Ryann turns 3 (and world's ugliest cupcakes)

I can't believe it, but my baby is officially 3 years old. The time has absolutely flown by and Billy and I are both constantly amazed by the fact that we no longer have a little baby. It's such an amazing journey to be on as parents... watching her grow and seeing her personality develop.


This birthday was especially fun, since she could anticipate the big day. All week long she kept telling people she was going to be three and we were going to sing "happy birthday to me" to her. We also had big plans to make her feel like a big girl, including moving her into the "big girl room" (aka. the guest room), and making the switch to a big girl bed. She decided last week that climbing in and out of her bed was a breeze, so the transition was a no-brainer for us since climbing out of a bed is much safer than climbing out of her crib. Here she is demonstrating her new trick. (More to come on her new big girl bed and room later.)

We kicked off her birthday week with a visit from Nona and Grandpa Dale. The highlight of the evening was unveiling Grandpa Dale's handmade train table, complete with rolling drawers. There's no question that this was one of Ryann's favorite gifts and she and Nona started building a track right away. 

 This face says it all... "I'm one spoiled girl". 

Next came dinner (blah, blah, blah) and then... DESSERT! I mean, we were celebrating her birthday, so why not have an ice creamy creamy cake while Nona and Gpa Dale are in town?! (This had nothing to do with her pregnant mom finding every excuse in the world to eat more sweets. Honest!) Here's the cute little confection in all its ice cream glory (cookies 'n cream, if you must know). 

And here's our little cutie blowing out her candles. 

Not a bad way to kick off the birthday festivities, heh?


Now it was time to get ready for her friend birthday party, which luckily we were able to celebrate on her actual birthday this week. Ryann's favorite color is green, so I scoured the internet (aka, Pinterest) for a green cupcake recipe. Here's the somewhat attractive one I found:

Let's be honest, there's a reason green and cupcakes don't go together, but I thought "Cute enough! Let's make em!" They're basically red velvet cupcakes, but you sub out green food coloring for red. Unfortunately I only bought the primary colors of food coloring, so I attempted to mix blue and yellow to make a bright, vibrant shade of green. Instead, I ended up with world's ugliest cupcakes:

I'm going to blame it on the cocoa powder mixing with my awesome coloring skills that helped produced these lovely little boogers. I took one look at them and decided that they would make awesome Grinch cupcakes for Christmas, since they resemble his hideous green coat. Billy lovingly refers to these as SHREK cupcakes. I guess they are pretty ogre-ish. Oh well, Ryann didn't seem to care, and the finished product turned out slightly cuter. Even still, I'm hoping next year she's more into yellow.

We decided to have her party at the park this year, and take advantage of the 60-70 degree March weather we've been blessed with. One of the perks of being a stay-at-home mom, and having a husband who works in sales, is that it's easy to pull off a mid-week birthday party and skip the weekend crowds, while also helping to make our kid's actual birthday more exciting. Here are some pictures from the day. 

This last picture is Ryann's face when we were all singing Happy Birthday to her. (She wasn't a fan.) But the rest of the time she had a blast with her friends.

For lunch, we went to Panera for her favorite mac 'n cheese on the block, and later that afternoon (and the next day, and the next day) she opened ALL her presents. She was absolutely showered with love this year and it made for a pretty amazing birthday. Her best bud, Lorena from across the street, went to pizza with us and they got Ryann's favorite, "cannolis for Ryrioli" for dessert.


We finished up her birthday week by moving her into her new room (formerly the guest room). We figured, why not do it now, rather than wait for baby to come? We also wanted to be sure she fully appreciates the much larger space now, instead of thinking she's just getting the boot because the baby needs her old room.


We transitioned the old crib into a bed, only to find out that it's actually a double, not a twin, so poor Billy spent part of his Saturday running around town trying to exchange mattresses. 


So far she's loving her new room and is doing excellent in her new bed. We've definitely lucked out in that department. We still have a long way to go (bedding, paint, artwork, etc), but here are a few shots of her new space. 

Whew! I must say that was quite the week. But that, my friends, is how you do a 3rd birthday! I hope Ryann had as much fun as we did. Happy Birthday sweet Ryann. Love you sooooo much!

Ryann Hits the Slopes

This weekend, Uncle Bobby was in town, so we rented a cabin at Breckenridge with him and the Shattucks. We couldn't have picked a more perfect weekend to go... the weather was gorgeous, the sun was shining, and everyone was in a happy St. Patrick's Day kind of mood. 


On Saturday, the whole clan went snowboarding and skiing and had a fantastic day. On Sunday, Ryann decided she wanted to go "skateboarding" too, so we hit the slopes with our fingers crossed. Billy and I weren't sure how she was going to take to skiing, since sledding at our neighborhood hill can be hit or miss with her. But she was all smiles the whole day, and couldn't wait to give it a try. 


The mountain offers a free bus ride from right outside our cabin, so we hopped on and were off. Ryann loved riding the bus and wanted to sit in her very own seat both ways. She was drawn to the back of the bus... which naturally confirms that she is indeed a cool kid.

When we arrived at the mountain a short 5 minutes later we headed straight for the rental shop, where we were pleasantly surprised by how utterly excited Ry was to get her gear and get going. First came the boots...

 Then the world's cutest helmet head...

 And finally, the skis!

Although I couldn't be more proud of her once she hit the slopes, walking around in with ski boots on turned out to be my favorite part of the day. We all know ski boots are awkward to walk around in, but Ry made it outright hysterical. Look at this cutie trying to conquer her boots. 

After we wiped our tears (from laughing) away, purchased a harness to help guide her down the mountain, and picked up some sour gummy worms for "inspiration", we took off for the bunny hill. She needed some helping getting on the magic carpet, but once she was on her balance took over and she could ride the whole way up without help. 

 And here she goes! Look at the smiles the whole way down. 

Every time she hit the bottom of the hill, she would say, "I wanna go again!" and we'd jump right back on the magic carpet. Billy and I couldn't have been more proud. She started leaning forward and once we told her to keep her feet together, she caught right on.


All in all it could not have been a more successful first time skiing. Already the next day she's asking to go back, so us Mettings may be doing a lot of Spring skiing this year.... which is just fine with us! Yay Ryrie!