Birthday Girl

On Sunday we celebrated Ry's 4th birthday with a My Little Pony Party! Ry was very excited as she has been talking about it for weeks now. The weather did not cooperate so it was tight quarters in the house but turned out pretty good. I (yup, I) made the food- we had lasagna, garlic bread and ceasar salad plus a Pony cake from Jan's in Turtle Lake. I would never venture to make the cake myself so I let the pro handle it. We had a bit of leftovers as a lot of people couldn't make it so several very happy people got to take some lunch home.

Rylee was so excited for her cake! She must have asked me 20 times a day about her cake- making sure it would have a pony on it.

Miss Ry getting ready to open presents. She was very fortunate and got really nice gifts that she has enjoyed. There were a few favorites but has really played with everything so far.

One of the favorties- fairy wings, a tutu skirt and fairy wand from Uncle Andy and Auntie Abby

The Ultimate gifts- Taylor Swift's new CD. Ry has really fallen in love with Taylor as she calls her. We have already listened to the CD about a million times. She also got a concert t-shirt for Taylor Swift and made me wash it that night so she could wear it to bed.

The Pony pinata that just wouldn't give. Ry begged for a pinata so we found one and stuffed it full of goodies. Ry and Nolan were the only kids big enough to participate so out came the foam bat and Ry went at it. Nolan liked to watch but didn't want to participate. After several minutes of pretty good hits- the pinata didn't even have a dent in it. So Chris then gave it a try and several more minutes and really good wacks the thing still hadn't busted open. So, the resourceful Mom I am got out the scissors and cut the darn thing apart. Wasn't the intended way- but it worked. There was no way anyone was going to bust it open with re-inforced cardboard and packing tape.

It was a great day to celebrate and we were lucky to have our family and friends join us. Bed time came early and was welcomed by all!! Thanks Everyone!!

Holy Smoke- Someone's Turning 4!!

Rylee turned 4 on October 20th. As hard as it was to believe that Quinn was one, it was even harder to realize that Rylee is now 4, and that I am the Mom of a 4 year old!!! It's crazy how fast this has gone by. She is such her own little person- very determined and has a mind of her own! (She gets that from her Dad I think).

We had our own little party at the house on the night of her birthday for just us. Rylee picked pancakes and sausage for supper so that was pretty easy.

For the past 2 months, she has been begging for a carrot cake from wal-mart so we decided that would be pretty easy to do for her birthday cake. Ry was so excited for the darn thing! We lite the candles, sang Happy Birthday and blew out the candles. One bite of the cake for each of us when we knew that we had the WORST cake ever. It was awful- and I really mean it. Even Rylee spit it out. We were so disappointed as Ry had been begging for this for months. It was dry and crumbly (in the worst way possible) and the frosting had an awful taste. It wasn't long before it found it's way in to the garbage. Thank goodness we ordered a cake from Jan for the big party on Sunday! Did I mention it will be a My Little Pony party, complete with a pinata?

Ry was so excited to open gifts. She was in awe over the amount of them. Mom is really good at wrapping everything individual!! She got snoopy socks from her fish Orangie, a camera from Monty, a my little pony from Emma, a Tinkerbell puzzle from Quinnie and some clothes from Mom and Dad (I know, not that exciting).

She was excited for all of them but we ended up disappointed with the camera. You can't tell what color the objects in the pictures are as they are all shades of yellow and the camera is really fuzzy. Needless to say, it is going back to Target and Ry will get to pick out a new one. She LOVES taking pictures and is pretty good at it. Oh well, she had a great time with gifts and loves her snoopy socks and my little pony.

All in all I don't think Ry cared that the cake was the worst ever or the camera wasn't the best. She had a great time opening gifts and being the "Birthday Girl". Can't believe she is 4- little misty eyed at the fact that she is growing up so fast! Guess I just have to get used to it- don't have to like it but get used to it.

It's Fun To Be One!!!!

It's hard to believe that a year has gone by and Quinn is 1! Time has just flown by- people tell you that it goes by much faster the 2nd time around, and I really believe it now. We had Quinn's party in the garage even though it wasn't the warmest but people came dressed warm. It was a great turn out and I hope everyone had fun. Quinn had a great time and was super tired by the time it was over.

Quinnie all ready for her party. I couldn't find a birthday hat that I liked, so I created my own. Thought it turned out pretty good and Quinnie even wore it- for a few pictures.

All ready for her birthday meal. We had a miss-mash of food, but all really good. We had wakki meatballs, little smokies with bacon, veggie wraps, cowboy caviar, and ham sandwiches. Oh- did I forget to mention YUMMY cake from Jan the cake lady!!

Happy Birthday Miss Quinnie, Happy birthday to you!!!

MMM, Cake is so yummy! Thought she might go crazy, but she was quite the little lady and ate her cake very nice. She did not like the way it felt on her hands after a few minutes and cried to have them wiped off and was fine once the frosting was gone.

Our family has a tradition of the little rocking horse. My niece Haley got it for her 1st birhtday from Grandpa and every time someone in the family turns 1- the horse gets passed on to them until the next person turns one. So, as tradition has it Jack brought the horse for Quinnie and she will have it until February when Henry turns one.

She loves it- she's a crazy little rider on it.

Operation Working Vacation

This past week I had the opportunity to go to Wisconsin Dells for a Social Work conference- and I got to take the family with me for free! I was super excited to go- especially since the day we left was Quinn's 1st birthday and I was nervous that I would have to miss it (luckily I didn't have to). We left Wednesday afternoon and made it down in time to have some supper, open gifts and have some cupcakes. We stopped at Target on the way down and Ry picked out some "baby" cupcakes to have. They were the perfect size, but had bright red frosting. I was a little nervous but we went with it anyways.

We stayed at the Glacier Canyon Lodge at Wilderness Resort. The place was HUGE! It took forever to walk anywhere- so they recommended using the free shuttle. Of course, that was too easy for us so we walked, and walked and walked to get to the water parks. Oh well, it was good exercise for us all-except Quinnie who got to ride in the stroller.

It was a great conference, got to hang out with my friend Christine who I went to Scholastica with and have fun with the family. The girls had a blast, spent most of the time in the water and were exhausted every night to prove it. It was nice to get away but it was also very nice to get home and back to the normal routines.

Opening presents- Quinn didn't want to do much of this at her party but really got into now

She got a drum set with cymbals and shakers- I know, what the heck was I thinking? She LOVES it, and so does her big sister.

One of the rare pictures that I am in- proof I actually was there!

MMM, birthday cupcakes with BRIGHT RED FROSTING!

Rylee in the wave pool and loving every minute of it! The waves got pretty big at times but she showed no fear!

Just too cute not to include! Quinn liked the pool but not a huge fan of the big waves.

Ry heading down the slides- this is a little one but she spent much of her time riding the "big kid" slide as she called it. It was big, purple and curly. She must have gone down it 50 times each day.

Look at me!!!

Just so tired after swimming all day.

She didn't move a bit when I changed her into her jammies.

Ry and Daddy in the wave pool- they spent a lot of time together in there.