Christmas 2010

We spent Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa Schwarz, Christmas Day morning at our house so Ryan could wake up in his own bed and open Santa's gifts, and then traveled to Lancaster to spend the rest of the day with Oma and Opa Rodman and Nanny, and later Aunt Jenny, Uncle Nate, and Cousin Lucas. Daddy was a very good sport through his horrible cold and we got home just in time to welcome 12 inches of snow! We thoroughly enjoyed watching the expressions on Ryan's face as he was opening his gifts - they were priceless. We clearly knew which presents Ryan liked the most as he wanted to open them immediately after unwrapping them instead unwrapping the next gift. Highlights included his monster truck, Hess truck, Smart Cycle, electronic keyboard, skate board, puzzles, stamps, dvds, books, trains, bath toys and clothes. And candy canes and lollipops of course! This Christmas was neat because he basically understood that Santa was going to bring him presents if he was a good boy - he also can sing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer with help from mommy :)

December Activities

December has been full of fun for Ryan. He visited Santa on many different occasions, saw the trains at Morris Arboretum again and again, made and ate a gingerbread man, said goodbye to his therapist, Sheila (Mommy thinks that she was more of a therapist for her though!), and lounged with Daddy who is supporting Ryan's monster truck habit by taping rallies on the Speed Channel. Last but not least, check out Ryan's "take" on his new Nativity set from his Great Aunt Nancy and family. Hint - Thomas the train is involved! Back to the drawing board for Mommy and Daddy!!!

Dear Santa

I left Ryan and Daddy with a project to work on while I was out with some fellow mommy friends. This letter for Santa was provided by his pre-school and he was to bring it with him when he sat on Santa's lap. Daddy and Ryan couldn't have done a better job with Ryan's first letter to Santa. Speaking of firsts, I have included a shot of Ryan's first homemade Christmas ornament as well.

Breakfast with Santa

We attended a Breakfast with Santa fundraiser to fund the building of a playground in East Falls this morning and we were shocked that Ryan sat on Santa's lap and even smiled for the camera. It took him about 5 minutes to give Santa a high five at the mall when we walked by him a few weeks ago so I thought there was no hope for today. Maybe that fact that we promised he could pick one of the toys they were selling had something to do with it ;)

I write this post as Ryan and Daddy are watching Monster Trucks on the Speed channel - this isn't a channel in Daddy's personal rotation if you get what I mean!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Guess what? We had our first snow flurries of the season on Thanksgiving morning! We let Ryan out on our deck in his PJs but the snow flakes unfortunately did not show up in the picture. I didn't get shots of Ryan dressed up until after we ate and his sweater reflects that....

Halloween 2010

Wow - Did Ryan ever have a hectic week last week! We were in Lancaster and since trick or treating was on Friday night there (it happens when Halloween falls on a Sunday) we stayed an extra night to trick or treat with cousin Lucas. And then Ryan got to do it all over again on Sunday night for the first time in our new neighborhood! Halloween was indeed a real treat this year as this was the first year that he were pretty aware of what was happening. Ryan's token phrases were "next house" when we were going around the neighborhoods and "more people" every time our door bell rang. He still asks for his bucket for a treat all of the time and it's safe to say that his favorite candy this year was candy corn and lollipops. We also found time to paint a Thomas pumpkin, go to Cherry Crest Adventure Farm, carve a pumpkin with daddy, and trick or treat at Grandma and Grandpa Schwarz's house.