Birthdays

First came Alexis...
Well her birthday started off a little rocky:



But it shaped up in the end and we enjoyed (a single layer) chocolate cake and gifts in the evening.




She ended her day looking forward to her trip to the American Girl store in NYC in mid-April.

Then a few months later came Anna...
We celebrated as a family on her birthday with lots of loving from a silly birthday girl:




And presents with an ice cream cake to round out the day.



The following weekend, we had a small friend birthday party at our house. Six-year-old girl gets to have a party with six little girls. One of them couldn't make it so she got to have fun with four of her little friends. They decorated aprons, made their own pizza, frosted cupcakes, opened gifts and did a lot of bouncing. Anna has some really sweet little friends.

Just a few days later, Mitchell hit 11. Although he would have liked to have invited everyone he knew to a hopping party, we spend his Monday birthday quietly at home in Mitchell style which is to say we ate kooky foods and enjoyed our goofy boy.

Breakfast: Poached eggs and strawberry smoothie



Dinner: Uh...pizza of course. He really wishes I would let him live on pizza.

Present time:

This is one easy to please boy. He was plenty pleased to open a box of bandaids of his very own. He was even more please do discover that I put a bright orange iPod nano in the box in place of the bandaids.

And the cake of choice? Double chocolate cake with PB cream filling and PB frosting topped with Reese's PB cups of course.

Next up: Kassie hits 15 next week! She is already reminding us on a regular basis that she can apply for a driver's permit in nine months.



We've got some pretty great kids.

Spring

Last year, the older three decided to try out tennis through the recreation council. They must have enjoyed it because this spring all four of them played. I volunteered to coach the little guys (age 6-8) and only remembered to bring my camera to the last practice of the season. Unfortunately, it was scorching hot that day and we had to cut the night short so I didn't get a lot of great shots but here is a sampling of how we spent April-early June evenings. (This is Lexi's team: Lobsters Licking Lollipops...creative name ladies.)

The kids also took it as a challenge to see how close they could get to our little friends that spent a good deal of the spring in our yard. Mitchell learned that if you get too close to a duck, you just might get bit on the arm. No worries...it was just a nip and the skin wasn't broken but he learned the lesson (that I would have thought he had down by that age but nonetheless...)



We had up to six guests in the yard at a time. Apparently they had a nest somewhere in the neighborhood and have since moved on.

An American Girl

Lexi is our American Girl... and by that I mean she loves her American Girl dolls. For her birthday, she and I spend the day in New York with one of her dolls and our friends Kate and Natalie (who was also celebrating her birthday and had a doll tagging along for the day.)

We woke the girls at an unbelievably early hour to drive 45 minutes to the Megabus terminal. Hoping that they would sleep on the bus but knowing better, we packed some breakfast which they enjoyed in the front seats of the upper deck of the bus. Lexi thought the tunnel was pretty cool.



Upon arrival, we took a taxi to the American Girl store. (The taxi rides were definitely a highlight for both girls.) Lexi and Natalie picked up their AG tshirts before heading to our brunch in the AG Cafe. Notice the sleepy eyes... it was almost 11:30am.



The food was pretty yummy.



Next we took the dolls for a treat at the AG salon for hair styles and ear piercing. The dolls were very grateful to be done up NY style for their day!



We spend several hours in the store looking at every display--sometimes two or three times--trying to decide how to best spend her cash and then having a photo shoot of her very own.




We had some time before our bus back to Baltimore so we took in some of the sites of NY. We walked past Rockafeller Plaza and the NBC Studios on our way to Time Square. Maybe it wasn't the best day to visit the Empire State Building since it was kind of cold and raining but we did it anyway since neither of the girls had ever been there before. It was much colder on the observation deck with the whipping wind. The girls were done withing a few minutes.





It was a pretty long day and it was rather quiet on the bus ride home but I think they both had a great day. Thanks for inviting us to join you Kate & Natalie!

Oh the things they do...

So I uploaded all of the pictures on my camera yesterday and was surprised to find 800+ photos that needed to be sorted. Imagine my surprise in finding over 50 variations of this:

Then there were the 60+ versions of this:




And lots more random images from around the house and the neighborhood:

I'm glad she enjoys expressing her artistic side through photography. I am even more glad that I have a digital camera and didn't have to pay to get it all developed only to find these masterpieces.

Oh the things they say...

On the way to the pool this afternoon, we passed about a dozen yard sales which prompted the following conversation with Mitchell:

Mitchell: Why do so many people have yard sales in the spring?

Me: They have too much junk laying around the house and they need to get rid of it so they throw it out in the yard and people come buy it.

Mitchell: In that case, can we have a yard sale soon? We have plenty of junk to get rid of.

Me: Nope. I clean the house and give our junk to NESAP (local charity) on a regular basis while you are at school. You never even notice that it is missing.

Mitchell: (In a loud, pleading voice) OH NO!!! NOT MY JUSTIN BIEBER ACTION FIGURES!!!

That kid cracks me up!

My little Snugglebug

Anna is a hot or cold kid...sometimes she is super lovey and calls me her snugglebug. Other times (as demonstrated by the previous post) she likes us all a little less--even going as far as to yell through her tears: "you are not even treating me like I am your own daughter." This week has been a good one--I'm thinking Christmas has something to do with it but it's okay...I'll take it.

Her prayers at night have been wonderful. You know...the ones that make you sigh and think: Is she serious or is she trying to delay bed? Last night she was thankful for the earth and people, friends and family, shelter, the TV and the flooring, and "the entire world." (Just to name a few things mentioned in her extended prayers.)

She loves to sing and does so quite often but this week's song was the best! "I love my life! I love my life! My life is great 'cause my mommy loves me." (repeated about a dozen times as she danced on top of the kitchen stool)

Anna's art.

I think I am in for a rough road with this little girl of mine. Yesterday she was incredibly grouchy in the morning and made us quite late for church. I told her that her temper tantrum was punishable by grounding from electronics and she countered by stating "Mommy, you can't ground me. I am only a little girl." I tend to believe that one that can throw tantrums of that magnitude and then try to reason her way out is definitely old enough to grasp the punishment. The reality really sunk in after school today when I wouldn't let her watch t.v. (not that she does that every day anyway). This is the picture she drew to show her objection to my punishment:



Obviously, she is the one with the tears and tongue sticking out and I am the one with the big happy smile. One sad girl and one "very mean mommy."

Anna's comings and goings

The past six weeks have been incredibly busy for our little lady! She took the dance world by storm as part of Peter Pan, splashed the day away at her Pre-K water day, and graduated from her Pre-K program. In between, our baby turned five and celebrated with breakfast in bed and bouncing the day away in a bounce house set up in the back yard. Here's a glimpse into the life of Anna!

It's Great to be Eight.

Lexi turned 8 and celebrated in style with a sleepover party for five of her little friends. Together they decorated tshirts,made hair ties and beaded bracelets. Add a dance party and few late night movies and we had a giggly bunch of little girls. Happy Birthday Baby!