Front Yard Pretties

A Rager At The Cheese

Yesterday we celebrated Chase's birthday with a ragin' party at the Cheese.  I took sooooo many pictures there, but the lighting was so funky that many of them just aren't blog worthy.  I want to formally declare that I took pictures of every single person at our party, and I apologize if you didn't make our highlight reel.  It doesn't mean that I don't love you.  Even Chad and I are absent.  (Come to think of it, I actually wasn't in any of the pictures.  The curse of the fancy shmancy camera.)

Here are some of my favorites from the rager.

Of course, a crown was very important for this event, and what's better than an inflatable one...it's almost like a balloon!  The first thing he did upon arrival was find his crown and perch it atop of his head!

The girls gave him a little hand when his symbol of royalty fell off.

Grampa and Gramma made this amazing cake at Chase's request.  They never cease to amaze me with their mad cake decorating skills.  No request, no matter how outlandish, has proven to be too much for them.  Thank you, Gramps and Gramms!

Cole was very pleased that he got a picture of himself.

Jaguar helped Caden create a dance revolution.  Future SYTYCD contestants, undoubtedly.

High fivin' Mr. Cheese himself.  (The crown is still there.)

I love this picture so much.   Chase was hanging on to that cup of root beer for dear life for a great majority of his party.  I think his favorite part of the whole affair was getting to drink pop.   I love that even while the birthday candles are lit and we're singing Happy Birthday to him, he's still got a mouthful of root beer.

My Welchys in their matching clothes.  I love matchy-match.

Mr. Zachary...so cute.

Symantha wrote this really cute note to Chase in his birthday card.  I especially like it because it encapsulates exactly how he really feels about his special birthday.  He IS the star!  (I can't tell you how many times he's referred to himself as "birthday boy" in the last week.)

Chase got to take a spin in the hurricane tube of tickets!

Thank you to all our friends and family for helping to make Chase's day so special.

And a very big huge gigantic HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Chase Ryan. 

Love this tiny boy soooo soooo soooo much.

(He was still wearing his crown when he went to bed.)

Caden Conquers The Dentist Chair

I am so pleased to announce that Caden, the first one of all the Boyd boys I can say this about, conquered his FIRST visit to the dentist without any troubles!  I felt like a champion, having a child fully cooperate his first time in the dentist chair.  Yay me!  (I CAN take credit for this, as I also accepted defeat when the other two children didn't make it through until their third visits each.) 

I love how tiny he looks in this picture, and how his facial expression and body language towards the hygienist say that he's not yet 100% committed to this.

She won him over by blowing up a latex glove and giving it to him as a balloon. 

The Boyd boys just can't resist balloons.

Then she showed him her squirt gun and Mr. Thirsty.

Next it was time to don the glasses and lay back. 

(This is the part that fouled up the other boys; neither wanted to wear the sun glasses or lay back in the chair.)

Then the real work began.  The only resistance Caden put up was to Mr. Thirsty.  He didn't want anything to do with it after she first showed it to him.  No worries.  His teeth got cleaned and polished...we won't concern ourselves with Mr. Thirsty.

And what makes Momma even happier than a successful first trip to the dentist??  That both the boys were part of the No Cavity Club.  Hooray for good dental hygiene.  (I also take credit for this, as it is far more important to me than it is to their father.  Sorry, Chad, but you know this is true.)

(I promised the boys a special treat when we were all done, so they didn't really have the patience to stop and pose with their certificates...thus their eyes are closed in solidarity and protest.)

Way to go, Caden Riley!  So proud of you!

Summer Is Here!

bare feet...

in the tree house...

with a snow cone...

summer is here!

Last Day of First Grade

Today was Cole's last day as a first grader.  I planned for us to have a magical morning filled with laughter and love and joy and celebration in honor of the last day of school, but that plan was an epic fail.  You will notice in the picture below (taken about 30 seconds before he left) that his hair is still wet.  His wet hair is an indication that our morning did not go as planned.  It was just a few minutes before said picture was taken that he was still in the bath tub instead of dressed, teeth brushed, hair combed, shoes on, ready to go...like he was supposed to be.   He spent a lot of the morning crying (thusly the sad face below).  There was a crisis over what to bring for show and tell.  I bought him a new outfit for his last day of school, and when I gave it to him this morning, his lack luster reply was, "That wasn't necessary."  Huh?  Did he really say that?  What a punk.  Lets just say that after all this, he wasn't the only one that felt like crying.  At least all this trauma-drama gives us a true appreciation that tomorrow we get the day off!  I was hoping to have some pictures of him in his cute new outfit to share, but no...they all look like this one.  Weepy face.   It was a real sad way to end the school year, especially because most of the time, our mornings went splendidly.

