July: The Month of Grandparent Birthdays

The month of July is full of family birthdays for us!  My mom, Brad's mom, and my dad all have a birthday within the span of 6 days!!  So we started off with my mom's 60th celebration at her house!  It was so fun and relaxed...Chick Fil A and delicious birthday cake :)  I wanted to get a cute picture of her and the kids - and it worked! Hip hip hooray!  Love how it turned out!

And the cake was pretty - but most of all it was absolutely amazing!

An action shot of the blowing out of the candles...and I do believe Katie was helping too!  She was very proud of her job - delivering everyone's plate of cake.

The kids had some serious energy after the sugar - they were running around like crazy ones and discovered a new fun place to hide in the kitchen when we got home!

And a few days later, we got to celebrate Brad's mom's birthday!  We all went to dinner at Chuy's and then came to our house for cake and visiting!  Here is the yummy cake - love all the dots!

And stop the presses!  Brad actually asked for a picture!  He wanted a picture with his momma on her birthday - so sweet!

I love this picture!  I think we had just finished singing and Grandma was making a wish - and Katie was watching her with the sweetest expression.  I just love it.

And another action shot - blowing out the candles!  Another sweet one!

Here's one of Grandma and Katie...

And Grandma and Jack (he was a spitfire that night so we didn't even try for a group shot!)....

And then Grandma and Ryan!

And then when we celebrated Papa's birthday, I aimed for a group shot - and I succeeded!  So sweet!

We are so lucky to have such wonderful parents - so funny that we get to celebrate another year of each of their lives so close together!  Katie loves a birthday party and is disappointed once the birthday week is over :)

First Official Walk

Always a milestone after having a c-section...the first big walk!  On July 2, I finally decided it was time to try a short walk around the block (not all over the neighborhood - I was certainly being realistic)!  Here I am with the crew before we headed out after dinner!

 I think he was pretty comfy in the double jogger!  It sure is a good thing - he will be in there quite a bit while I work on getting back into shape!

 And this cutie boy doesn't seem to mind it either :) Of course he brings some kind of train or truck with him to sit in the cup holder!  Love that he was actually smiling!

 And Katie is a walker with Mom and Dad now!  She likes to hold Sadie's leash on the walks :)  Here she is - spaghetti face and all!

 She also likes to hold Brad's hand - or sometimes mine if Brad happens to be pushing the stroller.

 And this is generally my view on walks - love it!

 An action shot as we rounded the curve and headed back to our house!

We have taken quite a few walks since then...and I've even gotten back into the swing of  big walks all over the neighborhood!  Last Friday, I walked just pushing Ryan in the stroller - and then Brad got home a little early from work and wanted to walk to get Katie and Jack from preschool...and we did.  Whew - that was a lot of exercise in one day (we live in a very hilly neighborhood to say the least).  When I got in shape after Jack was born, walking in the neighborhood was the best and easiest way I worked exercise into my day...and I think that is how it'll be again this time!  Jack likes to count trees and look for planes and helicopters on our walks now - oh, and groundhogs and bunnies too. :) And he likes to peer around and look at "the Baby" as well - so cute.  Now let Operation: Get Back In Shape begins!!

June Catch Up

There were a few cute pictures from before Ryan was born that never made it to the blog.  One morning, Jack was more cooperative (notice I said more cooperative - meaning not all the way, but more than normal) so I took advantage and took a few pictures.  At the time, he looked so huge and grown up, but looking back at this (almost 2 months ago), he has changed so much since then!

 And there was a day that Katie was at a friend's house or something and Jack and I were driving somewhere and I happened to see the train and quickly parked near where the train track is and stopped and grabbed Jack out and let him watch the train go by.  He didn't move a muscle - he was simply amazed!  And the smile on his face when the choo choo was gone and he realized what had just happened was just priceless.  Love those little moments!

And Father's Day - whew!  I almost forgot to do a post with details from that!  Not the best picture, but here is Daddy with his crew.  Even Sadie wanted to try to be in the picture!

 So cute - Daddy and Jack!

 And I happened to snap this picture at just the right time!  Brad had just opened his gifts and was giving Katie a smooch.. Love her face!

 It was a lot of creative gifts and then a gift certificate for a massage.  I love the 5 things I love about you from Katie and then the Jack handprint and Ryan footprint one!

 And I helped Katie to an "All About My Daddy" - hilarious!

And Father's Day happened to also by Jack's real birthday!  Thank goodness he was celebrated at his birthday party, because things were kind of a blur at this point!  We gave him his train table early.  And then his party was super fun.  And we had planned to let him open his gifts the day after his party - but then Ryan was born :) So we opted to wait until his real birthday!  And he had a blast ripping into all his goodies!

