Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Happy Birthday, Evie and Jamie!

Jamie and the girls had spring break last week, so we did ALL THE THINGS to celebrate birthdays and Easter.  This is kind of long...

Amy and Rex got us gift certificates for horse back riding and the Flint Children's Museum.  We went on Wednesday and the kids had an amazing time!

Scaling

Fire Engine crew

Museum selfie

Fortress of solitude

Our equestrians

Maggie's horse, Demi

You can't tell, but Evie is full of so much joy

Evie loved her horse, Mr. Charlie

Will riding Jericho

Amy wanted to take Evie to Build-a-Bear for her birthday gift on Thursday.  Uncle Justin also planned to take Maggie for her birthday gift, so it was a fun outing for all!  They had lunch at Big Boy first, then had a lovely afternoon at the mall!

Violet stealing the show!

Big Boy!

Woo hoo!

Thanks, Uncle Justin!

Yup, Aunt Amy got her two animals... so spoiled

Friday was Evie's actual birthday, and we had a lot of fun together as a family.  We started with donuts in bed for the girls.  We continued her healthy day with lunch at McDonald's, playing at Undersea Playground, going to see a movie, and then off to Red Robin for dinner with the Donoghues.  It was crazy busy, but she loved all the attention!  I adore our little girl - she is spunky, yet extremely sweet and is a mama's girl.  She wants to do everything Maggie does, but only on her own terms. She's come a long way this year!

Breakfast of champions!

Evie wanted Maggie to be a part of everything, so sweet

My 4-year old!

Four and free from worry

Seeing the Missing Link

Birthday celebrations at Grandma and Grandpa's!

On Saturday we had my family over to celebrate the birthdays and Easter.  Claire is so cute with Ben, a little mother figure.  Sarah also loves Ben, but isn't quite as gentle as her big sister!

I think we can be buds

Cousins!

This is a happy place

...and we will defend it

Pops and Ben

For they are jolly good fellows!

Sunday was Easter!  It was also Jamie's birthday, but I think perhaps not his favorite one... not getting to sleep in and then rushing to church was not ideal, but we still had a nice morning.  The girls enjoyed hunting for eggs and their baskets.  Maggie has now asked me three times if the Easter Bunny is real, and I'm pretty sure she knows it's me, but I'm still playing the game.

All eggs accounted for

Got to church early to get a seat

After church we went to the Odglen's to celebrate - poor Amy spent her birthday hosting all of us!  Lots of good food, and the kids enjoyed playing around.  Both girls overcame their fear of the dog, and Evie was so angry when we had to leave without him.  

Easter egg hunt in the gym!

The excitement was palpable

Sprints

Happy birthday, twins!

The four kiddos

Original 6

Tree climbers club

New best friend?

Poor Finn needed some rest after that day!

Easter 2019!



Monday, April 15, 2019

Busy bees

Happy two months, Ben!  Actually, we have all started calling him "Ben Ben" since Evie said it a couple weeks ago - it suits him.  He had his checkup at the doctor and is doing fantastic - 13 lbs (74%) and and 24.75 inches tall (98%).  He is a very happy baby, and I just love our one-on-one coo conversations, especially in the morning.  Last night he went from midnight to 5am without waking up - woo hoo!  Hoping this was not a fluke.

Our little sweetie

Joyful eyes

To remind them how much they love each other when they fight in the future

I go back to work next week, which will be good and bad.  I'll miss my little guy, we've got a pretty tight bond.  I'm a little worried about how to get everyone up, dressed and ready and still get to work on time... but we always seem to figure it out.  Thankfully our moms are willing to watch Ben for the next couple months until Jamie is done for the school year - then we'll start daycare in the fall. 

Evie's 4th birthday is coming up this Friday!  Since it's Good Friday, we decided to throw a friend party this past weekend, and then we'll celebrate with family next weekend.  We invited four of her girl friends from school to paint pottery at the studio downtown.  I'm so glad we kept it small... I remember inviting all of Maggie's friends from school and daycare to her 4th birthday party and it was super overwhelming!  Evie was her shy self, but seemed very content to be with her friends!

Focusing on her rainbow-colored ninja turtle

Happy birthday to you, sweet girl!

Besties!

Look what I can do!

Evie also celebrated at school last Friday and loved her birthday crown:

Looking too grown up

Rocking out at the store after school

We went over to Julie and Ryan's house last weekend.  Our family's are almost completely in sync with two girls the same age, and they are expecting a little boy in the next month! 

Group photos are hard

Take that paci!

An old pro

Treehouse pals!

Jamie and I had a really fun week - we went to see Bon Iver in Detroit on Monday, and then also had tickets to see Hamilton on Thursday!  Fun stuff!  Jamie was unfortunately very busy all last weekend and up until his film festival on Wednesday - I think we're both thankful it's done!

Who doesn't love an unintelligible concert photo?

Jamie's film students

Here's a few others:
Stink eye

Trying to up my pancake game

I'm pretty proud of my "E"

Love these smush faces!