My favorite time of year...

I always look forward to December. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE going out on Black Friday and shopping. I am nto crazy and fight, yell or scream but I love a good deal and thoroughly enjoy seeing all the crazy people out there get serious over these toys. After that the craziness seems to start. There are always birthdays, Christmas parties, work parties, and then the most important of them all...Santa visits. This year we were so lucky to be invited to see Santa up close and personal. He made a special trip all the way from the North Pole to come visit the kiddies at my great friend Leigh Ann's house. I was a little worried because last year Santa and Ryson were not considered the best of friends. It went a little like this...



My poor little guy did not enjoy that one bit. This year I really talked it up. He grasp the concept that Santa brings him all those toys, he gets that the Elves work hard to make those, and he also now understands that Elfred (our silly little Elf) really does report to Santa on Ryson's behavior. As we started talking about it Ryson insisted that he would talk to Santa. I must say that I did nto believe him. Off we go in our pretty little outfit face all clean no tears and laughing as we drive to Leigh Ann's. All throughout this drive all I can think about is I'm getting ready to spend money on pictures that Ryson is goign to scream and cry in. Little did I know though....we walk in and Ryson immediately runs back to tell me he saw Santa and he is so excited to sit on his lap. SUCCESS!!!!!







So as you see this year was a huge hit. I love all my pictures. Ronifotos did an amazing job with the kids and the pictures couldn't have been any better then these! Ryson couldn't stop talking about Santa and it made me so happy for him to enjoy this experience. We have since visited Santa another two times this month. The second time we went to the Horse Park to see the lights and do all the fun kiddy activities. This Santa pic does not compare to the one above but Ryson sure did love talking to him once again.



After telling Santa what he wanted and giving him lots of hugs we had to rush home and get ready for bed because Ryson had to visit Santa one last time before Christmas. The next morning Ryson got to go to Frankfort and hang out with his Gammie. She works for the State Police and they were all so kind enough to let the kids come have lunch with them and visit Santa. Ryson loved it. He loves Police and think they are just absolutely AWESOME!!!! His gammie said he loved visiting Santa and he even offered to help a little boy who was scared of Santa...LOVE HIS HEART!!

Pirates, Princesses and More

I have so much catching up to do. We have been so busy with the holidays that I have not had time to blog so I have a little extra time right now, which may or may not take us all the way back to Halloween ;) Yes I know that was a long time ago but we had tons of fun celebrating so I must share. This year I thought it would be fun to host a Halloween party with all of our closest friends and the kiddies and I am so glad I did. Everyone had such a good time and I even stressed out just a little getting things together ;) It was a great turn out with tons of little scary people running around and lots of big kids in their costumes too. We had a great turn out with about 14 kids and 20+ adults. Other then seeing all the little ones running around playing, my favorite party was making all the food. I really enjoyed getting creative and doing funny and scary foods for everyone to eat. I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I did making the food...and yes it was eadible ;)

Delicious worm burgers

Ghost Pretzels, Pumpkin Cookies and Ghost Cookies

Dirt Cup

Not so yummy candy corn

Scary Teeth

Mummy Dogs

Thanks Leigh Ann for the pumpkin pizza

Pumpkin Cake

I can't wait for next year. I have so many ideas of different food to make and ways to get very creative with making kid friendly Halloween food. Until then I will continue using Pinterest to find some great ideas ;)

Tinkerbell came to play with us

The policeman on duty

The beautiful candy corn witch Olivia

Avery and Ryson looking so serious( probably the two least serious kids I know)

Precious little Drake came to visit us ;)

Costume Change

Addison and Ryson taking a little break

Hope everyone had a great Halloween and had so much fun dressing up and acting silly ;) I know my little guy sure enjoyed Halloween this year!!

It's that time of year...

There is so much that I love about this time of year!! My list could go on for days but one of my all time favorites is taking pictures for the Christmas card, picking out the card and then waiting patiently until it arrives in the mail! This year I feel to be a little behind on things. I usually already have my pictures picked out, cards picked out and about ready to order them...NOT THIS YEAR!! With that said, tonight I attempted to take pictures of Ryson that could be possibilities to use as Christmas cards. We may or may not have convinced him that Elfred( our little Elf) wouldn't report to Santa tonight if he didn't take pictures. Yes I know, this is wrong in so many ways but sometimes you have no other choice!

As I wonder which picture I will use for my card I also must decide which card to use!! I was lucky enough to order from www.tinyprints.com last year and am so excited to be able to do the same this year. The quality of the pictures were wonderful, the turn around time was great and I just absolutely love all of their cards that I have to pick from ;-)If you haven't looked at their cards just head over here http://www.tinyprints.com/shop/picture-christmas-cards.htm You will have a hard time NOT ordering from them!! Now, I need some help...which card shall I use this year! I have picked out a few of my favorites but I just need a little help deciding.









I know that no matter which card I pick, Ryson is going to look adorable on any of them. The problem is I want them all but there is always next year for more ;) Don't forget to head over to http://www.tinyprints.com/shop/picture-christmas-cards.htm and check out all the fun and pretty cards they have! You won't be disappointed!!

HAPPY CARD SHOPPING ;)

My latest obsession...

