Sweet jesture!

Greyson associates nap time with covering up. Probably because I have always covered him up when he lays down. (I don't know about y'all, but hot or cold I can't sleep without covers). Well today while we were playing Greyson decided the singing snowmen were sleepy so he covered them up with my snuggy so they could take a nap. Unfortunately for my ears the snowmen don't take very long naps and were back to singing in no time!

Bakefest 2011!

We have been a little crazy in the kitchen over the past few days. It all started with our gumbo get together on Sunday evening. It has become a small tradition of ours to make a gumbo feast at least once every winter and invite all our friends to help us eat it. The plan was to have all my baking done before then, so I could share that as well, but as always I fell a little behind plan. Greyson and I did manage to get our "gingerbread house" made in time. However it was a little bit of a disaster. First off, we didn't make it out of gingerbread. I got an idea from a Martha Stewart magazine to make it out of graham crackers. I thought the idea was superb because it made the process a lot simpler. I already had graham crackers in the pantry and leftover frosting in the fridge, so I thought I was golden. Things started off fairly well, but the warmer the frosting got the more our little house started to fall apart. In the end it looked more like The Leaning Tower of Pisa than a Christmas gingerbread house, but luckily Greyson doesn't know the difference. All he knows is that he enjoyed making it, and that today he finally talked me into letting him eat it.

My sugar cookies on the other hand came out just perfectly for me! They are one of my favorite cookies to make, but boy do they feel like they take forever. First you have to make the dough and chill it in the fridge for 2 hours. Then you have to roll it out in small sections and cut out the cookies and bake them. Then once they cool you have to make the frosting to decorate them. Needless to say I have turned this into a 3 day project - day 1: make the dough; day 2: bake the cookies; day 3: frosting! I am sure it comes as no surprise that I am anal about the cookie process just like my tree. Poor Greyson kept trying to help me, but there really isn't much he can do other than help me poor ingredients in the bowl. I know he will have much more fun eating them anyways!

What the heck is a Zhu Zhu pet!?

If anyone else out there has been in the dark like me then you have asked this same question. Well I am happy to say I finally have the answer! This past Saturday CVS sent me an email with some special offers for that day only and one of them happened to be $.99 Zhu Zhu pets. Now I wasn't exactly going to drive to the store for just that, but they also had Cokes on sale. I had noticed people on some of the coupon blogs I follow making a big deal out of the fact that these things were only $.99 so I figured while I was there I would at least see if they had any. To my surprise they actually had quite a few so for kicks we picked out one for each of the boys. They basically look like a fuzzy hamster so I figured if nothing else the cats would have fun with them. We get them home and Greyson is excited to bust them out of the boxes. I set them on the floor and they take off chattering just like a real hamster. I am laughing hysterically at this point. They really are quite cute to watch, especially once Dexter started barking at them! They keep going for quite a while too, but once they eventually did stop I told Greyson to go push them to start again and he refuses. The kid was petrified of them. Why I have no clue, but he was afraid of his Chuck the Talking Truck last Christmas too so I guess he has some phobia of toys that talk and move on their own. Well just like with the truck he eventually came around loves them. Rylan took a little bit longer than Greyson though - when I first showed the hamsters to him he began shrieking even worse than when on Santa's lap! Today he finally decided they weren't so bad after all and has been following then around with big brother. I am not exactly sure who this toy is geared towards but it does entertain 2 year old little boys and Miniature Pinschers for an extended period of time. Totally worth the $.99! However the regular retail on then was $10. They would have to impress me a lot more for me to ever pay that much for them!

A trip to Christmastown

Apparently in Charlotte, you haven't celebrated Christmas properly unless you have been to McAdenville (aka: Christmastown) to view the lights display. I have never heard anything about this until this year. As much as Greyson likes Christmas lights I knew we had to give it a shot. I am not exaggerating when I say that every single house in town is covered in Christmas lights. Well actually I take that back. We did pass one lonely house that didn't even have so much as a porch light on. Every other house, yard, bush, tree, etc. for a good 3-4 miles stretch has some kind of Christmas decoration on it. Despite the chilly temps, we chose to walk most of it. One of my besties had been before and she said it was not the same to drive it as to walk it and she was definitely right. We drove the first mile to find a place to park and then walked the rest and the walking experience definitely is a lot more fun! Every person you pass, either by car or by foot, is yelling Merry Christmas. It really is a wonderful experience! The bad thing was it made me want to come home and decorate even more! Ha! After seeing what these people had put together it made my few little bushes and snowman seem pretty dinky. Alas since it is a week out from Christmas I decided to just snap lots of pictures and save my ideas for next year ;-)

Paper chain update

Check out how full our chain is and we still have a whole week till Christmas! We might have to add some more loops at the end if we get too many more. Thanks to everyone who has thought of us this holiday season!

