Cleaning up the camera

I find inspiration in the oddest of places. Sometimes it's a news story or article I've read, maybe it's someone on Oprah, it could be from reading a friend's post on Facebook even. But my most recent bout of inspiration came from the tv show Ugly Betty. It may not be the best show on tv - it can be predictable and sometimes I feel embarassed for the characters (a personal trait of mine that I don't like), but Betty is a 20-something who knows what she wants and has goals. After many months of pondering what I want to accomplish I decided to write down my goals for 2010. I really don't know what I want long term other than health and happiness, so for now I have a list of about 15 short term goals. Most revolve around cleaning and organization, but I also want to read more, watch less tv, make healthier meals, walk Gizmo more, volunteer or make charitable donations, and establish date nights for Dean and me. I didn't really create goals for Ryan because his milestones will come when he's ready, I'm more concerned that he laughs each day - so I guess that's goal 16 - make Ryan laugh each day.



With regards to my blog, I have made it a goal to update it every 2 weeks AND clean my camera once a month. So there may be times that you get picture-less blog updates, but those are my goals and I ask that those who read this please help me stick to it. If you notice that I'm slacking, please shoot me an e-mail or tell me to quit being a slacker on the blog! I promise I won't be offended.



Now for the picture descriptions!



It has been awhile since I updated and I realized I put these in the reverse order from what I wanted. So the photos at the top are more recent from those at the bottom.



On one particular snowy, yet not overly cold day, I bundled up Ryan, put him in his penguin sled, and pulled him around our neighborhood while Gizmo walked along side. Here's a self-taken picture of us all. No, I'm not wearing makeup, I am that pasty white, nor was my hair brushed. At least Gizmo loves my appearance and even Ryan looks fond of Giz here.





I tried about 4 times to get them both to look at the camera. It never happened.

Poor boy couldn't put his arms down, even if he had wanted to, too many layers. At least he was happy and liked being pulled around.

Referring back to a previous post, here we are at the 4th Stoeber Christmas, that of Dean, Ryan, Meema, Meepa, Grandma Katie and me. Here's Ryan in the skunk slippers Grandma Katie got him. Boy are those babies warm (and cute to boot!)!

Meema and Meepa got Ryan this soccer chair, it's the perfect size for him! He sits in it to watch his Baby Can Read Dvds.

That's all for now, see you in 2 weeks!

December/Christmas Recap

Finally catching a bit of time to update on Christmas! I'm thankful that neither Dean nor I have step-parents with families because I think we truly would've had the 12 days of Christmas. As it stands, we had 5 days.

This picture was taken Christmas Eve, yes I know that I look like I need to go to bed more than Ryan, but that was just because of all the cooking/baking/shopping/wrapping/cleaning that I'd been doing. Last year I waited too late to find him the "T'was the Night before Christmas" book so I made sure I got it this year. We opened it and read it before his bedtime.

Ryan slept in on Christmas day (and we let him), so we did our gifts first. Dean got Guitar Hero that he's been asking for now for a few years. Santa finally decided he'd behaved well enough to get it.

Sorry I forgot to tilt this picture correctly before posting it. We put Ryan down at the bottom of our stairs, this was his first view of our tree/gifts Christmas morning. As you can see, he is jazzed :)

Later on Christmas Day, Dale, Cheryl, Dean, Ryan, and I made our way to Dixon for the Lendman Family Christmas (this was our 3rd Christmas). Talk about a rarity - Ryan had all 7 of his (great) grandparents in the room at once! How many kids do you know that can have that happen?! Here he is with Gramma Pat, Nana, Meema, and Grandma Katie.

Now with the guys - Papa Joe, Meepa, and Grandpa Dale.

By the time we put the whole crew together, Ryan had had enough of pictures. And by the look on his face, I'd say so did Papa Joe.

Here I am buried under Ryan's gifts. Thanks to all for all the great toys! I love playing with them, I mean Ryan loves playing with them.

I wouldn't say I'm a great photographer, or even a good one. It doesn't help that my camera has this slight delay that makes it nearly impossible to capture that perfect moment. However, this time I think I got it! Uncle Mark was trying to sweet-talk his girlfriend, Sheri, and she was having none of it.

I'd like to think that this picture of Ryan playing with Cousin Ava's doll on a step stool is foreshadowing that someday Ryan will push me around in a wheelchair when I'm old and feeble.

I know Ryan's hair was getting bad when even Meepa commented that he needed a haircut. So a few days after Christmas, while Dean as still home from work, we made a trip to Great Cuts for a cut at the back and over the ears. Small fry did great, no fussing -even when the clipper was used around his ears!

Much better!

Dancin' Man

Ryan loves the new Leap Frog farm animal magnet toy he got for Christmas -especially the music it plays. I was able to record him dancing. Off camera Dean is also dancing that's what Ryan is watching. I promised Dean I wouldn't tape him, so you'll just have to believe me when I say seeing him dance was quite the sight as well. I think this video is just under 2 minutes, Ryan quits dancing after about 1:30. Adjust the volume before viewing. Enjoy!

More Christmas pictures are to come, I'm a little short on time so this is the only thing I could post for now. Stay tuned and Happy New Year!

Christmas Cards and Santa pictures

Last year I had these goofy holiday ears to put on Ryan and Gizmo for our family Christmas photos. Ryan is actually wearing a Santa hat made for a dog - I didn't put the chin strap around him though. Ryan couldn't sit up on his own and in total I probably took 10 pictures. Each time he'd lean further and further towards Gizmo until he eventually leaned on her. This was the last picture and the one I ended up sending out. At that time, it was the closed Gizmo allowed Ryan to get to her.





Fast forward one year. The goofy ears have popped up again. These are at least made for a human, though as you will see the human wearing them isn't fond of them. After many previous years of being subject to holiday ears, I found Gizmo a jingle bell collar to wear instead. I'm sure she was grateful to wear that, but again as you'll see - not grateful to be getting her picture taken and/or not grateful to be so close to Ryan again.

Ryan is a one trick pony. His trick - clapping. Though not always willing to do so for strangers he claps when happy, excited, proud of himself, or when something amuses him. Here I guess he was happy I took the ears off.

These next two photos were taken the next day (thus a different outfit for Ryan). In this one, Gizmo is trying to eat Ryan. Yeah, right. She was yawning out of boredom probably. Honestly, I'm surprised Gizmo's breath didn't knock Ryan over. Instead he seems to be thinking, "My Gizmo, what big teeth you have."

How I ever got Thing 1 and Thing 2 to sit together in the rocking chair like this I'll never know. Gizmo still shows that same "I can't believe I'm doing this" expression that she shows in all photos involving her and Ryan. And Ryan would like nothing more than to remove the antlers. But of all 20 some odd pictures I took, this one below and the one of Ryan clapping with Gizmo did make the 2009 card cut.

Dean didn't want to miss out on going to see Santa with Ryan so we waited until today (Monday) to do so. Since he's off this week we figured today might be our best shot at beating the lines and we were right. We were third in line, we could take our own photos - plus they provided us a free 4x6 and Santa was very friendly and had a real beard! I had a suspicion that Ryan would cry, but small fry did great! So where was this Super Santa you ask, none other than Bass Pro Shop. There was an entire activity area surrounding Santa's cottage. You could drive radio controlled cars, color, write letters to Santa, watch the Polar Express train circle a track, even shoot Red Rifle or bows and arrows in certain spots. I must admit though, it was kind of strange to see other kids shooting at deer while we're waiting in line to see Santa. All in all a great time and we'll go back again!

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.