family pizza party...

This last sunday, after a very LONG week, after church we headed to my aunt and uncle's house for a pizza party.  My Uncle Bobby is my mom's cousin, but I have always called him my Uncle.  He married the coolest woman, Laurel and together, they throw parities like no one's business.

That oven was built after he spent weeks in Italy studying outdoor ovens and pizza recipes.

He's just the coolest:

He makes his own dough and has the portions prepared for perfect sizes:

We are talking flavors like blue cheese, fig, and pear...

Shut the front door they were amazing!

Connolis for dessert:

Kit took one for the team to swim the kids:

This little fish is just doing so great!

It was just so great to be together:

 While my Uncle Teddy played the mandolin: 

We drank these:

And felt pretty blessed to be part of a big Italian family.

Emily and David's wedding

Last thursday, Kit officiated the wedding for our sweet friends, Emily and David.  Emmy is the sister of one of Kit's closest friends and room mates from college and it was such an honor to be there to watch them begin their lives together.

It was a beautiful day!

What you can't see from the pictures is that the fire place was lit behind Kit an d it was a 530 wedding and he was in a black suit.  He had a hand held mic and also held his notes, so my poor husband had sweat POURING down his face, with no way to wipe it off.  He handled it like a champ and the ceremony was absolutely perfect!

The details were so fun!

 Each table represented a place that was special to them:

 Kit and our friend Mike... there is almost 16 years of crazy from these two...

 We are so happy for our friends as they start their life together and we were so honored to be a part of it!

writing

Preschool is coming and that has made me get motivated to be more consistent with things like practicing our alphabet, number recognition, and writing.  The truth is, Ryder has never really had an interest in writing, but I would LOVE to have him familiar with writing his name before he starts school in September.  So I have tried to make it fun:

 r-y-d-e-r  r-a-e

I figure if we can write an r and an e, we are practically there...♥

 Of course Eden was involved too...

 This was his first attempt at writing his name.

 I will be keeping these. 

He was patient and didn't get frustrated and kept trying even when he was sad it wasn't looking how he wanted.

Here was the next day when he wrote his full name for the first time:

The "e" is currently his least favorite but this kid can rock a lowercase "r" and "d".

I am so excited for all that is before him in preschool this fall.

His world will be open to so many things and I'm so thankful for the opportunity I have to come along side of him and watch him flourish!

it's puzzling...

When Eden naps and Ryder wakes up early, we like to do things that involve building with tiny legos, or making race tracks for his cars with blocks, play a game like memory, or build puzzles.  He gets very focused and sometimes little sisters can derail the PERFECT set up that you had been working so hard on, or they walk off with the LAST puzzle piece or they decide that the reason to play memory is to see ALL the pictures at the same time and that putting them face down is just plain silly.  He is so patient with her, but because she wants to do EVERYTHING he does, some projects are better when she is sleeping.  Ahh, siblings...

So the other day we pulled out puzzles per Ryder's request:

He loves how after a few pieces he can see a huge part of the picture...

 I love watching him be focused and determined on finishing...

 We did two and decided that we had to do just one more...

 He was so proud of our accomplishment that we had to take pictures to send to Kit at work.

 Every minute that I get to spend with this little man is such a gift.  His main love language is quality time and physical touch, so most of the puzzle time is while he is RIGHT next to me or in my lap and I just can't get enough of the little guy... It's afternoons like this with him that just bring me such joy!♥

A first for Ryder

While we we were in Oxnard, we took Ryder to his first movie, "Planes: Fire and Rescue".

So since it was his first time, I documented the dickens out of it, because I just can't help myself.

We brought Dusty with us.

We stopped by the drug store to get candy:

(The candy that was picked: sour patch kids, gummy worms, skittles, junior mints, and jelly bellies.)

His eyes were HUGE! These are the isles that I AVOID...

The last time I was in a movie theater was in Oxnard, when I was pregnant with Eden, for the last Harry Potter movie, at this theater.

 The cost of a children's matinee, so that he can remember, "When I was a kid...")

We had a great time, and the fact that he is such a huge Pixar/Disney fan of Planes, this made it the perfect first movie for our little man...♥