Ryan's 12th Birthday!!!

My little Ryan turns 12 today.  I'm still in denial, I think.  How can he be growing so fast?!?  He has always been and still is the sweetest little spirit!  He has a natural tendency to do what is right and be a peacemaker.  Why can't we all just be like Ryan?  The world would surely be a better place!

Ryan's favorites right now include playing the piano, swimming (he's even an assistant instructor this summer), video games on the iPod, and fishing with Dad.  He is excited to graduate from Primary to Young Men and receive the Priesthood next Sunday.  He'll start passing the sacrament and home teaching with Tim.  Weird.  For his birthday, he came shopping with me for a new bike, which he's been wanting for a while.  Then tonight, we are going out to dinner.  He chose that over a party--easy enough!  And of course, there will be Texas sheetcake--another favorite--after that.

Love you, Ryan!!!

Jakey is free!!!

I know this sounds cliche, but I can't believe my baby is three ("free" if he says it)!  His birthday was Monday, the same day we got to get Brandon stitches...if you don't know what I'm talking about...check here.  He wasn't up yet when Tim left for work in the morning, so I told him all day that we would open his presents once Tim was home from work and the boys were home from practice.  When it got close to time for everyone to come home, I put the gifts on the table, and reminded him that we needed to wait for Daddy.  Tim got home soon, and before I knew what he was doing, Jake was ripping open the first present.  He had, after all, waited for Daddy to come home.  :)

He got a new BSU shirt, new shoes, puzzles, books, a pop gun, and a "Big Mater" that talks.  He was pretty excited!  I love the picture of his chubby little hands opening a present.  And I realize that all too soon, he won't have chubby little hands anymore.  I've said this before, but I'll say it again.  I'm so glad we have him!  Today was Conference, and there was a talk about multiplying and replenishing the earth, and it reminded me about when I got that feeling that we should have another one before Jake, and how I just wanted that feeling to go away.  I'm so glad it didn't and that he's ours.  He's pretty much the best kid I could ask for and he makes me laugh every day.

 After the gifts, he had to change into his new shirt right away, before we did the cupcakes.  He kept tilting his head and giving a goofy smile every time he saw me with the camera.  Posing already.  he chose "green" ice cream to go with the cupcakes, and he tried to eat it straight out of the tub.  And I let him.  You only turn 3 once, after all.

Today I called him my sweet baby and he said, "No, I big. I free."  I kind of wanted to cry.

Sydney is SEVEN!!!

Sydney turned 7 a couple weeks ago! I can't believe that this time next year, me baby girl will be getting baptized! She shares her birthday with my mom, and we were lucky enough to be able to celebrate with them both. My parents drove up from Texas and got here just a few hours before the party. Sydney chose to have a pool party at our neighbors' house where she swims all the time. It sure made planning easy--let the kids swim a long time, do presents, swim some more, have treats, and done! She had a great time and had a ton of friends over. I even played the role of "FUN MOMMY" and swam with the kids the whole time. I can be fun when I want to. :)

She got way too many presents...I guess that happens when you invite so many friends.  I love her face in the picture on the top in the middle--pure joy and excitement.  She felt pretty special getting presents on her party day, which was 2 days before her actual birthday.  She tried real hard to let me open her gifts from us that day too. That was taking "fun mommy" too far...she had to wait!

 For her treats, she wanted to same rainbow cupcakes that we had done for Ryan, but with purple added, of course, to girly them up.  We also had ice cream cones, in keeping with the easy-on-Mommy party theme.  All 24 cupcakes and 3 containers of ice cream disappeared in no time!

 My dad was a great entertainer to Jake once he had spent enough time in the pool and while I was still swimming with the kids.  Jake thought it was great fun to get his hands wet, then shake them on my dad's face.  I can see where that would be fun. :)  It was so great to see my kids with my parents...they don't get much time together each year...

Once it was Sydney's and Mom's real birthday, I let Syd open her presents from us.  She has been begging for new bedding for her room for months, and we had been "window" shopping several places.  She really loved this zebra bedding with purple and hot pink as accent colors.  So she mostly got stuff for her "new" room.  I was pretty excited that she's moved on from Littlest Pet Shop...

That day, I took my parents and the kids out to Winger's.  It was nice to be able to treat my parents to lunch for once.  Too bad our service at Winger's was A-W-F-U-L!!!  But in the words of my mother, "We made a memory!"

