Happy 3rd Birthday, Ryan!!!!

Ryan's 3rd Birthday started with a surprise visit from Grama. On the day of his birthday, we met daddy at McDonald's for lunch where Ryan had a blast playing in the tunnels (despite learning some life lessons from an older boy. Ryan now knows what happens when you hit an older kid...) Later that night we had Ryan's birthday dinner of choice (homemade hamburgers) and then of course, we celebrated with cake, ice cream, and presents

The next day, daddy had a seminar in Portland, so Ryan, Caleb, Grama, and mommy spent the day at the Portland Children's Museum - What a great day!

On Saturday, Ryan had his first true birthday party. We held his party at a near park that has a fantastic playground/wood castle play structure. His theme was "Where the Wild Things Are" - beyond fitting for Ryan =). A few months ago, Johna and I had found these great "Where the Wild Things Are" party invitations - little did we know those are the ONLY things that exist for a birthday party with this theme. So, we got creative =) Mommy's attempt at a Wild Thing Cake

After playing for a while and eating lunch, the kids gathered around for a reading of "Where the Wild Things Are". Afterwards, the kids had a great time decorating their own Wild Thing masks - Thanks Nana!!!

The party favors

What a great day! Despite Caleb being under the weather, we all had an amazing time celebrating our little man's 3rd birthday.

Misc. Pix

Keeping the California roots alive =)

Don't worry, he didn't eat the worm

Now that we have removed most of the stuff in our yard in order to make room for lawn, now came the time to transplant the plants we want to save. On this particular weekend, we pulled out 9 bushes (thanks to the 4-Runner and some cable! Can we say redneck?) and transplanted 5 rhododendrons.

A couple of weeks ago, the boys and I spent a week watching over the barn while the trainers were at a horse show. The boys had such a blast feeding -it was hilarious!!! Also made me proud to be raising country boys - even if we do live in town.

Sitting at the table like a big boy

Thanks Holland and Clay for these cool shirts from New Zealand!!

Caleb's First Haircut

The before shot

Ta-Da!

Happy Mommy's Day!

Mother's day started with John's traditional Mother's Day breakfast: Crepes with strawberries and hand whipped, whipped cream. That in itself is special enough. The boys (all three of them) gave me a very special card with each of their hand prints outlined inside and special attributes written in each finger (awwww....) Then we went to church and for the best gift ever - a ride on Whirlwind.

Ryan got to ride Whirlwind all by himself for the first time! He learned how to make him walk and how to stop. Whirlwind took very good care of him .... and of course I was right there, too =)

Why it takes me so long to update the blog....

So I finally found the chance to update the blog. Caleb was napping and Ryan was entertaining himself in the playroom. I thought to myself "Great!, now's my chance!" After uploading several pictures, I went downstairs to just peek in on Ryan. This is what I saw.

Yes, that is an entire thing of baby powder.

Yes, it is everywhere.

So, I took a deep breath and, like any self respecting parent, I grabbed the camera, snapped some pix, ....and handed Ryan the vacuum. =)

Life at Home

Helping mommy and Ryan plant the vegetable garden

First pair of wranglers

Mommy helping Ryan put his hand in the new concrete in our driveway

Fridge exploration

Who says sinks are just for dishes!

Oh, you mean the stamp pad is for the stamps, not me?

Thanks, Ryan for leaving your dinner where I can reach it!

"Look mommy, I'm a lady!"

-Said by Ryan as he tried on mommy's new shirt.

It later included a pair of high heels

Muscle man moving the table around the room - just because he can

There's nothing like sitting down with a good book!

Ryan and Caleb "cookin" dinner for the family

Happy 1st Birthday!!!

On April 17th we celebrated the 1 year anniversary of Caleb joining our family. It was an amazing week of filled with birthday fun. For Caleb's birthday, daddy took the day off of work and we set off with Grama to Silver Creek Falls State Park, which is about 1 1/2 hours from our house. What an amazing park! It is filled with gorgeous water falls surrounded by lush trails beneath canopies of trees. It was a beautiful day with bright blue skies - a welcome break from the months of rain. We hiked all afternoon, even getting to walk behind a few waterfalls!

On our way home we stopped for a birthday dinner at Red Robin where all the waiters announced to the entire restaurant it was Caleb's first birthday before singing to him. Ryan LOVED it, Caleb was intrigued. Then Caleb got to try his first taste of Chocolate in the form of a hot fudge sundae. He wasn't sure at first, but once he got a taste, it was all over! After passing the sundae around the table, we headed home for cupcakes and presents.

On the Saturday after Caleb's birthday, we had a birthday party for Caleb with all of our neighbors and our friends Joey and Brian. It was such a fun afternoon! It was our first chance to really welcome our neighbors into our home since moving in, although we have become quite close to several of them. It was fun to see everyone enjoying themselves in good conversation and coming together to celebrate a baby boy they will watch grow. Unfortunately, Caleb was a bit under the weather. However, that didn't stop him from tearing into round two of birthday cake!

i Looking back, it was a very magical birthday for Caleb. On one hand, it is so hard to believe that it has already been a year, but on the other hand, it is hard to believe that it has only been a year! It feels as though Caleb has always been a part of us, I can hardly remember life without him.