Ryley started Dance!

Ryley has started dance class and I love it, so does she, but I really love it.  I think that it is beyond adorable watching her run around and do princess twirls in her dance leotard. I love that she goes with her little friend Coco, and I adore some Bree time while she is in her class.  It is 30 minutes every Monday where I can sit and talk with a very good friend, and we can totally be ourselves and just know that we are loved and accepted.  Yay for great friends.

Giant Slip n Slide

 

My Sister in Law blessed their new baby, and Jeff's family came up from Arizona for it.  Sadly they had to leave right after church to catch their flights.  Sooo, Jeff and Jocelyn decided to have the family all over the day before for an afternoon on the home made slip n slide, and dinner.  I was surprised at how much my kids liked the slip n slide, although they wanted to just go on their own and did not enjoy being spun or thrown down like some of the other kids.  Jordan even gave it a shot and had a great time.  Skyler had fun climbing in the big old tree in the back yard.

 Thanks a ton for a fun and memorable afternoon.

Back to School

School Started again for us, like everyone else.  Skyler is now a very competitive high achieving second grader, and Ethan has started kindergarten.  I was so sad taking Ethan in for his first day, and it really surprised me.  I mean I have done this before, and it is not like I was coming home to an empty house, but it was hard to leave him behind.  I swear he is still too small to be away from me every day.

Skyler wants to be the very best in his class and will make plans to do 3 book reports in a weekend, just so that he can make sure that nobody else has done more than him.  He was really happy to go back and to see him friends, and I am really happy with his teacher this year.

Ethan comes out of school every day and tells me that it was the best day ever.  It is really nice to see how happy he is, but I am still sad dropping him off.  Thankfully I still get to keep him home for a few days a week, and I can get my Ethan fix.

Ryley is 3

 Today Ryley turned 3 years old, and it was so fun to celebrate her.  She is my baby girl, and such a little doll.  I often tell Jordan that I want another baby, and Ryley always hurtfully responds "but Mommy, I'm your baby"  Sadly she is growing up.  She loves to dance around the house with me.   She enjoys pretty dresses.  She complains every time that I tell her that we need to do her hair, but she asks me to change it if she changes her clothes.  She puts on her makeup almost every morning in my bathroom while I get ready for the day.  Ryley adores her brothers, and she is really such a blessing to our family.

Our day today started out with Ryley finding some balloons right outside her door attached to $3 that she was thrilled to put into her piggy bank,  Then we had a fun breakfast of birthday cake pancakes, and cinnamon bun pancakes.  The pancakes were well received, but definitely sweet. Then Ryley begged to open her presents and was spoiled by all of the love. My favorite gift was her personalized book.  Her favorite was probably a doll that she got with a spray bottle and comb so that she can do her hair.

Then tonight we were able to have her family party which was all cupcake themed. The little favor for the kids and their cousins was a cupcake carrier for lunches. The pinata turned out great and was probably my favorite part.

Happy Birthday baby girl, I love you to the moon and back and forever and ever.

Turning 3 means that it is time for tea

This year was on 'off' year for parties, meaning I was not throwing a friends party for any of my kids.  Lucky for Ryley Grandma seemed to thing that you can't have a 3rd birthday without having a tea party.  We had 3 little girls over to celebrate, and they all came dressed like real princesses.  Ryley started the day out in her Cinderella costume, but that didn't last long because it is still too big, and she was really struggling getting around in it.



My sister in Law Taneil was talked into helping out, and she was put on makeup duty.  I had almost as much fun watching her and the girls did getting pretties put on.  She was fantastic, and all of the little girls were shimmery and pretty.
All of the girls had a chance to get their nails done - funny with a bunch of 2/3 year olds.  Lola decided taht pink on one hand a purple on the other was the way to go.

 Hanna has 2 kind of almost half done hands because she was done long before her nails were, and Chloe chose purple all the way, but I am pretty sure she started picking at it and was down a few nails before she even made it home.
 Grandma read all of our princess some stories about disney princesses, and we learned a little bit about how important manners were. It was a good thing since we were getting ready to sit down to a 'tea'party full of lemonade and mini sandwiches, and mini squares and cupcakes.
 After we were all done a nice little drink and some treats the girls exchanged gifts.  Don't these little ladies look just like angels?
Grandma made sure that Ryely had some treasures to give to her friends to say thanks for sharing in her very special 3rd birthday celebration. Hannah was a natural with the microphone.
 Lola knew how to lay it on thick, she was a princess after all.
 Chloe wanted everything on, and did not want to put anything down.
 And Miss Ryley posed in all her birthday glory.
 We were trying to get a picture of all the girls together.  Sadly this was the best that we could get.



 Although, while we were busy snapping pictures we told the girls to make a kissy face.  Check out Lolas Kissy lips - I Die when I look at this picture!
 It was a really cute little party, and my princess enjoyed every minute of it.  One day she might realize just how lucky she is to have Grandma around so much.

On another note, Mom bought Jordan some beef Jerkey last night to say thanks for putting up with her crazy.  She sure is crazy, but we sure do love her!  I also feel so blessed that I have Jordan, and he is really a great guy, he tolerates a lot of crazy around here, and never seems to complain.

Pason Family Zoo day

Jordan works for a great company and they have this fun Zoo day that we got to go to this year.  Our whole family was able to go, even Mom, and it was soo fun.  There was a BBQ lunch with lifesaver popsicles that the kids LOVED!  Then there was a play about penguins that had a lot of audience participation - it was super funny.

There was a great face painter who transformed my sweet baby girl into a ferocious Lion, and my handsome boy into a snow leopard   
sadly the other little man refused to participate.  Then Sheldon the tortoise can for an up close and personal visit.  Our stay at the tent ended with some bouncy castle time. All of the kids had a blast, Ryley is finally getting big enough that she isn't just trampled by other kids in them.
 I think this picture of Skyler was right after he hit Ethan, and right before his play time ended.














They also had gift bags for each of the kids with some fun summer toys in them - the kids were in heaven.

We were able to walk around the zoo as much as we wanted, again sadly we didn't really take full advantage of this.  The weather was like 33 degrees that day, and it was a little warm walking around with some hot cranky kids so we saw some highlights and then came home.

I feel blessed that Jordan has a company to work for that he enjoys and that puts on such fun events for the family to go to.

Calaway Park

 We have made a few trips out to Calaway park this year, and the kids always love it.  It is so fun, we can now all go on the log ride and nobody is crying!