December 2008: A new word

Ryan has found a new word and Ben is loving it. Right before Christmas Ryan started saying "Golf Ball". He is in love with Golf. Here are a few action shots of Ryan and his golf set.





December 2008: The Children's Museums

December 29th Shanna and Ryan spent the day downtown at the Chicago Children's Museum with Mike, Ginger, Matthew and Nathan.






December 30th Shanna and Ryan went down to Bloomington to see Rebecca, Jason, Mitchell and Morgan and went to the Children's Museum in Normal.





December 2008: Christmas

The end of December brought Michelle, Adam, Cy and Aspen the Chicago. They made the long journey in one day! They got to see Ryan interact with his friends when we hosted playgroup. Before we knew it all the shopping and wrapping and preparing was done. Christmas was here! We started a new tradition this year. Christmas Eve was spent at our house making homeade pizzas and laughing and we were hoping to play some games, but time got away from us.

Christmas Morning was so much fun this year. Ryan understood how to open presents and to look in his stocking for some small treats. Santa brought Ryan a t-ball set, a golf set, a Thomas the train memory game and a Little Tykes Camera. After a brief look at what Santa brought it was off to Grandma and Grandpa's house to open presents with everyone and go to church. After church we went home and waited for Grandma and Grandad to come over so that we could spend some time with them. (FYI- Grandma and Grandpa are the Letts grandparents and Grandma and Grandad are the Dixon grandparents) Finally, we drove with the Dixon's over to the Letts's house for Christmas dinner and games. We were so lucky to have so many people with us for Christmas dinner this year.

Next day: Boxing Day. Boxing Day is a holiday in England that is celebrated on December 26. There are no specific traditions for the day so Brenda and I went shopping to get some after Christmas deals and Ben and Derek worked on the basement! Then we ended the day with dinner at a local pub! Brenda and Derek even got to have Shepherd’s Pie (a British favorite).

Last, but definately not least is The Wallace Family Chirstmas! Mom hosts a get-together around Christmas every year for the Wallace family to come together and be a family and eat wonderful food. Yum!

December 2008: An encounter with the flashlight

One lovely day in December Ben lost something (no one at this point remembers what it was). Anyway, Ben got out the flashlight to look under the couch for whatever it was and that's when the fun began. Ryan started to try and catch the light from the flashlight. He was running all over trying to catch the light. Later that day we capture the following video. Enjoy!

December 2008: A visit with Santa

This year we headed to Rain Forest Cafe for Breakfast with Santa. We ended up having a great time. First we had a nice breakfast buffet and watched the animals and Santa and Mrs. Claus came over and said hi. Then we went and took a picture with Santa! Ryan was not thrilled about sitting on Santa's lap so we took a group picture! After that it was story time Mrs. Claus read the Night Before Chirstmas to the kids. Fianlly, after a brief look in the store it was time for us to get our goody bag and head home.




December 2008: Let the remodeling begin

One of our goals for the winter is to finish our basement allowing us more living space and Ryan more running space. Below is pictures of what the basement looked like at the begining of December. Stay tuned for progress pictures.