kate's Birthday! Stupid ME thought it started at 1 and we were an HOUR EARLY. Ryder was GREAT the 1st hour while NO ONE was there but became SO restless toward the end. We were doing several laps UP AND DOWN a set of stairs just to keep him happy- THIS BOY EXHAUSTS ME! The Easter Egg Hunt was a SUCCESS! He is a HUGE FAN of piling things into a bucket, dumping it and starting over so this was right up his alley. I'm not sure the other kids got many eggs because of Ryder, haha, oops.... and once he figured out there was CANDY inside, I was in trouble. I think I opened 20 eggs in the car on the way home!

Family Pic

Our day just isn't complete without at least ONE MELTDOWN!

Baby Kate, the birthday girl!

And, he has DISCOVERED they are filled with CANDY!

Already planning their wedding.....

AND NOW FOR OUR EASTER BUNNY PICTURE 2012......
Yes, that's a split screen of Ryder POUTING because of his FEAR of adults dressed in animals! My mom took him and she obviously has a much bigger heart than I do. I would have opted for the CRYING/SCREAMING look!

HUGE difference from my sweet and brave boy last year! Look at how little he is and I'm dying over that sweet, angel face!

We dyed eggs the night before Easter. It was not only RYDER'S 1st time but it was DADDY'S 1st time too. I know that sounds weird but his fam didn't really celebrate holiday's like others which is fine, just have to be the one to show him the ropes. I'm definitely throwing a lot of my traditions at him and can see that look of confusion! HAHA! I always remember dying eggs with my Step dad, Ron the night before Easter. I always remember my mom working and he always took the time to make the holidays special. I guess that's why I'm always wanting to pass them down to Ryder. My childhood seemed so "magical" and happy, cheesy but it was!

Dying Eggs just turned into him grabbing eggs and trying to pile as many as he could into the tiny cups! Of course, a few ended up cracked and broken on the floor. He doesn't want help with ANYTHING, very independent.Wonder where he gets that from?!?! HA!

NOTE: I do not wear heels while doing "Kid Activities". I walked in the door from work and literally have a 2 hour window to do EVERYTHING I need and want to do with him!

Love this sweet picture!

UH-OH!

One of many broken eggs!

I actually found Ryder's sweet, little Easter JamJam's from last year and wondered if they would still fit. They were insanely BIG last year and I remembered rolling the pants and sleeves up so they would fit. Shockingly they did fit again this year! It's scary at how much he has changed yet still looks so much the same.

 I had to include this picture. He was dancing! This totally captures the silly boy I am around all the time. He is always trying to make me laugh. What a sweet spirit he has. True blessing!

We woke up Easter morning to give Ryder his Easter Bunny goodies of CANDY, BUBBLES and a new pair of TOMS! He is absolutely OBSESSED with bubbles right now! He probably says it about 100 times a day. He knows where all my bubble hiding places are and will literally pull me by my arm while saying BubBub.

 I kind of went completely overboard with his little suit this year. Having a boy is easy on the wallet so I had to splurge a little this year. I was IN LOVE with this little ties that I had made from ETSY! My little man looked like such a BIG BOY! Broke my heart!
We went to church, brunch at Cockadoo's then The Peabody to watch the DUCKS! We had a BLAST and think we have made a Peabody Easter tradition! He was passed out last year we went so watching him try and attack the ducks this year was pure entertainment!

This was him SCARED of the ducks and Daddy LAUGHING!

After a little warming up, he was all but jumping in with the ducks!

Daddy caught this sweet moment walking to Brunch!

Family Pic Easter 2012

THE DAY WASN'T OVER! We still had Easter with Nana and PawPaw!

Ryder had ANOTHER Easter Hunt with his cousin Emily. It was her 1st Easter Hunt and she LOVED it. We had to hide the eggs OVER AND OVER for her. She was too cute!

PawPaw opening Eggs for Ryder!

We always get DIRTY at Nana and PawPaw's so a change of clothes is ALWAYS a must! AND notice he is playing with his BUBBLE MACHINE! Obsessed......