Pizza night!

So there's a Friday night tradition that my aunt Ginny and uncle Rich in Iowa hold dear...pizza nights. From what I understand, they have people over to their house and order pizza most Friday nights...friends & family alike. While I've never been to Iowa for a pizza night, whenever my aunt and uncle come to town, they bring the tradition with them.

We missed out on their recent visit to the Lou due to the plague that cursed our house for two weeks after Xmas, but their son (my cousin Brian) and his wife and kids were in town this weekend, so we got another shot at pizza night tonight.

It's always awesome to see my cousins and family that I don't get to see all that often, even though many of them do live in St. Louis -- and tonight was a really fun, but rare chance to see all 5 great grandkids together. Yes, it was chaotic...but it was so much fun watching all of them, wondering if that's what my cousins and I were like back in the day.

They were roaring, hopping like frogs, counting and even reciting spanish to each other. Ok, so Ryan just ran around and watched - but he still had fun. Best of all, we got a shot of great grandma with all of her great-grandkids. I love it. More than you can know.

From left to right, that's Haedyn, Great Grandma Jinnie, Cooper, Grace, Ryan and Natalie.

Yes, my kid's the only one not smiling...but he doesn't quite understand the idea of group photos yet. :) Regardless, it's still a great shot that we'll treasure for a long time to come.

Golden Arches

It had to happen at some point, right? Ryan has accompanied us to McDonalds a time or two in his life, but never really eaten there...until today. Stephen and I took him as a treat (after he patiently hung out with us on a few errands this morning) and today, Ryan had his very first happy meal.

Seriously, it was a very happy meal. :) Ryan was all smiles:

Let's just say that chicken nuggets were a hit:

Ok, ok, so were the fries:

Here's Ryan and daddy with the famous arches:

Ryan's favorite part of the meal? Probably the Alvin and the Chipmunks "The Squeakquel" toy - a little girl chipmunk that says "it's so beautiful" when you push her head. You can bet we heard that line about 1,000 times on the short car ride home.

All in all, Ryan went through another rite of passage to toddlerdom today -- add that to his newfound ability to spin until he's so dizzy he falls down, to "wink" (i.e. squinting both eyes like he's eating something really sour), and his slowly increasing vocabulary (i.e. saying "backpack" when he sees Dora the Explorer, "papa" anytime he sees a man in a hat, etc.) and you've got a kid who is growing up fast!

Now that things have settled down from the holidays and we're all well again after a long bout with a nasty cold virus, I hope to be posting more often. Love to you all!

Holiday-palooza

Hello, everyone! The Trammell house is recovering from our Christmas and New Year celebrations...unfortunately with nasty colds. While we're quarantined, I thought I'd post just a few pics from the last weeks to share some of our fun and excitement. Apparently I was so busy having fun that I took very few pictures. (whoops)

We celebrated Christmas with the Mungenast family on xmas eve, and the Trammell family on xmas day. Stephen's parents stayed with us over the holiday, so Ryan got some quality time with Grandma and Papa Trammell and loved every minute. Next, cousin Jayden from Tulsa came to visit, along with Aunt Jennifer, Uncle Zach and cousins Tyler and Conner from Virginia. They stayed for the week after xmas. We had a full house, but it was so much fun!

Ryan isn't quite ready to hold his own with his 8.5, 6.5 and 3.5 yr-old cousins. While he can't keep up, he still had fun watching them playing and being entertained by their funny faces, hugs and kisses. He also is beginning to work on his first set of molars, so he was extra drooly and whiny, which was awesome. Add in his cold and you've got a recipe for an extra fun toddler... :) Despite all the drool and snot, we truly enjoyed our holidays this year!

People often say that Ryan "looks like a little man," so we dressed him like a little gentleman for xmas eve:

Ryan and cousin Haedyn (22 months) had a ball on xmas eve playing with bows, new toys and each other. The vast majority of the time, they looooove each other (hence this smooch):

But sometimes, things get a little competitive, especially when they stay up waaaay past their bedtimes, hence the following shove: (I love that I caught this at the perfect moment..it makes me giggle every time I look at it, so I had to share)

Santa even paid us a visit at Nana and Papa Mungenast's house on xmas eve!

Ryan was super excited about his loot from Santa, including his new favorite lounge spot, his personalized mini arm chair.

Here's a cute shot of Ryan looking like a little elf:

Aunt Karyn, Uncle Lucas and cousin Autumn (1 day older than Ryan) joined us on xmas day, along with Grandma and Papa Trammell, and the kids had a ball playing around each other. Autumn has recently started saying "Ra Ra" when she sees Ryan (or Stephen or me for that matter), and Ryan loves it so much that he too says "Ra Ra" now.

Here's a shot of all the cousins on the Trammell side -- a rare photo opp: (from left to right - Autumn, 14 months; Jayden, 8.5; Ryan, 14 months; Conner, 3.5; and Tyler, 6.5)

Going in to the holidays, I'll admit that I was a little worried that I'd be so busy playing hostess that I wouldn't get to enjoy them as much -- and coming out of a crazy two weeks, I can honestly say that I loved every minute and I'm so grateful that we were able to spend as much time as we did with our family.

