A Post from Ryder...

Did you hear that I had a Birthday? I spent yesterday celebrating with Elmo and Cookie Monster!

Daddy heated the pool so we could have a celebratory swim! I decided the steps were a good place to tell the girls how it feels to be Two! A huge thank you to my Auntie Em for letting me and my girls swim to you all afternoon!

Daddy came swimming, too!

" Umm...We don't want to wear these hats...we just want to eat Cheetos!"

Look what Mama and Daddy made for me...Yum!

I decided maybe I should grab a cupcake before I blew out the candles!

Here is a closer look...now do you see why I couldn't resist? A cupcake and cookie all in one bite!

Mmmmmm....YUM!

I got so many presents....

...but I loved the Shaker Car Grandma got me!

Granddaddy watched us Swim...

Next Daddy hung Cookie from the Tree. I was a little worried for Cookie, so I stayed way back on the slide. "Oh No! Cookie!!! Watch out! Cousin Madison is about to Whack you!"

"Oh Cookie...I tried to warn you..."

Great Grandma Smith came, too! I posed with all of my Smith cousins for a family picture!

Thank you, Aunt Mindy and Grandma for all the Pictures and Video! Thank you, Gran and Aunt Kara for helping so Mommy could stay outside with me! Thank you Grandpa for swimming in the pool with me! Thank you Granddaddy for running party errands with Daddy and Me! I had an awesome party and was so happy you were all there!
Love- Ryder

Today You are Two!

Ryder,
Today you are Two! I hope you had fun on your special day! Waffles with whip cream and strawberry syrup started your day up right! You saw Dr. Fikkert and she said you were a perfect two-year old boy! Sonic for lunch with your Cousins and Grandma, you even had your first ice cream sundae with peanut butter cups! Swimming with Daddy to top it all off...what a fun birthday for Mommy's little man! With each day you are here it becomes harder to remember life without you. Always know how much we love you...to the moon and back! Thank you for giving Daddy and Mommy the two best years of our lives!

Wordless Wednesday (Not Really...I always have something to say!)

Where I found Ryder while I was cleaning the Fridge...usually when he is quiet he is up to no good....

...this time he proved me wrong, he was simply giving his "baby" some kisses...


...and they both took some time to wave at Mommy's Camera!

PS...I have to give a huge shout out to Target's Bakery today! I know have not always sung the Target Praises, but today they won me over again! The sweet lady at the Bakery graciously replaced the Cupcakes I ordered for Ryder to take to preschool tomorrow. You might ask yourself why they needed to be replaced? Well, let me answer that for you...someone (who shall remain nameless) dumped them out of my cart two seconds after she passed them across the counter to me. I nearly cried and automatically started planning to bake some at home...thinking I could save the rings off of the destroyed cupcakes to put on my ones at home...luckily she replaced them free of charge and I won't be frantically baking cupcakes tonight!

Recipe Tuesday

I am back to trying to figure out ways to sneak vegetables into Ryder's diet without him knowing. Pre-Ryder, I firmly believed, that you made your kid a picky eater by not exposing them to a variety of foods. I feel differently now that I am a parent. Truly, one day Ryder would eat anything in the world, and the next day he decided canned fruit was the only semblance of health he'd remotely try to put in his mouth. Yesterday, I made two big loaves of zucchini bread, in an effort to sneak some veggies in. Naturally, that is today's recipe.

Ingredients

• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I used Whole Wheat)
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 cups sugar (I used Splenda)
  
• 1 cup vegetable oil (I used 1 cup of applesauce)
  
• 4 eggs, beaten (I used Eggbeaters..1/4C = 1 Egg)
  
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 cups grated zucchini (I also added some grated carrot)
  
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water, zucchini and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in. Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray, for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean.

Pony Time

Ryder's best little pre-school friend had her 2nd Birthday Party over the weekend. Her Mama put this little Mama to shame. Seriously, Ryder's party is next weekend, and lets just say it will not be nearly as elaborate as the party we attended over the weekend! Reese's party was full on and a Pony was even in attendance for the kids to ride. I thought I'd share Ryder's Pony Love with you!

I made it Out!

Both kids are sleeping right now and I am finally catching up on over a week's worth of Blogs. Instead of doing a "Wordless Wednesday" post, I am going to shout to the world that I made it out of the house with 2 kids today! We went to the Activity Center so Ryder could run around and play...he had a blast like he always does. Rustin stayed all bundled and closed up in the stroller sleeping the entire time. I was kind of a freak and kept him totally covered and away from all other human activity...I am so afraid of germs when they are this tiny.

Next we had to make a quick trip to Target for some absolute necessities. Ryder had to ride in the cart part and Rustin stayed in the carrier at the front of the basket. Besides an open box of Wheathins and a crushed box of cereal, courtesy of Ryder, there were no real incidents. It felt invigorating to do something on my own!

Alright, now that I've opened up my brag bag for you all, I am going to finish catching up on your lives! ☺

Recipe Tuesday

So I missed last Tuesday...but I have a good excuse! He is sleeping upstairs right now. Today's recipe is for the kiddo's! Ryder and I made it together this afternoon. He loved mixing and eating the ingredients!

Peanut Butter Playdough

1/2 Cup of Peanut butter
1 Cup of Instant Dry Milk (You may need to add a little more to get to the texture you like)
1/2 Cup of Honey

We practiced rolling shapes out of the dough and mashed it in between our hands. In the end, he ate a good bit of it!