30 Years Young

On Sunday, my sweet husband turned 30!! We were in Houston for his birthday so we decided to throw him a party with all our Texas friends.  It was so nice to be able to see everyone and celebrate my husband!  I am one lucky lady to be married to such an amazing man! He's my best friend, an amazing Daddy and such a great friend to lots of people.  I really hope that this birthday was special for him. Happy Birthday honey! I love you so much!

 So glad that my hubs is blessed with good godly guy friends!!

 These two think the WORLD of this man! We are all so blessed!

Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate Layne! We are both so blessed to have each and everyone of you in our lives! 

Happy 30th Birthday to the man of my dreams!!!

Daddy's Work Christmas Dinner

Last night we went out to dinner with all of Daddy's work buddies.  We had a really nice time and the kids were SUPER good! We were very impressed with how good they were.  Ryleigh was a chatty cathy and talked to everyone around her.  Telling them all sorts of stories and everything about her.  It was cute.  Jayce brought some toys and played with them very quietly.  We aren't sure where our kids were last night at dinner, but we sure were thankful that the ones that showed up did :) HA!  And since it was our first Christmas dinner of the season, I dressed everyone up.  The kids loved that they looked cute and festive.  Jayce thought it was cool to be wearing a hat like Ryleigh does.  Hope everyone's having a blessed Christmas season this year!

 My studly little man! He sure knew he looked cute tonight!

 My little diva princess! She always knows that she looks beautiful!

 Can they be any cuter?!

Our family of almost five :)

First Playdate

Today Ryleigh had her own first real playdate.  Yes she's gone on playdates before, but it wasn't like today.  She's always played with friends who were Jayce's friends or group playdates....but today Ryleigh had her sweet friend Penny over.  Penny is Ryleigh's first real friend.  And as I found out today, Ryleigh is Penny's first real friend.  Ryleigh talks about Penny all the time! She loves it when she gets to see her and asks several times a week if she can play with her.  So, the other day I asked Penny's mom, Erin, if Penny could come over and play while the boys were in school.  She gladly accepted :) Ryleigh was so super excited and so was Penny! The girls played GREAT together!!! They got out all her babies and took them on stroller rides through the apartment, they went to work, and ran errands with their babies.  They also read books together and even got out her princess castle and played with that.  It was so precious and I'm glad that Ryleigh is finally getting to do the things that Jacye has been able to do.  I'm sure she felt very special having her own friend over WITHOUT her brother interrupting or telling her what to do and what to play with.

This next picture isn't from the playdate, but it's too cute not to add.  Nana got Ryleigh a Christmas dress and it happened to have a matching dress for her baby doll.  AND since Ryleigh is finally into playing with babies, she LOVED that she could match her baby.  She has even asked for more matching dresses! Such a sweetie!

 

Dear Santa....

This is the first year that I have had the kids write letters to Santa.  In previous years, I think they've just been too young and haven't really gotten into the whole Santa thing.  This year though, Jayce has been very curious and excited about Santa coming.  And since he's so into it, Ryleigh is too.  So I had the kids pick out pictures of what they wanted Santa bring them and then we wrote the letters together.  I'm still not sure what I am going to do with them.  We talked about putting it in their stockings that are hanging up behind them in these pics, and let Ralph our Elf take them to Santa.  But still haven't done it.  So we'll see what we decide to do. 

 Jayce's letter to Santa says: Dear Santa, I've been a good boy this year.  Please bring me a cars race track, a big McQueen and a big Mater.  Thank you and Merry Christmas.  Love, Jayce, Age 3

I held Jayce's hand as he wrote the letter to Santa and he glued on the pics :) I did the same thing with Ryleigh.  They have been very proud of their letters!

Ryleigh's letter to Santa says: Dear Santa, I've been a good girl this year.  Please bring me a Make Me Better Baby Doll Set and a Dollhouse.  Thank you and Merry Christmas.  Love, Ryleigh, Age 2

It's just been in the past couple weeks that Ryleigh has been VERY into her baby dolls.  She takes them everywhere she goes and plays with them all day long.  It's been fun watching her get so into something since she's never really had a toy that she's really loved. 

Visiting Santa

Yesterday the kids and I went to a craft fair on the Naval base.  I had heard that Santa was going to be there and well since we don't have a mall anywhere near us, I figured it might be our only chance to see Santa.  The kids were really excited about seeing him.  I was kinda disappointed with Santa, but luckily the kids didn't know any different.  So Santa's beard was falling off and he barely talked to the kids at all, but they got to tell him what they wanted.  Jayce asked for a Big talking McQueen, Finn and Mater.  Ryleigh asked for a doll house.  So I guess we'll see if they've been good enough kiddos this year to get what they asked for :)

 Meeting Santa-December 2011

New Tradition

This year we decided to start a new tradition in our house.  On November 30, before the kids went to bed we read the book The Elf on the Shelf.  The kids and I talked about how an elf was going to show up the next morning.  We went through the book and talked about what we could do and could not do with the elf.  Jayce was very excited and Ryleigh didn't really pay much attention to it.  I figured it would be that way.  I knew that the more interested that Jayce was, the more interested Ryleigh would eventually get.

The next morning on Dec 1, our Elf showed up.  When Jayce woke up, the first thing he saw was our new elf.  He was so excited and started asking Layne all kinds of questions.  First he asked if he was a toy, then he asked if he could touch him, and so on.  Layne did a great job of answering him and Jayce knew right away that he wasn't supposed to touch him or he'd lose his magic.  He also knew that he could talk to him, but the elf wouldn't talk back.  A little bit later Ryleigh woke up and also noticed the elf.  She of course went right over to it and picked it up.  Jayce just about lost it! This is how the next conversation went:
            Jayce: RYLEIGH NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! HE WILL LOSE HIS MAGIC!!!!  Ryleigh you are not supposed to touch the elf!!
*Ryleigh immediately drops the elf.
           Jayce: MOMMY!!!!!! Ryleigh just touched the elf and now he's on the floor!!!
So I come into the living room pick up the elf, and set him back on the TV.  I also calm Jayce down and then answer several of Ryleigh's questions.  Oh what a funny morning!!! 
Later that morning, the kids and I talked about what we were going to name him.  Seriously nothing came to mind except for Ralph....and the kids liked it so now our elf is named Ralph.  They love him and enjoy finding him each morning.  Jayce has been talking to him each day and even tried talking Ryleigh into talking to him.  She's not going for it yet.  I really do love that we have started this tradition and can't wait to see how it evolves over the next several years!

Beautiful Day at the Park!

On Saturday after Thanksgiving, we decided to hit up the local park.  It was so nice outside and we wanted to be able to show my parents some of the beautiful parts of Maryland.  This park is so cool because it has a park on one side and then the bay on the other.  So you get a really nice view.  Plus Jayce LOVES coming here so that he can throw things into the water! Typical BOY! We packed lunches and just enjoyed some time outside and with family!

 A sweet little girl was getting very sleepy! :) 

 He's king of this mountain!

Oopsey! Someone heard the water in the bay and then accidentally peed her panties :/

 I think someone might be in heaven right now with all this water and fun things to throw into it!

 Group Effort :)