Rydon's birthday photos

Blue and gold

Last night was our troop blue and gold banquet. We had a western theme with brown bag vests and nachos for dinner. Each kid got to color their vest.

Hanging out with Dad

Last week Brady took each of the older boys out for some quality one-on-one time with him. Ammon went to Smashburger. Zenock went to Cici's Pizza, and today Gideon went to Yogurtland. This is what Brady had to say about today:
Spending the afternoon with my Gidkid. He asked to get ice cream at the "new" ice cream store. He says his favorite flavor is the white one, because it "tastes like snow in Idaho."

Calico Ghost Town

Saturday we took a drive to Calico, CA to see the old ghost town there. On the way we picnicked in Zzyzx, CA and saw a dried up soda spring resort town built in the early 1900's. Now it serves as a research facility for geological students at various colleges. We learned in Calico that in the 1800's it was a bustling mining community which resulted in 85 million dollars worth of silver. Back then there were about 1200 permanent residents with thousands of people coming and going. Today only 9 people live there...most likely people who help manage the tourist activity at the ghost town. We toured the Maggie Mine, rode the Calico train, panned for gold, and toured the mystery shack. It was a great day for everyone.

Preschool

Gideon graduated from the individual based preschool program to the community based because he is doing so much better verbally and  socially. He is now in Ayla's class. Here is a comparison of their work. Gideon's school papers looked even less used than Ayla's when he started school two years ago. He has come along great, and he will love going to kindergarten in the fall. I'm very excited for the all day school.

Surgery and a skunk

Today Rydon had tubes pot in his ears. The surgery went great. Dr. Goll did a great job. Three of the post op nurses I talked to were LDS which was fun. One of them knows a friend in my ward. Also today Rydon's skunk costume came in the mail. I found it half price on Amazon, which is awesome because I've been looking at it for several months. Watching him crawl in it is so stinking cute. We decided today to be Peter Pan characters for Halloween so he could wear it several times. Originally I bought it just because I wanted to watch him crawl around in it just for fun. Now that it has a purpose I'm even more thrilled. We have many more months to work on the rest of the costumes: captain hook, Wendy, tinkerbell, Mr smee, Peter, and convince Ammon to join in the matching fun too.

Fun at a birthday party

We attended a birthday party for  friends in our ward. Everyone had a blast. We loved walking there since we live so close.

Trying a different feeding method

Today it occurred to me that I could water down baby food and put it in Rydon's bottle. I tried mixed veggies first....he hated it. The next time I tried a jar of banana carrot mango. He wasn't happy with it at first, but I insisted he lay down and drink it. He eventually relaxed and drank the whole bottle. I think this is how I am going to do solid foods from now on for him. I have no problem sitting on the couch feeding him baby food from a bottle. It's MUCH LESS MESSY!!! Tomorrow I'm planning to try carrots because I know he loved them the way I used to feed him. I really hope doing solid food this way helps him get a good taste of regular food so that when his palate surgery is all healed up he will love eating at the table with us. He has ear tubes put in next Friday, the 19th. Palate surgery is scheduled for March 25th!!