More craftiness!

I found a neat template online for a bird ornament the other day, so Greyson and I decided to give it try. The great part about it is it is really easy to make and you can change up the color paper you use and decorations you add to make each one a little different. We started simple. Greyson picked red (his favorite color of course). The instructions recommended using card stock, but all we had was construction paper so we traced and cut out the bird and then glued him to poster board to make him a little sturdier. Once dry I cut him out, sprayed with glue and sprinkled with glitter. I tried to let Greyson help with the glitter, but apparently "sprinkle" isn't in his vocabulary yet cause when I said sprinkle he just tipped and dumped. At least it all landed on the bird! In the end he turned out pretty cool. Greyson seemed really proud when we hung him on the tree. I think we will make a few more and attach them to presents we are giving away!

My most favorite Christmas present!

No offense to anyone who buys me a present cause I always treasure every gift I am given, but I do have one that is my favorite! It is a little cookie called Chocolate Jumbos. My Grammy sends me a tin full of them every year in our Christmas package. To my knowledge no one else on the planet has the recipe for these, but I sure hope I can one day bribe her to give it to me cause they really are the best cookie ever. They are a chocolate almost cake like cookie with white frosting on top. Doesn't sound like much, but if you try one then you'd understand my obsession. Of course that would mean I would have to share with y'all and I just don'r know if I am up for doing that ;-)

Funny story continued...

So if you read last night's post Like Little Mommy, Like Son, then you learned about my "surprise" Christmas present the boys picked out for me. Up till this afternoon I only had one clue to go off of. Well this afternoon we pull in the Red Store (Target) parking lot and Greyson says "Yay the Red Store! Daddy took me to the Red Store!" Ha! Now I have 2 clues:

1) shoes
2) Red Store

And all without a single bribe! My early guess is that they got me the slippers I wanted, but I don't have much to go on just yet. It will be interesting to see what else he lets slip over the next week and a half.

Christmas Crafts

Greyson and I were feeling crafty today, so after lunch we broke out the construction paper and made a paper chain to hang our Christmas cards from. In years past I have hung them from a strand of beads. However, the beads are rather long and attract little fingers that like to pull and yank on them. I like having somewhere to display all the Christmas cards we receive though. It is the only time of year that you have that many cards, and everyone goes through so much trouble making them and sending them out that I like to have a special place to display them. So I decided to try something new this year. We made a red, green and white paper chain and hung it around an obsolete door in our kitchen. The chain just happens to be the perfect height that no one under the age of 3 can reach it (quite the coincidence I tell ya). Not to mention it looks way more festive than the silver beads did! I am thinking I will keep posting pics as the cards multiply and let everyone play the fun game of "find your card!"

Like little mommy, like son!

If you have hung around my family at all around Christmas time, then I am sure you have heard the story about how when I was about 2-3 years old my dad tricked me into telling him one of his presents that year. I don't remember what the present was. I just remember my dad looks at me and says "I know what it is! It is _____." Just making a random guess. To which I respond "No dad it's _____." Clearly telling him what we really got him! Now I was not being sneaky like my dad was, but Greyson did have a little slip up of his own tonight that made me think back to this story that I have heard oh so many times.

Okay so we are a pretty routine bunch. We know that when daddy comes home from work he goes upstairs and put on his comfy clothes. Well today daddy came downstairs in jeans and a t-shirt. Now I had informed him that he was watching the boys so I could run to the grocery store alone, so I kinda quizzed him as to why he was dressed like he was going somewhere. I don't remember exactly what he said, but it was some vague, sarcastic comment that kind of implied that if he was going somewhere he wasn't going to tell me. I really didn't care just as long as I was still able to do what I needed to do.