For dessert that night, we had raspberry Jello poke cake and homemade vanilla ice cream with fresh strawberries on top.  It was delish!  The best part, though, was Sydney...  Tim and my dad had gone to the little neighborhood park to fix the pump for our irrigation system and Syd wanted to go see what they were doing at one point.  She was gone for a while, then when she came back, she was COVERED in dirt (see photo above...).  I don't know that she's ever been that dirty.  I took the hose to her, but not until after I got a picture!  My sweet little girl--all boy!  That's why in the pics of her and my mom later at dessert shows her with wet hair--she had to have a spray down followed by a bath before dessert--typical Sydney Grace!

Ryan's Bday

Ryan is 11 now!!!  He can't possibly be that old, can he?  I remember when he was Jake's age--I would try to tuck him into bed with his blanket, and he would  take it off, lift up his shirt, and say, "My belly's hot!"  And when he was barely 4 years old and had to get glasses--how is he 11 now?

We let him open his family gifts before he left for camp, since he would need some of the gifts for the camp out.  He got a Bear Grylls packet knife, a flashlight, a mess kit, a Boy Scout shirt and book, $20, Almond Joys, and some other fun stuff.  For his family treat, he requested a Paula Deen cake we saw on her show one time.  It's called Volcano Cake and is like an Almond Joy in cake form.  He loved it!

The next week after his birthday, he had a party with some of his friends.  They went to our neighbor's pool and swam for a while, then we had dinner (Ryan wanted Sloppy Joes) and treats.  I made rainbow cupcakes for the first time, and they turned out so cute!  He had a great time and is excited to have a great year ahead.  He starts middle school next month...how can that be??

Brandon is officially a teenager!!!

I guess it had to happen someday. I would become the mother of a teenager. I can't believe it happened this fast! Six short years and I'm the mother of a missionary. Crazy!

Brandon's 13th birthday was last Sunday, but with the craziness of having the kids home for almost all of last week, I'm just posting about it today. He had a party last Saturday night with a few good friends. He requested an ice cream cake, so I took a stab at making one. It was o.k., not really great...I need to work on it for next time... I was worried that candles would start to melt the ice cream, so he and his friend Richard pretended to blow out the candles instead, haha! He was really great about letting Sydney and Ryan hang out with him and his buddies for a while (very un-teenager-ish). Here they are all playing Apples to Apples. For the last hour of the party, I made Ryan and Syd go to bed, so Brandon got some party time without them around. I have come to the decision that throwing a party for a 13-year-old is WAAAYYYY easier than for little ones. I pretty much just let him choose what they were going to do and caught up on some DVRed shows while they hung out and played football outside in the freezing temps (much more teenager-ish).

Sunday morning just before church, he opened his presents. He has really wanted a guitar for a while, and he finally got one. He's had fun learning a few chords already. He also got some new clothes, new shoes, and some spending money. He just bought a new video game with his birthday/saved-up-allowance money...some things never change...

I think he really enjoyed his special day. Please pray for Tim and me as we enter this new phase of life...

Jake's 2nd Birthday

Where has the time gone??? I know people say that a lot, but it's so true... How did all the sleepless nights, dirty diapers, first smiles, and runny noses turn into two years? Little man turned 2 years old yesterday. It was a bittersweet day, as all my kids' birthdays are. I think I was a little more nostalgic that normal, since he's the last one. I remember SO not wanting to admit that we should have another one before Jake...and finally submitting to the Lord's will...and all the blessings that he has brought to me personally and to our family. What do you know, Heavenly father knows best...I know, it shouldn't be a surprise. I just think it's amazing that he can know what we want or need before we even have any idea that we would ever want it. I remember at Time Out For Women last week, a speaker talked about "What's the WORST thing that could happen?" She said we may even find out that we LOVE the worst thing. There was a time in my life that I thought having a 4th would be the worst thing, and now it's hard to imagine that I ever even felt that way...

Long story short, I'm So glad I listened to those feelings about 3+ years ago, and I truly cherish the time I have with Jake--just the 2 of us for most of the day. He has been the happiest, funniest, sweetest, cutest thing I could have ever hoped for. I love him more every day. O.K. Enough sappy talk. On to the birthday...

