Ryan’s 3rd BirthDAY

Ryan’s birthday fell on President’s Day.  It was great to have it be a holiday!

We did his “out to eat” holiday celebration over the weekend at Metro Pizza.  He grinned from ear-to-ear as they sang happy birthday to him and brought him a birthday sundae.  He wasn’t leaving until he drank every last drop.

Wes finally got to golf so while he was out doing that the boys and I joined some friends at Sunset Park.  It was our first time there feeding the ducks and playing on their new fabulous playground.  It was a great birthday morning for Ryan {even if he did have a serious meltdown at the park!}  He took a 3.5 hour nap that afternoon which was apparently much needed {and extremely rare!}.

We got Ryan a bike for his birthday and it was the PERFECT gift for him.  He constantly wants to ride it and has gotten quite good at it.

We had a little family gathering on his birthday for dessert.  We also did a last minute Café Rio run – it was fun that everyone could come!  Ryan had a great 3rd birthday.  Every day since then he has asked “am I still three?”

Happy birthday, wild man.

The Color Run

Back in October, it was my friend Jamie’s birthday.  She asked a few of us if we’d run the Color Run with her in February!  A group of us said yes.  I hate running but I had every intent of actually training for a 5K with the goal to run the entire thing.  I asked Sam if she’d do it, too because she was at my same running level and we could train together without holding anyone back.

Lets just say we didn’t train and Sam bailed at the last minute {she was recovering from bronchial issues} but my dear friend Kiley stepped in at the last minute and it was perfect!  I never see Kiley – especially without kiddos – so we had a nice leisurely walk/jog to catch up as we got blasted with color.

I was the designated driver in the mini-van.  It was quite smelly and full of color after I dropped everyone off but it was a really fun race.  Thanks Jamie for the invite!

Naters

On our way to Café Rio for Ryan’s birthday dinner, Nate was sitting in the way back of the van.  Out of the blue he panics and says “I just peed my pants.”  We didn’t know what he was talking about because this kid never pees his pants.  He says “I know I did – it feels wet.  Hurry!  I have to pee again!”  It was one of those really funny moments where Wes, Sam & I had a good laugh.

Later that night after tucking the kids in bed, I was following up on some work emails on the computer.  Nate comes in after a while and with watery eyes he says: “Mom – I can’t sleep.  I tooted and it smells so bad in there I can’t breathe.”  He was right – it was awful.

Love life with Naters.

Ryan’s 3rd birthday party

A birthday comes once a year and I think it’s fun to make it a big deal.  So we invited a few of Ryan’s buddies to come celebrate with us at Chuck E. Cheese!  I did not get a group photo nor a picture of every kid, unfortunately! But fun was still had by all.

It was a fun morning & a great way to do a party.  No more at-home parties for me!

Happy Birthday, Ryan.  Can’t believe you’re THREE.

Disneyland: kid-free in February 2013

Back to Disney we go.  Sam’s pass expires on March 15th so we had to squeeze in one more kid-free day at Disney! 

Sam picked me up around 8pm on Monday night, right after she got off work.  We hit the road and drove to Anaheim.  When we got to Barstow, I went to grab my credit card to pay for gas and that’s when I realized my purse was still in Las Vegas.  The hotel was in my name but luckily they were sympathetic and didn’t need a matching credit card or ID!  And it’s a good thing Sam actually had a credit card on her.

We stayed at The Sheraton for the first time {thank you, Priceline} and it was nice.  We got a full night sleep before heading to Disneyland!

Our main objective was to just have an easy day at Disney.  It’s always fun with the boys but it’s also exhausting.  We tried all kinds of new food that we’ve been wanting to sample & found a few new favorites: baked potato soup, garlic fries, chili con queso cone, cinnamon roll, fried pickles, etc.  The only thing I was not a fan of was The Monte Cristo sandwich. 

There was a celebration in New Orleans Square which was fun.  Lots of live performances with Princess and the Frog.

We took a few minutes for a Disneyland first – “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.”  Walt Disney had an admiration for Mr. Lincoln and the entire thing is wonderful.  I love seeing/riding things at Disney that were envisioned directly from Walt.  The “Voices of Liberty“ singers were also there – that was quite a treat.  Extremely talented people but a little cheesy for Sam and I.

We saw a few new characters.  Nate & Ryan would have loved to meet Jake.  Maybe he’ll be there on our final trip!

I’m never very good at the shooting rides – but this time I had an extremely high score and I thought it needed to be documented.

Every time the day is done and we’re headed to the parking garage, we always have to guess where we parked.  We usually guess right but it’s always an adventure finding the car!

Thanks to Sam for a great trip!