Happy 2nd Birthday, Ryder!!!

It's official.  He's 2 years old.  I'm not sure where the last 2 years have gone, but it's all kind of a blur.  Good thing we have lots of pictures to remember things by!

We decided to have Ryder's party the weekend before his actual birthday so that we could spend the real day having fun and celebrating, rather than trying to get things ready for his party.  His party was fun - nothing too crazy or fancy - just a little party at the park.  I'll have to write a separate post for that though.

As far as his actual birthday, we woke up and had chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast.  Ryder loved them and ate more than anyone!  We hung around the house for a little bit after that and then headed to The Children's Museum.  It was our first time and we had so much fun!  Ryder really enjoyed all the different exhibits and since we went around lunchtime, there was hardly anyone else there.  We left the museum and went to Sweet Tomatoes for a late lunch (this part of the day was TOTALLY for me, but hey I did birth him).  Nothing makes me happier than a delicious salad bar!  Ok, maybe a couple things make me happier ... but not many.

Anyway, after we filled ourselves to the brim with salad, we came home and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.  Even though we were still full from lunch, Rudy grilled burgers for dinner.  Ryder and I were both too full to have more than a couple of bites.  Rudy is never too full for a burger.

After dinner and a little cleaning up, we pulled our mattress into the living room and had movie night.  We bought Ryder the movie Cars and he got to watch it for the first time.  Normally he won't sit through more than 20-30 minutes of a movie (if that), but he was glued.  His smile when the first car popped onto the screen was priceless.  He skipped his nap that day but managed to stay up an hour past his bedtime.  As soon as the movie ended, he was off to bed.  It was a really great day!  Any guesses what he wanted to do first thing when he woke up the next morning (2 hours later than normal)?  Watch Cars again!!  And we've watched it many times since then.

A few days after his birthday, we took Ryder for his 2-yr check up.  Here are his stats:

24 pounds, 3 ounces (only 9th percentile!)

34" tall (39th percentile - hard to believe he was always in the 90-95th)

I think mama's genes might be showing through a little more.  Rudy was a little disappointed as he has always said we better not have "small" boys.  Sorry buddy...

He only had to get 2 shots, but now he knows they are coming and it's SO much worse.

Alright, I've been trying to get this posted for weeks, so let's just get to the pictures!

At the Pumpkin Patch!

Carving Pumpkins

We found him playing in the dryer .....

He was an otter for Halloween and looked completely adoarble!

I was surprised that he didn't mind wearing the costume at all, even the hood.  He got hot though, so we didn't keep it on him too long.

He had such a blast trick or treating.  Notice the car in his hand.  Always.

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Birthday morning!  

Already on a sugar high from his chocolate chip pancakes!

At the Children's Museum

Wearing a police outfit and watching mommy's puppet show.  I need to work on that.

The train room.  He was in heaven when he saw this table.

And of course the only way to play with it is to get on it and lay down.

We spent a good amount of time in this room and I thought it might be hard to leave but he was pretty good about it.

Grocery shopping

Ringing up his items

Look, a pepper!

He filled his cart to the brim with produce!