Birthday Day - Riley 5

So, Riley's 5th birthday fell on a Wednesday...his party wasn't until Saturday. I asked Ry what he wanted to do and what he wanted for dinner. His replies, "I just want red noodles (Ramen) and salad...okay mom, that sounds yummy" and "well, let's just take Zeus for a walk when dad gets home, that is really what I want to do." Ty comes home (I have not talked to him), so Ry what do you want to do for your birthday? Let's go to Logan and see a movie. Ry: that's okay, I want to stay here in Malad and take Zeus for a walk. Ty: Really, Ry? How about we go bowling. Ry: Nope, just let's take Zeus for a walk. I am LAUGHING at this conversation! Ty finally relents and we all go for a walk. Well, Ry and B are in his Jeep Power Wheels! So when we get home and Ry parks his Jeep, okay dad...I am ready to go bowlin'! So....we went bowling. We were out way too late, but it was fun!

Me and my birthday boy!
B, the cheerleader. She kept saying, "go Wiley, go Wiley...YAY!!!" all the while clapping! She was super cute!

Daddy and the birthday boy! (Ty and his CLONE)

Ry in action

More of Ry in action.

And to top it off, one of the games, Riley beat me! He loved it...me, not so much!

Happy Birthday Riley

Saturday was Riley's 5th (possibly final) birthday party! Just kidding, it was fun and worth the work...we just wont be doing this type of party every year! I figured that I had already done a tribute blog to Ry the day that I enrolled him in Kindergarten...no need for repeats. So Straight to the party!
After sewing until 2 am the day of the party and sleeping through my alarm...we began the final prep. Ty finished setting up the patio (outer space training zone) and I ran and got us some Dr. Pepper to fuel us and drop the balloons off for filling. Then it was just make lunch and set up! Things went smoothly and most kids kept saying, "this is the best party EVER"! Which of coarse, made me feel wonderful! A special thanks to my friend Andrea for teaching to sew...who would have thought...and for staying up late helping me! Also, her hubby "Darth Vader" Skyler for his role in the party! Could not have done it without them!
So, these pics are totally in the wrong order...oh well! Warning: there are A LOT of pictures!

She went straight to the tub...so much cake...all over her!!
The cake

One of his gifts...I gave him my DS lite, since he plays it way more than I do. This case came with a skin sticker...so it looks like a whole new DS!

Collecting the pinata loot!

CHEATER!

The kids LOVED that the light sabers doubled as pinata bats!

This pinata was actually an award pinata...just cut out the movie real he was holding and took the word award off of the base...tada C3P0, the kids were convinced!

Anakin and Vader .... SHHHHH...should you talk to Riley soon or EVER, he has NO clue that Anakin becomes Vader and we would like to keep it that way! Thanks!

Ty's idea for this photo. I ordered Ry a 5x7 print for his room!

CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My nephew Cade is playing dead on the floor! Pure pandemonium!

They took their training VERY seriously!

I am shocked that our cardboard cut out Vader survived! I am glad that the kids were a little too scared to attack our real Vader the way they went at our fake one!

The kids also loved the shooters, they were aiming for little small action figures of Gen Greivous, Ventress and a battle droid!

Such concentration! Cade Cluff (our nephew)

Very focused! Dylan Driessen

Landon Edwards (Darth Vader's son)

Anakin had been practicing all week, unfair advantage...but hey, he is the bday boy!

B, our little space princess!

She loves "Shtar Wars" and "sabers"

After a force fortified lunch of sandwiches, fruit, chips and soda...we had a wardrobe change!

I stupidly put her high chair a bit too close to the food table...while the kids were making their treat bags, she had grabbed two sandwiches are ripped them apart (she only likes the ham and cheese)! She stayed in this chair for most of the party (once the light sabers were activated) for safety reasons!

Our party PADAWANS and SPACE PRINCESSES ready for Jedi Training!

School Pics

Last night Ry had his Pre School Picnic and I finally got his school pics!!! I have no clue what he is doing in the group pic! I think he gets nervous! So CUTE! In his personal picture, he is holding the cap that he is supposed to wear on his head...he didn't want to mess up his hair! Classic.

Ry's Party Invite

I am super excited about how these came out! I got them on Ebay and girl custom makes them!! Ry loves them too!

