its all over now...and what a week!!

Daddy says Christmas is over and we are done traveling around from house to house for dinner here and there. i guess that means no more presents! :(

Just kidding, I got so much stuff and am very thankful. Need to get crackin on those thank you notes. Today was the first mention of back to school next week, so i know its pretty much over. this has been one great week though. well....except for the sickness. my cough is still hanging in strong, but the rest of me is pretty much good to go.

we capped off holiday week with a second visit to pop-pop and oma's house. we had a great time at dinner and opening more presents. why a round 2 you ask? Well, not everone was there for Christmas day, so they invited us again so that we could share Christmas with Summer, as well as the Waleski's (Aunt Jenn, Uncle Wasil, Chase, & Olivia). I love hanging out with Chase and Summer!


(thats us watching summer play with her new nintendo)

Dinner was great, meatballs!! whoo hoo, i love meatballs, and a nice fat roll. it was great. plus i played with some of Chase's cool toys too. Oma took a timer picture of all of us together. Glad she was able to be in it, because she couldn't be in the one on Christmas day...


(Christmas Day is below)


So, its been quite a week as I mentioned. Tuesday, the day after Christmas I spent at home with Mommy and Daddy. I think I posted, but I can't remember. I was pretty sick and VERY clingy to mommy and ESPECIALLY daddy (who was working). We took it easy though and I geared up for Wed when mom-mom and aunt louise were coming to pick me up for the day. we had a nice day, didn't get to see the trains in Chadds Ford, but we went to lunch @ Applebees!! Then we played most of the rest of the day at mom-mom's and daddy and mommy came over for dinner. Thu I hung out all day with daddy (same as today) because mommy was working. Its been great playing with all my new toys though. Taking up most of my time are my new train set and the little people car wash/garage, and I can utilize most of the little people that mom-mom got me. our place is a mess! (mommy keeps reminding us!)

hope you are all well though and i am looking forward to new years. we are going to uncle jim and aunt tracy's for a party, but before that, the Eagles play the Falcons. if they win they lock up the division! Remember before, daddy had lost faith in his team! I hope learned a lesson about loyalty! he he.

cya guys!

Merry Christmas Everybody

Hope you all had a merry Christmas! I sure did, it was very exciting! Unfortunately my minor cold was turned into a rough Christmas morning cough and by the time we made all of our rounds I was pretty darn sick. Today I have been laying low with mommy and daddy while my fever and lungs clear up. It was a pretty rough sleeping night last night though. hopefully it will be better for tomorrow while Aunt Louise and mom mom watch me.

our whirlwind weekend was kicked off on Saturday with a visit from Kelly, Jimmy, and Jake Smedley. They came over to visit and Jake and I played. Daddy has pictures on his site. Me and Jake were getting along pretty good and since we are both starting to understand sharing, it works out well. He was showing me up a little with his advanced speech techniques, but i am not far behind, i think.

Sunday was Christmas eve and that started off with a visit from Grandpa, then pop-pop, mom-mom, and aunt louise came over and we headed to Church for 5pm Mass. No seats unfortunately. We got there just before 4:40 and all the seats were taken. Mommy and Daddy and I sat in the back of the cry room (they stood). Then our neighbors showed up. McKenna is just about my age and she is pretty cute. She gave me a hug and played with my ear a bit, daddy says she was flirting with me. we played quietly in the back with a stool and took turns climbing on and off. After church we went home and had dinner and dessert and cookies. It was great. Aunt Louise helped me put out milk and cookies for Santa. We told lucy not to get them and not to bark at the reindeer either. I headed to bed and couldn't wait to get up!

We woke up monday morning and went straight for the tree. Grandpa was taking forever getting downstairs but once he did i got to open many many gifts. barn yard animals, cars, trucks, lincoln logs, and a huge art easle were the highlights of my morning. that was exhausting so i took a quick nap and we headed for pop-pop and oma's where everyone was there, even my new cousin connor. we opened gifts there and wow, a new train set! two tonka trucks! great stuff! I was not feeling so hot though at this point and was getting tired again, but it was off to mom-mom's house and MORE gifts! Lots of clothes, an elmo boom box, a BARN YARD SET! I was falling asleep opening my presents I was so tired. Off for a nap. When i came down the cowboys were getting beat by the Eagles (wooo hoo!!). we ate dinner and watched the adults open some presents too while i played with some new toys. by the time we got home it was almost 10pm. Straight to bed!

Woke up quite a few times congested and hot or cold. Rough night, but I am catching up today. Merry Christmas to all of you and thanks for all the presents and spending time with me!!

new cousin! last day of school!

daddy tells me i have a new cousin today, his name is connor. we think we are spelling it right, not 100% sure. he was born to my aunt jen and uncle mark at 1:35pm today. 6lbs., 80z. Daddy said mom-mom said he had a lot of dark hair. hopefully i will get to meet him soon. i wonder if he is who the nuk fairy might give my nuk to...

hmmm...

last day of school for 2006 today! whoo hooo! We had a fun day, today was ethnic day and everyone had to bring food from their different ethnicities. then we had a performance, jingle bells. we got to ring our bells and sing "hey" during the jingle bells song. mommy said it was really a quick performance and she couldn't get it on video, but she did take some snaps. will post later. daddy picked me up and brought me home and we are hanging out here now. I am "napping" actually....

so, it starts, the gearing up to Christmas (and the big game against the cowpies). Looking forward to seeing many of you over the next week or so, and we will be sure to take lots of pictures!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in case I don't check in again.
Love,
Ryan

Tom, Philly, and some Hot Chocolate

daddy said my blog just got switched to blogger beta. whatever dude...

hi everybody! wanted to write and tell you about my interesting weekend. i haven't posted since "the accident" but thanks for all your thoughts and well wishes everyone! Mommy and I are doing great, but our car is still in the shop. we have a ford Taurus rental.

this weekend though was great. i stayed at Pop Pop and Oma's house on Friday night. Mommy and Daddy had to mingle with real estate people at a party, so Oma offered for me to stay the night. We had a great time playing there, and then in the morning on saturday we went to philadelphia. we had a great time. first we picked up oma's friend and her grand daughter (Lucianna).



