Texas Rangers game

Bryce loves all sports so we thought it would be fun to take the boys to a Rangers game last Sunday to wrap up the celebration of his birthday. If it seems like I went overboard for his birthday - Rainforest Cafe, party, Rangers game - it's because we are ALWAYS on vacation right around Cason's birthday so I feel like Bryce gets left out. Cason has been to Kansas City, Iowa, Myrtle Beach, and this year back to Iowa on his birthday. It's obviously not FOR his birthday, that's just always when Kelly's vacation is and we happen to go somewhere.

Anyway, this was actually the first MLB game for all of us. We didn't expect the kids to watch too much of the actual game but we thought they would enjoy it anyway. Our seats were pretty high up (and they stadium is almost scary steep!) so there was probably more people watching than game watching going on.











At one point, we got up and walked around for awhile. They had enormous escalators, which we are pretty sure was Bryce's favorite part. We went down to the ground level of the stadium and checked out the biggest fan shop. Cason HAD to have this Mexican "Los Rangers de Texas" ball. Seriously, out of all the different balls they had, that is the one he picked.





And Bryce fell in love with a foam baseball bat and ball set. He actually does play with it pretty much every day since.



Cuteness.





Sno cone tongue! The kids liked the food more than the game I'm sure. We shared some nachos, Cason had a few bites of Kelly's hot dog, and we got two sno cones to share.





Kelly had to get a picture with Cowboys Stadium in the background.



We all had a lot of fun. Bryce said his favorite part was "hot dog guy" even though he wouldn't take a bite of the hot dog. Cason said he loved having a sno cone and getting his Mexican ball. I'm sure we will go back next year!

Rainforest Cafe

I had been wanting to take the boys to the Rainforest Cafe because they like animals and I thought Bryce's birthday would be a good excuse. So when Grandma came to town last week, we decided to go there for dinner. They have a bunch of mechanical animals there that go off every 8-9 minutes. When we got seated, they were going off and they seated us at a table right by a gorilla. Bryce flipped out and we asked for a different table. They moved us over by a big fish tank and I hoped Bryce wouldn't be scared the next time the animals started moving and making noises.

Every time they did start back up, we told Bryce they were saying hi. He would wave and say hi but still have a skeptical, half scared look on his face. I don't blame him, how often do you see giant animals that move and make noises?!? Anyone remember Show Biz (before it became Chuck E Cheese)? Totally creeped me out when I was little! I was scared but I couldn't look away. Wanted to see the show but didn't want to get close at all. That's pretty much how it was with Bryce, he loved looking around and seeing everything but didn't not want to leave the safe spot that was his high chair. Cason, however, did get up and check everything out.











What grandparent can resist buying their grandkids some souvenirs? Cason had his heart set on a giant rattle snake.



And we showed Rycie almost every animal in the place before he settled on another tiger. Thank you Grandma for going with us to the Rainforest Cafe!

Bryce's 2nd birthday party

Kelly's mom was in town last weekend and it was also the only weekend around Bryce's birthday where Kelly would be home so we had a little birthday party for him last Saturday night. On Friday I spent a few hours of the afternoon/evening making his MUCH anticipated leopard cake. I bought a cake pan off ebay back in January and was waiting to see if he would want a tiger or leopard. He chose leopard so I tried to make it look like his beloved stuffed leopard. I finished somewhere around 9 pm and snapped a few quick pictures. SO glad I did. I then snuck into Rycie's room to grab his stuffed leopard to take some pictures of them sitting side by side. I came back and was arranging the stuffed leopard next to the cake on the counter when the cake fell over. I didn't even touch it! I think the head was just too heavy and the base of the cake too narrow.



It broke into 3 or 4 pieces and I was too annoyed and tired to do much to fix it. I slapped it back together with some extra frosting. Note how his face is smashed in. I was bummed but glad that I got a couple pictures of it looking nice. And I knew Rycie wouldn't really care. I layed the leopard down on his back and told Rycie that he was sleeping. Bryce didn't care that he wasn't standing up and looked like Frankencake. He just wanted to eat his pink nose.



On Saturday night, our good friends Lacy, Chris, Josiah, and Luke came over. Kelly smoked some pulled pork and the kids had a blast playing together.



They gave Rycie a cupcake play set that he loves. He plays with it every day, multiple times a day. He loves to just carry those fake cupcakes around the house.





After dinner, it was time for the kids' favorite part, the cake. Singing Happy Birthday.





Luke usually HATES cake. Like spits it out of his mouth and cries. So Lacy was surprised when he said he wanted some. She told me she'd just give him a small bite of hers because she knew he wouldn't like it. Well guess what, Luke loved my cake! He even got his own piece and I think he ate the whole thing. That was my small victory of the evening.



We had a good time and are very grateful our good friends could join us. So glad that Grandma could be here this year too! How did I not get a picture of Grandma with the boys?

Thank you Grandpa B.!

My dad sent a great cupcake making kit to Rycie for his birthday. It contained a cake kit, frosting, sprinkles, cupcake liners, a mini cupcake tin, star candles, and even a super cute apron and chef's hat with cats on them (thanks Lou Ann for finding the apron and hat!) Needless to say, it was a big hit with the boys.



Yesterday afternoon we set to work. Only one fight broke out during the making of these cupcakes about who got to stir and when.