Well I left the house and made my trips to Bi-Lo and Harris Teeter. I was headed back to the house about 8:20 expecting to get home just in time to kiss my boys goodnight when I realize they are pulling in the driveway in front of me! As soon as the car doors open I can hear Greyson asking where mommy is, so I sneak up on him still fastened in the car. He lights up when he sees me and I ask "Where did you boys take off to this evening?" Greyson just sits and continues to grin at me. At this point I am suspicious and figure he has been coached not to say anything. Well, I go back to the car to get my groceries out while hubs unhooks the boys. Next thing I know Greyson is standing next to me and without me even saying a word he says "We went to go buy mommy shoes!"  All I could do was laugh! Now I know 2 year olds can say a lot of crazy things, but if Greyson says he bought mommy shoes, then he bought mommy shoes. I still have no clue exactly what they got me. Shoes for Greyson could be anything from boots to slippers. While it kinda sucks to have my hubby's sweet surprised ruined, I really don't feel that bad about it considering my husband pretty much knows every single thing I have bought for him (reference blog Technology at its worst!). Plus, I never really asked Greyson to tell me - he just kind of volunteered the information. Regardless it made for a pretty humorous end to our day!

Santa Picture (Attempt #2)

SUCCESS!!! Okay it wasn't a piece of cake or anything, but I got both of them in Santa's lap and I got a pic where one is smiling and the other is at least not crying. We stood in line for about an hour. Not because the line was long, but because everyone in line was like us - a 2-3 year old who had to be drug up there and bribed to get within 2 feet of Santa. At least it gave me plenty of time to work out how I was going to do this. I had already walked Greyson past the toy store on the way in and told him we would go back and play with the trains if he went and had his pic with Santa first. Then I just gave him my phone and let him look at pictures while we stood in line. At least that way he didn't even notice the other kids going up there crying. Once it was our turn I strategically placed the stroller so Rylan couldn't see Santa, and I walked (well drug) Greyson up there first. Once I got him talking Thomas trains with Santa he was golden. Then I got Rylan, put his hat on and sat him down quick. I told the lady taking pictures to snap fast cause I figured and he would cry, and cry he did. However, all of a sudden he glanced over and noticed big brother Greyson sitting there, and for a small, magical moment in time he was peaceful and Greyson was smiling. Voila! Mommy got a half way decent pic of both boys with Santa. We always choose to get the picture on CD instead of the photo packages, and we got to pic out 3 images to go on the CD. I chose one where I thought Greyson looked the best, one where Rylan looked the "happiest" and then one with Rylan crying his eyes out. Had to make sure I had all the memorable moments taken care of!

Santa Baby ;-)

*Click on the links to see what is on my wish list this Christmas.


Santa baby, slip a necklace under the tree, for me
I've been an awful good girl
Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight


Santa baby, a pair of warm and cozy Ugg shoes, from you
I'll wait up for you dear
Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight


Think of all the fun I've missed
Think of all the fellas that I haven't kissed
Next year I could be just as good
If you'd check off my Christmas list
Boo doo bee doo


Santa honey, I want some boots, and really they are
So cute
I've been an angel all year
Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight


Santa cutie, I have one thing that's really not hard, gift cards
To my favorite stores
Santa cutie, and hurry down the chimney tonight


Santa baby, fill my stocking with some tix, and fix
Me up with a sitter
Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight


Come and trim my Christmas tree
With some decorations bought at Tiffany's
I really do believe in you
Let's see if you believe in me
Boo doo bee doo


Santa baby, forgot to mention one little thing, some bling
For my new iPhone
Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight
Hurry down the chimney tonight
Hurry down the chimney tonight.

Free Uddercovers!

For all you nursing moms and moms-to-be you are definitely going to need one of these bad boys if you plan on being sociable at all your baby's first year of life. What am I referring to? Well Uddercovers of course! Basically it is a piece of cloth with a strap at the top to cover up your baby and his meal if you need to breastfeed while in public or when company comes over. Now there are lots of companies that make such things, but Uddercovers are my favorite for two reasons. 1 - They have the nicest patterns and fabric. 2- About 75% of the time there is a code circulating that gets you one for FREE and one of those times is now! I just got an email the other day with a new promo code. Right now all you have to do is click on the image above, pick out which cover you like and add it to your cart. Then enter the word CHRISTMAS in the promo code box and voila. All you have to pay is shipping which is usually $11.95, but even so it is still cheaper than any of the covers you'll find at BabiesRus. They also make great gifts, so if you know of anyone expecting then I'd order one for them! Even if they already have one, trust me when I say it never hurts to have a spare!

Anybody need a purse!?!?