Her name was "Lucy", though she didn't look at all like Lucy. I think they might have been tricking me on that one. Not sure. Oma did a good job capturing my confusion though!

We headed up to Philadelphia for the light show at Wanamakers. But we didn't realize that it didn't start until about noon, so we were looking for things to do when Tom and his girl rider came over. She asked us if we wanted a ride.




Yes, Tom was a horse! I love horse! This was quite a treat. This horse pulled the four of us around in a carriage through the city. It was so neat. It was cold so we bundled up , but we had a great time! After that we headed back to the light show, and to top off the day, we headed to lunch at the Ritz Carlton! Lucy and I were by far the youngest (and funnest) people in that joint! We had a great time!!




Anyway, thanks for a great trip Oma! I'll be sure to remember this one forever! And thanks to you and Pop Pop for letting me stay with you this past weekend!

Big Truck...

Not to alarm anyone, but today me and mommy got in an accident. there was a big truck coming down the road (and it was a windy wet road). the truck was going fast and apparently crossed over the median a tad causing the car in front of us to swerve, slam its brakes on, and spin around. Mommy slammed on the brakes and almost avoided sliding into the car in front of us, but nope. the car behind us hit into us, which gave us the extra push to slide into the first car. it was scary scary scary. most importantly we are both OK. daddy came immediately and checked on us. then a white car with flashing lights came. it was raining too.

it was one big truck though...

Choo Choo and a Horse!

Hey guys! Hope you are doing well! Had a great weekend this weekend. We went to mommy's work place and they had a party for all the little kids. it was great, they had crafts and food and donuts and cookies. i had some yogurt too! i love "wowurt"!

prior to going all week mommy and daddy were telling me how i was going to get to see some guy named santa. all i know is, he is red and says ho ho ho at this point. imagine what my imagination was picturing for this guy.

anyway, so we are sitting around the table eating some late breakfast and snacks when this big tall fat man comes out, all dressed in red and white. he had a huge white beard and glasses. wow. he was big and exciting. he sat down in his chair which was up on a small stage and people started lining up to see him. EVERYONE was enthralled with this guy. daddy said I was going to go up and talk to him and tell him what I wanted. I ran up to get a look at the action.



Well, after daddy waiting in line while mommy and i did crafts, it was finally my turn to talk to santa. man, it was intimidating and at first, I did NOT want to go up there. But with a little coaxing and daddy by my sad, we headed up to the big man's lap. I was then swarmed with pictures and media prompting me to talk and smile. I heard one voice coming from the man we call dadda. Ryan, tell santa what you want for Christmas. Well, luckily we had practiced. "Choo Choo!" The crowd was impressed! Then I threw in another one, "horse!". We posed for a few more pictures and were done. Then to my surprise, I was handed a gift package so we sat down and opened up a cool toy!




All in all, this was a great experience! I really hope Santa brings me a choo choo and a horse. Although, mommy took me to carousel park the other day to see the real horses and they are really big. However, choo choos do seem a bit more conducive to our home environment. (yeah, I am smart)

Sunday after I woke up from my nap daddy took me out to the woods in our back yard to look for deer but we didn't see any. However, as we were walking back mom mom and pop pop were there! They stayed for pizza dinner and i had a great time visiting with them. i can't wait to go back to see pop pop's choo choo under the tree. maybe this weekend I will get to go...

new email...and whats new?

hi everyone, whats new?
daddy and i talked last night as we were decorating the tree about me getting a new email address. he said my blog engine was making some changes and in order to take advantage that i needed a gmail account. the man is a walking commercial for google! :)

so, i have a new gmail account. i sent out my new address to some of my family members, but you guys don't have to email me. i never got any email at my last one, so no big deal, its rare that I even checked it, but the exciting thing is, they had my name leftover as a gmail user name! whoo hoo!

Not too much has been going on. School has been good, home has been good, and I have been enjoying looking at everyone's christmas lights and even our own. daddy worked hard this weekend on the outside lights, we cut our tree down on sunday and started decorating it last night. i didn't get to put any ornaments on it yet, because we were just getting the lights onto the tree. this was after a long "discussion" between mommy and daddy about which lights to use (white or colored). Oh brother. Daddy gave up and went with white. When he lit the tree though his face lit up so I think it looked better than he thought!!

hope you are all enjoying your Christmas shopping. i have about half of mine done, but can't wait to see what Christmas day is like. I vaguely remember last year waking up Christmas morning and then darting all around town. Apparently the same will happen this year. Oh, and the Eagles are playing the Cowboys on Christmas day too! Grrrr....cowboys. Daddy said he has a funny nickname for their quarterback Tony Romo but he can't tell me until I am his age. Darn it. He said the same thing about plugging in the Christmas lights....

Off to school! cya!

POST Thanksgiving Activities!