Yogi

Oh how my little B loves the yogurt!! Usually she eats it all and then proceeds to lick the container clean! Yes, she LOVES her "YOGI"! Well, today we were watching the Star Wars Clone Wars movie and Ty and I dozed off a bit (super tired from all of the late nights and work we have been doing). We awoke to find this!!! At first I just heard Ty say, oh my gosh! Really B? I didn't have my glasses on so she was blurry and I didn't know what was wrong! I asked Ty if I even wanted to see it clearly! No, not really!

Not quite sure why this was necessary...she loves the yogi so much she had to wear it?!?!?!? I just finished bathing her and I am blogging about it so that I don't freak out about it! I am feeling calm, she is clean and dressed, her clothes have been rinsed...just need to finish wiping down the highchair and throw the cover into the wash!!! The JOYS of motherhood! :)

Use the FoRcE

Riley is just a little into Star Wars The Clone Wars cartoon series!! He LOVES Anakin! He thinks that he is BEST good guy EVER! We will NOT be telling him that Anakin goes to the dark side, NEVER!!! :) Maybe when he is older! He does think that Darth Vader is cool too, just from a video game of Tyson's. Anywho, this is his Halloween costume (very early) so that he can be Anakin for his bday party and the other guests will be padawans and space princesses! It really is going to be great. I showed this to him today...we will see when I manage to get it off of him!

It is a bit big. He is just sooo tall...the costume is the right length, Ry just isn't as broad as a 7 year old yet! We will make it work!
He LOVES the mask, this is his first masked costume! He keeps trying to stick his tongue out at me!

Mother's Day 2009

Me and my precious kiddos! I love them sooooo much! They are wonderful blessings and they are helping me learn all of the things that I need to work on! :) Like patience, patience and patience...just to name a few!

Mother's Day was about the same as any other day this year. Ty had stayed up really late to work on the kitchen...so I let him sleep in and made us breakfast. We went to church and Ry went up with the primary to sing...but just blushed and smiled. When he came down he said that he got nervous! He is sooo funny! We spent the rest of the day with Ty's mom, brothers and sister that live around here. Good food (that I did not have to make or microwave)!!! YAY! The kids hadn't see their Cluff cousins for a while, they had fun. Nice day!

Ode to my mother

She is so amazingly, wonderfully awesome. I do not have the words to express how much she means to me and just how much I love her. She is the epitome of selfless love! She has a strong and firm testimony of the gospel. I only hope that I can someday be half the mother to my children that she is to me! I hope you know what you mean to me and how BLESSED I feel to have been given you as my mother!

Amped, Pumped....Super Excited!

Yes, I am soooo Excited, I just cannot contain myself!! Last night Ty and I (mostly Ty) grouted the kitchen floor. This afternoon and evening (he is actually still going) I helped him carry in the base cabinets and he has been just such a BUSY bee, he has the stove/fridge wall completely done!!! The counter top is cut, just needs to be drilled and caulked!!! My fridge in actually in my kitchen - NO LONGER IN MY LIVING ROOM!! Words cannot express just how thrilled I am! This is so the home stretch!! We should be functional no later than next weekend and hopefully we can be completely finished before Ry's b-day party (like 5 year olds care!!) This just rocks!! Four months without a kitchen has taken it's toll on us and we are so ready to start cooking and having friends over!

Speaking of friends...we are settling nicely into Malad. The Driessens from our stake in Cali live in Samaria, ID, which is only 10 minutes away (if that)! Riley and Dylan get along great and we all enjoy hanging out! It is so nice! I have also made some friends in my ward...we have a rather big group of younger marrieds. I say "younger" because they are ALL younger than me! SO not used to being the oldest one around! It really has been great! My friend Andrea is going to be helping me with Ry's party!! I am not a sewer...not even a hemmer, nada! She is super crafty and talented and is helping me with the jedi and space princess outfits for our Jedi Training Academy! Ry is VERY excited and I am getting really pumped too! This is our first "friends/kids only" party! It is going to be super cool! I LOVE the Internet, so many ideas! I don't want to spoil it, so pics and a post from the party will be up shortly after 5/23!

What Style!

