A Visit With Santa

A Little of Tall

This is Ryan's new way to describe how tall he is - I had to document it here so I won't forget. He wants to be tall like Daddy, and we know he is growing quickly now. But when we mention how tall he is getting, he is quick to explain that he isn't tall yet - he is "a little of tall". Too cute.

A Quick Update with Pictures

We are all doing well - Thought I would do a quick update with some pictures... Here is Ryan in the hospital helping out with Eric's bottle
All packed up and ready to go home!

We found a Santa hat and Ryan now loves to be "Santa" and wants us to sit on his lap. We figure the only one that won't crush him is Eric, so here he is asking Eric what he wants for Christmas :)

A few more cute Eric pictures

Welcome Eric Christopher

Eric was delivered by cesarean today at 10:38 am. He weighed in at 8lbs 11.5oz and 20 inches long. A big child to say the least but he was actually 3 ounces lighter than Ryan. I am very pleased to report that he has all the right pieces in the proper locations. We will be in the hospital until Thursday. Please enjoy your first look at our new baby boy.

Daddy being silly before going into surgery...note the super stylish color :)








Dr. Eckert (Jen's doctor)


Grandma and Grandpa Riek.

Grammy and Papa.

Grandma Jean

Aunt Harriet


Uncle Mike



Big Brother!!!

Ryan was so excited to hold his baby brother with his "wing". He was just absolutely fascinated with his little brother.

Bonny

Doug

One More Week

yikes. One week from today and baby Eric will be here (assuming he cooperates and stays put until then!

Groundbreaking!!!

Ray's (Grandpa Riek) new business made it to quite possibly the second biggest milestone, they broke ground for their first plant. Basically his company will take shredded tires and retrieve carbon black and heating oil. Sue organized a surprise visit by both their son Jon and Javier. He knew that we were coming so we met them for lunch. Much to his surprise walked in more family than he was expecting. It was a cold windy day outside. In his usual fashion Ray downplayed the whole event. He kept saying it was just going to be about a dozen guys in suits in the middle of a cornfield. As it turned out there was probably closer to 100. It was a very big deal for both the city of Maryville and Carbolytic Materials.



It may be cold outside but this cookie sure is yummy. :)





This was a gift of a weather vane for the plant. I can't remember if it was the city, an engineering firm, or someone completely different but it is really cool.



Getting ready for the posed shot...(notice that Ryan is wearing his own hardhat)



I wasn't really sure what the other guys thought about Ryan being in the shovel pictures with his little plastic shovel. But as long as Ray was ok with I don't think anybody else had much to say about it. Ryan was the epitome of the perfect gentleman. He stood and posed with his shovel with all the other guys. We are so proud of Ray and all the hard work he done over the last few years. It is really nice to see something tangible come from all his efforts.

Halloween

Ryan has discovered that he REALLY likes drums. Just about anything that resembles a drumstick gets beat on any surface nearby.



Ella, Ryan, Grammy prior to going out to gather lots of candy.

Brayden, Ella, Ryan. The epitome of cuteness!!!

Buzz and Woody, a classic duo.

Halloween parade

Hanging out...
Halloween parade...

Woody too...

Grandma sent Ryan a new hat so he could be Woody. "Yee-haw" and an arm pump are the first things Ryan did when he put on the hat.

Bob also wanted to be Woody - but the hat just doesn't have quite the same effect...