Ryder has dropped some funny ones lately:
- He was trying to get his pillow to stay up, but it kept flapping over. I told him to tilt it a little so it would stay up. He kept doing what he was doing and then he finally gave up and said, "It's no use."
- Out of nowhere, "Mom. I'm sorry, but I don't have a job."
- Again, out of nowhere, "I just can't believe how short I am."
- Ryder likes to open our mail. He opened a piece of junk mail that was like a pamphlet. He opened it and said, "Hmm. According to this chart..."
- I asked him if he wanted a sip of my coffee (joking of course). He said "No, coffee will make me short" (a long time ago we told him that caffeine will stunt your growth. Do we have a complex here?)
- Has been said many times, but wanted to make sure I documented, "Rhodes is so cute. Let's keep him."
- Let me preface by saying I am not proud of this one: "If you don't play with me, I'm gonna kick your butt." Definitely didn't learn that one from home.
- I heard some clicking around on my phone. I was on the computer next to him so I wasn't really paying attention. Finally I looked over and saw Ryder going to town on my keypad. I grabbed it from him to make sure he wasn't putting something crazy on Facebook. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "I'm just on my phone being like a grown-up." Moral: children pay attention to every single thing we do.
- Ryder does anything possible to stall at bedtime. John Michael: "Ryder, it's 9:15, you have got to go to bed." Ryder: "Dad, I'll start going to bed at ten, OK?" Then he bends over and says, "Daddy, when you are upside down, a 9 looks like a 6. So it's only 6, so it's not time for bed yet, OK?"
- I put some prescription cream around Ryder's mouth because he keeps licking around his lips and it's getting chapped. I told him not to lick his mouth or this poisonous cream would get in his mouth. About 30 minutes later he starts yelling, "Oh no, I licked my mouth!!! There is poison on my tongue!!!" He had his tongue hanging out I don't even know how long after that so it wouldn't get in his mouth. Gracious! He finished watching his show with his tongue hanging out.
I finally got my blog books printed from 2009, 2010 and 2011. I'll get 2012 printed as soon as I finish posting for the year. Best baby book you can ask for. I've done a lousy job of keeping up their real baby books, but I think it's safe to say the blog books will be a pretty good memory of their childhood.
Ryder is such a teacher. I just sit back and watch as he mentors Rhodes. Here he was showing him the colors and shapes on his jumparoo.
It's blurry, but Ryder has Rhodes' hand here helping him push the buttons on this other contraption I got the other day. We had one of these already, but along with everything else we own - it's in storage - and I wasn't about to go dumpster diving in that pigsty.
Saturday morning was a treat.
Rhodes was waiting patiently to meet his new friend.
We had breakfast with Jeremy, Allyn Ann and Georgia Claire before they flew back to CA that afternoon. Georgia was born about 6 weeks after Rhodes, so this was her first time to Mississippi and our first time meeting her. I love how Rhodes is staring, I don't think he's ever seen a bow before.
Didn't take Ryder long to pick up on the music playing and ask me to dance. Ooooohweee melt my heart.
The whole crew, good times!
Saturday afternoon John Michael went hunting and Ryder was taking a long nap. Instead of putting Rhodes down for his nap I just let him nap on me. Precious moments.
While JM was gone I decided to make spaghetti and wanted to have it ready and waiting for him when he got home. I expected him home around 6:30 so I was rushing to get it ready. Rhodes only had about 2 oz of his bottle left to drink, but the water was about to boil over on the noodles so I had to think fast. I put Rhodes in the swing, which he normally does not like, propped his bottle up on the tray, and had myself a little babysitter. The bottle sat up perfectly on the tray and Rhodes took it down.
Well, it turns out John Michael was going to be much later than 6:30. He shot another big buck, one he has been tracking on his trail cam for awhile now. It's the biggest one he's ever killed, and he says it could possibly be the biggest he'll ever kill in his lifetime, so he is getting it mounted. Yes mounted. Where will we hang this in our nice new home you might ask? TBD.
When he finally made it home, he came bearing gifts. He brought Ryder a Christmas present from "Uncle Jeffrey" since we didn't see him at Christmas. JM told him to close his eyes tight because he had a surprise for him. He had those little eyes squeezed so tight. It was like Christmas morning all over again when he started ripping that paper off.
John Michael, Cousin Eddie and Granddaddy with our new pet.
Welcome to the family...
2012 will come to a close in a few short hours. I can't even believe the way God has blessed us. A few of our top blessings:
- The last day of February, we found out we would be adding another little boy to our family
- In April I turned 28, thankful for another year
- In July we welcomed Rhodes, which has only made life sweeter
- In August we got an offer on our house after being on the market throughout my entire pregnancy and 6 weeks after Rhodes was born
- In September, Ryder turned 3, thankful for another year with him. Boy has he brought so much love and joy into our lives
- A few weeks later we closed on our house, huge relief
- In November we started dirt work for our new house
- In December John Michael turned 32, thankful for another year with him
- Just last week we were able to celebrate Christmas with all of our loved ones, and Rhodes' first Christmas
- Most thankful for healthy children and the love that surrounds us.
