It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

The holiday season is in full swing, which means Christmas is right around the corner!!

A free Sunday afternoon with nothing to do meant it was a great opportunity to make some Ryebread friendly, Christmas-oriented crafts. So we opted for Christmas Trees! We made them out of sugar cones, icing and mini M&M's.

The good thing was, everything was edible, so we didn't have to worry about Rye accidentally putting something in his mouth that wasn't good for him. The bad thing was, once Rye realized the decorations were edible...he wasn't too into continuing the craft and was much more focused on chomping on the M&M's. Sigh...

Falling into Autumn

Ryebread LOVES being outside - but as the weather keeps getting colder, it gets more and more difficult to enjoy the great outdoors. We decided to enjoy it while we could, though, and spent some time the other night playing in the leaves. Daddy made a nice big pile for Ryan to jump into. At first he wasn't sure what to make of it and was a little nervous about going in so deep that he couldn't see his feet, but after Daddy showed him how much fun playing in the leaves could be, Ryan was hooked!

Daddy even let Rye bury him in a big pile of leaves, which Ryan thought was pretty silly.

Future Lawyer or CEO? You decide

Though we just had professional pictures taken of Ryebread, his school was doing portraits as well, so we thought we'd at least see how they turned out. Thank goodness we did! If nothing else, the pictures provide a good laugh. We've never seen such a serious face on such a little person.

Then he did his best "George Constanza" pose

Finally, a class shot. About three of the kids were screaming and most were beyond irritated. Ryan (on the right) was inching his way away from the group to go do some serious thinking. :)

Farewell to Aunt Sherry

In what seems like a cruel game of repetition, Ryebread attended his third funeral in the past year this weekend. This time for his strong, beautiful and loving great Aunt Sherry.

At 19 months old, Rye is not one to be quiet or sit still for very long. But he managed to join mommy and daddy for a moment of rememberance with Aunt Sherry aside her casket and bid her farewell in true Ryebread fashion - he blew her a kiss.

Below is a picture of Aunt Sherry and Ryan when he was barely one month old. As with the many other people in her life, Sherry loved Ryan completely and showered him with attention and praise whenever she could.

Though he may not remember her, he will know who she was and how much she cared for him.

"Smile" vs. "Say Cheese"

The effect of what can happen when you ask Ryebread to "smile."

The effect of what can happen when you ask him to "say cheese!"