I hate to admit but I haven't had an addiction, obsession, or new found love like this in a few years. Pretty much since the Iphone came out! However, over the last two months I have found myself glued to the website, constantly on it, and even trying out new things from it! The best thing about it is that I NEVER get bored with it. Oh and did I mention it is VERY USEFUL!!! So if you are reading this and you have absolutely no clue what I am talking about then you must go check it out. You will soon understand what I am talking about if you just give it 30 minutes to get a good understanding of it. www.pinterest.com

Pinterest is the newest and latest addiction of many women. You have the pleasure of pinning anything from scrumptous food to DIYcrafts to clothes and much more! It is fabulous though because you can create boards, pin something and come back months from now and recreate your ideas!! I have so many Christmas ideas that I can't wait to do! I think my favorite board is my D-LISH food! I have enjoyed getting some great recipes (most of which I have yet to make) but I do have intentions of making them and then some very yummy treats for the guy!! With that said.... GO CHECK IT OUT... Below are some of the things I have made...minus the oreo cake pops, oreo cupcakes, and chocolate chip cake pie. I was too excited to eat them and forgot to take a picture ;-)

Lasagna Rolls.  I love making these!

Yarn Wreath...This took me 5 hours but I still love it ;)

Scary spider cupcake

My wonderful helper and snacker through it all!!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!! ~Stay Warm~

My crazy but perfect weekend...

Sheww...I am still trying to catch my breath after this weekend. It was go go go from the time I got off Friday at 5pm until about 9:15pm Sunday evening. I knew that the weekend was going to be VERY hectic but I just didn't realize it would be so extremely CRAZY ;-) Friday we had a little incident of Ryson doing something to his eye that caused him to scream from 5:30pm until 7:15pm when dinner was over. We were close to a trip to the ER but he finally opened it! At that point we headed to Target for a new toy and then home to bed! A toy makes everything better! When Saturday morning rolled around, I scattered around the house to get ready to go to the consignment sale, grab coffee, buy a birthday present, then head to Evan's Orchard for Miss Bella's birthday party at 1pm. The kids had a blast playing and seeing the animals. I had a blast enjoying the fudge.

I was more scared then he was!!!

Although we were having a blast at the orchard, we decided to head on up to Cinci for the evening. It was a great evening to do a little shopping. Everyone got some great deals...EVEN ME ;-) (Usually Ryson is the only one that benefits from these great deals) Sunday was a blast. I had the whole family over for some yummy lasagna rolls and oreo cookie cupcakes that weren't finished until they all left but were oh so delicious!! After lunch we headed to Spindletop for the UK fall festival. It was a nice little festival. Ryson and Olivia had a blast with the games and horse rides. We met up with Leigh Ann, Adam and little Miss Addison. Addison tries her hardest to keep up with the big kids and did a pretty dag on good job of it. Although I wish my day ended there...I had to come home and do homework for Grad school....BOOOO!!! Overall, I enjoyed my weekend with my wonderful friends and family. It was so hectic, chaotic and way too busy but I wouldn't trade it for the world!!!

It's weekends like this that remind me 3 things...1) I AM SO BEYOND THANKFUL 2.) I LOVE MY LIFE 3.) I HAVE SO MANY REASONS TO SMILE!!!!

The first of many

I often follow other people's blogs and always thoroughly enjoy reading what they have to share. I have debated for awhile now about starting one and have finally given in and decided I need to. I am so sick of facebook but yet continue to use it (not sure why). Therefore, I have decided to start blogging that way it will distract me from my out of control, obsessive useageness (if that is even a word) of facebook. I hope that this blog will be a great way for me to share all the exciting news and events that happen in Ryson and my own life, along with a way for Ryson to look back on his childhood to see what it was like growing up ;-)

I will NOT make any promises that I will post daily, weekly or even monthly. However, I will do my best to make sure I share all of our good times (and those few unforgettable meltdowns, etc) with you. I think that this is a GREAT time to start a new blog, as we have birthdays, Halloween, Turkey Day, Fall Festivals, Ho Ho Visits, and much more. I will have TONS of pictures (as you probably know I LOVE TO TAKE PICTURES) and most likely a few HILARIOUS things Ryson has informed me of. With that said, I have one quick story that I must share.

Last night was a challenge for myself. We typically do bedtime around 8:15pm but last night was a different story because he spent the day with mamaw which resulted in a very late nap, might or might not have been 6pm when he woke up. On our way home we stopped at WalMart to get a few army men and an army boat to play, thanks to Allen's aunt who gave Ryson money! Once we got home he refused to go to bed so around 10pm (typically bedtime is 8:15pm) we finally made our way into his room. He screamed and cried when I took the army men so I gave in and let them sleep with him. I gave my baby a goodnight kiss, turned the lights out and headed to my nice comfy bed. It wasn't 30 minutes later that I kept hearing a sound and finally decided I best go check to make sure we do not have an intruder. Thankfully, that was not the case...instead I had a little boy sitting up in his bed playing with his friends in the "ocean aka bed". I asked Ry what he thought he was doing and I got a response that just brought pure joy to my night "Mommy i'm just playing with my friends. My eyes wouldn't close but I can come watch cartoons in your bed with you, okay." How could I deny a response like that. Of course I said okay and off he headed to my bed. Little did I know the little guy had more in store for me. When we got into the room I told him I was watching my show that he needed to lay down and go to bed. Ryson responds with "mommy you need to turn of your shows so I can watch my cartoons. They are funny!!"

These are the little moments in my life that I hope bring you the laughter and joy that it brings me. Have a wonderful weekend cheering on the CATS and enjoying this fall weather!!!