A smile to melt your heart

Well, he's been smiling for about a week and change now...but we FINALLY got it on the camera tonight. We couldn't decide which ones we liked best, so here they all are!

Christmas 2008

Christmas Eve - Ryan opened up his stocking and was thrilled with his Christmas Bell, dinosaurs, and other tyke-type items!

After some prodding, Heidi discovered Mike had put a new 'ornament' on the tree.

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring...

Our Family Tree continues to grow!

Ryan was the big man on campus with his new Big Wheel!!

He loves his new dinosaur (Dad loves the fact that we can terrorize the dogs with it...)

Carter getting some tummy and floor time. The gym and mirror were Christmas gifts that he seems to love so far!!

We hope you had a safe and happy Christmas wherever you spent it!

Two Brothers...Two Sweet Boys

Ryan loves to get around Carter, get close to him, and say "Two brothers...two sweet boys." It's so great to see that 6 weeks into their life-long adventure, Ryan is still getting along with his baby brother!!

Carter started socially smiling this past week - while we're desperately trying to catch him in the act, you get a sense of it with the next two pictures...we love to see him interact with us!

Another end to a great day (Ryan was trying to take a picture of Carter with his fake Cars Camera).

Run up to Christmas

Our Cool Cat kid in his car (it's a beater)...he loves riding around and having many an adventure. He uses a red shoe string as his "seatbelt" (or rescue rope if the need arises) and will take you anywhere you want to go in his "bus".

Every year Stone Oak does a Winter Festival - Heidi, Ryan and Carter went while Mike was on another TDY...and Ryan thoroughly enjoyed the experience (it was 65 degrees outside). It's hard to imagine snow in San Antonio right now since we're supposed to be around 75 on Christmas Day, but our pictures give you a taste of what it COULD look like at the Winter Festival!

Both of Ryan's schools had Christmas parties before they dismissed for the break. The first picture was from his elementary school and was themed the "Night Before Christmas" (hence the PJs). After that, his church school put on a party that afternoon and made gingerbread cookies and danced the afternoon away (something Ryan truly loves!).