Ryan's First Birthday!

Happy First Birthday Ryan!

Ryan's birthday fell on a Wednesday during a very busy week.  So, on his actual birthday, we just had a very small celebration at our house with Baba and Chelsea (and Chuy's to-go and cake)!

Thanks for celebrating with us! The rest of the family was coming the next week for his birthday party and Spring Break.

Cake for everyone

Cupcake for Ryan - his first!

We sang him Happy Birthday.

And then we let him check out the cupcake. A little tentative to start...

But then he got his hands on it...

And I think he likes it!

He went to town on the cupcake.

And ate pretty much the entire thing.

And finished up like this...

Happy First Birthday Ryan! I can't believe you are already one year old. I'll do another post with more details another time. Enjoy this one for now!

First Daddy/Daughter Dance

Our YMCA sponsors a Daddy/Daughter dance around Valentine's Day and we thought this year would be a good time for Caitlin to get to go.  She was SO excited for it.

Baba came over to help me get her ready (because I have no clue how to do hair). 

She curled it and pulled it back.

Caitlin got all dressed up for the dance

Daddy gave her some flowers

And I made her a little wrist corsage that Daddy gave her.

All ready to go!

I wish I could have been a fly on the wall to just watch everything. Bryce said that Caitlin had a great time and did not stop dancing the entire night!  I think she was in heaven.  We had a few other friends with little girls go as well so they knew quite a few people.  But I don't think Bryce got to chat much since Caitlin was a dancing machine!  I think the highlight of the evening was when they played "Let It Go" from Frozen, her absolute favorite song. What a great time for both of them!

Ryan turns Eleven Months!

Behind again, but trying to catch up!  Ryan turned Eleven Months in February. Wow.

No Drs appointment so unofficially, we'll say he was:

Weight: 19lbs

Height: 28.5 inches

Ryan wants to move all the time. This photo shoot was not easy (as evidenced by above). He does not want to sit still when you put him on the ground. He is pulling up on everything and walking around whatever he can hold onto. 

 Food-wise, he is still exclusively breastfeeding. I think I'll actually make it one year. Amazing for me! We have moved almost exclusively to finger foods. He loves to feed himself and will eat anything. I don't know any food he won't eat. He particularly loves sweet potatoes (like his cousin Chelsea who would eat nothing but sweet potatoes if given the choice) and toasted Os (organic cheerios essentially).

Sleeping-wise... he is still pretty much the same. Morning nap if we are home but otherwise about a 2 hour nap in the afternoon.  He goes to bed around 8pm. He is still doing this thing where he'll wake up around 5:45 or 6am and cry for a few minutes before going back to sleep. That's okay... except it wakes me up and I can't go back to sleep before I need to get up for the day. But, I won't complain too much... it could be worse!

Ryan got one new tooth (top right) so we are at 4 on the top, 2 on the bottom.  He is a happy, healthy boy for the most part.

Photo comparison:

Evan's Kindergarten Awards

In January, they had a Fall Award Ceremony.  Of course we wanted to go and see which awards Evan received.  There were 5 possible awards: Alphabet Club, 100 Club, Citizenship, Rising Star, and Perfect Attendance.  I'm happy to say Evan got all of them except Perfect Attendance!

Alphabet Club: Knowing all your letters and letter sounds
100 Club: Can count to 100
Citizenship: I'm not really sure but assuming it means being a good listener?
Rising Star: showing improvement in a subject... Evan got Rising Star in Writing
Perfect Attendance: self explanatory (we went to Hawaii, otherwise he would have had it!)

Evan getting up to shake hands with Assistant Principal Mr. Baker

Evan receiving his award in the classroom

Evan and Daddy

Evan and Mommy

Evan and his teacher Ms. V.

We are so proud of you Evan!  He is doing a great job in school. Ms. V always says what a great listener he is and how he has made great strides in his reading and writing. We hope he continues to love school and learning. Kindergarten has been a great year so far. Just last night we got to go up to the school for an "Open House" where the kids show us what they've been working on and take us on a tour of the school. Evan showed us where he has PE, Music, the computer lab, library, etc.  We enjoyed getting to see what he has been working on and talking to his teacher (even though I see her every week).  We are lucky to have such a great school and teachers.

Way to go Evan!

Caitlin turns 4 and Snowpocalypse!

On Caitlin's actual birthday, I made some special birthday pancakes and we sang happy birthday.

She had a great day and that night, we celebrated with BOTH the birthday girls!

We had dinner at Hat Creek Burgers and ate yummy cupcakes.

My big 4 year old! Caitlin - you are so loved. You love all things princesses still.  You love to do whatever Evan does. If we go anywhere with other kids, you still just want to play with him. You wish you could be in kindergarten with him. You love to do art projects.  You love to sing... like LOVE to sing. Especially Let It Go from Frozen. You could seriously sing the entire movie. You want to listen to it ALL THE TIME.  You also love dancing. You like to help me cook, especially chocolate chip pancakes. You can rumble with Evan but you are still girly - like to wear dresses and makeup and "look pretty" but you don't like brushing your hair (I very much remember that was me as a child).  And it's not all fun... you like to say the word "can't".  We are working hard to make you try more things and be more confident and say can. You also like to wake up really early now... and you then wake up Evan who needs to sleep! We are working on that too. You are taking a ballet/tap class and just started gymnastics. You are also playing soccer at the YMCA in the fall and will in the spring.  

At your well check, you were 34.2 lbs (44%) and 41 inches (78%). You love to snack and dip!  You will eat almost anything I think if you could dip it in something, especially ranch. Dinner can be kind of exhausting sometimes with getting you to eat, but we hope that gets better too. We can't wait to see what the next year holds for you!

SNOWPOCALYPSE!

Like the rest of the country, this winter has been bad in Austin. Lots of cold weather and ice!  We have had 3 ice days in addition to a couple days of delayed starts at school.  A little ice here in Austin can be a pretty big event since we have so many elevated roadways and drivers not used to driving in it. 

The first ice day was pretty exciting for the kids. They of course wanted to go outside where they played a little and slipped and slided around the driveways and sidewalks.

There was even enough "snow" for a snowman!

I am hoping we are finally done with all this weather. We are ready for spring and the warmer temperatures!

Caitlin's Birthday Party

For Caitlin's 4th birthday, I decided to have her party at a local place called the Party Palace. I figured with so much going on, I wanted to make it easy.  I'd heard of this place and she is SO into princesses... I knew she'd love it.  

Her very own sign!

The setup while we waited for everyone.

Once there, each girl got to pick out a princess dress. Then, they went over to get their makeup, nails, and interview done.

She of course chose purple - like Princess Sofia and Rapunzel (and her favorite color).

We loved having Mema and Oma at the party too!

Princess Caitlin is all ready!

After all the girls were done getting ready, they did a fashion show and they read their interview questions which was super cute. They all lined up and learned how to be proper princesses.

Caitlin's cake

Happy Birthday to you...

Make a wish!

After cake, the girls had a story and then got to make their own princess crowns.

Caitlin had a great time, even with her still recovering from her RSV.  We are so glad her friends could join her to celebrate turning 4.