THANKSGIVING 2013

Sooo much to be Thankful for, Family (both near and far, both two and four legged) being number one! 

I'm Thankful for Nic and her valiant attempt to capture our annual Thanksgiving Wright Family Photo in Mom's yard by the big tree....

Ryder apparently, was not as thankful for this photo op as I was....

 I informed him that as long as he is part of this Family, he WILL be in the photo, whether he smiles or not! LOL

 He protested til the bitter end!

 He was slightly happier when I held him, but still refused to look at the camera. Ha ha!

We had a little better luck capturing the kids before the actual Family shot:

We dressed Payton the same way we dressed Ryder for his first Thanksgiving and took the sameish pic to compare...amazes me how much they look alike (as long as Payton has a hat on, she difinitely has more hair than Ryder ever had.)

 This is my fav of Ryder and Payton with Grammy. Too bad I'm in it. LOL

I am thankful for the luxury of being able to enjoy leisure activities and for the time we get to spend having fun with friends and Family.  
While at Mom's for the Thanksgiving weekend, we got to go to a Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch as a Family.

A pic of just us girls!

 The Wrights

 They had these adorable mini tractors that the kids could actually drive!

 There were drums so The Wrights had a little jam session!

 The Pumpkin Cannon was loud. This was as close as Ryder would get.

I am thankful that we are all able to work and that we all have jobs to go to (I am also thankful for my year long maternity leave from my job.)  While we were at Mom's we all pitched in to help get her acreage ready for winter! It's always more fun to do chores when they are not at your own house!

...and when chores involve riding the quad!

 ..and feeding horses carrotts!

 Payton did her part by sleeping outside so we could all keep working while keeping an eye on her.

 Teamwork!

 Lovin' our time out of the city, in the country, in the barn!

 Marty is master of the chain saw, lumberjack jacket and winning his little girl's heart!

Since it is time to specifically reflect on the things we are thankful for I would be amiss if I didn't end this Blog entry by cheesily counting my blessings one more time!

I am Thankful for all the gifts in my life, the people, the animals, the adventures, the jobs we have, the Tassimo coffee machine on my counter and the health we've been blessed with.  

I am also thankful for the tantrums, the pee on the bathroom floor, the three or four times a night I wake to feed my baby, the very early mornings, the sticky handprints all over everything, the little jars of prunes overtaking my fridge, the trucks that fill every square inch of our livingroom and all the other things that signify I have healthy, spirited, strong willed, happy children.  I feel lucky, blessed and slightly exhausted.  I hope to continue to be blessed with all of these for a long long time!  Cheers!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Kiss your babies, count your blessings and try to be thankful every day...for something!

MINNESOTA OCTOBER 2013

Ryder, Payton and I have just returned from the USA! We went, with Mom to Minnesota for the weekend (Thursday to Monday) to celebrate my cousin's wedding.  I havn't seen my Mom's side of the family for 2 years. Ryder was Payton's age the last time I was there. It was sooo much fun to see everyone again and to watch the kids play!! So many kids and so many laughs. 

So glad Mom was with us as we had alot of luggage! Alot! She corralled the luggage and I corralled the kids! We made a great team!

 

Peanut, standing against the window watching her big brother watching the planes.

The hotel had a pool, so there was lots of swimming!

Ryder got braver every day, even jumping off the side into my arms!

 Of course, Ryder spent most of his swimming time driving trucks and towing McQueen with the help of goggles and Mater! LOL

 Mom even bought Peanut a floatie thing so she could play too!

After swimming there were tubbies. Ryder was a tub toy hoarder! Ha ha!

WE had time to visit the Komo Zoo. It is a free zoo with amazing animals! Ryder loved rolling with his big cousins through the zoo!

Garrett loved carrying Peanut everywhere!! She was such a great little baby whisperer!

 Grammy snuggles!

Alex's wedding was Saturday night.  We all got to get dressed up, even Payton Jeanne!

 

 

Uncle Pic and Ryder had the best time together! Pic convinced Ryder to get out there and "dance with chicks" Ryder kept running off the dance floor to let Pic know that he had been dancing with chicks! Ha ha!

 This is what little boys do at weddings....

 ..and when they get bored of that, they start digging in the cake! LOL

 This is what little girls do at weddings: hold babies!

