as they were meant to be

there are days with kids when as much as you love them you also wish they would just leave you alone for a while, for a long while, like a couple weeks. there are other days when things go just the way you hope and it is a fleeting moment of perfection. tonight was the latter for me.

we went out for a family walk, boys dressed in warm shirts and sipping bottles, annie and i laughing about the fact that a 69 year old woman told me today that i am "a very handsome man". as we walked it began to rain a few big drops, but a double rainbow also came out for the boys to enjoy.

at the park we spent most of our time enjoying the boys energy and the burning thereof. isaac was thrilled to run around his stomping grounds, showing ryder the ropes, who needed little introduction as they are quickly becoming his stomping grounds as well. he spent almost the entire time running his typical slide circuit, and here is a video so you can share in the moment.

we left after the pink and purple sunset had been extinguished, feeding graham crackers and pretzels to the boys on the short walk home. granted, the night fell apart a bit when we got home, especially about the time ryder puked a small pond on the kitchen floor and proceeded to play in it, but it was fun while it lasted.

9 months going on 3 years

so ryder must be stuck in a fold in the space time continuum that makes him think he is older than he actually is. either that, or he watches his older brother a lot. at nine months the fool is doing stuff that olympic gymnasts wouldn't attempt. case in point: the slide at the la costa valley park:

the approach

the presentation

the dismount

the strapping young lad from america, not to be outdone, climbs up the slide.

a perfect 10!

4/7 of the gang that gathered at the ermanis household today. from left to right: jayden and zachary belong to adrienne and marty, the stinky one in the middle belongs to us, and autumn (showing off her "jazz hands") belongs to amanda and adam. not pictured: oliver (being held by adrienne), ryder (chewing on a trash can) and avery (in a high chair).

the proving grounds

laura and amy had us over for some delicious food the other night. we all had a lot of fun but our boys do know how to make a mess. i believe laura said something along the lines of, "if we can have the montgomerys over, we can have anyone over." true story.

auntie turns 30

september 16th, 2009 marks the date of auntie allie's 30th birthday.

the boys with auntie

erik, allison, janelle, and allison. yes, there are 2 allisons in this photo.

the family minus the boys good looking father.

when you mention the birthday party to isaac, he pretends that he is blowing out the candles.  yes, auntie did let him help her blow out the candle.  it was isaac's highlight.  

this is right before ryder puked up the cake and ice cream that casey gave to him.  casey was a little surprised that an almost 9 month old, who drinks only breast milk and eats from jars of baby food,  couldn't keep ice cream and cake down. 

girls trip

my aunt bonnie took all of us to vegas for a little getaway to celebrate my sister's 30th.  we got to see jersey boys, eat at nice restaurants and sit by the pool.  it was so relaxing and such a treat!  thank you, auntie!

looking good al!

highlights from the summer

this summer proved to be another great summer that went by all too fast.  here are more than a few photos to give you a glimpse of it all. 

ryder started solids

the boys spent a whole lot of time with grammy.

plenty of trips to swirls (local yogurt shop)

lounging together

we celebrated 5 good years of marriage!

lots of teasing and dancing with auntie.

time with grauntie

fun times with hayden

brewers wedding.  good times with old friends.

croquet with the cousins

visiting with the bradhams.

dinner with the laforges before their big move.

cuddling with shannon

anne's visit

ryder eating more than a healthy amount of sand.

dinner with the colburns

legoland with kenzie.

annie went to wicked with her dad and sister

ryder made a friend his own age, jacob.

aunt heidi and aunt megan were out for a visit.

tuesdays

almost every tuesday morning the boys get to join their  friends at a different park.  it's fun to watch the kids play together and interact.  today stacy, one of the moms,  brought her camera and caught this precious photo of some of the kids. 

siren song

of all the phrases i have ever thought i want to tell my son, "buddy, do you hear those sirens? those are for you!" was never really one of the first to jump to mind. yet today i found myself saying those exact words to my two year old as we waited for the paramedics to arrive. and arrive they did. no less than half a dozen of them showed up, decked out in their carlsbad fire dept. t-shirts and turnouts, carrying a ungodly amount of equipment straight past the pile of poopy diapers outside the door and into our condo.

long story short, isaac took the worst digger of his life (funny that this phrase keeps coming up over and over again) this afternoon, and neither his mother nor i actually saw what happened. we were both within ten feet of him, albeit looking the other way (she at ryder and i at laundry) when we heard the thud. best we can piece together, he found a way to fling himself off the plastic slide we have on the back patio, landing firmly on the deck below. he didn't really make much noise at first, which freaked us out a little, especially when he was walking all wobbly.

i called the doctor triage line to ask if he had a concussion (again, not the first time this has happened), they told us to call 911, and thus the parade of suspendered men who showed up at our house moments later. we felt pretty stupid when he started running around when they got here, more interested in showing them his tricycle than submitting to their examinations. our expert opinion is that he got the wind knocked out of him and had his bell rung pretty good. he woke up from his nap with a decent bruise on his ribs, but beyond that he is his normal, active, center of attention self.

there are few things in life that can stress you more quickly than thinking something is seriously wrong with one of your favorite people in the entire world. i hate having to hold it together for him, annie and myself when all i really want to do is cry and yell swear words at the top of my lungs. i did have the presence of mind to tell annie to grab the camera, knowing even in the moment that it would make a great story later. not sure if 9 hours after the fact qualifies as "later" but it is getting close.

below are some pictures from this past friday that were taken by another fabulous photographer, kip gerenda (blog and website) who offered to shoot our family. i realized that semi-formal photos stress me out, getting everybody there on time and relatively clean. kip did a great job setting us at ease and getting some really good pictures.

isaac held his lion the entire time, proudly showing it off each time we asked him to.

i love this picture b/c it shows off what is currently ryder's most distinctive feature: the snaggletooth. the other teeth are pretty proportionate, but this one on the top seems to be bound and determined to leave a mark on the world. i also love this picture b/c it does not show his other most distinctive feature: his matching bruises on either side of his forehead. they are pretty much a constant thing for him these days and it seems that there is something wrong the gravitational pull of his head b/c whenever he falls, he lands on either side of that dome of his. they are amazing symmetrical, almost like there are little devil horns waiting to bust through the skin at any moment. maybe they are extra snaggleteeth.

we also liked this one, mostly b/c ryder is paying absolutely no attention to the camera, only to grabbing a handful of mom's hair to stuff in his mouth. yep, this pretty much captures our life.

video killed the radio star

so tonight was one of those classic summer nights, full of water, bbq, and friends. ryder had his first trip down the slip and slide, but he didn't seem all that impressed.

isaac waited till we got home to get in on the action, showing off his vacuuming skills (and his smile). please note the blatant lack of shorts.

the year continues to fly past, the boys getting funnier and more developed all the time. ryder's favorite sound effect has gone from motorboat to machine gun, and today isaac ate most of his lunch garden burger with a fork by himself. the heat wave has made me a much grumpier parent, but luckily it is on its way out. here's to labor day, and the unofficial end of summer.