Chase got to have a sleep-over at Grampa and Gramma's today, so it was just Caden and I that picked Cole up after school.  We brought Mrs. Cochran these treats for being the wonderful, amazing, fantastic teacher that she is.

We love love love Mrs. Cochran.  So so much.  We will miss her next year.  She is a very gifted teacher.  She inspires me every time I'm in her classroom.  WE LOVE HER!

To celebrate Cole's last day, we met Gammy and Poppy at Red Robin for some lunch.  Poppy's crazy ways lifted Cole right out of his funk.

Here's the happy boy that I know and love. 

Congratulations to my Cole on a successful year as a first grader.  He did a wonderful job and received high praise from his teacher.  I am very proud of him and am so thankful that I get to have him home for the entire summer!  (But please, no more mornings like today!)  Love you, Cole Robert!

Chase Ryan Turns Five!

HAPPY FIFTH BIRTHDAY TO MY CHASE RYAN!

Since his party is still a week away, we had a series of mini-celebrations today to commemorate his official day of birth.  He woke up to FIVE balloons tied to his bed.  Well, technically, he woke up in our room after stumbling in sometime in the wee hours of the morning, so he didn't actually see the balloons the moment he woke up.  Caden actually found them.  After that fun discovery, we headed downstairs to enjoy the breakfast of his choice, Fruit Woops.

He also got to choose his lunch.  He requested waffles with chocolate chips, strawberries, and ice water.  Yes, that's right, he requested ice water for his birthday lunch.

We had McDonalds for dinner (again, his choice...I could vomit just thinking about all the junky food he/we ate today), and then Grampa and Gramma came over to open presents with us and eat cupcakes...more food!



The only thing that he felt was lacking from his day of indulgence was a crown.  He kept asking for one.  He's never expressed an interest in wearing one before, but I'll be sure to come prepared to his official birthday party WITH a crown.  (If it was socially acceptable, I'd wear one on my birthday, so I totally get where he's coming from.)  At every meal today, he asked me where his crown was.   He asked his dad for a crown.  He asked Grampa and Gramma for a crown.  He asked Cole for a crown.  Cole said he would make him one at school. 

(This did not happen.)

What did we learn from this?  When it's a fella's birthday, he needs a crown.  He expects a crown.  A crown is a requirement to truly complete the occassion.

I love this boy so much!  Happy happy birthday, Chase Ryan!

Stay tuned for scenes from Chase's upcoming Chuck E Cheese birthday bash...complete with...a CROWN!

Weekend Update

Our weekend was action-packed with outdoor adventures.  On Saturday we went to Salt Water State Park to look for crabs and other sea creatures, and on Sunday we headed to Greenwater so we could play at Lost Lake (once again it eluded us, but this time it was because of snow).  Here are some of my favorite pictures from our weekend adventures.

SALT WATER STATE PARK

GREENWATER

By the way, I was there too. Now that I have my fancy shmancy camera that Chad doesn't like to use, this is what I have to resort to in order to demonstrate that I was also part of the festivities.

(Love Chase's growly face in the background.) 

Ten on Ten: June 2011

At the suggestion of some of my favorite girls, I have decided to join the Ten on Ten community.  I'm very excited about this!  What is Ten on Ten, you ask?  The idea is take a photo an hour for 10 consecutive hours on the tenth day of the month.  Finding much life and beauty among the ordinary things of our day!  (I didn't make that up, I copied it right from the original Ten on Ten website, but it's such a pretty thing to say, I wish I could take credit for it.)  Not only does participating in Ten on Ten give me lots of practice with my camera, but it's a wonderful way to see amazing pictures.  Click HERE to see entries for June.  Here is my first crack at it. 

off to school

bath time

important discussion regarding the world's best TV show...SYTYCD

♥flowers from my friend...thank you, friend♥

fun in the frog bathroom

planting flowers

creativity time

 after school fun with friends

the boys' latest craze

relaxing...TGIF!

We didn't have anywhere to go today (so nice!), and I really wanted to share a picture of the shirt I'm wearing...but Chad said it would be weird.  What's wrong with wearing a shirt that says, "I'm in love with a fictional vampire", if you don't have to leave the house all day?   And what's wrong with posting it to the world wide web?  Weird?  No.  Awesome?  Pretty much.  Maybe next time.