FINALLY.

Clearly these pictures are all out of whack and out of order. So, in backwards land. . .here are the Starfish cookie favors that we made for Bryce's birthday party.

A little more pinata action. . .I believe we were picking tiny plastic firefighters out of the grass at this point.The cousins. . .i LOVE this picture. This is the first time I have ever gotten all four kids looking at the camera TOGETHER. Amazing!

Singing happy birthday .. .

Here's the cake!!

Seriously, posting pictures from the party has been at the top of my list .. . .its just that there were also 35 other things that got stacked on top of it. But, I am happy to say that the gifts are wrapped, the tree is decorated, the office is covered in wrapping paper and ribbon, and after one more trip to the grocery FIRST thing this morning, we are officially ready for Christmas!!! PHEW.

a quick couple of birthday party highlights. . .

Here are just a few quick pictures from my mom's camera. I haven't downloaded my pictures yet, but i swear its on my to-do list!!!!!
here's bryce in his crab/lobster hat. we can't decide which one it is, but bryce and i had fun making them for the kids. (bryce wore his for all of two seconds, just so we could take this picture!)

blowing out the candles on the fishbowl cake (I have clearer cake pictures coming, i promise!) it turned out really cute!! and the frosting. . .was SOOOO yummy.

Pinata time!!! This was the pinata that WOULD NOT BREAK. I ended up tearing it open. Perhaps the plastic bat was the problem, but this thing was pretty indestructable!!!!

Okay, more pictures coming. I promise. Tonight. . .maybe. ;)

the rest of SeaWorld!

This is about all the rest of the SeaWorld pictures that are going to make it on the blog. . .tomorrow there will be a host of birthday party shots to share, so I am TRYING to get caught up before I get behind again!!! Enjoy! Going for a ride in the paddleboats. This was Bryce's first boat ride EVER. . .isn't that crazy!?

At the Shamu show. We surprised Bryce and got him this stuffed Shamu. . . we bought it and put it in the backpack, and then when we were sitting down at the show, had bryce open the backpack and there it was!!! He was SO excited. :)

It was quite difficult explaining to bryce why there are HORSES at SeaWorld. He actually pet the Clydesdale, and was pretty brave about the whole thing! I was impressed!

How fun is this picture!!! They have a really neat underwater viewing area to watch the dolphins - clearly, Bryce was pretty impressed by it!! :)

See you soon, with party photos!!! This week - I promise!!!

XOXOX

the first of the SeaWorld pictures!

Here is bryce feeding the dolphins. this is the best shot we could get, without paying $20 to buy the photo that the SeaWorld photographers took. Oh well!!! :)
Here's my excuse, okay? I always want to edit the photos before I post them. . .get them all cleaned up and pretty. And that takes a while. So THAT is why i haven't posted them like I promised. But tonight, I am giving up. I don't want to keep you all waiting, on the edge of your seats, dying to see the SeaWorld pictures. So here they are. Unedited. These are the only two worthwhile that aren't vertical shots. (What is it about me, and ALWAYS turning the camera to take a picture?) I will work on the rest. I promise. I have to, otherwise I am going to be WAYYY behind by the time Bryce's birthday party comes and goes this weekend!!! YIKES!

My parents are coming into town this weekend, and we will celebrate the big 4 birthday with the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins on Sunday. In keeping with our trip to SeaWorld, (and bryce's new underwater comforter for his bed) we are having an "underwater party". (No, I am not going to flood the house, we will just be decorating with fish, blue streamers, and eating a cake that looks like an aquarium. Oh - and crab hats. We will be making crab hats. Wait till you see that!)

the big FOUR!

On Bryce's birthday, we had lunch at Olive Garden, on our way back from SeaWorld. He was SO surprised when the servers brought out a cake and sang to him! I'll try to get SeaWorld pictures up over the next few days!! (We had a GREAT time!)

XOXO

Ahhh, a four year old trip down memory lane.

I won't repost a bunch of pictures you've already seen (just the latest new one that makes me giggle!). . ..but if you'd like to travel with us down memory lane, here are some happy little places to start, as we celebrate Bryce's big FOUR this weekend!

The begining

http://bryce-a-roni.blogspot.com/2005/12/now-that-i-am-one-year-old.html

Bryce's First Birthday party

The night before Bryce's Third Birthday (a video!)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to BRYCE TOMORROW!!

whatcha think?

do ya like the new banner??? might just have to keep it up all year long. i LOVE it! (i made a new one for my blog too!!)

