Our Alabama Christmas

This is my ABSOLUTE favourite picture.  

Ryder is ecstatic to find a little orange ball in his stocking. 

Look at that face!

Cozying up with Gram to open another gift.
That tongue!

So blessed to be with family through the holidays! 

Park Time And A Flashback To Last Year

Since we've been away from home, posts have been less frequent.  But, days are always interesting with a toddler.  This morning we walked to the lake park.

And just for fun, here are a few throwback photos from the same park taken at this time last year. 

I'll be posting less until we're back home again.

Ryder and Pop

Until next time, enjoy the Christmas season,

Jayne

Stack 'Em Up, Knock 'Em Down

Ryder's new favourite game to play with Pop and Daddy is Stack 'Em Up, Knock 'Em Down.

Squeals and clapping ensue.

Not to mention scrumptious lemon rosemary scones courtesy of the Pioneer Woman.

Needless to say, we are definitely enjoying our family time in Alabama.

B'ham Bound!

B'ham used to mean Bellingham, WA to me - but we're headed to the B'ham my husband calls home. 

Our preparation included a 'baf' for all of Ryder's stuffed creatures. The first 2 minutes they were in the wash, it was fun to watch them spin round and round, but before long they invoked a few tears. Sometimes it's just hard to be patient.





















Tuesday we headed to the airport for a day of travel. The blowup Santa plane sitting by our gate was a huge attraction while waiting to board. 

Thankfully, we had a third empty seat between us on both legs of the journey and Ryder traveled like a champ.  

Now it's time to enjoy being with family!

Christmas Came Early!

We're so excited to spend the Christmas holidays with family!  

Due to our schedule, Christmas came a little early to the Apperson house this year. After spending his first Christmas without Daddy (unless a terrible Skype connection counts) Ryder took in all of the excitement with relish and many exclamations of 'Whoooooaaaw.'

Opening his first stocking

His stocking revealed all sorts of tools and important equipment that fit in his new little tool box. And already, the hammer goes 'bang' and the pliers pinch and pick things up. Tearing the wrapping paper wasn't hard to teach, unfortunately he felt the need to meticulously pick up each scrap of paper before proceeding. For all of the mess he makes in our home, we do have one particular little boy. 

Here Mom, I found another piece of paper...

Graduation!

After 3 l-o-ng months including many early mornings and late nights, Braden has graduated!

Here he is receiving his new patch!

I couldn't be more blessed or proud to call this hardworking man my husband.

Day 9

What's a Mama to do on her 9th day on the road with a still-sick toddler?

Well, an overdue workout, late breakfast out with Daddy, and morning airplane watching were all in order. Our hotel is near the airport and we we have a great view of planes taking off every few minutes. Ryder is fascinated.

As we headed out for an afternoon Mama & Ryder date at Barnes and Noble, a quick stop by a local thrift store ended better than expected. We walked out with quality brand names like Columbia, Gap, and Ralph Lauren for less than $20. Wohoo!

And of course, after putting up with my shopping, Ryder was well deserving of an extended story time and Duplo play time at Barnes and Noble. We didn't leave before visiting the Starbucks inside and sharing hot chocolate and a cupcake. Mmmm...

Love those dimpled fingers! <3

What a fun trip this has been!  I for one have enjoyed the change of pace and scenery.

Life With a Sickie

Downhill.

That pretty much sums up the progression of our day.

I thought we were off the hook after Ryder's fever cleared up, but we've moved to congestion and misery.

Breakfast - good

Visiting a local church - ok

Quick trip to Target for groceries - meltdown

And so the rest of our day was spent cooped up in the hotel room with plenty of fluids, Vitamin C, a warm bath, and cozy pjs.  

Cuddles with the sickie.

A small breakthrough when Ryder discovered he could fit into the oven drawer.

Thankful that this is a rare occurence.

Playtime

In search of a fun way for Ryder to expend some energy outside of our hotel room, I found a great little indoor play area nearby.

Ryder immediately found a Schroeder size piano and sat down to serenade the room. That was followed closely by the solo operation of his very first car.

The ball pit was his next great adventure, but nothing came close to topping the train.  Ryder could get on and off of this 'Choo-Choo' all by himself and quickly found the button to move it around the track.

Needless to say, someone was worn out and fell asleep lunch in hand after only a few minutes in the car. 

Enjoying The City

Ryder woke up this morning without a fever (for the first time in 2 days) and back to his old goofy self.

Yelp found us a great little diner in an out of the way industrial neighbourhood. Then, after a much needed nap, Ryder said goodbye to Daddy, who headed off to work, and the two of us headed out.

In our exploring, we hit the jackpot - a great outdoor mall (shopping for Mama) with an awesome children's activity area (play time for Ryder). As a bonus, there also happened to be a Whole Foods nearby, so for dinner we took a break from eating out and filled up on salad and chocolate milk.

Ryder loved the choo-choo.

The unicorn was a big hit too.

As were all the shiny ornaments on this tree.

We even caught a glimpse of Santa's house - through the palm trees.

Excited for another day of exploring the city tomorrow!

Grey Days And A Rising Temperature

We're two full days into our city stay. It's been grey and rainy since we arrived, but I secretly love it because it reminds me of WA.

Ryder and Daddy say good morning to the city.

Everything has been pretty low key thus far, because poor little Ryder-boy has had a temperature and just been a little more sad than usual. So, we've done a little necessary shopping, but not a lot of sight seeing - yet.

The exercise ball at the gym was a big hit.

This morning I was excited to savour a seasonal Red Velvet Hot Chocolate from Coffee Beans & Tea Leaves, but only a few sips in, somebody needed to be carried everywhere. It didn't take long for me to feel all 6+ months of pregnancy and we headed back to our hotel for a much needed nighty-night nap for the monkey.

Ryder is unsure of the big fountain.

Looking forward to more adventures in the days to come!

An Uncation

I know that's not a real word, nevertheless, it's what I'm up to for the next few days. Braden is working, but Ryder and I are enjoying a change of scenery. Rain kept us from a lot of outdoor adventures, but stay tuned for pictures in the coming days!

The Annual Christmas Tree Hunt

The hunt was on to find the perfect Christmas tree this weekend! Due to deployment, I got to spend extra time with my in-laws last year and enjoy their tree, but this year we're all together again and a tree in the house is definitely in order.

Here's a throwback to finding our first tree, two short years ago.

Unlike my growing up years and our first year of marriage, this year in Nevada we did some research and found out that we could purchase a permit and cut down an evergreen in the forest rather than going to a Christmas Tree farm - which I'm not sure exist here in the desert.

And so, after a little bit of trial and error (purchasing the wrong permit at the wrong office and my terrible directions) we found where we needed to be, crossed the CA state line in Tahoe, picked up a $10 permit and headed to the woods.

And boy was it B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L.

After much walking in circles and pointing out bald spots, measuring a few trunk widths, eyeballing the height, and admiring the same trees (hehe) we settled on this beautiful 11ft white fir.

Braden cut and wrestled it uphill, over fallen logs, and finally into the truck and we were off to set it up in our living room.  More pictures to follow soon!