Weekend Review

Another great weekend... except for the cold! While I'm trying to convince myself that I like fall, this whole cold weather thing is sure making it an uphill battle for me. Oh well!

*Friday we had lunch at Five Guys with our high schools buds, David and Kelley. They were in town from Tucson. It was great to see them and hang out for a few hours. And Keven even showed up for a bit, crazy!

*Saturday morning Coleson pulled out another winning tennis match (maybe someday he will win in a mere two sets, but I doubt it!)

*Saturday afternoon we watched Georgia beat Vandy, go Dawgs!

*Ryan set a record for the longest continuous spit by a baby. No kidding, he spat for a good 30 minutes and he thought he was the coolest dude ever. Check out a video clip on my youtube.

*Saturday night we hung out with 10th graders and made the most amazing 3-1/2 minute commercial you'll ever see.

*Sunday we celebrated the cold with chili, yum!

I'm smart and I know it!

Ryan is not one to practice or slowly figure something out. He waits until he can do it and then it just clicks and he's off. For example, he never practiced sitting up. There was no period of time where he was wobbly. Nope, he just didn't sit up at all until about 9 months and then he was good. And pulling himself up. One day he did it and literally walked all around his furniture and he hasn't stopped since. I think he simply watches, takes it all in, and then just does it. For example, his newest trick... Something clicked and he can stack all his rings now. And not only that, but he knows he's doing it right and he shouts "yay!" and claps in between rings. This literally started all at once yesterday afternoon. He'd never even clapped before then. It's hilarious and so much fun. I was so happy and we had such a great time playing and clapping. And he showed off for his Daddy when he got home from work and then for Grandpa and Grandma when they came over for dinner. Yes he's cute, and yes he's smart, and yes you'd better believe he knows it!! If you're interested there are two new videos that you can watch on the link over there on the right.

PS, you may have noticed on the video that he flips the top ring around so that the ball side was face up. That's not a fluke! I've tried and I can't get him to put the ring red side up. No matter which way I hand it to him, he flips it ball side up. And if I put it on for him with the red side up, he flips it back over. I think he's going to be a perfectionist...

New look...

Okay, what do ya'll think? Do you like it? I really like the picture of us as the new header, but not sure I'm sold on the layout of the posts. I'm sure I'll keep playing around, but I think it's getting better and I've already spent way too much time on it for one day! :)

Pumpkins!

Friday we took Ryan to Burt's Farm! Since Ryan was so little this time last year, we weren't able to enjoy all the fun of the season. So this was Ryan's first time to the pumpkin patch. We all had a great time. He 'walked' all through the pumpkins which was really cute and we took a hayride. He loved the hayride - we were at the front so he was able to stand up and watch the tractor that was pulling us. He thought that John Deere was pretty spiffy. We had a picnic lunch by the little creek (Ryan had his first cheeto!) and then we picked out a few little pumpkins to take home with us - a blue one and white one! It was super fun. There are more pictures in our photo albums - click on the link to the right.

Focusing on Fall

I really do love fall. I know that may surprise some people, since I don't usually act like it. This time of year, I tend to start my downward spiral into the wintertime blues. While fall is actually a nice time of the year, I rarely enjoy it because I am dwelling on the coming cold. I associate fall with winter and winter with cold, nasty, dead grass and trees and no color, way too much darkness, being sick, stuck indoors, and all sorts of other negative things. But, not this year. This year I am not going to worry about winter and I am instead going to focus on fall and it's positives and take it one day at a time.

I love fall!
I love college football!
I love marching bands!
I love the beautiful colors of the changing leaves!
I love carving pumpkins!
I love the cool mornings and nights and open windows!
I love being a mother and sharing all sorts of new experiences with my son!
I love that we are taking Ryan to a pumpkin patch tomorrow and we're going on a hayride!
I love people watching at the Cumming Fair!
I love thinking about Halloween and trying to come up with the best costume ever for Ryan!
I love spending time with my family!
I love hot chocolate!
I love real wood burning fireplaces!
I love s'mores!
I love my slippers and my XL Mickey Mouse sweatshirt (even though I do have some pride and I'll never leave the house in it!).

One year checkup

Ryan went for his one year checkup on Friday. He's still skinny, but doing great!

19lbs, 6 oz (7th percentile!)
30 inches tall (57%)
head circumference 19 inches (92%, lots of brains!)

He got four shots :( but did pretty good with them. I'm going to start weaning him and he can drink whole milk now. He can eat just about anything except nuts and shellfish.
He'll go for the next checkup at 15 months.

Down Home Country Fun

I love being a Mom! Last night we took Ryan to the Cumming Country Fair. I really love taking him to new places and watching him experience new things. I loved Ryan as a baby of course, but being one is wonderful. He's showing his personality and interacting and living life and it's so much fun. He had a great time people watching and eating a few bites of funnel cake. And he enjoyed the high dive show; it was so neat to watch his eyes as he tracked the divers climbing up and then jumping down. And of course he points and waves.

I also love being part of a community. We went to the fair with the Isbells and that was great fun. And then we ran into probably eight more families we knew. I just love that small town feel and doing life together (mlc catch phrase!). It was a great night!

Amy's Picks

Check out my current favorite book and movie!




Click on watch trailer and you can see it right here on my blog, isn't that cool? I'm amused. :)

Happy 1st Birthday Ryan!!

One year ago today... :) Wow, I sound like my parents do on my birthday! It's so hard to believe it's already been a year! We've loved every bit of it and we had a wonderful weekend celebrating.

Friday night we headed to Canton to get ready for the party. We had dinner with Nana and Pop-Pop and Uncle Tyler and Jennifer before heading off to do some errands. Saturday morning Coleson played a wonderful and winning tennis match. It was great to watch, esp since he and Tom pulled it out in the 3rd set.

Saturday afternoon - Party!! We had such a great time and we are so thankful to those of you who joined us. It was super special to have Ryan's aunts and uncles in town! We also had several close friends who braved the gas crisis and long drive to join us and we certainly appreciated it! Ryan loved his party and really loved his cupcake. Be sure to check out the online photo album for all the fun. After Ryan's party we got to continue celebrating with Auntie Sarah and Jennifer who also have birthdays.

Saturday night we watched a very frustrating Georgia game. Yes, Alabama played well the whole game, but my goodness we played terrible, esp the first half! If we had played an 1/8 as well as we did against Arizona State, we could have had ourselves a little game. But oh well, we still love our Dawgs!

Sunday we enjoyed brunch with Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Lolly, and Brian. Then we drove around like fools with Nana and Auntie Sarah trying to find the RiverFest fair only to realize it ended at five and we had to pay for admission - not really worth it since it was already 3:00. Oh well!!

Anyways, we've had such a wonderful weekend and it's only just now Ryan's actual birthday! More fun to come I'm sure. :)

our big boy!

Ryan's a big boy now! He has his new forward facing car seat! He's only been in it three short rides, but so far I think he likes it. I know I do! I love that I can see him and that he can get the ac better. He loves holding the arm rests and chillin' and looking out the window. And when I come around to take him out he waves at me. I think it will be much nicer and easier for all our travels to have him facing us.

Only five more days until the big one!