Holiday recovery

We spent the week after Christmas at my parent's house in NC. It was a whirlwind of napping and eating (yes, we Rynnes can organize those two activities to completely consume a number of days). Kasper finally met his Uncle Brendan and Aunt Tara. He also worked on his XBox skills with Uncle Connor. Since we returned home, he's been keeping us busy with his climbing skills - up, onto and over the coffee table, up and down both couches, etc. But, I know you're really here for the photos...
Aunt Tara insisted that Uncle Brendan buy something that didn't say "For ages 3 and up". The trike was a great choice. Uncle B put it together and gave Kasper lessons! (That's Gran off to the left - we had to remind Kasper of rule #2 - No knocking people down.)
Uncle Connor shares his controller. Yes, I made sure the game rating was appropriate.
But, of course, Kasper wants a controller of his own. And woe is the person who tries to stop Kasper from getting what he wants...

First Christmas

Kasper attacked his first Christmas with his usual vim and vigor, tempered only slightly by his being sick. Here are a few highlights:

Always check out the "big" presents

Start with my stocking (yep, got my first Sox hat!)
Read the instructions for my new goodies
Show polite interest in other people's gifts
Call everyone to tell them,
"We love you, we miss you, we can't wait to see you!"
Rest up for my birthday!

Chicks dig scars

This week, Kasper has:
-suffered his first bad cold
-cut his 7th tooth
-had his first ear infection
-acquired his first scar after falling headfirst into a nightstand
Of course, none of these things have slowed him down at all. We're hoping things quiet down for the actual holiday...

Gotta love those lids

I love that I have two men in my life who indulge my fascination with wacky headgear.

A cookie-baking elf

Keebler's got it right. You do need an elf to make the best cookies. Now if I could just find a cleaning elf...

20 more days of being zero

Not too much excitement around here. But a few cute kid shots never hurt, do they?


(This is Kasper working the room at our playgroup's holiday party.)

Kindred spirits

We went to the zoo yesterday to see D.C.'s second-cutest baby: Tai Shan. Like Kasper, Tai Shan enjoys his midday nap, so they both dozed through our entire 10-minute visit. Kasper perked up after we left the panda house -- just in time to chase after some of his favorite zoo denizens: the golf carts the groundskeepers ride around on. He also thought the prairie dogs were pretty cool.

We'd have loved to have seen Tai Shan while he's awake, but we'll go back to visit him again once the hoopla has died down a little. And we're glad we resisted the temptation to part with our tickets for big bucks on eBay. After all, Tai Shan is the biggest celebrity in town right now, and we never miss the chance to tell Grampa George when we've seen someone famous.

A couple more pics: