Some updates on Ryder:

• You can now easily prop himself up into a sitting postion
  
• You can site up all by yourself
  
• You are currently waking up twice a night. Once at around 11:30 and once around 3:30 (that is the painful one). Mommy gets up to feed you and then you go back to sleep (most of the time)
  
• Your 2 top, front teeth are now coming in. Your mouth is like a fountain of slobber as a result
  
• You LOVE to walk! Mommy and I set a few feet apart from eachother and you walk back and forth between us. For the most part, you take a few steps and then collapse into our arms, but every now and then you'll get on a roll and walk the entire way. It shouldn't be long before you're walking on your own.
  
• You are a bruiser! You've taken a few spills resulting in you bumping your head or face and you are not even phased!
  
• Last night, I was giving you a bath and you reached for my nose. You grabbed on, hooking one of your fingers inside of my nostril and causing my nose to bleed. Thanks.
  
• You almost always greet us with a big smile when either mommy or me enters the room.
  
• You use a pacifier; when we put you to sleep, we give you your pacifier. If you are not ready to sleep you'll screw around in your crib, occassionally tossing your pacifier over the top onto the ground. We then have to come in and get it, as soon as you see us you crack that grin of yours....

We got together with Aunt Leah, Uncle Ray and your cousins Riley and Jaydon. We went to a pumpkin patch.





This is just a cute picture of Zoe and Ryder in their Halloween shirts that Nina got for them; Thanks Nina!!!:
A couple of other picture of the kids:



We went to Sydneys 4th Birthday Party:

Zoe and Jason "Throwin it up!"

Zoe and Sydney fought over this phone which allows the kids to "talk" directly to Chuck E. Cheese himself:


The Birthday Girl:



For Halloween, we went to Uncle Ray and Aunt Leahs house. Zoe had been talking about Halloween for the past 6 months and how she was going to be Dorothy, Mommy was going to be the Good Witch, Ryder would be the cowardly lion and I would be the scarecrow. Kia went out and got all the costumes. We had dinner and then spent a half hour putting on our costumes and getting ready to trick-or-treat. We finally went out; the kids lasted about 20 minutes before melting down. We called it a night.

A few pics:



A few bonus pics of Zoe as Dorothy:




Zoe with Miss Sarah; her Ballet instructor/hero:

Kia and Zoe made Halloween cookies:

Zoe:
This morning, we were in your bedroom getting you dressed and as I was putting your socks on, you said: "My feet are too big", to which I replied: "The only thing that is too big is your mouth", to which you replied: "The only thing too big is your head".
After that, you and momma gave eachother a high five.

We got you the movie "Up" yesterday. You refer to it as "Up and Down".

Ryder:
Yesterday, as Mom and I were video taping you attempting to walk, you surprised us with a new milestone... you sat yourself up for the 1st time!

Also, last night when we put you to bed, you went down "kicking and screaming". Using your newfound ability to sit yourself up, you just kept on sitting up and falling back. Finally, you were able to pull yourself up to a standing position in your crib!!! Seeing this, we had to lower your crib to be sure you didn't pull yourself completely up and over the edge.

Also, you are now able to sign "Milk" when you are hungry for milk. Its very cute.

Ryders 8 Month Picture