Insta-Friday

Another week done with means that we are another week closer to the end of school, and even better than that, another week closer to leaving for San Diego.  The next two weeks are going to be pretty crazy around here.  We have graduation and end of the year parties... plus packing and stuff.  Bring on the good times.

Saturday night's family dinner at our campsite.  Savannah and I were both pretty happy to see Ryder.  We miss that little guy when he's not around.

This next picture is absolutely precious.  Savannah and her BFF Olivia fell asleep holding hands.  I love that they make each other fell safe and happy.  So thankful that Savannah and Olivia met this year.    So thankful that Olivia has really cool parents.  Hopefully these girls have years of hanging out ahead of them.

Tuesday night we went to the Rangers game with some of Eric's coworkers.  They were all in town for a training/meeting and Eric being Eric made sure to schedule in a Ranger game for all of them to attend.  Not a shocker.  It was a good time... the kids were better than normal.  They are always good at games, but the stars aligned and they were picture perfect.  At one point Ryder went and sat on Eric's boss' lap for quite a while.  He never does that with strangers.  I don't know what was up with them... but I'll take it.

I just can't seem to fight off the Texan inside of her.  Boots at a baseball game, really???  Yes, really.  This little girl insisted.

This is what the day after staying out until 10pm at a baseball game looks like.  Sleepy cranky totally worn out little guy.

Girl Scouts Day At The Ballpark

I didn't mention it in my previous post, but the reason we went to last night's Rangers game was because it was Girl Scouts day at the ballpark.  In honor of that event, local troops were invited to participate in a pre-game parade on the field.  A few of Savannah's troop members joined us for the fun.    They were all pretty excited to get to walk on the field.  I tried to take as many pictures of them down there as I could, but those field ushers are strict.  Every time I stopped to take a picture one of the ushers was right there to tell me to keep it moving.  Despite that, it was still fun for them and me.  Girl Scouts has been pretty awesome to us so far!

Eric and Ryder were up in the seats watching us go by... this is the best picture he got with his phone.  I went ahead and added arrows so you can spot us.

Our Happy Place

Last night we went to our first baseball game of the season.  This is always pretty exciting for us.  Baseball season is by far our favorite time of the year.  Savannah loves going to the games and Ryder is  getting easier to take to the games.  Last season he went to several, but he was a baby and this year he is a toddler and wanting to explore everything at the ballpark.  Eric and I say it all the time, and maybe one day it will be feasible, season tickets sure would be nice.  We are one family that would get so much enjoyment out of that.  For now, we will just keep going to every game we get the chance to.

My favorite picture of the night.  The kids watching batting practice.

My first attempt at a self taken family shot... oops, no Savannah.

Second attempt... Savannah is in and Ryder is looking away... pretty much the best I am going to get.

The look on Ryder's face as Bella helps herself to his food cracks me up.

Third attempt at a family picture and E is too busy watching the game.  

So much about this picture makes me laugh.  The faces of the people behind E, the obvious photo bomb by the not so conspicuous dude, Ryder's extremely joyful smile on his face, Savannah creeping in the corner of the picture, o the fact that E looks like he is having the absolute worst time of his life.

A Little Rain Doesn't Hurt

A rainy dreary day might make some folks cancel their plans to go to a baseball game... I could even see how an hour plus rain delay might stop you from going... not us though, we were just as excited to load up and head to the Rangers game.  We had been looking forward to this game for several weeks now, so there was no way we were not going to make the best of it.  Luckily, our seats were covered and killing time during the delay was actually pretty easy and fun.  Once the game started both kids were great, the game went quickly, and then we got to see one of my favorite bands play on the field after the game.  It's not often that everything ends up working out the way you planned and both kids are easy peasy to be out with... it was a good day!

Waiting out the rain in the car.  The rain ended up winning and we eventually had to just et out and walk in it.

Baseball, beer, and babies... oh how times have changed.

Daddy smile!!!

Love my little backwards baseball hat wearing girl.

Haynes fam... upper deck and out of the rain!!

E, I don't care what you say... this hat looks so stinkin' cute on him.  Straight bill on the little ones is adorable.

1st Birthday, Rangers Style

This past weekend we had Ryder's 1st birthday party... Rangers themed, of course.  Talk about one of the easiest themes I have ever worked with.  Baseball itself has a thousand and one party options, but when you add in the fact that the Texas Rangers' colors are red and blue... OMG, so easy and inexpensive.  And since I pretty much threw this whole thing together in one week, I was loving how easily everything came together.  The food for this party was also so easy... hot dogs, nachos, and popcorn.  No prep and hardly and clean-up.  Awesome!  Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves... the adult, the kids, and most importantly, the birthday boy!  He was passed from person to person, enjoyed watching his cousins run around like crazy people, and walked (or should I say crawled) away with some pretty fun gifts.  A pretty successful party for our mister mister.

Since Ryder does have so many cousins and little friends, I had some games planned to keep the kids busy for a portion of the party... first up, pin the bubble gum on the baseball player.  Savannah came up with this game.  Pretty creative.  I always love watching kids play any sort of "pin the ______ on the ______" game.  It's funny watching their dizzy little bodies try to get it right.

Next up, the pinata.  Always a hit... kids love whacking things... kids love candy... end of story.

Each kids got some sweet Rangers shades to wear while outside waiting their turn to hit the pinata.

The last game/activity I had planned was a bubble gum blowing contest.  Turns out that the gun I bought for the kids to chew for this (Big League Chew) is kind of difficult to blow bubbles with.  So it came down to two of the adults at the party competing against each other.  She won, he didn't.

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Ryder, happy birthday to you!  Cake time... which he had NO interest in.  All he wanted was his bottle (have I mentioned lately how awful it is going to be to kick that habit).

A party is always better with kids... Ryder had a decent turn out... between cousins and friends, we had kids running all over the place.

Time for presents!!  This is where things got crazy.  Every kid there wanted to help.  Ryder just sat in front of me looking at everything as it was pulled out of the bags.  His big sis and older cousins were way more into the gifts than he was.  It was all a tad overwhelming at that moment for him.  Once we got everything home and opened it up for him, he was good to go.  He has been playing with all his goods all week long.  Boy made out pretty well.

Daddy and his one year old (ahhhh!!! and the bottle.  Seriously, the dang bottle is in just about every picture!!!!)

Ryder and his cousin, Tex.  The family now has two crazy one year olds to contend with.  Watch out!