Callen's 1st Birthday Celebration!

Callen's birthday celebration was simple and sweet which was just perfect for this little guy!

He has completely stolen our hearts and we are all happy with that!

We celebrated at a park since Callen LOVES being outside.  

Pizza, fruit, and cupcakes were all on the menu - more things he loves.

And we had to throw in some balls- he's obsessed!

His adorable spider-crawl, love it:

I can't get enough of this sweet boy:

Caught in action...loves sucking those fingers:

Party guests were Shar, Trav, and the girlies. 

Oh so fun!

Chowing down:

And our cute Cal with his very favorite toy EVER:

He started making these hilarious faces and we think he's pretty darn cute (and funny!). What a character!

Investigating something:

More of the monster balls:

Opening gifts:

Blowing out the candles, he was fascinated:

A gentle little poke was enough for him, ha!

He liked it!

Happy Birthday littlest man! We sure love having you in our family!!

Jeff's Birthday!!

Jeff's birthday was really fun. So fun that I forgot to take pictures!

This semester has been a crazy one already and I knew Jeff really needed a break. I would have liked to surprise him, but he usually does school work on Sat.  so I let him know ahead of time that we'd be doing something fun. That way he got in all the extra hours during the week. Then,  Shar & Trav watched the boys so we could go on an all-day date.

It was WONDERFUL to have so much time together. We spent the day eating lots of yummy food, shopping for his birthday gifts, and just talking and enjoying the time together.  It was perfect and so much fun!!  

On Sunday we did our family celebration. The boys helped make Jeff's yummy dessert and we decorated. They loved drawing on each balloon for Jeff! 

We just got him one of his favorite study snacks since he had picked out his gift on our date the day before.

We absolutely love Sundays because it is our one day with Jeff all to our selves.  

It was so fun to be able to celebrate him and show him  how much we love him!!

Happy Happy Birthday, Babe.

You know how much I love and appreciate you, so I'll save the mushy stuff for your card.

Love you! 

Here's to being 31!!

Nicole & Shar's Birthday!

 Shar & Travis moved here August 18th, just in time for us to spend our birthday together! YAY!!!

It is SO much fun to have the kiddos back together again. 

They are having a blast, and we are loving it too!!

So they stayed at our house for the weekend and Monday morning (our b-day) the guys let us sleep in. 

We had to be ready to leave by 10am and that's when they gave us our gift:  the day together!!  

It was awesome.

We went to Kneaders for the amazing french toast breakfast. Then headed to the mall for mani/pedis. Bliss.

Did some shopping and then met up with the guys for a date night dinner.

After dinner we went back to our house for a fun party with the kiddos.

It was AWEsome. So amazing. I love my birthday...Jeff sure knows how to spoil me!!!

Love my sister:

Happy Birthday to us!

The guys made our favorite dessert, cream cheese pie with fresh fruit. And they ROCKED. 

It was THE best pie ever. Really, they made it better than I ever have. 

Cute kiddos enjoying the food:

Ryder loved my party  hat:

Happy Birthday Shar!  

Love this little fam:

I love my crazy guys!

Ryder: 2 years

Well, this post is long over due! Here is a little about Ryder at TWO years old (July 20th)

Ryder's Stats

Height: 34 inches 

Weight: 23 lbs

Sleeps through the night. Takes 1 nap/day usually 2-3 hours.

Personality:  This little guy is a fire-cracker! He definitely keeps us on our toes with his crazy antics. He is very full of life and energy and loves to be GOING and DOING.  He runs all over the place and doesn't sit still for much of anything!  He is daring, adventurous, sweet, and loving.  Such a perfect mix of crazy, fun!  Oh we love our Ryder!!
Talents/Abilities:  He really excels at anything physical.  And one of his greatest abilities is knowing how to get what he wants. He just has to smile at us and say 'please' in his adorable voice and we pretty much melt! When we do say no, however, he is so good at accepting that and moving on.  He gets over things quickly (whether emotionally or physically hurt).  He also loves to help and is such a sweet big brother to our baby Cal!
Has started talking and saying so many things. It is so fun to hear him communicate his wants/needs.
Favorites:  Pizza, ice cream, strawberries, watermelon, apples, peas, bread, balls, trucks, trains, & cars, bike, drawing with chalk, playing outside, Deigo (tv show), running, running, running, little guy figures with hats, dress up, binkie & blanket, daddy and brothers.

Dear Ryder,

You have grown so much in this past year and become such a sweet, wonderful little boy. I was so worried how you would do with becoming a big brother but you have completely surprised me! You are so sweet with our baby Cal and absolutely love to hold him.  You are my busy, busy boy! You love to run and jump and try anything and everything your brothers do.  You love wrestling with them and are such a tough little guy! On the other hand, you are still so sweet and kind and love to help out whenever I ask. You give the best hugs and snuggles and make us laugh constantly with the funny things you do and say!  You sure love your daddy and are so excited to see him when he gets home. You are great at making all of us feel like we are your favorite person!  

I sure love you, my sweet, wonderful Ryder. You make our family better by being a part of it! 

Love, 

Mommy

Happy Happy Birthday Ryder!

 We had a fun and simple birthday celebration for Ryder's big day!! 

It was a little strange not having ANY family around for it, but we had so much fun.

We did things Ryder liked all day long:  played outside, watched his favorite show, wrestled, Mcdonalds for lunch, and had so much fun together!  

Then we had fun little party once Daddy got home from work. 

It was just perfect for our little guy, he loved every minute!

 Lunch with the bros:

Ryder LOVES holding Callen, so I had to make sure he got to for as long as he wanted:

I found these awesome figures at the Dollar store and knew they HAD to be for Ryder's cake. He doesn't have a lot of action figures of his own and he LOVES super heroes so it was perfect!

I adore his expressions in the next two:

Jeff and I spent the night before his b-day setting up his gift. I was like a kid at christmas...I just COULDN'T wait to give it to him!!!

He LOOOOOVED it!!! and didn't want to get out to open the rest!

Cute Callen slept through it all:

Of course we had to bring him outside for a ride in his new truck:

Happy Happy Birthday cute boy!  We sure LOVE you!