Fun times around the house!

After Christmas, daddy and Ruston had TONS of fun playing with new toys.  Daddy made the mistake of showing Ruston that he can sit and ride in his shopping cart, so this has become a MUST in Ruston's book!

Ruston also has a tendency to get stuck since he really is too big to fit in the cart... and he has toppled over backwards and sideways a few times too.  Kid's gotta learn about gravity somehow! :)

Due to all the playing, Ruston gets quite tired.  This particular day, he had been in the car after playing at Cindy's house, and he fell asleep in the car.  Usually, as soon as I try to lay him down, he wakes up, but not this day; he was OUT!

Ruston is also learning about snow since we've had a lot of it, and he obviously doesn't remember last year!  He's really not quite sure what to think of it, but he'll sit in it and stare at it.

Daddy was sledding and tried to take Ruston down with him, but since we don't have a SLED and he was using an old boogie board, it didn't work so well!!  Maybe we'll try again later, since Jason tried to get a sled at Walmart, but they were all out.

Okay, so these are a tad out of order, but you get the idea.

Here's the attempt to take Ruston sledding down the hill... it was more like a "scoot" down the hill!

And the hike back up!

Winter has been going on through, and we've been enjoying it thus far, although it's becoming a bit of a nuisance to get up and down the driveway!!

Christmas, Part 2

We didn't think we were going to get a white Christmas this year because we really hadn't had much of any snow, but we woke up Christmas morning to this:

Such a beautiful view off of our deck.  Tucker was also enjoying his Christmas morning outside in the snow.  He really loves to be outside, and is in a fairly large pen so he can still run around okay.

And of course, looking down the driveway.  Luckily, it wasn't too much that we could still get down the driveway... but still just enough to enjoy the winter coziness. :)

Once we got up and going, we headed over to the Thackxton home for Christmas breakfast and lots of presents!  Of course, I didn't think to get any pictures of the table full of food, but it was GOOD!  The kids could barely contain themselves, well, neither could Nanny (Cindy), around all the presents, so the opening ensued.

Yes, that pile of presents are all for Ruston!  He, again, loved opening all his presents from Nanny and Pa.

Once the madness of present opening was finished, we headed back home for a relaxed rest of the day.  Ruston decided it was time to enjoy his Christmas present from Grammie and Papa Boo... this horse!


I also had to get a picture of him in his Christmas clothes.  Such a grown up little man!


Trying to multi-task... there's no way that bottle was coming out of his hand!

Merry Christmas everyone!!  We had a lot of fun this year, and know that each year will grow exponentially in the amount of fun and joy we have watching Ruston grow up!!

Christmas, Part 1

Well, Christmas is here, and we are excited!  Ruston did SO well with not messing with the presents under the tree, until last night.

We decided to let Ruston open his presents (well, and ours too) last night since we knew we were going to the Thackxton's in the morning.  Ruston LOVED opening the presents, and didn't really care what was inside. haha





See, he even liked his new jammies!  Jason and I had a lot of fun and joy watching Ruston open presents.  It's really a different thing to watch your own child open presents, even if they weren't his!



Ruston got a shopping cart from us.  He was REALLY excited about this, and had to get it all out immediately... which meant I had to put it together immediately! :)
Our little Christmas at home was wonderful, and definitely a new memory as this was the first Christmas Ruston actually did something like open presents (he was only 3 months old last year).  Next comes the Thackxton Christmas morning!

Hunting Escapades

Along with the many other things we have managed to do, Jason has been able to fit in some hunting... even if it was just squirrels. He was proud of them anyway.

He also got his wood duck back from the taxidermist. I wasn't too excited to have yet another dead animal in the house, but this one does look pretty good.
It's standing on one foot, and the other is tucked up in there, but it's pretty amazing how detailed the taxidermist is.
Below is Ruston's birthday deer. Yes, Jason went hunting on Ruston's first birthday, but it was opening day of deer season, so he HAD to go. The arrow went right through her. Someday, Ruston will go with him, I'm sure.
Then about 2 weeks later, he got this one... a bit more blood.
Jason had to get a close up of the blood too... ew.

Then the final pose... of him holding the deer. This must be the "trophy" pose, because all the hunters seem to do it, with the weapon they used laying on or by the deer as well.

Adventure Science Center

Once we were done at the zoo, we moved over to the Adventure Science Center. It was MUCH cooler inside than it was outside at the zoo, so it was a nice change of pace. Ruston decided it was naptime, and THANK YOU to Dayna for having her Ergo so I didn't have to lug him around. He was so peaceful in the Ergo, which just strapped to my front and I didn't have a hurting back at the end of the day!

There were a ton of different exhibits at the ASC, I would liken it to the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. Anyway, one of them was letting you feel what is was like for someone in a wheelchair, so here is Jason practicing his wheelchair skills.
Thea practiced this too, and did pretty well for her little size! Dayna followed and supervised behind her.
Once Ruston woke up from his nap, he found this large keyboard. Danelle was also in the back pushing the keys.
Ruston enjoyed making music with this.
Thea and Ruston also go a kick out of the rolling chairs... who cares about the wheels and buttons on the wall?!?!
While the littler ones were pushing chairs around, the older ones were getting ready for something major.
A trip to the moon! This simulator hooks you up to assist in changing gravity for you (basically), so you can feel what it's like to be on the moon and jump really high without much effort. Danelle and Shane are below...
Danelle and Jason...

I think they enjoyed that, although I hear the harnesses weren't the most comfortable!

Once again, Ruston found the strangest thing to be the most interesting: a ramp. Since he hasn't been walking for but a couple of months, he decided to practice his walking on uneven ground... up and down... up and down...
...up and down... up and down...
I also think Jason had as much, if not more, fun than the kids did. He LOVED the ball pit and the huge crane to practice picking up the balls. :)

Either way, at the end of the day, we were all exhausted!!!!!

Nashville Zoo

My sister's family (The Halls) came to visit us, and we had a bunch of fun! Dayna, Shane, Danelle, and Thea had never been to Tennessee, so we tried to introduce them to a couple of places.

We took a day to visit the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere as well as the Adventure Science Center (in another post). The kids had TONS of fun, although it was a very hot day! Ruston enjoyed some stairs he found at the zoo, and yes, his head is shiny and his hair is messed up because he has sunscreen in it.

We visited the petting zoo where there were goats throughout. Ruston didn't really want to touch them, but he was willing to sit next to them.
I think he had some sunscreen in his eye here, but like I said, he sat by them, and that's about it. Haha.
Danelle and Thea took turns brushing them too.
We also saw flamingoes...
...zebras...
...more zebras...
... and Dayna and Thea! Oh wait, those were the meerkats!
Ruston, however, was not very interested in the animals, but rather enjoyed climbing on this alligator. Don't worry, it's not real. :) Danelle and Thea were running around in the rest of the large play area that was nearby.
Proud of himself... king of the alligator!