November

November was quite the month for the Stoeber family. Out came the winter clothes, we ended this session of play class, and Ryan took his first flight. Although there are plenty of pictures here, there were still many more that didn't make the blog cut.

I loved this argyle sweater and couldn't pass up the chance to photograph Ryan in it.

Last day of play class. Ryan wored a fire fighter's turtleneck and fleece hat. I'm on one side of the plexiglass and he's on the other.

We made to to Las Vegas without any tirades on the plane!!! Nana, Grandpa, Dean, Ryan, and I visited Ethel's Chocolate Factory. Ryan didn't become "a kid in a candy store" until we stepped outside where he was surrounded by garbage cans. They are his new favorite things. He talks to them and waves his hands where and whenever we see them.

Went to Lucille's, an awesome southern style BBQ place. Ryan was getting restless so I decided to play "Will Ryan eat this?" this was his expression after trying a pickle for the first time.

For my birthday, Meema and Meepa got us tickets to see the Cirque de Soleil show, "O". It was AMAZING!!! Here's a self taken picture of Dean and me beforehand.

While in Las Vegas, we celebrated Christmas on Thanksgiving morning. The paper kept Ryan entertained while all of us opened gifts.

Grandpa with his gifts.

Nana with her new television.

Ryan playing peek-a-boo with Precious. Poor dog didn't know what to think of Ryan. They did play well together. Precious must've slept for days after we left. Gizmo got to catch up one some sleept while we were away. That is when she wasn't wandering the streets of Dixon.

The turkey kicked in on Dean.

Seeing that it was 60 and sunny the day after Thanksgiving and we weren't doing any shopping, we decided to walk/play off our Thanksgiving meal by hitting the park.

I lost count of how many pictures it took before we finally got one of him looking at the camera.

The amazing thing about the two pictures above - Dean and I both have bums small enough to fit on the slide!

Compare this picture of Ryan, to the one below of Dean. Wow, what a resemblance!

Our last day in Las Vegas, we finally took some still shots. Here's Ryan with his Grandpa and Nana.

Add dad to the mix.

Lastly, the 3 of us.

latest tricks and landscapes

Our way of enjoying this recent bout of Indian Summer has been to head out to the local parks and forest preserves. This top picture was taken at our neighborhood park. The man was flying this gigantic kite. He wore this belt around his waist and had to guide it with both arms. It was very cool. However it took him longer to set up and take down than the length of time he spent flying it. It must've been tough to fly.


We tried a new forest preserve Monday and Tuesday. Monday Ryan lost his shoe. Fortunately it was recovered. Here are some pictures from there.

And when we're not going out and about, we've been working on tricks. While he still hasn't yet mastered (or even achieved for that matter) the art of waving, here are a few of the things Ryan has picked up on. Adjust your volume.

Halloween 2009

To go along with the deep, monstery-sounding voice he sometimes uses, I decided to dress Ryan as a devil this year. Little guy almost slept through trick-or-treating! He finally woke from his nap about 2:00. After he ate lunch, I attempted to give him a goatie and eyebrows but he wasn't very cooperative. Dean is very happy that Ryan didn't like wearing make-up.



Complete! He must've looked scary, 'cause Gizmo appears slightly spooked in the background.

Ryan and our neighbor Erin (the little cat) rode in our new wagon as we went to about 7 houses on our street. It was windy and chilly.

Here's our little angel, posing in her costume. Even with about 10 safety pins in it, I couldn't get the wings and halo to stay up. I should've waited until I dressed Ryan so I could get their picture together, but by the time Ryan was up and dressed, I was tired of trying to fix Gizmo's costume. I ended up putting her in her Illini jersey (maybe that was the good luck they needed, they killed Michigan!). This is the one good picture I got of her.