Swimming with the Olymipian’s and the Ruby Giveaway Winner

First off, the winner of the giveaway is Naomi Beachy!  Congratulations Naomi. I will e-mail you with details.  Thank you for all who entered.  I loved reading your acts of service and holiday traditions.  Every one of them made me smile!  Thank you for sharing and being a part of Ruby.

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This summer we were glued to the T.V every evening during the Olympics, especially to watch the swimming events.  It was common for the entire family (even Ady) to be up until 11:30, then the late night shows started and it was time for bed.  The kids didn’t want to miss a thing!  Neither did we.  These are really fun summer memories for us and great time spent as a family. 

Swimming has been such a huge part of our life since we moved to Texas.  The kids have been in summer league for 4 years now and Kaylee has swam year round for half of that time.  It is a big commitment but such a wonderful sport to be involved in.  In the middle of September we had the opportunity to be a part of something really exciting!  Kaylee’s year round swim team, Swim Streamline, brought two Olympian swimmers to us!  Josh Davis and Misty Hyman came and taught a swim clinic for our team at our pool. They are amazing people and had so much to share with the kids.  Not only did they offer great advice and tips about swimming, but they had just as much wonderful advice about life and being the best person you can be.  I was inspired listening to them and their amazing life stories.  Doesn’t it seem like every Olympian has a special story to share?  An experience that kept them going and made them such strong people? They had their own stories to share and I loved hearing them.  It’s nice because when Kaylee is exhausted from doing hard things, whether it is at swim or at school we can talk about what we remember Josh and Misty saying.  They taught these kids life skills and gave me extra tools to use as a parent.  The other day I told Kaylee “Practice makes perfect.”  She said, “No. Josh said practice doesn’t make perfect.  Perfect practice makes perfect.”  Oh. Yeah your right. Thanks Kaylee!

The morning started by meeting Josh and Misty.  Each swimmer got their autograph and took a picture with them while wearing their gold medals.  So inspiring! 

They even had the kids sign their own shirts.

Then it was time to learn.  After Josh and Misty gave their speeches it was time for hands on teaching in and out of the pool.

They got the kids pumped up and were so much fun to interact with.

Coach Ross, who is still a strong swimmer and swims for the Masters Swim Team, raced Josh Davis.  The kids absolutely LOVED this!

We are so lucky to have the opportunities we have and be surrounded by so many amazing people every day. Our coaches and team rock!  We are proud to be Northampton Cuda’s and to be a part of Swim Streamline through out the year.

Aaaaaaaannnnnnddd…

We had a birthday in the house!!!

Ady turned 3.

More to come soon.

We had a birthday…

The Birthday Boy was Jake! 

He turned 9 in the middle of January.  I can’t believe how late I am with this post!  I am going to get some catching up done this week on the blog. 

His birthday was on a Sunday.  Which made our breakfast in bed tradition a little tricky considering we have church at 9:00 a.m.  The kids had the next day (Monday) off from school so I told him we could do breakfast in bed then.  I tried to get him all excited about it by saying we could do Cold Stone on Saturday, birthday dinner, cake and presents on Sunday and then breakfast in bed on Monday.  Doesn’t that sound like so much fun to celebrate a little each day?

He didn’t think so. 

There was no way he was going to let me get away with serving him breakfast in bed on a different day.  Well, ok then.  :)  It’s nice to know that the birthday traditions we have created mean something.  That is the whole point! 

So it was a quick breakfast of Egg McMuffins and OJ.  His request.

Later that night we had a little family birthday party for him.  We do a family party each year and it always consists of  a birthday dinner (his choice) presents, cake and then just spending time together.  Usually playing with whatever it is he got that year.  Every other year we have a friend party also, always on a different weekend.  They like to celebrate with friends too and I understand that.  I have to admit that it was nice this time to have it be an off year.  I didn’t have to worry about planning a different party and spending the extra money.

So we partied at home as a family.

