Making memories

We've loved the snow, making snowmen, and sledding.
Cousin Donovan's house has many great toys. One of K's favorites is the drum set. He rocked out with some real rhythm.

Toys, books, cars, big boy things galore!!!

This is definitely a "Kyle" face. We love his little hair sticking up to the side.

Kyle loves his GG and loves being a helper.

Kyle's beautiful Auntie Ray and me. Love getting to spend time with Ru's brothers and sister.

Mr. Silly being quite silly.

The family (left to right): Ben and Rachel, Lauren and Ryan, Kaylee and Randy, Gina, Ru, Kyle and me.

The kids and their significant others.

Gina and her kids.

A White Christmas!

Christmas morning at Aunt Donna's house.

Christmas Eve we flew in to Chicago to be with Rudy's family and get to see my brother and sister-in-law. The flight was non-stop (yay!) and Kyle was again, an excellent little traveler. This time, being a few months older, Kyle devoured everything about the airport, plane, passengers, and his favorite - the window shade! Up and down it went with my cute little boy's head looking out the window announcing every light he saw. He was a riot :) and even took a nice nap. We knew there was snow, but we were suprised at how beautiful it was. We couldn't have asked for a better Christmas welcome! Kyle got to touch and play in the snow for the first time ever. He calls it "_no" because he can't say the Ss sound yet. So far, he really likes sled rides and exclaiming how cold the "no" is.

Although we're still here, I thought I'd start this posting spree so that there won't be so many pictures to post when we get home. I uploaded about 250 halfway through the trip, but I'm trying my hardest to limit it to a few per category. Maybe facebook will see a few more.

So here goes... Kyle's 1st Christmas in Chicago!

Flying his Southwest plane while looking at our big plane outside.

Proudly sporting his new monkey backpack! So cute!

"Whee!!" Kyle says.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful and COLD!!!!!!!!!! We love it.

Our mini monsoon

I know it's pretty lame to write a post about the weather, especially when that weather is rain. But here in SoCal, that's all the weather we have. And we've had some crazy rain for southern California ... 5 days solid and 3 more heavier days predicted yet. Where are we? I can't remember 8 days of rain since I was in high school and even then it only happened once. I'm not complaining though. I love the rain. Since it happens so infrequently, it's something of a novelty. However, keeping Kyle indoors for 5 days so far? Yikes. We're getting a bit stir crazy. :) Luckily Ru is home with us and, being the brains of our imaginative operation, has come up with super creative ways to play. Some of our favorites have been the mazes, indoor fishing expeditions, art shows, and puddle jumping. And now I'm beginning to see what my friends who deal with actual weather are going through right about now. What happened to the days of curling up in a blanket with some hot cocoa and a good book?

We're glad GG will be coming for a visit tomorrow (Tuesday) to add some new fun to our routine. Then, what in the world do we do on Wednesday? :) Poor Shmu, no more parks for a while. The day it's supposed to finally clear up we'll be headed to genuine winter weather in Chicago. We are super excited!! We know it will be cold, but we're looking forward to a real (hopefully white) Christmas.

Some pictures of our recent days:

Shmu had quite the getup as we pieced together everything we could find to play in the rain.

Kyle cracking up while watching Ru and I play ping pong on our coffee table. Then, Ru teaches K how to spin his paddle.

Good thing we found this race track recently at a garage sale. Yay for a $1 distraction! :)
Lots of indoor projects. Kyle loves to study what we do, especially if Papa is the teacher.
A trip to Chuck-E-Cheese. Kyle looking a bit overwhelmed by all the lights and noise.
Riding a baby "roller coaster."


Then back to our place for some "Baby Signing Time" with dinner and ice-cream.

And another go at the race track before heading off to bed.

One more down and ONE more to go!!!

Ru just finished his most challenging semester of the entire program. The craziness of the semester began with 3 weeks of midterms in October and it didn't let up until the last of his 3 weeks worth of finals today. This week was a big one with 6 exams in 4 days. Needless to say, we are all breathing a sigh of relief. And an even bigger sigh that we're ONE semester away from graduation!!! I seriously looked up graduation invitations yesterday, just poking around... :)

Ru usually works during his breaks, but we are unsure of how much work, if any, he'll be able to get this break, so we're going to enjoy every day we have together. I guess if we're looking on the bright side of things, it's nice that Ru's still in school so we have similar vacations. And he's definitely earned some time off!

I finished my first semester in Kindergarten P.E. Wow. Never thought I'd say I taught Kindergarteners. It's been fun and challenging and all around perfect, in large part because my mom (and sometimes my sister) take care of Kyle. I think I've mentioned more than once how much, after having Kyle, I felt I wanted/needed to be home with him. However, I've been completely at ease leaving him knowing that I wasn't abandoning him (as it could have felt like) because he was with family and because he absolutely adores my mother and sister. I think my worries prior to this job were due in large part to very real, crazy, post pregnancy hormones. While I was nursing Kyle around the clock and he was still so dependent on me, I was crushed to the core just thinking about leaving him. It went against every newly acquired maternal instinct I had. However, after Kyle turned one and I knew he could survive without me, the idea of working wasn't as bad. Add that to the fact that he's with my mom and I only work part time and we have a very doable situation. I'm so thankful.

