Ryley turns 5!

Ryley turned 5 on Thursday! Again I can't believe how quickly time passes. Her birthday started when we went to the lake to deer hunt. She opened presents at Grandma and Papa Silverwoods and Granny and Papa Pittmans. She loves all her new toys and clothes. Wednesday she had a shopping trip with Granny. They went to Target, Payless, Toys R Us, and Applebees for lunch. She had a great time and used all her money!
Thursday morning she opened her presents from us, had lunch with Ryan (and me and Jodie), and had spaghetti for dinner. The only problem the whole day was she had a substitute teacher at school and cried when I left her. The teacher told me she cried for 30-45 min! Ugh, I felt like a really bad mom, but Ryan and I took her to lunch so that helped erase the bad part of the day!
We bought her a Dora doll (her name is Naiya, very cute and not dressed like a hooker!), a play dough ice cream maker, and a Tinkerbell activity book. We also bought pictures and things for her room.

She wanted me to stop taking pictures and let her open her presents!

What birthday would be complete without a pink princess castle cake? We had to eat cake before dinner! Ryley takes after me!

Luckily Ryan took some great shots of the cake before the purple "turrets" fell. Lets just say Ace of Cakes will not be offering me a job anytime soon!

ha ha ha ha ha

Don't you think that when given the choice to laugh or cry laughing is always better? I do! Our family has been battling different sicknesses for the last month. It seems just when someone is healthy someone else gets sick (and not always with the same thing!). We have had colds, stomach flu, and random fevers. We have had teething, cranky kids, and kids who don't want to sleep. So instead of crying I am choosing to laugh, because at the end of the day this is just life and it won't always be like this! Just thought I would share that with everyone!
Also if you haven't checked out my home school blog and you want to there is a link on the side of this blog The Silverwood Academy. There isn't any pictures, just my thoughts/ideas for next year!
Will post pictures later this week, if I don't get the stomach bug Ryan has!
Stay healthy and remember to laugh!!!!!!

Mason turns 7!

Mason turned 7 today! I think I am still in shock. Time is speeding up and my babies are no longer babies. I think that today is going to be one of those birthdays that he remembers forever! He just told me that he got everything he wanted today, that he was very lucky, and he had to say thank you to God for all the wonderful things he has! Mason's day started with presents from us. He really wanted a new football, a Mizzou jersey, and a Lego Batman game. We gave him his jersey early so he could wear it for Halloween. After breakfast Granny came up and took him shopping. They had a great time, bought new jeans, a Basketball game for the Wii, a wrestling belt, some football trading cards, and had lunch at Red Lobster.

After shopping/lunch with Granny, Mason opened more presents. Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Pittman gave him tons of cool stuff including: a basketball game, Nascar cars, gummy eyes, whoopie cushions, bubba teeth, and a batman car. Granny and Papa Pittman gave him a shopping trip and a Steelers t-shirt and sweatshirt.

Here he is wearing his wrestling belt and Steelers shirt. He had to wear his belt to Red Lobster for lunch and enjoyed all the attention he received!

He is pretending to be Hulk Hogan!

After Daddy came home Mason opened more presents. Aunt Erin and Mike gave him a gift card to Wal-mart that he can't wait to spend! Here he is the happiest boy in the world. Grandma Nancy and Papa Mick gave him real football pads, a new jersey, real laker football pants, a laker t-shirt (his has a hole, but he wouldn't quit wearing it), and an MP3 player. He might have to sleep in his football pads and wrestling belt :)

After presents we had cake. Each year the kids pick out what cake they want and I attempt to make it. Of course Mason wanted a football cake complete with Laker football players. He wanted the opposing team to be Waynesville. Ryan carved the football from a hershey bar and he put all the players in the correct positions.

The bear on the sideline is Papa Mick, it just wouldn't be Laker football without Papa on the sidelines. The other two bears on the sidelines are Mason and Ryan.

Doesn't he look ready to play....

Blowing out the candles.

What a great day!!!!!!!

Pumpkins and Candy!

Halloween has come and gone and I can't say I am sad about it! Of all the holidays, Halloween is one of my least favorites (Valentines Day is my least favorite!). However, we did have a great day with lots of fun, mess, and candy of course! We started the day by carving our pumpkins. It was a little cold and Jodie has a very bad runny nose so we decided to do this inside. Luckily the floor needed to be mopped anyway! The kids had blast. Jodie loved getting messy and at one point was rolling around in all the goo. She also had stuck her entire upper body inside one of the pumpkins to pull out the goo. The kids liked scooping out the goo much more this year, but I caught Jodie filling hers back up.

Evidence that she loves getting messy!

After carving pumpkins and eating lunch we went to HyVee to trick or treat. We have done this for three years and have a blast each time! How cute is my little tiger?

Jodie refused to put on her lion costume, but was very excited about getting a cookie!

Jodie still wouldn't put on her costume.

Ryan did a great job carving the pumpkins, even without his special pumpkin carving knife.

Ryley wanted a ghost this year.

Mason wanted a football, and Daddy did the best he could!

Finally Jodie decided to put on her costume so she could go and show Cameron. Once she learned she could get candy she was ready to go.

Mason ready to go, and sick of having his picture taken.

Ryley being a tiger.

Thank goodness we live in a safe/quiet neighborhood. Our kids take off with their friends while we parents try to keep up.

Jodie didn't want to ride or be carried she wanted to walk and drag her candy bag. So cute!

Jodie kept asking "more candy mom?" She loved it.

Back home after our long walk around the neighborhood. The kids have more candy than any of us can eat. 4 1/2 gallon size freezer sacks to be exact!