So it's kind of a long story, but I was recently given this lovely Brighton handbag. Brighton makes beautiful purses, but they really aren't my taste. Now I don't know a whole lot about the bag other than it is authentic, it comes with the registration card and has the serial number stamped inside and all that. It is in brand new condition with no flaws. I was told it retails for over $400! I figure somebody out there has to be drooling over this baby, so I have listed it on ebay. I listed it at $400, but set it up for people to make offers as well. It will be interesting to see what kinds of offers I get. If you totally fall head over heels for it and purchase it at the buy it now price then I will waive the shipping fee! Anyways, I would like to take part of the money and like adopt a family or something for Christmas so if you bid, then bid generously. If it's not your thing, but know someone who might want it then please pass this along. You can click on the pic below to go to the auction. Thanks and happy shopping :-)

One of lifes great mysteries.

Okay I have crossed over to the desperate side of this potty training fiasco. Just to catch you up to speed Greyson does excellent with #1 on the potty. He wears big boy underpants all day long, even for nap time. He very rarely has an accident. If he does ibis because he had way too much to drink. We put a diaper on him for bed time, but about 75% of the time he wakes up dry in the morning as well. We have been giving him gummy bears as incentive for having dry underpants and for doing #1 on the potty and it has been working like a charm. Getting him to do #2 on the potty however is a different story. Everyone says little boys are the hardest to train period because they simply just don't want to stop what they are doing to go. But we are way past that point. This isn't about not wanting to stop, this is just simply refusing to do #2 on the potty. For instance, today I caught him with the #2 face so I rushed him to the potty. I made him sit for a good 10-15 minutes and nothing, so i let him get down. A few minutes later I could again tell he was trying to go so I rushed him to the potty. He had already started to go a bit but I knew he wasn't done so I made him sit for another 10-15 minutes and nothing. I thought maybe he really was done. We went upstairs to change Rylan and while I was doing that Greyson proceeded to finish what he had started earlier. Needless to say I was a little past frustrated. "They" tell you not to scold them or punish them for having accidents, but I can't exactly keep playing Mr. Nice Guy either or nothing will ever change. I was even told to try a bigger incentive. Well Greyson spotted a Lightning McQueen snow globe in the store the other day so I bought I and told him he could have it when he did #2 on the potty like a big boy. That was a week ago now and the Queen snow globe is still sitting in the bathroom waiting to be played with. I know he understands what it is for cause every time we go in there he tells me "mommy, I get queen when I poopy on the potty." yet still nothing. So now I am kinda to the point like "now what!?" I am not sure what direction to take next. Do I need a bigger incentive? Do I need to start taking toys away when he has accidents? I simply don't know. Potty training is simply one of life great mysteries cause there is no right or wrong way and no 2 children potty train alike! Now I see why so many parents get past the potty training part in life and never want to have any more kids!

Santa Pic (Attempt #1)

So our Chickfila had Santa up there the other night doing pictures, so I got the boys all dressed up and we headed up there to see him. Now for weeks Greyson has done nothing but talk about Santa and how he wants to tell him that he wants puzzles and Thomas trains for Christmas. He was even excited when we went shopping for a sweater for him to wear in his picture with him. Well we get up to Chickfila and get about 3 feet from Santa when Greyson freezes. I practically have to drag him up there and even then he wouldn't say a word to him. Up until this point Rylan was pretty oblivious to what was going on. He then turns around and spots the man in the red suit and fake beard and begins to scream bloody terror. Despite their reactions I managed to get them both in Santa's lap, but you can see above how well the picture turned out. Luckily there was no sitting fee - you only buy a pic from the photographer if you like it. While it is definitely quite a memory I don't think I will be purchasing a copy of this one. I did have to print screen it, so everyone could see just how happy they were to be sitting on Santa's lap :-P

Rylan's 1 year check up

It may not surprise you, but when I was just typing that title I almost typed "month" instead of "year!" Seriously, where did the time go!?!? I know everyone says it, but I really feel like the little guy was just born yesterday! Actually I take that back - I feel like Greyson was just born yesterday! In just a couple of months he will be 3 years old. I don't feel like I have been a mom for 3 years already! Just something else to make me feel old I suppose.

Anyways, so at 1 year old Rylan weighs 21 pounds 4 ounces! I wish I could tell you how that stacked up to his big brother, but when I went back to look at the baby book I hadn't written that one down. I hope I can remind myself to ask the doc when we are back in a few months if she can pull that off his chart, cause I really love comparing how the boys are growing. While I would put my money on the fact that Rylan wins in the weight category, I wouldn't so much in the height. Greyson's 9 month measurement was 29 3/4 inches, while Rylan's height today was 30 inches, so he may not be getting daddy's height after all. Other than the 4 shots and the finger prick he received everything went pretty well. Our pediatrician is so sweet. I honestly don't think I could have found a better doctor for my boys. I actually love all of our doctors that we  have found in Charlotte. I would be pretty heartbroken if we ever had to move far enough away that we couldn't see them any more.

