Last week, Den and new baby Ryan were here for a visit. We were booked solid most of the week so we had them on the run a lot. We had: a bday party/playgroup Monday, then Denay's friend visited that afternoon, preschool Tuesday (I was the picture mom), we went to a friend's house Tuesday night to hang out with my girlfriends (yeah!), another bday party/playgroup Wednesday, another friend visit Wednesday night, then preschool & Aiden's little "pre-preschool" class Thursday morning before I drove them to the airport Thursday afternoon. I'm excited to announce that I personally made the picture montage from this week (next week...it's back behind the camera for me!)

Once upon a time, I liked to make lots of cards/tags/baby announcements and other assorted crafts. About 2 years ago, Brian bought me this AWESOME machine that cuts all kinds of fun shapes. Inspired by 3 consecutive birthday parties (for 4 children), I dusted off my "Cricut" last Saturday and made a few present tags.
Too bad kids never pause to admire the hand-made artwork on their gifts :) It looks like my actual wrapping could use some work!
So...here we are at birthday bash #2, Tommy & Jack's pirate party. Their mom did an amazing job with this one. She had pirate costume stuff for each kid when they arrived (eye patches, bandannas, sashes etc), pirate decorations everywhere, a really fun "picture" treasure hunt and the coolest goody bags I've ever seen....black cloth bags full of "treasure" decorated with a white skull and cross-bones she did herself with a stensil. The kids had a blast! I want to note that I dressed Logan in his pirate tee shirt that morning so he was fully committed to the theme :) I didn't get any good pics of Aiden at this party...he only let me put the pirate stuff on him for about 5 minutes.
Den's friend stopped by with her little girl. Baby Alyssa and baby Ryan are about a month apart and this is the first time they met.
True to form, Den bought them coordinating outfits (I think D would coordinate the world if she could...it would be a prettier place if she were in charge for sure!) Awwww!! All hail the adorable king and queen of the boppy pillow.
Logan at preschool!!! We moms can sign up to help for various tasks and party planning committees. The teachers are making each child a portfolio detailing the things they have been working on in school. Included in this portfolio are pictures of your child "doing his or her thing" at school. I was assigned the task of picture mom last week and snuck in a few shots of my own. Here, Logan invites me in for a personal tour of "the green room" (how handy that green is his super most favorite color!)
This is Logan's favorite toy at school. We actually discovered it together during preview day. He talks about it a LOT!
There were two art projects going on while I was there: draw your self-portrait and "baby-food-jar bat candles". I saw quite a few of the portraits and I have to say that I was seriously impressed with Logan's! I hate to be a braggy mom, but L doesn't usually go for the art projects so I didn't even know he could draw a face! He actually gave himself a little neck, a collar, hair, eyes etc.
It was so cute...he drew circles for his eyes and then scribbled in a little green and then a little brown. I've always been surprised by how observant he is about his own eye color.
Back at home, I hung out with auntie Denna and our little boys. There I am!! I need a hair cut!!! Me and Brady play on the floor.
My little sweetie! Aiden was reading on the couch for a while. He arranged all these pillows and told Den "I need to be comfy"
Aiden comes to play with us too! He really enjoys being around Brady (sometimes he's a bit rough, but mostly it just scares me to see that Brady laughs at the rough-housing!)
It was hard to keep Bray away from Ryan. He always wanted to play with him, but it looked mostly like eye-poking. Ryan wasn't in our house for 10 minutes before Brady found him swinging in the living room. He pulled himself up, examined his cousin, looked around the swing, spotted a paci and popped it into his own mouth! Paci thief! Here, Brady crawls around Ryan during "tummy time".
Later, the babies enjoyed a bottle together.
On our final morning with Ryan, Aiden and Logan played with their cousin for a while before breakfast. Here they are, both holding one of his tiny hands.
Then I told them to give him a kiss....which they did all too willingly! Welcome to our crazy family baby Ryan! We hope you get to come live near us REALLY soon!!!