So, Thanksgiving was great, but the weekend following was great too. It was definitely a heave dose of family, which is great! I got to spend time with some of my cousins like Chase and Olivia who I never get to see, and got to spend time with Aunt Louise too!

btw...mommy and daddy got eachother a new camera for Christmas so you might see a picture explosion in the coming weeks!

Friday after thanksgiving was fairly quiet, we spent most of the day recovering (mommy was shopping) and then we headed over to mom-mom's for an informal pizza dinner with aunt louise and pop pop. aunt beth and uncle pj and riley were there but were on their way out. daddy took some pictures...





Then, on Saturday we wanted to go check out some Christmas trees and since we live out in the hills, we wanted to check out a local tree farm. Mommy found one in the newspaper that said they had LIVE reindeer on site! I didn't know what a reindeer was before that day, but i knew if it was anything like a deer, that it would be great! I am somewhat obsessed with Deer according to daddy and mommy. But hey, can you blame me! One of the reasons I like my Goodnight Gorilla book is because of the Deer and baby deer in there (which mommy and daddy keep calling giraffe).

The live reindeer were gigantic though and I got to be reminded about what a Christmas tree looked like. It was really busy there and people were cutting down the trees and putting them on their cars.




It was really neat there though, and we will probably head back to their or another farm to pick up our Christmas tree this weekend.

Saturday night we were invited to Pop-Pop and Oma's house for dinner. Right before that Aunt Jenn and Uncle Wasil stopped over to see me (well, to see our house). They stayed and played for a while and me and Chase got to play together with my Thomas trains and the sit and spin. Plus, I got to meet my newest cousin Olivia. She is just a really small baby right now and doesn't do too much. It was off to Pop-Pop's though for dinner and some visitation. We had a great time there and got to see Uncle Jim, Aunt Tracy, and Lexa there too. I think Lexa was sick though. I talked to her on the side, she said she was a little nervous for her Christening on Sunday. She heard that her head was going to get dunked in water (she heard this in day care) and I re-assured her that it would be fine. I hope Olivia heard me too because she is getting Christened on this coming Sunday! Here is me and Chase sharing some chips and dip! I love dipping things!!



Sunday was another fun filled day. We headed out early to Cornerstone church for Lexa's Christening. First we attended the Church service. I was pretty tired so I tried to stay a little low key, but I definitely got antsy toward the end. Daddy took me out to the lobby area and checked out the amenities there. After the mass everyone came out to the fountain and Pastor Paul performed the Christening. I was happy cause I got a couple cookies from my new friend Sandy who carried me around for a while! After the Christening we headed back to Uncle Jim and Aunt Tracy's house and had a party. It was fun, I spent a lot of time checking out the items in Uncle Jim's garage. He has 2 lawnmowers just like daddy and he had a weed whacker and tools just like daddy. I guess its a daddy thing to have all those tools.

I spent most of the day outside playing with Cassy and trying to get ICE, another favorite delicacy of mine, out of the cooler. I was hoping to play with Chase some more, but he slept nearly the whole time we were there, so that was a bummer. We had to leave after a couple of hours because I was getting really tired, though. Anyway, congratulations to Lexa on her Baptism!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. Those of you that I saw on Thanksgiving day, I already know about it, so you don't have to fill me in. We had a good time though huh?

The week started out school free! Monday I spent the day with Mom Mom and Pop Pop, and we had a great day together. Got to go to lunch and we stopped by the fire station and I got to see a big red fire engine. It was awesome. Tuesday I got to spend the day with Pop Pop and Oma at their house. We had a great time there too! They have some pretty cool toys there in the basement. Speaking of toys and school, Daddy built me a brand new shelf this week. Check it out:



Sweet huh? Master crafts man in the making!

Wednesday I went to the vacation care program at school. It was OK. Not that fun. Plus, I was kind of sick all week with a pretty bad cough. (I am finally better). Wed night was fun though, because we started getting everything ready for the big Thanksgiving meal. Mom and daddy were moving tables around, and cleaning, and setting the table. I helped as much as I could too. I did some dusting and some vacuuming. Yes, it was my FIRST time vacuuming! I quelled my fear of that thing and just trusted daddy that it wasn't going to hurt me, and yup, he was right. it was actually a lot of fun!

Thanksgiving was great and it was neat to see everyone jam into our house. there was football, and kids playing! Foosball was played too! We had a great and tiring time. I had some Turkey, but not much, and not much of the meal itself, but the rolls were great!

I was a good boy too! I will leave you with some pictures, but hope you all had a great thanksgiving!!

forgot, some pics!

hug for lucy!

just checking in...

before i forget...

saturday is aunt beth and uncle pj's anniversary and since you guys were my first wedding ever I wanted to send a special note of congratulations to you guys! I had a great time at the wedding, though I think I slept through most of it. i went back and checked my archive from a year ago. check it out.

not too much else going on. we went to school last night, the three of us. mommy and daddy got to attend a class in the library about bringing montessori back into the home. i don't know yet how this will impact me, but the childcare they provided just wasn't that fun. i had to bust my way into the library and hang out with mommy and daddy. i call him daddow now. i stopped saying yeah, or yes too. Now i say "yaow" for yes. i heard some of the other kids at school doing this, and thought it was cool.

tomorrow i am going to the doctor to get checked out. mommy has been really concerned about my drinking lately as my consumption appears to have gone up dramatically. she thinks i have some medical problems from webMD. hopefully doc will straighten it out tomorrow. i will let you know! have a good weekend everyone, if I don't talk to you. Thanksgiving is only one week from today. i have off from school next week too. whoo hooo!

some cool new toys!

on sunday we got to head over to mom-mom and pop-pop's for dinner. we left promptly after the buhtball game. the Eagles won! whoo hooo!

when we got there there was this big old box that daddy went to immediately. i saw his eyes light up when he looked into the box and i thought, hmm, this must be good. he proceeded to take out some large toy planes, trucks and tons of little men! These were all his old toys and i guess mom-mom found them at their office. we must have gone through the box for a good half hour checking out all of these things that were in there. topping my favorites were some of the little cars and the sit and spin!! sweet!

on friday we have our harvest feast at school. this is supposed to thanksgiving at school, but i don't hink we are allowed to call it that! all of the parents are making food and mommy is coming to school to be one of the servers. she said she is going to help the teachers to serve food to the kids. i hope she likes the native american outfit she is going to have to wear (shhhh...he he)

lastly, want to wish mommy luck tonight with her real estate test. it is the first one of 2 she has to take to get her new real estate license. good luck mommy, i love you!

exhausted

phew...what a day.

today mommy and daddy took me to the big city (philadelphia) to the Please Touch museum. It was AWESOME! I didn't think such places existed! I was wondering what was going on because it was saturday and i got up early and we headed into the car for a long drive. we ended up in philadelphia at his great place!

we got there and there were such cool things like a gigantic barn yard with a barn and little simulated animals everywhere. there was a big tractor to sit on, a farm house where you could ring the doorbell, a mailbox where you could get the mail, a birdhouse with a bird and babies in it and all kinds of neat stuff. on top of that, a great ramp leading up to the barn house which i really enjoyed sliding down! other exhibits included a large cereal bowl that you slid into after climbing up a small wall, a big SEPTA bus, abig moat where you could push boats around that had a dam, and a monorail. there was also a train set. oh and a big supermarket where you could stokc the shelves, shop, punch a punch card, work in the bakery and be a cashier! it was great and i had such a nice time. we stayed a couple hours and I was exhausted.

daddy was upset cause the camera batteries died (again!) and mommy was upset cause she had to carry the camera in her bag and it is a big beast! but we all had such a good time. i am really really glad mommy suggested we do this and I am SURE she had to drag daddy along. he was glad he went too, he told me.

we headed back to our car and mommy wanted to go to a place called south street and walk around a bit since it was sooo nice out. we headed over and walked around. we stopped at a place to eat and i had my first philly cheese steak! it wasn't pat's or gino's, but it was good! I had a bite of daddies but my main meal was chicken tenders dipped in my favorite vegetable, KETCHUP! (or kah kah).

to top off a great day, we came home from philadelphia and daddy let me ride on the lawnmower with him while he cut some of the grass! bed is looking great right now...

would love to hear from you guys out there...been a while since anyone commented.

Party Time!

Went to an awesome party on Friday night! My cousins Kristen, Carly, and Anna were having a joint birthday party at Carousel Park in Delaware. It was at night and in the cold! They had hayrides and a bonfire. Daddy and I had an awesome time. Mommy couldn't go because of her pending trip to New Jersey for the Pink Tie Ball. Also, daddy bought me some new gloves and a hat with a race car on it especially for the night so I would be nice and snug and warm.

The night started with us getting dressed. Daddy put my PJ's on, then some pants, a t-shirt, then a sweater, then my jacket, then heavy coat! He taught me a trick to put my gloves on before my jacket, that way cold air won't get into my arms. my gloves are awesome. my first pair. hard to get my little fingers in the right holes though. I think with practice I will be ok though. The picture is me after I was all bundled up and ready!

When we got there, it was very dark and very scary. there were a lot of people confused about parking and trying to find their parties. luckily we parked and found aunt jen and uncle mark pretty quick. we headed to the camp site where the bonfire was burning and the hayride was loading up. I saw the biggest tractor ever there and it was AWESOME!

We didn't stay too long, daddy and I roasted a hot dog, and we ate that. then we roasted a marshmallow which I didn't try. Thing looked weird, so I passed. He and Aunt Jen said I would be sorry! We headed home and I got a late start to bed. Oh well. It was worth it!!

Check out daddy's web site for more pictures of the party.

Happy All Souls Day!

Since I missed All Saints day, I thought I'd say Happy All Souls Day!

To honor All Souls day, daddy says we should remember all of those people who were in our lives but are no longer. this is way above my understanding level, so the discussion ends here. Sorry daddy!

Halloween was great, I was a football player! You can see pictures of me at daddy's web site. I had a great time on Halloween. I was a little hesitant to change into my costume, it looked a little like a cowboy's uniform. but i gave in and we had a great time. daddy took me trick or treating while mommy and lucy stayed home and handed out candy. then mommy took me over to see aunt tracy, uncle jim, and lexa to get some candy. had a great night. got a lot of candy, but it seems to have disappeared. I noticed last night that my candy bowl is no where to be seen. not sure what thats all about. oh, the trick or treaters were really cool too. power rangers, witches, and even an Elmo showed up!

yesterday daddy had to go to NJ for his work. he was gone all day and i didn't think i would get to see him at all, but he showed up about 15 minutes before my bed time and was able to put me to bed. that was great! i also really enjoyed hanging out outside with mommy and we went to the library too and she read me some books. i showed her how nicely i can sit with my hands folded while she reads. i think she was impressed because i over heard her telling daddy about it. wish i could post some of my artwork from school too because man, mommy and daddy are really impressed with my work! can i find my talent at the young age of 20 months?!?

and we're back... HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

i meant to post yesterday but we are all back. had an awesome weekend with Oma and PopPop at their house, Mommy and Daddy had a great weekend in upstate New York, and Lucy had a great time with Cassidy at Uncle Jim and Aunt Tracy's house.

we did a number of things each day at Oma and PopPop's house. They go out a lot, not like Mommy and Daddy. We went shopping a lot and out to lunch and it was great. even got to go to sunday school when we went to church on sunday. they don't have that at my church!

anyway, it was a great time and i was happy to see mommy and daddy come home. i was napping when they came to pick me up and for whatever reason they decided to wake me up. i was pretty tired after this fun weekend so I wasn't that happy about that. i gave them a smile but then realized how tired i still was, then I let them have it and cried most of the way home. unfortunately i didn't get a great chance to say bye to Oma and PopPop because i was crying but i am sure i will see them again. anyway...by the time we got back it was already late. daddy said daylight savings was over and that i thought it was later than it was. i was hungry man! I golfed down some dinner and calmed down and then I let them see how excited i was to be home.

so back to life and reality. we dropped mommy's car off at the shop yesterday and have to pick it up today before we trick or treat. we are not allowed to dress up at school, but as soon as i get home i am putting my football player uniform on and we are heading out to get candy. then coming home to hand it out! its gonna be awesome!! last night someone "Ghosted" us, which means they put a ghost on our door and ran, leaving a note and some candy behind. daddy disappeared soon after to return the favor to two other unspecting neighbors. his stories were really funny about sneaking around in the dark and not being sure about dogs, and deer wondering around. he remembered this happening in Maplewood. Mommy and Daddy both seemed pleased to have been ghosted!

Ok, hope you all have a great halloween! i hope to get some pictures posted of me in my costume.

have a good weekend mommy and daddy!

well, i know i am gonna miss them. today after school they are taking me to PopPop and Oma's house. I am going to stay with them until Sunday. Mommy and Daddy are heading to upstate New York for a wedding on Saturday. Its a 6 hour trip. I think they are excited to get a way together but i also think they are going to miss my cute little smile! I am going to try to learn some new words this week and impress them when they get home.

i hope they remember to take a picture of me with them so they don't miss me too much!

Oh, and have a good weekend to you too lucy! Lucy is going to Uncle Jim and Aunt Tracy's house. She is going to go and hang out with Cassidy (their dog) all weekend. Lucy has been really missing Cassidy since she stayed at our house this past weekend, so it will be a nice reunion for them.

Hope you guys all have a good weekend too! I hope daddy remember to bring over all my stuff. I already know that there are some really cool toys at their house though, so there should be plenty of things to do. Ok, thats it for now. Love you Mommy and Love you Daddy!! I'll miss you lots and lots.

Oh...special note to Mom-Mom. Thanks for making us dinner last night and have a good trip to Florida with PopPop Bill and Aunt Louise! Love all you guys too!!!

grrrahhhh.

big mouse, a party, and more dogs!

hi everyone! what a weekend. how was all of yours?

well, on friday night when I got home from school we had a visitor! this visitor was in the form of a big yellow dog named Cassie. she is uncle jim and aunt tracy's dog and she stayed with us this weekend while they took lexa to meet my NEWEST cousin Olivia! btw...i don't think i ever announced the birth of olivia lorraine waleski, daughter to uncle wasil and aunt jenn and sister to my cousin the chase-man. anyway...it was quite a scene with lucy and cassie ("dog" and "dog") running around, bumping into me, scrumming around with eachother. it was pretty entertaining.

saturday we woke up and went straight to mom-moms house. daddy and mommy had to go to my school to learn about teaching methods or something. mom mom and i went to dover for summer's birthday party at chuck E cheese. it was amazing there! big animals, games, rides, you name it. got to have pizza for lunch and got to have some birthday cake! it was great. happy birthday to my cousin summer who is a number of years old that i don't quite know yet. i do know TWO, but thats about it. daddy always laughs at my pronunciation of the word two ("TEEYOU").

sunday was topped off with a visit from Granpa and a quite cold fall day. I missed the whole Eagles game, and daddy says I am lucky. he didn't seem to want to discuss it! hope you guys all had a great weekend. this coming weekend i am staying with oma and pop pop for the weekend while mommy and daddy go to a wedding far far north. they said that they will miss me. i will miss them too, but i think it will be fun to hang out with pop pop and oma. oma always has fun things planned for me to do!

add "bone" and "pieces" to my vocabulary.
add "peepee" and "baby" to my vocabulary. oh, and "cow". and "shoes" (or "SHEEYOUS").

Jake's Surgery Update

Happy to report:

Hi all,

Just wanted to send a quick note that Jake’s surgery went very well and he is recovering just fine. The procedure took about 2 hours and only about 1% of Jake’s total lung tissue had to be removed. He’s a little sore but really doing great all things considered.
Feel free to pass forward this along to anyone I may have missed. We’ll post more updates on our website as we get a little more settled. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Jimmy (and Kelly & Jake)

Great news and happy recovery Jake!

Been quite a while

Hi everyone "hi" (I can say that now).

I know its been a while. I keep giving daddy updates, but he has been really busy with work. all weekend he worked , so he said maybe if he got some time monday.

had a great weekened and a great week. last week's highlight was wed night at school for the ICE cream Social at school! it was great. there was some big meeting in the library and then afterward we went into the gym and ate some ice cream! it was great. before that, on sunday, so many of you guys came over to watch the cowboys get stomped by the eagles, and that was awesome! i think about 10 of us must have had mcnabb jersey's on!! :)

this past weekend my teacher from school, miss susan came over to babysit me while daddy adn mommy took mommom up to wishes and dreams for the cystic fibrosis gala. they had a good time and so did I. she showed me some cool stuff to do with stickers and all that.

not too much else going on right now. we are doing food tasting in school and this week is one of my all time favorite foods, bananas! each day we taste the food, and each week we change foods. last week was apples, red apples, green apples, and oh, on thursday we MADE apple sauce! I got to help put the apples in the mix.
school has been really fun though. i met this great girl named Katie and she really helps me out a lot with stuff at school. she is really nice.

one last note...best wishes to my buddy Jake who is having lung surgery today. hope you do so well jake, and can't wait to hear from you again soon. might be a while beofre you can post on my blog, but i am sure daddy and mommy will keep us in the loop. we said an extra special prayer at dinner last night for you. I encourage all you other readers to do the same.

"ee", pumpkins, and dogs everywhere!

"ee" and deer, beer, pee pee. i have the sound down. its a milestone for me because i haven't done much saying of words with those types of sounds. but this past week i added them to my vocabulary. I love saying deer becuase I can finally describe the "nors" in the back yard. they are deer!! pee pee is cool too. i have been seeing daddy pee pee lately and then he waves buh bye to the pee pee as it flows down the toilet bowl. neat. just awesome stuff.

mommy says i have become quite the help around the house too. helping her with the laundry and the dishwasher and even setting the table. its been great fun. daddy has been using my services too. this week we cut the lawn together! it was awesome riding on the mower and going around the turns. then i helped him set up the sprinkler for the past couple nights too. you wonder why i am so tired at night!! anyone say child labor laws?! he he.

we had a good weekend, saturday was my school's fall festival where i proceeded to not enjoy the moonbounce, and win lots of great prizes including a nice wooden train whistle. the bigger kids went down this HUGE blowup slide that was as tall as our house. that wasa pretty good time there. i won adn ate a lolly pop and then we stopped by mom-mom's for dinner. sunday we went pumpkin picking (attaching a few pictures) after the picnic we were supposed to go to got rained out. The final pictures are from monday when we picked up Cassidy and brought her over to our house to play with Lucy. They had a great time running around!!








Hope you all are doing well! School is going great. Tuesday night is mommy's class night so me and daddy are going to hang out. he always finds something really fun for us to do.

oh...go Eagles!! Beat the Packers last night (as we all suspected). this week the moo's are coming to town with TeeeOh. Daddy thinks its the same cowboys from brokeback mountain, whatever that means. all i know is, we better win!!

thanks oma and poppop

thanks guys for picking me up from school yesterday!! Sorry I was a bit fussy getting into the car, i just wondered where mommy and daddy were. I had fun picking out pumpkins and corn though after school! :)

i was going to get to meet a new babysitter this week, but that fell through. wed night mommy and daddy have to go and pick out our family portraits. but too bad the babysitter couldn't come. instead, something even better. mom-mom is going to come to school with mommy on wed and pick me up from school. I am going to go to her house and hang out with mom-mom and pop-pop while daddy and mommy are gone. that will be fun. mom-mom is really nice and gives me almost whatever I want and when I want it! I love her! And Pop-Pop always plays outside with me (usually golf) and that is great too!

Yesterday I painted mommy and daddy a picture on the easle at school and they LOVED it! I wonder if they knew what it is. Now that I think about it, I don't think they mentioned what it was, but they certainly were impressed with my skills. Maybe I will go to art school during summer vacation! he he.

my sweet rockin chair

Thanks Aunt Louise for this awesome rocking chair you brought for me!! I am really enjoying it so far and have spent countless minutes just sitting and rocking. Plus, now i have my very own seat in my house! What a great idea (and I wasn't even expecting a gift!)



Had a great weekend, Aunt Louise and her friend Betsy visited from Pittsburgh. They came over to our house for dinner on friday night and then we went to mom-mom's for lunch on Sunday. I had a great time there hanging out with aunt jen and those crazy girl cousins of mine!!

Then we went to Uncle Jim and Aunt Tracy's house to watch the Eagles game. I got to see Lexa and play with her feet and stuff. Daddy and mommy kept holding her and I have to say, I wasn't that big of a fan of that idea. She is a cute baby though, but I don't see the big deal about her. She doesn't do all of the funny stuff that I do. Atleast I didn't see anything funny! Oh well, I am sure we will grow up to be great friends!!

Mommy started work today at her new job, and PopPop and Oma are goign to pick me up from school. I think mommy has to stay late. Daddy picked me up for school on friday and got to see me in my class for a while. That was great.

Hope you all had a great weekend. Looking forward to getting home and rocking!!

picture day!

today is picture day at school. i am semi dressed up and i showed mommy this morning how i can practice my smile. she was darn impressed! :)

school is going great now. I am glad i gave it a chance and believed mommy and daddy when they said it was going to be fun. i have a great friend there in Yaseen (sp?) and when I come in to class in teh morning, the whole class runs over and greets me! I am like a celebrity!!

Just though't i'd give you all an update on the situation. this weekend was pretty good, we went to Oktoberfest on Saturday night and had a great time. Check daddy's website for pictures soon! Mom-Mom took me on the magical train ride, and i got to experience some german dancing and food for the first time. it was great!

sunday was fun too, roger and corrine and chris came over to visit and watch football with mommy and daddy. it was a disappointing loss, and it seems to have really effected daddy. (he took his eagles flag down after the game and he never does that, we also took off our jerseys because it was "hot")

not much else going on though folks, hope you all are doing well and I am glad you still continue to check in! I will try to respond to your posts and do a better job, but they keep us busy here at HMS! Talk to you all soon!

starting to believe...

thanks all for your encouraging posts about school, i am starting to buy in...

mommy just dropped me off and today was about the first maybe second day that i was ok with her leaving. i have a good feel for what is going on here now and things are actually pretty cool here. first, wanted to attach a quick picture of me on my first day of school:



This is me explaining to Lucy that i had to go to school that day and that she would be OK here alone with daddy.
















So, things are going good at school. They have cool animals there. And everything in our room is the right size for us kids. All the tables and chairs are accessible, we have cubbies, a play area, a music area, and a great potty where we wash our hands. So, after about a week and a half, i am starting to settle in.

I think this weekend should be fun. we are going to Oktoberfest near mom-mom's house on saturday and on sunday is the big game (Eagles vs. Giants). Some of mommy and daddy's friends are coming over to watch the game too. HOpe you all have a great weekend. Here ar e few more pics:

shh...monday update

ok, i was able to sneak away for a minute at school. i found this computer in the backroom and thought i'd give you all an update on school.

yesterday we had a rough start. after an AWESOME weekend with daddy (mommy was traveling) i had to go back to t his place. i kind of forgot about that whole thing (even though mommy and daddy constantly try to pound positive influence about school and teachers into my head). it was rough seeing mommy leave and drop me off, but once the day got rolling i had a pretty good day. i ate a good lunch and even had good nap on a cot! Miss Valerie said i slep for almost an hour and a half there. I could have slept longer, but heck, its a cot man. i need a crib if you know what i'm sayin...

so, all in all, it was a good day. this morning is going well too, mommy had to stay with me a while longer because she had a volunteer meeting to go to a the school...up, gotta go, cya!

getting better...a little

3 days of school done...how many to go??

day 2 was a bit better, i managed to stay the whole day though I was pretty upset when mommy left after dropping me off. after we ate lunch at our lunch table, we have to have nap time. they pulled out these crazy cots and asked us to lay down on them. it was interesting. thankfully miss lotta showed me what to do because i was struggling all day. i was able to rely on my nook for soothing mouth comfort!

day 3 was not that great, but i thought i was getting the day off. we started out with an appointment with a photographer. mommy and daddy ketp talking about this family portrait thing and the night before we had to make sure our outfits weren't too clashing. anyway, the photographer lady seemed pretty nice and she took lots of pictures. we walked to a lot of different places and played in the park. lucy was going crazy!! daddy said sometimes she posts photos on her blog after she takes them, so stay tuned! Anyway, we spent about an hour doing that first thing in the morning and then i had to go to school a little late. my class was already in gym so it was a different routine. i eventually stabilized, but I am still feeling that place out.

thanks for all the good wishes everyone. its been a rough week and i hope i can get through next week OK. i know with all of your support i sure can!!

momma? dada?

school started out with a bit of a hitch. apparently i am supposed to go alone, and not with mommy and daddy. this may take some getting used to. yesterday morning i spent most of the day looking for mommy and daddy outside fo the classroom door, but they were not there. i had to have the teacher call them so they could come pick me up early. we will give it another go tomorrow, but now i sort of understand.

i did enjoy the bunny, hampster and fish they had in class though. it is a big bunny and some of the other kids touched it (they're crazy!). hopefully the animals will be there again today. ok, gotta go get ready to leave! must remain calm....

Last day of summer

well, off to school tomorrow. today was my last day home with mommy. its been so nice being home with her and spending so much time with her. having daddy and lucy here with us all day has been great too. I am nervous for school, but i think its goign to be fun. daddy says i am going to learn so much and he says he can tell that I want to learn because i ask a lot of questions, like, where are the nors? (nors are deer). are they out there? nors? over there? nors?

so wish me luck everyone! mommy and daddy and I are all going to go together in the morning. btw...i know some of you think i am crazy for going to school so young, but hey, i don't call the shots around here. don't worry though, i can handle myself pretty good as most of you know (because you have probably watched me for amore than an hour alone). anyway, i have a feeling that this new school is going to be the perfect place for me to get really really smart. soon i will be writing daddy's blog!! heh heh.

ok, so, so long summer, we had a blast with you. moving to a new big house, spending time with teh family, outings to get ice cream, swimming, wow! what a great life i have. just want to tell mommy and daddy that i love you very much (and you too lucy!!) next time i write i will be more educated!

the ry-man

school and some rain...

ahhh the rain...how i love spending hours on end inside!! :)

thu night at school was not that fun. mommy and daddy and I went to school for parent orientation. I soon found out that this did not include me...how do i know? As soon as we got there we went right to the gym for some great play. it was nice, they had a ton of balls to play with, music, a big parachute thing...

in fact, i got so caught up that i lost site of mommy and daddy. apparently they left to go to my classroom for orientation. i had the teachers take me there immediately (through methods undisclosed, but use your imagination). eventually i got to spend the rest of the evening with them in my classroom with a couple of other misfit kids who didn't want to hang out in the gym and miss all of the action. by the end fo our time there, all was well.

today was raining all day, so we went to pop-pop and oma's for some swimming at the pool at their house. daddy said some people were using the pool though and that we couldn't go in. mommy tried to pursuade him but he wouldnt' budge so we went to visit pop-pop and oma at their house for a while. after we left we went back but those old ladies were still in there so we went home. after my nap we headed back to church, which until we moved, was not all that fun. Now, we go into a special room where kids can make noise and walk around and get into things. Its awesome, i played with 4 other kids tonight at church and had a blast!

