Caught You!

The day after Christmas we had the Rydalch Christmas dinner at our house.  Ben made bread and popcorn balls.  I made shortbread, turkey and ham.  Everyone brought tons of other food, especially mashed potatoes - I think there were 4 pots!  Kristen, Britta, Josh, Katie, Julie and Kara brought their families.  It was great to see everyone, but I got vinegar in my eye and believe me, that's no fun!

I had fun making a dessert display, and Alice had fun raiding it:

Easter 2011

This Easter we weren't really planning on doing much.... then Libby came to town so we hosted an Easter egg hunt at our house for Ben's family. It was a lot of fun. We had plastic eggs with candy and money (those went fast!). Julie arranged some "Minute to Win It" games the kids could do and that was pretty funny. The older boys (Hunter, TJ and Ethan) were out exploring, setting traps and trying to drown whistle pigs for a good part of the afternoon.

Mumsy sent us an Easter basket from Prague: potholder for mom, six decorative egg ornaments and two little chickies. We brought in a redbud branch and hung the eggs. I got some Easter paper lanterns that hung over the table. We colored eggs with the Tim Smiths and Shelly showed us how to make the cute nests you see pictured. They were cute and delicious (though I'm certain not too nutritious). The Easter bunny brought the following: bug books and bug collecting jars for each kid, a chocolate bunny for each kid, a little Sesame Street figure for each kid, Easter coloring books, a kite for Clyde, barrettes for Alice and a new outfit for Alice. Libby came for Easter dinner which was leg of lamb, broccoli, potato salad and toast. The kids got to have their chocolate bunnies for dessert. Clyde inhaled his and Alice actually shared some of hers with Clyde. The rest of us just got ice cream.

Visitors & Pony Rides

Ben was really busy working and we weren't quite up for company through the winter. We made up for it these last two weeks. On the 30th, we had dinner for Mumsy, Gayle, Tommy, Sharon, JG, Rollins, Kay & Gregory (turkey dinner, mmmmm). The 1st Ben's family & some friends came for lunch and pony rides (about 35 people). The 2nd my childhood friends Joe & Mike came with their families (that's who the photo is of - 5 kids & 4 adults plus us). The 3rd Shelley called and wound up coming over with 3 Seattle area friends and their 3 children. We had just gotten the house clean when Erin's family came to town, so we had a big Rydalch dinner on the 8th (about 35 people again). Then on the 9th it was branding day so I made homemade rolls, potato salad and banana muffins for that and Janelle's family came over for our 0-1-2-3-4 photos and breakfast (huckleberry pancakes, elk sausage and fruit). On Sunday the 10th, Merche called and brought Chispe and her 5 kids out for pony rides and to feed the calves. So our tally was around 100 for the last couple of weeks and we have more coming this weekend. It's fun to be able to share our home, yard & animals with so many good friends and our families. The kids love seeing their cousins and friends.

3 years have gone by... oh my!

Such a happy boy...getting to spend the day with cousins and friends...


patiently waiting for Daisy with cousin Elliott...

sharing Daisy with his cousins...


and last but not least getting to eat some dinosaur birthday cake!

It really is hard to believe that three years have passed. We've definitely been busy and in some ways it seems longer, but we really are lucky to have such a wonderful little boy.

Halloween

So, my friend Kay gave me a cool hat after my surgery and one day mom made me wear it with a vest, a little window on a stick (magnifying glass), and a weird black candy (licorice pipe). Mommy said I was Sherlock Holmes, but I'm just Clyde.

My sister had to wear an orange sack with a face and some leaves on it. She wasn't very happy about it:


Elliott and my friend, Olivia, came over. Elliott borrowed my boots and hat and wore a crazy cow vest. Olivia had on wings. It was so funny how all our parents made us wear funny things on the same day!

Alice and I got into my wagon with some pillows and went with mom and Kay.


We walked around the neighborhood and my sister fell asleep.


Some of the grown-ups were dressed up too. This is Lisa. She is a blue rooster. I got to pick out some brightly wrapped candies to give to my daddy (but he did let me try some).


I stopped to look at Lisa's dog through the fence.

The next day a lot of my cousins came over and they were dressed up funny too!

Mommy gave Nora a matching outfit so she and Alice could get pictures. Alice kept crying.

People just love babies!

People must really like little babies. After we brought the baby home from the big brick building, a lot of people came to visit us, and a lot of them brought pink stuff. You wouldn't believe how many dresses and girl clothes my sister got. I'm so glad I'm a boy! We visited lots of people too, like my Great Granddad Hiatt:

We also went to see another new baby, my cousin Nora. She and Alice and almost exactly the same size. My cousin Opal is good at holding babies. Here she is with Alice:

I like visiting cousins. Their houses are fun. I got to play the piano at Aunt Julie's.

Babies are OK most the time, but boy can they be noisy:

I have my own baby that I take care of, but she's a lot quieter than my sister. Mom says I'm a very good big brother (except when I play too hard with Alice).

Easter Egg Hunt

I went to Grandma and Grandpa Rydalch's house for an Easter Egg Hunt. There weren't any eggs though! I know about eggs because I went into the chicken coop at Grandad Harry's and got eggs right from the chickens. Instead of eggs, there were toys and candy. I got a plastic thing with a green handle and a clear circle (mom says it's a magnifying glass). My cousins are bigger and faster than me and they got lots of candy and toys, but then my dad took a lot of their fun dips! It was fun.