He had fun opening his presents and tearing off "BIG" pieces of wrapping paper. Anything "big" is awesome in his book... His favorite present is the ball hopper-thing...I can't remember the name...but he LOVES it! He loves all kinds of balls right now--and throwing them as hard as he can--and throwing anything, for that matter, but that's another story...

Since he loves balls so much, I made him a ball cake. When I brought it to the table, he goes, "BIIIIGGG BAAAALLL!!!" and was uber-impressed. Just the reaction I was hoping for! He blew out the candles all by himself, with a little coaching from Tim. He also tried to eat a candle afterwards when he saw Sydney lick one...we need to work on learning the difference between licking and eating, apparently... I love the pic w/ his hands up high--he's showing that he's "SO Big" now. :)

My favorite part of babies' birthdays is watching them eat their cake. He decided a month or two ago that he's way too big for the highchair, and he wants to sit at the "big kid's table" now, but he can't really reach, so he just stands on a chair most of the time. I'm sure he'll be falling off any day now...awesome! He loved every bit of his cake and ice cream cone, though, and ended up w/ a cute little blue "Hitler" mustache in the end.

Today while I was posting pictures online, he was playing with all his new toys being so good, when he came to me whining, saying something about balls... This is what I found when I got to the family room...he had stuffed Trix cereal all in his ball toy, and didn't understand why it would no longer work. Go figure. The more I thought about it, I realized, he probably just thought they were itty-bitty balls, so they should work right??

Sydney is SIX!!!!

My sweet little girlie turned 6 last week. That means she starts first grade soon and will be going to school ALL day EVERY day in a few weeks. I have really mixed emotions about that. I'm excited for someone else to have to entertain her all the time, and I know she needs the stimulation and social outlet. I will just really miss her every day. And so will Jake! It's just he and I from here on out...

Anyways, here are some pictures from her birthday. She had a luau themed party and it was great! She greeted each girl at the door with "Aloha" and a lei and grass skirt. They all looked super-cute! She wanted to help with everything for the party, and she did. I got some pictures of her helping with the fruit skewers for lunch. I think it turned out to be a little harder than she had anticipated. And Jakey was so stinkin' cute just begging for some of his own. They turned out really cute and REALLY delicious. For her cake, I made flip-flops. I was pretty dang proud of myself! I don't do cute cakes...but this time, I did. A lot of work, but totally worth it. She picked out the colors and everything and loved it. And of course, she licked the bottom of the candle.

For her luau, I "taught" the girls how to do the hula a little, as if I knew what I was doing...haha! They ate it right up, though. We also played the Limbo, and who knew what a hit that would be!! The biggest fan, though, was Jake. He just giggled every time he came out from under that stick. He LOVED it! The girls did, too. Definitely gonna have to do that at all our parties in the future.

Once we were all done with games and a little craft, we had snow cones in the back yard--also a big hit! Sydney had a great time and loved having all her little girlie friends over to celebrate. I can't believe how big she's getting. We're already halfway to Young Womens!!! Help!!!

Ryan turned 10!!!

I just did this whole post and it disappeared before I could publish it...thanks a lot, Blogger! Ryan had his 10th birthday on Friday! A child entering a new decade makes you a little melancholy. Sometimes I really wish I could pause my life. Why must my children get bigger??? Of course it's so they can grow and progress and learn...blah, blah, blah. I just want my little babies back sometimes. But watching them grow and become independent is fun, too. Luckily for me, Jake has been such a little baby Ryan repeat that it's like getting to watch him grow up all over again. :)

Favorite gift: WII game--big surprise!

For our kids' birthdays, we let them either have a friend party or a nice dinner out with the family at a restaurant of their choosing. Ryan chose dinner out at Chili's. And like the Super-Mom that I am, I totally forgot to take the camera. Just know that we went, we ate, we enjoyed. :) And we spent...our family is growing, and a night out at Chili's costs a lot more than it used to...

Requested birthday dessert: Texas Sheet Cake. I don't blame him--I make an AWESOME Texas Sheet Cake. But it makes this whole huge pan, and it's like a gazillion calories per serving, I'm sure... Oh that I had more will power! Notice how he licked every single morsel from his fork! ( He is SOOO my child!)

All his loot. He had a great birthday and is excited to be in Webelos now for Cub Scouts.

Some of my favorite things about Ryan:

His calm, quiet temperament.

His blue eyes (they remind me of Tim's, sigh...).

His awesome piano abilities.

The way he helps with Jake.

