FO Ryenn's Easter Dress

I decided a while ago that I wanted to make Ryenn's dress for Easter like last year. This time, however, I wanted it to be a little more formal. I picked up the fabric about two weeks ago and couldn't find a pattern I was in love with.

I have made numerous of Ryenn's dresses previously without patterns, but decided that I don't really have the thinking capacity right now to create something on my own. I instead searched the internet for patterns for dresses.

Happy Early Birthday Beebs!

Adam and I have been wanting to get the kids a play set since last summer. We just couldn't find one that seemed like a good fit for toddlers and that seemed like a good quality. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that Ryenn was still too little to really climb last year so almost all of them seemed a waste of money.

My Typical Day

My typical day. I wish there was a typical day for me. My days are always different. However, for the sake of the 30 things my kids should know about me list, I will try to describe what I do everyday (because we all know stay at home moms just sit around on Pinterest and watching TV).

2 Day Christmas Whirlwind

This year, our Christmas was a little less than traditional. The biggest tradition broken was that Santa came the day after Christmas because daddy had to work on Christmas. However, with a one and a half and a two and a half year old who would really know the difference.

 

Saddest Carousel Ride EVER

I was thinking about not blogging about this experience, but decided that Ryenn looks too sad but cute to not share. After visiting Santa on Friday, Nolan wanted to do nothing more than to ride the carousel.

Visiting Santa: Take 2

When we went to Robinettes two weeks ago, I blamed the lack of a nap for the uncooperative kids we had that day. Both were a bit uneasy to sit with Santa. Well,we went to Rivertown to try again. And it got worse!

Christmas Tree 2012

My mother has always had the most gorgeous Christmas trees. The ornaments each match one another, all her decorations throughout her house, and even match her living room decor. She has vaulted ceilings so she has always gotten gigantic trees that she needs a ladder to decorate it. I have yet to see hers from this year, but every year she does an amazing job.

My mom's tree in 2011

Visiting Santa: Take 1

Every year we have visited Santa, except for Nolan's first Christmas, has been a challenge. For Nolan's first Christmas, he was too young to be "scared" of Santa. Last year was Ryenn's first Christmas so she was too young to know the difference either. However, Nolan was at the age last year where they can be a little scared. He didn't want to sit on his lap and would only take a picture if daddy was holding him and cried when he set him down (check out my very first blog post to see pictures). This year a little different, but not by much.

Christmas Festivities Begin

Last night we ventured out to downtown Grand Rapids to see the official lighting of the Christmas tree at the Grand Rapids Art Museum and Rosa Parks Circle. There were free carriage rides, ice skating, the Christmas tree, and you could check out the museum. It was so much fun to get out and show the kids some of the fun things to do. It has even made us decide to take both the kids ice skating next weekend! Ryenn kept wanting to climb right onto the ice. Nolan had fallen asleep in the car so it was a lot for him to take in. The only time he seemed really interested was when the horses were around.

Black Thursday Thanksgiving

With two toddlers, nothing is ever easy. Especially holidays. When we are at other people's houses, our kids turn into mini Godzilla's and have to get into everything they aren't supposed to. At both Adam's parents' and my parents' houses, they have open stairways to their upstairs. This proves to be the most hectic area of the house for me. Both Nolan and Ryenn spend the majority of their time here trying to get up those stairways. They must think there are these hidden treasures up there or something.

Nolan's 1st Thanksgiving

Get to Leafin'

Fall is a time for pumpkins, cider, leaves, and everything that makes living Michigan worthwhile. This past Thursday we spent our day making gigantic leaf piles in our yard. The amazing thing about a leaf blower is how it makes a huge yard full of trees less daunting.

Gigantic leaf pile in half of our front yard

Super heroes and Pink Elephants!

Yesterday was Halloween and it was Ryenn's first REAL Halloween. We dressed the kids up last year but only got candy for Nolan. He didn't quite get the concept last year of trick-or-treating, but by the second house this year, he looked like a pro. It was a night of funny occurances with our babies.

Halloween Happenings:

Pumpkin Patch with My Pumpkins

Sometimes the best things in life are watching your children explore new things. This is exactly what happened when the kids went to the pumpkin patch.

The Tigers and the World Series

For anyone who doesn't know, our family are avid Tigers fans. My husband is literally obsessed with baseball, especially Tigers Baseball. So much so that we are planning a vow renewal ceremony for our 5 year anniversary that will have a heavy Tigers influence and our kids' names are Nolan and Ryenn (I was tricked with Nolan's name after I said no professional athletes, but then couldn't get the name Ryenn out of my head for our little miss). But right now, we are only concerned with the Tigers winning the World Series.

Laughter Fills This Home

On my worst days, the laughter or smiles from my babies just make everything better. They fill my heart with so much joy. Especially when they play together. They seem to be enjoying each other quite a bit more, seeing as Ryenn isn't just trying to break and eat all the toys. I have been trying to share a video on Facebook for a while now of just how much fun they have together.

Time Off? More Like NO Time Off.

It has been over a week since I have last updated this blog, which has been terrible of me. Especially seeing as I have had tons of things going on this past week. One of which is babysitting. This seems like an easy job, but let me assure you, it is not. I have four little ones all within 12 months of each other. They are all at the age where everything is a mystery they must figure out. Even mysterious magazines or what's in this laundry basket. Mine being the worst at this, and we are at THEIR house.

Hey! Your Progress is Showing!

We have made MAJOR strides in the home makeover we have been doing. I finished the flooring in our bedroom. I tore it up 3 times before I was happy with how it looked. Thank God it was easy to do. We moved our stuff out of Ryenn's room and into our own room (minus the dresser because we are ordering a new one next week). We spent our first night in there last night and it was great being able to pillow talk again without fear of waking our child.

NEW FLOOR!

Romper to T-shirt in 10 Minutes

For the second half of our family pictures, I really wanted Nolan to have a different shirt than a plain white polo t-shirt. I was also too cheap to buy him a new t-shirt just for pictures, seeing as he has so many clothes. Instead, I decided to alter a romper he had that didn't quite fit anymore.

Outcome of Chaos with Family Pictures

We ordered our family pictures last week and had so many to choose from. I told you before that our session had to be done in phases because of the uncooperative kids we had. They really didn't seem like our kids that day.

Baby #3?

The hubby and I have been talking a lot about babies within the last 6 months. This is probably because everyone on my facebook is either pregnant or having a baby. Doesn't help that I am going to be visiting a newborn today. It seems like forever ago that I was pregnant. And honestly, I miss it. I also feel like it has been forever since my babies were little teenies. OK, so they were never teeny (Nolan weighed 7lbs, 14oz at birth and Ryenn weighed 9lbs. 1oz at birth).


June 16, 2010

July 3, 2011