Weekend/Easter recap 2012

This last weekend, we got to celebrate my cousin's daughter's first birthday.  Olivia and Ryder are exactly 1 year apart.  Her birthday is April 7.  This little girl could not be more precious!

 My cousin Heather was in town from Idaho and so she got to meet Eden and we got some good connecting time.  We wish she lived closer... We love her so...

 My mom bought the girls matching dresses for Easter.
Eden looked like the cutest little cupcake.
(note, she is not happy when we decided to do a photo shoot when all she wanted to do was cuddle with her Mia)

 The girls:

Sunday was a wonderful celebration of a risen Jesus.
Prior to getting to the fairgrounds, Ryder and I spent the morning during breakfast listening to the Jesus Storybook Bible on CD on the death and resurrection of Christ.  Ryder really enjoyed it!
(I think I will try to incorporate the audio on a regular basis...)

We spent our Easter service at the Orange County fairgrounds, and Kit's parents, brother Ethan, and his girlfriend Mallory came down from Santa Maria to join us.
We picked Ryder up from the kids area a little early so that he could watch the baptisms with us.  I always cry, it's such a powerful time...
Traci~
Thank you for hanging with Ryder when he was sad.  How good it is to have friends like you!

 

Then we headed to our house for some lunch and some easter fun.  We colored eggs and decorated cookies with Ryder.  He was so excited! 

 

Thank you all for making this such a fun family filled weekend!
We love you all!

birthday traditions

Last year for Ryder's first birthday, we took him to Color Me Mine and created a birthday plate using his dedication verse and handprint.  

So this morning we got to bust it out for our tradition of birthday doughnuts.

This year, he was showered with such fun gifts at his birthday, so for the actual day, we got him a soccer ball.  That thing has already been kicked around so much!  The foot ball is getting a much needed break♥.

 Ryder loved having a lit candle and having us sing to him:

 Sheer delight:

 Now he is ready to tackle that doughnut:

We look forward to many more birthday traditions together as a family!

birthday wishes and easter weekend

Ryder~

Today you are two years old!  We just can't believe how fast time has gone.  It really only feels like yesterday that we found out that we were having a boy and then when you were born, we couldn't believe that we actually had you here with us, looking at us with those HUGE hazel eyes, taking everything in.  Now you are this little man, learning new things all the time, killing us with your expressions and sense of humor.  You are independent and sensitive, relational and fearless.  You love music and you love to dance and you love using any power tool that you can get your hands on.  You love to cuddle up and watch a movie and you love to be outside discovering new things, watching bugs and playing in dirt.  You have an empathetic heart.  You are ALWAYS upset when you see someone upset, from kids in a store, to times that  you have seen your mom cry.  You are tenderhearted with a gentle spirit. When ever we eat, you want us ALL to hold hands and you want to pray, though at this point the only words that are clear are Jesus and Amen.  You are so tender with your sister.  You hold her hand and at every opportunity, you get so concerned when she cries,  you want to hold her and kiss her head and I can already see a protectiveness that you have for her.  She is so lucky to have you as her big brother.You have a smile that melts our hearts and we are so honored to be your parents.

Happy Birthday Ryder Rae!

Your laugh is one of our favorite things...

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This is what we will be up to this weekend.

We hope you have a wonderful Easter!

"He is Risen! He is risen indeed!"

listening

Mother Teresa was asked once about prayer, and the answer that she gave was incredibly beautiful.  I wanted to share it with you:

In an interview with Dan Rather:

 "What do you say to God when you pray," he inquired.

    "Nothing," replied Mother Theresa. "I just listen."

    "What does God say to you?" he responded.

    "Nothing," replied Mother Theresa. "He just listens."

Ryder's book review

One of our traditions is when Kit tells us he's on his way home, we gather up our favorite books and camp out on our bed, where you can see our driveway so that we can be on the look out for when Kit gets home.  Ryder loves to be on the look out and it gives us some great snuggle time and some GREAT time with our favorite books.  It's one of the things that when I look back and think of him at this age, I will definitely remember  this tradition...

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So Ryder has a few favorite books right now that have bee been added to the reading rotation, and if he could do  book review he would give these his highest rating so we wanted to share them with you♥:

For Just One Day by Laura Leuck and Illustrated by Marc Boutavant

We love the illustrations and the story is so sweet with a great message.

Look A Book by Bob Staake

We think it's one of the BEST hidden picture books (Plus there are lots of pictures throughout the book that have dinosaurs... Ryder was sold!)  It's been fun to use it for learning new words too!

Dinosaur Roar! by Paul and Henrietta Strickland

A book about opposites and the illustrations of the dinosaurs are in watercolor and so fun to look at!

Have a wonderful day!

forts

We have started making forts in Ryder's room and he is really loving it!

remember how fun forts were when you were little?  It's fun to experience "firsts" like that with Ryder...

There is the perfect spot between his bed and his bookshelf...

 He brings his flashlight and blankets and favorite books in there and he just plays so contentedly.

At this point, it's a fort that Eden and I can go in...

 ...and we take every opportunity to be silly...

Ryder's second birthday party!

We had such great time celebrating Ryder's second birthday party.  Our close friend Alex is our family photographer (and father to one of Ryder's closest buddies, and husband to my Angelina...)  and in addition to taking pictures for us, he put together this video.  Thank you to our family for helping us to celebrate our little man.  We still can't believe he is two!
We love you all!
Seriously, Alex, you have outdone yourself!

Enjoy!

ryder's 2nd birthday from Alexander T. Pavone on Vimeo.