Night of Lights

Since Eric's parents have been out of town, and Lizzie didn't have any plans, we were able to carry her off to St. Augustine, to come with us to Night of Lights this year. It is a yearly tradition, and it was special to be able to share it with her! The lights are beautiful as always, the weather was PERFECT. . .cold, but not TOOO cold. We are always able to catch up with friends from Flagler, and it is the BEST way to kick off the holiday season!!!! Here are two pictures, taken right after we got downtown (before it got dark. . .and before my camera battery died!!!)

(And because I just came across it, check out this picture of us at Bryce's FIRST Night of Lights!)

In a few days, we are heading to Sea World to celebrate someone's 4th birthday. Can you guess who it is!!??? YIKES, can you believe Bryce is turning FOUR!!!??? I think he is going to LOVE SeaWorld. We will do some fun Christmas stuff in Orlando while we are there too, and we'll let him open his birthday gifts on Saturday morning, in our hotel room. And of course, I will take LOTS of pictures!!!

the coldest soccer game EVER.

i don't know HOW the lizzie and her soccer team are surviving these evening soccer games in the cold, because we were in layers and layers of clothes, and under three blankets, drinking hot chocolate. . . .and they were in shorts, in the middle of a big windy field.

how cute is our little man!?

more from fort myers

after we got back from new jersey, we spent a few more days in fort myers. we took bryce to Lakes Park. . . .which was a pretty neat park way-back-when (you know, like back in the day when i was a kid!) but now, it is AWESOME. they have done a ton of work (thanks to Hurricane Charley basically flattening the entire place) and Bryce had SUCH fun. They have an AMAZING playground (two of them actually!) And Bryce also liked playing at the beach next to the lake.

more from NJ

so you already know he played in the leaves. . .a LOT. (i love this picture, why oh why does it have to be so fuzzy!? i hate when that happens!!!)
but we also made a trip to our most FAVORITE Italian bakery and deli. YUM YUM YUM. I was seriously disappointed that they didn't have any cheese bread when we were there, but maybe its better that way. What if it wasn't as good as it is in my memory???

And then a big five minute train ride, from Little Silver to Red Bank. (In the rain!) Bryce LOVED going for his first REAL train ride!

Ummm, ya think its FALL?

the leaves were AMAZING in new jersey last week. nene and poppop's backyard was absolutely COVERED in the most beautiful yellow and red leaves. i will try to use restraint, and not post a thousand pictures of the leaves (but i definitely have a few more i'll have to share!)

everything was wet and cold, and it was raining off and on all day, but it didn't stop us from being outside - raking leaves, jumping in leaves, piling up leaves, collecting leaves, throwing leaves, and walking in leaves. it was FABULOUS!

leavin' on a jet plane

here's bryce in the airport, waiting to leave for new jersey. . .
and this is how he spent some of the trip - watching cartoons on the iPod. poor thing, he had to hold onto the earbuds to keep them in his ears, but he didn't seem to care too much!!!

as i edit and get more photos ready, i will keep posting them a little at a time!
XOXO

just checking in!

So after our travel plans were a little. . .ahh-hem. . .disrupted, thanks to dear Spirit Airlines, we finally arrived in New Jersey yesterday afternoon (a day later than our original plans) but we are here. Its cool and rainy outside, the ground is covered in leaves. . . and its absolutely beautiful!!!! Give me a cool misty fall day ANYDAY - i love it!!!

Bryce did FABULOUSLY on the airplane, and only asked once or twice "Is this plane stopping YET?" (And I responded, "Ummm, I HOPE not, since we are up in the sky!!!")

Today we are going to play in the wet leaves, and drive over to visit our old house, our favorite Italian bakery, and watch for the train at the train station. I just wanted to check in and let you all know that we are well, and here, and having a nice time!!! XOXOXO

See ya!!!

Here is Bryce at Lizzie's soccer game last weekend - he has such fun sitting in the stands, and cheering for Lizzie! (She's a goalie, so thankfully she's always easy to spot out on the field!!!) Bryce was ESPECIALLY excited because we got to eat chicken sandwiches from Chik-Fil-A while we watched the game!
Tomorrow we are heading out, Bryce and I. We are off to Fort Myers, and then flying with my parents up to New Jersey to visit Nene and PopPop (my dad's parents). It will be Bryce's second ever plane trip, but this time he is big enough to sit in a seat withOUT a carseat, so he is feeling ESPECIALLY big and grown up. (Yes, i will be SURE to take a picture of him on the plane!!!) It will be quite an adventure!!! I won't be online while we are away, but I will be sure to share lots of pictures when we get home!!!!! We love you all. . . .talk to you next week! (Unless you are my parents. . .and in that case, SEE YOU TOMORROW!!!) XOXOXOX

the cake that bryce made (well sort of)

