Being a toddler means I go from happy...
to tantrum in the blink of an eye.

Sorry about that, guys.

Hurricane Ryanne was here.

I love you, Puppy.

Today we went to story hour at the library. Happily, Ryanne was not the worst-behaved child there, although when I took away Puppy so we could sing songs she shrieked "MIIIIIINNE" so shrilly and loudly I thought for sure we would be asked to leave and never return.

Today we drove to Uncle Duane's for dinner with him, cousin Sarah, Duane's wife Miki, and Miki's son Scott, wife Amanda, and their cute almost-two-year-old Hailie. Stanley got to come and play with Jake the lab and spent the entire time roaming the property. He hardly got into any trouble and he even voluntarily went for a swim in the creek after watching Jake's example. We had salad and homemade lasagne and cake. I think the best part for Ryanne was that she got to go on two walks to pick blackberries - and eat them all. Jake taught Stanley how to pick and eat the blackberries near the bottom. Stanley and Ryanne both slept soundly the entire car ride home. When I put Ry in her bed she didn't even protest, she just curled up with Puppy and smiled at me and went straight to sleep.

Shout out to Ry's uncle Juan - For dinner, I brought a wine called "La Boca" from Mendoza, Argentina and it was really good (don't worry, I only had a taste).

Visit with Great-Grandma

Today we drove up for lunch with Great-Grandma Corinne.

For comparison, here is a picture from December of last year:
We're all glad that whole spitting up thing is behind us now.

Finally Fall!

This is not something I would normally get excited about, as summer is my favorite season by far. Today it was good for two reasons though: one, it rained all day so I got to put off mowing the lawn (not that I could have anyway, since Ryanne took zero naps today) and two, Ryanne has tons of new fall/winter coats, shirts, pants and dresses that I am dying for her to wear.
A fashion preview:

New pink jacket

New shirt

Weekend in Idaho

Mom did not actually get to go to Idaho, because she hurt her back. Ryanne went and had a blast however.

Throwing rocks into the lake

I don't know who made this mess.

Finger painting.

This is how I found Ryanne when I picked her up from Janelle's the other day. Apparently she put the helmet on and refused to take it off all day. Knowing how clumsy she is, I can't say that is a bad thing.

No free rides around here.

Ryanne and I have been so busy: baking cookies and breads, reading books, visiting with friends, taking walks and trips to the park with Stanley. How do I have time to work?

Our fun days

Trying out the goth look (um, thank goodness for washable markers...)

Visiting with Laura

Goofing off before bedtime

Playground of Dreams

This one is for pansies, Grandpa

Let's go in this one instead!

pooped out after too much water park fun - I had to hitch a ride.

Uncle Mike Visits

I let him share my popsicle

I let him read to me

We had fun I think.

I love mom

She makes me pb&j

She takes me on the big kid slides

She does 1-2-3 Wheeee!

She shares her sno-cone

My pretty girl going down the slide

Truly I have no words to appropriately caption this picture. Naked nose picking is clearly a recessive trait on the Stottlemyre side.