You know you're a pathetic blogger when one post covers both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Especially if that post doesn't come until February 5th.
None the less....
We spent Thanksgiving Day 2011 in Disneyland! Some of my highlights were: watching Eden watch the Main Street Parade, watching Ryan try to buy back Austin's trust after he took Austin on the Matterhorn and Austin was terrified of the snowman monster, listening to Eden scream "Weeeee" as she rode on the rocket ships, and everything about the Small World ride. For weeks after we got home Austin would "play Disneyland" at the park. He would instruct his friends, "You go down that slide. That's Space Mountain. I'll go down this one because it's the Matterhorn." The lovely people in the picture with us are Ryan's brother Jason, his wife Brooke, Ryan's parents Marquette and Denny, and Goofy.
Here are a few quick updates on our family. Pretend this came to you in the mail with a Christmas card.
Ryan is happily working away. He's decided that he really likes where he works and has committed himself there for the long haul. He loves having Mondays off and spends his free time reading, wrestling with the kids, and playing Nerf guns with Austin. He wants me to include a picture of his Nerf gun but I'm not sure that's necessary.
I am approaching my 1 year anniversary of being a full time stay-at-home mom. It's been amazing. If there's 1 thing I learned about myself from working while Ryan was in school it's that I am not cut out to work and be a mom too. I've been enjoying all that Colorado has to offer for runners and am almost ready for my 4th marathon in April. We are all set to become first-time home owners in 1 short week and I can't wait to set to work making it our own.
Austin has recently presented us with out first big parenting challenge. He is terrified of one of the 8-year-old boys ("S") in his primary at church. It all started when S dressed up as Dracula for Halloween and set out to make the little kids cry. Since then he and Austin have had a few run-ins, and now Austin starts out first thing Sunday morning faking sick so he won't have to see S. A few weeks ago his primary teacher brought him to us crying hysterically because his 4-year-old class was over and it was time to be in the big room with S. Ryan and I have really struggled to figure out how to handle the situation. Luckily our new house is in a new ward so we can say, "See ya!" to S. Otherwise, Austin is a very tender-hearted child who loves superheros, sports, and preschool. Recently I told him he needed to go find something to play and he said, "Mom, toys just aren't that impressive to me." And then later that night I heard him telling Eden, "Oh Eden, do you know how much I love you?"
Eden is quickly approaching her 2nd birthday, which makes us all sad because she's so great at being a baby. She's obsessed with gum(which Ryan completely disapproves of me giving to her) and frequently wakes up yelling, "GUM!" She loves to do puzzles and read books and ride tricycles and get stamps on her hands. She's also great at identifying superheros and can sing the Batman theme song. Oh and she loves snowmen. She calls them "Snowies!" and can't get enough. We think she's incredible. You can probably tell from the pictures I posted that she has a pretty serious thumb-sucking habit that I hope will magically disappear one day soon!
Longest post ever. Good for me.
