Twas the Night Before CHRISTMAS!

What a long day we had....We didn't really do too much but with all the traffic and crowds it made everything take forever. Jason had off of work for Christmas Eve and I admit that we are last minute shoppers, we spent the afternoon at the mall finishing up our shopping. It was kinda fun being out in the crowds, it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

We took Ryder to see Santa, again. This was his 3rd Santa visit. He does not enjoy seeing the Big Guy, it must be all the red and the big beard. He screams everytime which is shocking to me because he is always so friendly and good with strangers. I was thinking that maybe the third time would be the charm and that I would get a nice picture with Ryder smiling. I was not so lucky, but I am happy with these pics anyways, doesn't everyone have a picture crying with Santa :)

Right after we rescued him from Santa he was back to his normal happy, smiley self.

Jasons friend Barney lives near the mall so we went for a quick visit, Ryder liked playing with Barney :)

Now Ryder is all ready for bed and for Santa to come and visit.

He has is Santas Helper PJ's, with little reindeer footies.

and his stocking ready to be filled with goodies :)

Nighty-Night

I just had to post these pictures before I go to bed. Ryder picked up his little hotwheels police car at bedtime tonight. He held it thru story time and while I rocked him to sleep. I layed him down and even as he tossed and turned a few times he still kept it in his little hand. Such a little sweetie.

Party Animal

Ryder got to go to his friend Addi's 1st Birthday party tonight.

Here he is in his party outfit, checkin' out the toy bag.

Ryder and Addi played well together, they were playing with toys, crawling, and even dancing. They had little moments of kinda picking on each other but they are so little we all just laughed at them. It was cute.

Addi digging into her cake.

Ryder even got a little kiss from the birthday girl. I love this picture, Ryder looks proud of himself for getting this sweet kiss :)

Jesse wasn't too amused by all the lights, he fell asleep.

Jason and Ryder. We sure had to bundle up, it was so cold.

The spider web lights

Peacock

I put on this silly headband to make Ryder laugh

he was zonked out after this trip

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Ryder's new word

Ryder started saying Gus (our dog's name) a couple of weeks ago. He will just say it over and over again. It's so cute, sometimes his little lips pucker when he says it. I'm sure he picked it up since we are always yelling at that dog, he's always into something. I'm surprised he's not saying "NO GUS"!

Family Night

We had a family night Saturday, after Ryder's party we headed straight to the Wigwam resort. They have a bunch of decorations and light displays. There were little displays set up on the lawn that look like little elf houses and huge decorated trees.

It was cold, Ryder was bundled up.....until he saw Addy, then he wanted down to play with her.
Ryder and Addy checking out the lights

Gibbs Family under the HUGE tree.

trying to get a nice picture of Ryder with Santa, he does not like Santa. We took him to see Santa at Bass Pro Shop was not happy. I thought maybe this time it would be better, but no. It is pretty strange Ryder never cries with strangers, maybe it's all the red and the gib white beard.

After we saw all the fun stuff in the front we headed back to the patio where we sat around a fire pit and made smores and drank hot chocolate. It was a fun time, Jason had the day off for the party so I took full advantage of that and planned a whole day of family fun. We were definetly wiped out by the time we got home.

Ryder's Birthday Bash

Ryder had his BIG 1 Birthday bash on Saturday. It was a crazy, hectic day. We were of course on baby time and arrived at the park about an hour later than we had planned. We didn't have time to pick up the cake on the way, so we went straight the the park. We had just enough time to decorate very quickly then Jason left to pick up the cake. I also found out from a couple of confused phone calls that I had the invitations printed with the wrong address, and to top it all off we forgot all of our utensils. We had to go beg another party to borrow some of theirs. Other than these little things and the cold weather, we had a good time celebrating with friends and family.

Ryder's BIG 1 cake and a matching smash cake.

cake time.....

some of Ryder's guests...

cousin Jesse

Addy and her Mommy and Daddy

me and Ryder with cousin Camdyn and her mommy Corie

Maryjane with her Mommy and Daddy, she is only a couple weeks older than Ryder. I first met her Mommy when we were only a couple months pregnant.

The Brannings

Michael and his Mommy

Ryder with Great Grandma
We had Ryder all bundled up with a beenie and mittens!

One updates

Ryder rode in his carseat facing forward for the first time on Wednesday. I would say that he really enjoyed it. One good thing is that he doesn't have the back seat to kick against and fight me when I try putting him his seat. He would lock his little legs up and it would be quite the fight.

Ryder had his 12 month doctor visit on Thursday. He is 30 1/4 in. & 22 lbs 11 oz. He is lookin' good and healthy. The Dr was asking if he was saying words, pointing at things, understanding when we told him certain things, and YES to all. Right before we were leaving Dr came in and said "one more thing" time to start weaning from the bottle and we said "already done! he hasn't had a bottle in a couple months :) He also got his normal 12 month vaccinations, and was such a little champ. I always hate seeing him get his shots :(

After his appointment he got a special treat, we stopped at McDonalds and got him some french fries.......He sure gobbled them down.

Cake Time

Ryder loved, loved, loved his birthday cake! I made that special little cake just for him. It came out perfectly cute and Ryder sized. He dug right in and once he got a taste of that frosting he was in heaven. It was so cute watching him. He kept looking up at everyone and laughing, he was even clapping his hands.

He was trying to fill up his mouth with as much as he could

The big clean up, he was so messy we just stripped him down and put him right in the tub.