Here is a confession – I care about lighting for parties.  Gasp!  I know I’m not the only one.  :)  I kind of plan the party around the light.  It makes the pictures more fun and easier to take.   Well that didn’t work out for me this time.  There was something called a football game (or 2) going on and I couldn’t get my boys away from the T.V.  Since it was his birthday and all I let it slide.  I know, that is so thoughtful of me! :)  It kind of set a theme for our party that I wasn’t aware of.  Instead of eating in the dining room we should have been eating at the bar in the kitchen or taken it to an actual sports bar or something.  All manners were thrown out the window this night.  I am giggling right now thinking about it.

Before I get into the details here was his tablescape.  I kept it super simple and grabbed some things from Jake’s room that represent him right now.

 

About Jake:

He is very handsome if I do say so myself.  I love that picture of him.

He just turned 9.

He absolutely LOVES football.

He still plays a lot with his Hot Wheels and Legos. 

He is currently spending A LOT of time reading and I mean A LOT!  He will read late into the night (with out me knowing about it) and then tell me he has a headache the next morning.  Now I know why!  He LOVES the Harry Potter series and is currently on #4.

On the dinner menu:

wings

cheese fries

blue cheese and ranch to dip

lots of Coke.

Are you seeing a theme here?  So far we have football and your typical sports watching food.  The food btw,  was gone before I even had the chance to take pictures.  I guess you can tell how much they loved it!

They were eaten to the bone!  This is where things got a little crazy and our manners were long gone.  There was a lot of finger licking that included the slobbery smacking sound, even though we had napkins. (yuck!) There was an intense burping contest and lots of laughing.  Definitely not my proudest mom moment but it is always fun to hang out with the family and have some laid back fun.

After dinner was done, Jake moved on to his presents.  I love how Ady has to be involved.  You can tell in the first picture he is trying to be patient.  He is such a good brother and of course let her be a part of it.

Then candles and cake.

Did you notice in the series of pictures that Drew snuck up on Jake and “helped” him blow out the candles?  Typical little brother.  Jake wasn’t too happy about that. 

When I asked Jake what kind of cake he wanted he said his very own little one.  That was easy enough.  I just bought one from the store.  The rest of us had to have something too so I made these Homemade Oreo Cupcakes.

They are delish!  You MUST try them! 

One of the things Jake got for his birthday was boxing gloves.  Drew got a pair for his birthday and Jake has been wanting some ever since.  Of course they had to try them out.  Which raps up our little sporting theme party that I had no idea was going to be a sporting themed party.  Hahaha…

We used our dinner bell to start the boxing round.  How convenient, right?  They put on the appropriate attire which consisted of boxing gloves and stripping off their shirts.  A little lesson from dad (which they didn’t need) and the boxing began.  Casey got some of it on video which we all got a good long laugh about.  It is one we will keep forever!

It was the perfect way to end our night and Jake’s birthday.  I think he got to do exactly what he wanted to.

Happy 9th Birthday Jake!  We love everything about you!

P.S. This would actually make a fun themed friend party.  Plan your child's party around a game they are looking forward to.  Invite friends over to watch the game and serve sporting related food.  You could set the kitchen up like a “Sports Bar”.  (I hate using that phrase for children, but you know what I mean) Finish it up by playing whatever sport they were watching out side.  They can have a game of their own.  Doesn’t that sound like fun?  I know my boys would love it.  I am going to save this one for sure!

Happy Birthday Ady!

This little girl had a birthday yesterday.  I can hardly believe she is two years old!

Where did my baby go?  She is still my baby even though she is growing up. That is the role of the last child.  She has that one covered!

This girl has so much personality.  She has since the day she was born.  I remember feeling overwhelmed by how much personality she had that first year.  Who am I kidding?  I am still overwhelmed at times, but I love and appreciate her for her spunkiness.  I feel like  her little body is just growing into her personality. 

Ady’s favorite thing in the world right now is Strawberry Shortcake. 

 

I think we made her pretty happy with a Strawberry Shortcake celebration.

 

She would have been happy no matter what, but it was fun putting this together for her.

