18 Months

Ryan had his 18th month check up today and everything is going really well. He has moved up to the 25% in all three areas which is very exciting because he has only been in the 10% for height so it seems like he is moving up in the world so to speak. He is 23.9 pounds and is 31 inches tall. He has 14 teeth with the 15th coming in. He sleeps 11 to 12 hours at night and is down to usually just one nap for 2 to 3 hours during the day. He loves anything to do with sports, he throws balls, he can dribble a soccer ball, and he can swing and hit a hockey puck or golf ball. The part I love best is that he loves to dance. If music comes on he will clap and spin around and shake his arms all around. He is generally a very happy easy going baby or toddler I guess is the better term. He still doesn't speak that much but I think we are up to 8 or 10 words. Also, he started Nursery at church which is for children 18 months to 3 and he loves it. He runs right in and doesn't look back. I am grateful that with Rachel he goes to the Gym kids club so this transition was so easy because I know with some they have a hard time leaving their parents.

Pumpkins

We had so much fun last night carving pumpkins. Christian did his all by himself for the first time and I think it turned out great. Ryan did not want to touch the inside of the pumpkin but loved holding the pieces once they were cut out. He also enjoyed eating them. I love this time of year and all the family traditions that go along with it. Dan is not into these traditions like I am he doesn't like decorating things or helping so most of the night he complained about the mess we were making but once he saw the end result and how happy Christian was I think he was a little more excited. I also convinced him to help with the big pumpkin since I had already carved Ryan's so he did join us for a little while. Hopefully one year he will turn off the Football game and join us for the whole thing. Little by Little right!

Also, I don't know if I blogged about my new calling but about a month ago I was called to be the Primary Chorister. I am absolutely loving the calling but it is a lot of work the last two hours of church. This past weekend I made this spin board. The kids are busy perfecting the songs for the program that is in a couple of weeks so it was a fun way to help the kids remember the songs.

Birthday Parties

This weekend we were able to go to 2 really fun birthday parties. One was for my nephew who just turned 3 and the other was for an old friend's Daughter. The one for our friend was held at a place called Little Gym, it was basically a room where the kids could do different gymnastic things. It was also a costume party so we were able to try on the boys costumes. We had such a great time and the boys loved it. Christian loved the high bar and Ryan just loved running around and being dressed up. I know I am bias but I think they both look so cute in their Halloween costumes. We have two other Halloween parties and I am so excited to see how Ryan will react to everything and if he will continue to love his costume.

Sports

So sports once again ruled our weekend. Friday night was Red Sox vs. Tampa Bay, Saturday was Christian's Football game, a sports themed birthday party and then again the Red Sox. Sunday was the Patriots vs Chargers and much to my surprise I watched the whole game even though Dan was not with me. He was able to attend the game with a couple of friends. They had really great seats and even with the Pats totally losing he still had a great time. Luckily I was able to convince Dan to do something this weekend that didn't involve sports, we went to a pumpkin patch and let the boys pick their own pumpkins. Unfortunately, both boys got sick on Sunday with fevers and Ryan tummy has been upset, and this morning they still were not feeling very well so Dan graciously volunteered to stay home with them. He said it was since I missed work last week but I know it was really because he was so tired from staying up late last night. It has been really windy and it has started to cool off finally so it has started to feel like fall for me. I love being able to put on a jacket at night, but I can't wait to have a fire going in the fireplace that is my favorite along with a cup of hot chocolate.

Ryan rooting on the Red Sox's

The pumpkin patch had some fun games, a petting zoo and these great wagons for the kids to sit in and to hold the pumpkins.
It was really funny we paid for both the boys to play in the bounce house since Ryan loves to jump, well he got in stood up and started crying. He did not like it one ounce no matter what we tried he would just cry so that was a waste. The picture below is from the one second he was in there.
These are the pumpkins we came home with it was Dan's, Christian's and then Ryan's little guy.

These are pictures from the game last night, they really had amazing seats and Dan took a self portrait to prove he was there. He didn't take the good camera since he wasn't sure they would let him take it in so these shots are not zoomed in at all that is really how close to the field he was.

THE BIG 3-0!
Yesterday was Dan's 30th Birthday. We had a really nice relaxing day at home watching conference and then we went to my parent's house for dinner and to watch the Angels - Boston game. It was a really nice day and Dan said the only bad part was that the Red Sox's lost but the Patriots did win so it wasn't all bad. For the last couple of months I kept asking him what he wanted to do for his birthday and he would say "oh nothing it is really not that big of a deal" But of course I think it is a really big deal so I threw him a surprise party on Saturday the 27th. We have gone to a few baseball games so I decided that he will not suspect anything if I do it there. I ended up getting 50 tickets and invited family and friends to meet us for a tailgating party and then to enjoy the game with us. It was the perfect plan. He had no idea and we had a great time. I got to the Stadium around 3 to save spots for everyone and people starting showing up around 4, then about 4:30 Dan showed up and saw us all sitting there in this big circle. We did hot dogs and stuff in the parking lot, the kids loved being all together and getting to run around. We all sat before the game and hung out talking, it was really hot but totally worth it. Then we all went and watched the game. The Angel's ended up losing but it was still really fun. It was hard to talk to everyone since there were so many of us but overall it was great. He really loved it and was glad so many could attend.

He got some really nice gifts but I think his favorite is the shirt he got from his Sister Erin. Once he opened it he quickly put it on.

I want to say a big thank you to my Mom, Johnny and Jessica for helping me pull this off and for making it run so smoothly. Also a big thanks to Rachel and Nick for letting us use their grill, it was perfect.

We were able to get Dan's name on the score board, it was really cool to see!

Time flies

We have been having a lot of fun lately. Dan's sister Erin came to visit from New Hampshire for 5 days and we had a really great time. She got to see Christian play football, we went to an Angel game (I actually threw a surprise party for Dan, but that needs it's own post later), we went to the beach, played games, and best of all hung out. We are so grateful that she was able to come out we don't see Dan's family enough so we savor every minute we do have with any of them. Erin left on Tuesday and then Wednesday Dan got to stay home with just Ryan and they had a great day playing cars, balls and cleaning the garage. That night we had a craft night at church and made these really cute coaster's and magnets. Also, Dan was so great and watched the Garces kids for the night as well. It was really fun to get out and be crafty. I have a lot of pictures but I will try to limit them to only the best.


Here are my favorites pictures from the park that my sister in law took of the boys a couple of weeks ago. I love that it shows on their faces how much they love each other.




At one point at the beach I had to chase after Ryan and those stupid Seagulls came and took my bag of pretzels, so for the rest of the day we had to chase them away from us. That is what Erin is doing in the picture below. The beach was completely empty seeing how it was a Monday afternoon and it was windy and cold for California, but the nice part was that we got to just enjoy being together. Ryan found a little hole that had water in it and he kept leaning over so he could get the top of his head wet. It was really funny.These are pictures of the Garces kids while Dan babysat. S and S totally fell asleep, Dan said because he bored them and N played in the lego room the whole time. If you look at the first picture you can see that Dan put a Patriots blanket and the Patriot gnome with her since their Dad is a huge Cowboy fan. Dan thinks he is so funny!