Ryan Mows the Lawn

Everyone in Florida knows the only reason you have kids is because of the lawn (you hate doing the lawn so you have kids. They hate doing the lawn so THEY have kids and that my friends is why we have children!). Ryan decided to start early with his bubble mower...

Watch out for the sprinklers!

Checking the spark plugs, or is that the fan belt?

Back in action again!

A Few Miscellaneous Memories

These are some various pitcures that I just couldn't pass up posting.

Ryan decided to dress Mr(s). Potato Head in his own unique way...
Ryan was very proud of his cross-dressing Potato Head!
Ryan want to be like his big brothers and when we get Subway, he has a sub of his own (I think his eyes are definitely bigger than his mouth AND his stomach!).
Ryan loves to read - One day, J and I didn't know where Ryan was and the house was very quiet (usually not a good thing). I tip-toed back to Ryan's room and found him doing this:

Ryan's Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

I'm trying to catch up on a few events and forgot to add our annual visit to the pumpkin patch over by church. Ryan loved all the pumpkins.


While you may not see it at first, Ryan is holding his pumpkin selection in his right hand.


There are more pumpkin pics on Maggie's blog.

Ryan Meets His Idol

J took Ryan to see "Sesame Street Live" (or as Ryan calls it "Elmo Whirl" - that's "Elmo's World") with her friend Bobbi and Bobbi's son Brandon. Elmo is one of Ryan's favorites, so he was thrilled to be there.

J took over ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY PICTURES - I had to sort through them all to find the gems. (Geez, woman - watch the show next time!)

You must be THIS short to watch the show...

"Elmo loves his goldfish... his crayons too... THAT'S ELMO'S WORLD!!!"

All of the Sesame Street characters were there...

"Oh... I love Trash! Anything dirty or dingy or dusty..."

Everyone was making music.

At the Lake for Labor Day

We went to the lake for Labor Day and spent the entire weekend at the dock. Ryan had a blast and was just about everywhere, involving himself in everything we did.

Ryan spent much of the time hanging around on the dock.

While he's too small to fish himself, he did help Nicholas search for fish.

Ryan loves being on the Waverunners with Dad.

Ryan sometimes is such a quiet child, thinking his cute little thoughts. Here he is on the dock.

We had an "Island" raft that allows some water to play in to come into the middle of the raft. Ryan loved splashing around.

Ryan made a game out of pulling water from the lake using a bucket and some rope and poured the water into his swimming pool.

Ryan is so comfortable at the lake, he didn't mind walking up to the house to meet with his Dad.

Ryan goes to CB Smith Park

J took the boys and Maggie to CB Smith park to play in the water park. CB Smith has one heck of a water park:


Ry had fun trying to float in the shallow water.

His cousins Brayden and Zachary had a blast too.

Ryan is so blasted photogenic. Takes after J...

Ryan loves Thomas the Train!

Ryan got to see the "Thomas and Friends" live stage performance at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. He went with his cousins Zach and Brayden.



J said the show was a blast and Ryan loved seeing all the characters.

A Case of Mistaken Identity

The boys were watching an old episode of the sitcom "Boy Meets World" and an extra with a few lines caught Ryan's eye:

"Momma" he said. I looked up and again, "Momma" he stated matter-of-factly. So then I looked. Hmmm... he's not too far off is he? Look at both pictures - the girl on TV could've been J 15 years ago (er, I mean LAST year, of course!).

I guess Jenay has been hiding her acting career (and the checks from the re-runs) from me! ;-)

Ryan (once again) in the Pool on the 4th

More great pics of Ryan in the Pool on the 4th of July:

All of Mom's devoted followers...

Ryan so pleased to be by the pool

Having a quick drink

Ryan's Trip to the Lake

For those of you that don't know, J's parents have a Lake Home in Umatilla, FL (about 45 minutes NW of Orlando, just outisde of Mount Dora, FL). We haven't been there since J was pregnant with Maggie. We went there this weekend for a brief pre-July 4th get together with J's family.

Ryan has had a blast being down at the lake. Here are a few pics:

Ryan on Alligator Watch!

"Albert" the Alligator (and you thought I was kidding about the Alligator watch!)

Showing his cousin Zach his latest minnow catch

Just having some fun on the swingset...

"Um, can someone help me down?"

Ryan Takes a Swim

It was a beautiful Saturday last week (I'm posting this a week late) and J took Ryan into the pool for a quick dip. She's working with him to get used to being in the water. She worked with him to kick, swim to the steps, all trying to prepare him for swimming someday.

Ryan really enjoyed it (despite the crying at first).

A few new words

As Ryan's vocabulary expands, I wanted to document a few of the more memorable ones:

"HAH-chat" - haircut
"hoe DEE-toe" - Home Depot
"a-WAH-yu" - Where are you?
"doh?" - Where'd it go?
"PU-er" - computer
"howl" - towel
"BAH-yee" - battery
"AW-shide" - outside
"DEH-dis!" - There it is!

And my personal favorite:
"BAD-my" - Spiderman

Ryan also has a few words he's saying perfectly...

"down"
"Barkley" (one of our dogs)
"choo-choo-tain" (he's almost there!)

Ryan prepares for the "Tour de Plantation"

Ryan absolutely LOVES being outdoors. He rides his trike daily and despite his ability to reach the pedals (as you can see in the picture) and use them to propel himself, he instead scoots himself by pushing a la Fred Flintstone.

Ryan likes Tropical Storm Barry

Like any two year old, any chance to play in water is NEVER passed up. Ryan went outside onto the patio to play with his wood train set and instead we caught him doing this:

Ryan is "all wet"

Ryan took a long drive with his mom to Pinecrest Gardens way down South past his Aunt Lindsay's - so far South you're actully in "Northern Cuba" ;-). He had a blast playing in the water sporting his new swimming outfit for the summer.

Ryan's creative version of English

While Ryan has a very wide vocabulary for a two year old, he is still developing his pronunciations. Here are a few phonetic spellings of words Ryan uses daily that are quite cute:

• Cold - "chold"
• Couch - "Tao"
• Cracker - "Tawchoo"
• Chocolate - "Chee-chaw"
• Brother - "Brah-wah"
• Colin - "La-la"
• Maggie - "Manny"
• Coffee - "Fah-fee"
• Open - "Ahhjum"
• Barney - "Narney"
• Bubble - "Bahboo"
• Please - "Tease"
• Thank you - "Tay-tay"
• Nasty - "Tassty"
• Lollipop - "Meatball" (don't ask - we have no idea how he gets that)

First Post to Ryan's Blog

After setting up the blog for Maggie, it ocurred to me I should simply have one for each child so I can share what's been going on in their lives. Ryan has always had a domain name (I used to host a picture gallery at my home office) so I thought I'd setup this blog so you all can share in the Ryan's joys and triumphs.

Ryan turned 2 this past April 26th (4 days before Maggie was born). Below is a recent picture we took just before Mother's Day.