Chick-fil-A Birthday Party

We were finally able to have a birthday party for Ryan and his friends this morning at Chick-fil-A, and it turned out wonderfully!! It was so much fun, not too expensive, and the Chick-fil-A employees were awesome and so helpful {as always!}.

{And for those of you wondering why I said "finally," the party was supposed to be last Thursday, December 16th, but due to the lovely icy weather we experienced that morning, we had to cancel and reschedule the party for today.}

The party was scheduled from 10 AM - 12 PM, so we were a little worried the place would be packed for the last hour {especially since school is now out this week}, but it actually didn't start getting busy until we were about to leave. It worked out just perfect!! Not sure if it was the rainy weather or the fact that they are having Kid's Night tonight, but we aren't complaining one bit!

Ryan, Ellie, Harrison, Evie, Conall, and Anya played in the indoor play area for the first hour -- they had it pretty much to themselves. It was like a private party :)

The birthday boy coming down the slide.

"Ball, please!"

Ryan had so much fun!

Ellie, Evie, Ryan, Harrison, and Conall

Another shot -- it is hard to get 2 year olds to look

at the camera at the same time :)

Then, they had chicken nuggets, waffle fries, and apple juice for lunch. I have to say that I think Ryan's favorite part of the meal was the fries :) You see, I normally order fruit for him and give him just a few of my fries so he was thrilled to be able to have all the fries to himself! It was a nice birthday treat for him {and I didn't even know it would be!}

The group at the table.

And how could you have a birthday party without sweets? Chick-fil-A provided ice cream for all the kiddos and I made some cupcakes {well I actually made them last week for the canceled party and just kept them in the fridge -- they were still yummy though}. We put a candle in Ryan's cupcake {which he decided to touch while lit -- no worries though it was only for a very brief second} and all sang "Happy Birthday" to him. His face just lit up! :) It was so cute as he actually realized at this point that everyone was singing to him!

The candle is lit, time to sing "Happy Birthday."

So happy!!! This is while everyone is singing to him :)

Party favors :)

Ryan ended up getting some great gifts from his friends as well {although we waited until we got home to open them} -- a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse band set, a Batmoblie, a train, and 3 books, his favorite one being a Toy Story book :)

Ryan and all his great gifts :)

It was an all-around GREAT morning! We are very thankful to have found such a great group of friends and are glad that they were able to celebrate Ryan's special day with us!! We are now looking forward to his actual birthday and the celebration that we will have with family on the 23rd -- although I cannot believe my baby will be 2 in two days!! More to come soon :)

Our Little Chef

Gingerbread House Time

I always loved to decorate gingerbread houses when I was little so I decided to buy a gingerbread house kit this year and make one with Ryan. And as I have been dying to make reindeer peanut butter and jelly sandwiches this holiday season, I also decided to invite a few neighborhood friends over to have lunch and help us with the house -- made it seem more like a fun little party :)

While my party didn't turn out exactly as I had planned, we still had fun.

The sandwiches were ADORABLE; however, the boys were not interested in eating lunch {not at all} so they turned out to be more of a display item. Oh well -- sort of a waste of bread and time! At least they looked good on display though, right?

As for the gingerbread house ...

The kit included everything we needed to build and decorate our house except for a little water {I don't think they made such a thing when I was little}. Should be easy enough, huh?

As the boys were having fun playing, I decided to go ahead and began constructing the house. Then they could just help with the decorating -- the fun part. All I can say is that this turned out to be a little more difficult than I was expecting. Thank goodness I had another mommy to help! It would have been impossible with only 2 hands.

Once we finally got the house put together, the boys started decorating. Actually, let me clarify that, Harrison decorated while Ryan ate icing and candy :) There is no doubt he is my boy! Eventually, he did end up helping a little although once he realized all the candy was gone, he began trying to take it back off the house to eat. It was pretty funny!

"This icing looks yummy, let me try some."

If you cannot tell, he is double fisting -- has a half eaten piece of candy

in one hand while a fresh piece is about to go into his mouth :)

All smiles as R still munches on some remnants of candy :)

Our first gingerbread house turned out pretty cute though, and now that we have done it once, hopefully it will be even easier next year -- to construct and to use the candy on the house rather than to satisfy our sweet tooth :)

The finished product -- turned out well! :)

And here are a few other random, but cute pictures from our play dates this week ...

Our Tuesday playgroup -- last meeting for 2010.

The color is a little off on this one, but still such a cute pic of R :)

Play date with our MOPS friends -- yay for lunchtime!

The Real Reason for the Season

In order to remind ourselves of the real reason we celebrate this Christmas season, David, Ryan, and I headed over to the Bethlehem Walk at Mountain View Baptist Church -- a walk-through experience that simulates the town of Bethlehem at the time of the birth of our savior Jesus Christ.

It was so well done and very cool! And so realistic! :)

We plan to make this a tradition for our family in the years to come as it is so easy to lose focus this time of year due to all the hustle and bustle.

"I celebrate the day that you were born to die so I could one day pray for you to save my life." - Relient K

So encouraging

I read this on one of the blogs I follow regularly, and thought it was worth reposting.

Invisible Mother.....

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?'

Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more! Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this??

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'

Some days I'm a crystal ball; 'Where's my other sock?, Where's my phone?, What's for dinner?'

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history, music and literature - but now, they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone!?

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. She had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when she turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe.

I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription:

'With admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devoured - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: 1) No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. 2) These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. 3) They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. 4) The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A story of legend in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof, no one will ever see it.' And the workman replied, “Because God sees."

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does.'

No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, no Cub Scout meeting, no last minute errand is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.

I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on.

The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for 3 hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, he'd say, 'You're gonna love it there...'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible mothers.

The Will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.

Christmas Cookies

It has become a tradition at our house to make Christmas cookies every December with Pop and Aunt Laura. Well, Saturday was the day for 2010. We always make Granny's Sugar Cookies {my great grandmother's recipe} and Iced Sugar Cookies that have become a family favorite over the last few years. Both are delicious and such a treat!! I can assure you we will be packing on the pounds over the next few weeks -- good thing this only happens once a year :)

Granny's Cookies

Iced Sugar Cookies

We were also invited to go over to the Lichfield's house {our next door neighbors} to decorate cookies with them on Saturday afternoon. So, we trusted Pop and Aunt Laura to the cookie making here for about an hour while we headed next door for some more cookie fun and games.

It was so much fun to watch Ryan this year too! He really enjoyed decorating the cookies although I think a lot of this enjoyment came from eating the icing and sprinkles as he went. He did try and help spread the icing, but more made it into his mouth than on the actual cookies. That is part of the fun though, right?

Santa and the Pink Pig

We had such a fun day on Friday!!

Ryan and I started off the day at a cookie exchange with our MOM-A group followed by a Happy Birthday to Jesus party with our MOPS group.

The yummy cookies we collected :)

Being crazy in the bounce house -- he preferred to roll rather than jump!

Listening to the Christmas Story.

Happy Birthday Jesus!!

Enjoying the icing off the birthday cake :)

Acting out the part of the angel in the Christmas story.

We then headed home for nap time and to wait for Daddy before heading out again. This time to see SANTA at Phipps Plaza! We had an appointment at 3:15 PM so there was no waiting in line for hours, and Ryan got to spend about 10 whole minutes visiting with Santa and going through the items on his "Wish List". All without any tears, thanks to candy canes :) It was awesome {and well worth all the trouble I had to go through to book the appointment back in October}!! And what a difference a year makes - last year, we waited in line for about two hours to visit with Santa for about 30 seconds before Ryan started screaming!

Making a Wish List for Santa :)

Smiling for the camera -- love this one!

Santa is reading over the list, making sure he

understands everything Ryan wants :)

Hugs for Santa :) And Ryan now gives hugs to

our Santa statue at home regularly!

Candy cane time!

We then walked across the street to ride Macy's Pink Pig :) I love sharing this tradition with Ryan as it brings back great memories from my own childhood!

Walking over to Lenox -- see Macy's Great Tree for 2010 in the background?

Waiting in line for our turn to ride.

Daddy and Ryan riding :)

Mommy and Ryan riding -- we sat in the first car!

We rode Macy's Pink Pig 2010 :)

And Ryan gave Mommy and Daddy a nice treat after our busy day -- he fell asleep at 7:15 PM and slept until about 8 AM the next morning :) Thanks Buddy!!