This was the easiest cake I have EVER made and yummy too.  My kids asked why we haven’t had this before.  I told them they will be seeing this cake a lot more.  It is perfect for a cool summer treat.  I took the easy way out and bought an angel food cake from the bakery and cut it into 3 halves.  Then whipped up some homemade whipping cream and layered the angel food cake and the whipped cream.  I made sure to use a lot of whipped cream.  The more the better, right?  Then just topped it with fresh strawberries.   

The whole thing was perfect for Ady.  I really enjoy making each of my children feel special on their birthday.  It is their very own special day and I want them to know how much their parents and siblings love them.  It is a little extra effort, but I hope that we are creating memories that will make them smile when they are all grown up and not at home anymore. 

Ady was so funny when Casey was lighting the candles.  She didn’t know what to think.  Her facial expressions say it all!  I laugh every time I look at them.

She needs a little prodding to blow out those candles.

I just love her!

 

She did not need prodding to open her presents.  I love her mischievous face in this photo.  It says so much about her.

 

If you are lucky enough to really now Ady, then you know exactly just how much it says! :)

We found her a girl set of Lego’s.  Of course my boys were all over this one.

  Grandma sent her a couple of new Strawberry Shortcake videos, which she has already watched over and over. 

She also got two Strawberry Shortcake dolls. One to carry in her purse and a bigger one to play with. 

A birthday isn’t a birthday with out balloons.  We carried on the tradition of waking up to birthday balloons.  She thought this was pretty awesome!

Happy Birthday Ady!  We love  you so much and can’t wait to see what the next year has in store for you.

A Birthday Party for Kaylee

You should be forewarned that this is a really long post.  There are so many details to share.

In July we celebrated Kaylee’s 10th birthday.  She had a kitchen themed party.  She helped me plan the whole thing.

We started out in the pizza station.  One of Kaylee’s favorite meals are her daddy’s homemade calzones.

Each place setting had a silver cake tray along with their plate and napkins.  They used the silver tray to roll out their dough.  That way it wouldn’t stick to the table cloth.

I had glass containers out for all of the pizza toppings.

And of course her fave…Dr. Pepper.

We used the frozen package of Rhodes Bread.  It was easy prep.  Each loaf was cut into thirds.

It was the perfect size for them to handle on their own and plenty big for one serving.

The toppings were loaded up, the top of the bread was folded over, pinched shut and put in the oven to bake.

Casey was a huge help with this, plus Kaylee loved that her dad was helping with her party.

While the calzones were baking, it was time to move to the baking center.

The girls each had an apron tied to their chair.  I had the moms RSVP with their daughters favorite color.  We just did simple white aprons and then embellished them with the chosen color.  This was one of their party favors.

This one is Kaylee’s tied to her birthday chair.  (As a side note: this chair was free.  A couple of days before her party my neighbor had this chair and another one sitting out for the garbage man to get.  I snatched them up.  It was already painted green and perfect.  I have painted the other one a fire engine red.  Now we have a girl and boy birthday chair and two new photography props.)

Each place setting also had a chefs hat (their other party favor) a silver tray (with a lip on it so the sprinkles wouldn’t roll all over the floor) and their paper goods.

I baked sugar cookies ahead of time in 3 different size of circles.  They made their own birthday cake cookie by decorating and stacking them.

The party girls worked hard.

Here are some details of the table decor and what the girls used to decorate their cookies.

They had lots of fun and got so creative!

After they ate their calzones it was time to open presents…

and blow out the candles.

Each of the girls got one of Kaylee’s candles and made wishes together.

Here are a couple more party decorations.  While Kaylee and I were preparing for her party she kept asking me over and over what decoration was my favorite.  I never could decide but she always chose the cupcake garland.

Her other favorites were the fresh Gerber Daisies on the shelf and the centerpiece of the table. 

This was such a fun way to celebrate Kaylee’s birthday.  She and her friends are old enough to know their way around the kitchen and do things on their own while still enjoying a creative outlet.  My favorite part of the whole thing was spending time with Kaylee planning it.  We gathered ideas from my Birthday Party board on Pinterest together and shopped late into the night and spent a couple of days putting it all together.  She has an eye for detail and appreciates pretty things.  We speak the same language. :)

 

 

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