 Of course Katie wanted to get in there and help him rip into presents too - we had to remind her that she had recently been able to rip into her own gifts!

 Jack loved stopping to take a look at what each one of his gifts was.

 He got lots of things that go - perfect!

And then there were some random pictures.  We watched Planes and of course Jack had to have the Dusty Crophopper that Katie gave him for his birthday - love that he actually smiled!

 And then Katie got home from doing something fun and climbed in and they sat together to watch the rest of the movie.

 One weekend, the kids got outside and washed their backyard toys!  Ryan and I joined them outside for a little bit but had to come in because it was hot!  Jack loved splashing in the bubbly water!

 Miss Sassypants striking a pose :)

 And then they got to work!  They really did a super job!

 Proof that Ryan and I really were outside some of the time!

 Jack had to sit down and play with the flowers :)

 I can't get enough of this picture - Mr. Cool Dude in his shades...and sitting on the mulch with his juice box! What a mess!

 And here the kids are in bed to read a book before bedtime - all clean!  We did that for a little while when it was hard for me to get out of bed too much.  Thankfully that stage is over (as in the painful to move part)!

 And Tanja and Nick came to visit one day and they all piled onto one of the plasma cars!  I absolutely love this picture - can't believe they all fit and everyone was smiling at me!

Whew!  That sure was a lot of randomness, but I am determined to get caught up!  More to come :) But at least all of June is taken care - now that July is almost over! HA!

 

I Just Couldn't Help Myself...

About three weeks ago, we had just given Ryan a bath and for some reason I leaned him against my pillows.  I don't know what he was thinking, but the pictures I got were hilarious.  When I saw these, I immediately thought of the picture that Jimmy Fallon uses on The Tonight Show of Toronto mayor Rob Ford.  And good grief - I finally did a comparison and I cannot stop laughing!!!

And because I know those pictures of him aren't terribly flattering, here is a picture of the little guy from this past Tuesday!

He is growing so quickly!  He moved into three month clothes this week and a couple of things I put on him hardly fit! Sheesh!  He's definitely making up for lost time!  Earlier this week, I weighed him (me standing on the scale with and without him and then doing the math), and he weighs roughly 10 pounds, 6 ounces!  Amazing for him to have started off so teeny tiny! 

 

I was looking back through pictures and there are even some I haven't posted from before Ryan was born, so lots of catching up posts to come (likely a pre-Ryan post, pictures from June that haven't been posted, and a couple of July posts as well)!  Happy Friday!

 

Five Week Comparison

I love looking back at pictures of the kiddos and comparing to see who resembles who.  I did a similar comparison with Katie and Jack at 5 weeks, so I thought I would do the same with Ryan in the mix!  So here they are!

And for another comparison, here are the three of them asleep :)  So sweet and peaceful and quiet! 

Ryan definitely has the fullest lips.  When he was born, he was closer to Katie's size (smaller, in fact), but now he is bigger than Katie was at 2 months!  Whoa! All this eating really is paying off!  There are definitely similarities between all three - yet they each have their own looks it seems.  So fun to look at these pictures of my three little wild ones!

 

Kids On The Block

The Sunday after the 4th, we had a fun day outside with friends!  The kids got to wash a car...and they played with some fun toys and then we blew up one of our water slides (Brad was able to patch up a couple little holes)!  I loved watching all the kids play together - and I know Ryan will be right in the mix next summer!

 

Here they are watching on as Jill gets the bucket of soapy water ready!

 Katie loved sitting on their swing in the front yard - so fun!

 Ryan slept in his stroller the whole time - such the party animal!

 Reagan having fun on the swing too - just in a different way than Katie :)

 Sydney and Katie - Jill had just fixed their hair - all the girls had "Elsa hair" by the time we were finished playing!

 And Brad got the little inflatable slide and pool up and ready!  I think he enjoyed squirting the kids as he was filling it up - and they were just happy to be able to jump on in!

 Jack was less than thrilled that Katie was trying to "help" him.  I can hear the squeal now!

 He loved stomping around in the water...but I don't think he appreciated the hose water on his head!

 Sadie was smart and just hung out in the shade!  Sweet girl.

 And the "neighborhood pool" was just big enough for all 6 crazy kids!

 The girls!  Such a sweet picture - love it!

 And then they all wanted to show off their "Elsa hair" - cuties (even though Katie almost has a plumber situation going)!

The fun didn't stop there!  Katie got to go watch Frozen with Stella and then Miss Jill painted their fingernails and toenails.  Quite the fun day - especially for a 5 year old! :)  We are so lucky to have such great friends that are also neighbors!