Homework

This was Ryan's homework. He came up with it on his own. Most adorable thing EVER.

Christina's Birthday

Well, I'm trying to come to terms with being in my 'mid twenties'. I better hurry, because next year is the grey area between 'mid twenties' and 'late twenties'. *shudder*. Kidding, sort of. ;-)

I'm actually okay with being 26. I feel like I'm finally coming into some of the best years of my life. Sure, the college years were fun. I had a lot of fun. I got to have my single days, my fun days, my hang out with friends until 2AM and not really do anything days... they were fun days. But now? Now I feel like I'm finally at a place in life where the REAL fun begins. I'm done having babies (Praise GOD!), I'm getting my body back, I have 3 beautiful children, I have a husband that loves me and that I love with every fiber of my being (no matter HOW crazy he may drive me sometimes...), we are settled in our home that we got to experience being built from the ground up, we have an incredible opportunity to grow this business that we have and the sky is the limit. I feel so blessed to be where I am in life. I know there is so much more ahead... and I'm excited to get to it all. In time of course...

Another plus of the day, I had an AWESOME hair day.

My birthday was a lot of fun this year. Jen Jen was unable to come to my birthday dinner, so we had a mini celebration of lunch at olive garden. I am really slacking with the pictures this year... It was also little Karli's birthday on my birthday! She is a big 2 years old now! She came to share birthday lunch with me. She has a very sweet little disposition.

Later that night hubbs and I went to Yardhouse at Town Square with a big handful of some of my favorite people. Family, friends.... it was so fun to sit down and enjoy with them.

Hubby got me the BEST presents. Seriously, he is an amazing gift giver. His gifts are always perfect. I wish I had his tallent. So I got my Kitchen Aid mixer I've been wanting for YEARS!! I busted it out of the box and made Oreo cupcakes that I've had pinned on Pinterest for a while. Couldn't wait to use it! I also got an Olloclip for my iPhone! LOVE! It takes awesome pictures. I wasn't able to use it for a while because, well, I was a dummy and dropped my phone, shattered the back of it. BUT, IT WAS IN MY OTTER BOX WHEN I DROPPED IT!! So eff you Otter Box! I had to wait to get my back replaced, because if I took it out of the Otter Box, glass would go everywhere. But I absoluely loved my gifts. I have a great hubby.

Lisa got me this makeup pallete I've been coveting for quite some time. SO EXCITED! I use it almost daily. These colors are amazing. Now I want the Naked2 pallete. Ugh. I'm slowly getting more and more addicted to good makeup. At least I wait for sales! lol

Jaymz enjoying his drink at Yardhouse. Kenny got one as well, she didn't realize it was so big! It was hilarious to watch her drinking it because she is this TINY little thing. (lucky lady to be so little). It was so awesme that all these people came to celebrate with me. My bestie face and her man, Thomas, Miranda and Noah came! Lisa had a migraine (I think that's what happened? It's been almost 2 months and now I can't remember! lol) and couldn't make it, sadly. My mommy and sister both came. My in-laws all made it! Kenny and Josh I was so happy to see them. I jus love hanging out with them, such laid back cool people. Taryn and Alex made it out also. They are two treasures to have as friends. Megan and Monge came too! We hardly get to see them because they live so far away, but it was so awesome that they took time out of their evening to spend time with us for my birthday! Just such a great night filled with wonderful people. It's not often that you get such a good group of people around you. I take a lot of pride in the fact that Bobby and I have some true amazing friends in our lives.

Again, I suck at pictures. I think Kenny has some on her phone. I'll have to ask her to send some my way. What a great birthday it was! We were supposed to go go-carting after dinner, but we just stayed late, enjoyed conversation, and didn't get a chance to go. What a great day I had!

Ceramics

Ryan had a ceramics day after school one Friday. Nana and Noah came over to help with making all the cookies and such for his birthday party the next day, and I was knee deep in things to do. So they took him down to school to paint while I finished some things at home. These pictures look like they had so much fun!

These boys and their funny faces!

He looks soooo focused

Isn't Noah the coolest uncle ever? I think so.

And, more faces...

Noah took a nice normal picture!!!! lol

And, yes, more faces...

Happy Boys! Their ceramic projects came out looking awesome! Ryan has his new piggy bank proudly displayed in his room.

Ryan's 6th Birthday

Ryan's birthday party this year was a NINJA party! He has been saying since LAST years party, that he wanted a lazer tag party this year. Then, when I asked him to confirm what he wanted, he changed his mind and said he wanted a party at the karate school. So, I was actually pretty thrilled to plan a big ninja party!

Lisa helped out so much. She made these adorable signs with her awesome creativity.

Coincidently enough, Lisa also got me these super cool ninja cookie cutters a month or so prior. They were PERFECT for the party! She came over and helped me put them all together.

Made some fun goodie bags, and again, Lisa helped me with making these really cool tickets for the front! I really wish I had her skills! She is an amazing woman, and has been such a huge help to me in so many ways.

The kids all got to do some karate, and play some fun games.

Here is the flying fish... poor fish. Greg was late to the party because he was getting the fish filled with helium for Ryan. Well it was a huge hit when it got there! Ryan was having a blast with it. Sadly, before we knew it, it was floating out the back door with the draft, and floated out into the mountains. :-( We felt so bad. The kids all were waving saying 'Bye fish!'. Poor Greg :-(

Ryan got to break a board to show all his friends how awesome he is at karate!

All in all, Ryan had a great birthday. I'll never forget the look on his face when we first walked in the school. I spent hours there getting it decorated for him, and I remember thinking to myself 'oh Christina, they are just 5 and 6 year olds! They DON'T CARE!'. (I was getting really flustered at running out of time... I'm bad at this whole time management thing...). But he walked in the school and said 'Hunnie! Look at this! Is all of this just for me and my party?!' I smiled and said 'yeah, see all the hard work I do for you!'. Being sarcastic, of course. He turned aound and looked at me, put his arms up in the air and with the biggest smile on his face he said 'Hunnie, this is the BEST birthday party EVER!!'. That was one of my most proud mom moments to date.

I know I'm not his mom... I know he has a mom that loves him very much... but I love this little boy like he is one of my own. I just want to mke him happy, and help raise him to be a good man. A man like his daddy. I want to be there for all of his important things in his life and stand there proudly for him. I want him to know and feel how loved he is. And I look forward to the many more years of stressful birthday parties, and plays and sports... And I've learned that I need to just chill out a bit. Because someday, he isn't going to be this little boy anymore that runs in the house with dirt all over and a big smile on his face, stained by some juice drink. Someday, all of this will be gone. All the stress and crazy times. And when it's all gone? I know I'm going to miss it like crazy. Happy 6th Birthday Ryan. Thank you for letting me be part of your life, and this special day. I love you more than I think you will ever be able to understand.

Valentines Day

 Valentines Day this year was great! Ryan had a fun party at school, and they were invited to bring 'healthy' snacks for everyone. Ryan's mom didn't end up bringing anything for the party, so after waiting in the parking lot for 10 minutes (to make sure I didn't step on any toes) I brought in my apple trays for the class. Ryan's NaNa was the hero of the day, bringing in PIZZA for everyone! My life motto is "better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission". hehehe...

Here is Ryan and me at his fun class party!

 

NaNa had made up a cute Valentines Day bag for Lilly and Ethan and sent it home with me. Lilly had a blast tearing through it. She loved the blinking necklace and the cookie especially. Fun little balls and a bracelete and just really cute Valentines day novelties inside. What a sweet NaNa our kids have!