Birthday Weekend

Yes, I am definitely no good when it comes to this blog stuff....i'm sorry!!

This past weekend was a pretty busy one for the Richard's. Cullen turned 2 on Saturday (Sept. 25) and we had his birthday party on Sunday along with a small one for Ryan who turned 30 on Sunday!

Cullen is absolutely fascinated with tractors so it was a no brainer when it came to what theme I would do his party in. He absolutely loved it!!

The decor...minus all the food, cake, and drinks that went on the table!

Uncle Jake's tractor that he brought over for the birthday party!

Seeing his tractor cake for the first time. I think he was a fan!!

To this day if you ask him if he had a fun party his first response is "CAKE!"

A close up of the cake

 Ryan's surprise decorations! I set up a table for him inside while he was outside playing with the kids!!

 He wasn't sure why I told him to come inside!!

He had just said that morning that he thought it was HIS birthday...where was his cake and presents!! :)

The kids loaded up for their tractor ride

Trey and Jordan had a front row seat!!

They took the tractor on the hill of dirt that we have by the pond in the back pasture!

They had about an hour ride before I had to make them come back to open presents and cut the cake.

And the presents begin.... 

He figured out if he crawled on top of his drawing table that he just received he could get to the presents a lot faster than Mom could hand them to him!

Tractors, combines, accessories...OH MY!!!

Look what I got and you didn't!!!

UUMMMM....is this for me?

A little taste of chocolate icing.

Hold on....if I use the fork I can get a lot more in my mouth!

WAIT A MINUTE....

Driving Megan around in his wagon.

I suggested that he let Megan drive him around but he looked at me with a crazy look and hit the gas!! Guess that means Mom had a TERRIBLE idea!!

Cullen didn't have a nap all day and was purely exhausted that night. He drove his tractor up to the door leading into the house and just stopped. He sat there in a daze. I am convinced the tractor took over the driving and put him there because he didn't know which way was up or down. It was very funny! I don't think any of us have caught up on rest quite yet!

Thank you to everyone who was a part of our weekend. It was a ton of fun, and we can't wait until next year....ok, maybe Mom can!!!



Parties!!

Last Monday Brandie had a Back to School Party for all of the kids. Cullen isn't ready for school, but he will definitely be devastated this year because the twins are starting school. Megan and Wyatt will be starting Kindergarten this year, and I must say it makes us all feel quite old!

She rented a big water slide for the kids to play in the water all day. Cullen was extremely excited about it when he saw it, but once he was at the top it was a whole different story. He cried, but we slid him down and he loved it. We tried it a couple more times, but each time we would get to the top again the crying and screaming started over. It was funny because when he got to the bottom he was SSSSOOOO excited. "Gain, gain, gain, Momma, gain, slide, gain" Mom gave up after the 4th or 5th try though.

His first experience at the top...

His first slide down....check out his expression!!

"I made it!!"

August 8th was Julien's 8th birthday. He had decided he wanted a "Pond Party!" They have a pond in their backyard, but he also had a slip-n-slide and a volleyball net. It was an all day affair for everyone! His birthday party was on the Saturday before and we all had a lot of fun.

He is my godchild and I always seem to make his presents extra difficult...this year was no exception. I hate giving money to kids as a present for a lot of different reasons, but he has been saving his money for some things that he wants to buy. I gave in and gave him money, but he had to work for it a little bit!!

I taped the box all over!!!
I taped it closed with good 'ol duct tape, of course!!

I gave him all $1 bills and I folded and tied them with a ribbon. Most of you already know this is a given if you are getting money from My Mom or I!!!


The funny part is he thought he had gotten WAY more from us then he really did because he had "a box full of money!" He ended up receiving almost $200 at his party....i'm scheduling mine for next weekend!!! :)

He had an old fashion water slide....visqueen, a sprinkler, and baby oil!!! My child had more fun in that sprinkler than he has had in his entire life!!

Cullen spraying Wyatt with the sprinkler...Wyatt looked hot!

Here he is again doing who knows what.

Baby E'lise was there and she wasn't used to the hot weather so we took all of her clothes off and put her in Cullen's baby pool. Cullen thought he needed to hold her.

"HOLD ER, HOLD ER, HOOOLLLLDDDD ER"

He is one adament 1 year old!!!

One of the guys that works with was coming home on Saturday so he hitched a ride home with him. He was supposed to arrive around Midnight Saturday night, but he surprised us around 3:00 that afternoon. Cullen has never ran as fast as he did when he saw his Daddy!

Mike agreed to get the tractor out and put it to use as a diving board. All of the kids went and then the adults started to get the courage up to take the dive! As for Cullen and I....we sat on the sidelines!

Quinne and Shea jumping

George taking her turn!

