4th of July 2001

4th of July 2011

We spent the 4th out at Ryan's parents house, like we usually do.....it was as everyone knows very very hot this 4th, so much of the time was spent inside....but we still had some fun!  I did take my camera, but I didn't take many pics that day.  Here is Ryan and Eli taking out the jet ski, to check it out for Denise before the boys borrowed it for the summer.  

That afternoon we started getting ready for the golf cart parade.  We always try to make it look super cute, and this year was no different.  Jenn had some great ideas this year for the the theme...."Let freedom ring".   She brought over some supplies and we thought it would be cute to make hats for the kids to wear for the parade!

The boys helping decorate

Cute Hats!

Cuties!

 Our little Firecracker...he was having a blast!

1/2 way point comparison

I felt really bad that I hadn't taken any belly pics with Baby Girl #2...so around 20 wks I tried to get my act together and start the belly pic process...at least to have for future reference!  I thought it would be fun to try and compare pics of each time I was prego to see what a difference there was.  Besides the fact that I feel like a total beached whale this time around, and I am swelling up like one in this heat, at this point I don't feel like my tummy was too much bigger @ this point in the pregnancy....

A small celebration...

June 12, 2011 marked our 6th anniversary!  Happy 6 years Ryan!  We had decided to save some money this year and go to a movie and dinner with some gift cards we already had.  A couple days before our "date" Ryan had just lost his job, so we were trying to keep it cheap!  Gi Gi was nice enough to go ahead and keep Eli overnight since we would be out late.  I only took pics before we left for out fun evening, and Eli was sure being a ham for me!  Love it!  Maybe next year I will have a post from a trip we will go on for our anniversary...(hint hint Ryan)  :)

Eli getting ready to head over to Gi Gi and Pa Pa's House

Happy 6 years....here's to many more together...love you!

Swimming Lessons

As summer was approaching I was super excited to get Eli in the pool this year.  The last few years he has been "swimming" in my parents, and the gym pool and loved being in the water, but I was ready to start some lessons and hoping that he would love those too!  I feel like he is a little fish at heart and hoped that instructed lessons wouldn't change his mind, but increase his love for the water.  We signed him up for lessons for 2 weeks at the beginning of June, right before it starting getting super hot this summer.  I picked a recreation center close to our house, that had an indoor pool, and it was perfect!  Here is my big boy on his 1st day of lessons...

I had several days off in the middle of the 2 wks, so it worked out well that I could attend most of his lessons with him!  Here we are, right before we got into the pool for the first time...I think I was just as excited as he was!

Eli was very excited to get into the pool every day that we had a lesson, and I had a lot of fun too!  I think that he was one of the oldest kids in his class, so he was a little more adapt to the water.  He learned so much in those 2 short weeks, and he have been practicing all summer long!  Yeah for swimming!!!

Here is E showing off his "swimming muscles"

Swimming with Gi Gi

Mother's Day Celebration

This year for Mother's Day we celebrated all weekend, it was very low key, but a lot of fun!  Last year I had to work this special weekend, so I was very glad I was off this one!  Saturday was very chill...Eli was with Ryan at his parents house for most of the day, so I took my mom and dad to a movie, ate some lunch at La Madeline and did some shopping.  My boys came home just in time to go to Scotty P's for dinner with the family and catch some frozen yogurt afterwards. 

Sunday after church and nap times, we took Eli to walk around Firewheel Mall and play some.  Ryan also took me to eat some sushi (they stuff I could eat being prego-my favorite!).  They weekend was so much fun, and very relaxing...I didn't get any pics of my mother's day gifts, but Ryan and Eli did so good...I got a new camera strap that is soooo cute.  It is an Abie Strap.  I was very impressed that Ryan picked out such a cute one!  Ryan also took me to get a new iPhone 4...my phone was on the down slopes, but I told him that it wasn't that big of a deal.  He insisted that I get a new one for my special day, and I do love it!  Thanks so much babe for making my day so wonderful, and I am so glad that I have my little man here to give me a reason to celebrate!  I love you to the moon and back Eli!

