Canaan Ryder is One Year Old!

Has it really been a whole year? I cannot even begin to imagine my life without this precious little bundle of silliness and joy.  Our home just would not be the same place without this little guy.  He brings so much joy, laughter and fun to all of our lives.  He is such a happy and mello baby.  He loves to be at home surrounded by his family.  He loves playing with his brother and sister (especially playing in River's room with all of his cars : ) He loves to play with his toys and crawl around the house exploring.  He's pulling/standing up and has just started cruising, so no walking quite yet.  I may not initially like having to wake up when I hear Ryder talking in the monitor, but when I see his big smile my exhaustion seems to fade and he just fills my heart with joy.  Such a little blessing!  Juggling 3 kids is definitely a lot of work, but it is totally, absolutely, 100 percent worth it.
             

Ryder had his 1 year well baby doctor's appointment today and here are his stats:
weight:                      20lbs 3 oz.          30th percentile
height:                       31 in                   85th percentile
head circumference: 18 in                    37th percentile

 

Nicknames:  "Ry Ry" and "Ryder Byder" and "Tiny Buffalo"
His Tricks:  shaking his head : ) clapping, kisses, waving, saying "hi", peekaboo (AKA "where's Ryder?!")
Favorite Foods:  blueberries, blackberries, anything that we are eating, pizza crust : )
Favorite Toys:  A little electronic bear that a friend gave him, maraca, cars, cars and more cars!
Favorite Place:  Home (he is such a little homebody : ), he also enjoys being in the car
Favorite Activites: Bath Time, playing with Scout and River and exploring all over the house, banging any 2 things together : ) He loves to be with his family and LOVES to eat!

Ryder's Schedule
8ish       Wake up / Nurse / Breakfast
10ish      Nap 
12:30     Lunch
1:30ish   Nurse
3ish        Nap
5pm        Dinner
7:30        Nurse and Bedtime

I'm still nursing him 3 times a day.  He gets easily distracted most of the time, but he still really enjoys it - especially the morning feeding.  Hopefully, he'll go to 2 times a day before too long... we'll see.

What We're Reading - Spring 2013

    

 Our Family Read-Alouds:

Toy Dance Party by Emily Jenkins
   Oh my gosh, this book is pure fun!  This is a sequel to the book Toys Go Out, which we read to Scout when she was 4 and then again last year.  I haven't been able to find this at the library so this was a Christmas present for the kids.  I was able to get the library binding edition on Amazon for 8 bucks : ) I just love hard back books!  It's really beautiful and one that we will treasure for a long time. River caught right on to all the fun characters and followed all the sarcasm and silliness.  This was a perfect family bedtime book.  We are looking forward to reading Toys Come Home.

MyFather's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannet

We are all enjoying this fun family read-aloud.  This is River's first time hearing this classic tale.  We have read it a couple of times with Scout but she's enjoying is as well and she is doing some extension activities like drawing a picture of everything Elmer packed in his knapsack and figuring out how many tangerines he has left in each chapter.  I love the all the kooky characters in this story and the perct 3-5 page chapter lengths.  We plan to read the next 2 books in the series which will be a first for all of us. 

  Scout's Read: Tales From the Odyssey by Mary Pope Osborne.
First of all, I am super excited that Scout is actually reading chapter books on her own. Yay!  I thought this day would never come.  Now, Scout has been reading for almost 3 years now, she is a good reader and can read almost anything, but during "read for fun" time she has always preferred to just look at books and only read bits and pieces of them and she would much prefer that I just read to her (which of course we still do a lot of)  So this year I instituted SSR (silent sustained reading) for her which has actually turned out to be one of our favorite times of the day.  We sit by each other on the couch and she reads her book and I read my book ( I know, I actually get to read - it's brilliant! lol!) This way, I am modeling reading for her and she can ask for support with any difficult words.  We started with simple books like Frog and Toad and Amelia Bedelia.  After a couple months, I found a website online called Book Adventures which sort of a free online version of Accelerated Reader.  I wanted to make sure that she was actually reading the books, without having to quiz her on every Fancy Nancy book (grin).  She takes online quizzes on the books that she reads and then gets points based on the difficulty of the book.  It didn't take long for her to figure out that the chapter books are worth 5 or 6 plus points.  Well, that was just the motivation she needed and we know have our very own chapter book reader : )  She tunes the rest of the world out when she is reading.  River and Ryder are playing and banging things all around and she is in her own world.  Yesterday she said to me, "Mama, can I please read a little longer.  I just want to find out what happens next.  I just love reading so much!" There are no words for how happy this made me...
I just discovered these Tales from the Odyssey books and I feel like we have hit the jackpot.  We have been studying Ancient Greece so it could not be more perfect timing.   She is already very familiar with the Greek gods and goddesses so everything sort of makes sense to her as she is reading.  The size font, chapter size and book lengths is perfect for her reading level.  There are 6 books in the series and the Denver library has these cute little hardback books that are much sturdier than the magic treehouse books.  I would love to eventually own a set of these.
Scout's read aloud: The Usborne Greek Myths for Young Children  This book is gorgeous!  This is one I would definitely love to own.  The illustrations are incredible, the myths are broken up into the perfect 2 or 3 page length, and they are "toned down" a bit for children, but definitely not "watered-down" too much from the classic myths.  This goes along with our Story of The World curriculum and we have really enjoyed these ancient stories.    

