Happy Birthday ... again

I know, I know. It has now been almost 2 weeks since Ryan had her birthday.
I don't even have a really good reason for not posting her pics.
Just being lazy.
But her party went so well, and we got so many cute photos that to not post them would be doing everyone a great disservice.
Just kidding. {However, I would have liked to invite more people. Mostly my friends. But our shoe box-sized apartment was already bursting at the seams.}
But they are kinda cute.
Plus it was my first kid party I've thrown.
And Ryan had a great time.
And was very spoiled.

Ryan posing with some of her friends: Jenna, Reagan, Porter, and Hannah.

I wanted to have an activity and a party favor, so I killed two birds with one stone and we made "princess wands," or "wizard wands" for all the manly men involved (Porter & Lincoln). I think that the kids enjoyed it?

Blowing out the candles on her cupcake. This was the first year she blew out her own candles. Every year previous to this one, she has been to scared to do it.

Opening prezzies. She really got quite a haul this year! Her friends and family (Daddy, Britney & Nanny) really spoiled her this year. There was a lot of Lightning McQueen booty and princess paraphernalia. Lucky girl! {You can see how engaged Ezra is, looking out the window wishing he was outside.}

Posing with a new "cell phone." What a sincere smile! Cheese ball. Happy Birthday, my love!

My Birthday Girl!!

My baby is growing too fast.
Ryan is 3!
Nooooo. Please, Ryan, slow down.
Ryan, you are loved so much every day.
And the things you say ... are hilarious.
You love pink.
And sing along with the Black Eyed Peas.
Everything you do is followed by, "Ta, da!"
You are very opinionated.
This is apparent by how many times a day you say, "No, I don't want to."
You are a good sister.
And have sooo much energy.
Truly, the amount of energy you have is astounding.
You like to play "mommy" and take very good care of all your babies (nurse them, rock them, etc.)
And movies! Forget about it. You could watch movies all day long (not that I let you).
Currently your favorites are Cars, Nanny McFee, and Superman Returns.
You definitely have a sweet tooth.
For your birthday dinner, you requested pigs-in-a-blanket with broccoli (without prompting).
Your stomach conveniently hurts every night around dinnertime when I am serving something you don't like.
You could sit at the dinner table for hours fiddle-farting around and still have an entire plate to empty (much to your mother's chagrin).
You are very good at hide-and-seek.
You also have an exceptional memory.
You love to "write" things down, and regularly help me by making "grocery lists."
You are a very good girl.
You love to be outside.
You are very grown-up and wear big-girl panties all day and night!
Ryan, you make our family's lives so special.
We love you sooo much and are so grateful to be able to play with you every day.

You in you "birthday shirt" at age 1. Papa bought you a stretchy shirt that fits even me. So every year we force you into it and take a picture.

The Shirt at age 2.

3! You would only keep it on long enough to take the picture. You said it was too stretchy to wear all day. Your smile is a little scary.

Happy Halloween

This year Ezzy was Frankenstein and Ryan was a cow.
The Frankenstein costume lasted about ten minutes.
Also people thought he was an asparagus from Veggie Tales?
Does the asparagus have a bloody wound and hair? I don't think so.
Ryan was a pretty good sport and kept her costume on all evening.
We celebrated Halloween a day early at a school party.
All our friends were there.
There was a cake walk, donut-eating contest, dinner, prizes and a bunch of other stuff.
However, Scott and I were like zombies.
No we were not dressed as zombies, but rather felt like them since we were both nursing a cold.
So on actual Halloween night, Scott took some cold medicine and headed up to the school to study while I took the kids grocery shopping and hid out in our house,
in the dark,
because I was unmotivated to buy candy for trick-or-treaters.
I am super lame.
This is actually quite a sad and pathetic post.
Thankfully I am starting to feel better.
Which is important because tomorrow is Ryan's 3rd birthday!
And we are going to party.
The next post will be more uplifting.
Pinky swear.

Hair today, gone tomorrow ...

I love to cut my kids' hair.
I do it at least once a month
{which is far more than I am sure is necessary}.
But I like it to be short and clean looking.
Plus I figure the more I do it, the better they will be at receiving haircuts.
This theory has yet to be proven.
Usually Ezra does okay as long as I am quick.
This time, however, he was so dern wiggly that it kept getting shorter and shorter.
I am not sure if you can tell by the pictures, but ...
he is now practically bald.
Being a boy, I guess it doesn't really matter.
Plus his noggin has rounded out and looks almost normal {even if it is a bit large}.
So handsome.
My little Fezzy-wig.
Just a out-of-focus picture of a cute boy.

Before the cut. So full and thick.

After. Trust me he looks much balder in person. The flash must have reflected off the few hairs he has to make it appear that he still has some.

Skawt

Oh yeah
I must give honorable mention to my fab hubby Scotty.
While we were gone we missed, missed him so bad
and then came home to a super clean house.
Love you Honeylips.

Busy, busy. busy ...

So we went down to Eugene to P-A-R-TaY!
I love, love going to visit my fam.
They are fun and we are always going, going, going.
This trip was no exception.
Britney and I had a major crafting session planned.
She just got a shnazzy, new Cricut and I was excited to try it out (thank yoooooou)
The kids played and we vigorously worked on a bunch of projects ... all week.
It was a very productive visit.
And super fun, as always.
I luuuuv hanging out with Britney (we are besties) and my mom.
We are so much alike and can act nerdy and silly (or basically ourselves) together.
Miss you already, but it's okay because our New Moon party is just around the corner.
November 20 is coming up, can I get a what-whuuuut! Yep.
Brady was very helpful too. Muchas gracias.

Don't worry, we made time for other important things ... such as exercising,

enjoying popcorn in the B-E-A-utiful backyard,

driving,

and, of course, watching lots-o-movies. Papa has a very impressive collection and is always up for a movie.

We forced the girls to go outside and play any time it wasn't raining (and sometimes when it was). They blew bubbles, colored with sidewalk chalk, and even used the potty. Ezzy was pretty jealous, but is extremely accident-prone and could only go outside with adult supervision. He spent a lot of time watching.

We also made chocolate-and-sprinkle-covered pretzels or "princess wands."


This is ONE of many crafting projects.
I think they turned out great.
They are Family Home Evening boards.
Now if we only held Family Home Evening we would be set.

A close-up. Pretty cute right? I like them 'cause they are a little more modern, and funky and not so cutesy, dumpy-Mormon-mommy looking. And yes they are magnetic.
We also made fun "NOEL" signs for Christmas. Just realized I don't have a photo of that and am too lazy to stop and take one, but I will when I decorate for Christmas.

And Britney helped me make this too. I needed something fun for this spot, and thought I could make a "vintage" sign. Scott doesn't really like old, garbagey signs, but technically this one is new. Whatcha think? Be honest.

Thank you Britney!
Thank you for letting me use your Cricut and supplies and being the best friend and sister a girl could have.
LOVE you.
Love you too MOM & DAD.

Blogging when I have nothing to blog about

What have we been up to?
Oh just hangin' around.
My life really isn't all that interesting.
I spend a lot of time wiping tears, buns, noses and counter tops;
I frequent the park more than any one really should;
I chase screaming children around the library (yes, they scream more at the library than anywhere else, except church);
And I am regularly at risk of indecent exposure in public being that Ezzy is always pulling on my shirt (not that there is much left to expose, those puppies shriveled up along with any sense of propriety I may have retained after giving birth.)
A typical day for me:
5:45 : Hear the alarm, drag my patooty out of bed, and sneak to the bathroom.
5:47 : Wake up Ezra, silently curse, change diaper, snuggle, put him back in bed and dash out the door.
6:00 : Gym, blah.
7:09 : Come home, listen at the door for weeping from kids or Scott, sigh of relief when I find everyone still asleep and the Pitts household still functioning fine without me (not always the case ... not sure why).
7:10 : Sneak in very carefully and yet still wake up Ezra again (doesn't this child ever sleep?)
7:15 : Get on with the day, you know breakfast, shower, picking up my house that was spotless when I went to bed and now has somehow become trashed, play, convince Ryan there is more to life than Caillou, take kids outside, find one moment of peace when the kids are happy, clean, playing, the birds are singing, the sun is shining ... crap Ezra just fell in a puddle and Ryan is touching the dumpster.
Noon: Lunch, put the kids down for a nap, smile, stretch out on the couch, damn I forgot about the laundry, get back up to fold the laundry.
Are you still reading this?
3:30 : Start thinking about dinner, wonder what Scott is doing at school, visualize the bowl of ice cream I am going to enjoy once the kids are in bed, pretend I am a pony, laugh (Ryan is quite the comedian and Ezra is just so smiley, I can't help it).
5:00 : Make dinner, clean up kitchen, serve dinner, clean up dinner, again.
7:00: Baths, read Fancy Nancy, a little TV.
9:00 : The kids are in bed, safe, uninjured, another successful day.
You know,
I really love my boring life.