birthday celebrations

This is how Ryan felt about opening presents...

Some gift opening help from the siblings.  

Great Grandma and Papa Steve. 

A+ to Lucas and I on the wrap job :-) 

This is how he tackles the deck steps.  

It's not pretty but he doesn't get hurt and he is very determined.  

Not how I envisioned the photo looking, but I like this one better than what I imagined.  

Pure and simple joy. 

My joys.  

A ball!   

Ryan, Daddy, Great Grandma Perry.

Great Pa Perry and Ryan. 

Gramma Connie, Ryan and Grandpa Steve. 

Lucas, Uncle Brian, Hannah, Ryan and Leslee. 

Mommy, Ryan, Lucas, Daddy and Hannah. 

Gramma Connie and the birthday boy. 

Farm animal cake.

The plate was fun. 

He really wasn't that messy with his cake.  

The aftermath. 

Hosing off the deck was much easier than cleaning up smooshed cake on the kitchen floor. 

Ryan {12 months}

This perfect, precious, God-made baby is one year old.  

All babies are gifts but sometimes the circumstances around the baby make them more so.  God gave us so much joy with pregnancy and Ryan's birth in the midst of pain and sadness of Ann's illness and death.  I do believe Ann held Ryan first. 

Ryan is a happy boy.  His smile is contagious.  He loves sleeping, eating and playing.  Perfect, right?  His favorite things to play with are his barn and animals (most notably pigs), any ball (he loves rolling, holding, chewing), all of his toys he can walk along with and anything he isn't suppose to have. :-)  He's very interested in climbing, investing the stairs, and all things behind the bathroom door!  

elementary track and field day

It's an annual tradition in most elementary schools in Iowa towards the end of the school year.  

I have fond memories of mine, Brent recalls details of his.  

Track and Field Day.  

After his teacher explained Track and Field day to the Kindergarten class, it was all Lucas could do to sleep the night before!  The temps weren't super warm and sunny, but it was fun to watch the kids shine and have fun anyway.  

Long jump.

I had no idea that sending Lucas in a blaze orange stocking hat would be so beneficial but it helped spot him in a group of 20+ kids!  

See?  You found him, didn't you? 

Concentration.

It warmed up and layers were shed...

His favorite event of the day… turning on his wheels.  

Lucas and Ava.

Sadie and Lucas. 

He loved it.  He'd choose track and field day everyday if he could!  

Claire's special day

Our niece, Claire, had her 1st Communion a few weeks ago.  

We were happy to celebrate with her.  

Dom, Karen and Claire.

Claire and Hannah

Grandma Mary, Claire, Grandpa Richard

Teresa, Ryan and Claire.

Claire and Ryan with Lucas hiding behind…

Miss Claire.

The night before there was food prep and such.  

The boys had to do some very important taste testing while they were "working."

While the boys were in the kitchen, the girls were throwing a dance party.  

Hannah loves to dress up and was learning some dance moves.  The music choice was the "Frozen" soundtrack, of course.  

Happy fun.