I'm sad to write that my Grandfather passed away on Monday night. My dad's father had been in hospice / nursing care for the past several months and passed peacefully in the presence of my Grandmother, who had been with him for 68 years. Saturday is the funeral down in Toledo so the fam will be headed that way on Friday.

Ryan will be joining us and we're hoping that it won't cause too much of a commotion. We think he's beginning to cut his bottom molars since the top ones are fully through. Last week we swore he grew in front of our eyes. And he's beyond independent. If he hurts himself he barely wants to cuddle the hurt away. If we try to brace him before he falls, he pushes our hands away! Today he went down the slide at the big boy park on his own: a major challenge. This morning he started amusing himself by crawling backwards.

We'll keep it "short" and let the photos do the rest. Thanks for everyone's support and prayers over the past few months.
Court, Max + Ryan

Ryan loves his new big boy bike...It was actually a Christmas present that has made an appearance with Spring.

We took Ryan to Meijer gardens to see the butterflies (out-of-towners: they fill an entire tropical atrium with butterflies that flutter around visitors.) Here he is in the children's garden area.

Ryan had a tea party at the gardens with some of the other children. He actually went up the the girl in the foreground and rubbed his head against her lap like he nuzzles Cali. It was so funny.

Ryan loved the peek-a-boo window in the tree house at the gardens.

Our friends Kelly and Seth came over for dinenr and spent a little tickle-time with the boy.

This is "So Big."
Ryan got a new hat for playing out-doors and loves wearing it. His red hair is already starting to bleach out to blond from just a few days outdoors without it.

Ok, so he got two new hats cuz mom couldn't say no.

Here's my little activist wearing his shirt for March of Dimes. Even though it was rainy, we made it through and had a great time supporting an important cause in honor of our friend's granddaughter Iris.

Another left eye injury...this time no black eye, but just a scratch.

Last Sunday Henry, Carrie and Dan came for a visit. The boys were so excited to see one another. It was great to watch them together.

Ryan loves to take his four red fire trucks and line them up in order of size (and variations of tech...from wooden to battery operated singing) on various pieces of the furniture. He's recently taken to stacking them in size order on top of one another.

16 Months

It's been too long since I posted, so I'll keep the words to a minimum since the pics are at a maximum! Since last I wrote, here's the low down.

Max went to Florida
Max returned (after a great trip)
Ryan got a black eye (yo yo to the face)
Ryan is getting molars
He says "Hi" to anyone he sees (most don't hear him and it breaks my heart!)
Has become a yogi and likes standing on his heads
Found out we're not eligible for the repeat home buys credit (too early by 7 days!)
I turned 33, though I thought I was 34 for most of the day!
Ryan is a stacking prodigy
We celebrated Easter.

All in all, life is good. Hope it is for you too.
Love Court, Max & Ryan



We busted Ryan hiding his toys in a decorative box on the bookshelf. We didn't even know he knew it could open!

Back eye day 1. You'll see it get darker and darker over the days to come. He hit himself in the face with a yo yo.

When you ask Ryan "Show me your funny face," this is what you get. He's also doing "So big" and gets very excited when you ask him how big he is. Oh, and he thinks he's jumping. And he's walking on his tip toes.

I went to the kitchen. Dowels wear bear. I came back and he had stacked the train blocks by HIMSELF! It actually looks like a train. He does better at it than I do.

Ryan with his new golf clubs and old man socks.

Yogi Ryan. When he thinks no one is watching he does this, plays with his belly button, or sneaks into Cali's water dish.

So no one believes me, but he can stack blocks like no one else. Check out this sequence.

In the last week he's learned that bigger arched blocks cannot stack on smaller. He'll actually reverse order so they'll stack correctly!

He loves to make them crash!

Ryan learned to play "Night night" from Levi. We did not figure out it was an official game until this past Tuesday. So for the last month we've thought he was just really tired. We found him cuddling with his puppy on this night.

Ryan helping daddy fix the vacuum. I have never seen a human being get so excited about vacuuming. He loves following us around while we clean.

Ryan loved his cousin Jackson's remote control car, so he got one from the Easter bunny too! He's pretty good at driving it!

His bib says "Chicks dig me." And they do.

Everyone was glad when daddy came home and life returned to normal again.


Our little explorer thinks Tupperware is pretty great. Check out that balance!