Ronan's 2nd Birthday

Ronan's birthday was back in August. I am so behind. Here is how we celebrated his birthday.

On Ronan's actual birthday, we planned to have just a small playdate at the house since it was on a weekday. He had an actual birthday party the next day. Ronan's friends came over and then he got sick. :( We didn't want him to get the other kids sick so all the kids went home.

Ronan kept saying "Where friends go?" It was so sad, but we made it a great day anyways. Here are some pictures from that day.

Ronan's Curious George cupcakes. Ronan ate a few, but we ended up throwing them away just in case he had the stomach bug and was contagious.

Ronan loved blowing out his candles. He wanted to do it over and over again. He would get so excited each time. Notice the saltine crackers on his plate. :(




So excited!!

Big Boy Bed

About three weeks before Ronan's 2nd birthday, he started climbing out of his crib. So we transitioned Ronan to a new big boy bed.

The first few nights went really well. He was exited about it and slept great. Then he realized he could get out. Then the crying at bedtime and waking up in the middle of the night started. I felt like I had a newborn again!

So we put a baby gate on his door and it has been wonderful ever since. He is back to sleeping well at night and staying in his bed.

Here are some pictures of Ronan after his first night in his new bed.

A little bed head.

Such a big boy!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Ryan planted a watermelon plant back in May. It grew a long vine, but a month or two went by and no watermelons were growing. One day, Ryan found a tiny little watermelon growing on the vine. We were so excited. It took about a month to grow, but the other day, it was finally ready to pick and eat.

Ryan planted me some pumpkin seeds the other day as a part of his fall garden. I told him if he could grow me pumpkins, I would make him a real pumpkin pie with them.

Our one watermelon. It tasted really good too!

He also got several cantaloupes. He didn't want me to take his picture, but I was proud. :)

First Slumber Party + Mom

About a month ago (yes, I am that far behind, sorry!), we stayed in Waco for a few days. We decided to let the boys have their first slumber party together. Everything was going great until bedtime. Ronan doesn't sleep in new places ever so he was a little scared about sleeping at Mimi and Grandpa's house. So, I got stuck sleeping with two toddlers all night. It was a long night.

Colors

Ronan has known most of his colors for about a month now, but today we played a little game with Peanut Butter M & M's (my favorite!!) to test him. As you can see, he is quite proud of himself.

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Nana Came To Visit

Nana (Ryan's mom) came to stay with us for a few days last week while Ryan had Lasik eye surgery. We had a great time having her here with us!

On the day Ryan had his surgery, he had to rest for four hours afterwards so we needed to get Ronan out of the house. Nana had heard of this place in Austin called "Kid's Cook" where you bring your child and they can make a treat. Ronan loves to cook so she thought it would be a perfect place to go.

He chose to make a banana split. He got to make an apron and then cook the banana split. He had a great time. We will definitely have to go back!

Nana helping Ronan color his apron.

Sporting his apron.

Adding whipped cream to his banana split. Yum!

Notice "blue dog" had to go cook too!

When he was finished cooking, they let him make a sponge to clean up his mess.

Potty Training

Ronan has been ready for potty training for a while. He will sit down and go on his little potty when we ask him to. A few times, he has even stopped in the middle of playing to run to his potty and go. It has just been a mater of finding the time to actually devote to it. I think this week, we are going to take the plunge and start being more serious about it. We will see what happens! Wish us luck!!

Ronan loves to wear his underwear. He even has Star Wars ones with Darth Vader on the hiney. This pair is his favorite because it has helicopters or as Ronan says, "helicockers", on them. :)

Mess Maker

Unfortunately, one of Ronan's favorite things to do these days is make messes. He thinks it is hilarious!

One night after dinner, Ryan was getting ready for work and I was cleaning up the kitchen when Ronan was in his room dumping everything off his shelf onto the floor. Ryan heard him and told him he needed to clean it up and left the room.

When he came back, Ronan had taken everything off the floor and thrown it in his crib. It was quite the mess and took quite a while for Ronan and I to put back on the shelves. Such a stinker!

Caught in the act!

The damage. There were all of his books, all of his little pieces to toys, and every stuffed animal piled high.

