Memorial Day Saturday!

WARNING!!!  NAKED BABY PICTURES!  DO NOT CONTINUE IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE NUDITY!!!

Ok, now that you've all been warned, I just thought I would give a quick update with a few pictures from my phone.  Today Ruston and I spent a decent amount of the afternoon on the deck.  I was putting together our new bar-b-que (which I haven't taken a picture of yet), and Ruston was wandering, playing, swimming, and finding all sorts of things to get into!  He WAS wearing a diaper, but then decided he wanted to be nude... and since we live in the middle of nowhere, I figured it would be okay.

A couple of these are a tad blurry, sorry.  He had fun in his little swimming pool... and yes, those are bbq tongs.  I'm really hoping he didn't poke a hole in the pool!  There used to be more water in the pool also, but he was having fun stepping on the side and watching the water exit the pool... darn observation child!

We also had the pleasure of a rare visit from neighbors... peacock neighbors, that is!

Our "neighbors" over the ridge have free roaming peacocks, and today they decided to roam to our place.  Ruston was pretty interested in them and watched them the entire time they were in our yard, until they wandered back into the woods.  Taco and Tucker, on the other hand, barked and barked and growled and barked some more... to which the peacocks just continued as they were.  Yes, that's a white peacock too!

As a great close to the evening, we had a beautiful sunset (sadly it doesn't look as great on my phone).  I have a picture on my camera, but I have yet to download it... maybe at a later date!

Anyway, we had a great Saturday to our Memorial Day weekend... here's to hoping Sunday and Monday are just as good!!

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!!

Birthday Bash!

Another thing we did while the Hall family was here was have a birthday party! We waited to have Ruston's celebration until the Halls were here, and Danelle also celebrated her 5th birthday. She requested a cake with a rainbow, and with the limited supplies I had at the house, I think Dayna did well. :)

Danelle also stressed the NEED for hats. "You have to have a hat for the birthday party!"
Ruston wasn't too fond of his hat, and quickly took it off. Then we took off the rest of his clothing in order to prepare him for his cake.
He was hesitant at first, and wanted to use a SPOON...
Danelle with her cake; I think she was proud of it.

...but once I stuck his hand in it, it was all downhill from there!



Ruston went to town while everyone else ate their cake from Danelle's cake. I think he was finally getting full/tired here...

If I would have been thinking, I would have worn a short sleeve shirt, which would have been much easier to pick him up with! He thought he was pretty cool for being so sticky.

He quickly took a bath, and then it was time for presents!



Ruston and Danelle both had a fair amount of presents, and enjoyed what they got. Ruston quickly went to focusing on his toys... this one from Ben and Kelli.
Lastly, I would say it was a successful day and weekend... for Ruston and Taco both. :)

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!!!!!