The Fun Never Ends

Busy busy busy. That's the story of my life. If you're a parent, then I'm sure that's the story of your life too. There is always so much to do, but there are just not enough hours in the day. We don't ever stop. Our weekdays zoom by, and of course the weekends go by even faster. We seem to always have a birthday party or some type of other event going on each weekend, or we are visiting with friends or family.

This blog keeps me super busy too. Now that I have a couple of contributors I am starting to feel my load lighten some, but I'm still playing catch up from the last couple of months. I still need to write about my trip to Atlanta with Coca-Cola, Disney on Ice, and several products that I have received for review. However, I started this blog not only to share our fun times with family and friends, but also as sort of a diary for me to chronicle our lives so I can always look back and see what we were up to. So those other posts will just have to wait another day or two, because I have some serious fun to post about from our last couple of weekends.

Since we visited Aunt Melissa a few weeks ago, we haven't stopped. We've been to birthday parties, had a super fun sleepover, and attended a wedding reception for Brian's cousin. Let's back up to two weekends ago, shall we?

Our Saturday mornings always start off the same with Rylie's dance lessons. She still loves to go, even though I don't necessarily love getting up that early on Saturday mornings. What was I thinking? Anyway, two weekends ago after Rylie's dance lesson, we headed off to Peyton's 5th birthday party. Peyton is one of Rylie's very best friends. They go to school together, they attend dance together, and we meet up with Peyton and her mom every week for Chick-fil-A Tuesday.

Her birthday party was at the same gym where we held Bryce's 3rd birthday party, and Rylie's last two parties (and consequently, I have already booked her next party there). The kids love it there, and so do the adults. While the adults can't resist jumping on the different trampolines, the kids' favorite attraction is generally the foam pit.

There are a few bounce houses to play in, and Bryce had a good time running around and testing them all out.

My kids love Jenn, Peyton's mom. Seriously, love. In fact, if Jenn and I get to school at the same time to pick the kids up, my kids walk right by me and give her a hug. So they had a blast sliding down the slide with her, and swinging with her on the rope swing.

The rope swing was something new at the gym, so of course I had to try it out, and I used the kids as an excuse to have some fun. Hey, they asked me to swing with them!

I always have to take a picture of the cake at birthday parties, so here is Peyton's Hello Kitty cake.

As soon as Peyton's party was over, we jumped in the car and headed to another birthday party. This one was over an hour away, and even though we had time to get there shortly after it started, we realized that the present was in Brian's car from the last party, so we had to turn around and go back home to get it. By the time we got there, the party was half over, so I didn't get many pictures. That party was for super cute Kennedy. She is the daughter of Stacey, one of my very good friends.

Isn't she adorable? Stacey and I always joke that Bryce and Kennedy are going to get married one day.

Kennedy's theme was Tangled, and she had this adorable Rapunzel cake. They also had Tangled themed cookies made up as party favors. Those cookies were so awesome! In fact, I need to find out who made them so I can order some for Rylie's next birthday.

The kids spent the rest of that weekend with my mom, and Brian and I attempted to get some work done around the house. Again, so much to do, and so little time.

Fast forward to this past weekend. More dance and another birthday party. This time we were supposed to have three kids for the weekend because Peyton was spending Saturday and Saturday night with us. Unfortunately, Bryce ended up with pink eye, so while I took the girls to the birthday party, Brian took him to the doctor. I'm pretty sure that his pink eye was caused from allergies, rather than a virus, but I wanted to keep him away from the party just in case. Poor kid...he always seems to get sick when there is a party to go to.

Last weekend's party was for Camryn, the daughter of my good friend Tiffany. Bryce, Kennedy and Camryn were all born around the same time, and they all turned 3 this year. We headed out to the park to celebrate Camryn's birthday.

This party was almost like a carnival, complete with sno cones, cotton candy and face painting. Rylie and Peyton immediately got in line to get their faces painted. Rylie wanted to be a cat, and Peyton got rainbows.

The kids had a great time running around playing in the park. It's funny because half of the girls there were named Peyton. Of course all with various spellings. Here is Rylie with her friend Peyton from school, and then with Payten, another one of her good buds and the sister of the birthday girl.

These girls are just so dang cute! I love watching them play together!

Camryn's birthday party was a monkey theme. Just look at this adorable monkey cake!

Once we got home from the party, the sleepover madness started. Bryce was sleeping when we got home, so Rylie and Peyton played upstairs for a while and pretty much destroyed her room. They were getting along and having fun (and allowing Bryce to nap), so I didn't mind. Once Bryce woke up, they had dinner and watched a movie.

We borrowed my mom's air mattress for the girls to sleep on in the family room, and all the kids took turns helping Brian pump it up. Then the jumping started. The kids decided that the air mattress was not only a bed, but a trampoline too!

We all know what happens when little monkeys jump on the bed, though. Luckily, no head bumping was involved!

The air mattress jumping lasted forever. Brian and I got tired just watching them. I swear, I don't know how kids have the energy they do. The girls had been going non-stop all day long. I was hoping they would wear themselves out and actually go to sleep, so we let the jumping continue.

It was inevitable that someone would end up crying, though, so once two of the monkeys collided, the jumping came to an end. We put sheets on the bed, and the girls got settled in while Bryce sat on my lap. We turned a movie on for a little bit, and Peyton was the first one asleep. Rylie then followed suit. Bryce went to bed a few minutes later, but apparently his late nap prevented him from falling asleep and he ended up in bed with us a little bit later.

The girls were up early Sunday morning and I woke up to what sounded like two elephants running around upstairs. We had a wedding reception to attend later, so Brian took Bryce to my mom's and took Peyton home. On her way out, Peyton asked if we could have another sleepover next weekend. I think I need at least two weeks to recover from this one!

We spent yesterday afternoon at a wedding reception for Brian's cousin Eric and his new wife Kelly. Eric is the brother of Raina, one of my new contributors. We had a great time seeing Brian's family again, and Rylie had a lot of fun drinking Shirley Temples and playing with Raina's daughter Haley.

Would you believe that I forgot my camera? Seriously, a blogger without a camera!?!?! So I have no pictures from the day, but Brian ended up getting a video of Rylie showing off some of her dance moves. For some reason there is no sound in this video, but I think you will be able to tell what dance she is doing...

So there you have it, another fun, yet busy, weekend has come to an end. My friends always say "I don't know how you do it all", but honestly, I don't. You should see my house. It looks like a war zone most days, and while it does get to me now and then, I'll gladly trade a neat house for all the fun we have. I would much rather spend time with my family and watch my kids have fun than clean anyway. The mess will still be here when we get back, but for now, the fun never ends!