Quite the Fashionista!!! Tinkerbell PJs and Mom's peep toes!! She is gonna be a trendsetter...I can just feel it! :)

Tabby Cat Cluff

Yes, I am a SUCKER for a super cute animal! This cat sure picked the right porch rainy Tuesday morning! Riley has BIG plans for this kitty!! They are going to best friends and he is going to sleep in Riley's bed!! Riley also wanted to name him "boy cat"!! Not very original! We stuck with Tabby cat, because he is orange and white (though according to the vet -NOT a tabby) and Aubry can say the name!!! She LOVES him!!! Oh, we took him to the vet on Tuesday and found out that he is about 2 months old and a boy. (Two more months and he will be de-clawed and de-nutted). He is in pretty good shape, hasn't had the best diet...so the vet said to feed him well and he will be great! He had to get shots and be de-wormed! So he has slept a lot! Last night he was playing like crazy!! He is a normal kitty cat, with stinky gas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Maybe we should name him Tabby Cat Jackman :)!) The best part is that Tabby LOVES Tyson! He follows him around like crazy!!! Ty picks him up and loves him and Tabby just purrs away! (That is when I call Ty Dr. Evil). Tabby has also decided that the best spot to sleep is our bed! He especially likes to curl up on or near our faces!!!!

Seriously, isn't he just too cute!?!?B is doing pretty good with him! He is VERY patient and hasn't scratched anyone! Well, he did scratch Riley when Ry found him on our porch, opened the door and Tabby ran into the house! So Ry freaked out and threw him out!!! Ry got scratched pretty good!!

He LOVES this thing! (Better than my couch). He gets caught on it and all of his paws are off of the floor! He is fun to watch! He also goes crazy with the toy mice!!!!

B and Tabby playing! Sometimes he needs a break and heads under the couch! His head is peaking out! If he really wants a break...he head under my bed and sleeps right next to the heating vent!!!

Surprise!!!

We looked out the window...and what did we see??? A cute little kitten sitting a top our porch!?!?!? Spring has brought us such a....surprise!! Riley found this darling little kitten on our porch today! Super cute, but is it a stray or a runaway...who knows? It seems to want to be in our house VERY badly...but for now it is the porch. Ry is in L.O.V.E and sooooo wants to keep it! It purrs and wants to be held, which makes we think it is not a wild cat...just lost! My friend Kennie dropped by this am and says that people just drop cats and kittens off all of the time around here! Funny, that is the story that Ry concocted!! He swears that some people just stopped and threw it out of the car and drove off! I said, did you see it happen? Well.....no, not really, but mom, that IS what happened!! Quite the imagination budding in this child! So, Ry wants to keep it, B has not yet seen it, I am leaning towards keeping it!! Ty says, make sure it is not diseased and we will see. He then adds: are you ready for this, you know litter box and all??? All I need to know is, when can I get it de-clawed??? I like my furniture!

Look how super cute it is!!!!
It is liking the milk, Ry spilled the first bowl!

Mixed

I had some mixed emotions yesterday...excitement and frustration!! Excited, because Tyson and I were able to put up a whole wall of upper cabinets on Saturday, YAY!!! Frustrated, because as we went to tackle the rest of the wall cabinets, we found that certain cabinets were missing and we were given ones that we do not need. BUMMER!! So, we now have to wait and HOPE that the cabinets are coming Monday evening so we can get to it. Once the cabinets are done...counter tops, sink, faucet, dishwasher and few quick odds and ends - WE WILL BE DONE! At least functional - Which I SO need, Riley's bday party is coming up!! Jedi training academy at our house, Sat May 23rd!! It is gonna be super fun! So, on top of excited and frustrated, I am in super busy plan and prep mode!! Gotta love it!

Best Buddies

Riley has had to be quite flexible with making new friends these last couple of years! Right when we left Pennsylvania, he was just starting to get the whole "best buddy" thing! Then we were in Logan for a year and our next door neighbors were his "best friends EVER". Now we are settled in Malad and things are great for Ry! He has made lots of friends....the ones we hear about the most are: Dylan Driessen, Landon Edwards, Kyler Horsly and Mikey (from school, don't really know him). Dylan's mom (Amber and I) went to Costco yesterday and Ry really, really wanted Dylan to come with us...it was decided that Ry would stay with Dylan (Thanks RICK!!). Anyway, they had a BLAST and did NOT want to be separated when it came time to go home! I told Dylan that we would come and get him tomorrow (today now) and his reply, "How about I just stay the night." Smart kids!!! Amber asked me if I was CRAZY, these two feed off of each others ENERGY (of which there is NO lack)!!! I thought it was cool that they enjoyed each other so much! I let them stay up pretty late and play the Wii, once in bed I heard A LOT of chatter from Ry's room. I was trying to watch my shows so I ignored a lot of it. At one point I thought to myself, what in the world could two little 5 year old boys have to talk and giggle about? I heard spiders, itches and TONS of laughing! Here is to best buddies!!!!

Riley and Dylan! It was last minute so Riley learned to share PJs and clothes this am, good thing they are the same size!!!