Kyle Dakota? He's rummaging through books beside me, most often pulling out his absolute favorite, llama llama red pajama by Anna Dewdney. If not reading, he's climbing and if not climbing, he's trying to open things or figure out how they work. One of his recent loves is coloring. He gets to color a picture every Sunday in his little class and we've already started our collection. :) He's actually the only child who gets to color. The others are content to play in the room, but Kyle? He wants to climb stairs, go outside, etc. and the only way the volunteers can keep him happy inside is by letting him color! Speaking of which, Ru and my mom called it a few months ago and I had to agree a while back, that Kyle most likely will be left-handed. He can use both, but always transfers his spoon or marker or whatever to his left hand to use. It definitely suits him. He couldn't possibly go along with the majority. And we like it, because that's SO our Shmu. :)

So, the 3 of us are home, vacation is finally here and we're going to try and enjoy every bit of it!!

Kyle visits Mommy's work

Last week, my mom and sister brought my Silly Little Dinker for a visit at my old school where I grew up going and later taught before being laid off. I get to come back and teach a couple of Kindergarten P.E. classes in the old playground where I spent every day/year of my childhood watching my mom teach. I loved having them visit. While I taught, Kyle played with all the sand toys and jungle gym equipment. Then, we ate lunch and visited with my former colleagues who really only knew of Kyle while he was in me.

Kyle kicking the ball! I've seen hundreds of kids out here, so it really took my breath away to see MINE! :)

These pictures are from back at my parents' house and a local park.

Kyle loves his monkeys.

This expression is so Kyle when he's thinking and on the verge of pointing out something new.

Thanks so much, Mom and Michelle, for the peace of mind you give me while watching Kyle and for all the fun he has with you. And thank you for bringing the little love of my life to visit me! :)

Following Doctor's Orders...

So far, his favorite flavor of ice cream is chocolate. As you can see from these pictures, he's pretty happy and pretty messy. This is definitely an outside snack. ;)

Kyle was told he could eat ice cream 3 times a day if he wanted to. What kid wouldn't want to hear that? It seems so wrong, yet our pediatrician told us today that Kyle gets to break all the rules. Wow. So, because ice cream is one of the very, very few things Kyle will eat, we are to encourage it as much as possible. Whole fat ice cream here we come! Oh, and fried anything is recommended as well. So all those donuts I've been telling Ru not to give? I guess Kyle gets them, too. Man! So the very saying we tease my dad about, "Let's get donuts for the kids," is actually legit around here!! My dad would be proud. Maybe there is a little Thune* in him after all!

*My dad's whole family is known for eating ice cream at 10pm every night of their lives. No joke. My dad probably has 5 different 1/2 gallon tubs in his freezer right now and will (hopefully) soon be adding chocolate to his collection. :)

Our Silly

Where is Kyle?

Yep, on top of our bookshelf.
We were there every step of the way... but our little guy is quite the rock climber and a problem solver. He currently moves furniture to get up on the things he wants to. This includes our kitchen table, desk and window ledges. And he gets on our chairs without using the foot rest, but by swinging his leg way up high. Our "child-proof" apartment keeps needing more work! :)

And pardon the blurry picture and Kyle's messy shirt, but look who's wearing mommy's shoes? He put one on all by himself and tried to walk.


And a little video with bad lighting, but pretty darn cute!

A visit from Auntie Michelle

We just had another great visit from Auntie Michelle. She and my mom have come to the rescue so many times that by now, I know I've lost count. I'm so thankful that my sister has had a flexible schedule and is able to help out even at a moments notice. One of those moments recently involved meeting me along the freeway to help entertain Kyle for our total of 3 hours in the car to visit my grandma and attend a meeting regarding her care. It was SO much more enjoyable, not to mention productive, with her there! ;)

Her last visit enabled Ru to study while I went to a baby shower and then the both of us got to go to a Christmas party later on that evening. Michelle spent the night, and even took care of Kyle in the morning so I could "sleep" in, and miracle of all miracles (even with the drugs) got Kyle to eat a WHOLE grilled cheese sandwich!! (Just don't ask how long it took or what theatrical measures were needed!) Then, we got to hang out, go to the park, shop, etc. I love you, Michelle!!!!

Our jeep ride to the park:

Kyle told Auntie he wanted her to join him in the other swing and then smiled when she obeyed.

Thanks, Michelle, for everything... including how much you know and love him by now.

Hello, December!!

I love this time of year. And this year, we were actually on top of our game. We had our little decorations up the day after Thanksgiving and bought our tree the following day. Then the day after that we got our family pictures taken and Christmas cards ordered! Hooray! All is done, decorated and Kyle loves it! :) He can't stop saying "light" and pointing at every.single.light on the Christmas tree. So far, he's done super well with leaving the tree alone. We taught him to "touch nice" and somehow he gets that the things on it are supposed to stay there. So far so good.

Although he still doesn't understand what's going on, it is so fun to see him take an interest in the things of the season.

Hope you all have a wonderful December!!