Birthday Weekend

Last week was Jamie's 30th birthday, so we did the usual celebration stuff...

Cake time with Twin Amy!

Hanging with Grandpa

How awesome is this baseball wreath?!
Amy made it for Jamie!

Birthday lunch with Daddy...
clearly having a great time

We went to the Tigers game on his birthday and then again on Thursday afternoon.  Our cousin Donna hooked up Bishop Foley with 100 free tickets to the game, so we had to go!  We took Maggie and while we made it all 9 innings, it was soooo much effort.  She had a great time, and even took her first ferris wheel ride!

Go Tigers!

Hanging out with Donna and Pat in the comfy seats!

Us 3 girls cheering on the team

Ferris wheel = Amazing!

Jamie clearly had a great birthday week, but I had a few tricks up my sleeve still.  A few months ago I told him that I was asked to speak at a seminar in Albany, NY and thought it would be more fun if he came with me.  So we flew out on Friday morning and were waiting to be picked up by "Eric."  Instead our good friends Andy and Katie were there to pick us up for a weekend of Jamie's favorites.  We went to Ommegang brewery on Friday afternoon and the Baseball Hall of Fame on Saturday.  We rented a really great house for the weekend, and spent the rest of our time hanging out, eating way too much and relaxing.  It was so nice to get away for a weekend and spend some time with my man!  Jamie said it was the most surprised he's every been!

Cheers from Ommegang!

Beautiful river in Cooperstown

Maggie stayed with Grandma and Grandpa all weekend.  She was a good girl most of the time, but had some rough nights because of her molars.  We missed her so much, and it was great to come home and snuggle with her a little bit before bedtime.

Maggie really loves to have conversations.  She seems to have a whole new level of gibberish lately, and is very emphatic about her talking points.  I have no idea what she's talking about, but it seems pretty intense!

I think we are starting to head towards terrible-two territory.  Though not often, she has total meltdowns over silly things and it takes a while to calm her down.  Yesterday I went outside with her to play before dinner, and we spent about 20 minutes walking around the yard and climbing the deck steps.  Then I told her it was time to go inside, which resulting in much wailing and gnashing of teeth.  It took about 5 minutes to stop the crying and another 10 minutes to get her to start eating dinner.  It's really hard not to chuckle sometimes because she can be so incredibly dramatic and her face is so cute when she sticks out her bottom lip.  So far the only way to get her out of a tantrum is to make her laugh... so I'm working on my stand-up routine.

I don't have a naughty bone in my body!

Easter!

This week Jamie took Maggie to school for their annual "Walk-a-Thon."  She had fun goofing around with all the kids, and apparently really loves basketballs:

Put me in, coach!

On Friday we attempted to dye eggs with Maggie.  We got this weird dye stuff that you roll around in a plastic bag.  Maggie attempted to shake the bag and help us out, but really just enjoyed putting the eggs in and out of the bag.

We also walked to a nearby park to test out the kid swings.  Maggie still seems a little small, but she really loved swinging.  We just make sure to stand really close so she doesn't flip backward.

Woo Hoo!!!

The Easter Bunny came a little early on Saturday so that we could relax and enjoy our traditions without rushing everywhere.  This was the first time Maggie searched for eggs, and she did fantastic!  She really enjoyed putting the eggs in the carton.  She also found her basket under the dining room table which had a few small toys and some plastic eggs with goldfish and animal crackers.  She loved them!

I found one!

Take the picture so I can
take these things off!

Do I detect notes of cheddar and salt?

We went to Grammer and Pops for lunch afterward, and got to enjoy some quality time with Luke, Bobby and Allison too. Best part was when Maggie TOOK HER FIRST STEPS!  She walked about 3 steps from Grammer to me, it was wonderful!  I think she did it one more time, but we didn't get it on video.  We're going to keep working on it this week.

I'm here, let's party!

She was ga-ga for Grammer all day long

Hippo Bubbles!! Yes!!

Playing cars with Luke

Going for an afternoon stroll with the fam

Playing with Daddy in the yard

Saturday evening we went out for yummy BBQ with a few friends to celebrate Jamie's 30th birthday a few days early.  It was kind of cute that of the five ladies there, three of them were pregnant!  We came back to the house to hang out and have some cake.  It was pretty tame, but I guess that's how parties go when you're OLD.

Friends with full bellies

Friends with rrrreally full bellies

Today we both woke up a little bit late, and decided to go to the 11:00 mass.  We heard that it would be jammed for the children's mass, so we got there early enough to get seats.  Unfortunately, we were not able to get Maggie down for a nap beforehand, so she was a huge handful the whole time.  There was nowhere to escape to, people were everywhere!

Look at my pretty dress, Daddy!

Can I change now?

My little lady

We went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house this afternoon to see the Donoghue side of the family.  We let Maggie change out of her dress so she could be comfy - tights are totally the worst!

Giving us a lesson on the chalkboard

Feeding the fish with Grandpa

Hanging with Grandma

Tonight is Jamie's last night to be in his twenties... I think he's handling it pretty well :)

Zippidty ZOO da

Today we went to the zoo since it was so warm outside.  It was the first t-shirt Maggie's worn since last summer!  It was more fun this time because she was actually interested in all the animals.  Her favorite today were the flamingos... although if I'm being honest, she was probably most excited about the squirrels.  She had fun looking at all the kids and sitting on Daddy's shoulders.

Flamingos!

Trying to communicate with Brown Bear

Black Bear

Checking out the farm animals

Be good or I'll toss you in!

Here's us taking a distracted walk together:


Our dear friend Brian was ordained as a deacon yesterday, and we were able to attend his first mass in Grosse Pointe.  He did a great job with the homily, I'm sure he'll be a great priest, just one more year!  We got to see some old friends and eat a yummy dinner while Grammer and Pops stayed at home with Maggie.

Deacon Brian!

I was so nervous that Maggie would be difficult about eating dinner and going to bed for my parents, but apparently she did everything without any fuss.  You'd think they had raised like four kids...

On our way home we stopped at Aunt Jane's house to pick up some hand-me-downs from our cousin Betsy (she has two adorable girls).  I think my jaw hit the floor when I saw how many clothes she had for us!  It feels like I won the lottery!

Yup, that's 8 bags of fashionable girlie clothes!

I was feeling domestic this weekend (by which I mean I felt like eating some homemade sweets), so I decided to make an old recipe I have for bundt cake.  When I took it out of the oven, I couldn't remember if I should let it cool before flipping, or flip it right away.  If I would have just thought for like 2 seconds, I would have done this the right way...

Definitely let it cool first...

Jamie's school participates in "Be the Difference Day" every year, which is a day for the students to go out into the community and volunteer with various groups.  Jamie worked with several of his art students to pain a mural at the local animal shelter.  I was so impressed with what they were able to accomplish in one day!  Very proud of my husband!

We're looking forward to Easter and Daddy's birthday next weekend!

Lazy post

I'm pooped, so here's a few photos and videos from the week :)

Celebrating Opening Day!

Mmmm casserole

Cinderella

Maggie learned a few animal sounds this week.  We tried to get it on tape, with semi-successful results.  For some reason, every time she sees a dog, she says "bow wow wow" instead of "dog."  She just refuses to say the word.

Wait.  You've been watching me on
this monitor the whole time?

With the nicer weather, we took a few walks this week.  Maggie loves riding around in her special car and getting some fresh air.  For some reason, she gets excited every time she see a fire hydrant and points it out.

Vroom vroom