Evie and Jamie's Birthdays!

Evie is 6!  She has grown up a lot this year!  I love this girl so much, and see so much of myself (good and bad) in her.  We opted to not do a big kid party for Evie's birthday this year, so we really wanted to make it special.  

Officially Six!

Evie got to have her first friend sleepover with her best buddy from school after their soccer game.  They got very little sleep, but otherwise it went really well (except I got very few pictures)! 

Dental hygiene

Waiting for soccer to start... he's always lifting
up his shirt lately, not sure where this is coming from!

Mac n Cheese, dinner of champions

Sunday was the big surprise.  We pretended to be taking the girls to Aunt Amy's for vague reasons while Grammer stayed at home with Ben during his nap.  We actually drove them to Frankenmuth to stay at "the castle" (Bavarian Inn), which is one of Evie's favorite places.  

We got to go swimming, eat dinner in the hotel room, play putt-putt and play in the arcade.  She was so thrilled and surprised, it was awesome!  Both girls were great about wearing masks the whole time, even swimming!  

Sporting their new suits from the Easter Bunny

Fun with Dad (we got the pool to ourselves!)

Vegging after dinner

Putt-putt fun

Still working on grip technique

Evie won this herself in a claw machine,
it was impressive!

Pool hair, don't care

The following day was her actual birthday, and the girls were psyched to skip school on a Monday.  We opened presents, had her requested dinner of noodles and pancakes, followed by ice cream cake.  Whirlwind of fun! 

We actually did get to see Aunt Amy and crew on our way
home at Bronner's!

We're both tired and ready for a nap!

Satisfied

Jamie decorated to make a Pokemon cake as requested

So many presents!

My fave photo of the day - new gear from
Uncle John and Aunt Michelle

Jamie put really cool LED lights around the bunk bed perimeter
with a remote to change the colors, patterns, etc.  
She loves it!

Two days later was Jamie's birthday, can't forget him!  Since I knew we'd have a busy weekend with Evie's birthday, I set up a surprise Escape Room outing with a few of his friends beforehand.  I sent him to CVS to "get a prescription" for me, where is friends creepily accosted him!  They said it was pretty fun and they managed to solve the clues.  Then we had drinks and snacks on our deck, lots of fun!

They had to start handcuffed together
(thankfully they are vaccinated!)

Jamie described his actual birthday as "delightful."  He is clearly loved at Lakeview, coming home with lots of little gifts from teachers and students, including some sweets!

We celebrated Amy and him at the Donoghue's and then the two of us went to a chilly Tigers game.  Again, delightful.  Grabbed a quick dinner and drinks after to end the night.

Twins!

Jamie mentioned wanting a vanity plate a while back...
easy gift!

Finally back in Comerica!

Some others:

Sucker as big as his head

Unicorn ring toss

Souvenirs from our New Orleans trip

After 5 years, finally playing with the
caterpillar tunnel...

Mix Master Ben

Sunset art

Games with Grandpa

Happy boy

Happy to be playing soccer again!

Easter and New Orleans

We had a fun Easter together!  The kids enjoyed dyeing eggs and were super excited on Easter morning

Easter 2021

Precious

Ben got to help this year by dyeing in the bag!

Evie was the most excited kid this year, really 
loved finding the eggs and leaving treats for the Easter Bunny

Ben really got into the egg hunt this year

We did virtual mass this year and then headed to my parents' for lunch and the Donoghue's for dinner.  All the food!

Cuddles before mass

Cousins enjoying the sun

All the grandkids

After Easter we decided to rent a theater to go Raya with the Rabines.  It was really awesome and surprisingly affordable!

Blurred because they can't sit still

Mature conversations

After Easter Jamie and I took a much-needed vacation to New Orleans for five days and Saint Violet watched the kids for us.  We had such an amazing time!  We didn't even do that much, a lot of relaxing, strolling, eating, drinking, just fun stuff!  It was so nice to not have to be anywhere, to not rush, to not worry - healing for the soul!

Feeling young

Had to get beignets from Cafe Du Monde a couple times!

Balcony. Beer. 

My cutie during our ghosts and spirits tour

Hot tub at our Air BNB... I want one!

Maggie loves watching cooking shows and Grandma's house and learning how to make new recipes.  She did great!

mmm cake

Homemade lemonade - it was delicious!

Crashed

Life quickly got back to normal, but in a good way.  The girls like to kick the ball around in our tiny yard, Ben helps.

Team photo

Practicing throw-ins

Irish Eyes Are Smiling

St. Patrick's Day was a fun day for our (semi) Irish crew, complete with corned beef and cabbage!  Tried making it in my pressure cooker, 90 minutes later - success!

Trying to get them to sit still at the end of the day...

Chipper in the morning!

Jigging?  

We've had a hectic couple weeks getting a lot of paint work done in the house.  Thankfully we have an amazing contractor doing it all, but it required a lot of cleaning, purging, moving stuff, etc.  So our house is in disarray, but I'm really happy with the results so far!  Now we just need to put everything back... so. many. toys.

Loves using a screwdriver to "fix" things... 
thankfully all the sockets are protected with covers

My handymen

We totally missed our last dentist checkup, so we were overdue!
Evie is still crazy shy, but we got through it with no issues!

Last weekend each of the girls had a little playdate with school friends.  They were ecstatic, it definitely reminded me of how much social fun they've missed over the past year.

Movie time!

Queens of the playground

Trying to hang with the big kids

In other good news, I got my 2nd vaccine dose this past weekend!  Thankfully no side effects except feeling tired, so grateful!

The kids went over Grandma and Grandpa's and they tried to
get Ben to nap in his new tent... this is how it went

The girls and I conquered a 500-piece puzzle, we were obsessed!

That's all for now.  We have a crazy April coming up with Easter, a trip to New Orleans (sans kids!), two birthdays and Maggie's first communion!  Deep breaths...

 

Maggie's First Reconciliation

Maggie made her First Reconciliation last week.  She wasn't even nervous, and knew her Act of Contrition perfectly.  She had a hard time, but finally thought of four things to confess (which we were not privy to).

With her amazing teacher

The gang

The gang with Fr. Tony

Besides that, it's been pretty quiet!

Sporting their new girl power shirts from Aunt Allison!

I can tell they aren't smiling... eyes don't lie

Super Dad took the kids to the zoo while I played soccer

Says "cheese" whenever there's a camera pointed at him

Getting some nicer weather, time to cut the sidewalk

Maggie scored at her last game... and spent the rest of the game
with her hand up trying to get a pass so she could do it again!

March is Reading Month

Reading month usually means extra work for parents...
Jamie pulled this Dog Man costume together!

Dog girl

Captain Marvel not in the mood for a photo

Hanging with Henry

So sweet when she wants to be

Grammer bought them a bunch of Pokemon cards and
an album to store them... they are geeked! (they are also geeks)

Here is a video of Ben being Ben: