Santa is just ok

No crying this year!!!  (No smiling either, but I'll take what I can get.)
Direct quotes from the Santa experience.

"Look my dog Sankta"

"Don't touch Sankta"

"GO! Sankta"

Let's hear it for New York!

We spent the weekend in New York because we are all very spoiled.

b is the most spoiled...

...he had cookies and milk in First Class while enjoying a good book.  He entertained all of the flight attendants with his dancing.



...he rode in his first limo.


...he hung out in Times Square


...and visited the tree in Rockefeller Center



...he took a carriage ride through Central Park.
 

He also went shopping at FAO Schwarz, saw the Statue of Liberty (thank goodness he was there to blame for it being too cold to ride the ferry), ate New York style pizza (he agrees that Chicago style is much better), and went to Ground Zero.

He is one lucky kid.  (His parents are pretty lucky too)

I'm thankful for b

Seems like just yesterday I was hot gluing b's embarrassing turkey costume for school.  There were no feathers, googley eyes, or pictures displaying the poor guy on serving dishes this year.  I was however, lucky that I was able to leave work to have Thanksgiving lunch with him last Thursday.  He was very happy to see me as he ordered me to sit down, took my iced tea for himself, and stole my roll.  It was wonderful!

Too busy eating to worry about taking pictures. 



I loved the little chocolate covered Pilgrim hats.

I'm so thankful I got to be there with him.

Gladiator

His costume was extremely serious.  There was no smiling for pictures.

Trick or treating was so fun.  Bryan knocked on the doors.  (By saying "knock, knock")

He picked out his candy.  (he picked Starbursts even though I tried to teach him to go for the chocolate)

Come on Daddin!

He counted all of his candy.  When we asked for a piece, he politely yelled, "NO!  MINE!"

Happy  Halloween!!

P.S.  We carved pumpkins too.

Pumpkin Patch

We decided to take Bryan to the pumpkin patch last night.  I wanted cute pumpkin pictures.  Bryan wanted nothing to do with me.

He was too busy picking up pumpkins

pulling the wagon

driving

and playing in the corn.

We did manage to take a nice family photo.

Happy Fall!

Mommy who

I have a camera the size of a credit card, my phone has a camera and video camera with HD quality and yet, I can't seem to take any pictures.  I could blame myself but reality is that it's all little b's fault.  He refuses to perform for anyone/thing including my camera.

Highlights of Bryan's life right now...
Dancing
and
Bruce

That is all.  He cares about nothing else.

I'm jealous of Bruce, I won't lie.

After Bruce, Bryan's favorite would be his Daddy (Daddin).  I'm not allowed to touch anything that belongs to "Daddin". Why is this important you ask?  Because today when I was doing laundry, b was pulling all of Bryan's shirts out, looking at me, saying "Daddin turt" and putting it on the floor.  I would pick the clothes back up and b would take them from me and tell me "no, Daddin"  Conclusion...Bryan, do your own laudry.  You can thank your son for that.

My Shadow

On July 21, Bryan turned 18 months old.  This was also the day he revealed that he was paying all kinds of attention to what I was doing around the house.  Out of no where, little b began doing all sorts of chores.

He brings in the groceries

Then he puts them away

He sweeps

He refills the air in his ball pit when it gets a little low.

Bryan also unloads and loads the dishwasher, feeds the dog, and vacuums.

Next on the list - laundry!

Just Keep Swimming

Little b started swim lessons today! Of course he was the star student.



He learned how to monkey crawl.





He learned to kick his feet.

And he learned how to blow bubbles in the water.


He'll be in the Olympics in no time!

Happy 4th of July!

The Bryans and I went to Southlake on the 3rd to see the fireworks.

We had a lot of fun playing around while we waited.




Little b met Uncle Sam.

Thank goodness he never actually saw Uncle Sam or I'm not sure this picture would have turned out.

Finally the fireworks started! Little b was riveted. He kept shouting "BALL!" (I know everyone is shocked). We could barely take a picture because he kept twisting around to watch.


On the 4th we had a cookout with friends and happened to take this festive photo.

It's All Greek To Me - Santorini

Grandfather surprised everyone with a weekend in Santorini!

The views were AMAZING.



The beaches were even better.


The Red Beach


The Black Beach (too bad he wasn't a fan of the water)


Little b got to ride a donkey.


By the end of the weekend, he could say donkey. If you ask him now, he says ball.


The best part of the whole trip was watching how much little b loves his Grandfather.

It's All Greek To Me - Athens

Bryan went on the vacation of a lifetime!

He got 4 stamps in his passport.
(Switzerland, Greece, England, and of course the U.S.)



He saw the sights in Athens.

The Parthenon



The Olympic Stadium



The Changing of the Guard



Some other buildings and ruins





He rode the bus


and the metro


He tasted all the best Greek food.







But his favorite was the gelato...

13 hours in planes and 6 hours in airports...

So I was totally convinced that my little son, who is probably the most laid back child you will ever meet would be a perfect, quiet child who sat nicely in his carseat, played with his toys, and slept at appropriate times during the entire trip to Greece. Yeah, not so much.

I've got my passport, I'm ready to go!



This is when I got worried, but little b slept for most of the first flight.



He only wanted to be with his Aunt Stephanie. She let him listen to her ipod.



The carseat on the plane - not a hit. But do you know what a great place to play and sit that carseat is when it's on the floor at the airport?





Success!



All in all, my little man did a great job. He was very good for how tired he was and his age. I was so proud of him, but I'm not really looking forward to the flight home!