Happy Birthday JR!

Saturday we spent the day with family celebrating JR's first birthday!   We had a blast.  Here are pictures from the day.

Talsie made the cake and mom and I made the horse cupcakes you saw in my last blog.

The reins are long licorice I bought at a candy store.  Very hard to find.

 The heads are chocolate dipped circus peanuts and chocolate and vanilla wafers for the necks.

 Mom decorated some tins with cowboy stickers to hold peanuts.  She did a great job!

 Here's a view of almost all of the table.  Talsie used pie tins for plates.  Such a cute idea!

 Here's the birthday boy in his cowboy attire.

 Lolly and Pop with the downs boys.

 JR and Ryker crawling towards the sandbox.

 Opening gifts.

 Ryker ended the evening passed out in the swing on the back porch.

We had a great day with family and a few church friends!  Such a fun party.  Next we're on to Tres' graduation party!! What fun parties have you been to lately??

Mandi Lou

Giddy-Up!!

Yesterday my youngest nephew turned 1!!!  Tomorrow we are having a cowboy themed party.  My mom and I spent the better part of the afternoon and evening making him special cupcakes, and working on a few other surprises for him.  Here are the first few cupcakes we made.

Aren't these just the cutest cupcakes!!!  They were frustrating and fun to make.  I'll post pictures from his party after tomorrow.   

Happy Birthday Baby J!  

Mandi Lou

So much going on...

I haven't posted in quite awhile.  We have had a lot on our plates lately.  Tres and I are both getting to the end of our school year which tends to be fairly busy by itself.  On top of that we are trying to get everything together for our move.  We spent this past weekend in Tyler looking at houses and spending what little spare time we had with our family there, and trying to get all of Tres' paper work for residency finished in the same weekend.  I don't know what we would do without them there.  They are helping to ease this big transition.  If all goes well we found a house!!  We are very excited and still a little on edge.  Inspections are happening tomorrow and we'll be able to breathe a lot easier if those come out clean.  I'll post pictures if everything works out!  Wish us luck and say a little prayer.

Mandi Lou

Match Day

I'm sure most people have already heard since it's been a couple of weeks, but for those of you who haven't it looks like Tres, Ryker and I are moving to Tyler.  The initial shock of it all has faded and we've been getting down to the nitty gritty.  Tres' been on the phone here and there figuring out paper work for him to start, talking to realtors about housing, and other must dos before we move.  We're trying to plan it so we move somewhere in the first or second week of June.

Match Day

Everyone got a prescription pad that had on the first page where you were going.

Very cute way of telling.

Although we will be sad to leave our friends and family for the next three years, we are getting prepared and a little excited about what's to come.  It will be a growing experience for us and our family.  

Mandi Lou

Teeth, teeth and more teeth!

Well it has been a rough couple of nights around here.  A couple of nights ago Ryker started having problems staying asleep in his crib.  I kept telling Tres it was just weird that he all the sudden didn't want to stay in there.  Well as most of you that read this know he cut his two front bottom teeth Christmas Eve, well we're at it again.  At his 6 month appointment the doctor thought it looked like his top two could be coming in anytime.  I noticed yesterday the two top were beginning to look very white.  It all made sense.  I was thought "Great!!  Pretty soon they'll come in.  We'll just power through it".  Well little did I know he had another bottom one coming in!!!  We were playing together tonight and he started chewing on my finger when I noticed a little sharp something next to his bottom left tooth.  I couldn't believe it.  The poor guy... Not only are those two top trying to push their way out, but apparently one on the bottom if not the other one was and is trying to come in!

Poor guy doesn't feel the best.  Well it's about time for another dose of Tylenol and off to bed!

Mandi Lou

Birthday and Craft

We had a wonderful weekend celebrating my mom's birthday.  A couple of old friends came in from Tennessee to look into a college and spent Saturday and Sunday with us.  It was great to see them.  

Micaiah wanted to help Lolly blow out the candles and open her gifts.

Don't you just love my mom's new cute doo!!  I think it looks great!

Before all of the party fun, my mom and I made Ryker a "Taggie" blanket.  I found this cute fleece at Hancock's on sale.  I loved the little dinosaur that is sewn on.  It adds for a little extra texture on the blanket part.  We cute it to be 13 x13 so after all the sewing it would be 12x12.  

I bought ribbon and used a little bit of what I already had to make the tags.  I picked different texture ribbons and squiggly ones too.  It makes it fun looking and gives him lots to feel on.  

I lined the back of the blanket with a yellow flannel.  I figured this way it could soak up any messes unlike the opposite fleece side.

Here is the finished blanket!!  I just love it!

Here's the reverse side.

I leave you with some pictures of Ryker, JR and the taggie blanket!

I hope everyone else had an equally wonderful weekend!!

Mandi Lou

Just Terrible!

I am just terrible at keeping up with this whole blogging thing.  I've recently switched to a different computer and haven't been able to figure out how to put pictures or videos on, but low and behold I have figured it out!!  I know you're all so excited.
This is the most recent video of Ryker.

We've had a string of great weather lately.  Tres and I walked to a local park with Ryker so he could enjoy being outside.  He loves the swings.  Mostly because that's all he can do at the park.  After the park we met my mom for a nice run and had a great dinner.  After dinner we went by my parents to see some old friends that will be in town for a couple of days.  Now it's home for baths and bedtime!!  Enjoy you're evening.  

Look at my big boy sitting up!

Mandi Lou