Happy Halloween

Matt carved the pumpkin with some help from Ryan:




Ryan is enjoying being "G.I. Ryan." He got to wear his costume to preschool yesterday (he changed into his uniform for kindergarten). Matt took Ryan to his school's "Fall Fair" last night and had some fun. He is now patiently waiting for it to get dark enough to go out trick or treating.






Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Patch

If I'm being honest, I'm really not the "active" mom that is taking her kids places all the time. That is more Matt's department. But I got brave and took Ryan to the pumpkin patch yesterday! It is in Yucaipa, which is about a 45 minute drive from here. It was a little hot, but Ryan had a BLAST. They have so much stuff there for the kids to do. Rides, bouncers, slides, petting zoo, etc. And I must admit, photo opportunities are at every turn. Where else can you get a photo of your child sitting on a hay bale next to a corn field (unless you live in Kansas or something)? I got a couple of shots I just LOVE.

First, a couple of shots of Ryan enjoying the rides:




Lots of pumpkins to choose from! You could also go out into the pumpkin patch and literally pick your own pumpkin. We just chose one from the many tables they had set up:



They had a couple of people in costumes roaming around. I was quite surprised that Ryan wanted his picture taken with one of them!


He was too scared of the other one, who was dressed up like a grim reaper.


He fed some of the animals in the petting zoo, mostly goats:



Here is the picture of him on the hay bale next to the corn field. Love it.


They had a corn maze that we went into but couldn't find our way through. We had to come back out the way we went in because we couldn't find the exit!

And finally, my favorite shot of the day. Ryan wanted to go on the pony ride and I got this picture that captured his joy! This was the biggest smile of the day.

Licensed Driver!

Well, I have been neglecting this blog in a major way, but something MAJOR that happened since I last posted was:

Jeffery became a licensed driver!

I must admit that handing over the keys the first time was hard, only because of the WORRY involved, but it's getting easier every time and it sure is nice that he can get himself around and I'm not his taxi driver anymore. The hardest part is paying the insurance every month!! He is a good driver though and I'm proud of him. I actually kind of worry less when he is driving than when he goes with someone else driving, cause you never know what kind of driver that other kid is . . .

Jeffery's 16th

We celebrated Jeffery's birthday on Wednesday. Just us--Ryan, Matt, and me. He is currently celebrating by having two of his friends spend 4 days/3 nights here at our house with him, with random other friends stopping by throughout the visit. It has been fun for them--I woke up this morning at 5 AM and they were awake and in Jeffery's room laughing away. They hadn't gone to sleep yet! Those were the days. I remember going to slumber parties or staying the night with friends and trying to stay up all night.

Anyway, here are a couple of photos from Jeffery's actual birthday:





I want to tray and get of picture of Jeffery with his 2 friends but we'll see how that goes. He might be embarrassed for me to do it. ha ha

First Day of Kindergarten

Ryan's first day of kindergarten was last Wednesday, July 8. He was excited and ready to go. Matt and I took him. I think I embarrassed both of them with my picture taking!

This 1st picture is in our back yard before we left:

This is outside his classroom:

We had to wait a while and he got a little impatient:

He sat right down and said goodbye without a problem:

Overall, I was quite surprised how EASY it was. He didn't cry or anything when we left. He was ready to go!

Grad Night

Here are some pictures from Ryan's preschool promotion program.

Before the program:

Ryan and his friend Christian.

Waiting to go out for the promotion:




Receiving his "diploma":



Overall a good night but don't get me started on how rude people are. You should have seen they way some of the parents acted, standing on the chairs, etc., blocking everyone's view. Anyway, it was fun seeing Ryan perform his little song/dance (all those pictures came out blurry though).

2009 Graduate

I'm finally back posting to my blog. Hi mom! Here is Ryan's preschool graduation photo:



I just absolutely love it!

And, since I'm learning how to add special effects to my photos, here's another version I made:




More to come . . .