Happy Easter..

We had so much fun celebrating Easter with family and friends!

Owen's Birthday party and Easter fell on the same weekend, which was great for my family traveling but also made for a very busy weekend.  After Owen's party, a short nap, then Emmie's birthday party... we had an Easter egg dying party with family and friends. 

a little artwork with Aunt Anna...

Getting everything ready with daddy...

Let the fun begin....

Ava Kate and Ansley weren't too sure about the eggs but really enjoyed the stickers!  Ava Kate also liked holding the eggs "herself" so we ended up with quite a few cracked eggs! Ha!  

Owen was all about dying Easter eggs and loved the new egg holder that Danielle found!! He was able to do almost everything himself!

Really concentrating...dying Easter eggs is hard work!!

the finished products...

The Easter Bunny surprised the kids with a few goodies!

A little fun with the Easter baskets before breakfast and Church...

A family pic before Church!  

Sweet snuggles with Papa Bart at church...

After church we headed home for lunch and Easter egg hunts!

We had so many eggs to hide that it took 2 Easter Bunnies to get the job done...

Someone was peeking while the Easter Bunnies were hiding the eggs...

We had some serious little Easter egg hunters...

I think that egg must have been hidden just for Owen....our little monkey!

a basket full and still hunting for more...

checking out more of her Easter goodies...

sometime between lunch and Easter egg hunts....a silly string war broke out in the house!!

A little snack break while the Easter eggs get hid AGAIN....

All the grandparents involved in the hiding of Easter eggs!  I think these kiddo's may have a few grandparents wrapped around their fingers!! Ha!

ready set go....

watching all the action from the sidelines...

Love, love, love this pic of Little Miss....so sweet!

Ava Kate...18 months

Our baby girl turned 18 months old on March 27th!  

Ava Kate...you are officially a toddler and into everything!  You have such a sweet and spunky personality and often demand the attention of all!  You're at such a fun age right now...I wish we could just freeze time!!

Things you're doing now:

• You weigh 25 lbs and are 30 inches tall

• You're wearing mostly 2T shirts, 18-24 month/2T bottoms, and size 4 diapers

• We've moved you from whole milk to 1% and added a DHA supplement and a vitamin....both of which you are not a huge fan!

• You eat pretty much anything but have become a little more picky lately!  Bananas are your absolute favorite....you would eat them all day everyday if we would let you!!  Some of your other staples are:  Strawberry greek yogurt, string cheese, deli meat (you prefer turkey), and any kind of fruit (grapes and strawberries are you're favorite.

• You are starting to use more and more words!  These are a few of your favorites:  mama, daddy, Ooowen, peas (please), more,  aaaw done (all done), bapi (paci), lubbie (lovie), peeas stop (please stop), eat, nn-o (no), unny (Honey), outside, up, open

• You frequently grab us by the hand and guide us to what you want when we can't understand what you are trying to communicate

• You are completely attached to your lovie and paci.  You haven't had a paci at school since last September, but you seem to think it's a necessity here at home!

• You have quite the personality!  You LOVE to be the center of attention and often demand the attention of everyone around you.  You're teachers say that you love to stand on top of the play set/slide and entertain your classmates!

• You love to dance!  You don't even have to have music it...it can be someone tapping, a commercial, or even the sound of one of Owen's toys and you will break out in dance!  

• We've started a little potty training...mainly because you've shown interest and because you keep getting diaper rashes.  So far you have pee pee'd in the potty 1 time and poo poo'd in the potty twice.  Sometimes you sit down and get right back up saying "all done, all done"....I have a feeling that potty training is going to take a while with all your sassiness! 

You typically sleep all night in your bed, but recently you have been getting up early (around 5 am) and wanting to get in our bed and snuggle/sleep a little while longer!  Lets just say you have your daddy wrapped around your finger and he always caves to a little snuggle time!

• You love to rinse your paci off with water!  Anytime we turn the water on in the kitchen or bathroom, you come running, holding your paci up, saying "bapi, bapi, please" (paci, paci, please).  I'm not sure how this started...but it's pretty silly!

• Up until a few weeks ago, you were definitely a "mommy's girl", but here recently you've become a daddy's girl!  

• You're super sweet and and love to snuggle, but you will only give daddy kisses!  If anyone else asks for a kiss you just push your forehead into their lips, BUT if Daddy asks for a kiss...you will kiss him right on the lips with sound affects and all!  I'm so jealous! 

• You LOVE your brother soooooo much!  You love to follow him around everywhere and do what every he's doing!  When he's not here, you walk around the house yelling his name or saying "bubba"....it's so cute!  You have also realized how to torment him by going around knocking over all of lego/block building, messing up his puzzles/games, or anything else that you  destroy. 

• You are such a little momma!  You love, love, love your babies and your new favorite thing is to pat them to sleep while saying "shh, shh, shh".  You are always checking on your brother/friends when they are sad, taking them their cups/drinks/snacks, bringing everyone their coats, etc.  

• You still love bath time and pretty much run there after dinner every night!

• You love to cook in both your kitchen and mine!  Your favorite thing to do in your kitchen is to dump out all the food, have a tea party, or cut up the vegetables and fruit.

An 18 month comparison...

Owen                     Ava Kate

 

Calling All Superheroes....

Owen's 4th Birthday Celebration....

the theme....SUPERHEROES!

the place....BOINGO BOUNCE!

the invitations...

The setup...

Supero Hero Cupcakes...

A BATMAN Cake...per Owen's request! 

 Thanks to "The Cake Lady", Owen was able to eat as much cake as he wanted!  He once again requested strawberry cake with cream cheese icing! (low-fat of course)

The Party Favors....

...Razorback Super Hero Capes and Mask! 

Since Owen's 3rd birthday, he has thought that EVERYBODYS' birthday should be celebrated at Boingo Bounce.  (i.e..Aunt Amanda and Aunt Anna both turned 21 this year and Owen REALLY thought they should go to Boingo Bounce, Ha!).  So...when we asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday he said "eat cake and go to Boingo Bounce"!  And that's exactly what we did!!

Super Emmie and Super Owen...

Super Kinley and Super Brooklyn...

best buddies...

Super Mackenzie...

Super Ansley...

Charley...

Super Campbell...

Caroline was not a big fan of all the kiddos running around in their mask.  She was fine with the capes but thought the mask were a little too scary! 

But she warmed up fast and realized it was just her friends dressed up!

Super Caroline...

Ava Kate trying out the "little" bounce area...

The Birthday Boy...Super Owen!!

Super Charley...

Ava Kate showing Ansley a few moves....this girl loves being the center of attention and making everyone laugh!

Super Ansley...

It was a party full of girls and Owen loved it!!

Brooklynn...

Our attempt at a group picture.... take 1

....and take 2! 

After an hour of bouncing everybody was ready for food and drinks!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you....

...Happy Birthday to Owen, Happy Birthday to you!

Ready to dig in!!

the little ones really seemed to enjoy the cupcakes...

Present time....

Owen had an absolute BLAST!!!! He didn't stop the entire time and was dripping with sweat!  I would say it was a successful birthday celebration with family and friends!!