 The day after the wedding, Mom, Ryder, Payton and I headed to Grandma Mimi's house half an hour away.  It has been several years since I'd seen Grandma and she had never met either one of my kids. Finally she got the chance!!! I was sooo excited for my children to be wrapped in Grandma Mimi's warm embrace!  It was the end of a very exciting trip, so both kids were super tired and a little crankier than normal, but Grandma won them over!  We were lucky because we also got to see my cousins Rachel and Mary Beth and their families and my Aunt and Uncle while we were there! So many kids and so much love!! We made sure to soak up as many hugs and as much love as we possibly could for we had no idea when we will all be together again!

Grandma Mimi and Payton

 Looks like Xavi got cut out of this pic. I am sure someone got a pic of all the kids with Gramma but apparently it wasn't me. LOL

 

Oh, here's a better one of all of us!

 Bye bye my sweet, happy Grandma Mimi!! We love you!

Today was filled with melt downs from a very tired two year old, but every fit he threw was so worth the weekend of partying filled with family, love and late bed times!! Thank you everyone for all the happy memories!!! We love you and miss you and hope we get to be together again soon!!!

Kiss your babies, count your blessings and go visit your family!!!!

PLAYING TRUCKS

 Ryder, my sweet little independent Ryder.  My boy who has always played trucks all by himself for hours has suddenly discovered the joy of playing with others and now he incessantly asks, "play with me?" over and over all day long.  I'm definitely a "hands on Mom," but I can only handle playing trucks for so long, so when the neighbourhood kids and by neighborhood kids I mean girls, came knocking the other day to see if "Ryder can come out to play?" I sent him out with his bucket of trucks. Of corse he is only 2 years old and the neighbors range in age from 3-10 years old, so I wasn't just gonna send him out without spying on him! I struggle all the time with the fine line of letting go and hanging on, but 2 just seems a little young to be outside running around with the neighborhood gang without some kind of adult supervision. So every few minutes Peanut and I walked outside to spy on him.  The first time, I expected to find Ryder playing trucks by himself next to the group of kids while they played one of their more complex games, but to my surprise, I found all of the kids gathered around his bucket, choosing trucks to play with! Ryder looked so proud to be sharing and so happy just to be a part of the group.  They made up some racing game and were playing so well together that when it was time, I had to drag Ryder inside for dinner.  The next day, after they got home from school, the kids all came knocking again, only this time Ryder and I were on a dog walk.  As we came up the street the girls spotted us and started yelling, Ryder! Ryder! His chest puffed out with pride and excitement as he ditched his Mom to go play! They all ran to our house, grabbed his bucket of trucks off the front lawn and headed to the soccer field behind our houses to race trucks down the hills.

Hard for me to get pics of all the kids without looking like a creeper...

Ryder is seriously obsessed with trucks. It never ceases to amaze me how he never ever, ever gets tired of playing trucks.  He would play all day if he could. Sometimes he does.  Everywhere he goes, he brings trucks with him.  Every friend he meets, he gets them to play trucks with him and if you ever ask him, "What are you going to do today?" He'll inevitably answer: Play trucks!

Everyday, after nap (if he takes a nap, he's been trying to give that up, but I am desperately clinging to it) Ryder looks out his window to see if the "neighborhood kids" are outside. If they are not, he will play trucks by himself or I will get to play with him. Sometimes Marty is home and he can play too. Marty is better at playing trucks than me. I'm good at making play dough, which I did the other day. Marty made jumps for Ryder's monster trucks!

He plays trucks in the front yard, in the dirt even when it's cold outside.

 He plays trucks in the house. Everywhere in the house, his favorite locations are: on the train table (no trains or tracks on Ryder's train table, only trucks, on the stairs, in the bathtub(with no water in it) in our ensuite bathroom while I'm getting ready in the morning and right under the jolly jumper. You should see our house, every square inch is covered in trucks!

 When he is not pushing his trucks, he's pretending to drive them!  Notice that Peanut is always a part of the action. She actually loves watching and listening to Ryder play trucks. I wonder if she will play trucks when she gets bigger or if she will have her own obsession...

 Sometimes, when he's really lucky, Ryder gets to play with real trucks!!

 

 Ryder's imagination amazes me. He comes up with all kinds of scenarios. Most of them panic situations that involve the need for a fire truck or a tow truck. He plays loud and he plays intense and it makes him sooo happy!

Kiss your babies, count your blessings and get down on your knees and play trucks every once in a while!