Here's to a happy, healthy 2010!

Here we come a caroling...

Here's a bonus post of a very memorable Christmas season activity, thanks to some cute photos taken by our friends Wes and Mara. (Thanks, guys!)

As some of you know, we helped start a Young Families group at our parish last year with a few other couples and one of our young parish priests. The group aims to help parents of young children network and build a stronger faith community (since we don't have school activities yet to introduce us to other parents). It's been going really well, and being at church has been so much better when you look around and know so many of the families around you. If you're interested in learning more about our group, check out our Web site (www.stpeteryoungfamilies.com).

The group decided to go Christmas caroling this year (even though none of us had ever been caroling before) -- so we met at church one evening and sung at nearby homes with our kiddos. Oh yeah, and it was 37 degrees. Brrrrr.

We were not very good singers, but the kids had fun. Ryan even clapped after each song, and kind of sung along to Jingle Bells once. Here's two shots -- one of the group (yes, that's Daddy holding the sign), and one of Ryan's cute little bundled up face. Precious!


Couldn't you just eat him up?

Preparing for Christmas

It's been a while since we've posted -- the cooler weather seems to have tamed our schedule of outings quite a bit! Like everyone, we're spending most of our time now doing things to prepare for Christmas.

We brought home our Christmas tree this past weekend, and Ryan has only touched it once so far (and declared a heartfelt "uh oh" when needles fell off the tree). We haven't put up any decorations on it yet, so we'll see how long until he's climbing it. :)

We've been reading Christmas stories, singing carols, dancing to the holiday stations on the radio and yes, we even visited Santa at the North Pole (a.k.a. Chesterfield Mall). Ryan's been starting the "stranger anxiety" thing a bit lately, so I was nervous, but he instantly reached out to grab Santa's hat and just sat on his lap gazing at him. It was so cute.

Of course, he didn't smile though -- he had his serious face on while he studied this stranger. Enjoy a little piece of Trammell family history...the infamous "Santa" shot:


We've got lots of Trammell family coming to visit over the holidays, so we'll surely have a lot to report on shortly. And in case we don't post beforehand, Merry Christmas!

We are so thankful

This Thanksgiving, we are thankful for so many things: the love and generosity that our family and friends show us each and every day, our health, our talents, and most of all, for the sweet little blessing that attaches to my leg screaming bloody murder at least once a day. :)

We spent turkey day at my grandma Jinnie's house with family, eating all the deliciousness that is Thanksgiving dinner. Ryan had a ball, of course -- playing with my cousin's daughter, Natalie, and with all the adults, too.

Here's Ryan modeling a sweet hat for the occasion. This stayed on about 30 seconds, tops:
My grandma's house backs to a woodsy area very close to a state park, so she often has deer come up for a snack just before dusk. This means that Ryan got to see his first deer up close:
Seriously - close.
Last, here's a shot of great-grandma and Ryan. Disclaimer: Ryan was hyped up on sugar from mooching bites of everyone's pie.
We hope your Thanksgiving was full of family, food and fun! Next up...Christmas!

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Biiiiirrrthdaaaay deeearrrr Ryyyy-aaaaann, Happy Birthday toooo yoooooou!

That's right, Ryan is 1! We've had so much fun celebrating the past few days, and Ryan is digging playing with all his new toys, eating leftover party food and cake, and dragging bunches of helium balloons around the house. Enjoy some photos of the big day and party below!

We started off the birthday with one of Ryan's favorite breakfasts - pancakes - with a Diego candle. Ryan was enthralled, but I'm not sure if it's b/c he liked the candle, or was concerned that his hero was on fire.
We also went out to dinner to celebrate at Red Robin. Ryan colored for the first time with daddy.
Of course, Ryan totally dug the balloons -- Our meals out would sure be a whole lot easier if every restaurant had them.
Ryan even got his first taste of ice cream as a birthday treat, complete with singing, clapping wait staff.
On party day, the b-day boy models a sweet party hat.
Here's Ryan's mini cake that I decorated -- this was to be his own cake to smoosh and eat.

Ryan was mesmerized by the candle...and the prospect of digging in to his cake!

Then, he sampled some...and some more...and some more.

Don't worry, we fed the party guests a separate cake (that I also made) - and yes, most everyone had blue lips and teeth after enjoying it.

Here's a shot of the fam -- Ryan gave me an icing beard, which was pretty sweet.
Our basement is beginning to look like a toy store -- Ryan received a wagon, mower, slide, ball pit, t-ball set, golf clubs, monster tent, trucks and cars, clothes, sit n spin...and so much more - it's overwhelming, but Ryan's loving it. Here's a cute shot of him in his new ball pit.
We're so blessed to have had so many family members around us to celebrate -- Ryan is one lucky boy!