We couldn't find Cullen for a second so Georganna snuck around the tractor after it was parked in the yard to find him sitting in the bucket drinking a DP! She snuck back around to tell all of us to come and look at him. When he finally looked up he had about 20 people staring at him. It was funny!

On Sunday, we decided to have a BBQ before Ryan had to head back to work. He was only in for 24 hours! Ryan set up his pool again in the backyard for him to swim while we cooked.

He decided he needed a jet ski, so he got his 4-wheeler and put it in the pool with him. That was show in itself!

(Don't worry...this one is not battery operated!)

He roamed around and took EVERY toy he has in the garage out and played with it...oh to be a 1 year old again!!

As you can see we have had quite a few parties over the last week or so. We have had a ton of fun, and can't wait until the next series! :-)

Granny & Pop

Well our lives have changed quite a bit since July 10, 2010. My grandfather, Pop, passed away the morning of July 10th, and over the course of that weekend and a few days into that week we discovered my grandmother, Granny, has breast cancer. She is still going through tests and going to start treatment, and i'm confident she will make a full recovery!! :) It was a very busy couple of days and it still is for my Mom and Uncles. Everything is starting to get back to normal for all of them...as normal as it can at the moment!

Pop's Memorial Service

Cullen attached to Bella while she greeted people at the service. He thought he was big and needed to talk to everyone as well.

He was adament about meeting everyone and was very interested in what they had to say!!!

Cullen and Bella playing at Granny's house


We made another visit to Granny's last weekend to hang out with Bella, Uncle Pat, and Granny. Uncle Pat brought out a toy that is older than I will mention on here!! Let's just say I played with it a time or two.

Cullen trying to understand that Makumba Matoosa will not bite him. He walks, and oinks but that is about it!! After the intial meeting it was over for Makumba the rest of the weekend. Cullen would wake up and ask about him!!
Bella...you touch him first!!

We had a great visit and Cullen made us laugh quite a bit. I talked with my grandma yesterday and she said she and Uncle Pat still laugh about stories that happened last weekend.

Also, thank you all for the prayers and everything else you have done for my family these past couple of weeks. We all appreciate it greatly!!

Daddy visits!!

We have made several "daddy trips" while Ryan has been gone. We met in the middle for Fathers Day weekend. The middle was Monroe, LA which is where one of Ryan's friends lives as well. We met on Friday night, and on Saturday we swam all day with Jim, Christie, and their kids. We went to dinner and then went night fishing. Well Daddy and Jim went fishing while Cullen, Christie, and I sat on the steps at the dam and watched!! :) It was getting late at this point and I had a tired 1 year old who was not ready to give up.

Ryan fishing

Ryan's first fish caught. Cullen was amazed!!

Cullen watching Daddy with his nunnie and blanket in hand....Mom wishing he would just give up and go to sleep! No such luck!

We had a great time and on Sunday we said our crying good bye's and headed back to our own homes!!

Ryan was off a couple of days for the July 4th weekend and so he was able to come home!!!!!

Julien was on the All Star baseball team this year, so we were at his tournament most of the weekend. They came out 3rd of 6 teams I believe. Ryan met us at the tournament on Friday night and once we made it home they decided to go "frogging." Daddy, Cullen, and Donald headed out about 10:45. Cullen had fallen asleep so he wasn't going to go, but when Ryan and Donald started loading up things and started the Polaris he woke up and was in ready to go!!

Daddy and Cullen before they left

Donald, Ryan, and Cullen ready and leaving.

They had a lot of fun, but weren't very succesful. Apparently the whole town decided to go froggin that night! Cullen had an amazing time though and talked about the "fogs" all day Saturday.

Ryan had to go back to work on Monday afternoon, so we ran some errands that morning and Ryan had the bright idea to take Cullen to Chuck E Cheese! We went and played in the kids section for a while, then we ate and headed to the big kids section to get rid of all of Cullen's tokens. After a small fortune and some good laughs we headed home to send Ryan back to work!!

Riding with the mouse

Hitting the alligators with Daddy.

Eating the wonderful pizza and drinking his juice!

We had a great couple of visits and are so glad that Daddy will be coming home soon!!

Amanda's Baby shower

On June 13th we showered Amanda and Baby Benton! It was a lot of fun, and she got a lot of things. Erica and I were in charge of decorations and I couldn't have had a better partner in crime for the mission!! We had a little too much fun i'm sure! :)

All of their gifts!

Some tables and the bar area

The guest of honors sitting area

The oh so cute water bottles...best idea ever!

The food area...yum yum!

I am a huge slacker in the Blog department, so I am happy to say that Benton is now here and is absolutely wonderful! He was born July 21st, 2010 weighing 8 lbs, 4 oz and was 21 5/8 inches long! Congratulations to Brud & Amanda!