Thanksgiving with Gramie

The time went pretty fast the week Gramie came for Thanksgiving. Daddy had a pinched nerve in his neck and had quite a few medical appointments that week, there were holiday preparations, and just general business of life. We enjoyed the time with Gramie, and almost every day Ryan asked Gramie to take them to the park that's within walking distance of our home. I think she took them three times! We don't go much anymore now that we have a play structure in our backyard, so the kids really enjoyed this.

Eye Surgeon Follow-up

Ryan had a follow-up with his eye surgeon on Friday. They dilated his eyes with drops (she is a master at getting drops into a screaming child!) and did a full exam.


She was very pleased with the results of the surgery! His eye is perfectly straight when he has his glasses on, which is more than we expected. She also said if his farsightedness levels out around middle school, which most kids' eyes do, he may not even need glasses! She did adjust his glasses prescription a bit, but other than that, we don't need to go back again for six months.


This is the assistant, not the surgeon. I keep neglecting to get a picture of Ryan with his surgeon.
Other than the drops, he was very cooperative and even sat in the chair by himself. In the past he has always wanted to sit on Daddy's lap. Daddy wasn't with us this time, so maybe he didn't want to sit on my lap, but I think he is just growing up and getting braver.

Out of Commission

Edited to add: Hubby reminded me that we hadn't wiped my old laptop yet, so I dug it out and am back in business...sort of! At least I can check my email regularly and maybe even add a blog post or two.

My wireless adapter "disappeared without being properly prepared for removal" two days ago. We were told it's a known problem with the driver software, but my wireless card may be fried too.

At any rate, in the process of trying to get it going again, my system has had to be wiped and completely rebuilt, so I am out of commission for a while. I will try to check email once a day or so on our PC, but I probably won't be doing any blog posts until I get the issue fixed. Our PC is REALLY slow and cumbersome to use, as well as not having everything I need on it.

I'm sure it will do me good to be without a computer for a while, but it is more painful than I care to admit!

New Style

Ryan really dislikes haircuts, even more than I dislike cutting his hair. For the last couple of cuts, Daddy has taken him with him to get one done at a barber, which was fine with me!


Last Saturday Great Clips opened in our little neighborhood, and they were running a special of $4.99 per cut! So we took advantage of that and got Ryan's hair cut. He was not happy about it. I had to laugh because the stylist did the exact same thing I do when cutting his hair...give him a spray bottle and let him have fun squirting!


He perked up a bit with the spray bottle, and when he saw another little boy getting his hair buzzed, he decided he wanted his hair cut the same way. I told the stylist to leave it a bit longer than the other little boy, but we gave him the cut he wanted. I think it looks very cute on him and makes him look so grown up!

Learning Math Facts

The Zoo...Again.

It was Abby's Day, and another trip to the zoo was what she chose, much to Ryan's dismay. He usually enjoys himself once we're there, but he would never choose the zoo if you asked him where he wanted to go.


He wasn't interested in the newest exhibit, Warty Pigs, though I can't say I really blame him. They added not one but two different varieties of these wild hogs recently.


We rarely let the kids play on the animal statues since it's usually way overcrowded with children, but today wasn't bad at all. Ryan was thrilled to finally climb on all the animals.


This is Elliot Moses Something-or-Other who downright insisted we take his picture! He wanted us to take a picture of his mom too, but she didn't seem as eager as he did to be photographed.


The way Ryan was scarfing down this Elephant Ear you'd never know that just a year ago or so he didn't even want to try one. He was convinced it was a real elephant's ear and wanted no part of it!


What's up with that? Remote controlled turtle?


Even Ryan can't resist the meerkats. We even got to see them in their den today, a little peephole in their habitat where you can see them up close!


Hey, what's that, a genuine smile? He must be having fun after all!

How Fun Is This?

Ryan can't wait till he's strong enough to sling a pumpkin himself!

Ryan's Photos

Ryan practiced his photography skills during our pumpkin patch outing.


Having a little trouble holding the camera vertically.

At the Pumpkin Patch

We have had a busy month and haven't been able to get to the pumpkin patch this year until last Monday, the second to the last day before they closed! It worked out well though because the crowds were gone (it was a weekday too), and it was a dry and beautiful day.


Ryan isn't a big animal lover, but he did pet the sheep and got close enough to the turkey coop to get a peck on the hand!


He got to climb on not one but two tractors and was thrilled one of them was a John Deere!


Playing King of the Mountain!


Ryan zipped through the hay maze several times, and...


we couldn't keep up with him in the corn maze. He ran ahead and found all the animals before we were even halfway through.


Not quite strong enough yet to handle the pumpkin slingshot.


Enjoying a hayride through the pumpkin fields.


So many pumpkins...how will he ever choose?


"Look at this cool gourd!"