Luke's Third Birthday!

As per family tradition, I made breakfast on Luke's birthday!  We had Monkey Bread (his choice) with candles, presents and singing all before 6:30 am!  He went on to have a fabulous day at Kari's where he got to wear his birthday crown, enjoy a chocolate chip cookie cake and presents from her!  That evening we enjoyed a family supper at Newt's.  The big party was the next day!

Luke's 2nd Birthday

We've started a family tradition that the morning of the birthday boy, we'd have a special family breakfast with candles!  Then the boy could open presents from mommy and daddy.  This year was no exception.  We had a butterbraid courtesy of a school fundraiser.  It was awesome because I just needed to bake it!  Luke woke up on his birthday saying, "TWO. TWO. TWO."

Such a happy birthday boy!!!

Cousins

Anna, Jake and Ella have moved back to Rochester.  The most exciting part about this as that our kids will get to grow up together.  We went over to their new house to celebrate Ella's first birthday and then we put the kids in their "4th of July" outfits bought by Grandma!  

Birthday Girl!!!

This was the best we got of the three of them!  We were exhausted after trying for the perfect shot!

Jay's 35th Birthday

Jay had to work on his birthday.  Then that evening we had the VBS potluck and program, so we didn't do anything too out-of-the-ordinary!  We did make him a heart cookiecake to bring to his office and then we got a DQ ice cream cake for that evening.  As previously mentioned in this post, he was really excited to turn 35!  His real present was to himself to give baseball another shot!

Grandpa's 65th Birthday!

Dad turned 65 in early May.  I decided to make him a cake to mark the big number!  I got the idea from Pinterest and thought the cake turned out adorably!  Totally his type of cake because his spends most of his time on the golf course!

Jack's 5th Birthday Party!

Jack's 5th birthday party was a huge success despite a few unexpected trips to the ER!  Never a dull moment at the Ryan household!

Jack chose a MONSTER party theme.  He chose this months ago when I was planning Luke's first birthday party.  He wanted to search Pinterest with me and come up with a theme and so began the party planning for his fifth birthday!

While I absolutely love party planning and making elaborate cakes, I do get stressed out!  (Shock!) Add in a husband who is out of commission due to severe torticolis and a drugged induced stupor, and I'm impressed at how well I kept it together.  I essentially had ZERO help and shockingly, I pulled it off with no major glitches!

I made monster cupcakes AND A monster cake AND cake pops!  Cake pops taste amazing, but holy cow they're a pain to make!

This year since Jack was five, I decided to have a couple games for the kids.  We did a pinata and "pin the eyeball on the monster!"

My dad lead the pinata escapade since Jay was in bed unable to move!

 I love this picture of Luke peering over the table!

 Jack cracked up at his placement of the eyeball on the monster!

 All the little boys' goofy faces!

Luke's First Birthday---10.11.11

Luke's actual birthday was a couple days after his party.  I had the day off of work so I could take him for his 1 year check up and his shots.  He checked out great, did fine with his shots and weighed in at 23 lbs!  Jay was able to go to the doctor with us too, as he was off for his three day annual check up.  Luke's a totally normal 1 year old.

A few tidbits:
--He's got a few words: Dada, Mama, Hi, and Hot!
--He's starting to take a few steps.
--He's only interested in table food and has rejected his bottle (even before I could take it away from him!) ---He's now drinking from a sippy cup and on whole milk.
--It seems he's eating more than Jack!
--When he was born he was in the 97% )9 lbs 12 oz) and on his first birthday he's in the 58% (23 lbs)!

I had saved enough cupcakes to celebrate again and had a couple presents for his actual big day!  He seemed to like the cake a lot better the first time!

Luke's First Birthday Party--Dr. Seuss

I guess I'd actually been planning Luke's first birthday party since he was born! Last Halloween when he was only two weeks old, I decided that the boys were going to be Thing One and Thing Two for this Halloween. The Cat in the Hat on PBS had just come out last fall and Jack was obsessed. That's where I got the idea. So, this summer, I started searching for costumes. I found some adorable (and expensive) shirts and wigs on Etsy, so I bought them. I also started searching for Dr. Seuss birthday party ideas. I got obsessed!

 I wanted the boys to wear their "costumes" more than once, so I planned they'd wear them for Luke's birthday party. (And from an earlier post, you can see they were also worn for the JJD Kiddie Parade!) In addition to the costumes, I wanted Dr. Seuss themed food and decorations. I found lots of great ideas and began planning! Included in these ideas were Thing One and Thing Two cupcakes, a Cat in the Hat inspired "smash cake," Green Eggs and Ham, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, and other things too.

The Invitation

Thing One and Thing Two cupcakes

The Cat in the Hat inspired "smash" cake

Green Eggs and Ham (a near disaster as Mom was supposed to bring them....she forgot the hard boiled egg whites at home!!! Jay made a Kwik Trip run and saved the day. We boiled a dozen eggs and peeled them in no time!)

Other Dr. Seuss book inspired foods: One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish--Goldfish & "Pink Ink Yink Drink"

The Cat in the Hat cookies

The decorations---several made by big brother Jack

The Dr. Seuss Quilt and Bib made by Grandma Rickert

Collages

The BIRTHDAY BOY!!

The Presents--gladly opened by big brother Jack!

"Happy Birthday to You!"

The Cake