The Adventures of Thacker

I promised an update on what our Elf on the Shelf has been up to.  Here are some of the favorite spots we've found him so far.

We found him hanging from the kitchen light fixture.

Thacker knows the real reason for the season.

Ryker especially loved when Thacker made a snow angel in flour.

He was just passin' the time this day. ;-)

Dr. Thacker was examining Spot.

The lure of Christmas cookies was too hard to resist.

Firefighter Thacker to the rescue!

He left a message on the mirror the day he shaved (see below)

Gotta get that 5 o'clock shadow ;-)

Ryker liked eating his letter R

Roasting some 'mallows

See the T between the two windows? Yea, Thacker monogrammed our house.

This has been such a fun little tradition and we're all really enoying it.  Much to my surprise, Camden totally gets it and is really into it.  He runs around searching for him in the morning and laughs, points, and makes his shocked face over and over again once he finds him.  Then he proceeds to get everyone he can (Nana, Papaw, Daddy, Aunt Kate, etc.) to show them where he's at.  It's adorable!  Ryker is loving it too of course!

"Gingerbread" Houses

Fridays are typically Family Night around here.  That means we pick some kind of family activity we can all do together and we either stay in and do it or go out as a family.  Robert started this a while back and I have to say, we really enjoy it.  After a busy week, it's nice to spend time together just the 4 of us and recharge our batteries.  Tonight's activity was to decorate Rice Crispies Treat houses.  I bought a kit with everything you needed to make two houses for less than $5 at Aldi earlier in the week and Ryker was excited to get started.  We mixed up the Rice Crispies before dinner and put them in the mold and let our houses set up a bit while we ate.  After dinner (of yummy Papa John's) we started decorating.  Camden might've enjoyed eating his frosting and candy more than decorating, but we all had fun nonetheless.  These were super easy to do and we had a great time making them.  Since Cam's wasn't that pretty, we cut it up and ate most of it for dessert. ;-)

Big Boy Stuff

Lately, Ryker has seemed to grow up before our eyes very quickly.  Every time I turn around, he's doing something new and becoming more and more independent.  He's now buckling his seat belt by himself consistently.  This is extremely helpful.  I no longer have to climb all the way into the back of the van to buckle him in...makes me happy!  He's also started unloading the dishwasher and putting away all the silverware every day. 

He loves to doodle and draw pictures.  Most of his artwork now includes random numbers and letters.  He's obviously not spelling anything out, but he's writing his letters really well and practicing.  In fact, just last week, he made up a game he named "Find the Numbers".  He wrote down several letters and mixed in some numbers.  He wanted to take it to school so they could play it.  They couldn't fit it in on the first day, but we took it later that week and he played with one of his teachers and a few classmates.  Mrs. Steele was impressed with his idea and loved that he was having fun learning. I loved it too!  (It's not always easy to get him to do his homework or work on letters, numbers, etc.) 

Biggest news, however, is that he's no longer wearing a Pull Up or diaper during nap or even at night!!!!!  He told us a few weeks ago that he didn't want to wear a diaper to bed.  He seemed quite insistent and I definitely didn't want to discourage him, so we allowed it.  He woke up once in the night and went to the bathroom.  He woke up dry!  He's been doing REALLY well with it.  He will start to dribble a bit sometimes and it will wake him up.  He doesn't get the sheets wet or anything, just needs to change his pants.  He's had a few accidents, but has been doing soooo well.  We are so proud of him.  With his encopresis I really thought we had a LOOOONG road ahead of us, but it looks like we are heading in the right direction.

With Ryker's last year of preschool essentially half over, the reality of him going to kindergarten next year has been on my mind a lot lately.  Because he is so young for his class, the idea of having him do two years of Pre-K has always been entertained.  We are leaning more and more toward sending him on to Kindergarten.  All these examples reassure me that he is ready.  The other part of me hates it and wants time to stop (or better yet, reverse).  We haven't made a final decision by any means, but it's definitely time to really mull it over.  I just want to be sure we make the best decision for Ryker and for our family.  :-)

15 Months

Camden is now 15 months old!  He has grown and changed so much over the past 3 months since his birthday.  He is so incredibly agile that it amazes me.  Both his gross and fine motor skills are way ahead of the curve.  Some of the activities that showcase these abilities most include climbing up and down off the couch and kitchen chairs, coloring, eating with a fork and spoon with surprising accuracy, threading pipe cleaners through the holes in a colander, throwing balls (well, just about anything that looks like it could be thrown), and jetting up and down the stairs at a world record pace.  His verbal skills, however, have taken a back seat the past couple of months.  He will say, "uh-oh", "I don't know", and a few other new phrases, but mainly he just grunts, whines, or cries to get his point across.  It's a bit frustrating since we all know that he knows exactly what's going on and could talk if he wanted to, but is just choosing not to.  He's a bit ornery!

His sleep schedule is WAY off since we moved in with my parents.  He's up at least 1-3 times a night.  Sometimes we can get him back down quickly by rocking him a bit and turning his music on.  Other times, nursing him is the only way to get him back down.  I hate doing it because I know it's not good for his teeth, but in an effort to keep everyone else in the house asleep, silencing him is my best option at this time.  Let's just say, I'm ready to move so I can let him cry it out and break him of this habit!  He's still napping twice a day.  He can go without a morning nap fine, but will crash eventually if you try to keep him up for too long. 
He's still a great eater.  He will eat just about anything you put in front of him.  In fact, he even ate sauerkraut the other day!  Gross, in my opinion, but he didn't seem to mind.  He still nurses in the mornings and evenings (and the aforementioned middle of the night ;-/ )

