Ridge's Birthday Bash

we finally celebrated ridges birthday party on the 23rd, well after his birthday. we were going to have a party for him but after the the lack of rsvp's and no shows at the twins party i decided to just do a dinner with the family. maybe next year when hes in school it will be worth doing a party, since we usually go all out, and invite all of his classmates! we took everyone to Bucca Di Beppos, one of mine and Nathans favorite restaurants. well here are a few pictures that i took of the dinner!

here's ridge being his usual cheese ball self!

miss Olivia eating her dinner. she was more interested in the balloon.
here's pretty much everyone. it was me, Nathan, the kids, my sister Gina and her two boys, my dad and step mom, my mom and her girlfriend Karin, Rick, Anna and Olivia, Nathans sister and Johnny, Joyce and Marvin. we were bummed that Mark, Shell and the girls were unable to make it but they sent their birthday wishes to Ridge.

here's me and Nathan =) aren't we so cute!!! totally love this guy right here lol!

here's my other cheese ball jazzy!
here's MiMi (my mom) and Jazzy taking a minute from their dinner to say cheese.
ridge received plenty of presents that's for sure!! usually i limit the amount and type of presents that the kids get but since family was only invited i knew that it wasnt going to be to overwhelming with useless toys. Auntie Jen got ridge a huge bag full of sesame street stuffed animals, some abc books and some number blocks. Nathans dad Marvin gave ridge some spending money and Joyce got him this really cool bubble blower lawn mower and he loves it!! rick and Anna bought him his Halloween costume. the pic below is the cause of his favorite present. his first bike!!! i love his face in this pic, its epic!

hers ridge opening the rest of his presents.

of course we ended the night with a birthday cake. this is how we do it in the Brauer-Woodworth family! why use one spoon........
when you can use TWO!! =)there is nothing better then sharing moments like this with family! thank you every one for coming and ridge thanks you for all his gifts!!

This Years Costumes!

this Halloween i let the twins pick out their own costumes. jazlynn decided on a kitty cat so i used some cat ears she already had, a black shirt that was collecting dust in her closet and just sewed a small black feather boa to the bottom of it which cost me 99 cents. i made her tutu out of black and purple tulle that i already had and then bought her some cute black and purple leopard stockings at target for $3.99. i purchased a large pipe cleaner from the craft store for $1.99 and made a tale out of it. it turned out so cute and it beats spending 40 bucks on a costume that gets little use! grand total was.... $7.00!!

every year rick and anna has bought ridges costume for Halloween, since Halloween is so close to his birthday its kida his present. this vampire costume that i picked out was purchased at the children's place and I'm pretty sure it was 40% off making the grand total of 18 bucks!
jayvin wanted to be a rock star so i did his Mohawk up that was green to begin with and wrapped a green bandana that was just laying aroundand put it around his head. i put a black "don't mess with my mommy" shirt that we was in his closet with a white dress shirt from 2 Xmas ago that was to small so i just tore the sleeves off. we found these really cool tattooed sleeves at the Halloween store for $7.99 and then he just wore his blue jeans and his white "kicks" as he calls them. he has this really cute guitar that really plays so he threw that on and wallah its Jayvin the rock star! grand total.... $7.99! no autographs please!!
we don't trick or treat for Halloween. these days its just not safe anymore and since Arizona does have a lot of Mormons (nothing wrong with that) we never know who's gonna hand out candy or when there gonna do it since i guess they don't celebrate Halloween on Sundays or at least some people so instead we try to find someting new to do. every year. this year were going to schneph farms with rick, Anna and Olivia and some other moms and dads from our Bradley class. they have hay rides, pony rides, petting zoo, mazes, pumpkin patch, rides, food, trick or treating and fireworks and then Sunday we will carve our pumpkins, dress up and then hand out candy for those who do still trick or treat! it should be fun and were really excited to see the kids react to this new experience. of course this isn't their first Halloween but with every year and every year older they get we notice that they take in the same holiday with a new out look. so look for my next blog about schneph farms!

Its Spooktacular!!

I've never been one to go spend hundreds of dollars at costco or target etc for decorations. so this year we took the kids to the dollar store and bought some cheap yet durable items that can definitely be packed up for next year! we bought some of these cool glitter skulls and here i put one on a candle stick holder that i had laying around the house.

here's are scary door knocker
and our spooky ghost guy...hes actually kinda cute lol
we put up a cool ghost guy, a welcome sign for trick or treaters and LOTS of spider webs with cool furry spiders. the kids have a couple of these spiders that they play with and i hate when they leave them out for obvious reasons. I've had a couple of near death experiences because of these darn things.


the main place out of all places that they wanted to decorate was their bathroom. this cute little guy i think is supposed to go on a window but he found a nice home on the mirror...why not!


again lots of webs and tons of hideous spiders!

you cant really see them but there are a few glow in the dark skeletons caught in the webs =) ridge likes to take them off and on so there always moving around!

this is our new table center piece. i already had these decorative balls laying around and i just threw in some cute little skeletons. its like Halloween meets pier one imports lol. i think it turned out pretty cute!


another thing i had laying around the house. its one of our glass orange juice containers that i just threw in some more of these little guys. also found this really cute glitter pumpkin that ill probably leave out for thanksgiving too

here's another part of the house. you cant see much of it but it really does look kinda cute!

i bought a ton of stuff, even more then whats pictured and spent 50 bucks! all of this i can pack up for next year . the kids had so much fun decorating and they didn't even care that it wasn't big or elaborate all their going to remember is how much fun they have with mommy and daddy decorating every year!

Happy Birthday Ridge!!!!

ridge turned 2 on October 5th but we didn't really celebrate his birthday dinner till October 23rd which ill blog about later. i still wanted to do something on his birthday though so we went to the store to get the kids some warmer pj's (there wearing some in these pictures) so we also picked up a small cheap ice cream cake for dessert.

ridge blew out his candles perfectly


i really cant believe its been 2 years and this picture really shows how time has passed, he definitely didn't look so neat and clean eating his cake from his 1st birthday lol

today was a perfect reminder of how lucky me and Nathan are! we take every opportunity to slow down, take a breath and celebrate what god has blessed us with.

Almost 2 Years

another play date with Olivia just shows me even more how time flies. me and Anna were talking and neither of us can believe that's its been almost 2 years since we met for the first time in the same place that we had our play date today! i snapped a bunch of photos, 102 to be exact but these were my favorite!

heres Anna and Olivia. i say it every time but motherhood really suits Anna, shes even more beautiful then when we first met as if thats even possible and I've always thought she was a happy person but she seems sincerely happy now days despite any medical setbacks. she is just an amazing women!

ridge LOVES babies and he always seemed to find a way to get in close range of Olivia.
Olivia is a very touchy baby, she loves to feel all of her surroundings weather its the sand, a soft stuffed animal or her puppies Katy and Baxter's ears. in this case it was jazzy and ridge. Olivia was very infatuated with the both of them!
here's miss Olivia all smiley just as always =) she is such a happy baby!
especially when daddy is around.


like i was saying before jazzy, ridge and Olivia were all very infatuated with each other. jazzy knows to be easy so she took her time talking to Olivia and slowly made her way down to the floor with her to play.
eventually ridge made his way over to see what was going on. ridge is pretty protective by nature and he is very close to jazlynn so he made sure to stick close to his sissy.

like i said hes very protective so when Olivia started to get to much of Sissy's attention he took action. he gently moved Olivia's hand off jazlynn, it was really cute to see how jealous he got.

i don't hold Olivia often but when i do i try to get a picture of it!

i love this picture and this one will definitely get framed!