Now that all of the 1 year old stuff is over with we have quickly moved on to Christmas. I saddens me a little that Rylan's 1st Christmas was last year. Not that he knows the difference, but mommy does and it makes me sad that I can't buy any of the cute 1st Christmas stuff this year. I wonder if I could convince Carters to make a onesie that says "Baby's 1st Real Christmas?"

O Christmas Tree!

My tree is done, and it even has presents under it already! All for Greyson and Rylan of course, but at least that makes my closet a walk-in again. While I feel slightly caught up now, I still have the outdoor decorations to tackle. Wait, let me rephrase that - my husband has the outdoor decorations to tackle. While I am very specific about where the decorations are placed, the hubs is really the one who can take credit for making sure it is all hooked up and not a fire hazard. The Christmas tree on the other hand, no one touches that but me. I am just a tad anal, to say the least, about how the tree looks. The lights have to be strung just right so the cords don't show. The ornaments have to be placed in certain areas of the tree. The beads have to be draped in a way that they look natural yet perfectly spaced. After reading that I am sure you think no one would even want to offer to help me to begin with. Well Greyson did! And being the mom that I am, I let him try and help. I let him hold the strands of lights while I strung them on the tree. It was just enough that he felt like he was really helping, yet mommy was still in full control of the situation. Like everything else he got bored after about 15 minutes and I was back to completing the job by myself. I was smart enough to know that he would become re-interested if he saw me start to hang the ornaments, so I waited till he went to bed to do that. I then made the mistake of trying to string the beads on while both he and Rylan were playing in the living room this morning. Let's just say the beads made it on to the tree, but they were no where near my standards, so I spent part of nap time this afternoon going back and perfecting my work. And of course no tree is complete without presents under it, so this evening (after the boys were asleep) I wrapped some of the presents that Mimi and Papa McCormick left for the boys. I know some people hate wrapping presents, but I am one who just absolutely LOVES it! Worked out great for my dad when I was little - I wrapped everything he bought for my mom for a good 20 something years. After reading this blog I am sure it doesn't surprise you that I am anal about how the presents are wrapped and where they are placed under the tree. It will be interesting to see how long this tree utopia lasts after my boys come downstairs in the morning and see what appeared over night!

Technology at its worst!

I know technology makes a lot of things in life a lot easier, but surprising jour husband with gifts is not one of them. I am sure many of you have heard the Father's Day story from a few years ago. I went through all this effort to plan a surprise tee time for him and then what happens....well since he had played this course before they had all his contact info in the system, so the automated phone calls him to remind him of his tee time! Surprise effectively ruined. Well technology has done it again. I ordered my husband a gift online this evening. I always use Paypal to pay for things when I can. Problem is the Paypal account is under hubs name and email address, so anytime you make a purchase it sends him an email. Well I forgot this little piece of information when ordering this evening. I thought that it was odd that I hadn't gotten a confirmation email after i completed my transaction Well that was because everything got sent to his! He claims he didn't open the emails, but still. The purchase I made was from ToysRus. There are only just so many things you can purchase for a 30 year old male at ToysRus! Anyways, even if he hadn't gotten those emails he still would have seen the charge to ToysRus on our bank account, so there really was no way to avoid him finding out I bought something. See what I mean - technology isn't always such a great thing!

Best $.50 I ever spent!

Some of my best finds are the ones I don't even go looking for. For example, last December I just happened to walk into CVS on the day they marked all their Christmas stuff to 75% off. Of course I had to take a peak. Sometimes it is just junk left and other times you get lucky. Well that day I got lucky. I found a Peanuts Christmas book, a stuffed Rudolph, and a small battery operated train set. I'm not sure what the train was meant to go with, but when I saw it I immediately thought of Greyson. We have a small Christmas tree that belonged to hubs when he was little and now we put it in Greyson's room at Christmas time. The train was only $2 to begin with so at 75% off it was a whopping $.50! Well since Christmas had already passed I just put the stuff away and saved it until today. I set the little train up to go around the base of the tree on Greyson's dresser. There are no words to describe what I witnessed for the next hour. It reminded me somewhat of watching a cat stare at a fish inside a fish bowl. The thing runs on a single AA battery, so I am curious to see how long it actually lasts cause even though I convinced Greyson to turn it off for nap time, I highly doubt there will be many more moments when that train isn't running!

Payback is a b****!