He had his 15 month appointment with Dr. Anderson.  He weighed in a 26 lbs. 6 oz (75th percentile) and measured 32.5" (which is the 87th percentile).  He was thrashing and fighting the poor nurse while she tried to measure him and was longer than the paper they laid him on to measure him.  He remembered her from his 12 month shots and I think he thought she was going to give him shots.  When I measure him at home, I consistently get 33.5" which is the 98th percentile and more consistent with his growth chart.  Oh well, we'll see what they say at his 18 month appointment. Dr. A also said many kids will focus on one area of development at a time.  This explains why he is making strides in motor development, but isn't talking much.  She said we will likely see a language explosion around 18 months and to just keep talking to him and trying to coax it out of him in the meanwhile. She also said "normal" kids are saying 2-4 words at this age, so he is still actually ahead.  Ryker was a HUGE talker at this age, so I guess I was comparing Cam to him.  Oops!  He had three shots and a blood draw to check his lead and iron levels.  He handled everything really well and was especially good during the blood draw.  I was dreading it, so it was a relief!

Happy 15 Months Rotten Boy!

(At least he's really cute!)

The Greatest Gift of All

Tonight was Ryker's Christmas program at school.  This year he was  sheperd.  He did a great job!  He knew every word to every song and sang along and did his motions really well.  It's such a sweet program and watching all those kiddos just makes you smile.  He had quite the fan section tonight too!

He was right up front with his sheep singing with Mary  and Joseph and the angel.

He was so cute!

Aunt Kate and Uncle Dave came to watch.

So did Uncle Dave and Cara!

Nonno had to work, but Nonna came!

Nana and Papaw joined us too.

So excited to get a few cute pics of him in this outfit.  It was so stinkin' cute it made me just want to squeal! :-)

Trying to get a family photo.

Now, for the real us! ;-)

Nana getting some QT with Hudson.

Mega Instragram Update

First hot chocolate of the season...he was in heaven!

A bad case of hat hair

Sunday afternoon fun at Monkey Joe's

1. He loves wearing my sunglasses.

2. Friends for life.

3. Feeding himself applesauce.

4. Bed head!

5. Going to get my hair cut always makes me nervous.

6. The after shot...not too shabby if I say so myself.

7. Cam and Hudson talking.

8. Ryker is totally a Nana's boy and Cam is all Papaw's.

9. Zoo Boo

1. Flights of Fancy

2. This makes getting up hard to do.

3. Church, lunch, and shopping with the sis-in-law.

4. Trying to get used to my new mini ponytail.

5. Melt my heart!

6. Santa baby

7. He loves his big bro.

8. Cuddle time with Hudson.

9. Fall Festival at Nonna's work.

1. Ryker wanted to sit on Santa's lap.

2. Bedtime story with Nana.

3. Ryker asked me to draw a picture of our family.

4. Ryker pretending to be Nana. Hilarious!

5. My little turkey.

6. Sick boy in the MedCheck getting after his breathing treatment.

7. Listening to Red

8. Holding the bottle all by himself.

9. Can't let that paci go!

Fall fun in the leaves

Playing peek-a-boo with his bowl at dinner.

Dr. Brown in his costume for his school Halloween party.

CMA's night with the girls

Friday night fun

1. Going out for my birthday

2. These two look so much alike it's scary!

3. He was super excited to see Daddy carry the Marine Corps flag for our church's Veteran's Day service.

4. He looked good up there.

5. We stripped these two down for a family chili cook-off.

6. Ryker getting some work done in Robert's office.

7. They wanted to go on vacation with Nana and Papaw.

8. Ryker's new friend, Toto.

9. Celebrating my birthday with my 3 favorite boys.

1. Hudson had to wear this gown since he pooped out of his clothes.

2. Morning project.

3. Selling ice cream at the musuem.

4. Morning cuddle time.

5. Cam wasn't feeling well and was down for extra cuddle time.  A rare occasion.

6. Ryker had to buckle Toto in too. Safety first!

7. He stayed home sick but still had Circle Time.

8. Making ornaments at Michael's.

Gray Thursday shopping with the hubs.

Pulling stuff out of the storage unit so we could get to our coats. Brr!

Getting the tree up!

Trying on his new accessories.

Friday Family Night- hot chocolate and Arthur Christmas

Fun with pipe cleaners

Making soup

Meeting Sophie and visiting Roxie at Nonno and Nonna's

Big day wore them out!

1. Tired much?

2. My little pilgrim.

3. Gray Thursday success.

4. Lid klepto strikes again.  There were 18 lids under the oven!

5. Cousins!

6. His favorite face.

7. Mixing up the meatloaf for dinner.

8. Shopped til they dropped.

9. Our new advent calendar.

1. New haircut.

2. Carriage ride through Cumberland.

3. Sleepy boy and a silly daddy during lunch after church.

4. Post-workout.

5. Found all my Christmas music!  Thought it was packed away.  Super excited!

6. Coloring like a big boy.

7. Helping Aunt Karen decorate.

8. Trying on Daddy's hat.

9. Teamwork to unload the dishes.

I'm going to try to do better about this, I swear!

German Marketplace

There was a German Marketplace event going on in downtown Cumberland today.  It was such a gorgeous day (68*) that we decided to head over there and check it out.  We had some food and then took a carriage ride around the downtown area.  The boys absolutely LOVED it!  It was the hit of the day for sure!

Ryker wanted a picture with the horses before we left. They were a male/female team named Roy and Linda.

This little guy was VERY excited!

And pointing at everything!

It was pretty cool. :-)

When we got done, Robert put him down for a second and he made a beeline for the horses.  We managed to catch him and then let him pet the horses with the owner's permission.

Daddy and his boys. :-)

We also visited with Santa, but Ryker wasn't down for pictures at that point.  We also browsed lots of booths.  We bought some delicious homemade fudge and a new book. All in all, a very fun afternoon. :-)