Birthday and Bedroom

July was a busy month! Rylan turned two! We can't believe he is getting so big. At his 2 year check-up, he was 31 lbs 4 oz, and 37 1/2 inches. He seemed like such a big boy in there, not really fussing or anything. I'm not sure if this is because he is such a big boy or because he has seen the doctor so many times in his 2 years. His ears look good now, so that is a relief!
We celebrated his life by inviting our families over and getting Rylan's big boy room ready. We decided to move him into our former guest room, and keep the baby room a baby room. Originally I wanted a regular twin bed, but was swayed to get a race car bed when we found it at a garage sale for $50! Rylan loves it!
We had a Mickey Mouse Birthday party because let's face it, he loves Mickey! I got some ideas off of the internet and got a little creative. I had fun preparing for his party. My mom and cousin helped me out a LOT with the cleaning and day of prep, I may still be getting ready if it weren't for them. Rylan had a great time. We tried to get him to announce what we were going to name the baby at his party, but he wouldn't do it on command. We just told everyone that were are going to name her LUCY MARIE!
Here are probably way too many photos of these events...enjoy!

Here is the car bed. He loves it!


This is our attempt to organize his toys. We have moved many of his books and toys into his room now. However, they still seem to make their way out to the living room.

Here is Rylan in his "big boy" bed.

This is the invitation I made for Rylan's birthday. I found an example on etsy and made my own. (I'm still deciding if I might make my own and sell them since they were asking $45 for 20 invites. I made 25 for less than $9.)

Here are the desserts I made for the party. It is fun putting it all together. The cake was a little lopsided, but it still looked cute.

Rylan's cake.



Mom has had this cookie cutter since we were kids. Good thing she hangs on to everything. ;)

Opening presents. I saved an outfit for Rylan to wear that day and he ended up wearing his bathing suit the whole time. The rug is now in his bedroom.

The kids having lunch at the cute picnic table.

Backing up...

In May, Ryan, my family, and my dear friends from Son City Kids and Monroe Circle surprised me with a baby shower/thank you party. They all really had me fooled, and I was delightfully surprised! Ryan made up many stories about taking me out to dinner but we had to stop at MC3 on our way to help LeRoy with something. When we pulled in, I said "look at all of the cars...something big must be going on"...HAHA to me.
For background, I helped found and run an afterschool program at our church's inner city outreach building, Monroe Circle Community Center (MC3). We began in 2007 and decided last January after prayer and thinking about what is best for our family to stop volunteering for a while. It was a really hard decision, but now is the time for me to be at home with my family. I miss the kids and the volunteers so much! I really want to get involved again, but I know myself well enough that saying no is really hard, so I have to tread lightly. It is easy to get hooked over there. :)

Anyway, what a fun party my friends threw! They decorated and everything! It was fun to see everyone, and I felt so humbled and blessed to be a part of this group. Here are a few pictures from that evening. Good thing I didn't wear sweats!

Ryan bringing me into the surprise.

Everything looked so nice!

My lovely friends who organized the gathering (I miss them).

Opening all of the little girl presents.