His snuggles.

The fact that he actually sleeps in (which is more than I can say for the rest of my kids).

His love for puzzles (like me).

His awesome back-flips on the trampoline.

He is just a great kid and I can't wait to see who he becomes over the next ten years!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well, another year older...it was so much more exciting to get older as a little kid! Like when you're 5 and a few days, and you try to stretch it out to 5 and a half, or even "almost 6." Those were the days! Up until yesterday I was like, "I'm only 34...and Tim is 37." That made me sound so much younger than him. Those were the days...

It's been a great day, though, filled with many of my favorite things: music, Sonic onion rings, phone calls with family, lots of facebook well-wishes and emails, cupcakes, and Papa Murphy's chicken/garlic/bacon pizza and Olympic ice skating pretty soon! Doesn't get much better than that for me. :)

Tim and I went to dinner at Tucano's last week for Valentine's Day and are going to go see the movie Valentine's Day Saturday night for my birthday date, since tonight the boys both have basketball practice. I'm totally o.k. chillin' at home tonight with the kiddos, my man, some pizza, and some ice skating. I'm pretty easy to please! Especially since I already got my present (a new fridge) earlier this week...

Every birthday I'm reminded of that birthday 15 years ago when the cutest boy I know took me to Porter park after spending all day together and there, in the moonlight, told me he loved me and wanted to marry me. I tear up just thinking about it...cheesy, maybe, but I'm still crazy in love with him and each day I can't wait for his return from work. He is truly my best friend.

I'm also reminded of the woman who was in a whole lotta pain 35 years ago and was probably so happy to no longer be pregnant! And hopefully not too disappointed to be looking at her 4th daughter (sons would come next). Thanks, Mom, for not stopping at your 2 girls and for bringing me into such a great family! Love you!

Happy birthday to my man :)

Yesterday this good-looking guy turned 37. How I love that smile!! Of course, the best smiling photos of him are from when he just killed something, haha! Why not pay tribute to what he really loves on his special day...well, the day after his special day. What can I say, I was busy catering to his needs yesterday, like any great wife would have been. :)

It's been 15 years since I met Tim, and it didn't take long at all for me to decide he was for me, and I was going to make sure he felt the same way about me, too. I was determined, to say the least...

I love him for many reasons, but mostly because he is a truly good person, he is a great leader, and he makes me smile. I married him for who he was at the time, but also for the great potential I knew was in him, which I have seen come to fruition. He is my guy and I'm so blessed to have him.

I'd better stop or this will get even mushier...


Happy birthday, Honey! I love you!

Happy 12th birthday Brandon Hunter!!!!!

I can't believe it--my firstborn has reached the ripe old age of 12! Tomorrow he will receive the priesthood and start into Youg Men's. It feels like I have aged 5 years overnight. Yikes!

He is such a great kid! Last weekend Tim and I went to the BSU game and Brandon babysat all 3 of the other kids for almost 6 hours straight. He did awesome, and even had to change a diaper! It has been so fun to watch him grow and mature and become a relatively responsible, mature young man. He is a great example to his younger siblings and a huge help to me.

He has always been so creative. He still loves to write stories and daydreams a lot. He has a wild imagination, unlike me. He is super-smart and has all A's in this first year of middle school--we are so proud. He had a great year in football, and basketball is just around the corner, so he's been practicing for that lately.

Today he is old enough to hunt "big game", so he's out with Tim and Tim's dad trying to find a deer right now. Hopefully he's having a great time and gets a shot at one.

I'm so glad to be his mom and be able to know him. Love you, Brandon!!!!

Baby Jake turns 1!!!

(So technically his birthday was yesterday, but my blogger photo-upload has been really finicky lately...probably has something to do with my pathetic computer. I finally got it to work today.)

I have survived the first year of having 4 kids! Is it wrong that I think I deserve some sort of medal or something? I mean, I know my mom had 9 kids (more than twice as many as me), but she was/is Superwoman, so clearly that doesn't count. :) As hard as it has been, I don't regret choosing to bring Jake Walker into our family one little bit. He is the cutest thing ever and I love him to death! I can't wait to see what to future holds for this sweet little guy.

P.S. I'm pretty sure I'll still be calling him "Baby Jake" decades from now...it just fits him. :)

Can you even believe the smile on this kid's face? (Not to mention those cheeks.) Love him!!!

