Ryan turns 4

So belated.... bad Auntie.

Love this boy so much....

4 years old

I can't believe tomorrow this little guy will be 4 years old. My, Oh my, how time does fly. I love you, my sweet, funny, handsome little nephew. : ) Here is a look back over months 36-48.

Love this boy. To see other years in review, Click here, here and here.

Love,

Aunt Hedda

weekend in review

This weekend was awesome! I'm still worn out. : ) It started Thursday night when Mark and I went over to Bill and Beth's to hang out and Beth and I got to watch some Grey's Anatomy! On Friday morning Mark and Ryan and myself went over to help bill pull some vines down off of the rental house. After that we went to Lowe's and then we all came home to take a nap! That night we had pizza and cake then went bowling for Olivia's 4th birthday!

Saturday was even crazier. We started at the ball field for Ryan's first Tee Ball game. Can I just say HOW CUTE little kids are playing tee ball? They build dirt piles, run the wrong way and ask if they can go sit with their papaws when they get bored. It's adorable!

Mark and I left the ball field and headed home to get ready for Nikki and Jay's wedding. Nikki was such a beautiful bride and we were so happy to be a part of their day! They had some of the best food I've ever had at a wedding as well. Lots of authentic Italian finger foods. Delicious!!

After the wedding, We headed home to change again and this time Courtney went with me to Ryan's second game of the day where we met my Mom and my Uncle Mark. Ryan was a crowd pleaser, that's for sure! After the game, Courtney and I headed back to my place to change for the final leg of Saturday's journey... Vanessa's Bachelorette Party!

We had a great time and sent Vanessa's single life out in style of course...with hard liquor, dirty dancing and a little karaoke. : ) After we got home, I completely passed out.

Sunday morning the three of us woke and ate pizza for breakfast. After that we all got ready and headed out for Vanessa and James shower. They got a ton of gifts and they are already so loved by their families and friends. We can't wait to help them celebrate their big day! After all that, Mark and I didn't feel like cooking dinner, so we got a rotisserie chicken from Food City, piled on the couch and watch a few episodes of True Blood Before calling it a day.

I hope your weekend was as fun as ours was!

Ryan and Mater

My favorite shortstack came to stay the night with us this weekend. That boy sure does make me happy. You know, he really is the most sweet and caring, thoughtful little boy I know. He's more than happy. He's a delight to be around.

We watched Cars 2 about four times. We played "cars" while we watched Cars 2. We ate Spaghetti and then I blew up the air mattress for him to sleep on in our room. You might have thought I had told him we were going to Disney. We just squealed! And then he fetched his Tow Mater Pillow from upstairs and requested to watch Cars 2 again.  He slept in and woke up asking for toast and Oatmeal and Cars 2.

I now know that if I am ever on a game sure where the million dollar question is "Who is Lightning McQueen's best friend?" I'm gonna get the million, with TOW MATER. : )  Here are a few pictures. Even Bruiser played along...Enjoy!

Love this little boy with all my heart.... as he likes to say, "we have the Most fun!"

Mark's Little Helper

Most of you know that when Ryan comes over, we like to let him do whatever it is we are doing. If it's raining and we are inside, he like to help me cook or clean or brush the dogs. Most of the time, we are outside and he just LOVES to help Uncle Mark work on things. So far, he's helped mow, burn brush, stack up the wood pile, work on the lawnmower and countless other things. Working on the lawnmower really seems to be his favorite thing to do, though. Almost every time he comes over, he asks Mark is they are going to work on it. (Mark does side jobs working on other peoples small engines. Our lawnmower only gets its blades sharpened and routine maintenance.) Anyway, Mark wears gloves while he works and he always gives Ryan a pair of purple latex gloves to put on while he's working.

Ryan's love for gloves has gotten a little out of control. It adorable really. About a month ago, he had his first trip to the dentist. It wasn't going well. The dentist prepared to get started anyway and put on a pair of gloves. It turned the entire visit around. Ryan demanded a pair (actually, several pairs) and they gave them to him. He was a happy camper after that. : )

A week ago, my grandfather (Ryan's GREAT grandfather) was in the hospital. Ordinarily, Ryan would be super bored and probably acting out. Instead, Papaw told Holly to get him some gloves so he could "work" on him to help him get better. SO CUTE.