For some reason, which I can no longer recall, I have had an obsession with collecting those Hallmark singing snowmen. You know the ones - buy 3 Hallmark cards and you get the snowman for $9.95. Every year they sing a different Christmas song. Some years they are even accompanied by penguins or dogs that sing along. I should know cause I have them all! I guess subconsciously I knew that one day I would have a Greyson who would fall in love with them. What my conscience had no knowledge of was a 2 year old's obsession with playing things over and over and over again. So much so that by the end of the day all you want to do is throw them out the window (the snowmen - not Greyson). Don't get me wrong the snowmen are cute as a button and while I love Christmas music everything gets old at some point. The even worse part is that my mom continues to buy them every year. For Greyson that is - certainly not for me. I actually think she gets some joy out of knowing that she is torturing me just a little by buying them. I guess it is payback for some torture I caused her when I was little. I wonder what I will buy for Greyson's children one day as payback for this!?

McCormick Christmas Tree 2011

After a 3 day search, we finally found our Christmas tree this evening! I am definitely breathing a sigh of relief. I already felt behind waiting till this weekend to purchase our tree, so when I had 2 days of tree shopping that ended with disappointment, naturally I started to panic a little. So despite the misting rain, we took off one more time tonight. We were headed to our 3rd Lowes to check out their selection when we came across a small tree lot in Belmont. Since the selection at the other 2 Lowes absolutely sucked, I had to pull over and at least see how expensive they were. The tree lots we looked at the other day were fairly pricey and I honestly wasn't super impressed with the trees they had (though I am pretty picky). Well lucky for me this lot had just gotten in a fresh batch of trees on Friday, and I just happened to find one that I liked. So they strapped it on the car and we hauled it home. Now begins the slow process of letting the branches fall out before I can start on the lights. I am thinking maybe Greyson and I might have to start working on some other decorating around the house tomorrow while we wait on the tree.

Happy 1st Birthday Rylan!

.

While Rylan's party was Saturday, his actual birthday was today. This afternoon at 2:37 pm Rylan was officially 1 year old. Every time I would glance at the clock, I would think back to what I was doing at that time a year ago:

10:30 am - I sent my mom a message that I was having regular contractions.
12 pm - I told my husband to call the doctor.
1 pm - We arrived at the hospital.
2 pm - My epidural finally kicked in.
2:37 pm - I heard my little man cry!

Even though we had already celebrated his birthday, we had to do a few special things today as well. First we took him to Build-a-Bear to make him a birthday animal. We chose a puppy in honor of Rylan's birthday theme and we named him Spot. Since mommy was hoarse from the lovely cough I am getting over, I picked the pre-recorded birthday song to put inside, which makes him smile every time he hears it. Then this evening we took him out to dinner and let the waiters of Red Robin serenade him and give him free ice cream. I couldn't tell if he enjoyed the singing or not, but at least he didn't break out into tears! The ice cream was a no brainer - he inhaled it as expected. He even shared a few bites with big brother Greyson.

Though he had no clue what is going on, I think Rylan had a pretty good day (well weekend for that matter). I know Greyson had a good time cause this evening, while he was lying in bed supposed to be going to sleep, I could hear him still singing the Happy Birthday song. I didn't have the heart to scold him, so I just let him sing himself to sleep!

It's my party!

We had Rylan's 1st birthday part on Saturday! I decided many months ago on a dalmatian theme. It was kind of random - I just happened to find this plate and place mat set with a spotted dog and red and blue polka dots. I immediately fell in love and just built the whole birthday party around it. The balloons were red, black and white, the tablecloths were blue, there was paw print confetti and paw prints all over the house, and even spotted cupcakes.

Unfortunately not many guests were able to make it, but we were lucky enough to have both sets of grandparents here for the occasion. Both Rylan and Greyson got to soak up a lot of Mimi and Papa love! Mimi and Papa Jones got Rylan his very own Pottery Barn chair just like big brother got for his 1st birthday (so now hopefully they won't fight over them anymore)! Mimi and Papa McCormick got Rylan several fun toys including a Lightning McQueen that he can ride or push around the house, a Little Zoomers construction set, Zig the Big Rig and some fun board books. Greyson was A LOT of help with opening the presents. I figure it is only fair since he had lots of help opening the ones on his first birthday!

After presents we dug into the yummy cupcakes. Rylan certainly had no trouble in that department. I don't think I have ever seen anyone eat anything so fast, and then look for more! By the time he was done with cake and ice cream, there was nothing left to do but dunk him in the tub!