I love that his fork is upside-down in this one. Obviously, I don't really let this kid feed himself very often. The clean-up just isn't worth it. But we made the exception for his birthday. :)

At least now the fork is the right way. I have to say, though, that he wasn't nearly as interested in his birthday cake as some of the other kids were...that's right, I'm talking about you, Sydney...

That girl wasted no time demolishing her cake. Jake, on the other hand, seemed to take his time and savor it a little more. He must just be extra-mature for his age...tell me something I don't know!

This is what the cake looked like after he had a little time to get more into it. Notice I moved it onto a paper plate and got rid of the glass one. :)

Present time!!! If only he knew what presents were...

Good thing he has 3 older siblings who were MORE than willing to help him open them!

This is his little dump truck that has cool lights and sounds. He liked it at the store, so we got it. It's so nice not to have to hide the gifts or be sneaky when they're little like this...too bad it doesn't last very long...

What was I thinking??? TWO presents with lights and sounds!!! I must be crazy! But he loved them, and isn't that what matters most?!?

He was pretty mesmerized by the songs playing on the shape cookie jar. I wish still pictures could capture the slow little swaying/dance move he was doing, but not so...it was pretty cute!

Sydney Grace is 5 today!!!!!

My baby girl is 5 today! She was up early, of course, and opened all her presents before her brothers were even awake! She's been coloring her new Tinkerbell posters and is already wearing her new Hello Kitty shirt and sunglasses. :)

I'm so glad to have my one girl, and I'm grateful more every day that I only have one...she's a little firecracker! She has enough attitude for several girls! Since she was a baby, though, she has been (at least in my opinion) STUNNING and she keeps getting more beautiful all the time. I'm so not looking forward to the time when boys start noticing her, as I'm sure they will...

She has such a sweet spirit when she wants to. She loves to help with the baby and in the kitchen, and her favorite time of the day is when I crawl in bed with her and we read her bedtime story. She really is a joy, and I'm so glad to have her in our family. She definitely keeps life interesting. I think I'll really miss her when she starts kindergarten next month. Love you, Syd!!!!!

Sydney's Brithday Party

Well, today Sydney had her very first birthday party. We don't let our kids have a lot of parties. Mostly we're just lazy--it's a lot of work. Plus, we don't want them getting too spoiled. But this year Sydney has been to a lot of her friends' parties, so she really wanted one. She wanted to invite a few boys, so we couldn't do anything super-girly. We came up with a water theme. We had a slip-n-slide, water balloons, water games, and we put the sprinkler under the trampoline. Good thing, too, because it was over 100 degrees today!

Her actual birthday isn't until Monday, so she only got one present from us today since it went with the water theme. Here she is with her new flower sprinkler. It sprays in all different directions.

I let Sydney plan all the details--she colored and wrote on the invitations, she picked the lunch menu (chicken nuggets, watermelon, carrots, and chips), and she picked the theme. I'm usually not good at letting go of control like that, so I was proud of myself!

She just keeps on getting darker and darker. It's so not fair! I told Tim it's really pathetic, but I'm so jealous of her tan! Something I never have had and never will have... How cute is that face though?!?

She really wanted cupcakes instead of a cake. Easy enough!Present time! She got so many fun things. Thanks, everyone!
We played a game where the kids were on teams and they had to soak a sponge with water, hold it over their head, then run across the lawn and squeeze it into a bucket. The boys won that game, but the girls won the next one. She had a really fun time and I'm glad it's over. :)

Happy B-day Ryan!!!

Ryan Mitchell Bryson is 9 years old today!!! He is my original blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy and is so stinkin' cute! I remember when he was little and looked nothing like his older brother. People sometimes wondered if they were really related or not. I assure you they are. :)

He has always had such a sweet temperament. He is so much easier to please than some of our other children...such a wonderful thing! He is a total gamer and would play board games, card games, and/or video games all day long if I let him.

He is getting his wolf bagde in Cub Scouts tonight, along with 1 gold and 6 silver arrow points (more that either his dad or older brother got!!!). He has been taking piano lessons from his uber-talented mom this summer and is already doing so well! He just finished baseball and was a great hitter this year. He has decided he loves fishing and caught more than Tim last time we went camping. :)

I'm so glad to have him in our family and to have been able to watch him grow and learn up to this point. I can't wait to see what an amazing man he becomes one day! He makes me smile all the time. :)