Christmas Decorating and Larkspur Celebrations

The weekend after Thanksgiving we decorated for Christmas.  I was pretty excited since Rilyn is really old enough to help and we could talk about our different ornaments and decorations.  We didn't do tons of decorating since Christmas is in about 2 weeks, but enough to make us crazy with these two little nuts!

Also, Rilyn only lasted about 15 minutes on decorating the tree and Ryder has spent the last 2 weeks trying to take it all down!

Yep we do the whole fake tree thing.  As much as I love real trees they are way to expensive to just throw in the trash a month later!  But I do really wish we had a real tree!

Rilyn setting up her nativity.  She really loves baby Jesus right now and is excited to hold him when he is born.  Yep, not quite getting the whole idea of it already happening.

Decorating the doll's chair

Rilyn's favorite thing to decorate with is candy canes apparently.

Ryder pushing all the nativity pieces around in the stroller

All those candy canes are now at the top of our tree for obvious reasons.

Trixie getting in the Christmas spirit

After decorating we braved the cold (very cold 2 degrees at the time we left the house) to see Santa and enjoy our local Larkspur tree lighting.  They have a huge bonfire and a tent with heaters so we thought we would be okay.  We spent about an hour bundling up and less than 20 minutes there.  Ryder would not stay out of the snow so he was frozen and miserable a.k.a screaming bloody murder for a good 20 minutes.  We think his hands were what got too cold.  He didn't have super warm gloves on but it's hard finding gloves a 16 month will wear.  Especially one that sucks his thumb.

Enjoying a candy cane after the meltdown was over.

Ryder at 16 months

Ryder is really becoming more of a toddler everyday.  He is becoming more independent in the sense of wanting to make his own choices and throwing some good temper tantrums.  Although this month he had become very attached to mama and needs cuddles more often than not.  Rilyn went through this at the same age....I remember because I remember freaking out I was about to have a baby and Rilyn wouldn't let me put her down.  Good thing it only lasted a month or so with her.  Hopefully the same goes for Ryder.  

He is still trying to cut 2 of his last teeth to come through and they have been a real pain. Lots of drool and crankiness.  

This has been the month of new words too!  He is trying to repeat everything he hears and attempting a lot of new words on his own.  I think some new ones this month are more, sissy, Porter, Grandma, and all done. I'm sure there is more it's just getting hard to remember them all now that he is talking so much more.  

He is eating dinner again and this month has decided he likes ravioli, candy, and edamame the most.  His taste preferences seriously change every day so we never know if he is going to like what he gets.  

He is also the dancing king this month.  He loves to dance to Grandma Decker's Santa still and the Sunday night football song.  He is also playing with Rilyn more and she is always asking him to play, which pretty much means they find the loudest toys in the house and chase eachother around like crazy until one of them gets hurts.

We are excited for him to get these teeth popped through and get over a cold he's had since Thanksgiving.  The poor guy has been a little miserable.  It's so much fun though watching him turn into his own little self!  

 I could only get a couple pictures of him before his thumb went in his mouth

 Rilyn wanted to help me by taking his thumb out of his mouth

 He thought she was hilarious of course

 And then she wanted her picture taken and of course this is what I get

Montana Thanksgiving

This year we were able to get to Montana for Thanksgiving!  Yea for the weather cooperating 2 years in a row now!

We left Tuesday night and came back Saturday morning.  Rilyn did great on both trips.  Ryder still struggles a little but did pretty well considering how long the drive is.

Ryder before he realized he had another 4 1/2 hours left in the car.

On Wednesday morning we (me, Rilyn, & Ryder) all got hair cuts.  This was Ryder's first haircut and he did great.  He is totally cool with random people doing weird things to him like the dentist checking his teeth or the hairdresser messing with his hair.  Rilyn wanted Ryder to go first...you know to make sure it was safe.

Rilyn loved helping Grandma make pumpkin pie!

There were lots of snuggles and playtime with family!

Thanksgiving Day

Ryder really enjoyed looking at all the Black Friday Ads

On Friday night my mom, grandma, and I took Rilyn and Pyretta to look at a few Christmas lights close to my parents house.

Rilyn found a snowy white cat wondering around the lights.

It was a great trip and we were so happy the weather was great for driving.  It make the trip so much easier when we don't have to worry about the roads being bad.

Rilyn decorating herself with stickers on the way home.

The Running Man

Ryder has mastered the running man while dancing with Grandma Decker's crazy Santa collection!