Easter 2013

As you saw here, Ryder has no fear of chickens. His favorite thing to do (after feeding moos) is to help Papa gather the eggs. He will stick his tiny little hand right under a sitting hen to grab the eggs (or at least that is what they tell me, as there is no way in hell I am going into a coup full of chickens). Once gathered, he likes to help put the eggs in cartons, which typically results in at least 3 or 4 broken eggs. Papa is much more patient than Mama is. Regardless, little man loves his eggs.

Papa has some kind of special chickens, and while I am sure I was told what kind they are, chicken breeds is not something I have any extra space for in my brain. These special chickens lay colored eggs. Typically the eggs are a mint green color. Ryder's less fun parent thought we could convince him that these eggs had already been colored, and we didn't need to mess with dye and a 2 year old. Ryder's more fun parent won that battle.

Easter morning revealed that the Bunny has indeed stopped by the house, and Ryder must have been a very, very good boy. There were baskets and baskets full of goodies, mostly delivered by the bunny after a quick stop at Gramma Jill's in Minnesota. 

There are a bunch of excellent photos trapped on my camera, but this is the only one I still have on my phone. The bunny brought a car back pack, which is about the cutest thing you have ever seen on a toddler.

The bunny also brought bubbles. Lots, and lots of bubbles. Since I figure a little soap could do nothing but improve the cleanliness of my house, we blew bubbles inside.

After hyping up on chocolate, we hunted eggs for most of the next 3 days (again, those photos are on the camera and I will add the good ones later). I suppose for a kid who enjoys gathering eggs from under chickens, being able to find them just sitting in the grass seemed much too easy. We hunted eggs with second cousins at Aunt Regina's house, we hunted eggs with Coop and Konner at Nana's house, and we hunted eggs in the backyard with Callie and Dakota. 

The other morning Ryder was eating some eggs I made him for breakfast. I asked him where eggs came from. I assumed the answer would be "bock bocks" as that is what he calls chickens. He looked up at me and with the biggest smile on his face, he yelled "Papa". 

Honey Bunny

We took Ryder to Crosslight Photography in February to get his Valentine pictures taken, and he was having no part of it. He sat on my lap, buried his face in my chest, and cried. Luckily our photographer Amanda is awesome, and she gave us a gift certificate to us at a later session.

When she announced she would be doing Easter mini sessions complete with bunnies, I thought we might try it again. As much as Ryder adores animals, I figured the distraction might be just what he needed.

It took him awhile to warm up, but once he did he was in rare form. Those poor bunnies. You'll notice the gray one goes MIA after the first few photos - poor thing was hiding under a pillow to get away from Ryder. The black and white one was named Honey, and we came this close to taking her home (Amanda discovered she was terribly allergic to rabbits, so they were on sale following the photos). I didn't know how Callie and Dakota would take to another critter in the house, so the 'hop hops' had to stay with Amanda.

 They aren't the best photos of Ryder, but they sure are cute. And he had a blast. Maybe next Easter there will be a Honey Bunny in his basket.

Bottle Calf

Someone gave Ryder a baby calf. I can't really remember the circumstances, I think the baby's mama didn't love it. Ryder had it for about 2 days and he sure enjoyed giving it a bottle (and even tried to sample the milk himself once). Sadly, the baby didn't make it. Nothing like teaching a kid about the circle of life at a young age.

It is Time to Make the Donuts

Sleep is for the weak.

Ready, Set, MY BALL

His pitching arm is getting stronger, but his aim isn't improving. If there is any question about whose ball we are playing with, I think he answers it beyond a shadow of a doubt.

No Feather Fear

I'm scared of chickens. I don't like things with feathers, and flight is just unnatural. Ryder does not share this fear ...

"I Feed Moos"

Farm Fun

Playing with Papa's kitty

Never miss a chance to sit on a tractor

Always pretending to drive the feed truck

Checking cows with Dad

On the gator on a nice, sunny day

Posing with his cows in the background

Feeding hay bales

Always smiling when the cows are around

With Sam, his puppy (which he hates) that lives at Papa's house

Spring Stockshowing

We took in three stockshows this spring that the nephews competed in. They only show cattle now (no more goats) so Ryder jumps at the chance to be so close to the moos that are so tame.

The good thing is that we have one very happy but very sleepy boy at the end of the day.

The local stockshow had a fund raiser where the parents and other adults could be nominated to show their animals. Someone nominated Trent, so he got to put this showmanship on full display. Ryder was all eyes on dad. I see many, many stockshows in my future. 

Weekend Morning Fun

On a normal weekday we are pretty rushed in the morning. Everyone likes to sleep as long as possible, so we pretty much wake up, throw on some clothes, and bolt.

On the weekends we lounge around a lot more, and it seems like we spend a lot of time playing in the bathroom. Ryder loves music and has been able to turn the radio in the closet on since he was able to walk, so he cranks the tunes and we tell stories and dance and sing and play in the bathtub.

 

Corn and Cammo

Now that the weather has turned nicer, we try to spend as much time as we can outside. On evenings when that doesn't involve a trip to the farm, we kick it in the backyard.

Callie hasn't quite embraced the concept of playing ball with Ryder, and Ryder - being the only child that he is - only wants to play at his leisure.

The corn in the sandbox weathered the winter well, and cammo man has enjoyed carrying it around in his buckets. He pretends it is feed, and tries to carry it to the dogs water bowls.

He seldom makes it all the way to the patio before spilling it. But the dogs don't mind. I'm not sure how good corn is for a dogs digestive system ...

But the morning after this happened I woke up to find 2 piles of corn filled fun waiting for me on the dining room carpet.

He has embraced caps now, and always wants to wear a ball cap like his Dad. However, it is always THIS particular cap (he has many, many others). The rubber boots are about 5 sizes too big and he can hardly walk, but I take pleasure in the fact that he matches at least. 

Helping Dad

Ryder wants to be right in the middle of whatever you are doing, most especially if that whatever is something he isn't supposed to be into.

He adores his Dada and always wants to help him. I got these photos as he contemplated helping dad child-proof the junk drawer in the kitchen.

"Hmmm, that looks like fun!"

"How does this thing work?"

"No problem dad, I got this"

We've all felt that way from home improvement projects baby. No worries!

I think a kids toy tool set would make an excellent Birthday gift!