Grandma Kelley Comes To Town- Day One

Grandma Barb landed at 0951 and we had her feet in the sand at Coronado Beach by 1030! Ryan instantly bonded with her, which made her very happy!! He remembered how much fun she was when we were in Indiana for his 1st birthday and in Chicago for cousin Melanie's wedding and knew he had a great week ahead of him!

The Park with The Petey

On yet another beautiful San Diego day, Sarah and I decided to take our guys to a park near their house for a little bit of exercise and as a reward for being SUPER AWESOME while their mommies had lunch with some other mommies! Well, it turned out to be a pretty hot day and we didn't stay as long as planned, but the kids seemed to have fun! I think they had more fun playing with the strollers than on the hot playground equipment!

Day off with Daddy

Trav had the day off, so we decided to run a few errands and eat at the wonderful Haciend de Vega in Escondido! It is a precious outdoor restaurant with a kid friendly grass area and fountain that had Ryan and Trav's name written all over it! They ran around for a bit, then threw our mortgage into the fountain one coin at a time! Hey, whatever makes the Ryfighter happy! We had a wonderful lunch while enjoying the gorgeous San Diego sunshine!

Climber for Candy Corn

BUSTED! Ryan mastered climbing on the kitchen table to get the candy corn vase filler! He acted like it was no big deal, then offered Travis a piece! Isn't he sweet?

November 1st

So, what did you do on Sunday, November 1st? Well, the Kelley's decided to enjoy the beautiful San Diego day and head down to the beach for a little fun in the sun! Ryan and Mommy had a great time digging a hole to China and Daddy and Ryan enjoyed hunting for the perfect shells and getting their feet wet!

The First Ride in the Tacoma

Ryan and I were walking home from the neighborhood park when Travis drove up on his way home from being gone all weekend. So, we strapped Ryan into the passenger seat and off they went....smiling the whole way home! Both of their dreams came true in that one little moment! Ryan is currently obsessed with Trav's truck, but little does he know that Trav plans on it being his first car! Poor Ryan!

Choo Choo Crazy

Ryan was such a trooper while I was shopping for a dress and shoes for the ball, so I decided he deserved a special treat....a ride on the choo choo! It is the cutest thing and such a great idea! A trackless train that cruises the mall from end to end and double backs to made the ride worth the $3 per person! Ryan LOVED IT and stood at the back of the caboose the ENTIRE TIME waving and saying HI to all the people we passed! When we got off he threw a little tantrum (a new thing, but not the first), but I promised him we would go again..which we will be doing today because I still need to find shoes! On our way out of the mall we passed the coin operated vehicles that every kid loves and sure enough he pointed and ran straight to them! So, I reached in my wallet and dug out 75 cents to give my child a few extra minutes of joy in another train and awesome vintage convertible!! $1.50 is NOTHING compared to the grin on his face and the vroom vroom noises he was making! Love it!

Little Picasso

Gymboree offers an art class for kids Ryan's age, so we decided to check it out on Thursday and LOVED it! He was so cute sitting at the little paper covered table, wearing an art smock while coloring. Then we moved onto something NEW and EXCITING....PAINTING! The teacher had paper hanging from the wall and each child had one color and a brush and just got to go nuts! He was so cute dipping his brush to get more paint. Then we made fall trees using textured sand paper for the trunk and experienced glue for the first time! Once that project was over we moved on to our autumn wreath using glue again! This time it was all mommy, but he did help by placing the black beans on the dots of glue, which was good for his fine motor skills! I was so proud of him that he just sat there with me, while the other kids were running all around acting crazy! He genuinely was interested in the project at hand! I had a great time being creative and learning new and fun ideas to do with Ryan at home! I think a paint purchase an easel is in our future!! (the pics/videos were taken with my cell phone, so they are poor quality!)

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My little Monkey

While I was packing Ryan's lunch box for our quick outing to the mall, I noticed he was being awfully quiet. When I left him he was playing in the playroom, but when I found him he was playing.....on TOP OF THE DESK in the office!!!! EEK! My life has officially changed! I am now the mother of a MONKEY!!!

Trick or Treating

We had a great time trick-or-treating for the first time! Ryan's costume came a few weeks ago and he did NOT like wearing the hood, but on Halloween night he donned it like it was an old hat! I think he was caught up in all the the excitement and wanted to be part of all of the fun! My good friend, Sarah Nannen, encouraged me to make our costumes and after many tries I somehow managed to pull them off! (She did an AMAZING job making her Leah and Luke Skywalker costumes) Trav looked fantastic and really enjoyed being the scarecrow! He was a little hesitant about wearing the makeup, but once it was on he was excited! My dress was FAR from perfect, but if you took a close look you could see all the uneven hems, off centered front, and of course BLOOD! However, I did face a fear of mine and actually sewed a zipper!!! Woo Hoo! We had a few of our friends and their little ones over for some appetizers and toddies and headed out for some good ol' trick-or-treating! Our neighborhood is quite hilly, so Dorothy's ruby slippers were killing her within the first 15 minutes, but she pulled through! The Scarecrow thoroughly enjoyed taking his little Lion to all of the doors and had perma-grin most of the night! We met some nice neighbors, loaded up on lots of yummy candy and had a great time sharing our FIRST OFFICIAL Halloween with some wonderful friends!

Our Pumpkins

Ryan had a great time helping Trav carve his pumpkin and Trav had fun having to stop every few minutes to take some sharp object away from Ryan. I rushed to get mine done while cooking dinner, unloading the dishwasher, cleaning the house for the party we were having the next day, sewing costumes, etc. The end result was a great memory and two pumpkins for our porch!

These Boots Were Made For Ryan

My friend, Lori Rozas, sent Ryan these boots when he was just a few weeks old and we were excited to discover that they FINALLY fit him! He is still trying to figure out how to walk in shoes with a heel, but it hasn't seemed to slow him down. The next day I told him that we needed to put his shoes on and he went straight for his red boots! I love being the mom of THAT kid in the shorts and boots! Now all we need is a cape!