Deitrick Detail: Fast & Furious: Birthday Bash

since my last general update we have celebrated 2 birthdays!!!! I had one the week before our cruise, and then ryker had one the week we got back. it was crazy. Justin was in Cali for my birthday so it was pretty mellow. I made myself this german chocolate pecan cake. it was basically a mix between chocolate cake and 7 layer bars. it was divine. i loved it. justin hates coconut and nuts so i was in heaven to eat all i wanted knowing i was the only one going to eat it. yum!

I decided to do something fun and took the kids to the circus. yes, 3 kids by myself to the circus. it was fun! and not super crazy. we only made it through the intermission, but essentially the only one that cost entry was me so i wasnt too upset. and i didnt want to big of a fight since i was by myself. but the kids loved it! rylie loved all the animals and ryker was facinated by the motorcycles. we had some hula girls dance to moana songs and rylie was floored. she got so excited and then was frozen watching them. of course she sang along because, girl after my own heart, she cant help it. love her. during intermission, i let the kids ride the ponies. it was fun and no crying was involved. rex had just fallen asleep, so luckily i found a friend from the ward to hold him while i helped ryker and rylie.

Justin facetimed me and we had a skype date for my birthday. before he left he his a few knick knack things around the house so i got to play hot and cold to find some fun things. he is sweet to me. even from across the country.

rykers birthday was awesome. it was racecar themed because he still wants to be a racecar driver. i mean what little boy doesnt. in fact he still gets upset knowing that we dont have any more racecar cake... next year buddy. dont worry. we had a party with his sunbeam class and everyone from joyschool. it ended up being 10 kids, 4 babies, and 10 adults roaming around our house. and that was not including the 5 people in our own family. crazy! but so fun. we had some fun decorations. you cant have much structure with 3 year olds so i set up a few games to play but mostly knew they would go wherever till food. the race car track we had in the living room was definitely a favorite.

we had hot dogs, chips, and juice for lunch then sang to ryker with his awesome cake. after we all settled down a little ryker opened presents and then it was time to go. all in all it was a great party. hosting parties definitely makes me nervous, but i think for a first big birthday party it was fun and everyone enjoyed it. Thanks everyone for coming and making ryker feel special!!!

I heard from a few parents about reactions from his birthday thank you cards. I had a bad experience once so I try to be really good about it now. one little boy was so excited that he got mail his mom couldnt even open it for a while because he wouldnt let it go. so funny. another little girl told me she will love it forever! now that i think about it, ryker loves helping get the mail or packages at the door. when he gets mail it makes him really excited too.

Update on Ryker: He is my sweet sweet boy. He loves to pretend to be a race car or plane. he loves to run around and be outside. he likes to do everything with dad and help out with any project. only an issue when he is more hindrance than help. he loves to watch his learning shows for his downtime. whenever we drive around he always looks for speedy cars to catch. we have to find a red and black one. He gets so excited when we pass a car.

he is about 40 lbs and has officially transferred to a booster seat. we have to help him buckle, but he can get out by himself. the rule is he has to wait for mom/dad to open the door. if we say stop that could get iffy at stop lights. he is always so happy and loves to laugh. he likes to play catch. he loves his cars and has his trailers to help cart around as many as he can. still loves his trains. he likes anything to do with vehicles. he loves all his cars even though we have more than plenty, he gets so excited about all of them. he loves to make things with his playdoh and will carry around the tools with him always. He loves to carry around his pretend house keys to be just like dad. He loves justin more than anything and cant do anything without him when he is home.

He is doing pretty good at potty training. now its been about a year since we started. he is great during the day and we only have to remind him when we see him dancing and he doesnt want to stop playing or watching a show. we keep reminding him to listen to his body. he still is wet at night, but we will get to that.

He is starting swim lessons today! hopefully it will go well. he likes playing in a pool so heres hoping. He loves to learn and sometimes surprises us with what he does know. it is fun to watch him play and see how his mind works. he still loves to quote movies and recreate them with his toys. he is just so funny. sometimes his quotes are just so perfectly timed. i just love it.

he doesnt take naps, but sometimes i can still get him to cuddle with me. i sure love it. those sweet moments when he still wants me to hold him are moments i treasure.

i wont give an update on me because no one really needs to know. happy 26 to me, but thats all the info you get. ;)

watching the elephant and ponies before it starts

a clown came by and gave them each a sucker. they loved it.

our tiger tamer. it was right in front of us. it was awesome.

tigers jumping over each other. the description doesnt do it justice. it really was cool.

3 white tigers and 3 orange ones

through the fire!!!

this was a group that did tricks while balancing on this pole that was on this guys shoulders. talk about upper body strength

its hard to see but this was a bicycle in a hoop on top of his shoulders. the bike would rotate so the girl on top would spin like crazy.

an awesome archer

trapeze artists

i always love this one.

rylie was impressed too

3 rings at once. girl with like 50 hula hoops, 4 acrobats, and a juggler

rylie loved the arabian horses

she wanted to pet it so bad

the hula girls singing the moana songs

they took off the grass skirt part and did a rope routine. it was really cool

rylie was in awe

2 motorcycles in the cage

up to 3 in the cage!

rylie riding her pony

ryker on his pony

nervous but they loved it

while justin was gone, i finally got around to painting this. i think it turned out well.

happy birthday to me!

huby and eggbert! pronounced hewbee (like the pebble and the penguin) i love this cookie jar so much. dont worry, it has been consistently full since. ;)

rykers birthday invite

kite from grandma reed

bubble machine from mom and dad. since his birthday was thursday but his party was friday, we let him open our gifts for him now so we could use them at the party.

loves the bubbles

rykers awesome cake! i thought it turned out awesome.

take home goodie bags!

playing with his new motorcycles already

all our friends are here!the pvc pipe race track in the back was awesome. i collected all our hot wheels cars so everyone could play.

another game i made. cutting all those wheels was not my fave activity

i also made this bean bag toss game. justin helped make the board, but i sewed and filled all the bean bags and then painted the boards stoplight colors. i thought it turned out pretty well.