Then they dumped a bunch of the red and green sprinkles in the batter which turned it to a lovely shade of Grinch green.



Mmmm. These look a lot like some egg spinach quiches that Kelly makes. Not necessarily a good thing.



After dinner I let the boys frost a few, which didn't last long under their noses.





Ha ha, caught him with the hat on!



Today after lunch I gave them each two.



Singing Happy Birthday.





Trying to blow out the candles.









Thank you Grandpa B.!

Happy Birthday Bryce!

Happy birthday Rycie Roo!

It has been a great year with you. You have learned to walk, run, jump, and crash on the couch. You are talking up a storm now. We have gone on vacation to Myrtle Beach, spent a few days at the water park at Great Wolf Lodge, had numerous visits from the grandparents, and you experienced a Texas “winter storm” a.k.a a little ice and a whole bunch of cold.

You love going to church to see Mr. Frank and Emery. Mr. Frank always stamps your hands and you love showing off your stamps to us. You also love to make the balls at church go “up high!” You love going to CrossFit gym to see Coach and show him whatever you are holding at the moment. You also love to see “M&M”, our friend, Amy. I love how you will stealthily sneak out of the cage to come closer to us while we are working out. You think if you are really quiet and move just one step at a time, no one will notice you have escaped and are creeping towards the mats. When we do finally notice you, you get a huge smile on your face. You are smart, you know it makes it hard for anyone to put anyone that adorable back in the cage. You have the best smile and are just incredibly cute. You are also very funny and make us laugh every day.

I love how energetic you are, always wanting to jump on the trampoline or the couch. I love how when Daddy announces that it’s handstand practice time, you run over to the wall and try to kick up into a handstand. We are planning on putting you in gymnastics this year and we think you will really love it.

You love jungle cats, especially your stuffed leopard, I’m not sure where that came from. You are fanatical about cake and cupcakes, I know exactly where that came from. You love balls and already insist on picking out your own clothes. The only shirts you like to wear have some sort of sports ball or equipment on them.

You are also so determined and know what you want. I don’t always love that, especially when it clashes with our rules. But I know it could serve you well in the future if you use it well. I pray that you will be a great leader and pursue what is right when others around you are making bad choices. But can you work on screaming less? Or maybe not so loud? You are incredibly independent and want to do everything for yourself. I know that is partly the age but I think it’s partly your personality too. I pray that you keep that independence and intensity over the years and tackle challenges you face head on.

Based on experience with your brother, I know this will be a year full of ups and downs. I’m not looking forward to potty training. I’m not looking forward to the stubbornness of a two year old, the transition to a big boy bed, or when you try to drop your nap but you still really NEED a nap. But I am looking forward to watching you learn, grow, play and have fun. I am looking forward to our family vacation back to Iowa this summer, seeing what things you become interested in over the next year, and watching you play with Cason. I pray you boys will be best friends always. But don’t grow up too fast. I will miss hearing you say “hai” for yes and the adorable way you say “kettle bell”, “baby pepperoni”, and countless other words.

Thank you for all the love, laughs, and hugs. Happy birthday Rycie!

Love Always,
Mommy

Thank you Denny and Lou Ann!

Reposting this because Blogger took it down...

Thank you Denny and Lou Ann for the book, card, and puzzle! Don't be fooled by the video, Bryce loved the book and wanted to read it several times tonight before bed.

Thank you Alissa and Dave!

Reposting this because Blogger took it down...

Thank you Alissa, Dave, Tate, and Greyson for the tank tops! Rycie loved them and insisted on wearing the soccer shirt to bed tonight. Notice in the video where he throws the shirts down and says "cake!" Little stinker.

Easter 2011

We went to church on Easter Eve this year to avoid the crowded parking lot on Sunday morning. After the kids were in bed that night, I got their baskets ready and filled up their eggs with cheddar and S'mores goldfish. We don't buy the kids crackers anymore so goldfish were a big treat for them. We opted to not hide the eggs that night so Kielers wouldn't eat them while we slept.

Cason's basket had two highly coveted Bearenstain Bears books in it, a notebook for drawing, three Pipsqueak pens, two bath markers, and some eggs I "recycled" from his egg hunt at school.



Rycie's basket had a baseball book, a football book, three Pipsqueak pens, two bath markers, and some of the "recycled" eggs I borrowed from Cason's stash.



Cason was SO excited to see two new B. Bears books!



Bryce mostly liked the 6 eggs and promptly ate the chocolate inside them for breakfast. I think next year I will try making Resurrection Rolls so we have something special and different to eat.



We have never done an Easter egg hunt at home before so I really wanted to do one this year. I was intending to hide them outside the house but the more I thought about it, the more I decided against it. Kelly had put pesticide down and I sprayed for bugs not long ago so I didn't like the idea of the food in the eggs being that close to chemicals. So after breakfast, Kelly made the kids stay in Rycie's room while I hid eggs in the kitchen, living room, playroom, and dining area. I thought it would be really lame but it actually ended up being super fun. Both kids loved it and I think we will definitely do it again next year.









By 9:00 we were getting kind of bored with nowhere to go so we headed for Target. They were closed so we went to Walmart instead, which was open. When we got back home, we blew bubbles for awhile. Some of my friends went to the Rangers game that afternoon, wish we had thought of that! I think we will look into that on future holidays where we have no family around.











We finished out the day with a lovely Easter dinner at Genghis Grill!