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.

Birthday Party

In honor of Ryan's first birthday a few weeks ago, we had a small get together over the weekend.

A lot of pictures were taken, unfortunately I didn't upload them in the right order, so below you'll see a mish-mash of photos.





We have 3 ways of 4 generations in our family. Gramma Pat wasn't feeling well (get well soon!) so we couldn't take 2 of the generation pictures, but here is the one we could. Ryan with me, Meema, and Grandma Katie.



Dean and Grandma Katie reading to cousin Ava and Ryan.



Ryan and Meepa - don't know why it's blurry.

Ryan with cousins Adam and Ava playing with a new toy!

Ryan and Daddy wearing the outfit Dean got him for his birthday.

Ryan and his pumpkin birthday cake. If you look closely you'll see that they have the same teeth!

Our friend and neighbor, Erin. She's a little Steelers fan.

Although they look alike, they aren't brothers, rather cousins - Ryan and Nathan. They, too, kind of have the same teeth!

Ryan and Nathan playing peek-a-boo. I guess they also have the same pants!

Attempting to eat a piece of cake. All in all not too bad, though I think more ended up on the floor than in his mouth.

Cousin Adam coming in to clean up the pieces.

Taking a ride in his new wagon!

Whoops, guess I posted this one twice.It was a great party and fun day altogether. By the end of it all, even Gizmo was pooped. Thanks to friends and family for coming and all the wonderful gifts!

Pumpkins and Sesame Street Clothes

I've always been somewhat of a creative person, however I'm not at all artistic. So this year I was determined to have carved pumpkins (since I was a little pre-occupied last year at this time). I consulted my bible "Family Fun Magazine" for some cute, easy ideas.


I call this guy, the first trick-or-treater of 2009. I've had this stand for a few years, but this is only the second time I've used it, first in this house.

Both these guys came from this October's magazine. Dean thinks the one below looks Asian. He was supposed to have small white gourds inserted to represent big pupils. But I didn't use a large enough pumpkin to be able to do that.

And for the second part of the title - Sesame Street Clothes. This Elmo outift was a hand-me-over from Aunt Sherry. It's sized 6-9 months. But only lately has it been cold enough to put on Ryan. Unfortunately the legs are short, so he probably won't get a chance to wear it again. It was quite the site though, he was standing on one side of the kitchen table, and Dean and I on the other. All we could see of him were the Elmo eyes at the top of the sweatshirt.

This outfit came from our friends, the Kirk Family. They know how much Dean, I mean Ryan :) likes the Sesame Street character pop-up toy we have - especially Cookie Monster (C is for Cookie that's good enough for me, yum-yum-yum-yum-yum)

Ryan's First Birthday

Where oh where did 365 days go? Ryan celebrated his first birthday on Sunday, October 11. What a difference a year makes. In that time so much has changed. Our little Sweet Pea is now a 22 pound, walking, babbling ball of trouble. Just kidding, ball of energy is more like it. More video-taping was done on this special day then pictures, so here are just a few of what we got.


Ryan in his booster seat, with his birthday balloon tied to it, awaiting his birthday cupcake. I was anticipating a big mess.

And here is the after picture, not much made it into his mouth. 99% of the frosting you see on his face, I put there. Poor boy was extremely tired at this point in the day and wasn't into his cupcake at all. Lucky Dean and I were there to clean up the crumbs. Lovin' Oven does delicious cupcakes!

Here Ryan is playing on one of his birthday gifts. We bought the foam floor mats to put down in the basement's bar so Ryan would have a place to play this winter. Some of his toys are down there too, but he was excited to just crawl on the mat. It felt different than crawling on the laminate or even carpet. It was funny, he'd get to the edge, then stop, turn around, and crawl a different direction on the mat.

All and all a nice first birthday. Later this month will be the party, stay tuned for pictures from that!

First Open Play Class

Guess who? It's me, Ryan Kennedy Stoeber updating you again on the family blog. I'm sure by now you've all seen me walking on the blog video so that has earned me the chance to report again. Today mom and I went to the Round Lake Area Park District's Sportscenter for my first open play class. It's held on the indoor soccer field. At first I wasn't crazy about the astroturf-type ground, but I got used to it. In fact I took twenty steps, I paused after about 7 and again after 14, but still 20 steps and I'm not even 1 yet!


Here I am attempting to scale the inclined mat.


I know what you're thinking, I just said I could walk, but here I am crawling up the incline. Sheesh people, give me a break! I'm just learning how to walk on flat land, hills are still some time away!


I really enjoyed this little slide. Mom says we have a similar one at home that she's going to put in basement this winter.

There were a few different tunnels to play in, some made of nylon, one of mesh, and this plasticy one. This was a far as I ventured into any of them. Maybe by the end of the session I'll crawl completely through.

I've never been around this many balls at once! I found out mom and I have something in common - we both like to dribble. She needs a ball to do it with her hands or her feet (it makes me laugh to see her do this), but all I need to dribble is a little spit.

Here's mom and me. She was holding me while I sat and bounced on a handled red ball. If I had longer legs and better balance I'd do it myself 'cause I really liked this toy.

That's all to report for now. Stay tuned for a further report on my birthday, the big 0-1!