Belvedere Castle Ice Festival

I already feel like we have been cooped up inside and it hasn't even been too cold! Luckily today was a beautiful day and we headed out to the Ice Festival at Belvedere Castle.  I read that besides the carving, there were things for the kids to do (which we couldn't find) but it was still really cool.  These pictures aren't the best because I actually never got to close-I was holding my camera up and snapping away. Chris took the boys up and they got to look down on it. I would have loved to see it when it was completely finished.

 As we were walking out we ran into a co-worker and his daughter. They all played in this huge (probably dead animals, etc) pile of leaves for awhile before we headed to the playground.

Hoping for more nice days this winter but I think we are heading into the cold-ahhhh!!

Ryan at 3 years old

Ryan was not excited about going to the doctor for his checkup. I am not sure what had him so scared, but he did actually let them weigh him (without me! Woohoo!) and do his height and blood pressure (all while promising a lollipop too…) He cracked me up when the doctor came in though. He was out of his funk and the doctor drew pictures of a circle, square and triangle and asked him to tell him what shapes they were. Ryan answered, oval, don't know and christmas tree. I thought, geez, he does at least know his shapes! Hah.
At 3, Ryan is 37 inches and 30.5 pounds.
~He obviously LOVES the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (thanks, Dennis D:)
~He loves books. He will tell you he can't read yet and doesn't know the letters, but loves to look at them and asks you to "talk about the pages."
~He loves to help in the kitchen and watch football. Now if I could just get him to use the toilet…
~He still loves almost all foods. I hope it never changes.
~He pretty much hates having his picture taken (how is he mine?!)
~He has the same hawk like memory that Andrew had at 3. When Dottie was here a few weeks ago I told him I was going by the grocery store while I ran errands. He kept asking me if I was going to see the "at." I couldn't for the life of me think of what he was saying (he does leave off a fair amount of consonants). Finally, I remembered that about a month prior we had gone to the store and they had a huge inflatable rat for construction guys protesting. Rat, yes, might be near the store.
~He is hilarious. After wearing a thermal/waffle shirt under his Ravens jersey one day, he wanted to remove it  and just wear his jersey. Mama, he said, can you take off my pancake shirt.  Waffles/Pancakes…they are both yummy syrupy breakfast foods right?! One morning he also kept asking if I had a horsey tail that day. Can I see your horsey tail, etc. Finally I said, you mean my ponytail?
~He is SUPER, SUPER finicky. The ONLY way something can be done is HIS way. The ONLY way. PERIOD. PERIOD AGAIN.
~When he is in a good mood, he is super sweet to his family and worries about his friends.
~Even though baby #3 isn't here, he is a super goob/acts just like stereotypical middle child.
~Sucks his thumb more now than ever. We will have to worry about this one with the potty training…at a later date.
~He is crazy about Andrew, Andrew's toys, and Andrew's friends. I don't think that will ever change.

Happy 3rd Birthday Ryan!!

We had a three day three year old celebration!!

On Friday we started with a little lunch for a few of his friends. Whenever you asked him about his birthday though, he didn't want to "go to it". I think parts of it excited him, but strangely, around a lot of people, he does not like to be the center of attention. 

                            He was super excited about getting wrapped up in these balloons.

               He loves these mask and likes to wear numerous ones per day. The turtles have definitely made a come back, but it was really hard to find party supplies!

 He was not crazy about the singing as you can tell. He devoured the cupcake, but that is a different scenario.

Ryan's friends ~River

 ~Olivia                                                                ~Braxton

 ~Felix. I missed pictures of RJ, Ricky, and Quinn

 Birthday morning pancakes

 Uncle Pat, cousin Anna & Thomas and friends were in the city for Anna's 21st so they all joined us for lunch at Shake Shack.

 (This picture made me make a haircut appointment for Andrew!)

                                         Someone WAS excited about his TMNT cake this time!!

Only in a NYC apartment do you have shorts on with your Christmas tree!

Little Kitchen Helper

Ryan likes to help me in the kitchen ALL the time. Most the time he doesn't care what we are making. Andrew is strictly a sweets helper. Tonight he helped with some coconut shrimp that was delicious. You can see the level of concentration with his tongue out. 

HAPPY NEW YEARS 2013!!

I honestly can't believe we have finished 2012! Where did the year go?! And more importantly, we have finished half our time here in the city!! I am super excited about that (and a tiny bit sad). We can't wait to see what 2013 holds for all our loved ones!