Here is the cake that Bryce and I made for Daddy's birthday. Bryce placed each of those M&M's quite purposefully and thoughtfully - and only ate a few in the process. Bryce was SO excited about Eric's birthday - he's really into the idea of surprise parties lately, and he REALLY wanted to have a surprise party for eric - so when we knew he was almost home from work, we turned off the lights and hid behind the table, and did the whole jumping-out-and-yelling-"Surprise!" routine. And yes, i think eric WAS surprised. it's pretty much guaranteed that he was NOT expecting a two-person surprise party upon his arrival home. ;) We went out to dinner, and then came home for cake.

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY ERIC!

Finally. . .at last. . .eric can't harass ME about being 30, because he is joining me as a 30 year old today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

We love you!

We are off to breakfast right now, and then Eric is going to come to Little Gym with us. After he heads to work, Bryce and I have big birthday cake plans. It should be INTERESTING!! :) Tonight we will head out to dinner, but not sure where yet.

And thus begins the season of insanity in our household. My mom's birthday, and Halloween are done, but we have Eric's birthday today, my dad's birthday ON Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving, Bryce's birthday, and Christmas. (Plus a trip to NJ, a boy's golf weekend, and a weekend at SeaWorld thrown into the mix, just for kicks!) All between now and December 25th. WOW.

The uncooperative robot.

the pictures don't quite do it justice. . . .he looked totally adorable, but he was NOT particularly happy to have his picture taken. He just wanted to make a lot of grumbly growly faces at me. I think the highlight of his evening was actually handing OUT candy at Gigi and Doobie's house, rather than COLLECTING candy (which is FINE WITH US!!!) He really liked picking out which particular candy he would give to each person who came to the door. We all had a lot of fun! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIMI!!!

Mimi. ....

She doesn't think twice before she climbs in the creek, or scales a mountain to collect firewood. She is sweet and sassy and full of FUN!

She fights tirelessly for the people she loves, and she gives GREAT hugs!

She is creative and incredibly generous.

She always smells like vanilla.

Her brain is always working, and always thinking, and always trying to make a good plan a BETTER plan.

She has a solution for ANYTHING. (whether I want to hear it or not!)

We love you Mimi!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

FINALLY. a massive NC update!

OKAY. it has been a CRAAAZY week around here. Trying to get caught up, do laundry, unpack, get settled, AND make bryce's halloween costume, and get ready for Eric's birthday, plus some Halloween festivities. BUT, without further ado, as fast as I can - before bryce wakes up - here are a ton of pictures from North Carolina, in no particular order! ENJOY! One of Bryce's all-time favorite activities at the cabin has always been to dig in the rocks - and this was no exception!!! He wanted to be outside, sitting in the driveway with a bucket and a truck any chance he could!!!
(I am pretty sure this face means, "Seriously Mom? STILL taking pictures? Whats your deal, woman?"

Having an in-depth conversation about leaves and rocks, and what's for lunch.

Playing Mousetrap with Mimi. (Funny how he carried the mice around the ENTIRE time we were there - they even came home with us! Not the game - just the mice!)

" fishing" in the creek with poppy! (the pole has a little plastic fish on the end. Bryce loved throwing it in the creek and then reeling it back in!)

Tromping through the woods at Timber Creek (anyone want to build a house?)

walking around downtown, shopping, eating, and getting treats!

playing "Spy" (which really sounds like "PIE" when bryce says it) with new walkie talkies! (and well, maybe jumping in the creek a time or two, as you can see by the wet pants!)

Roasting marshmallows (after a hamburger dinner on the porch, of course!)

You know there are a ton more pictures. But that's it for now.

Last night we went to the zoo for Spooktacular, a big Halloween event they do every year. The kids get to go from treat station to treat station, collect lots of goodies, and see lots of volunteers in costumes, look at a kajillion decorated pumpkins, lots of music, dancing and FOOD. It was SUCH fun. Not all of the animals are out, but we did get to see a jaguar, the giraffes, and the bobcats. Bryce was up REALLY late, and totally full of sugar. I think it was about 10 before he finally fell asleep!! Tonight we are going to go trick-or-treating and visiting family and friends, - which means I need to go put the finishing touches on the robot costume! I hope it makes it through the night! XOXO