Hi Everyone!

Been a while since I last updated, Daddy has been quite busy lately. He said he would take some time to update for me today though.

Well...this is my last week at home and its been a pretty eventful weekfor the most part. This morning was meet the teacher day at school, so mommy and I went to the school and hung out in my classroom for a couple hours. My class has 16 other kids in it, and I am the 2nd youngest. 11 of the 17 kids are boys too. (stats all provided by mommy)

anyway, i really like the classroom, everything in there is MY size and i can play with all of it. i was so disappointed when we had to leave and go home, but mommy said i will have plenty of time to play there. tonight all of us are going back for parent orientation night. mommy said i will get to play while her and daddy get to learn about my school. playing sounds good to me man.

last night pop pop and oma came over for dinner. we had a nice time, and i showed them some fo my dining tricks. they are going to watch me a for a while in October i think. No one told me this, but i picked it up from some of the conversations going on last night.

i have really been practicing with my words and doing well. daddy is always surprised when I walk out of his office and say bye bye. i still find that when I can't remember a word for something, i can usually just scream really loud to get my point across. i know this drives "them" crazy, but oh well.

tuesday i spent the whole day with mom mom and pop pop bill. we went to applebees for lunch (still never get to go anywhere with momma and daddy), then to teh carousel horse farm. It was great fun. Mom MOm gives me whatever I want and I love spending time with her. She seems to be able to read my mind, like for example, i might be thinking, "gee...how about a cookie" and before i say it, mom mom is there giving me a cookie and some yogurt ("wowurt")! WOW!

monday mommy and i went to millburn orchards nad it was really cool. we saw some goats and some baby cows and mommy even fed a cow. i thought she might get down there and try to milk one, but it never happened. it was neat there and you can pick fruit and hang out with animals.

sooo...that was my week. this weekend mommy is preparing me for a lot of inside time. she said we are supposed to get lots and lots of rain. lets hope not though. daddy says the weather people are alarmist and rarely get the forecast right. we'll see who's opinion prevails! talk to you all later!

one cool college

about 2 weeks till school starts and we have been busy busy busy. this weekend mommy and daddy took me to their old college, the university of Delaware. It seemed pretty cool. they had lots of bricks, and steps. buildings with big columns, fountains and trees. there is a street with stores and restaurants too. sounds like a pretty good place, could have used some more playgrounds though. how do people go to school without a big twisty slide or swings?!?

yesterday I went and got my hair cut again. It was SCARY! The woman was cutting my hairs and then all of a sudden she put this large loud buzzing thing toward my head. though mommy said it was OK, i was not having any of that! we also got to go to a gigantic toy store and i played with lots of toys. mommy bought me this great red car that i can ride on, oh and a dancing elmo. the car is awesome, the dancing elmo is cool too. i put it on my new desk that daddy brought home from mom-mom's house. we also brought home all of daddy's smurfs from when he was a little boy like me and played with them. all of these things are great but not sure any will replace my Thomas the Train train set and tracks!!

oh and i forgot to tell you all...last friday my new teacher came over to our house for a visit. she was really nice. her name is Valerie, and she brought the teacher's assistant (whose name we can't remember at this point). they were both really nice, and i showed them my toys, and my house. i hope they can teach me lots of great things. maybe like how to use the potty. i have seen daddy do it and it looks really fun. not sure i understand the whole process yet, but soon they tell me, "soon". school should be fun though, even though I will definitely miss seing mommy and daddy and lucy all day long...

Happy Birthday Momma!

Thanks for being there each day for me mommy. No matter what my agenda is, you are there, and I couldn't imagine life without you!

I love you and Happy Birthday!!

Last Weekend - Beley Bash!

Hi everyone, just wanted to take some time to update you on our recent trip to Pittsburgh. We went out in the beginning of August for the tad less than annual "Beley Bash". We stayed with Jake and his parents.

Thanks Jake for letting us stay. Oh and thanks to Mommy and Jake's parents for giving me the opportunity to bath with another boy! That was an interesting experience. For the most part, I think we pretty much bath the same, but they have a cool hose they use to rinse off, instead of our ghetto red cup!


Also, i got to use Jake's high chair and pack and play, even better I got to play with his rather awesome toys. I hope mommy and daddy were taking note. I just can't play with the same old toys all the time. Maybe its time for a refresher guys?!?


On to the Beley Bash where I had a great time. I spent most of my day grabbing ice from the numerous coolers and eating it. It only became an issue a couple of times when I mistakenly picked up a rock or two thinking they were also ice cubes. Luckily mommy stopped me in time. Here is a four generation picture for all of your viewing pleasure! Me on the left, daddy, pop-pop, then Grandad. Pop-Pop was able to make it out of prision to spend the day with his family, which was great. (he he, just kidding!)


After a not so long trip back from Pittsburgh, it was TIME. Sunday night Hall of Fame Game, Oakland Raiders versus the Philadelphia Eagles. Here is a picture of me gearing up for the game (I had to check on bunny in the backyard to see if he was eating the vegetables mommy left out there for him). The game was great, only saw the first series, but the Eagles are looking good!!