Then he wanted to climb in and play with it all. Too bad he was climbing in to help clean it up!

Guilty little stinker.

Coffee With Ronan

Ronan has loved to play with our coffee maker for a long time and actually knows how to work it! Now he loves to drink the coffee that he helps us make. He gets about 1/4 cup coffee or less and the rest is whole milk which is a good way I make sure he gets enough milk and it's not too hot. I definitely make sure he has decaf coffee. We don't want to give him any more energy than he already has!

Our Garden

Back in March, Ryan started his first garden. He had been wanting to start one for a while, but never had the time. His grandfather, Baw Baw, was an excellent gardener and Ryan wanted it to be something he could do with Ronan.

The garden was doing pretty well for a while, but now that the 100 degree days are here we have lost a lot of plants. We are getting pretty excited about planting new things in the fall.

Here are some pictures I got about a month ago right before a lot of the plants died:

Bell Peppers

Green onions. I have used these a lot for cooking this summer. I love having these on hand when I need them.

This was kind of a surprise in our garden. First, we thought it was a watermelon since we planted watermelon seeds, but then as it grew larger and developed a rough rind, we realized it was a cantaloupe. Ryan didn't plant cantaloupe seeds so we are pretty sure it came from some compost Ryan tilled in the soil.

Carrots!

The corn was doing great for a while. We were getting at least 2-4 every week, but the heat has ruined them and Ryan pulled them up.


The whole garden. A lot of the green leafy stuff in the middle are the squash and zucchini plants which is what we have had the most of, but I forgot to get a picture of those.

Zilker Park

We wanted to take Ronan to ride the train in Zilker Park, but on our way there it started raining. When we got there, it had stopped raining, but they had closed the train. I think it may have been one of the only times we got rain in June. What are the odds?

Since it was pretty hot from the humidity after the rain, we bought snow cones and watched people swim in the Barton Springs pool instead.

Of course along with anything that contains sugar, Ronan loved his snow cone. :)

Why use a spoon?

Oh my, I love this child. :)

Aunt Jessica's Birthday

A couple of weekends ago, we had Ryan's family over to celebrate Ryan's sister, Jessica's, birthday. Jessica lives over four hours away so we don't get to see her that often so it was great to see her and her boyfriend, Andrew.

Here are some pictures from that day:

The cake I made for Jessica's birthday.

Ronan is eyeing that cake! He was so exited all week long about making "Je-ca's cake"

Jessica and Andrew. Aren't they cute?

Swimming

Ronan is really enjoying swimming this summer. At first, he was unsure and threw a fit any time we tried to put his floaties on him, but now he goes right in and loves it!


After we went to the zoo, we went back to Grandpa & Mimi's and went swimming to cool off. Here are some pictures (sorry there are so many, he was having so much fun, I got carried away.)

Enjoying a popsicle before jumping in.

Hunter in his life jacket. This used to be Tim's when he was little. Hunter was not too fond of it.

Floaties on and ready to swim!

We have been trying to teach him to kick his feet and he has been doing pretty well lately.

I think he likes it! :)

Jumping in!

Hunter loved jumping in too!

Drying off and playing in the yard.

Back to the Zoo

Ronan got to go back to the zoo this past weekend. This time we went with Grandpa "Paw Paw" and Mimi. We had planned to go this spring before it got too hot outside, but it was too late. It was hot!


Ronan also had a stomach bug that we thought had passed (and is still going on...ugh!!!) so he was pretty cranky. Despite his illness and the heat, he did manage to enjoy the sea otter slide, watching the elephant and pushing the button at the lion to hear him roar.

Watching all the birds and ducks.

A blue billed duck...I never knew there was such a thing.

Loving the sea otter slide.

The leopards were growling at each other as they waited by the door for their dinner to be brought out.

Grandpa & Mimi

Family picture at the zoo! Ronan looks thrilled. :)

The giraffe was eating pretty close to the viewing area. It was pretty cool.

This elephant was pretty close to the fence and was spraying water on himself. Ronan thought it was pretty funny.

Watching the elephant with Daddy. This elephant was not working with me in this picture.