Further compounding his love for gloves, Mark ran to Lowes for a few items the other night when Ryan was staying over. When he returned, Ryan was in the bathtub. Mark came in and asked Ryan if he had been good while he was gone. "Yup!" Ryan replies. Mark promised him a present since he had been good and to come see him in the office when he was all clean. So we hurried the rest of the bath and went to investigate....

Ryan got a pair of "heavy duty work gloves" with Disney's Cars on them! He was over the moon and helped Uncle Mark work on all kinds of things for the remainder of the night!

it should be illegal to be this cute

Baby Love. Aw.

Really. I mean, seriously!

Birthday Bonanza

There was a whole lot of this all day on Saturday.   : )

We had the best time, and I couldn't be happier, more proud or more exhausted. Being the hostess with the mostess requires a lot of blood, tears and mostly sweat. Good thing we had plenty of cold water in the kiddie pool and spraying in every direction thanks to some seriously good water guns and water blasters.

Happy 3rd Birthday to the sweetest boy I know. I hope you had the best birthday yet, little man!!

Love,

Aunt Hedda

*Judas- Lady Gaga

another year in review

It's SO hard to believe that our little munchkin will be 3 in just a few days time. I'm leaving the third Birthday picture out to do a party review with, hopefully on Sunday. In case you missed it before, I did a review of year TWO and ONE and they are just as sweet, if you can imagine. So, for now, I give you 24-36 months.

Happy 2nd Birthday! June 2010

Hair raising July 2010

Hamming it up, August 2010

Always joking around- September 2010

Yoda- October, 2010

Our favorite little turkey- November 2010

Fun with play d'oh- December 2010

New digs! January 2011

Playing outside- February 2011

Always on the move- March 2011

Growing like a weed- April 2011

Becoming a little man... May 2011

Love you SO MUCH baby boy!! Can't wait to celebrate with you on Saturday!!

Love,

Aunt Hedda

*The Beatles- Hey Jude

zoom zoom...

This weekend flew by. So fast, in fact, that I almost forgot it was Easter. Until Saturday night when my mom called to remind me. (Thanks, Mom!) Thursday night, Mark and I embarked on a journey of pain. We helped a lady he works with rake her yard. Why, Oh WHY I forgot to take before and after pictures is beyond me, but it was totally worth it. : ) I got some serious cardio in, and Lee is an amazing person who's just cool to be around. We worked on the yard Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Lots of leaves, people! Saturday was the busiest of all. We went out to the lake lot to spray for ticks early that morning and then had a pancake brunch with Bill, Beth and Kyle. After that we scooted over to Lee's to finish up her yard. After rushing home, I showered (pulled off two ticks- YUCK.) and headed out to a photo shoot for the lovely Ellen and her boyfriend Michael. Ellen was nominated to attend the Dogwood Ball this weekend and I was lucky enough to take some pictures for her.

Talk about beautiful people! After the photo shoot, I rushed home to get ready for a dinner with some of my favorites- Bill, Beth, Paul and Mary. We hit up Don Edwardo's in Kingston and sat on the patio with mixed drinks and some excellent serenading from w guy who stepped out of a mariachi band. (No pictures, sorry!) Anyway, we were supposed to go and hear a band after that, but I just couldn't move I was so tired. We went home to chill and started mixing drinks and the evening just turned into one of those things that was meant to be. JT stopped by and Holly came over, too. We stayed up until 3 listening to music on the back porch. And then I promptly overslept on Easter Sunday.

After we finally got ready Sunday afternoon, we made the trip to my grandparents house to celebrate Easter. Mark ended up fixing a pipe under their sink and I took about 300 pictures of Ryan. (I can't help myself. This photo stuff is FUN. )

This kid can work a camera. That's just all there is to it! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I really need to start some laundry and think about cleaning my house. : )

*Automatic Stop- The Strokes

Picasso in my dining room

Day 15. Can't believe I have written everyday! I'm rather proud of that! Ryan is here today, making the day special on its own and we decided to do a little painting. He's so into colors and talking so well these days! Every time I gave him a new color he'd say "Thank you, Hedda!" He is just happy as a clam and being around him brings so much love and light into my day! Here are a few pictures of the future Picasso...

PS.... I don't know if I mentioned...this baby got a haircut. I miss his locks!

He is just so much fun. I love being a kid when he's around! : ) Happy Wednesday to you!

*Cherry Bomb- The Runaways

Sunshine and Happiness

I kept these two sweet angels today.

Olivia

   Ryan

Days like today make me wonder in the delight of being a child.

*Boston- Peace of Mind