Halloween

I can't believe that last night was Ryland's fourth Halloween. Last year she was excited, but this year she was even more ready to take on the neighborhood. Infact, she walked so far last night that she is bound to be a little sore this morning. But hey, she's only 3, so maybe not.
So to each house we went, knocking on doors, and quietly saying "trick or treat". Most people smiled and dropped a few pieces of candy into Ryland's pail. However, every now and then we would come across a house where they would tell Ryland to pick the candy she wanted. And, if you know Ryland...that means we could stand on this person's doorstep all night contemplating which candy to pick. She kept telling Champ and I "I'm having trouble picking the candy I want". Luckily by the end of the night, Ryland had gotten way more candy than she could ever eat.
Ryland also told me and Champ "this is the best night of trick or treating ever". She's always been good with words. Our little Tinkerbell.

Big Sister

Surprise! Ryland is going to be a big sister, to a baby that she has currently nicknamed 'Minnie Mouse'. I am 14 weeks pregnant...so just 26 more to go. Sounds like a lot to me, but I am hoping the next 6 months go quickly (haha...yeah right). Anyways, Ryland is absolutely thrilled. She is constantly looking at baby clothes in the store, and keeps telling us how she plans on sharing her stuff/toys with the new baby. She seems to be leaning more towards wanting a sister, but is also becoming fond of the thought of a little boy in the family. Either way, Ryland is going to be an amazing big sister. She is so caring, thoughtful and helpful. And from seeing her with other babies, I know she LOVES changing diapers. We are planning on finding out boy or girl right around Thanksgiving :) So much to be thankful for!

Silly

We all know Ryland is a bit silly. She loves to play. She loves singing, running and dancing. Sometimes she even loves to help clean the house. One of her least favorite things however, are loud noises. So when it comes to the vacuum, she is not so much a fan. When she was a baby she would scream at the top of her lungs if you even thought about running the vacuum. So to this day, she still is a little unsure about the noise it makes. Luckily, she has a very thoughtful dad who lets her borrow his ear protection headphones. The other day was a bit different. She decided she would also put on a hairnet with the headphones. She knew it was silly, as you can tell from the look on her face in the pictures below.

End Of Summer

Well, here it is, the first day of Fall (my favorite time of year). Summer has been fun, sunny and warm and lots of memories have been made. When I look back on it, Ryland has had so many wonderful experiences that I will cherish forever. Ryland got to go to Disneyland and the beach, be a flower girl twice, play in the pool at home, enjoy many long summery walks, and much much more. So over all, summer feels pretty successful!

And now on to Fall. We've already started on getting the decorations out, and I can promise you that within the next few days our house will be in full fall decor :) Ryland is already throwing around her Halloween costume ideas. So far it has ranged from Tinkerbell to Star Wars characters. So when the time comes, we will see what she chooses. Knowing her indecisiveness, we may not know until October 30th :)

It's been a while since writing. Life has been busy and so has Ryland. We are enjoying the last few days of summer with pool time, family visits and movie nights. We just recently bought Disney's Cinderella (which Ryland had never seen). After watching it once she had already picked up on the songs and has been singing them around the house ever since. If you didn't know already, Ryland LOVES music. Reminds me of myself :)

Check up

Sometimes I look at Ryland and wonder how one girl can have so much fun. She is just a continuous ball of energy that loves to play, laugh, sing and dance.

This past week she had her three year check up and did amazing. Before we got to the clinic she asked Champ and I "do you think they're going to take my blood pressure?"...and sure enough they did! She sat quietly and was very interested in what the pediatrician was doing. It was if she was taking notes on how to do the "perfect check up" for her stuffed animals at home. I'm so proud of my big little girl :)

Funny Pete

This little story has nothing to do with the pictures below, but I had to tell it. Tonight Ryland, Champ and I were watching old videos of Ryland from when she was a little baby. I think it is the first time we've watched them with her that she actually really understood that that cute chubby baby is Miss Ryland Paisley herself. So the first thing she says is "haha, is that me? I look like a boy!" and then she said, with a very confused look on her face, "mom, I don't think I tell if I am a boy or a girl..." I reassured her that she was a girl even when she was a tiny baby. I'm not sure she believed me...