Hoppy Easter

This Easter I had to work...sooo the day before we had our "Family Easter"...our church had a little Easter celebration with bounce houses, a petting zoo, and a small egg hunt.  We had a great time watching our little man enjoy all of these activities.  I also invited our neighbor Amy to bring her little one, Kinley (E's girlfriend) to join in on the fun! 

Eli getting his hunt on!

 Bounce House FUN!!!

Hanging out at the petting zoo...

Miss Kinley, such a cutie!

Kisses...so sweet

Almost forgot to show what E got from the "Easter Bunny"...

Eli's Birthday evening with mommy and daddy

So even though this fun evening happened about a month and a half ago, it was such a great time with our little man on his actual birthday...

Most of the day we just loved on our little 2 year old then we took him to eat some mexican food at Chiloso and had birthday snow cones for dessert!  It all was so yummy and I think our little birthday boy had a great time!

Being silly with daddy

Sharing his snow cone with mommy along with some love and kisses too! :)

Happy 2nd Birthday my sweet little E...Mommy & Daddy love you so much and can't wait to celebrate many, many more birthdays with you!!!

(Thought I would share some pics through the past couple of years, it's so crazy how much my little baby is turning into a little man!)

4/22/09

4/22/10

4/22/11

Eli's 2nd Birthday

Eli's 2nd Birthday.... I truly cannot believe it has come and gone so quickly!  It seems like just yesterday my little 6#7oz baby came into this world!  He has grown so fast and is learning so much...Since his bday was so close to Easter this year we had his party a week before his actual bday in hope that more people could come and play.  Here is a pic on the am of his actual birthday, he was in such a great mood after waking up, so I tossed him in the bed with daddy and took a pic!

Now on to the party!  This year it was very hard for me to pick out a theme for #2.  I tossed around many ideas and starting going down a path of a "bug" themed party.  I spent many hours trying to find just the right party favors (thanks to Target dollar spot), and finding some cute recipes for snack food that was along the lines of our theme.  I was really trying hard to make everything cute, but it just didn't seem to all be coming together very easily.  A couple of weeks before the actual party, we went to visit my grandparents in Louisiana, and I guess with lots of relaxation and extra time, I had a revelation!!!  Well actually with my research I found a brand new idea to try for the big day!  I ran it across my mom, and it was on!!!  We both got very excited, and my mom's brain began to work...I do consider myself somewhat creative, but with her help it just exploded into something great! 

Here is the little birthday boy in his cute shirt that my mom made for him to wear on his big day...

The final decision was made, and Eli's 2nd Birthday was themed "The Very Hungry Caterpillar".

My mom did an awesome job with the decorations, and we decided that the food would be everything that the caterpillar ate through in the book.  I think that everything turned our really cute, and was so glad to share it with all of Eli's friends and our family. 

This is the front table that was decorated with a pic of E and a bigger book that everyone could sign and leave E a little note, so he could look back and remember who celebrated with him. 

And here is the final result...

Caterpillar sandwiches...they were a hit!

The cocoon turned out very cute...

...and finally he turned into a very beautiful butterfly...my mom made these cookies from scratch, don't they look professional!

I also decorated the mantel with a baloon caterpillar and the birthday sign that I made from his 1st bday... the colors worked out perfectly.

It was another beautiful spring day, so all the kids enjoyed playing together outside.  Mommy and Daddy got E a sandbox for his birthday.  We set it up before the party so everyone could play and enjoy it. 

Time to open some presents.  He was a lot better at opening his own gifts this year...

2 of his favorite gifts...his fishing pole and new boots

One of the best parts, cupcakes...I had central market make a caterpillar cupcake cake, it turned out cute!  Eli sure did enjoy eating it...

Happy Birthday little man, I love you so much and can't wait to spend many more Birthdays with you.  (Also, thank you mom for everything you did to help out with his party.  We  couldn't have pulled it off without you!)