May Fun Part II

It's Thursday night and Denny and I are both off work tomorrow, yay!  But before we get ready for our ITSA party, I wanted to share the rest of the pictures from this past weekend.  Take a look...

Melissa got crafty before the party!

 

So surprised!

 

  

Nothing says Happy Cinco de Mayo
like a fake mustache or three!   

 

Ole!



More 1st Birthday Fun!!

Someone loves cake!!



Ryan's Adorable Birthday Cake Train! 

  

Lots of cake & fun gifts!!

 

 

It's his party and he'll cry if he wants to! 
Even the Birthday Boy has his limits!





May Fun!!

It's only May 7th and we have so far had two awesome parties this month!

Melissa and I tend to get a little bit excited when it comes to throwing and hosting parties and this weekend was no exception. 

We knew this weekend would be the much anticipated 1st Birthday weekend of Ryan, but as we started planning that we also realized this weekend would be the perfect time to throw Mom a Surprise 60th Birthday.  Her real Birthday is not until June 2nd so we figured she would not suspect a thing.  Plus Melissa already had a tent in her backyard and enough food to feed an army so nothing seemed out of place to Mom. 

I took a vacation day Friday and by 7:45 AM I was cruising to Ohio to get the part(ies) started!!  And started we did.  Melissa and I (along with the awesome support of Dad, Thad and Denny) managed to throw Mom an awesome Cinco de Marilyn surprise bash and then Melissa turned around to throw another awesome party Sunday for the cutest little one-year old I know!

I haven't even had a chance to upload the pictures from my camera yet but thanks to some speedy Facebook posters, here are some weekend snapshots! 

More to come, stay tuned...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day One: Happy Surprise Birthday Mom!!

Decos... check!



Awesome chocolate (thanks to Cali Dolce girls)... check!

 

Surprised Mom... CHECK and CHECK!! 

Mom still surprised that Dad, Melissa and I pulled it off without her knowing. 



Les and Mom practicing the royal wave!



Even Ryan was excited for Mexican mustaches and cold beer!  Ole!

Aunt Lorraine tested out the margaritas before having fun with Ryan's toys!  She's always the life of the party!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day Two: Happy Birthday Ryan!!



Family photo!
Adorable Birthday Boy enjoying the train theme in his conductor outfit!

Runaway Birthday Boy!



Happy Birthday Boy and his smash cake!!



Birthday Cruisin in the Cozy Coupe!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hope everyone had a very Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Happy Birthday Ryan!

On May 3, 2011, I woke up at 5:30 AM to find out Melissa was officially in labor!!  Hooray!!

So off to the hospital we all went...



Mama-to-be Ready to go!!



It turned our Ryan wanted another Birthday; he wanted May 4th to be his day.  And he was the one in charge of the day so we waited...

and waited...                 

My cousins Leslie and I made Melissa pratice for the scary parts of labor...

Then we ate...

Then we waited more...

When we got bored waiting, we pretended to sleep while we continued to wait...

 

And FINALLY about 26 hours later,

one of the cutest, sweetest, most beautiful baby boys arrived to the world

(well worth the wait and the calories)!



Family photo!



Meeting Nana and Papa

Little cutie!

Happy Birthday Ryan Paul Bixler! 

We Love You so much and you have brought more happiness into our lives

than we could ever imagine!

We can't wait to watch you grow up!

xoxo Uncle Denny, Aunt Erin & Cousin Bean

One Year Ago Today...

~~ Friday, April 29, 2011 ~~

A historic day indeed!
The world watched as an adorable Royal couple united in marriage, a royal rump-in-law became famous, and ridiculous head wear became royally mocked.

While the world had their eyes fixated on jolly old England, I had my eyes fixated on my jolly old cell phone.  There was another potential event, even BIGGER than the Royal Wedding...

My nephew Ryan's due date!!

I had been waiting for this day since August 21, 2010 (the morning Melissa had a positive pregnancy test).  Actually I had been waiting for this since the 80's (sorry Waity Katie, I trump you on this one).  Ever since Melissa and I got our first Cabbage Patch dolls, we had been preparing to someday welcome babies (after we finished first grade, met our own Prince Charmings, and married them, of course).  We practiced with Cabbage Patch kids, stuffed dogs, Popples and anything else that we could pretend to feed and dress.  When the JC Penney's catalog came out every year, we would browe through the baby section and pick out cribs and baby gear.  Well, let's be honest; Melissa and her best friend Missy would pick stuff out, and I would try to tag along when they shared the catalog with me. 

Needless to say, I was one excited Auntie-to-be!  But, my adorable nephew didn't feel like sharing his big day, or his big month with the bride & groom across the pond.  Sooooo April 29, 2011 came... and it went... and Ryan didn't make an appearance.  At least I had some royally-entertaining TV to keep me busy while I waited.

I'll tell more about the day Ryan decided to arrive later this week.  Until then, Pip Pip Cheerio!

~~~

PS  On a sidenote, William & Kate, you really need to focus on improving the mail service in the UK.  I still have not recieved the invite to your wedding.  Crazy, right?  Oh well, maybe it will be in my mailbox Monday!