River's Read-Aloud: Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater

 I can actually remember finding this book in my 3rd grade classroom "library" and reading it.  Such a cute little silly story.

            






Ally's current reads:
The Happiness Project Gretchen Ruben.  
This book surprised me.  I didn't want to like, but it ended up really inspiring me.  I am starting my own "happiness project" beginning on my 30th birthday in June... stayed tuned : )











The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.
This book is incredibly popular right now and took forever to reserve at the library.  It's good.  I think there's probably a lot more to it than meets the eye.  I like John Green a lot.  This is not my favorite book of his.  I think I liked Looking For Alaska for some reason, but this is definitely good.   

Tony's first Half Marathon

I (Tony) have to say that this was probably one of the more rewarding accomplishments of my young life, and if it weren't for Ally, it most likely would not have happened.  I am truly grateful for being able to live in the most beautiful state in the Union the last few years, allowing all of us to spend more time outside, having fun, being active, etc.  I have always been a very athletic and competitive person, and I believe that I have found a new outlet for these life desires.  I completed my first sprint triathlon last fall and now my first half marathon just a short week ago.  I have also planned another half and triathlon before the end of this summer.  Don't get me wrong, you probably will not ever see my name on any of the leader boards, but I am really enjoying learning more about how I can push my body to its limits and then push a little more the time after that.  Ally has been a huge inspiration to me, already completing 3 triathlons with 3 more signed up for this summer!  She is a BEAST, and a beautiful one at that : ).  Scout is even getting in on the fun, hopefully competing in her first kids tri this summer.  Also, I want to say a huge thank you and congratulations to our good friend, Laura, seen in the photo with me below, for running the half with me and pushing me to compete with the attitude that I am going to do great.  We finished within 2 or 3 minutes of each other!  

Spring Break in Cheyenne

Well, we weren't relaxing on a beach or skiing in the mountains, but for our family spring break was restful and perfect.  Tony's school calendar has spring break the week after the kids and I do so we sort of get 2 weeks of spring break. I try to take advantage of it, so the first week we did a lot of "school" since we didn't have preschool, Options and CBS.  (Which any homeschool mom will tell you is blissful, since we seem to have to fight for "school time" amidst our crazy weekly schedule : )  We squeezed in a trip to the Museum and Pixie Skate and Tony's brother and sister-in-law came to spend Easter weekend with us so that was a treat.
The next week was Tony's spring break so he was able to take the kids to school and stay home with Ryder for me during CBS Tues and Wed (they had some quality "guy time": )

Then, we packed up and headed to Cheyenne for a few days at my parent's house.  My parents' house is the perfect place to rest for us because we have a beautiful house to enjoy, without the stress of laundry, dishes, etc.  We are able to just spend time as a family enjoying each other and focusing on each other.  We do puzzles, snuggle on the couch and read books and watch movies, walk to the park down the street.  Usually Tony and I try to sneak in a movie after the kids go to bed.  It's incredible how rejuvenated I feel after a couple of days of rest.  Even though the weather was dreary and chilly, mom and I celebrated the arrival of spring with mani pedis.  Right before we headed back to Denver, we took Scout bowling while the boys were napping.  Then we all headed back to Denver (including my parents) to support Tony in his first half marathon.  So, so grateful that my parents are so close and that they don't mind us taking over their house for a few days every month or so : )